The breeze whispered through the trees, bringing a moment of coolness in the hot summer. The camp was alive with the bustling of cats and the rush to go to their patrols.
The sun blinded Nightpaw's eye momentarily as she struggled to wake up. The black she-cat stretched and padded out of apprentices' den, waving her tail in greeting as she padded up to her mentor, Brambleclaw. The ThunderClan deputy had finished with the patrols and was ready to train with his apprentice. Nightpaw had been an apprentice for a few days now, along with her brother Snowpaw. She had been described as the bossiest of the litter, while Snowpaw had been told he was "the shadow of her sister". Snowpaw had found trouble hunting, and decided he was destined to be a medicine cat, with his kin, Jayfeather, teaching him the ways of StarClan.
Brambleclaw mewed to her, "We're going on patrol with Hazeltail and Cherrypaw by the ShadowClan border. Please... please do not cause a fight, Nightpaw. Do you promise me?"
Nightpaw sighed. "I promise." Last time, on patrol at WindClan, she had picked a fight with a WindClan apprentice named Furzepaw and almost won until Brambleclaw had to practically drag her off of the WindClan cat so they wouldn't cause more trouble.
"Okay, good." Brambleclaw mewed as Cherrypaw and Hazeltail approached. Cherrypaw glanced at Nightpaw, a friendly gleam in her eyes before bounding after Hazeltail and Brambleclaw. Cherrypaw and Molepaw's warrior ceremony was today, and Cinderheart's litter of kits was tomorrow. No one knew who the father of Flamekit and Featherkit were, though. Nightpaw was lucky that she had such caring parents. Lionblaze and Icecloud were very caring and supportive to her, Snowpaw and Fogpaw. Every cat knew that Lionblaze was the best fighter in the Clan, and his three kits had a lot to impress their Clan with.
The cats weaved through the forest skillfully until they reached the ShadowClan border. To Nightpaw's surprise, a patrol was already there, with Rowanclaw, Blackstar and a small, golden tabby she-cat with darker golden spots going along her flank and bright green eyes. The she-cat looked a bit younger than Nightpaw, but had the fluffy look of an apprentice.
"Greetings, Rowanclaw, Blackstar." Brambleclaw mewed, dipping his head respectfully. Hazeltail and Thornclaw followed, and the ShadowClan and ThunderClan cats looked at Nightpaw expectantly. Awkwardly, Nightpaw bowed her head to the ShadowClan leader.
"Nice to see you here." Blackstar growled, not sounding so happy to see the ThunderClan cats at the border. "We're just marking our border here."
The mottled apprentice took a step forward, her eyes flashing. "I can't smell the border, Blackstar." She mewed, her eyes wide. "It's only ShadowClan scent. Have the ThunderClan cats gone by the border?"
The other ThunderClan cats stayed calm, while Nightpaw unsheathed her claws. What an annoying kiss-up apprentice!
"Yes, Cheetahpaw, I can't smell their stink either." Rowanclaw growled, glaring at Nightpaw.
Brmableclaw looked down and opened his jaws. "Actually, we're standing on our border." He narrowed his eyes at the apprentice. "We haven't marked this border in a bit, so I understand your concerns of not smelling our scent."
Blackstar nodded. "Well observed, Cheetahpaw." He meowed, marking the border. The cat called Cheetahpaw nodded, and shot a triumphant glare at Nightpaw that seemed to say, "I'm better than you." Nightpaw snarled, scraping her claws against the grass.
Brambleclaw shot her a warning glance. "Don't." He mouthed.
Rowanclaw glared at the ThunderClan cats. "Keep your cats under control." He growled. "We don't want a fight here, it's not our fault our apprentice just proved the noble ThunderClan cats wrong."
Cherrypaw followed Nightpaw and unsheathed her claws. Cheetahpaw, from the other side, glared at the two defiantly. Nightpaw noticed that Cheetahpaw's eyes were the same color as her's, the same shade of emerald green. Nightpaw dismissed the thought, and guessed that all cats with green eyes had eyes like that, but staring at Cheetahpaw was like staring at her shadow. The two she-cats had the same length tail, the same face shape, and the same build. At the same time, they both crouched to the ground and waved their tail, ready to pounce.
"Nightpaw, please." Brambleclaw mewed, padding over to his apprentice. "Don't let them get to you. They're trying to provoke you..."
"Cherrypaw, you too. Get back here. We don't want to fight, especially when their Clan leader and deputy are present." Hazeltail backed up Brambleclaw, her tail flicked irritably.
"Yeah." Cheetahpaw mewed. "You can't lay a claw on me, you ThunderClan losers!"
Nightpaw turned on her. "Try me. I could claw you any day, with your leader and deputy here or not!" Not waiting for a response, the black she-cat turned around and followed her mentor and the other cats to the ThunderClan camp.
"I'm proud of you." Brambleclaw mewed. "You did well to keep your anger down. You could've shredded that obnoxious apprentice one-pawed, though."
"I know." Nightpaw growled, angry that she didn't fight the annoying apprentice. Cherrypaw nervously padded over to the apprentices' den, where Molepaw was waiting for her, his tail flicking. Hazeltail and Brambleclaw whisked off to the leader's den, where they would report to Firestar about the patrol.
"Hey, Nightpaw." Hawkpaw's mew sounded behind her. Nightpaw turned around to find the dark brown tabby skipping up to her. "What's up?" His amber eyes were sympathetic. Hawkpaw was a bit younger than Nightpaw, and his sister had been taken away by a fox when she was nearly a kit. Hawkpaw had been lonely, and had made friends with Snowpaw, although the tom was a medicine cat apprentice. Molepaw and Cherrypaw kept to themselves because they were annoying to every other cat.
Nightpaw shook her head and sighed. "Nothing. I almost got in a fight with some obnoxious ShadowClan apprentice, but I didn't fight her back."
"That's good." Hawkpaw mewed, his eyes glowing.
As he was talking, Snowpaw scurried over to the two apprentices, his eyes wide and ears flattened. "Hi." he mewed shakily.
"Did Jayfeather yell at you or something?" Nightpaw asked her brother, sympathy brimming in her eyes.
"Oh, you saw?" Snowpaw meowed. "Well, I just mixed up the stores a bit, I put tansy in the yarrow pile. It's nothing really, but Jayfeather was in a really bad mood so he got angry." Snowpaw's green eyes looked concerned. "He never yells at me. It's probably nothing... I have to go get some more tansy. See you later." He scurried out of camp, his eyes wide.
"Wonder what that was about." Hawkpaw muttered. "Hey, Foxleap's taking me out on a hunting patrol, you want to come? The sun's still high, and Brambleclaw looks busy..." Brambleclaw was deep in discussion with Firestar. "You can just go ask him. Even though it's newleaf the prey's still not fully out yet."
Nightpaw nodded in agreement. "Sure." she mewed to her friend and bounded off to Brambleclaw. Hawkpaw was her kin because Dovewing was his mother, Bumblestripe his father, and Lionblaze was Nightpaw's father. Technically, Hawkpaw was Nightpaw's cousin.
"Brambleclaw, can I go on a hunting patrol?" asked Nightpaw, muttering an "excuse me" before talking. Brambleclaw's eyes softened, and he nodded.
"Remember to be back for Cherrypaw and Molepaw's ceremonies!" he yowled as the black she-cat sprinted away.