Thank you, Streamshade, for both following and favoriting my story. I'm glad you like it so far and I hope I don't disappoint.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting!" Firestar's yowl jolted her from her dreams, all of them good, for once.

"Wake up, slow slug!" Poppypaw crowed. "We're going to be apprentices today!"

Honeykit sat by their mother's side, an irritated look on her face as Sorreltail licked her clean. Cinderkit wrinkled her nose at the thought, but she knew that she, like Honeykit, wouldn't complain.

"Today, we perform one of my favorite duties. It is time for six young cats to become apprentices. Honeykit, Poppykit, Cinderkit, Hollykit, Lionkit, and Jaykit, please step forth. Honeykit, from this day forth, until you receive your warrior name, you will be called Honeypaw. Sandstorm, you are more than ready for another apprentice and have trained Sorreltail to be a fine warrior. I know you can do the same for Honeypaw."

"I'll do my best," Sandstorm murmured as she touched noses with the nervous brown she-cat.

"Poppykit, from this day forth, until you receive your warrior name, you will be called Poppypaw. Thornclaw, you are ready for another apprentice and I'm sure you'll groom Poppypaw into a fine young warrior."

"Cinderkit, from this day forth, until you receive your warrior name, you will be called Cinderpaw. Brightheart, you are more than ready for your first apprentice and I apologize for the delay. You will be Cinderpaw's mentor and I know you will train her well."

"Hollykit, from this day forth, until you receive your warrior name, you will be called Hollypaw. Brackenfur, Greystripe has trained you well and you are ready for an apprentice. You will be Hollypaw's mentor."

"I will do my best."

"Lionkit, from this day forth, until you receive your warrior name, you will be called Lionpaw. Ashfur, you've trained Birchfall into a fine warrior and I believe you will do the same with Lionpaw. You will be Lionpaw's mentor."

"Jaykit, is it my understanding that you wish to train in the ways of a medicine cat?"

"I do,"

"From this day forth, until you receive your name, you will train under Leafpool. She will teach you well and I wish you a wonderful apprentice-ship."

"Thank you, Firestar."

"Poppypaw! Honeypaw! Cinderpaw! Hollypaw! Lionpaw! Jaypaw! Poppypaw! Honeypaw! Cinderpaw! Hollypaw! Lionpaw! Jaypaw!"

The meeting broke up and the newly named apprentices went to get directions from their mentors.

"What are we doing first?" Cinderpaw asked.

"Battle practice or explore the territory?"

"Explore, please."

"Alright then, I'll show you some of the borders and we can hunt on the way."


"Is something wrong?"

"I have something I want to tell you, but I have to wait until Cinderpaw gets back." Jaypaw informed his mentor.

"Alright, meanwhile, why don't I show you the herbs?"

"Sure, I think I know some of them. I've watched you before."

"Yes, I know." Leafpool murmured softly. "Tell me what you remember."

Jaypaw rattled off the list of herbs like he was reciting his meal from the day before.

"You'll be a great medicine cat, I can feel it," Leafpool told him."

"But?"

"You're awfully close to Cinderpaw. Are you sure you don't want to be a warrior? Stormwhisker proved everyone wrong when he came to ThunderClan, and even though I didn't know him that well, he was a good cat. You can be a warrior if you want to."

"I know."

"I'm telling you because medicine cats can't take a mate or have kits. It's a part of the Code we keep for StarClan."

"Why'd you break it?"

"I loved Crowfeather, I guess I still do, but my Clan is more important to me. I couldn't abandon my family, especially when the badgers attacked and Cinderpelt died. There would've been no medicine cat."

"Do you regret coming back?"

"No. I always knew Crowfeather and I wouldn't really work out."

"Good, because I don't think I would have made it growing up rogue."

"Excuse me?" Leafpool gasped.

"Don't worry, Leafpool, you're not the first medicine cat to break the code and I'm sure you won't be the last."

"How do you know-?"

"That my siblings and I are your kits? How many black cats do you know? Or grey ones? We don't look anything like Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight, but Hollypaw still has green eyes and Lionpaw is definitely Firestar's kin. I just didn't figure it out until you mentioned Crowfeather. I didn't think about it. Don't worry, Leafpool, it'll be our secret. I won't even tell Cinderpaw. There's no point in telling the Clan now. Then we'd have no medicine cats and I like ThunderClan."

"That's not the only way you know. Who told you?"

"It goes with what I want to tell you when Cinderpaw gets back. It's a long story."

"Alright, but you're telling me as soon as she gets back."

"Of course. Do you want anything from the fresh-kill pile?"

"A mouse, please."

"I prefer squirrel, but Hollypaw hates them. Says there's too much fur. I'll be back," He told her. "and Leafpool,"

"Yes?"

"I was serious about the secret thing. I don't want you to lose what you love because you made a mistake."

"You're not-"

Jaypaw padded out of the medicine clearing, leaving Leafpool to gather her thoughts.

