New chappie, by me, Dewfrost, peeps! What if Cinderpelt wasn't caught in Tigerstar's trap? Here's what I think...

One apprentice lay in her nest, staring upward. She could see the stars through the walls of the den. Silverpelt twinkled innocently, silently, making her wonder if her warrior anscestors truly were watching her.

Frostfur says they do, she thought, remembering the tales her mother had always told her.

"Hey Brackenpaw," she mewed to her brother. "Do you believe in StarClan?"

"Huh?" Brackenpaw snorted as he was abruptly woken up. Then he blinked as her question registered. "Of course I do, Cinderpaw! Every Clan cat does."

"Have you ever seen them, I mean?"

"No." The golden brown tabby shook his head, his calm, serene gaze never wavering from his sister's. "But why does that matter? The point of StarClan is to believe in them, to know that they're watching you, even when you can't see them."

She nodded. "That makes sense. Thanks, Brackenpaw."

"Why are you asking, anyway?"

"No reason. Well...lately I've been having this feeling. Like I've done something wrong. No, that's not it. It's like...like there's something I should be doing, that I'm not. Does that make sense?"

Brackenpaw started to nod, and then looked puzzled. "Not really."

Cinderpaw's whiskers drooped. "Never mind, then. Go back to sleep."

He did, and Cinderpaw was left staring up at the sky again, at the moon and Silverpelt. She didn't sleep, because every time she came close to dropping off, she was caught up in the sensation that she shouldn't be in this place at all.

&&&

Her mentor, Fireheart, scolded her the next day as they hunted through the snow. "You've usually got more energy than an angry squirrel," he meowed as she missed another easy catch. "What's wrong with you today?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "I just didn't sleep well."

His green gaze softened. "You know, Bluestar's fine," he mewed. "And Yellowfang is taking good care of the cats with greencough. Brindleface's kits will be okay."

"I know," Cinderpaw mewed. That wasn't it.

He bent and gave her fur a couple of quick licks. "I never thanked you for staying in camp that day I went out to get catnip and give Tigerclaw his message. Well done."

"Well done for staying in camp and doing nothing?" Cinderpaw meowed incredulously.

"Well done for following orders. Like a warrior," he meowed proudly, and then fell into the hunting crouch again. Cinderpaw padded behind him, her head tipped to the side as she absorbed the praise in his words, as well as the confusion that still swam round her in a haze.

Fireheart said I did well...so why does it feel like I didn't?

&&&

When Cinderpaw returned to camp, Fireheart sent her to bring Yellowfang fresh-kill. Cinderpaw's nose wrinkled at feeding the grouchy old she-cat, but she obeyed, dragging a rabbit down into the ferns where the medicine cat's den lay.

"Yellowfang!" she called. "Fireheart told me-"

"Hush, mouse-brain!" Yellowfang's raspy mew startled her. "I've just gotten Speckletail's kit to sleep. Do you want to wake him up again?"

"Sorry," Cinderpaw meowed, and then added in an undertone, "You old furball."

"What's that?" Yellowfang hissed. "Think I'm deaf, do you? That's the trouble with young cats- they have no respect for their elders."

"I do have respect," Cinderpaw protested.

Yellowfang snorted as she turned back around. Cinderpaw picked up the rabbit again and dropped it against the split rock. She noticed Speckletail's kit, little more than a scrap of fur, huddled in his tiny nest. "Will he be all right?" she whispered, her brief anger forgotten in sorrow for the young cat.

"I don't know," Yellowfang meowed bluntly. She was pawing at some herb with her paw. Cinderpaw noticed the fragrant leaf, and her interest was sparked. "What is that?"

Yellowfang's wide orange eyes turned on her. "Why would an apprentice like you care?"

"I'm just curious," Cinderpaw meowed defiantly, though she couldn't help admiring Yellowfang's sharp tongue, and the ferocity that bristled through her fur.

Yellowfang's gaze was searching as she looked over Cinderpaw, and the younger she-cat lifted her head, waiting for her response. "It's coltsfoot," she meowed at last. "It'll help those with greencough keep off further infection."

She chewed the leaf, spitting out the pulp onto a piece of bark, which she carried over to the kit. Gently she pushed the pulp into his mouth, tipping back his head so that the juices she had released would trickle down his throat. He gave a small mewl, and then fell back asleep.

Cinderpaw watched, fascinated. Something stirred inside her, a surge of understanding that she'd never felt before. It was beyond anything she'd learned, hunting and fighting. It was something differenet.

But Yellowfang was already turning away. "Go on now," she meowed. "And thank Fireheart for having you send the fresh-kill." For a moment she stared intently at the apprentice. "You'd do well to listen to him," she commented. "He's a cat that knows what he's doing."

Cinderpaw dipped her head in agreement, reluctantly padded away with the sharp scent of herbs still lingering in her nose. The meeting had fascinated her, and for a moment that haze had cleared around her mind. She looked upward.

Silverpelt was rising again, and the stars were bright. Warriors were sharing tongues by the nettle patch, and Cinderpaw remembered how she'd dreamed of sitting there one day, the best of the warriors. Now she stood, halfway in between the nettle patch and the tunnel of ferns where Yellowfang lived. The life of a warrior stretched out in front of her, steady beneath her paws. Her future was as clear as the stars above her, on this cloudless night.

And still, as the smell of the herbs tickled under her nose, and the memory of Yellowfang's wisdom was fresh in her mind, it was all too clear that there was something she was missing.

I thought Cinderpelt was made to be a medicine cat and injury or not she'd want to be one. Anyway...

Reviews are appriciated!