So, a few of you said you like EchoXFlame, a few said EchoXTiger, and icethroat21 said that she didn't want Echopaw to have a mate. I actually don't want Echopaw to have a mate either. GIRL POWER!!!!! YAAAAH!!!! But I want her bloodline to continue, so unfortunately, she has to. Otherwise, that'd be kind of...strange...eeeeuugh. Don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it...
Bramblestar shook his head. "What was that?" he murmured. "Were StarClan speaking to me? What were they saying? It was like an echo on the breeze..."
Echo on the breeze...
Bramblestar looked at Echopaw. "Echopaw, from now on your name will be Echobreeze. StarClan honors your courage, intellectual and physical skills, and kindness, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan." Echobreeze was stunned as she licked his shoulder.
The cats slowly took up the chant. "Goldenclaw! Fogpelt! Dappleberry! Echobreeze!"
Echobreeze.
Echobreeze liked the name.
Bramblestar leaped off the Highledge.
Cats came up and congratulated the four new warriors.
Ivyvine got to Echobreeze first. "No fair!" she whined. "We were apprentices for nine moons, and you were only one for, like, seven!"
Echobreeze shrugged helplessly. "I...don't know. I suppose Dustpelt was able to convince Bramblestar?"
Dovewing laid her tail over Ivyvine's back. "At least we're warriors now," she meowed soothingly. "Firestar was going to make us wait even longer, remember?"
"Yeah," Ivyvine mewed heavily. "I guess that you want to find a place in the warriors' den now, Echopaw--I mean, Echobreeze. Sorry that Smokefur became a warrior before you, 'cause he's already taken up four spots."
Smokefur had been congratulating Goldenclaw, but he shot Ivyvine a glare.
Echobreeze looked at the cats all around her. "I feel bad for Ashpaw and Berrypaw," she meowed. "They're the only apprentices left."
"Darkkit, Marshkit, and Rosekit will become apprentices in a moon," Dovewing meowed, looking at the three large kits tumbling around in front of the nursery. "And I have a feeling that Ashpaw and Berrypaw will catch on to Clan life faster than you think. At least, Berrypaw will."
Dappleberry came up next to them. "New warriors," she mewed contentedly. "I feel bad for everyone saying my name. It's much longer and more complicated now."
Echobreeze looked around at the cats again. "Every cat seems to be breaking off in pairs," she mused. "Foxpelt and Briarthorn. Toadspots and Blossomflower. Smokefur and Goldenclaw, Fogpelt and Dewleaf. Bumblefoot and Berrypaw...sort of."
Dovewing shrugged. "I guess it's the newleaf air."
Ivyvine looked slyly at Echobreeze. "And you and Tigerheart?"
Echobreeze swatted Ivyvine over the head. "No!" she hissed indignantly.
"Fine, then...you and Flameheart?"
"He's a medicine cat?"
Ivyvine shrugged. "That didn't stop Leafpool. Or Jayfeather. Or many medicine cats of the past. Frankly, I don't even see the point of keeping the no-mate rule if everyone breaks it."
"Because. Mates would distract them."
"Isn't it more distracting to have a forbidden mate?"
Echobreeze shook her head helplessly. "I just don't know about you, Ivyvine."
Ivyvine shrugged.
Flameheart came over. "Congratulations, Echobreeze, Dappleberry," he meowed slowly. He looked at Echobreeze. "Can I...talk to you?"
Ivyvine looked at Echobreeze mischievously.
"Come on, Dappleberry," Ivyvine meowed. "Quick, maybe we can steal some of Smokefur's moss for you."
"I heard that!" Smokefur yowled furiously.
"Gotta go," Ivyvine meowed quickly, and shot out of camp, Smokefur in hot pursuit.
Dovewing turned to Dappleberry. "We're dead serious," she mewed. "Now come on." She lead Dappleberry into the warriors' den.
Flameheart took Echobreeze into the medicine cats' den, and after making sure Jayfeather wasn't there, he turned to Echobreeze.
Echobreeze sighed noisily. "I already know what you're going to say."
Flameheart looked guilty. "You do?"
Echobreeze clawed the ground. "Flameheart, you're a medicine cat."
