Mistbriar tossed her gray head and blinked her creamy blue eyes at Sagepond. It was definitely a mistake sending all of the single toms to the mountains. Sagepond was way too desperate.

Thinking of that, I hope they made it. We can't have good, interesting patrols without them.

Dawn patrols weren't as fun without Rippleshade's glares and Cloudfish's stupid conversations. The white tom could not understand that early mornings meant grumpy cats. He was the only one who didn't catch the memo.

"Mistbriar!"

She turned her head, expecting a tom. At least, a handsome tom.

"The ceremony's about to start," Shadestar meowed.

Mistbriar nodded. More apprentices meant more toms. But, not like that was the only thing she cared about.

"'Kay," she replied, her voice as silky as honey.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather!" Shadestar yowled, jumping up to a perch.

Mistbriar daintily bounced to a good position to listen, watching the other cats flood out of their dens like the river in newleaf. The cats tittered amongst themselves, wondering what the announcement could be. Bramblestorm and Mossysong led their kits out of the nursery proudly, confirming the rumors. Dovekit and Thistlekit's fur were groomed neatly and their fur shone in the light. Thistlekit shook out his tabby fur, earning a glare from his father, warning him not to mess his pelt up. Dovekit, on the other paw, seemed to glide gracefully across the clearing. Mistbriar could tell she would be a useful hunter.

"Dovekit, Thistlekit, you have reached your six moons," Shadestar greeted them. "Dovekit, from this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Dovepaw. Skyberry received excellent training from Stormlight, and you will be her apprentice."

The newly named Dovepaw stepped forward to touch noses with Skyberry. Excitement in her blue eyes, she padded back to her parents, who greeted her with a lick.

"Thistlekit, from this day on, you will be known as Thistlepaw. I will be your mentor. Serve your Clan well," Shadestar meowed.

Thistlepaw glanced at his father, shock in his eyes. He obviously didn't expect to receive training from the leader himself. He padded towards Shadestar and eagerly touched noses with him.

"Thistlepaw! Dovepaw!" The Clan cheered.

The two apprentices glanced at each other, happiness clear in their gaze. Willowpaw, Speckpaw, and Rosepaw padded up to them.

"Welcome to the den," Willowpaw purred sweetly, though there was a dangerous glint in her eyes.

Dovepaw smiled. "Thank you," she smiled, but a look of knowledge tainted her blue eyes.

"Of course." Rosepaw's words were obviously meant for Thistlepaw.

"Willowpaw," Mistbriar called. She knew she would have to contain her apprentice at sometime. "Come on, time for training."

Willowpaw nodded cooly at the new apprentices, letting them know she was in charge, before bounding away with her mentor. The two she-cats, both pretty and somewhat ruthless, walked together out of IceClan's camp.


"But, how are we going to get Foxclaw back?" Duskblossom asked, setting her paws neatly in front of her.

Berryoak glanced at the nearby Tribe cats. "Can we really talk about this in front of them?" he hissed.

"What do you mean?" Daypaw asked, after all, she hadn't been at the battle.

"The Tribe cats, too, were concerned about getting Foxclaw. We just don't know their purposes," Cloudfish explained quietly, glancing at Eagle, who had just sat down next to them.

"He's saying, can we trust them?" Cinderbird retorted.

Daypaw tipped her gray head. Duskblossom felt a surge of frustration. They should not have to sneak around like this just to get their Clanmate back!

"What do you think?" Cloudfish smartly replied.

"No," Berryoak scoffed, "They're just like us, thinking of themselves first. You think Stoneteller would just let us have Foxclaw without raising a paw?"

"We can beat this bunch," Gingerpaw insisted.

"He's right," Rippleshade pointed out, surprising the cats with his voice.

"We need to have a plan," Duskblossom spoke up. "We need to know what we're doing and why we're doing this."

"Of course we know why we're doing this," Cinderbird cried, "We're doing this to save Foxclaw."

Duskblossom narrowed her eyes and suspected her sister was putting on a show. Cinderbird had told her multiple times that she wasn't sure about her feelings.

"Of course, you would say that," Daypaw muttered.

"Um, excuse me?" The gray she-cat whipped around to face the apprentice.

"You haven't been oh, so helpful on this journey," Daypaw reminded her.

"And who invited you on this journey?" Cinderbird snapped.

"I did, thank you very much!" Daypaw shot back, "And any cat could have told me to go back. I'm quite capable of defending myself and getting back to IceClan."

"So, O great Leader, what are your suggestions?" Cinderbird sneered.

Duskblossom stepped forward and touched the tip of her tail to Cinderbird's shoulder. "Calm down," she murmured, "You're both just worried."

The pretty gray she-cat nodded reluctantly and allowed her neck fur to go back down. She licked her paw in embarrassment. Daypaw, on the other hand, turned her back to them both. Cloudfish and Berryoak exchanged amused expressions.

