The next day flew by, I having just woken up before the first assessment. It was not difficult for any of us three apprentices to pass our first assessment. Sparrowpelt said that Whiskerpaw and I needed to practice the more complicated moves a bit, but we had a long time to perfect them.

Hunting was easy, too. My very-tabby coat, though an unusual color, helped me blend into the foliage and hide from the prey. Whiskerpaw was barely detectable among the snow. Stormpaw ran too heavily, but the soft power helped muffle his hasty steps. My brother and I would help him remember to be light on his feet in the moons we had left to train before our final assessments.

The morning after that I was set to attend the dawn patrol. Shadepaw woke me up and the two of us headed towards the waiting warriors. Those were Duskfall, Nightwing, and Shadowfox.

As soon as we had arrived Shadowfox asked, "Where are we patrolling, Nightwing?"

"I have to go and ask Sparrowpelt." The senior warrior reported. "He's been in the nursery all night."

The black tom flicked his tail to signal he would be right back, and then turned and loped towards the nursery. I asked cheerfully, "Did Tinybird start her kitting?" It would explain why Whitepaw had been gone this early morning.

"Yes, shortly after the moon began to sink." Duskfall answered through a purr. She was a good friend with Tinybird. I would imagine she'd be pleased to know the new kits were on the way.

"Why does kitting take so long?" Shadepaw wondered out loud, her curious amber eyes bright. Both of us looked at the she-cats for an answer. Shadowfox even glanced towards Duskfall. Having never had a litter of her own, it was understandable that she didn't know.

"Sometimes it just takes a while. Once the first kit arrives the process is rather swift," Duskfall answered patiently.

Her brother reappeared a moment later and announced, "Sparrowpelt says we should check out the barn." He trotted towards the ravine a moment later. Duskfall and Firepaw quickly joined him and the three began a different conversation.

Shadowfox and I stayed a few tail-lengths behind. I asked hopefully, "Do you think we'll get to fight some rats?"

"Perhaps," She answered simply.

"I hope so," I admitted, flicking my tail from side to side with eagerness. I'd never gotten to fight anything before. Nothing that was an actual threat to the clan's safety.

I felt my eyes widen a little in surprise when my mentor fixed me with a very stern look. "Tawnypaw, you should never want to risk your safety unless it's necessary."

I narrowed my eyes at her and challenged, "But we have to protect the clan, don't we? It's part of the warrior code!"

I was feeling very confused by the turn this conversation had taken. Why shouldn't I want to fight with the rats? They were our only real enemy. They had taken SkyClan out once---and they had tried a second time. They were dangerous. Everything that posed a danger to my clan mates had to be eliminated.

I had thought so, at least.

"The warrior code states only that we must defend the clan," She reminded me patiently. "It does not ask us to look for trouble."

I fell silent and looked away from her, feeling myself start to get a little broody. What was the point in having so many warriors, battle ready and expertly trained, if all we were going to do was sit around and wait for danger to catch us off guard?

Shadowfox nudged my shoulder and asked in good humor, "Are you going to start sulking now?"

"No." I answered instantly, possibly a bit sharper than what an acceptable tone for an apprentice to speak to a warrior could be. I was not sulking. I was brooding. There was a difference.

"Why don't you get the thorn out of your foot, Tawnypaw?" Shadepaw interjected, sounding annoyed. "Just because you're too mouse-brained to understand the warrior code still doesn't mean you need to get offended when your mentor explains it to you."

I snapped my head up, aggression surging forward and making my hackles rise. "Why don't you stop trying to act like a warrior when you're barely an apprentice?"

"Tawnypaw," Shadowfox warned quietly, her sharp golden-brown eyes flashing with disapproval. She had learned quickly, and been reminded often, that I had quite a short temper sometimes. Shadepaw had been rubbing my fur the wrong way for the last three days!

Shadepaw snorted. "Typical kittypet reaction, getting defensive for no reason."

I halted my walk abruptly, feeling my coat fluff out in rage. I yowled, "What did you just call me?" Who was she to talk? Our own deputy and future leader had been born as a house cat!

"Well your mom came from Twoleg Place, didn't she?" She asked acidly. "And wasn't Sagefur born in a Twoleg nest?"

My claws unsheathed and I snarled, "Duskfall and Rockslide were not born in the clan, either!"

"They were rogues when they were found," she argued, turning to face me. "They have real warrior blood in them, like Leafstar."

My loud wail of fury split through the silent dawn air as I launched myself at Shadepaw. She hissed in shock as we tumbled over, rolling a few feet before falling motionless. Spitting, Shadepaw raked her claws across my cheek. I winced at the burn that seared on my face, but ignored it for the most part.

