Disclaimer: Warriors isn't mine.

Servitude

"Why do I have to do this?" Icepaw snarled, as he ripped moss off of the tree trunk. He had a small pile already, but it wasn't quite enough.

The white apprentice's long claws gleamed as he slashed at the lichen clinging to the trunk. Deep grooves were left behind, and wood chips flew into the moss.

Icepaw growled and lashed his tail. "Mouse-dung!" He started picking them out; Vineclaw would have his hide for bedding if there were splinters in the moss.

"I didn't do this to punish you." Icepaw almost jumped into the air at his mentor's voice. He whirled to face the brown she-cat.

Icepaw bit back a sharp retort of, "Really? Then why did you do this?"

Vineclaw sighed. "You needed to learn respect and about servitude." Icepaw huffed softly, and stared into his mentor's green eyes. He knew why she'd done it. She'd always liked Cinderpaw more. The smug look on the tom's face when Icepaw had been assigned to this duty still rankled him.

Cinderpaw was younger than Icepaw by two moons, and Icepaw had always struggled to outdo the leader's son. Cinderpaw was Stonestar's kit, leader's pride, but a more stuck up cat Icepaw had yet to meet. How the gray apprentice had gotten to be the clan's favorite was anyone's guess. Icepaw was by far a better fighter, and deserved to be a warrior a moon ago. In fact, that's what he'd thought Vineclaw had come to tell him. Then she told him he had to take care of the elder's and queens for one moon.

Cinderpaw's stunned and then smug expression flashed in Icepaw's mind. The moment Vineclaw had left Cinderpaw had turned to the older apprentice and taunted, "Well Icepaw, when I'm a warrior, I'll save you a spot in the den."

Vineclaw wasn't doing this for him. She was doing this for Cinderpaw.

Icepaw went back to pulling at the moss, ignoring Vineclaw. She could favor another apprentice. He'd be a warrior someday, and then he'd show everyone how much greater than Cinderpaw he was.

He heard his mentor sigh, and she walked away, Icepaw smirked. Good. Maybe she'd feel bad. Especially if Cinderpaw became a warrior before him. He sank his claws into the ground, remembering Cinderpaw's jeers as he went to train that morning.

Icepaw snarled, a deep gutteral sound. He was supposed to be a warrior soon! He should be being assessed, not cleaning dens. How was he supposed to be a warrior if he got out of practice? Then he'd never be Icetalon, or whatever his warrior name was.

He unsheathed his claws for a moment. ThunderClan would run like cowards when he was finally a warrior. He'd heard stories about some of the warriors; Darkfang the former ThunderClan deputy had died, so that was good. The deputy had been the only ThunderClan warrior that they considered truly dangerous. Some tom named Foxclaw had been named the new deputy and if the way Flintstar looked at the last gathering was any indication, he'd be leader soon.

Icepaw balled up the moss and carried it back to camp.

XXX

When Icepaw got back, Cinderpaw was already in camp, showing the kits his new battle move. Icepaw just tightened his grip on the moss and ignored him.

Then he heard Ivypaw speak. "Wow, that's amazing Cinderpaw!"

Icepaw froze and turned his head. Ivypaw had always liked him, not Cinderpaw! But the white and black tabby was sitting there admiring the dark gray tom.

Cinderpaw shrugged and raised his head. "I learned it today," he bragged.

The kits all looked amazed and began trying to imitate Cinderpaw. The apprentice watched, then rested his tail on Ivypaw's.

When she didn't object, he turned to Icepaw, gave him a smirk, and winked.

Ivypaw screwed his eyes shut for a moment, cursing Vineclaw for forcing him into servitude like this. Then he whirled and plunged into the elder's den.

Lilyheart, a small tabby she-cat, was sleeping when Icepaw walked in. She was the only elder at the moment, so at least it wouldn't be too hard.

"Good afternoon, Icepaw." The white apprentice jumped a little, and turned.

Lilyheart was awake, and twitched her whiskers. "Some new moss? Great!" The she-cat got up, and sat down, giving Icepaw plenty of room to work.

Icepaw got to work, narrowing his yellow eyes. He didn't let Lilyheart see though. He worked in silence for a little while, then the elder spoke.

"You remind me of Smallwhisker." She commented, and Icepaw shrugged. He didn't know how he remind the queen of her dark gray son, but if she thought so, oh well.

