Fallenstar raced through the forest, the heat of greenleaf beating down on the forest. Her kits, safely back at camp, were at the back of her mind as she stretched her muscles for the first time in the half moon since their birth.
As much as she loved the little scraps of fur, she craved this feeling - pelting through the forest, the wind whisking past her fur, her claws digging into the earth. Prey-scent was all around her, but all she had wanted was to run for a while.
She paused, her chest heaving, as she stopped a few fox-lengths from the north border. Her eyes flicked around, enjoying the sunlight dappling the ground as it filtered through the dense maples, casting a glow upon her beloved home. She sat in a patch of sunlight and closed her eyes.
Six more moons, she thought wistfully. She opened her eyes, blinking against the brightness, and let the sounds of the forest sing around her. Birds above her chirped and she could hear and smell prey rustling among the leaves. It was when Fallenstar was taking all this in that she noticed a familiar scent being carried toward her on the breeze, followed by a flash of pale fur through the brush ahead of her. Honeyshine.
Her curiosity getting the better of her, she stalked her clanmate, curious as to what she was doing so far from any patrols and so close to the border. Fallenstar felt a flash of alarm when she realized that her warrior had crossed the scent line calmly, heading into the territory they had used to hunt last leaf-bare.
What in Starclan is Honeyshine doing? She thought to herself, twitching her tail as she paused in the undergrowth. A small clearing opened up, surrounded by a rough circle of large oak trees. Honeyshine sat near the center, looking around but still not spotting her leader. Her eyes caught something to the side of Fallenstar and she let out a delighted mew, rising to her feet with her tail in the air.
A black and white tom padded calmly into the clearing, touching his nose to Honeyshine's with a surprising fondness. "Good day," he purred, licking her cheek. The golden warrior purred with him, licking his ears briskly.
"Are you ready to learn some more?" She asked. Fallenstar blinked. What is she teaching him?
He nodded eagerly and the gray leader watched in awe as Honeyshine dropped into the hunter's crouch, mewing something quietly to the tom. He quickly mimicked her and she stood up, assessing his position, and nodded approvingly. "You learn quickly," she mewed, brushing her tail against his black and white flank.
Fallenstar tipped her head curiously as she tasted the air. This was not a cat of another clan, but he did not share the same carrion scent as rogues or the soft, artificial scent kittypets. Clearly, he was a loner, but his scent seemed blurred with Honeyshine's, as if they had already spent a decent amount together.
They practiced hunting a bit more before switching into battle training. Honeyshine looked ferocious, even with her claws sheathed - not like the apprentice Fallenstar had once known. The tom looked similarly scary, but his eyes betrayed uncertainty and fear, even though he appeared to be quite close to the golden warrior.
In a flash, he whipped a sheathed paw at Honeyshine, managing to swipe across her face before she pounced on him. They rolled in a ball of hissing dust before springing apart, both panting, their ears flattened. Honeyshine was the first to relax.
"Good," she panted, sitting down. "Now I want you to pretend I'm a fox. If you're gonna live all alone out here, warriors are hardly going to be your worst issue. They won't kill you. Foxes and coyotes and even skunks will." The tom nodded, his yellow eyes wide. "Okay, Boots, show me what you've got."
Boots, Fallenstar thought to herself. That must be the cat's name, though it sounded foreign to her, like it had no meaning.
Boots lunged at Honeyshine, swiping at her face before nipping her legs. She fought back, swinging her head and snapping like a fox might, while worked at unbalancing her. When she finally lost her footing and toppled over, he pounced on her and dug his hind paws, thankfully still sheathed, into her soft belly. She jumped up and faked a limp as she ran away.
Huh, the leader thought. He might make a fine warrior, with proper training…
Boots stood up and let out a yowl of triumph as Honeyshine came dashing back into the clearing, licking his ears and mewing her praise.
"I didn't hurt you, did I?" The tom asked anxiously, and the golden warrior shook her head quickly.
"Not at all, you did really well. You'll be just fine out here," she purred, before she faltered. "You'll be fine out here without me."
Boots flattened his ears. "You can keep visiting, can't you?"
Fallenstar chose now to stand up and push into the clearing. "No, she can't," she said. Both cats snapped their heads to the gray she-cat. "It's against the warrior code."
Honeyshine's amber eyes were wide with fear. "Fallenstar! How did you find us?" she asked. "We're outside of the territory. I'm not hunting for him, and he's not doing any harm."