The blood rushing in my ears deafened me to the angry shouts of the warriors. I easily knocked the smaller she-cat onto her back, biting down into her shoulder hard enough to make her squeal.

A heavy, sheathed paw cracked me in the head and knocked me over. Nightwing loomed in between Shadepaw and I, his eyes burning with anger. He didn't say anything. He didn't have to say anything. Both of us instinctively shrank away from the large tom's blazing glare.

I caught sight of the other warriors. Duskfall just shook her head a little bit. She was used to Shadepaw causing trouble---she did it all the time as a kit. Shadowfox looked possibly the very farthest thing possible from amused.

"You stay by me," Nightwing ordered as he nudged me forward. Apparently he had decided that I would be less confrontational if I was in front of Shadepaw and not forced to look at her. I rolled onto my paws and stalked beside him, feeling myself get testier with each step that I took.

Why would Shadepaw have a problem with my kittypet linage? Half of the clan shared it with me. Sparrowpelt, Cherrytail, Petalnose; all of their kin. My mother and uncle, Briarclaw and Thornfang, may have been discovered in Twoleg place but so were a lot of others.

I decided that I would ask Whitepaw when we returned to the camp. Perhaps he would know why it bothered his sister so much.

Whitepaw was with Whiskerpaw when the patrol returned. Skykit, Acornkit, and Shortkit were with the two toms at the shallow end of the river. Skykit and Acornkit were splashing around the inch-deep water while Shortkit was listening to Whiskerpaw recount the story of the time we saw a fox.

He was exaggerating, of course. The two of us had been out in the forest with Sparrowpelt, who was his mentor. We were practicing tree climbing when a very sharp and unfamiliar scent had been carried by on the wind. Sparrowpelt had swiftly nudged us behind some bracken and told us to be silent.

We barely saw the fox as it decided to turn the other direction and peruse what we thought was a vole. We were sent back to the clan to tell some of the warriors to find Sparrowpelt and help chase it off.

Of course, Whiskerpaw wasn't going to tell it that way. This version was hyped-up with a near-death experience tossed in.

I rolled up eyes but ignored the two of them. I sat down beside Whitepaw instead. He turned his attention onto me and asked, "Patrol not go well?"

"What makes you ask?" I inquired suspiciously. How could he know that?

"You're fur is ruffled and you smell aggressive," he answered me, turning his watchful eye back onto the playing kits. His ears perked in alarm when Acornkit shoved the smaller tom onto his back in the water. An instant later the medicine-cat-to-be relaxed because Skykit sprang onto his paws.

Whoa, observant much?

"Your sister started a fight with me," I answered, frustration with the whole situation making me take my anger out on poor Whitepaw. "I wasn't even talking to her and she started saying bad things about my parents!"

Whiskerpaw's voice suddenly disappeared, and I saw him glance my direction with wide eyes. He rather liked the fiery young she-cat. He looked just as shocked to hear what Shadepaw had done as I felt when it happened.

"What did she say?" Whitepaw asked neutrally.

"She called me a kittypet!" I spat, feeling hostility bubbling inside of my chest again as I watched the gray she-cat slinking about on the other side of the camp.

"But a lot of us have kittypet roots!" Shortkit squeaked, his eyes as wide as full moons. See, even the kits knew how horribly unfair it was for Shadepaw to say something like that! Both Shortkit's mother and his father had come from the town. Hutch still lived there!

"Shadepaw doesn't mean you any harm." Whitepaw's voice roused me from my moment of mental-ranting. "I'm sure she was not looking for a fight over it. She isn't used to being with cats that will fight back."

His eyes locked onto mine and he smiled a little. I felt his calm and non-accusing demeanor allowing me to relax considerably. He purred gently, "Shadepaw tries too hard to be loyal to the clan; that is her biggest fault."

"That's a fault?" Skykit asked wondrously. Both he and Acornkit had gathered to hear us talking.

Whitepaw smiled down at them. "No cat can deny loyalty is necessary for clan life, kits, but there is a certain point that we can cross when it comes to loyalty. It is a thin and murky line."

They glanced at each other in confusion. I too was having trouble comprehending that exactly that meant. Maybe that was his intention, just to prove how sketchy things like this could be. That was a smart move, did it happen to be his actual intention.

He decided to elaborate for the little ones. "If I asked you what you think being loyal means, what would you answer?"

"Defending the clan!" Skykit answered.

"And taking care of the elders and sick cats first," Shortkit added.

"Respecting boundaries and prey," Acornkit gave as her contribution.