"We still need a plan," Gingerpaw whispered, glancing at the Tribe cats who were watching the argument.

"Okay, so what should we do?" Berryoak countered, leading the patrol away from the Tribe cats.

"Well, Daypaw wasn't at the battle," Duskblossom started slowly, "Maybe she could ask if she could join the Graces? We could have some cat in on the inside."

"Why not Rippleshade? He's a much more experienced warrior," Berryoak pointed out.

"In case you haven't noticed, Rippleshade is a tom. It looked to me like all of the cats there were she-cats," she replied.

"I'm in," Daypaw announced, bounding back towards them.

"Hang on, we haven't even said we were going to do it," Cloudfish meowed.

"I say let's do it!" Cinderbird agreed, "It's our best plan."

Duskblossom glanced at Berryoak, who was contemplating her plan.

"We don't know the full lengths of how dangerous these cats truly are," Rippleshade interrupted, "We don't know how they train, it might be dangerous business."

"It would so be worth it, to save Foxclaw!" Daypaw insisted.

"The Tribe cats want Foxclaw," Duskblossom remembered. "They wouldn't have been so willing just to help us. If we rescue him, he could just be taken away."

"You really think he would let any more cats take him away? Even when he's not at his full strength, he's still a formidable warrior," Cinderbird growled.

Daypaw suddenly straightened and twitched her ears. Duskblossom followed with her eyes the direction she had pointed, and saw the worthless she-cat Stream and another she-cat called Branch.

"I want to do it," Daypaw confirmed. "It's a perfect plan."

Berryoak shifted on his paws. Decisions flickered in his amber eyes and his cream fur bristled.

"I say, go for it," he finally agreed.

Duskblossom caught a glimpse of Daypaw trying to suppress an excited squeal.

"Yes!" Daypaw shouted.

"Okay, how are we going to get her over to the Graces?" Cinderbird muttered, swishing her tail back and forth.

"Simple, I go, begging and pleading for them to take me in," Daypaw smugly replied.

"That's a stupid plan!" she exclaimed.

"Hang on, it might not be. You saw how they treated their queens. They might have a lick of honor," Berryoak pointed out.

Duskblossom shifted on her haunches. She was painfully aware that she was low in rank to discuss this with senior warriors, but then, so was Cinderbird. Daypaw was lowest, and she had an important part to play in their plan.

The cream tom licked a darker paw. "I still think we should go with Daypaw and Duskblossom's plan."

"What if something goes wrong?" Duskblossom fretted.

"What are you? A nursing queen?" Daypaw shot back hotly, "We have a chance and we should take it!" She stood up. "We can get him back!"


Daypaw swished her tail over her paws. This was the place, the Grace's camp. Their camp resided in a cave, hidden by a boulder. Grassy fields were splayed in front of it, and the blue sky was speckled with clouds.

Daypaw's Clanmates were hiding behind a scraggly bush. Cinderbird mouthed, "You can do it!"

She knew she could do it. Clearing her throat, Daypaw started wailing and limping towards the Grace's camp.

"Oh, some cat, please help me!" she cried.

Two pairs of deadly eyes blinked open. A dark brown she-cat, with paws ringed with black, and a white she-cat with gray splotches stepped out of the cave.

"Who are you?" The white she-cat hissed.

Remembering her instructions, Daypaw pitifully wailed, "My name is Day. Please, can you help me?"

The brown she-cat twitched her ears disbelievingly. "Sure, and we're just supposed to believe that you're hurt?"

The white she-cat stepped forward, placing a paw on her denmate. " Coco, she's hurt. What would Thalia think?"

Coco snorted. "Fine, Cleo. We'll take her in, let Thalia look at her."

Yes! The plan is on.

The two she-cats led Daypaw into a cave, which was bigger than it looked like on the outside. Blinking to get used to the darkness, she started to make out an organized camp. She spotted three pregnant queens sharing tongues and gossiping, and two younger cats play-fighting. Although, she did notice that, like Duskblossom mentioned, no toms were present. No elders were eating prey, or exchanging stories.

"Thalia!" Coco called, "We have a… visitor."

A graceful silver she-cat emerged from a den.

"Who are you?" Thalia powerfully demanded.

Daypaw dipped her head. "My name is Day."

"Very well, Day, what are you doing in my territory?" she spat.

"I am here begging for protection. There is a group of cats that are trying to hurt me, and I thought you could help," Daypaw explained.

Ugh, groveling for "protection." Never thought that would happen.

Daypaw noticed the silver she-cat's eyes soften. She guessed something had happened to her, to make her so soft to she-cats in trouble.

"You can stay," she graciously murmured.

"Oh, thank you!" Daypaw exclaimed, surprising the cats with her relief.

Thalia continued, "Sunny and Calista, the youngest cats here, will be your guardians. They will instruct you on how we live, and how you are expected to act if you stay with us."

A yellow cat and a tortoiseshell cat bounded up to Daypaw, whose fur was prickling uneasily.

