AN: Chapter update, yay! Now I know that the next couple of chapters are going to be boring, but they are necessary for the plot. As for the story itself, thanks for your reviews everyone!


Chapter 7

Irritation clawed at Ravenpaw as she watched the ThunderClan cats. Silverpaw had returned from her hunting trip just hours ago, claiming that she and Thornpaw had gotten trapped by Twoleg kits playing in the river. Ravenpaw knew the truth behind her friend's lie, and she wasn't happy about that either.

"Come on, instead of moping around you can help these cats," Beaverclaw meowed when he noticed her ears flattening in annoyance.

"Why should I help them?" she demanded.

Her eyes fell upon Stormstar, the ThunderClan leader. The look of shock and recognition was obvious. Ravenpaw felt her fur crawling with unease when Stormstar looked away. It was as if Stormstar was afraid of her!

Ravenpaw raised her chin slightly and ignored the look of fear within Stormstar's eyes. If the ThunderClan leader wanted to look weak in front of RiverClan, that was fine by her.

"If you help them Mistystar might actually make you a warrior," Beaverclaw suddenly growled.

As if the words themselves had summoned strength within her, Ravenpaw jumped to her paws. She glared at her mentor before disappearing into the apprentice's den. Foxpaw, Thornpaw and Sandpaw were glaring at all of the ThunderClan apprentices.

"They stink!" Foxpaw retorted. "Don't you ever wash your fur in the river?"

The ThunderClan apprentices stared at Foxpaw as if she had grown wings. Ravenpaw's lips curled in amusement as she watched them. This was either going to be fun, or very bad. Foxpaw knew just how get under the skin of her enemies.

"Come on you guys, the least we could do is help them build nests," Ravenpaw meowed.

Foxpaw's eyes widened in disbelief. Ravenpaw rolled her own eyes as she thought of the insults she would likely receive when this was over. She glared at Foxpaw, as if daring her younger denmate to argue. The ginger apprentice simply bowed her head before ducking out of the den.

Even Silverpaw and Badgerpaw were shocked by their littermate's sudden change in mood. Ravenpaw simply grinned at them and winked. She knew exactly what she was doing. If she played her paws right, Mistystar would hold a warrior ceremony for her within a moon.

"We can find our own moss," one of the ThunderClan apprentice suddenly scoffed.

"Yeah, but we know the best place for it," Foxpaw meowed with a smirk.

Ravenpaw snorted in annoyance when she realized where Foxpaw was headed. Finding the moss where a nest of fire ants lived was not a good idea. She was trying to look good in front of Mistystar, not make the Clan think she was some prank-loving kit.

"I'll show them where the moss is," she growled.

The ginger she-cat opened her mouth to argue when Sandpaw nudged her irritably. Riverpaw, the apprentice that Ravenpaw had met at the Gathering, rose to her paws. Ravenpaw narrowed her eyes when she saw that patches of Riverpaw's fur had been burned away. There was also a set of new looking scars on her back that Ravenpaw had just noticed.

What happened to her? Ravenpaw wondered as Riverpaw followed her out of the den. Leafpaw was close at Riverpaw's side, tail curled in amusement as the two spoke to one another in whispers. Ravenpaw wished that Silverpaw was with her, but her friend was with Thornpaw at the moment.

"Riverpaw, you need those wounds looked at!" Stormstar announced. Riverpaw flinched as though Stormstar had struck her down. Confusion gleamed within Stormstar's eyes before she shook her head. "Robinwing has offered to look after those who were injured in the fire," she explained when she approached the apprentice. Riverpaw opened her mouth as if to argue, than seemed to think better of it. Ravenpaw watched with narrowed eyes as the apprentice skirted off towards the warrior's den.

"Erm, that's the warrior's den," she muttered. Riverpaw froze in midstep before turning around to glare at her. "The medicine cat's den is under that dip in the land, where the raised root is," she explained. Her tail pointed towards the willow tree where Mistystar held meetings. Underneath was where the medicine cat's den was located. Robinwing kept all sorts of herbs organized underneath in case there was an emergency like this. Riverpaw's tail flicked irritably before she followed Ravenpaw's explanation.