Whiskerpaw even engaged himself in the story by tacking on, "Obeying Leafstar's orders."

Whitepaw nodded. "Right, all of you. All of those examples are part of the warrior code."

"The code only says a warrior must reject the soft life of a kittypet," I pointed out harshly. "It never says we can't have once been kittypets."

Whitepaw flicked his ear towards me to indicate he acknowledged my protest, but he didn't look away from the kits. He continued speaking instead. "What line can we cross, kits, which would be pushing these laws too far?"

All five of us were now giving him our full attention. I felt like I was listening to the wisdom of the oldest elder, rather than a freshly made apprentice.

"If a warrior kills a trespasser, have they crossed a line?" He asked us. "If the clan is starving and we choose to feed a queen before an ill warrior, is that also okay? What if we had to steal prey from a kittypet garden to feed the clan? What if we had to disobey an order from Leafstar for the good of the entire clan?"

Now I understood the point of this. We were allowed to kill trespassers if we had to. We were supposed to make the decisions to put a kit ahead of everything else. Sometimes food needed to be taken from wherever we could get it. Sometimes the clan as a whole was more important than any single member.

And it was all okay with the warrior code, but that didn't make it right.

The kittens seemed terribly confused. They would have to get a little bit older to understand such complex and no-win questions.

Whitepaw purred at them, "Nevermind. Just remember that sometimes certain things are more important than others." He glanced at my brother and asked, "Whiskerpaw, why don't you take them back to their mothers?"

My bother nodded once. He may have been older than Whitepaw, but Whitepaw was training to be a medicine cat. Not the most powerful member of the clan, but by far the most honored and respected. It was just a learned behavior, to be obedient towards the cats closest to StarClan.

My brother herded the kits away. Whitepaw glanced at me and asked, "Do you understand what I meant now, Tawnypaw?"

I realized that I did. He was asking me not to be angry with his sister over her unwarranted rudeness. She was only trying to stay loyal to what she had been taught since she was Skykit's age. She was trying so hard, that she was willing to prosecute clan-born cats with "tainted" blood.

With two parents and a mentor that were all ex-rogues, I didn't see her changing her mind anytime soon. Whitepaw didn't seem to think so either, because his kind eyes were soft with pre-needed apology for Shadepaw's behavior.

I sensed this sudden shame inside of him, and licked his shoulder briskly. I tried to be upbeat. "Hey, don't look so dejected. You can't control what Shadepaw's heart makes her do."

He looked up at me somewhat adoringly. I felt my fur shiver a little from the intensity in his eyes. He asked, "Will you come herb collecting with me? Echosong needs borage, and I can't carry enough back for her."

"Sure," I accepted. "Just let me tell Shadowfox where I'm going. She is already unhappy with me; I don't think she'd appreciate it if I disappeared."

Whitepaw nodded. "I'll wait at the fallen log."

I trotted nearer to the cliffside, where the dens were located. I felt a little spark of intimidation as I neared my mentor. She was with her brother Tigereye and my aunt Mintleaf. Three of the fiercest cats in the clan together at one time just settled wrong with us young apprentices.

I put on a brave face and loped over to them, dipping my head respectfully. I asked, "Shadowfox, can I go herb collecting with Whitepaw? He wanted some help."

"Is his sister going as well?" she asked, referring to Shadepaw.

"No, it's just us," I answered immediately.

"Just you two?" Tigereye echoed, sounding worried. He turned his attention onto his sister. "The hard winter will be driving badgers out of their dens with hunger. Can she protect Whitepaw alone if they run into one?"

"Why not send Firepaw with her?" Mintleaf suggested to Shadowfox, nodding towards Firepaw as he exited the apprentice's den from sleeping in late. "He is nearly a warrior, and Nightwing speaks highly of his fighting skills."

"And Nightwing doesn't speak highly of anything," Tigereye added with a snort.

"Fine," my mentor agreed. "Ask Firepaw to come with you, Tawnypaw, and then you may go."

"Thank you, Shadowfox!" I smiled cheerfully as I turned away from the warriors and caught up with Firepaw. I explained the mission to him, and we joined up with Whitepaw.

Serious about everything, Firepaw walked in front of us like a bodyguard from possible danger. I walked beside Whitepaw, surprised when he brushed his flank lightly against mine as we searched for the leaves he needed.

I didn't move away from his friendly gesture, though. I liked Whitepaw; he was fast becoming the same friend-material Orangepaw was. And it was a little obvious he thought the same of me. No harm ever came out of friendship, even if one would be harder with a medicine cat.

I had never been bothered by a challenge before.