"Got you!" Amberkit squealed as she tackled Hollykit. The younger kit rolled away and darted over to her mother, Whitewing, wailing.
"Amberkit! Whitewing's kits are only two moons old, remember? You can't play too roughly" Brightheart scolded Amberkit, who pouted.
"Snowkit isn't any fun, he's always talking to Lilypaw, and Dewkit never wants to play!" She wailed. Brightheart purred softly.
"Today is your warrior ceremony, remember?" Amberkit squeaked as Brightheart began to groom the ginger-and-white kit's messy pelt. Reedkit and Tigerkit watched curiously as they pretended to hunt.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather for a Clan meeting!" A loud yowl echoed and immediately Amberkit slipped away to join Dewkit and Snowkit..
"Snowkit, Dewkit, and Amberkit have reached their sixth moon and are ready to become apprentices. So, from this day on, they shall be known as Amberpaw, Snowpaw, and Dewpaw. Snowpaw, your mentor will be Lionblaze. Lionblaze, you were excellently mentored by Ashfur, and showed yourself to be a wonderful metor as well when you mentored Dovewing. You have proven yourself a strong warrior many times over, and I hope you will pass on your experience to Snowpaw." Snowpaw's eyes betrayed his excitement as he and his new mentor touched noses.
"Amberpaw your mentor will be Cherryfall. Cherryfall, you were taught by Foxleap, and I hope you will teach all you know to Amberpaw." She held back a squeal of delight and reached forward to touch noses with the ginger she-cat.
"Berrynose, you will mentor Dewpaw. You have proven yourself a brave and loyal warrior, and I expect you to pass on all you know to young Dewpaw." Bramblestar purred in amusement as Berrynose and Dewpaw missed touching noses by a mouse-length. "Meeting dismissed."
Amberpaw's amber eyes sparkled and she overheard Honeykit and Tigerkit complaining to their mother.
"Why can't we be apprentices!" Tigerkit wailed. Reedkit's whiskers twitched.
"'Cause the warrior code says we can't. We have to wait three more moons." She said almost matter-of-factly, bright green eyes glowing in the fading light. Tigerkit let out another wail of protest before Lionblaze padded over. Immediately, all three kits tackled him. The golden tom pretended to flail about and his kits let out tiny yowls of triumph.
"Got you!" Tigerkit squealed, and Honeykit and Reedkit bounded around them. Lionblaze let out a purr of amusement before standing up straight.
"Why don't you visit your uncle? It wouldn't do any harm for him to be around kits." The kits nodded and bounded away.
"Gonna see Mr. Grumpy!" Honeykit whispered, loud enough for Amberpaw to hear as she passed. Amberpaw and the kit had always been close friends, and if their age wasn't so close she would volunteer as a mentor.
Suddenly, a yowl sounded and Thornclaw burst into camp, flanked by Ivypoo and Lilypaw. "WindClan have chased prey five tail-lengths from the border!" Snowpaw's fur bristled and Amberpaw stared in bewilderment as Bramblestar and Squirrelflight appeared. "They're saying it's rightfully theirs, even if it's that far into our territory, and now their fighting with Bumblestripe and Cloudtail!"
"Go back! Lionblaze, take Snowpaw, Brackenfur, and Rosepetal along!" Bramblestar hissed. The golden warrior nodded and raced out of camp, the others trailing behind.
"What about me?" Amberpaw wailed. "Snowpaw gets to go!" Bramblestar stared at her, and Amberpaw looked at her paws, knowing what he was going to say. Luckily, he didn't.
Sniffing, she stomped off to her new den. Seedpaw was dozing inside and looked up as Amberpaw entered.
"Hullo." She yawned. ""What's going on?"
"WindClan chased some prey five tail-lengths inside our territory and claim it's theres." She hissed between her teeth and settled into the next next to Seedpaw that didn't smell of Lilypaw.
Seedpaw bushed her fur. "Who?"
Amberpaw tried to remember. "I think it was Emberfoot and Eaglepaw. The patrol with them had Weaselfur, because that's Eaglepaw's mentor." Seedpaw blinked before curling up.
"In a moon I'll have my warrior name, so I'll be able to lead a battle patrol maybe." She yawned. Amberpaw blinked in surprise.
"A moon?"
"Yeah. Luckily their making an upper leval of the warriors den. I know it sound weird,but think how cool that would be!" Seedpaw murmured. Amberpaw itched with excitement. That did sound cool!
"Hey Seedpaw? Are you upset about not going with the battle patrol?"
"..."
"Seedpaw?" It took her a minute to realize the pale ginger apprentice was asleep, and curled up as well.
It's not fair to let Snowpaw go and not me! She thought as she drifted into her dreams.
"Tawnypelt's kitting!" A loud yowl sent Littlecloud and Shinepaw racing toward the nursery with bundles of herbs in their mouth. Blackstar watched with a warm feeling. The Clan was recovering from the war, and the shocking betrayal of some cats, such as Redwillow. Applefur had proven her loyalty then and earned a suprising special respect among her clanmates.
Rowanclaw and Tigerheart where pacing around, obviously worried for the queen. Pinenose disappeared inside the nursery later, then reappeared a heartbeat purring with Littlecloud.
The medicine cat hesitated. "One of the kits was stillborn, but in total there where three she-kits and two toms. Now, Two she-kits and two toms." He meowed. Rowanclaw looked up in shock and padded into the nursery.
"Blackstar?" A voice made him turn as a young black she-cat with soft fur padded up. "Where's Cedarheart?"
"He should be in his den." He meowed to his apprentice. Ebonypaw's eyes clouded with worry.
"He's not there. I checked. Tallpoppy sent me to look for him. He's nowhere in camp."
Blackstar's tail-tip twitched and he opened his mouth to reply when a familiar shape limped across the clearing. "He's right there."
Ebonypaw whipped around and raced off. Everything had been tense for awhile now, but luckily no fight involving ShadowClan had broken out. Suddenly, Blackstar wondered if his warriors knew he was on his last life. Probably not, and they didn't need to know.
Rowanclaw padded over to him, eyes happy but full of grief for his dead kit. Blackstar greeted him with a nod.
"Hello. How are they?" Rowanclaw's eyes lit up.
"Perfect." He purred. "We've named the two toms Lakekit and Wildkit, and two she-kits Jaykit and Grasskit, and the other she-kit Wingkit." He meowed softly. "Wingkit's still in the nursery though..."