I am strange.

Everyone knows it. From birth, I've been called strange, a freak of nature, weird. It's just because I have more intelligent capabilities than the other apprentices. My mother loves me for who I am, although my father despises me. They're no longer mates because of me.

My memory is sharper than anyone that has lived in my Clan, ShadowClan, before me. I'm really the most logical kit of my mother's first litter. Even in her second litter, there was no kit quite like me. She named me Dawnkit, not knowing that I was more extraordinary than a risen sun. My sister, Duskkit and brother, Sunkit prove that my mother is obsessed with the sky and all its daily rituals.

But the other kits weren't impressed with my name, so they called me Nerdkit. I don't know where they got the idea of the word "nerd", but I just accepted it and went on with my life, calling myself Nerdkit instead of Dawnkit. My mother was upset that I called myself that and said that no matter what they called me, I would still be Dawnkit. That made no intellectual sense to me.

If you are called a name, doesn't that mean you're just what that name is? At least, that was my theory. But one day, that all changed. The day I didn't rename myself. I was on the dawn patrol with my mentor, Nightgaze. His deep, dark eyes were as black as night itself. He was strange, too, just like me, except he was physically strange and I wasn't.

"So, what are we going to do after the dawn patrol, Nightgaze?" I asked. He made no reply, just stared on with his black, almost blank eyes. "Okay," I said, shifting my gaze down to the ground. We padded on in silence behind a couple of warriors that really aren't necessary to the plot of my telling. I could hear them snickering and I saw them exchanging glances as if I couldn't see them.

I was about to tell them I wasn't blind when suddenly, they halted. We stood right before the ShadowClan border. Some huge black-and-white creature stood snuffling in the dirt, rooting up the ground with its spotless, gleaming claws. Well, that might be a hyperbole, but anyways, there it stood.

Then, it saw us. Its broad head rose to see us and it roared, its foul breath making me cough. It tore at the ground and it was upon us. We fought fiercely especially Nightgaze. But it was no use; we were heavily injured and the thing was much too big for all of us.

Then something strange happened, a thing that had never happened before. "Go get help, Dawnpaw!" A loud scream ripped through the air, hitting my ears and making my eyes grow wide with disbelief. Nobody had ever called me Dawnpaw before. I stood there, shocked until the warrior again called, "Go, Dawnpaw before we're all done for!"

I scrambled off in the direction of the camp, still amazed by the fact that I had been called Dawnpaw and not Nerdpaw. I quickly got help from the leader himself and they raced after me. We came upon the border and my shock and maybe joy was all shattered by grief.

Nightgaze lay, his black eyes turned up to the skies, splayed out and bloody. The thing had inflicted its damage on him and now, my mentor was gone. I looked up, filled with rage and yowled, "Where are you, you cowardly beast?" The creature appeared but only for a second when it saw the multitude of cats everywhere, ready to attack.

I could hear it snuffling as it pounded off. I had never really felt grief or anger before, but it seemed to renew something in me. It took me a while to realize that normal emotions had been called by that warrior saying my name.

They carried Nightgaze's body back to camp, I being the main supporter of the dark-eyed tom. Later, the leader gave the other warrior's apprentice their warrior name. I never really did appreciate them, so I cheered on blankly, refusing to accept joy or any other feeling other than shocking sadness.

Then, the leader caught my attention. "Dawnpaw, step forward." The unexpected warrior ceremony, I thought was very unnecessary since all I had done was get help and carry my mentor's body back to camp. I had done a bit of fighting, but probably not enough.

I was named Dawnstorm. I assumed that my mother had demanded that name for me since storms were part of the sky. I loved my name, but not as much as I loved Dawnpaw. I did a bold thing then; I requested to remain an apprentice so I could teach new apprentices not to mind if others called them names.

Of course, that wasn't my only purpose. Dawnpaw would be my only name and it was all I needed. Years later, I was still an apprentice, teaching others to not mind, to call themselves the names that they wanted to be called. I didn't lose my intelligence; no, I'm still the unbelievable spectacle that some cats still refuse to believe in.

Now, I'm forgotten. No one remembers me except ShadowClan. They pass down stories to little kits about an extremely intelligent, little she-cat that was always made fun of and called unpleasant names. Some cats believe her name was Nerdpaw. Some believe that her name was even Skypaw. But no, there is only one name for this cat that remained an apprentice.

My name is Dawnpaw.