"That didn't stop Leafpool," he defended, sounding exactly like Ivyvine.
Echobreeze shook her head. "Please, Flameheart. It wouldn't work."
"You're in love with Tigerheart, aren't you?"
The question caught her off guard. "Er..." she stammered.
"It's okay," Flameheart mewed. "I'm fine. I'll be fine. I guess...I'm a medicine cat. It couldn't happen, anyway."
Echobreeze breathed in relief. "I'm sorry, Flameheart."
"I'll go tell Tigerheart."
"What?"
Flameheart gave her a rueful look. "We were...sort of, you know..."
"Using me?"
"Not exactly." Flameheart scuffed his forepaws on the ground. "We both loved you. We were just sort of...competing to see..."
"Who I loved."
"Exactly."
"What do you get if you win?"
"You."
Echobreeze shrugged. "I don't know if I love Tigerheart."
"You do."
"Maybe."
"Yes."
"Not definitely!"
"Yes, you do!"
"You sound like Ivyvine."
Flameheart leapt gracefully to his paws and padded outside. "I'll go tell him, okay?"
Echobreeze tipped her head. "Do what you want. But if he's going to pad after me like a moonstruck rabbit, tell him he can go back to ShadowClan."
Flameheart mrrowed slightly. "I'll tell him that."
"I already heard."
Tigerheart's muscular frame took up the doorway. Echobreeze caught her breath. He wasn't a bad looking tom...
"You eavesdropped?" Flameheart meowed in mock outraged, cuffing Tigerheart over the ears.
"You eavesdropped on our conversation."
"True."
Tigerheart looked at Echobreeze. "I thought..."
Echobreeze nearly wailed. "I don't know, okay? If this is what real pressure is, I just want the situation to be done with."
"Right."
Echobreeze padded out of the den. She felt Tigerheart and Flameheart looking after her.
Did she love Tigerheart?
What did love feel like?
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Echobreeze woke up the next morning. She wondered why the apprentices' den looked so crowded. Then she remembered. She was a warrior.
She moved a little to the left, then staggered as she ran into Tigerheart. He stirred, but didn't wake. Echobreeze was relieved. She needed time alone.
She walked out into the middle of camp and stretched.
"Echobreeze!"
Brackenfur beckoned her over.
"I need you to go on patrol. Cloudtail will lead it." Cloudtail waved his tail over by the camp entrance, with Sorreltail, Mousewhisker, and Dappleberry by his side.
"Right," Echobreeze meowed, and headed over.
Cloudtail's eyes glimmered. "Your first patrol as a warrior, along with Dappleberry," he meowed, and headed out.
Mousewhisker looked at her sympathetically. "And it has to be the dawn patrol. Mine wasn't till sunhigh, and it felt much better." He bounded after Cloudtail.
"Try to keep up!" Sorreltail mewed teasingly, and went after them. Echobreeze and Dappleberry continued after them.
Suddenly, Dappleberry stopped. "I got a thorn in my pad!" she called to the rest of the patrol.
Cloudtail rolled his eyes. "Again? You always get those through the bramble tunnel."
"You guys keep going," Echobreeze meowed. "We'll catch up. I know how to get these out." Cloudtail nodded and continued ahead.
"Now, where's the thorn?" Echobreeze asked.
"I don't have one," Dappleberry admitted.
"Then why'd you stop?" Echobreeze mewed curiously.
"I need to tell you something."
Echobreeze suddenly remembered. "I need to tell you something, too."
"Who first?" Dappleberry asked.
"Same time," Echobreeze decided.
"I can trust you, right?" Dappleberry meowed, studying the ground. "I mean, sister to sister trust?"
Echobreeze swallowed. "Yes," she meowed, realizing it wasn't a lie because even though they weren't sisters, they were still as close.
"Same time," Dappleberry breathed.
"One," Echobreeze mewed.
"Two," Dappleberry continued.
"Three," they both meowed.
Echobreeze said "I'm not your sister" at the same time that Dappleberry said "I'm in love with Tigerheart."
Oh, great. A cliffie. And we've moved on from the love triangle. Now it's a love SQUARE! GOODNESS, this doesn't look good. I don't feel like blabbering much. Review, please!