DISCLAIMER: I do not own warriors, however painful it is to admit.

One more chapter!

Chapter 23

RiverClan

Tinypaw sat alone in the darkening forest, head drooping. No one was coming to get her, and no one tried; except Moonpaw. Moonpaw had come, asking if she was okay, but Tinypaw shooed her away, wanting to be alone.

Blackpaw's word's stung like a thorn at the back of her mind: "Stay away from Skullpaw. If you speak with him, if you hunt with him, if you even come a whisker-length toward me when I'm around him, I swear to StarClan that you will regret it." Tinypaw knew Blackpaw had fierce feelings for Skullpaw, but she had never expected something like this to happen.

Tinypaw remembered what had happened with the fireflies. She had definitely seen affection in his eyes when he gazed at her, but she didn't know if she felt the same.

When Tinypaw first saw Skullpaw speaking with the ginger tom under the half-bridge, she had been terrified that she would be discovered and punished by him for spying. When she saw him at the Gathering, even, she had been afraid to introduce herself or even be near him. But after the fire, when she had seen him so helpless and hurt, she started feeling differently. She remembered when Skullpaw was telling her about his rescue in the fire, and when Tinypaw had been speaking to him about her overprotective mother; Tinypaw had never told anyone about her mother before, but something about Skullpaw made her speak. Now...Tinypaw had mixed feelings for him; she knew she liked him, liked him a lot even, but to what end? They could never be together with Blackpaw's threat hanging over her head like a pestering fly.

Tinypaw opened her eyes. She was facing the lakeshore now, the blood red light of the sunset staining her fur scarlet. She watched as the sun sank below the horizon, and watched as the stars appeared one by one in Silverpelt.

After what felt like moons, Tinypaw stood, feeling determined. So what if Blackpaw threatened her? She was strong, and she knew what she wanted. If Blackpaw stood in her way, she wouldn't hesitate to bring her down; one way or another.

Tinypaw slowly padded to the ShadowClan camp, where the mingled scents of RiverClan, ThunderClan, ShadowClan, and WindClan reached her. Tinypaw entered the clearing, and saw with relief that the camp was fully restored, the ShadowClan cats saying their good nights to the other Clans. Tinypaw soon found her Clan near the medicine den, gathering up and about to head home.

"Tinypaw! Where have you been? We've been looking all over for you!" Tinypaw turned around and saw Moonpaw and Riverpaw bounding toward her, Skullpaw and Deathpaw following more slowly behind.

Moonpaw gazed at her, ice blue eyes alight. "Glad that you came back to us, Tinypaw." Tinypaw nodded to her, seeing reassurance and sincerity in Moonpaw's round gaze. Riverpaw touched noses with her.

"We're about to go back to WindClan. We've helped out as much as we could." Riverpaw mewed, and Tinypaw felt sorrow gnaw at her belly once again; now that ShadowClan was back to normal, everything would go back to normal. That meant border patrols, feuds, and hunting for her own Clan. Tinypaw sighed. She was going to miss her friends.

"Hey, this isn't forever, you know," Riverpaw assured her with a wink, "We can still see each other at Gatherings and patrols and stuff."

"Yeah." Tinypaw agreed, although she still felt downcast. Skullpaw and Deathpaw approached, looking tired but successful.

"Goodbye, Riverpaw," Deathpaw mewed, touching noses with her; Skullpaw did the same. "we're going to miss you."

"Mousebrains," Riverpaw purred, "You've only known me for a day." Everyone laughed. As soon as the WindClan patrol had left, ThunderClan soon followed, until only RiverClan remained.

Everything was quiet, and all of the warriors of her Clan were saying their last goodbyes to ShadowClan. Deathpaw went back to the newly-remade apprentices' den to get some rest, leaving Tinypaw and Skullpaw alone at the edge of the clearing.

"Well," Tinypaw mewed quietly, "I...I guess this is goodbye for now."

"Yeah." Skullpaw agreed, silently disappointed. "We can still see each other at Gatherings and such."

"Yep." Tinypaw felt awkward standing with him alone now; before Blackpaw, everything had been so simple.

Skullpaw, sensing her anxiety, licked her ear. "It'll be all right."

"I'll miss you." Tinypaw whispered.

Skullpaw suddenly rubbed his muzzle against hers, and Tinypaw closed her eyes, purring.

"It's time for you to go." Skullpaw mewed softly. Tinypaw opened her eyes, blinked once at him, and touched noses one last time.

When Tinypaw awoke the next morning, she was disappointed to learn that she was to go back to training and patrolling as usual.

Tinypaw padded out of the apprentices' den, stretching and yawning hugely. Behind her, Swallowpaw padded up to her and they exchanged greetings.

