Disclaimer: I don't own the Warriors series...wish I did...but I don't. This is all just for fun! Oh yeah...the characters made up for the purpose of this story (meaning the characters that you don't find in the actual Warriors series) are mine! Please don't steal them!


Chapter 10

Goldenstar led the way through the camp entrance. Rowanpaw kept close to Ginger, trying to show her that he was here for her. He knew there would be some arguments about not allowing her to join ThunderClan, so he wanted her to know that there were some cats who wanted her to join.

He heard Ginger gasp lightly when they reached the inside of the camp. Everyone was still just as busy as when Rowanpaw had arrived earlier to fetch Goldenstar. Oakpelt and Mistmeadow were dropping some new fresh-kill into the fresh-kill pile. Suddenly, a hush seemed to fall throughout the camp. The elders stopped talking. The apprentices stopped in their tracks with moss hanging in their mouths. The kits stopped playing. Everyone had turned their head to stare as Ginger walked in behind Goldenstar.

The leader went over to the bottom of the Highledge and climbed up.

"All cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting!"

Nobody moved. The entire Clan was outside already.

Rowanpaw led Ginger over to sit below the Highledge. He could smell the fear wafting from her. His Clanmates could smell it too; Granitetail, Crookedfern, and Reedclaw, who were closest, all bristled at the smell.

"I know you've all noticed the she-cat who followed me into camp just now," Goldenstar said. "Her name is Ginger. She is a young rogue who has decided to change her ways. She wants to join ThunderClan. I have accepted her."

Icefur stood up. His entire pelt was standing up. "How can we accept a rogue? What if she's allied with those dark-pelted cats we keep seeing? She could be their spy!"

"She's not a spy, Icefur," Goldenstar said, his meow low and menacing. "Take my word for it. If it turns out that she is a spy, then it will be my fault. You can put the blame on me. But I know that she is not a spy."

There was murmuring among the crowd of cats.

"Does anyone else have any objections, or reasons why we should not allow Ginger to join us?" Goldenstar wondered.

The murmuring stopped.

Icefur grumbled, but did not speak up again.

"Good. Her apprentice ceremony will be at sunhigh," Goldenstar said before climbing down.

Ginger let out a breath. It sounded like she'd been holding her breath. She looked at Rowanpaw, her eyes full of worry. "Who was that cat who said I could be a spy?"

"That was Icefur, but don't worry about him," Rowanpaw said. "He's grumpy and hates everybody."

Frostflower walked over. "Ginger, I'd like to finish tending to your injury. I'll show you where my den is." She glanced at Rowanpaw. "Would you like to give her a tour of the camp once I've finished, Rowanpaw?"

"Sure!" Rowanpaw exclaimed.

"You can come with us, then." Frostflower turned and padded off toward her den.

"Is Frostflower your doctor?" Ginger whispered.

Rowanpaw flicked his ears. "Frostflower is our medicine cat. She knows all the herbs and how to use them to treat sickness and injuries."

Ginger nodded in understanding. "That makes sense."

The two cats followed Frostflower to the medicine cat's den, where Frostflower pulled out some goldenrod and marigold. She applied the two herbs and then wrapped some spiderweb around Ginger's paw.

"The goldenrod is to help heal the wound, and the marigold will stop infection," Frostflower explained as she applied the spiderweb on. "The spiderweb will help stop the bleeding."

"Amazing," Ginger whispered, clearly in awe. "That's brilliant. How did you learn all of that?"

"My mentor, Stripedpelt, taught me everything I know," Frostflower said.

"Medicine cats have mentors, too?" Ginger put her injured paw down gently.

"I see Rowanpaw has told you more about our way of life," Frostflower meowed. "Yes, medicine cats have mentors, too. The knowledge of how to heal is passed down from mentor to apprentice. When I choose an apprentice, I will teach him or her everything I know and learned through my dealings with different sicknesses and injuries."

"That's so awesome!" Ginger said. She turned to Rowanpaw. "I want to see the camp now!"

"Okay. Follow me," Rowanpaw gestured toward the door.

"Try to keep off your paw for the rest of the day, Ginger. Come see me if it starts bleeding again. I'll be able to take off the spiderweb tomorrow," Frostflower said.

"Sure! Thanks!" Ginger wiggled her uninjured paw.

Rowanpaw touched Ginger's shoulder with his tail as Frostflower laughed. "I don't know what that was, but we don't wave with our paws."

Ginger put her paw down. The worried look had returned to her eyes. "I have a lot to learn, don't I?"

