Swiftpaw woke up from his dreamless sleep. Dawn light was pouring into the den. He looked beside him to see that Brightpaw was still asleep. He got up and shook his mossy pelt. He could feel the morning chill from inside the warm den. Swiftpaw looked towards Brightpaw, warm loving thoughts engulfing him. Oh Brightpaw.

Something made him jump. Our assessment! It's today! We will become warriors! Swiftpaw decided that he should awake Brightpaw. He stepped towards her, only to be interrupted by a sound behind him.

He turned to see Cloudtail looking at him with clouded eyes.

"Good to see that you're up Swiftpaw." Cloudtail meowed briskly.

"You as well," Swiftpaw said plainly. He saw that not only was there hatred in Cloudtail's eyes, but also hurt and wanting. Swiftpaw became confused. Why was Cloudtail so weird lately? Cloudtail was acting as if he had stolen something from him.

"I should be going now for me and Brightpaw's assessment now." Swiftpaw said.

"May StarClan light you and Brightpaw's path." Cloudtail said before stalking out of the gorse tunnel.

"Swiftpaw, who were you talking to?" he heard a voice murmur behind him. He looked to see Brightpaw's head lifted from her nest looking at him.

"Just saying hi to Cloudtail," Swiftpaw replied coolly.

"Oh, ok." Brightpaw got up and shook her pelt which was full of moss. Some of it fell onto Swiftpaw.

"Hey!" Swiftpaw yelled playfully; he swat at Brightpaw. She dodged them swiftly. Brightpaw crouched down and backed out of the den. Swiftpaw leapt after her into the chilly clearing. She tried to cuff him on the ears, but he ducked out of the way and snuck up behind her and snatched her tail.

She whipped around to paw at him but only to be intervened by Whitestorm, who walked up behind her.

"It seems you two are ready?" Whitestorm asked as Longtail walked up beside him.

"You bet we are!" Brightpaw bounced around him excitedly.

"And Swiftpaw, up, at dawn? What an interesting day it's going to be!" Whitestorm suppressed a mrow of laughter.

"What are we waiting for then?" Swiftpaw raced for the gorse tunnel.

"Wait for me!" Brightpaw yowled from behind. Swiftpaw raced out of the gorse tunnel and skidded to a halt to wait for the rest.

"Swiftpaw, wait right there!" Longtail ordered. He trotted out of the gorse tunnel and over to Swiftpaw. He continued,

"Whitestorm and I have been talking, and we've decided that you will take your assessment tomorrow because of your wound." Swiftpaw tried to look at his scratch, but he could only see the corner of the cobwebs. Are you mouse-brained? Swiftpaw yowled angrily in his mind.

"But you can't Longtail! He has to take it with me so we can be warriors together!" Brightpaw wailed. Swiftpaw noticed that Whitestorm gave her a disapproving look.

"Yeah, how is that fair? I can do the assessment! I won't reopen it, I promise!" Swiftpaw pleaded. Swiftpaw was anxious and worried. How can Longtail even think about doing this! He wasn't going to let anything stop him from becoming a warrior.

"I don't want to hear it, Swiftpaw. This is hard enough for me. You will not take the assessment today; you will take it when you are better!" Longtail hissed. Swiftpaw's eyes were wide with shock. He glanced over at Brightpaw to see her paws frozen in place.

"Let's go." Whitestorm took Brightpaw up the ravine. She glanced once more over to Swiftpaw; her eyes filled with sorrow, and then disappeared over the top. Swiftpaw starred at Longtail.

"How could you do this? I'm perfectly capable of doing the assessment today-"Longtail silenced him with his long tail.

"Bluestar would like to speak with you, and then you will understand." Swiftpaw followed Longtail through the gorse tunnel. Curiosity and scared thoughts came over Swiftpaw. What would Bluestar want with him? Did he do something so wrong that he would either be exiled from the clan or he would never become a warrior?

As thoughts bothered him he reached the lichen opening to Bluestar's den.

"Bluestar, you wanted to see me?" Swiftpaw asked.

"Come in, Swiftpaw." Anxiety immediately claimed him at Bluestar's response. He slowly walked into the den where Bluestar was sitting. As he walked in, he saw her sitting with her tail wrapped out her paws. What did she want to do with him?

"You wanted to see me?" Swiftpaw's voiced quivered as he spoke.

"Yes, I did. Do not worry, you are not in trouble," Swiftpaw felt a flood of relief fall over him. Then what is this for? She continued,

"I felt that yesterday you proved yourself of being a warrior by dealing with the badger all by yourself. I felt as if you didn't need to do the assessment because of your actions yesterday. Longtail and I have been talking, and you will have your warrior ceremony today when Brightpaw gets back from her assessment." Bluestar finished. Surprise and excitement engulfed Swiftpaw. He started to jump up and down. Yes! This couldn't be better!

"I'm speechless! Thank you Bluestar!" Swiftpaw saw a glint of amusement in Bluestar's eyes.

"Now, go and help around the camp. Bring some fresh kill to Cinderpelt first." Bluestar gave him a dismiss nod. Swiftpaw trotted out of the den and into the clearing and over to the fresh kill pile. He picked up a plump vole and trotted over to Cinderpelt's den. He walked into the fern tunnel, and out into a small clearing with moss bedding at corner.

