Sick of me yet?

No, of course you aren't ;). Well, buckle up, keep all paws inside the vehicle, and get ready for chapter 6 of TEOA! XD

Chapter 6.

"Breezekit?" A cat poked her head into the shadowy den. "Breezekit, are you still in there?"

He lifted his broad golden head sleepily, careful not to disturb the cat beside him.

"Oatpad, I can't leave her!" Breezekit whispered, each word paining him. "It's my fault, I can't leave her side. Not like this."

"Stop living in the past, Breezekit." His mother sniffed, with a disdainful look at the injured, hunched cat next to them. "Just because she was hurt and you were there doesn't mean it was your fault. She should have fought better."

"No!" Breezekit hissed, laying his tail protectively over the golden spotted she-cat beside him. "I will never believe that. I could have helped. I should have gotten help sooner. I would've-"

"Enough." Oatpad snarled. "You will go out for your appren-"

"She had only been an apprentice for two moons." He continued to protest even as his mother dragged him out into the warm, inviting sunlight. "She couldn't... She wouldn't have been able to..."

He stopped in his tracks.

Every cat in the whole camp was staring at him, even Spottedstar as she stood benevolently on the Tall-Rock. They murmured quietly to each other, and Breezekit caught the word 'apprentice'.

He gasped, remembering. It had been six moons since his birth. He would become an apprentice today. And Leopardpaw was too badly hurt to even see him. Sadness closed its jaws around his heart, making him want to wail out loud.

He could never forgive himself for not helping Leopardpaw sooner. As she had attacked the dog, he hadn't even been able to move, just pressing himself into the heather. He watched as her body was ripped open, again and again. He watched as the dog made sure she would never heal.

It was a miracle she was even alive. Morningpoppy and Littlepaw worked tirelessly day and night, just keeping her feeble heart-beat continuing to hold the spark in her eyes.

Morningpoppy was confident and enthusiastic, telling every cat that Leopardpaw was going to make a full recovery. Littlepaw, on the other paw, was much grimmer, certain she was going to die within the next day.

He couldn't even be bothered to feel any elation at all about finally setting his paws on the track towards becoming a WindClan warrior.

Heart wrapped in worry for Leopardpaw, he stepped nervously towards Spottedstar.

"All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here for a Clan meeting." Spottedstar announced pointlessly, seeing as all the cats had already arranged themselves in their normal meeting place.

"Breezekit," She began, beckoning him with her black and white tail. "you have reached six moons of age, and it is time for you to be trained in the ways of the warrior."

The surrounding cats watched him as he placed his paws carefully onto the broad rock that Spottedstar stood atop. He threw his weight forwards, and with an ungainly lurch, he was on the stone.

"From this moment on, until you recieve your warrior name, you will be known as Breezepaw." Spottedstar declared. "Your mentor will be Icestorm. Icestorm, you trained Larkfeather well, and you have shown yourself to have incredible bravery and integrity. I'm sure you will pass on these qualities to Breezepaw."

Breezepaw couldn't even hear the formal words. His head pounded at the mention of Leopardpaw's former mentor. My fault, my fault. His heart throbbed in pain.

He snapped back to the present as a murmur rose from the surrouding Clan.

Surprise glinted in Icestorm's pale blue eyes.

He looked around, trying to figure out why every cat was still staring at him. Wasn't the ceremony over yet? Oh yeah! His internal turmoil stopped long enough for him to feel stupid for forgetting the ceremonial touching of noses between mentor and apprentice.

He hastily poked his nose towards Icestorm, and she met him with a soft touch of hers.

The surrounding cats purred in amusement as he slithered off the Tall-Rock, but he didn't care, he wanted to check on Leopardpaw.

His path was blocked by Oatpad, whose expression had broken out of its usual frown and had become a twisted emotion he was pretty sure was pride.

"You're already going further than your-" She cut herself off abruptly, green eyes looking distressed and a little guilty.

"Thanks." He said absently, slipping around her, heading towards the medicine den.

"It's good to see you so loyal to your Clanmate, but you really shouldn't worry." Breezepaw bit back a hiss as the brown and cream form of the annoyingly enthusiastic medicine cat, Morningpoppy, stopped him in his tracks. "She's going to be fine. And you staring at her won't make her heal any faster, you know."