"He always hated taking care of the elders, like you." Lilytail's comment made Icepaw pause, for just a heartbeat. Lilyheart laughed softly from behind him.

"I had several kits and mentored an apprentice, Icepaw, I can tell when a young cat is resentful about doing chores," she said lightly. Icepaw glanced over his shoulder, if anything the she-cat seemed amused. Icepaw tightened his shoulder and went back to his work.

Lilypool continued, "Vineclaw told me you had a temper and that you'd probably give me the cold shoulder."

Icepaw growled. "I just don't want to be here." He needed to train, do important things.

Lilyheart gasped. "He speaks!" The she-cat purred in amusement at the look Icepaw gave her.

"Well, you ignore the story I'm about to tell you then," Lilyheart stated. Icepaw bit back a sigh.

Lilypool made a small noise. "An apprentice that doesn't like stories?"

"I'm almost twelve moons. I'm too old for tales of battles and amazing warriors." Icepaw replied.

"This one's not about a battle. It's about servitude, what you doing now."

Icepaw shrugged again. "Not sure how much attention I'll pay." He continued removing old moss.

"Well, there was a time you would've enjoyed, the clans had no elders. They either left the clan, or died as a warrior of old age." Lilyheart told him. "Or fought too hard in battle. Well there was a young warrior, named Brownstripe. He was an ordinary warrior, but his mentor had been one of the oldest warriors in the clan. Brownstripe was close to his mentor, who was named Eaglewing. As she got older, her sight got bad, and she wasn't as fast as she used to be which meant she'd probably be asked to leave the clan. Brownstripe often hunted with her and always had her take credit for most of his catches."

"Eventually the leader caught on, and asked Eaglewing to leave. Brownstripe argued with the leader, to the clan's shock. He pointed out that Eaglewing had served the clan well, fought for the Clan and swore to defend it even with her life. So why cast her out? He pointed out she remembered things none of the others did. This was back just after the Clans formed. Brownstripe pointed out Eaglewing had known Shadowstar, she was one of the few cats left that had." Lilyheart stopped, and Icepaw looked up from the moss he was placing.

"What?" he asked, "Why'd you stop?" He froze, realizing why the old she-cat had.

The tabby purred. "So you were paying attention. Not so boring after all is it?"

Icepaw shrugged. "Not as boring as collecting moss." he replied, attempting to sound uninterested.

Lilyheart's green eyes lingered on him, then she continued. "So Hollystar hesitated. She considered what Brownstripe had said. He added that she could still have duties, just not hunting and fighting. Hollystar asked him what she could do. Brownstripe replied that she could bury fallen clanmates, tell the kits stories, and offer advice." Lilyheart stopped for a moment, and commented, "We still do that you know." Icepaw shifted his weight awkwardly.

"Hollystar asked him who would take care of the elderly cats. Brownstripe suggested the apprentices could do it, so that they could learn to respect those older than them. He also pointed out that this would be the warrior's reward for having served the clan for their whole life. Hollystar agreed to his plan, and ever since the clan's have had elders and taken care of them in thanks for them defending clan when they were warriors." Lillyheart finished. "Do you understand Icepaw?"

"Yeah. I didn't think about what would happen to me after I was warrior. I suppose I'll appreciate the apprentices then." Icepaw murmured.

Lilyheart nodded. "They'll take care of you, just like you took care of me." She flicked her tail over his ears. "Because every cat in the Clan has a place, and has a duty."

Icepaw blinked, and nodded. He went back to work, but the tension was gone from shoulders. When he had an apprentice, he'd tell them that story.

"I'll go get you some prey." The white apprentice promised, hurrying off. Lilyheart twitched her whiskers, and commented. "Well, Vineclaw?"

"Fine, I'll catch you a sparrow." The she-cat muttered from outside the den.

Smallwhisker's voice joined his mate. "I warned you."

"Oh hush you furball!" Vineclaw retorted, and there was rustling. Lilyheart's whiskers twitched, her kit had grown so much.

Icepaw grabbed a squirrel from the prey pile and saw Cinderpaw walking towards him, the gray tom sneered at him. "Still working hard are we?"

Icepaw didn't reply, as he turned to go he heard Cinderpaw snort. "Thank StarClan it's not me."

He set the squirrel down, without turning around he commented. "Yes. You know there's a reason you're not. A fox would take better care of them than you."

The white tom grabbed the squirrel and continued to the elder's den, not sparing a glance at Cinderpaw.