Hey there! so, when I asked if you guys wanted me to answer your reviews, those who responded to it said 'Yes!' so I shall abide to your wishes!

REVIEWS

"Levianthan48"- Here's even more!

"ShadowQuest2000"- Thanks!

"Wyldclaw"- Yeah, why do we always feel so sorry for fictional characters?

Mouseydragonwolf- Thanks! I love the color blue too ;D

Guest- Sure! I'm sure I could get her int this... maybe just change the pelt a little, you know, with a pelt like that you'd thinks he'd be the main character!

"Frostdawn"- Uh, thanks?

"Snowfeather4876"- Thanks! and no, Squirrel is a little different, I just wanted that impression. And we'll see the true nature of this...

"SilverStripe228"- Haha! no.

"Warriors Fan12"- I know, right? yeah, Rainstone is a rebellious little miscreant! I love little miscreant's :)

Chapter 3: Rules And Regulations

Rainstone muttered under her breath as she sorted through the blackberry leaves, once again. She lashed her tail as she sat in the herb-den, sorting through her piles of herbs. Every she-cat had their own little stash they used for their toms specifically that were kept in a specific place in the den.

Her herbs were stored in a small chink in the stone wall. Like the main cave, only its back wall was stone and water dripped down one side, pooling in the corner with a rhythmic splash. It was the one sound that kept her from going insane from boredom.

Two moons into her training and she had yet to leave the cave. The older she-cats had brought her herbs and told her over and over what they were called and their usage. Rainstone, with a knack for remembering things, had memorized every known herb in the mountain.

She lashed her tail and licked her still kit-soft fur. Only four moons and almost finished with training, as training would only last until Night was eight moons and she was five moons. At least the rule is you can't mate with a she-cat until they're six moons, she thought gloomily.

Night had hinted plenty of times that he looked forward to mating with her, but she had to be six moons and he had to be eight moons, as the rules stated. Just one of the many rules she'd learned.

She'd also learned everything a she-cat couldn't do, which included; not speaking without being spoken too, not leaving the cave without a tom of her family or her mate, not flirting with any tom other than her mate, not learning how to hunt or fight, not being able to be a leader, not mating with another tom, and never complaining.

Just thinking of it made her pelt prickle with defiance. Who were they to tell her what she could and couldn't do? Why did something two she-cats did countless seasons ago have so much effect on life today?

She'd heard the story of the two quarrelling she-cat leaders, blinded by their emotions they killed each other and led many of their cats to their death. Her tutor, Crisp, the mate of a fighter, for by Rainstone being the mate of a fighter she got a tutor on the fighter side, didn't even seem to care that she-cats were discriminated.

It made Rainstone growl with indignation about the regulations. Not to mention all the rules when acting with her mate. Be polite, be loving, tell him everything he wants to hear, do whatever he wants you to do; it was like she wasn't supposed to have a mind of her own!

But I do have a mind, and I do have my own thoughts! She thought angrily, accidentally tearing a blackberry leaf in her silent fume.

"What are you doing?!" Crisp's rolling mew, like water over stone, drifted to her ear. Rainstone guiltily hid the torn leaf beneath her paw.

"I'm sorting out my herb store," Rainstone answered in a growl. At least she could let her temper flare at other she-cats without getting a scratched ear.

Crisp glared at her through narrowed amber eyes and Rainstone glared back. Crisp sighed, "Look, Snake and Nigh are going to take you and me out on a stroll at dusk so that I can show you the different plants so you know what they look like, though you could probably guess from the leaves," Crisp mewed with a sigh.

The older she-cat's orange-brown fur was ruffled by a small draft that ran down the stone wall and Rainstone glanced a fresh slice on her shoulder. It was shallow and wasn't even bleeding anymore, but it would be painful.

Bitterness filled Rainstone, Snake had done that, Crisp's mate. How could they say that they loved them and then treat them so horribly? Her tail whisked over the floor. "I'll be ready," she promised Crisp, carefully putting the leaves back in the chink.

Stepping back as Crisp left, she lapped up a few mouthfuls of water, enjoying the untainted taste of the water that pooled in a stone hollow like a perfectly round bowl. Her whiskers twitched as she sat up, flicking off tiny droplets of water.

She craned her neck to see into the main cave and she growled when she saw Mudslide chatting with Sleet. Although the older white cat had become a full-fledged fighter, Mudslide had joined the Trainees a few days ago, turning five moons.

He didn't have a mate yet, since Storm's new kits, two being she-kits, didn't even have their eyes open yet. But he had been promised one as soon as they were three moons. Tangle had been promised the other

Although, Whisper remained in the kit den with her mother, Twist, since Pepper still had a moon to go until he would be a trainee. Lucky, Rainstone thought jealousy, she'll be six moons when she becomes a Trainee, I was Trainee when I was barely two moons!

Sighing, she knew it wasn't Whisper's fault, in fact, she'd quite enjoyed Whisper's friendship in the first moon, since Squirrel hadn't seemed too interested in being her friend. Squirrel seemed only to be friends with Cinder, who had returned with her mate, Trip, and they'd both finished their training.

