"Skykit, come forward."

Excitement surged through Skykit when the leader spoke his name. He rushed forward, stopping beside his sister, who - to his complete jealousy - had already been apprenticed. But, he reassured himself, he would be the best apprentice out of the three of them.

Ooh, what if he got to fight? He glanced at the sky and noticed with a pang of disappointment that it was darkening already. They wouldn't have time for much today.

"You will be mentored by Snowflower." Skykit turned his head, searching for his new mentor, and spotted her at the edge of the crowd; the white she-cat was grinning, holding her head proudly, obviously pleased to have gotten an apprentice. You should be especially happy that you got me as an apprentice!

Right there and then, Skykit found himself making a vow. I will be the strongest and bravest of all the apprentices, and one day, all of the warriors.

"Jaggedkit, come forward." Jaggedkit stepped up next to Skykit, shivering like a kit lost in the snow. He looked ready to flee back to the nursery and stay there forever. With a jolt of panic, Skykit noticed everyone staring at the three of them, obviously wondering why Jaggedkit looked so panicked. He's making us look like little kits!

"Don't look so nervous," he hissed in his brother's ear. "Everyone's staring at you!"

"Rippleclaw," Chasmstar continued, "we will never forget Darkpaw, killed in the flood seven moons ago, but we must move forward. You are ready for another apprentice; you will be mentor to Jaggedpaw."

Cheers rose up from Skykit's Clanmates as Chasmstar stepped back, shouting the names of the new apprentices. Joy rose in Skykit - Skypaw's - heart. Apprentices!

"Yes!" Foxpaw hopped, bumping into Skypaw, whose excitement suddenly bubbled over.

"We're apprentices now!" he howled to the sky, and noticed Jaggedpaw, a terrified expression on his face. "Come on, don't look so scared. Even you'll have fun." Then Skypaw spotted his mentor, padding over to the three kits with Rippleclaw and Rainwillow - Foxpaw's mentor. He bounded over to the warrior, stopping in front of her with a grin on his face. I'm ready to do anything she suggests! I hope we get to fight!

Rainwillow walked past Skypaw and stopped next to Foxpaw, glancing down at her. "Are you all ready for a tour of the territory?"

Seeing the territory? Skypaw felt vague disappointment, but then he reminded himself - he'd never been out of camp before. Even just walking about the forest must be more interesting than sitting in the nursery, play-fighting Jaggedpaw, who would never fight back. "Yeah!" he purred.

"It's late, Rainwillow," Rippleclaw meowed with a glance at the sky.

"Nonsense," Rainwillow answered curtly. "They look pretty ready, don't they? Let's go." He turned away from Foxpaw, facing the exit of camp, and beckoned with his tail for the rest of them to follow.

"Wait," Jaggedpaw mewed nervously. Skypaw had to stifle a growl of frustration at his overly-worried brother. "Can't we go tomorrow? We'll get tired if we go now. We'll have all day tomorrow, too."

Skypaw blinked, still annoyed, but for some reason that he couldn't explain, he found himself agreeing. He's making sense! He doesn't make sense! Skypaw struggled to disagree with him, but his brother's argument was becoming more and more reasonable.

"Hm, alright," Rainwillow said calmly.

"I guess we can go tomorrow," Snowflower meowed quietly.

"That's okay, too," Skypaw growled grudgingly when his brother turned to look at him, as though seeking permission from a cat of a higher rank. "I was really excited for this, though." He flicked his tail for Foxpaw to follow and started toward his den - before realising that he was to sleep in the apprentice den tonight. "Apprentice den," he mumbled to himself, ignoring Foxpaw's hiss.

He entered the den first, followed by Foxpaw, and Jaggedpaw came last, a look of confusion all over his dumb face. Skypaw rolled his eyes. Jaggedpaw was always lost in dreamland.

Skypaw found his nest before the other newly-made apprentices and curled up in it. He watched his brother and sister find their own nests - Foxpaw's was close to the entrance, near to Skypaw's, and Jaggedpaw had claimed a nest on the other side of the den - and soon, the two of them were asleep.

Skypaw, though, couldn't get to sleep. Energy was flooding through him, begging to be used. He'd found he was always the last one asleep, back in the nursery, among his littermates and mother; sometimes he didn't fall asleep at all, and wasn't even slightly tired the next day. He'd never really been tired.

Finally, paws itching to move, he got up out of his nest - trying to be as quiet as possible - and slipped out into the dark camp. It wasn't very daring, for him; he'd done it loads of times when he was still a kit - gotten fed up with lying around and left the den, that is.

But he'd never left the camp before.

Now, he realised with a grin, he'd have the chance. And he especially wanted to venture out into the territory when he saw Tornpaw and Rustpaw slinking past the entrance to the den and into the shadowed territory. Apprentices, especially ones that were almost warriors, like Rustpaw and Tornpaw, were allowed to go out of the camp without supervision, but Skypaw still wanted to find out where they were going - it would be practice for being sneaky! What are they up to? Deciding to follow them, Skypaw hurried silently after the two senior apprentices, fur prickling. This was so cool! He brushed past the ferns and into the territory, and immediately stopped. He could barely see; the forest was pitch-black at night, and the crisscrossing branches of the trees blocked out the thin sliver of the moon.

He took a few steps forward and, almost instantly, pain stabbed his paw. He bit his tongue, swallowing a screech, and sat back. Pure, unfiltered agony throbbed in his forepaw, and when Skypaw held it up to the moonlight that filtered through a small hole in the canopy, he saw a long, curved thorn, like a talon, embedded in his paw-pad.

Mouse-brain!

Huffing, he gripped the thorn in his sharp teeth and tugged. Almost crying now from the pain, and very glad that no one was with him to see how much it hurt him, he clenched his teeth and gave a final wrench. The thorn ripped free of his paw and in the silver moonlight Skypaw saw a thin red cut appear where the thorn had been.

Wincing and struggling to keep in a whimper of pain, Skypaw abandoned his adventure to flee, limping, back into the camp and hobble at top speed back to his nest, where he collapsed into the moss. The pain persisted, and Skypaw lifted his paw to lick it clean.

He stopped. The pain was still there, stabbing his paw, making him clench his teeth and wince as it died down then rose back in a wave.

The cut was cleanly gone.