Chapter 3's up, woohoo!

Thank you so much for all the reviews!

And for the mystery cat, I guess I didn't do a very good job of keeping it a mystery, because somehow, everyone who reviewed came up with roughly the same answer, and it was correct! So I have no idea how you did that, but congrats anyway :D

RavenblazeOC: Yep :) How did you figure it out?
Hissing Mist: Yeah, I'm hoping for her to be the sweet and caring StarClan guardian while the cat in this chapter is more of the tough-love type. And yes, congrats!
Sapphire-Glow: She is, isn't she? And both are good guesses, one of those is correct! Jayfeather really IS grumpy, no kidding...
Flamewing: I'm glad she's appreciated :) And no problem! I'm trying to update around every 4 days. Yeah, Cloverpaw is a little annoying, but I don't think she'll be too important, so I kind of just wanted to give her a little bit of a personality.
Honeyflame: Thanks! And yes... how did you know?
LilacArtist: Thank you so much, it means a lot! Yep, you're right, and I guess the scraggly-ness was a trait that she really dominated :)

I don't own Warriors. Enjoy!

CHAPTER 3: DESTINY AND DUTY

Squash me like a flea? Whose tail is she pulling?

Hawkpaw did put away her claws, but still dropped into a crouch, lashing her black tail repeatedly against the ground as she scowled at the newcomer through narrowed eyes. The ragged cat mrrowed her amusement, as if the whole thing was the most ridiculous sight she'd witnessed since joining StarClan, and the sound only made Hawkpaw grind her teeth together and spit indignantly.

"Who are you?"

Cinderpelt sprang up from her spot and padded up beside Hawkpaw, her gaze alight as she surveyed the rather unattractive cat stalking proudly towards them. "Don't worry, she's only pulling your tail, Hawkpaw. This is Yellowfang, the medicine cat before me."

An uncomfortable warmth rose to her ears as she rose stiffly to her paws and sniffed. "You don't look like a StarClan cat."

"And you don't look old enough to be an apprentice, but here we are."

Hawkpaw hissed, surveying Yellowfang's matted gray-brown pelt and the impossible tangles in her fur that would probably take moons and moons of nonstop grooming to remove. But sure enough, there was a barely-visible glow from this she-cat's knotted pelt, too, as much as Hawkpaw hated to admit it, and she lifted her stare to meet the newcomer's yellow eyes.

"Come on, Yellowfang." Cinderpelt limped forward and gave her former mentor a good-natured shove. "You're not going to get anywhere with that tone."

That's right, you're not!

Yellowfang scrunched up her broad, flat face as if she could read her thoughts. "Is that so?" Hawkpaw flattened her ears and glanced skeptically between Cinderpelt and Yellowfang, the latter of whom opened her jaws as if to get a better whiff of her. "You would think she would be a warrior apprentice, with that aggression."

Stop talking about me as if I'm not here.

Hawkpaw huffed and turned to Cinderpelt, worry blossoming in her chest. What if this was the sign she had been waiting for, that she was destined to be a warrior instead of a medicine cat, and—

"Oh, watch your tongue, Yellowfang." Cinderpelt brushed against her, and the ThunderClan apprentice blinked appreciatively, suspecting that the young gray she-cat was probably the only one who could speak like that to Yellowfang and not get her ears clawed.

Then both cats fixed their gazes upon her, one blue and one yellow, one young and one—well, StarClan knew how many moons—old, and Hawkpaw lifted her chin, hoping her nervousness didn't pulse from her obviously enough to detect.

"Why am I here?"

Yellowfang grunted, whiskers twitching. "Don't you know? We StarClan cats love to take time out of our peaceful rest to come chat with you living feather-brains."

"Yellowfang!" Cinderpelt licked the top of Hawkpaw's head reassuringly, and she shuddered. The touch felt like the lustrous, icy waters of the Moonpool against her fur. "I believe that you, Hawkpaw, have some concerns you were hoping StarClan would address?"

How does she know?

One of her ears dropped. She didn't know if she meant to blurt out the question, especially with scraggly Yellowfang watching so intently, but it left her tongue before she could think twice. "Should I become a medicine cat?"

"Only you can decide that," Cinderpelt mewed, and Hawkpaw wanted to snarl. That's no answer!

Yellowfang smirked. "Frustrating, isn't it?"

"Somewhat."

"Deal with it. You're training to be a medicine cat. Rarely are you ever going to get a straight answer."

"Is that why you speak through signs?"

"Exactly. We enjoy watching your little heads wrap themselves around—"

"Oh, hush!" Cinderpelt covered Yellowfang's jaws with her feathery gray tail and interrupted the sharp conversation, her expression brimming with barely-contained laughter. "No, Hawkpaw. Sometimes StarClan don't know the answers, either. The signs are just as cloudy to us as they are to you."

"Really? Do you have a sign for me now?"

"Hawkpaw, listen." Urgency lowered Cinderpelt's tone a few octaves, and Hawkpaw pricked her ears. "We can't see what your future holds, either, but we know there's something important there. Your paws will shape all of the Clans, not just ThunderClan."