He tried to shove past, but a light tail-tip suddenly tapped him on the shoulder.

Whipping around, he came face to face with his new mentor.

"Icestorm!" He meowed in surprise.

"Morningpoppy's right, you know." The white and gray she-cat mewed gently, laying her tail across his shoulders, guiding him towards the exit of the camp. "Leopardpaw will have to heal in her own time."

He fell silent, his green eyes stinging.

They pushed out of the camp, Breezepaw still craning his head around to try to spot any sign of Leopardpaw in the shadows of the medicine den.

"We're joining a border patrol." Icestorm told him. "Copperpaw and Palepaw and some other apprentices will be there as well, so you won't be the only-"

"Alright." He said listlessly, padding onwards.

When they caught up with the patrol, Copperpaw was having a heated discussion with her mentor, Dustpetal.

"I swear to StarClan I don't know where these burrs are coming from!" Copperpaw insisted, her mentor shooting her a disbelieving look. "It's not like I want them in my pelt!"

Breezepaw let out a mrrow of laughter, his mind briefly drifting away from Leopardpaw. It was well known in WindClan that Copperpaw was constantly covered in burrs, to the point at which she looked like a tortoise-shell and white and green she-cat.

"Keep this up and your warrior name will be Copperburr!" Palepaw teased, coming out of her shell long enough to give the older apprentice a friendly shove.

"Ha! She won't have to wait that long!" Breezepaw's heart sank again as he spotted a familiar gray tabby pelt. "We can just start calling her Burrpaw!"

Jaypaw's mentor, the Clan deputy, Honeythorn, shot her a look out of narrowed eyes, her whiskers betraying her amusement.

"Yeah!" As usual, Rabbitpaw agreed with his sister.

Breezepaw wasn't even sure that Rabbitpaw knew what was going on. Conversations were a little beyond him.

"All joking aside," Dustpetal shut her yellow eyes, exasperated. "Copperpaw, grooming the burrs out of your fur is taking time out of training, so we need to find the root of the problem, and put a stop to it."

"I don't know where-" Copperpaw's protest was cut off by her mentor.

"Yes, I noticed." The light brown tabby said acidly. "I'm saying you need to find out."

The younger apprentices held back purrs of amusement as Copperpaw flattened her ears, glaring at her.

"If you've all quite finished, let's get on with the border patrol then, shall we?" Icestorm asked them, joining the group with Breezepaw on her tail.

Copperpaw shot Breezepaw and his mentor a half-exasperated, half-grateful look and the rest of the patrol continued on towards the RiverClan border.

"Can we hunt?" Jaypaw demanded, staring at Honeythorn, who was leading the patrol.

"Only if we see prey." The golden she-cat replied. "You don't even know how, so don't expect to be bringing back any prey from this patrol."

"Oh, I wouldn't bring it back." Jaypaw said mischieviously, swiping her tongue over her lips as though imagining a particularly juicy rabbit.

Breezepaw stopped, shocked.

"But isn't that breaking the warrior code?" He demanded, green eyes rounding.

"No, not if we aren't on a hunting patrol." Nightpool, Palepaw's mentor, answered. "If we see fit to find prey before continuing, then that's what we must do."

Breezepaw still felt uneasy, but he tried to shrug it off, bounding ahead of the rest of the patrol.

"Hey!" Honeythorn interjected, pushing her way in front. "I'll lead this patrol. Maybe when you're the deputy."

"Someday." Breezepaw murmured, thinking of himself leading every patrol, making sure the other Clans stayed out, keeping his Clan safe and well-fed... and nothing happened to them like what had happened to Leopardpaw.

His heart twisted as the image of her broken body lying in the medicine den flooded his mind again.

The patrol continued, pausing only every so often so that the younger apprentices' mentors could point something out.

He only paid attention at one moment where he first caught a glimpse of the shimmering surface of the lake.

"This is the lake." Dustpetal droned. "The Clans have lived here ever since six young cats were sent on a journey to find a new land for the Clans to live in when their old one was destroyed."

"Can we go swimming?" Breezepaw demanded, actual excitement building in his chest.

"Of course not!" Icestorm said, seeming a little shocked. "WindClan doesn't swim! We'll leave fishing young apprentices out of the lake to RiverClan, thank you very much."