"Haven't seen you around here for a while, Tinypaw," Swallowpaw meowed. "Every cat's been wondering what's so exciting over there."

"ShadowClan needed help," Tinypaw mewed defensively, but laughed immediately after.

Once she had calmed down, Swallowpaw mewed, "Echopaw and I are going patrolling. Wanna come?" Tinypaw nodded, and followed Swallowpaw over to the entrance to camp. A patrol of Darkfoot, Loudheart, Blazestar, and Leaftail were waiting there, Echopaw pacing in front of them. Once he spotted Tinypaw, he bounded over to greet her.

"Tinypaw!" he mewed cheerily, and Tinypaw felt warmed by such a friendly greeting. "We missed having you around. Your mother's been 'Worried sick'!" Echopaw copied Leaftail's shrill voice, and Tinypaw and Swallowpaw giggled.

"Speak of the devil..." Swallowpaw mewed, and Tinypaw turned around to see Leaftail rushing towards her. Soon, Tinypaw was being covered in licks so fierce they made Tinypaw's skin underneath tug in different directions.

"Oh, Tinypaw! I'm so glad you're all right!" Leaftail fretted.

Tinypaw attempted to shove her mother away, but to no avail. "Mom, I'm fine, really..." but Leaftail stopped anyway.

"Don't you ever scare me like that!" Leaftail scolded.

Tinypaw gave her an exasperated look. "I came home every night, you were just sleeping! I was fine, mom!"

Leaftail shook her head. "You came home late and left home early. I never even got a chance to speak to you!"

"Mom, listen...mom, listen to me!" Tinypaw yowled, and Leaftail stopped her muttering about safety.

"I'm not a kit anymore. Please, stop babying me. Ever since I got that one bout of green cough, you've kept me inside the lines and never let me do anything I've wanted to do. If you're going to be like this during my entire apprenticeship, then I'd hate to think what you'd do to me as a warrior. Face it, mom; I'm growing up." Leaftail blinked and was silent as she listened to her smallest daughter; by now every cat was awake and watching the two she-cats bicker.

Leaftail swallowed. "Fine. You're right. It's not right for me to baby you like a kit; you're growing up, and I've been blind not realize that. I'm sorry." Tinypaw blinked, surprised at her mother's solemn statement. They were silent, and then the dawn patrol set out.

Through the patrol, Tinypaw saw Leaftail speaking with Blazestar in deep conversation.

"I wonder what they're saying," Swallowpaw wondered aloud as her and Tinypaw re-scented the border. Tinypaw noticed that the scent markings were slightly faint, and realized that, since they had been working together, RiverClan had had no need to scent their borders to warn ShadowClan off. Now they were setting strong, fresh scents over the border, and Tinypaw knew that their temporary alliance with the forest Clan was over.

Across the border, Tinypaw saw the tiniest green leaves starting to sprout out of the scorched treetops, and she couldn't help but smile. ShadowClan had made it through a tragedy, and now things were slowly getting back on track.

As they headed toward the WindClan border, Tinypaw saw two tiny birds chirping and hopping about on the ground, chattering and shrieking to each other. Tinypaw watched as they flew away together, then flew in different directions, quickly growing out of sight. It reminded her of Skullpaw and Blackpaw, first so close and then moving farther apart with every step. Tinypaw sighed.

When the patrol got back to camp, Tinypaw picked a vole to eat with Swallowpaw by the apprentices' den; suddenly, Blazestar hopped up on the Reedledge to give an announcement. He called the Clan to gather, and Tinypaw finished her vole quickly to join them; was someone becoming a warrior? An apprentice? Fox? Badger?

As Tinypaw flipped through the options, the Clan was silenced and Blazestar began. "I, Blazestar, leader of RiverClan, call upon my ancestors to look down upon...Tinypaw." All heads turned her way, and Tinypaw blinked in surprise. Was she...becoming a warrior?

"Leaftail, her mentor and mother, has approached me, saying that she would like to resign her position as mentor to her child." Tinypaw blinked, tears brimming on the edge of her vision. Her mother was resigning? Her mind flew back to the moment before the patrol when she stood up to her mother, and she suddenly fit the pieces together. Leaftail speaking with Blazestar...her solemn tone when she had answered her rant...it was all starting to make sense. Tinypaw had never noticed how caring her mother really was.

"Tinypaw will receive a new mentor immediately." Blazestar continued. He paused. "Her new mentor will be...Fishsplash. I hope you will mentor Tinypaw well." Blazestar hopped down, and the meeting broke.

Tinypaw's blood ran cold. Fishsplash? Fishsplash? She gulped, and Fishsplash approached to touch noses. She did, reluctantly, and saw an evil gleam in his eyes that, to Tinypaw, meant, You're in for it now, kit.

Please review! Cliffies are so much fun! Last chapter is up next!