Hawkpaw's eyes widened, and she ventured a quick peek at Yellowfang. "Important?"

"Yes, even Yellowfang knows it," purred Cinderpelt, following her regard. "But the stars at your flank can only guide you, Hawkpaw. In the end, your destiny is in your own paws."

Oakpaw fell into step beside Hawkpaw as she padded out of the medicine den the next morning with a mouthful of borage—which she had found and collected before her trip to the Moonpool, by the way—for the two queens in the nursery.

"You're awake early," he mewed, a clear question in his voice, and Hawkpaw stopped near the fresh-kill pile to set the stalks down to respond to her littermate.

"So are you."

"I was on the dawn patrol. Willowstorm said it would be good practice for when I'm a warrior."

Hawkpaw snorted. "I think she just wanted you to get up."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're a lazy furball." Hawkpaw twitched her whiskers as Oakpaw shook out his thick brown fur resentfully.

"Well, don't tell me Leopardwish didn't wake you too," he growled, playful as ever, and pointed with his tail toward the herbs at her paws. "What is that stuff?"

"Borage. And for your information, no one woke me." It was a harmless lie—Leopardwish most definitely had prodded her awake just past dawn, claiming that Honeypool's kits were mewling uncomfortably—but Oakpaw didn't need to know that. "We medicine cats just have a way of being responsible." She dragged out the last word as if she were explaining what it meant to a kit.

"Yeah, right." Oakpaw swiped at her with a sheathed forepaw, unconvinced, and she ducked out of the way.

Her pads were still a little sore from the long walk yesterday, and Hawkpaw wouldn't even have minding biting the ticks out of the elders if it meant she were sitting down. "I have to take this to Cedarfang and Honeypool," she mewed dryly, then glanced at the fat mouse her brother was prodding. "Not all of us have the luxury of stuffing ourselves all day."

"Hey! Willowstorm said I earned it!"

"I think that only applies to the first mouse," Hawkpaw simpered, before picking up the borage leaves and padding into the nursery, ignoring the miffed retorts Oakpaw yowled after her.

Sorrelkit pounced on Hawkpaw's tail as soon as she stepped into the nursery, while she was still adjusting to the shift in light inside the small den, and she let out a mock growl at the sensation of little paws trampling her from behind. Making sure to not drop the borage, Hawkpaw spun around and gently batted the she-kit away, whisking her tail towards her flank to protect it from a second invasion.

The ginger and white kit was on her paws almost instantly, and Hawkpaw was a little surprised to see that Sorrelkit was nearly half her size—large, for a kit who had been born less than two moons ago. Ivykit, on the other hand, was much smaller, and her light gray dappled fur didn't stir from her mother's side when her sister turned her sights to a clump of moss near the entrance of the den.

Honeypool looked up at her through barely-open blue eyes, purring her approval as her gaze lifted to the flowering plant in her jaws. It made sense; her kitting had been on the rougher side, according to Leopardwish, and she had been given borage so many times that she probably knew it with her eyes closed and nose covered.

"This is for you," Hawkpaw meowed as clearly as she could through a mouthful of borage, and dropped the herbs beside the queen's nest.

The other queen in the den, who must have been half-asleep, rolled over with a loud yawn that snagged Hawkpaw's attention, and the medicine cat apprentice separated out some of the stalks for Cedarfang as well with one paw.

Honeypool murmured gratefully as she lapped up the half designated for her, before fixing a stern gaze on something behind her. "Sorrelkit, that's enough! If you want to play with something, play with the moss you have there."

It seemed that Hawkpaw's tail had been in danger again, so she lifted it just out of reach and turned to the young she-kit. "If you want, after I finish all my duties for today, I'll play with you, all right?" Sorrelkit nodded enthusiastically, bouncing from paw to paw. "But you have to promise to leave your poor mother in peace."

"That's unlikely," came the response from her other side, and Hawkpaw watched Cedarfang push herself into a half-seated, half-prone position that exposed her enormous belly. There was no doubt that she would be due within a few days at the latest, and that too, with a sizeable litter.

Hawkpaw dipped her head to the expecting queen. "I brought you some borage, so you're ready for the kits when they come."

"I'm not sure anything can prepare me for that," Cedarfang grumbled. "However many there are, they're wreaking havoc on my insides."

"In that case, it'll be good when they're out." Honeypool drew the sleeping Ivykit to one side of her nest and waved her tail to Hawkpaw as she addressed the other queen. "Thank you, Hawkpaw. I can manage Cedarfang."

"Manage me? I think not!"

"Oh, calm down, Cedarfang. The last few days are always the hardest."

"You say that like you've done it more than once!"

Hawkpaw nudged Sorrelkit, who was watching the mouse-brained exchange with the attention of a WindClan cat on a streaking rabbit, her ginger fur fluffed up as she thumped her tail on the nursery floor rhythmically from side to side.

When the she-kit turned to her, she dropped her mew into a whisper. "Ask your mother if you can leave the nursery. I'm sure you don't want to listen to this any more than I do."

Thoughts on Yellowfang and the queens?

Next chapter, you'll meet two new characters, both of whom will be pretty important to the story!

Please, leave a review before you go!