He laughed. "Come on. I'll go show you the camp."

He led her over to the Highledge first. "This is the Highledge. Goldenstar speaks to the Clan from here. His den is up above the Highledge."

"And Goldenstar is the leader," Ginger meowed.

Rowanpaw nodded. "Right over here is the fresh-kill pile." He padded over to the pile of freshly killed birds and mice. He turned back to see that Ginger hadn't followed. "What's the matter?"

Ginger shook her head. "I didn't think about this part."

"What part?" Rowanpaw whispered.

"I have to eat...dead animals...raw..." Ginger shivered.

"How else would you eat them?" Rowanpaw asked.

"Cooked. Only crazy people eat animals raw," Ginger flicked her tail.

"What's cooked mean?" Rowanpaw sat down next to her.

"We put the meat over a fire and it cooks it. The fire makes it so we don't get diseases. Raw meat gives you diseases," Ginger whispered.

"Well, this won't. I've eaten birds and mice and squirrel all my life," Rowanpaw touched her shoulder with his tail. "You'll get used to it."

Ginger closed her eyes and lowered her head. "I hope so," she squeaked quietly. She opened her eyes and looked at him. "Let's go see the rest of the camp."

Rowanpaw led her over to the warriors' den. The other apprentices had finished cleaning out the dens. He didn't know where they'd gone, but he wasn't too worried about it right now. He had to show Ginger around the camp. "This is the warriors' den, where the warriors sleep. We get to sleep here once Goldenstar gives us our warrior names."

They padded over to the apprentices' den. "This is the apprentices' den. You'll sleep in here with us tonight."

"How many other apprentices are there?" Ginger wondered.

"There's my best friend, Thunderpaw, and his brother, Darkpaw. And then there's also Cloverpaw, Cedarpaw, Cottonpaw, and Silverpaw. Webkit, Nimblekit, and Sootkit will be apprentices soon, so they'll be in here, too. We're hoping that Cloverpaw and Cedarpaw are warriors by then, or we won't have much room."

Ginger stared at him. "Your Clan is so big! How am I ever going to learn all of their names?"

"It'll just take time," Rowanpaw told her. "Come on. We'll go see the nursery next."

Rainfur was stationed outside the entrance of the nursery. Her three kits were playing nearby with Purekit and Palekit. Lightdew was watching the kits, her eyes straying back to the nursery every few seconds. Rowanpaw's half-sister looked uneasy.

"What's the matter, Rainfur?" Rowanpaw asked.

"Softcreek is having her kits!" Rainfur's tail lashed back and forth. "Frostflower and Granitetail are in there. Snowcloud is trying to keep Stormkit out of the way without bringing him outside."

Frostflower walked out just then. "It's over! We have two, healthy she-kits mewling in here."

Rainfur gave a sigh of relief. "Thank StarClan! How is Softcreek?"

"Tired, but very happy. Granitetail was more nervous than she was. He nearly passed out. I told him to start breathing before I kicked him out." Frostflower saw Rowanpaw and Ginger. "Hello again, you two. It's lucky I finished with your paw when I did, Ginger. Granitetail came rushing into my den a few moments later saying that Softcreek was having her kits."

"Can we see the kits?" Rowanpaw asked.

"For a few moments, but then you must go. Softcreek needs her rest," Frostflower said.

Rowanpaw led a nervous Ginger into the nursery. They found Softcreek lying near the back. She was wrapped around two bundles of fur. The larger kit was gray and brown; the smaller was dark gray and brown. Both squirmed and opened their pink mouths in silent mewls.

"What are you going to name them?" Rowanpaw whispered.

"We don't know yet," Granitetail said.

"What about Summer and Spring?" Ginger whispered. Her wide eyes were looking at the kits in amazement.

Softcreek's yellow eyes sparkled. "Those are very pretty names. Summerkit and Springkit. What do you think, Granitetail?"

Rowanpaw wondered if Softcreek had even realized that Ginger was a foreign cat. Granitetail definitely knew; would the tom agree to something a nonClan cat suggested?

"Perfect," Granitetail nodded.

Softcreek nuzzled the kits.

"Time to go, Rowanpaw," Frostflower whispered.

Rowanpaw and Ginger left the nursery and padded over toward the elders' den.

"I'm surprised Granitetail agreed with you," Rowanpaw commented.

"Why?"

"He's friends with Icefur. Both of them are sort of grumpy and don't like a lot of things," Rowanpaw explained.

Ginger shrugged.

"What does 'Summer' mean, anyway?" Rowanpaw asked.

