Hello readers and welcome back to All That Glitters, sorry about the gap between updates, I took a break for the holidays.

Response to my only review:

Fuzzycloud (Guest) - Thank you for your review, it was really nice. I'm glad you like this story so much and the fact that you think the character's interactions are realistic makes me really happy, that was one of my goals for this story.

And without further ado I give you: Chapter four of All That Glitters!

Magpiepaw woke to the sound of raised voices, it sounded like Mittens was arguing with someone at the far end of the alley.

"I've told you time and time again, I don't want you coming near my alley anymore!" Mittens meowed, from what Magpiepaw could guess she was trying to keep her temper.

"I just don't see why Mitzy, we used to be such good friends." The speaker had a lazy, almost playful, drawl.

"Don't call me Mitzy, my name is Mittens and you know it." Mittens corrected, from the sound of it she was speaking through gritted teeth. "Now please leave, I have better things to do than talk to you."

"Have it your way Mitzy. I'll be around if you change your mind, you know where to find me!" The mysterious tom's parting words were mingled with the sound of retreating pawsteps.

Mittens soon appeared at the entrance to the box, a look of irritation still occupying her white muzzle.

"Hi Mittens." Magpiepaw greeted the black and white loner.

"Hello Magpie, nice to see you awake." Mittens replied, joining the apprentice inside the box, a tight squeeze due tot he small size of the cardboard container.

"I'm just going to check your injuries, you look healthy but you aren't out of the woods yet." Mittens said, a reproachful note in her voice.

Magpiepaw tried not to flinch as the older she cat sniffed the still painful gashes in her side. Mittens growled slightly as the little she cat fidgeted under her examining nose.

"Well, I'd prefer to be in the woods, the ones back home." Magpiepaw said, attempting to lighten the mood with a joke.

Mittens looked at her, decidedly unimpressed and somewhat disapproving, "this isn't a joke, you are seriously injured and you should understand that." She scolded.

"Sorry." Magpiepaw apologized, looking down at her paws and hoping Mittens didn't notice her scarlet ear tips.

An awkward silence filled the box as Mittens finished examining Magpiepaw's wounds until she finally raised her head.

"Well, I have good news for you kit, you're healing vey nicely and I think you'll be able to sit up without doing any damage. That doesn't mean you can go running off to the forest now, you still have a while to go before then but you can walk short distances." Mittens said, Magpiepaw did her best to contain her excitement and failed miserably.

"Yes!" She cheered, leaping to her paws and hissing in pain as the sudden motion caused her gashes to flare with pain.

"Once again, don't do anything reckless or you'll be spending extra time here, understand?" Mittens asked, fixing the jubilant apprentice in a stern glare.

"Yes Mittens, I understand. Can I go to the end of the alley now?" The small she cat asked hopefully, knowing she sounded like a kit but unable to care about something like that.

It was almost funny, she'd once been able to run through the pine groves and dense woods of Shadowclan territory and now she was excited about walking a few steps. She knew there was so much more beyond the dingy backstreet the pair occupied but she was so desperate for a change of scenery that it would have to do.

"Alright, but I'm going with you and if the wounds start hurting again you have to tell me, deal?"

"Deal!" Magpiepaw agreed, she would have bounced ahead of the tuxedo loner but her legs were stiff from inactivity.

The pair started off down the alley, Magpiepaw hobbling along like an elder in Leafbare and Mittens padding evenly at her side offering support when needed.

"Hey Mittens, who were you talking to earlier?" Magpiepaw asked, reminded by an unfamiliar scent she assumed belonged to the stranger.

"You heard that?" Mittens asked, whirling around to face the apprentice; who wobbled at the sudden loss of her crutch, anger sparking in her green eyes.

"Just the end of it, I was just curious." Magpiepaw said, stepping away from the angry she cat.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you." Mittens apologized, backing away fro the black patched she cat. "As for that tom, he's just another cat who lives around here, we don't get along very well."

Magpiepaw guessed that she wouldn't get much more out of the loner and decided to switch to a safer topic.

"When do you think I'll be able to hunt? I hate loafing around and eating your food and not doing anything in return." Magpiepaw said, her health was a nice, safe thing to talk about and she was genuinely curious.

"Not for a little while but it isn't far off, it'll be nice when you can hunt for yourself instead of me having do twice the work I usually do with no extra gain." Mittens grumbled.

By then they had reached the mouth of the alley, Magpiepaw found that, despite the short distance, she was rather out of breath and sat down on the cold stones. Mittens gave her a knowing look and beckoned the apprentice over to a puddle of rainwater with her white tipped tail. Magpiepaw shot the loner a grateful look before plunging her muzzle into the cool water, quenching a thirst she hadn't been aware of previously.

Having drunk her fill the white and black she cat sat up and surveyed the view from the mouth of the alley. The area directly in front of her wasn't much to look at, just some tumbled down twoleg nests, but beyond that was the incredible view she remembered from her first foray down the alley. Spread out before her was a sea of red-roofed twoleg nests stretching for what seemed like miles before giving way to the distant forest.

Mittens purred with amusement at the apprentice's open mouth, gently flicking Magpiepaw's chin with her tail, "close your mouth, you'll catch flies." She said with a laugh, Magpiepaw snapped her mouth shut with an audible click.

"Well I did want to hunt!" The black spotted she cat joked timidly, the frosty reception of her last joke still fresh in her mind.

She was delighted to hear Mittens laugh again, a clear pealing sound that seemed to ring out across the endless sea of twoleg nests. Magpiepaw found herself idly wondering if her clan would hear her if she called loud enough.

"Magpie? Earth to Magpie!" Mittens called in her ear, waving her tail in front of the apprentice's vacant face.

"Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts." Magpiepaw apologized, waiting for a reprimand from the black and white she cat.

To her surprise the she cat responded in kinder tone than she'd expected, "No need to apologize for thinking, what were you thinking about?" She asked.

Magpiepaw felt her face grow warm and she dipped her gaze to her paws, "nothing, it's silly." She muttered.

"I'm sure it isn't, tell me, I promise not to make fun of you." Mittens pressed.

Ducking her head, Magpiepaw confessed her thoughts, "I was wondering if my clan could hear me if I yelled really loud."

Mittens, true to her word, did not make fun of the apprentice; instead she burst out laughing, soon joined by Magpiepaw's own good-natured laughter.

The two she cats sat together, laughing and talking for quite a while before they headed back to the box at he end of the alley.