"Thanks," Riverpaw grumbled before skirting off towards the willow.

Stormstar's tail flicked as she watched the young cat disappear. For a moment Ravenpaw thought she was going to say something else. The black, silver and gray she-cat's fur was bristling slightly when she gazed down at Ravenpaw.

Without another word she bounded away to join the rest of her ThunderClan warriors.

"Well that was weird," Leafpaw meowed. "Stormstar's been acting strange ever since the fire happened. Maybe it has something to do with the Gathering. Or maybe there's nothing wrong at all-" Ravenpaw cut her off with a glare.

Someone needs to learn to shut their yap, she thought angrily.

"Come on, let's go find that moss," she muttered crossly.

Leafpaw continued ranting on about her mentor's attitude and whatnot. Ravenpaw sighed in annoyance as she droned out the noise. She was shocked that any cat would tolerate such blabbering. Leafpaw's energy seemed endless as she continued speaking.

"...So my grandfathers would be both Firestar and Tigerstar I suppose," she finished when they reached the rocks where the moss grew.

Ravenpaw had managed to drone out most of what Leafpaw had said. But hearing about Tigerstar sent shivers of excitement down her spine. Tigerstar was known for his cruelty to the Clans. He had led the pack of dogs into the forest and nearly destroyed ThunderClan as a result. He had led BloodClan into the forest as well. But in the end it was his own selfish behavior that killed him.

"Here's the moss," she meowed.

Sure enough there was plenty of moss growing on one side of the boulders. A field of them stretched out around the river. Because of the constant moisture they received moss was abundant here. Apprentices were always told to gather moss here on their first day. Ravenpaw had learned the hard way that the middle was the best place to start.

Together the two of them began working at the moss, clawing at it until there was enough for several apprentices. Leafpaw gasped when she felt the water touch her fur after shaking out the moss. Ravenpaw watched in amusement as Leafpaw struggled to keep hold of her moss while keeping her fur dry.

"Don't you forest cats ever get your paws wet?" she demanded.

"Not usually. Most of the time we jump over streams or drink from soaked moss. We don't like getting our fur wet!" Leafpaw's mouth opened in shock when she nearly fell backwards into the river. Ravenpaw jumped before she could fall in and grabbed her by the scruff.

"You can thank me later," Ravenpaw meowed after dragging Leafpaw back to the shore. Her voice was muffled by sodden fur as she spat out brown and ginger tufts.

Leafpaw's eyes narrowed into tiny slits before she nodded. Once they had enough moss collected the two of them returned to camp. It was close to dusk by the time they returned, and Ravenpaw's shoulders felt heavy with exhaustion.

I need to remember not to take her, she told herself.

Once the moss was gathered inside the den Ravenpaw flopped herself on her own nest. She was relieved to be back in camp where she could finally relax. However her relaxation wasn't meant to last when she saw a shadow forming near the entrance of the den.

She peered outside to see Stormstar sitting nearby. The ThunderClan leader was staring at the nursery. Minnowtail was sitting outside with Mothpool beside her. Hawkfrost was busy speaking to his sister while he ignored the glares Minnowtail gave him.

"Why are you ignoring her?" Ravenpaw's heart nearly skipped a beat when Stormstar whispered the words. She stared at the ThunderClan leader in disbelief before shaking her head.

Maybe she had just imagined it. She could hear the longing in Stormstar's voice, the desperate need to know something. Ravenpaw had felt that need too when she learned that Hawkfrost was her father. Even though she knew he was her father she still considered Silverpaw and Badgerpaw her littermates.

Ravenpaw sighed in frustration as she rested her head on her paws. Maybe she would understand when she was older.


AN: Stormstar almost gave herself away there didn't she? Better watch out, she has a little spy XP Next chapter should be up in a couple of days.