Allegiances
BirdClan
Leader: Brackenstar, light brown and yellow tabby she-cat with amber eyes
Deputy: Blackfall, large black tom with yellow eyes
Medicine Cats:
Yellowdust, old light yellow tabby tom with green eyes
Sparrowheart, dark brown tabby she-cat with white underbelly and paws with blue eyes
SquirrelClan
Leader: Sagestar, very light gray she-cat with yellow eyes
Deputy: Graypatch, dark gray tom with lighter patches
RabbitClan
Leader: Littlestar, small light brown tabby tom with brown eyes
Deputy: Shelltail, cream-colored she-cat with green eyes
Peaceful Life:
Leader: Gray Stone, skinny gray tom with yellow eyes
Second In Command: Silent Stream, gray-blue she-cat with warm blue eyes
Hunters:
(Only mentioning those with appearances in this chapter)
Twilight's Song, light gray-and-black tabby tom with dark blue eyes
Sweet Rose, small orange-and-white she-cat with green eyes
Rising Sun, large yellow she-cat with blue eyes
Tall Tree, tall brown tabby tom with green eyes
Hunters-In-Training
Shadepaw, smoky-gray almost-black tabby tom with green eyes
Winterpaw, pure white tom with ice-blue eyes and hardly visible, light gray spots on his back
Foxpaw, orange-and-red she-kit with green eyes and black paws
Lightning, white tom with amber eyes
Lily, light yellow she-cat with green eyes
Shine, beautiful silver she-cat with brown eyes
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry, I've been really busy lately, but I decided it had been long enough since the last chapter was put out. Sorry this one is a bit short, I promise the next one will be longer and more exciting)
Finally, I have an actual home. It may not be a Clan, but it's close enough, Winterpaw thought. He glanced at his siblings, Foxpaw and Shadepaw. Shadepaw was looking around smiling, but Foxpaw seemed to be deep in thought, and her thoughts seemed troubled. He would ask her about it later. Until we can go be part of a real Clan, I'm going to live the most Clanish life possible here. It's going to be great.
"I guess you're with us now," Lightning's voice broke Winterpaw from his thoughts. The tom's voice sounded bitter as if to say, "Ugh, I guess I'm going to have to deal with you now," but Winerpaw could sense happiness from Lightning. He likes me, but he wants to seem as though he doesn't so that he can seem "cool".
"Are you the only other appren-I mean H.I.T in Peaceful Life right now?" Shadepaw's voice sounded behind him.
"No," Lightning seemed annoyed, but not at them. "I wish you guys were the only other hunters-in-training , but that's not true. The two others are named Lily and Shine, and they're sisters, and they're super annoying, and I think Shine has a huge crush on me, and she's even more annoying then Lily, and..." Lightning continued his rant for a while until he finished with, "And now finally you two are here and I don't have to live with just Annoying She-Cat Number One and Annoying She-Cat Number Two. Oh, but here comes Annoying She-Cat Number Three." Winterpaw turned to see that Foxpaw was approaching them. He immeadiatley became defensive and flattened his ears.
"Foxpaw's not that bad!" he spat.
"Maybe not to you, she's your sister, after all, but almost every she-cat I meet is annoying," Lightning retorted. Just then, Foxpaw bounded towards them and came into earshot.
"Gray Stone told me there are two other hunters-in-training here. Can we meet them?" Foxpaw was excited, with no hint of the anxiety Winterpaw had sensed from her a few minutes earlier.
"They're out training with Rising Sun and Tall Tree but they'll be back soon," Lightning snorted. "Anyways, I don't think you want to meet them."
"Huh? Why's that?" Foxpaw was oblivious.
"You'll see." I thought he would want Foxpaw to become friends with Shine and Lily so that he stick with us and keep away from her. Why does he want her with us all the sudden? Winterpaw wondered. "Wait!" he blurted. "Mentors! Your father forgot to give us mentors!"
"Mentors?" Lightning blinked. "What are mentors?"
"Y-you know, like, the cats who train the H. ? Isn't each H.I.T assigned a warrior-I mean a hunter to train them?" Winterpaw meowed quickly. He didn't want his Clanlike experience to be ruined! He needed a mentor! He just needed one!
"No, that must be some Clan thing," Lightning explained. "How it works here is the second-in-command, or in this case, Silent Stream, decided which apprentices will go out for training and when, and she chooses which cat will train them that day. Like, today, Silent Stream assigned Tall Tree to train Lily, but yesterday, Autmn's Leaf was the one who trained Lily. And later today I'm going to go out and train with Autmn's Leaf."
"Okay then," Winterpaw answered, trying to hide his disappointment.
"Cool!" Shadepaw exclaimed. "That sounds much better than training with the same old cat each day."
Lightning flicked his tail and nodded. "Yeah. I can't imagine what having one single "mentor" must be like. I would hate that!" Winterpaw's shoulder's drooped. I thought I was going to fit in best among my siblings! But instead it seems like I'm the worst, he thought, while another side of his mind scolded, No! Not today, Winterpaw! You're are NOT going to get all upset over this one little thing! Just let it go! Forget about it! Winterpaw forced a smile as a light yellow she-cat and another silver she-cat came into the camp, along with the two cats who were probably Tall Tree and Rising Sun.
"Who are they?" Shine stared at Winterpaw, Shadepaw, and Foxpaw and smiled, while Lily loomed over them suspiciously. "What's going on? Gray Stone, what are these cats doing here? Th-they smell like BirdClan!" Lily suddenly backed away from them, afraid.
"They are runaways from BirdClan who are coming to join us," Gray Stone meowed calmly. "I expect you to treat them just as well as you would treat any other hunter-in-training. They do, however, have Clan apprentice names. Meet Foxpaw, Winterpaw, and Shadepaw."
Shine looked pleased, but Lily wrinkled her nose. "I'll be keeping a close eye on you," she glared at the three of them and trudged off into the hunters-in-training den. I can respect Lily for that. I sure wouldn't trust some new cats coming from the enemy's side came to join my group, especially if I hadn't been there to witness the scene go down. But Shine...she seems a little...too friendly. It's weird. She's being so nice, and yet there's something...off about her kindness.
"Silent Stream," Gray Stone announced, "You will take all three of the newcomers to train and teach them how everything works around here. Got it?"
"Of course," Silent Stream nodded respectfully to her mate and led Winterpaw and his siblings out of the camp.
Well, Winterpaw thought, I guess it's time to find out whether or not this was a total mistake.