"It's the season where everything is green and it gets really warm," Ginger replied.

"You mean greenleaf?" Rowanpaw stopped beside the half-rock.

"Yeah," Ginger nodded.

A head popped up over the half-rock. Ginger jumped and her pelt bristled in surprise.

"Sorry about that," Sprucebark laughed. "Didn't realize you were so jumpy. I thought you would have smelled me back here."

"She doesn't know the smell of everybody yet, Sprucebark," Rowanpaw said. He had known that his father was lying behind the rock. "I've been showing her around camp."

"That's good," Sprucebark said, walking out from around the half-rock.

"This is the elders' den," Rowanpaw told Ginger. "And this is half-rock."

"And the elders' sleep here?" Ginger said.

Rowanpaw nodded. He noticed Sprucebark limping away. "Sprucebark, are you okay?" he called.

Sprucebark looked over his shoulder. "I'm fine. Just these old joints aching again. I'm off to see Frostflower."

Rowanpaw waved his tail in farewell. He turned back to Ginger. "That's the whole camp. The main parts, anyway. The place to make dirt is over behind there."

"Your camp is so big," Ginger meowed.

"It has to be, if we want to fit everyone," Rowanpaw replied. "ThunderClan is the biggest Clan."

"How many other Clans are there?" Ginger wondered.

"There's RiverClan, ShadowClan, and WindClan," Rowanpaw told her. "We're friends with WindClan and RiverClan, but not ShadowClan."

"Why not ShadowClan?"

"They're always looking for trouble," Rowanpaw said.

"Do you know all the cats in the other Clans, too?" Ginger's eyes widened.

"No," Rowanpaw laughed. "But I do know some of them. We meet ShadowClan and WindClan cats along the borders occasionally. We see the other cats at Gatherings, too."

"Gatherings?"

"Every moon, the four Clans meet on the island to discuss news and problems between the Clans," Rowanpaw said. "It's the only time there's a real truce between the Clans."

"Rowanpaw!"

Rowanpaw and Ginger turned. Thunderpaw, Darkpaw, Cottonpaw, Silverpaw, and Cloverpaw were trotting over to them. Ginger's ears twitched.

"You haven't properly introduced us to Ginger yet," Cottonpaw said. He was at the head of the group.

"I was showing Ginger around camp," Rowanpaw meowed.

"Well, it looks like you've finished the tour," Cottonpaw commented. He looked at Ginger. "I'm Cottonpaw."

"Hello," Ginger squeaked.

"This is my brother, Silverpaw." Cottonpaw gestured with his tail at his silver-furred brother.

Silverpaw twitched his whiskers in a hello.

"I'm Darkpaw," Darkpaw stepped forward, bumping Cottonpaw out of the way with his shoulder. "And that's Thunderpaw, my brother."

Gingerpaw nodded.

"And I'm Cloverpaw," Cloverpaw meowed gently, her tone soft. "My brother, Cedarpaw, is out on a hunting patrol."

"You're awfully young to be a rogue!" Cottonpaw shoved Darkpaw out of his way to get to Ginger. "Why'd you come to ThunderClan?"

"I want to know where you came from, first!" Darkpaw added.

"How far did you travel?" Cottonpaw asked.

"Did you leave behind any family?" Darkpaw put in.

"She wouldn't have left behind family, mouse-brain!" Cottonpaw hit Darkpaw on the shoulder with sheathed claws. "Unless, you did?" He looked at Ginger expectantly.

Rowanpaw had noticed that Ginger was getting anxious. Throughout the questioning, her ears had flattened and her tail had fluffed out.

"What's the matter?" Thunderpaw asked.

"Stop questioning her!" Rowanpaw stepped in front of Ginger. "Can't you see you're upsetting her? It's no wonder she hasn't answered any of your questions, with all of you crowding around her and talking at once!"

Thunderpaw looked as if Rowanpaw had hit him across the face with unsheathed claws. Rowanpaw could almost imagine scratches across his best friend's face.

Cottonpaw curled his tail. "Fine. Go aehad and protect the rogue. She'll never really be a part of ThunderClan, anyway." He turned away. "Let's go, Silverpaw."

Silverpaw glanced back at Rowanpaw with a perplexed look in his eyes before following his brother.

"We'd better go too, Thunderpaw. It's clear Rowanpaw would rather be friends with a rogue than his own Clanmates." Darkpaw glared at Rowanpaw before walking away. Thunderpaw walked off after his brother without looking back.

"I have a feeling I just lost you all of your friends," Ginger mewed pitifully.


End of Chapter Ten