Inside a den made of sticks and reeds, sleeping on a nest, lay a black she-cat with white ears, white paws and a striped tail. Along with her other markings, she had white stripes down her back and a grey belly. Opening her eyes, they were revealed to be a vivid sky blue.
Echo yawned, then grimaced as pain scrambled up her spine from the dog bite on her back leg. Bending so that she could lick it, she looked around. Where am I?
"Hey, how are you feeling?" a soft voice called.
Oh yeah. Echo turned her head away from the voice. "I'm fine." She growled.
"You were hanging from a dog's mouth." Replied the voice. "It's okay if you're not fine." Brightberry padded out from the corner of the den they were in. "Let me see your wound."
"I said I'm fine!" snarled Echo, pulling her leg under her, ignoring the pain.
Another scent drifted into the den and a white warrior padded in. He was dripping with water, his pelt hanging off his skin heavily. When he spoke, his voice was deep and gruff, "You should let our medicine cat look at your wound." He rumbled.
Dipping her head warily, Echo pulled her torn leg out and let Brightberry inspect it.
"Have you made up your mind yet?" asked the white warrior, Troutstar.
"Yes." Answered Echo, her voice sounding strained over the pain of Brightberry treating her wound.
"What is your answer?"
"My answer is yes."

"Let all cats old enough to eat prey join here beneath the great tree for a clan meeting!"
Troutstar's voice rang clearly throughout the RiverClan camp. He was perched on the branch of a tree that bent over the RiverClan camp.
Brightberry nudged Echo outside. "You better go." She murmured.
Nodding, Echo dragged herself out to the other cats as they gathered under the over-hanging tree.
"Today is a great day." Troutstar announced. "For today we again make sure that RiverClan will live on. Today, we name a new apprentice!"
The clan let out a few happy cheers before quieting down to let their leader continue.
"Echo, please come forward."
While the loner limped over forward, there were a few worried murmurs but they died down when Troutstar leapt down from the tree.
"Echo,"
The loner turned her head up to the leader, her ears pricked.
"Do you promise to uphold the warrior code, and defend RiverClan, even with the cost of your life?"
Echo hesitated for a moment, but only for a moment, before nodding her head. "I do."
Troutstar smiled. "Then from this moment on, you will be named Echopaw. Your mentor will be Mudpelt."
The leader paused for a moment to let the brown tom slink forward to stand next to his apprentice.
"Mudpelt, you are an honourable warrior. You are a superb fisher and your stealth skills are unmatchable." Troutstar flicked his ear before finishing. "I hope you will pass these qualities onto Echopaw."
Mudpelt turned and bent down. Echopaw reached up and touched noses with the brown tom.
"Echopaw! Echopaw!" the Clan cheered.
Slowly, everyone broke away and went back to doing their business, leaving Echopaw and Mudpelt alone in the clearing.
"So." Growled Mudpelt. "You can't really start training yet." He glanced at the apprentice's back leg.
The black loner- no, apprentice, glanced back. "Yeah."
They both stood silent for a little bit.
"Brightberry says it's not deep and I'll be healed by the time of the Gathering."
"Okay."
Again, they both stood silently for a while.
"I guess I should go rest."
"Yeah."

Over the next few days, Mudpelt visited Echopaw a lot and told her about the kind of training they'd be doing. Eventually, Echopaw was out of the medicine cat den and she moved into the apprentice den.

"Wake up, sleepyhead." Echopaw prodded Whisperpaw. "Your mentor wants you for the dawn patrol." She murmured.
Whisperpaw blinked her eyes open, before turning them to Echopaw. I don't care, I'm tired. they said.
Echopaw purred before prodding the apprentice again. "You still gotta get up."
Whisperpaw made a sound like a sigh, before getting up and padding out.
Echopaw liked Whisperpaw.
Too bad Whisperpaw couldn't speak.

"Gathering!" Lemonpaw grinned. "Gathering! Gathering!"
Whisperpaw turned around and bit down on Lemonpaw's ear. He yelped and stared at her. She glared back.
"Fine." He grumbled stepping out of the den. "Well, I'mma go eat. You coming, Echo?"
Echopaw glanced up. "Yeah, just a sec." She hurriedly licked her paw and dragged it over her ear a couple of times, before getting up and padding past Whisperpaw. The older apprentice looked her and the black and white she-cat shrugged. "Sorry, I'm hungry."
The tabby's shoulders slumped and she made a dramatic fainting motion in despair of being left alone in the den for around 2 minutes. Echopaw laughed before hurrying over to Lemonpaw. The golden apprentice grinned at her and pushed a carp over.
"Thanks." She mumbled, settling down.
"So you start training tomorrow?"
"Yeah."
"That's exciting."
"Yeah."
"I mean, you've been apprentice for a while but you only just starting now, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well- "
"Could you, maybe, I don't know, shut up?" Echopaw growled from around a mouthful of carp. "I'm trying to eat."
Lemonpaw looked hurt for a second, before shrugging. "Okay." He took a bite of his salmon. Glancing up, he opened his mouth. "Y'know-"
"I said shut up."
"Sorry."
They sat in silence for a while, then Pebbleclaw came over to collect Lemonpaw for the Gathering. Giving an apologetic shrug, Lemonpaw got up and followed his mentor.
Echopaw finished off her carp, then padded back to the apprentice den. Immediately, Whisperpaw's head shot up. Her eyes gleamed eagerly and her friend laughed.
"Yeah, okay. I'll chat with you now. I mean, we gotta stay up till Lemonpaw and Blackpaw get back, right?"
The tabby grinned and nodded quickly.

A paw prodded Echopaw's side. She growled. He prodded her again.
"What?!" she snarled.
Whisperpaw shrunk back.
Relaxing, the black and white apprentice sighed. "Sorry."
Whisperpaw beamed and motion to the entrance. Blackpaw stumbled in grinning. Lemonpaw followed him.
"How was the Gathering?" Echopaw inquired.
"Great, Echopaw!" Blackpaw grinned at her.
Lemonpaw blinked. "Yeah, you should've been there, Echo."
"WindClan accused us of stealing, but who would want to eat rabbit, ew."
"Mhm. We totally showed them, though. Troutstar denied it and-"
"-he pointed out they normally steal fish-"
"-and WindClan got upset-"
"-but we Troutstar totally glared down Heatherstar-"
"-and it was awesome!"
The two brothers fell down laughing.
Echopaw rolled her eyes, but she grinned, and when she glanced over at Whisperpaw, her friend was grinning too. But she was troubled, what if WindClan brought up the accusation with tooth and claw?