She glanced up as Pepper trotted into the medicine-den. She purred and rushed to touch noses. She didn't have to pretend for him, he liked her just the way she was and would listen to her rants on how unfair everything was, agreeing with practically everything she said and not telling any other cat how she felt.

He was the only tom she didn't despise. "Hey, how's it going?" Pepper asked, draping his tail around her shoulders and pulling her close so that their flanks touched.

Rainstone relaxed against him, glad to have some cat to talk to. "Its been like always," she sighed. "Look what Night gave me just because I asked to go outside!" she mewed indignantly, running her paw over a small nick in her ear.

Pepper gave a small gasp and licked her ear gently, taking the burning sting out of her anger. "I'm sorry, I'll talk to him if you want," he offered.

"Would you?" Rainstone purred, nuzzling him. "That'd be so nice," she sighed, wondering if he could get Night to allow her to ask him a question without clawing her.

Warm with affection, she'd forgotten that she was going out with Nigh at dusk, which was almost there. Gasping, she jumped up and rapidly started licking the scraps of dirt and leaves from her fur.

"Night is taking me out tonight, and I just have to look perfect for his majesty," she growled the last part, resentment pricking at her claws.

Pepper nodded, his blue eyes sympathetic as he helped her groom her fur. When they had finished it was almost time to leave and Rainstone hastily said goodbye to Pepper.

"You're the best tom I'll ever know," she mewed, touching noses with him.

Pepper nodded and sighed, "I wish there were more cats who understood, but for now, we've just got to live with it," he sighed.

Rainstone nodded, sorry that she made Pepper so anxious, but she couldn't help how she felt about this life. She knew he was worried she'd do something that would get her killed, but she had promised she wouldn't do anything until he was leader and had more power.

She skipped out of the herb-den and toward the entrance where Night and Crisp waited. She joined them by touching noses with Night and giving a fake soft purr, as was the regulation. Night nodded at her, his amber eyes gleaming with appreciation.

She hated doing it, but she would be clawed if she didn't as she knew from experience. She knew she was luckier than some cats, Night always made sure she had food and kept the other toms at bay with his claws so she didn't have to deal with some flirty toms like other she-cats.

Though, she was well aware that the only reason why he kept her fed was so that she didn't look raggedy and that she was his, so he kept the toms away from his thing. Whatever works, as long as I'm fed and don't have to deal with too many idiots, he can have his own reasons.

She glanced up as Snake approached, the slick black tom had brown speckled fur and dark brown eyes that darted from side to side in a sly way. Crisp touched noses and purred, her eyes gave away no emotion.

But Rainstone glared venom as he turned to her with a smirk and ran his tail along her cheek. She wanted to bite it off, but Night beat her to it. Grabbing Snakes tail and thrusting it away from her.

"Snake, so good of you to join us," Night mewed coolly, drawing up to his full height so he could look Snake almost levelly in the eye.

Snake nodded, his eyes gave only a spark of respect to his leader's son. "Night, why don't you lead and show your little she-cat the way?" Snake suggested.

Rainstone growled silently, Little! Every cat called her 'little,' she wasn't that small! Even if she was only four moons old, she'd been training as long as Night and no cat called him little!

Crisp always said it was referring to her size, as she was a bit small for her age, and very small compared to the other trainees. She didn't care about that though, she wanted every cat to stop saying the same thing!

But her anger was forgotten as curiosity poured through her as Night ducked out through the hole, signaling for her to follow him. She stepped out, feeling the light spray of the small stream lightly wet her fur.

She forgot to breathe as she first took a look at her surroundings. The steep sloped, gravelly ground beneath her paws led down to a bright, green, grassy valley that was patched with trees and stony bare areas.

Around her, the mountains stretched up suddenly and arched around the valley, three peaks, almost perfectly distanced around the valley, stretched so high their peaks were lost in the clouds. She could see the sun, setting in between two of the peaks, it looked orange-red, not yellow as she had imagined.

The sky was dappled fiery red and orange with rays of rich gold staining the clouds. The breeze, fresher and warmer then the drafts in the cave, ruffled her whiskers and breathed on her fur.

She could see the green carpeted mountains, that gradually turned to pure stone the higher the mountain stretched. In the height of the warm season, everything seemed bursting with life and she caught a scent.

A scent familiar from the prey she ate, but even more tantalizing since it was alive. From far away, an eagle cried, its proud voice echoing around the valley as she watched it swirl in a circular pattern before suddenly diving downward and coming up with some small creature, perhaps a mouse, in its talons.

She'd studied all that in a moment and Night was looking at her with amusement. "Enjoying the fresh-air?" he mewed.

Rainstone was too excited to be angry at his superior tone and just nodded, her dark eyes shining. Night led her down the slope toward the valley and she skidded after him, being careful where she put her paws on the slope, since the ground crumbled away in some places.

Crisp and Snake caught up to them at the bottom of the slope and they padded onward, the she-cats at their mates side. Crisp showed her several plants, which Rainstone was able to distinguish because of their scent and leaves.