"You're not a mistake…"


"Cinderpaw!"

"Hi Jaypaw! Today was awesome! Brightheart showed me the territory and I got to practice my hunting skills and I actually caught something! It wasn't anything like Lionpaw but-"

"I'm sure it was just as good. You shouldn't always compare yourself to my siblings."

"I'll try," She snorted.

"You said you caught it on your first try? What was it?"

"A mouse. Barely a mouse. I caught one of the younger ones but I marked the nest so some other cat could hunt there when the little mice get older. Brightheart said it was a great idea and that she wouldn't have thought of it that way. I think she was just trying to make me feel better."

"You caught the mouse and you pointed out a great hunting spot for the future. That's more than most cats would expect."

"So how did your first day go?" She asked, noticing that he'd been leading her toward the medicine den.

"I learned a lot of herbs, but I knew some of them from when I watched Leafpool before. We talked as we worked, though, and there are a few things I want to tell you, but I'd need Leafpool's permission and you have to promise you won't tell a soul."

"Like with my dreams,"

"Yeah… I told Leafpool I wanted to tell her something but I needed you to say yes first. I think she might be able to help you."

"Or think I'm crazy and get Firestar to kick me out of the Clan."

"He wouldn't do that," The grey tom snorted. "He'd be losing future Clanmates over something important. Your dreams could be warnings, and your connection is something special. StarClan didn't intend for it to work out this way but the others had a paw in it. They didn't expect him to reconsider his actions after you were born."

"Good point," She mused. "You really like this, don't you?"

"Yeah, it's great. Like I said, I just don't like the idea of fighting other cats, knowing they could die at my paws."

"Me neither. I'm going to be the best hunter in the Clan, like Sandstorm."

"Thank you, Jaypaw," Leafpool murmured around the mouse he dropped at her paws.

"You promised you wouldn't tell anyone."

"She's a medicine cat."

"I highly doubt that she could do anything short of giving me a poppy seed and telling me to get more sleep. Then she would go to Firestar and tell him everything and then they would go to the Moonpool and StarClan still wouldn't have the answers and you would have wasted time and I'd still get kicked out of the Clan. Just… no. I can't do that. I'd rather wait until something happens."

"Like what, you die? If Leafpool and Firestar really thought you were crazy then Leafpool would have told Firestar that something's up because we've given her enough as it is."

"Fox-dung!" She cursed.

"Exactly."

"You won't tell anyone what we were talking about, will you? It's really important that no one knows."

"If you say so…" The medicine cat was obviously confused.

"Good, problem solved. Go hunt or something before some cat figures out you're not helping the Clan."

"Thanks, Jaypaw, I knew I could count on you." Cinderpaw licked his ear and raced out of the clearing.

"You like her, don't you."

"Don't bother; Nothing's going to happen. We've talked about it already."

"When? You only just became apprentices."

"We just did, okay? Can we not talk about this now? What don't I know that I should?"

Mother and son worked the rest of the day. Leafpool continued to quiz Jaypaw on what he knew already and made him recite herbs until he could recognize them by scent like the back of his paws. They were going to use his lack of sight as an advantage.

"Why don't we take a break? You can go get something to eat and talk with your siblings."

"You'll be okay, right?"

"Of course, Jaypaw. Go ahead."


Leafpool watched her youngest race across the camp to find his siblings. Hollypaw smiled and licked his forehead and Lionpaw batted his ear. The three of them ate happily as they revealed news of their day.

"Are you going to be okay?" Her sister's voice snapped her gaze away from her kits.

"I'll be just fine." The medicine cat assured her.

"Does Jaypaw know?"

"He figured it out on his own, with help from StarClan, I guess, but he knows. I think you should tell Brambleclaw."

"I already did. I'm sorry Leafpool, but I just couldn't keep it from him. He would've found out anyway and I'd rather have him in on the secret and able to help then to find out later and blame it on them. We'll need him on our side if this ever gets out."

"Fair point… sometimes I wish I'd never met Crowfeather, but then I look at those three… I can't regret them."


"So what'd you do today?" Jaypaw, Hollypaw and Lionpaw sat by the apprentice den as they ate.

"Ashfur took me for battle training and I beat Molepaw!"

"You beat Molepaw in the nursery." Jaypaw deadpanned. "How is this any different?"

"Because now he can't say he's the best anymore because I beat him."

"Sure, Lionpaw. What have you been doing, Hollypaw?"

"Brackenfur took me hunting with Brightheart and Cinderpaw. She caught a mouse, in case you didn't know. I would've caught a squirrel if it hadn't run away at the last second."

"That's pretty cool." Jaypaw mewed wistfully.

"We'll take you into the forest one day, Jaypaw. It'll be just the four of us."

"Four?" Lionpaw looked confused.

"Cinderpaw is coming too, mouse-brain."

Lionpaw rolled his eyes and the three continued to eat in comfortable silence.

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