"Hello, Cinderpelt?" Swiftpaw asked into the cleft rock at the other side of the clearing.

"Swiftpaw, is that you?" then he saw her head pop out of the crack. As soon as she spotted to the vole Swiftpaw realized that she was hungry.

"This is for you." Swiftpaw nudged the vole to her paws.

"I'm starving; thank you Swiftpaw! Thank StarClan some cat brought me something!" She started to hungrily devour the vole.

"How are you so hungry? Didn't you eat last night?" Swiftpaw asked worriedly.

"Of course, but for some reason my belly has been rumbling for food!" Swiftpaw saw that Cinderpelt was unusually thin. Cinderpelt then looked up at him.

"You look hungry yourself! Why don't you get something to eat," Swiftpaw noticed how hungry he was when she said that. He was about to bound over to the fern tunnel when he heard her say,

"But first, can you please check the elders for ticks?" she asked in a grateful tone. Swiftpaw rolled his eyes.

"Yes, of course." He mumbled. I much rather doing the assessment right now!

"I'll go get some bile." Cinderpelt got up and disappeared into the crack in the rock. She left her half eaten vole on the ground. Swiftpaw's mouth began to water when out of the corner of his eye he saw Cinderpelt walk into the opening with mouse bile.

"Don't eat any of this, and wash off your paws before you eat when you are done." Cinderpelt instructed him. He took the leaf from her jaws, and said with the leaf between his teeth,

"Yes, of course Cinderpelt." And trotted through the tunnel and out into the grassy clearing of the camp. He looked towards the Highrock to see Tigerclaw giving patrol assignments, still no sign of Brightpaw and Whitestorm. He noticed a cat looking at him from the group of cats underneath the Highrock. Longtail looked at him with a questionable look. Swiftpaw nodded to him and he noticed Longtail got the answer he was expecting. He immediately looked as if he were going to explode with joy.

After a couple heartbeats of starring at each other, Swiftpaw bounded towards the elder's den to clear them of ticks. He walked in to see One-eye, Smallear and Dappletail talking amongst them. When Swiftpaw entered the den Dappletail wailed,

"Finally, these ticks that I can't get have been bothering me for moons!" One-eye ignored Dappletail's complaining and turned towards Swiftpaw.

"Hello little one, how has training gone? Are you doing your assessment soon?" she asked in a gentle, soothing tone.

"Yes, it has been going great. Today I'm going to be made a warrior with Brightpaw today!" Swiftpaw exclaimed. Smallear looked up from his slumber.

"Are you here for our ticks?" he mumbled.

"Yes, I am. Who would like to go first?" Swiftpaw replied.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Swiftpaw took the bile back to Cinderpelt and started to head towards the stream by the camp. As he reached the stream he felt how hungry he was. He quickly dipped his paws into the water and ran off back into the camp. He slowed down to a trot and went over to the fresh-kill pile. Swiftpaw saw that the pile was restocked and he filled up with excitement. He picked out a fat mouse and turned around to see Brightpaw sitting at the apprentice's trunk eating and talking to Thornpaw. As he walked over, Thornpaw got up and walked off towards Ashpaw.

"Hey, Swiftpaw!" Brightpaw exclaimed from behind. Swiftpaw whipped around to look into Brightpaw's eyes.

"Hi, how did it go?" Swiftpaw asked as he sat down and began to eat.

"It went great; Whitestorm said that I'm going to become-"her voice trailed off with sorrow.

"Don't worry, Brightpaw! Bluestar thought that yesterday when I fought off the badger, that that was enough to convince her that I'm a true warrior! I'm going to become one with you today too!" Swiftpaw explained. As he told her, he saw her eyes light up with joy.

"That's just wonderful Swiftpaw! I wonder what our names are! Brightpelt, Brightclaw, so many possibilities!" Swiftpaw saw out of the corner of his eye Bluestar jumping up onto the Highrock. Her voice being heard by every cat in the camp,

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Highrock." Bluestar announced. Swiftpaw saw the elders looking at Brightpaw and him from the outside of their dens. He saw that already all of the warriors and apprentices had joined Bluestar underneath the big rock.

"Today we have a special ceremony for two brave apprentices." Bluestar beckoned all the apprentices with her tail.

"Brightpaw and Swiftpaw, Whitestorm and Longtail have informed me that you both have become worthy of becoming apprentices," Bluestar continued.

"I, Bluestar, leader of Thunderclan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices. They have trained hard to understand your noble code, and I commend them to you as a warrior in their turn." She looked over to Brightpaw.

"Brightpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do." Brightpaw replied confidently.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Brightpaw, from this moment forward you will be known as Brightheart. StarClan honors your courage and skill, and we welcome you as a full warrior of Thunderclan." Bluestar jumped down and rested her muzzle on Brightheart's head, and in turn Brightheart licked her shoulder. Bluestar turned to Swiftpaw.

"Swiftpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do." Swiftpaw felt determination surge through him as he spoke.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Swiftpaw, from this moment forward you will be known as Swiftfoot. StarClan honors your courage and bravery, and we welcome you as a full warrior of Thunderclan." Bluestar jumped down and rested her muzzle on Swiftfoot's head, and in turn Swiftfoot licked her shoulder. He heard the clan chant their names.

"Brightheart! Swiftfoot! Brightheart! Swiftfoot!"