In fact, on the whole trip, the only thing she learned about the herbs was how to find some of the roots which she wasn't able to tell by the plants so easily. She was disappointed when they turned back, she'd enjoyed memorizing the twisting paths through the sparse underbrush and the trails through the valleys, the routes forever imprinted on her mind.

She scrambled up the steep slope behind Night, narrowing her eyes as she struggled to keep pace with his much longer legs. She gasped as the dirt she was scrambling on started sliding down the hill, sand covering her paws and legs so that she couldn't move.

"Night!" she wailed, since Crisp and Snake had already gotten into the cave.

He glanced over his shoulder and his eyes widened in alarm as he saw her slipping down the hill, the rock and dirt pushing her onto her side as she struggled and flailed her paws to get a hold of something firm.

She lost sight of him as sand covered her eyes and she was buried in the sliding earth and she almost froze with panic as she realized that all her attempts to stand up was only making her slide faster.

Thinking fast, she stopped moving, choking on sand that filled her lungs as she breath. She stopped sliding and she carefully reached a paw down and touched firm rock. Quickly, she thrust her paws down on the rock and jumped out of the earth pile, gasping in clean air and coughing up the sand that had gotten into her throat.

Night was beside her, licking her chest to help the coughing and massaging her to stop her body from trembling. For the first time, she got the sense that Night did care for her as she looked in his worried eyes.

But she couldn't tell is he was scared for her, or if he was scared of losing his mate, his toy. She allowed him to carry her up the hill, her tail dragging the ground and she was too tired to protest.

Night set her down just before they got into the cave and Rainstone shook out her fur, shaking the worst of the sand and dirt out of her dark gray fur. Then she blinked and followed Night into the cave just as the sun disappeared behind the mountains and the shadows lengthened.

Night escorted her to the Trainees den and went to get her some prey that the hunters had caught. She groomed her fur, guessing Night wouldn't appreciate her tracking sand into their nest.

She was glad no cat came to talk to her, Scamp and Squirrel passed her and went into the den with prey in their jaws with a friendly nod toward her. She had just finished cleaning her fur when Night came back with a mouse for her and a plump bird for himself.

She frowned, "What kind of bird is that?" she asked. She'd never seen a bird so small, the smallest birds she knew were jays.

"It's a finch, they're pretty rare here, but you can easily find them in the forests," Night mewed. Rainstone was glad that he didn't say anything about her asking him a question.

Curiosity pulled at her thought as she ate her mouse, "What's a forest?" she asked as she finished the mouse.

Night frowned, "Hmm, I don't really know, I think Fox said it's a place where there's a lot of trees, but I've never seen one," he shrugged then looked at her sharply. "But you're not supposed to ask questions," he grumbled, but he didn't make any move to cuff her. She wondered is he was too full to move.

"I don't see why not," Rainstone muttered under her breath.

She hadn't meant for Night to hear but he did. But surprisingly, he just shrugged as if he didn't know, "That's just the regulation on she-cats," he mewed, though she saw for a moment a flash of doubt in his eye.

Was that what he really believed? Or what he was trained to believe? Why did every cat think so much about rules and regulations? Why were they there in the first place?

Rainstone sighed, she was tired from her brief struggle with the mountain and she wanted to sleep, but she couldn't go to her nest until Night either gave her permission or took her to their nest.

Luckily for her, Night didn't seem in a mood to chat with his friends till moon-high like he sometimes did, and just nodded at them before heading to their nest with her trailing behind.

She curled down with him, she'd grown used to his warm flank and actually enjoyed the breath stirring her ear, it sparked some foolish excitement that made sleeping with Night tolerable.

…

Rainstone blinked open her eyes, she saw a dizzying swath of black sky. For a moment she didn't realize where she was when she'd fallen asleep in the Trainees den.

But when she blinked, the black sky seemed to change, slowly at first, but then faster, the sky was speckled with thousands of white specks of light. She gazed in wonder as a line of silver-blue stretched across the sky like stardust.

Then, before her eyes rose a glowing white ball. Moon, the name seared through her mind as she studied the uneven gray patches in the moon. Light fell on the night mountains, illuminating every object in its otherworldly glow.

That's where the silver light of night comes from, she thought, but how can I dream of something I didn't know? Confusion filled her, for she knew she was dreaming, but then the wind whispered around her, feathery soft in her ears with its gentle murmur.

"Listen to Song, watch the sky, never forget…" the wind murmured. Rainstone's confusion just grew, what song was she supposed to listen to? How could she watch the sky when she couldn't leave the cave without Night? Never forget what?

She wanted to demand an answer, but before she could, she was being shaken awake by a paw on her shoulder. Blinking open her eyes, the wondrous black and silver world disappeared and became just a memory. "Rainstone, I'm going out training," Night announced to her, as he did every morning.

Rainstone flicked her tail, "I don't suppose I can come with you?" she grumbled.

Night shrugged, "No, sorry, but that's the-"

"I know, I know," she cut him off with a sigh, anticipating the claws she was sure to feel for interrupting him. "That's the rules and regulations."

...

So, this was a little shorter, but whatever! And that wasn't a prophecy in the chapter, as you may have guessed, we'll just have to find out what it is... Cause I don't know, actually I do, but I can't tell you!

Ahem, Please Review!