"Thank you," Daypaw repeated politely and walked off with the two she-cats.

"Who are you?" The yellow she-cat demanded, Daypaw guessed she was Sunny.

"My name is Dayp- Day," she replied.

The tortoiseshell, who must be Calista, meowed, "Okay, whatever, we're the Graces, blah-blah."

"Thank you so much for that new piece of information," Daypaw sarcastically mewed, "I will cherish it for the rest of my life."

The tortoiseshell, who apparently didn't catch the sarcasm, looked pleased. "Finally, a cat who appreciates it!"

Sunny rolled her eyes and whispered to Daypaw, "She's not the brightest cat in the world."

Daypaw let out a mrrow of amusement.

Sunny continued, "Anyways, we are the Graces. As you probably noticed, there are no toms here. Thank goodness for that!"

Calista cut in, "And blah, blah, blah we're the youngest, which means we have the "privilege" of feeding the queens and taking care of new arrivals."

The yellow she-cat looked around to see if anyone was listening, "Yeah, and guess what? We actually have a prisoner here!" Sunny exclaimed.

Daypaw tried to resist the pull of excitement. "Really?" she gasped.

"Yeah," Calista rolled her eyes, "And it's our job to take care of him. You will probably help with that, too."

Daypaw realized this would be the perfect chance to tell Foxclaw the plan.

"So what else do you guys do?" she asked.

"Well, so this is really complicated, but all Graces have to be beautiful. It's like a rule. It's so weird," Sunny complained, "It's like genetic, or something."

"Or something," Calista muttered.

Ignoring her sister, Sunny went on, "All of the toms here are sent out to the wilderness when they're old enough."

Biting her tongue, Daypaw so desperately wanted to say something, to protest against that cruel treatment.

"I've heard some toms go to… the Tribe," Calista shuddered.

"The Tribe cats are terrible!" Sunny bursted out.

"Back to what we were actually talking about," Calista reminded her sister. "There's this time window when she-cats can get pregnant. It would completely break all of the rules if any she-cat expected kits outside of it. That hasn't happened as far as I can remember, but I expect they'll get thrown out."

Daypaw shuddered. She longed for the freedom of the Clans.

"And, yeah. That's us," Sunny finished. "Right now there are three queens, Marie, Dixie, and Chloe. Don't get on the wrong side of Marie, trust me."

"Who's that?" Daypaw asked, looking at a powerful gray she-cat. The she-cat radiated ambition and power, and Daypaw could tell she was some cat important.

"That," Calista shuddered, "Is Violet."

"She's our second command. She does Thalia's dirty work," Sunny completed her sister's sentence.

Sort of like a deputy.

"Thanks for telling me all of this," Daypaw murmured, words trying to trickle out of her mouth, and doing so resentfully.

"No problem. It's getting late. We'd better catch some prey for the queens," Calista reminded them.

Daypaw nodded, "I'll help."

Maybe we'll take prey to Foxclaw.


"I wonder how she's doing," Cinderbird sighed.

"I'm sure she's fine," Duskblossom soothed, from where she was sharing prey with Rippleshade.

Cinderbird laid her head on her paws. There was just something she couldn't place about the Tribe, something dangerous. She knew they couldn't be trusted, but why in StarClan not? They had shown loyalty and had protected the Clan cats. There's just something…

Stoneteller poked his head out of his den. She watched him glance around, obviously searching for some cat. His gaze rested on a pretty white she-cat. He bounded cautiously towards her, and a resentful glare came his way. He sat down next to her, placing his tail on her flank when she tried to get up. Cinderbird saw his jaws open, probably to say, "Just listen." She watched him talk, and the white she-cat's expression softened. She leaned forward and nuzzled him, and he melted under her touch. They touched noses and Stoneteller walked reluctantly back to his den.

Cinderbird turned her gaze back to the Clan cats, who were quietly sharing tongues. The moon was rising and the cave was cast into shadows. Two huge cave-guards made their way to a few fox-lengths away from the patrol. They both settled down, and tucked their paws into their chests. Cinderbird assumed they were their to guard the foreign cats.

Taking a bite out of the dusty eagle they had been given, she realized how much Foxclaw meant to her. Could she really expect to live life normally without him?

Yes, a voice inside of her muttered, but she shook away the thought.

Love is impossible.


So, hope you like the book so far! I have a few things I need help on.

1. Daypaw is about to become a warrior, and I need some help with names! At first when I named her, my first thought was, "Daypaw? And what is her warrior name going to be? Daylight?"

Sad thing is, I kinda like the name now. Ahh, I seriously have no clue! Daystorm, Daylight, Daybae, I just don't know. Ah, I'm pitiful.

2. I'm still contemplating making a sequel to On Thin Ice, or just sucking it up and just keep on adding new chapters.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Happy reading! And don't forget to pretty please review! ;)

-Poppyfrost123