But why? Breezepaw wondered. Looks like fun! He decided it wouldn't be a good idea to continue questioning everything the cats did, seeing as all of them were looking at him strangely.

Closing his jaws, he tried to mentally command Honeythorn to keep walking. The cats stared at him for a moment longer, before continuing along the lake towards the RiverClan border.

Aren't we there yet? Breezepaw demanded internally. It feels like we've been walking for a moon! His paws felt heavier than normal, and his breath dragged in and out.

"What can you scent?" Honeythorn questioned the apprentices, stopping suddenly.

Breezepaw twitched his whiskers in amusement as Dustpetal nearly crashed into her deputy's hind-quarters.

"Fish." Jaypaw wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Yuck." Rabbitpaw added.

"I wonder what fish tastes like?" Palepaw said quietly, glancing at Breezepaw.

He swiftly closed his jaws, hoping no one else realized that he had been about to ask the same question.

"And why would there be a fish scent in ThunderClan territory?" Dustpetal asked, before flicking her tail at Copperpaw. "No answering."

Copperpaw sat down with a sullen look in her pale green eyes.

"RiverClan are invading!" Jaypaw hissed.

"No." Honeythorn said patiently. "It's because we're near the border."

"But," Copperpaw interjected. "The scents seem particularly strong."

"She's right." Dustpetal mewed grudgingly. "It almost seems as though..."

She trailed off, her eyes drifting towards a bit of white fur snagged on a heather bush.

Not even bothering to say anything, Icestorm padded over to the tuft and sniffed it a couple times.

"Definitely not mine, or WindClan at all for that matter." She declared, fury glinting in her pale blue eyes. "I'd say... RiverClan."

"Let's invade!" Jaypaw suggested, eyes gleaming at the prospect of a battle.

"Yeah!" Rabbitpaw agreed.

"I don't know if that's a good idea..." Palepaw trailed off, looking at her siblings nervously.

"Me either. We don't want to provoke a battle unnecessarily." Breezepaw told them.

"Breezpaw's right." Honeythorn said, shooting a look at her apprentice. "They could have a very valid reason for being on our land, they aren't necessarily trying to steal prey."

"Exactly. It's the height of New-Leaf, why would they need it?" Icestorm added.

"Because they're fat and lazy." Jaypaw muttered, before subsiding with a glare at Breezepaw.

Copperpaw's whiskers twitched in amusement at the younger apprentice.

Honeythorn ushered them onwards toward what Breezepaw assumed must be the RiverClan border. The smell of fish was much stronger now.

"Why would any cat want to live in a place like that?" Jaypaw demanded, flattening her ears, disgusted.

"It doesn't smell that awfu-" He abruptly cut himself off as the other cats began to gawk at him again.

"He's right." Palepaw added, light brown tabby fur gleaming in the sunlight. "They wouldn't smell of fish at all if they didn't eat it."

He wanted to tell her that wasn't his point, but didn't bother, seeing as he didn't want to stir up trouble.

"Well, anyway." Swiftclaw, Rabbitpaw's mentor, said uncomfortably. "We should, uh..."

"Mark the borders?" Honeythorn supplied gratefully. "Yes, yes, let's."

They continued along the border, stopping every few fox-lengths to spray the border in WindClan scent.

By the end of the patrol, Breezepaw felt like his paws were about to drop off.

"Well, that should about cover it." Icestorm said decidedly. "Let's head back to camp. Good job today, Breezepaw."

Swiftclaw, Honeythorn, Nightpool, and Dustpetal all congratulated their respective apprentices. The little stab of satisfaction that Breezepaw felt was grossly outweighed by his worry for Leopardpaw.

Together, they headed back to camp.

"Breezepaw, good news!" His mentor's light head appeared in entrance to the medicine den.

"Oh?" He murmured, looking at Leopardpaw's barely-rising flank.

"Spottedstar decided that the apprentices that found the scents should be invited along to the Gathering to see what comes of the RiverClan scents in our territory." Icestorm's voice rose a little. "Their mentors have been invited along as well."

Breezepaw couldn't even bring himself to feel anything at all about going to the Gathering, overcome with fear and worry for Leopardpaw.

Sorry if the ending sucked. It was a pretty long chapter though. Review? :3

Pondfrost