Fallenstar let out a hiss of annoyance, her tail twitching. "Your loyalty should still lie only to your clan." She sat down, watching the two young cats with narrowed eyes.
Her warrior's eyes flashed with anger. "It does lie to my clan. But the warrior code tells us to be merciful, and honorable, and kind. I couldn't let a former kittypet die out on his own. He needed to be shown how to care for himself."
The leader's orange eyes remained narrowed, though she felt a flash of respect and understanding for the she-cat's naive actions. "I understand, Honeyshine, but it still wasn't right," she said at last. She turned to Boots. "I'll give you a choice, Boots. You have shown a willingness to learn and an unusual natural ability for hunting and fighting for a kittypet. If you like, you can attempt to join Mapleclan and train as an apprentice to be a warrior." She let out a sigh. "But clan life is hard, and it's not all play fights and easy hunting. Your other choice is to leave. Go so far away that you couldn't even find your way back here by accident, and then keep going. You already caused one of my warriors to stray, and I will not allow that to happen again."
Honeyshine ducked her head to whisper something into her friend's ear. He gazed at Fallenstar with steady yellow eyes and finally nodded.
"Okay, Fallenstar," he mewed, dipping his head. "I will accept your offer of training. I hope I don't let you down."
The gray leader nodded before standing. "Alright then, you two. Back to camp. Boots, tell nobody your name. It will no longer be yours by the end of the day."
"Wait, Fallenstar," she said, darting in front of her leader. "Beeclaw and a few others already know who Boots is."
Fallenstar paused, twitching her tail in annoyance. "And how's that, Honeyshine?"
"Well…" she looked at her paws. "We chased him off of our territory the day after my warrior ceremony. That's how I knew he needed help."
Fallenstar flicked her ear. "It's over now, Honeyshine. I will have a discussion with that patrol after Boots's apprentice ceremony."
The pale warrior nodded, her amber eyes wide and anxious, before allowing Fallenstar to lead the way back to camp once again.
When they entered the bracken tunnel, Stonewind, who was sitting guard, yowled an alarm to the camp of an intruder. Snowwhsiker peered out of the nursery, her yellow eyes narrowed with hostility, while Weedtail and Smokefur raced to guard her den.
"Calm down," Fallenstar growled. "Honeyshine, get on the other side of him. I don't want any of my warriors," she raised her voice on the last two words, "taking a swipe at our new friend." She turned to the cats in the clearing, their tails lashing and their fur raised. "Beeclaw, Gingertail, Firepelt, I want to speak to you after this."
She leaped up onto the Highbranch and called the familiar gathering cry, but every cat in the camp was already in the clearing, eyeing Boots with both hostility and curiosity. "Cats of Mapleclan," she began, taking a deep breath. "It has come to my attention that an outsider may be able to learn the ways of the warrior code and become one of us."
Yowls of dismay and anger rose from the crowd, causing Fallenstar to raise her tail to silence them. Anger rushed off of her in waves. "I have seen him hunt and fight, and while he is not yet great, he certainly has the potential to be. I have given him the choice to stay in our land, but train to be a warrior, or leave and never look back. As you can see, he has chosen to stay." Boots looked at her with expectant eyes. "I say these words before Starclan so they may hear and approve my decision and his choice. This cat has come into the clan and is already past six moons of age, and it is his time to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Sootpaw." She paused, looking at the familiar faces in the crowd. "Honeyshine will be your mentor. I hope she will pass on all she knows and has yet to learn to you."
Shocked gasps arose from the warriors. Beeclaw watched his sister's surprised face, his own twisted in jealousy. Flowershine and Lilyglimmer exchanged shocked looks, not understanding why they had yet to be given apprentices and a cat who had been a warrior for barely a half moon had. Even Brackenfall and Mintleap, Honeyshine's parents, looked mildly disapproving.
"Honeyshine, I believe you are ready to take on this apprentice. You received excellent training from Streamleaf, and you have shown yourself to have a passion for the most inherent parts of the warrior code. You will be the mentor to Sootpaw, and I expect you will pass on all you know to him."
Honeyshine seemed frozen for a moment before she touched noses with her new apprentice, the shock still written on her face. When Fallenstar started to lead the chanting that traditionally followed a naming ceremony, she realized with a chill of shock that none of her clanmates were joining in.
