It was dark, and heavy rain pounded against Minnow's pelt. Thunder tore the sky in two with a roar that rumbled in her chest. She was in a perfectly circular clearing with trees tightly packed around it - so tightly packed that there seemed to be no way out. Wind tore at her pelt, challenging even the thickest tree to stay upright. Minnow found it strange that even though rain raked at her fur like a million thorns, she was still completely dry.

"Monty?" she called out to the darkness, her tail tucked between her hind legs and her ears flattened. "Are you there? I don't know where I am!" Suddenly, all at once, the trees seemed to grow bigger, the moody sky growing further and further away from her. Now frantic, she called again. "I'm sorry I went into the forest! I didn't mean to, I promise! I got chased off by some dogs, and…" she spun around, looking between the trunks of bark caging her in.

Then, she saw two green eyes, shining unnaturally bright in the cloak of shadow.

"Monty!" She called, relieved. "Thank goodness! I was so afraid, I was kidnapped by these crazy cats out in the woods, I have no idea where I am! Do you know the way home?" She stepped closer, and all at once realised that those green eyes did not belong to her kithood friend.

Monty's scent was nothing like this. This scent almost made Minnow tear up, smelling like spoiled food, dirt and old blood. Fearfully, she backed away as the figure stepped a paw, so muddy it was a deep brown, further out of the shadows. Instead of a familiar ginger tom, she instead saw a she-cat.

A light brown tabby, with wild, matted fur that stuck out in all directions, and fangs that poked out the sides of her mouth like a snake, stepped forward. She had several old scars, including two on her shoulder, one across her muzzle, and one over her left eye. Her ears were ragged, one torn in a deep v-shape. Another soaked, muddied paw emerged from the darkness, her claws unsheathed. She opened her mouth, her huge fangs shining in the moonlight, and that's when Minnow woke up.

The next thing she knew, another unfamiliar cat was barking unintelligible orders in her face. She yowled, startled, and then grunted as her muscles failed her and she collapsed in a heap.

Kestrelwing, much smaller than this tom, stepped in and stood between the two. "Blazefoot," she scolded, "don't frighten her like that, she's still recovering!"

Blazefoot shook his head, and glared at Minnow with piercing but exhausted amber eyes. "I will not be gentle with a cat who led dogs into our home. Dovestar may be soft with her, but I refuse to offer the same politeness to some kittypet who has put our lives in danger. Now, Minnow," he spat, "you say these dogs came from Twolegplace, correct? How many were there?"

Fear spiked through Minnow as Blazefoot addressed her, but she flattened her ears and stood her ground. "Yes, you rude old fleabag. There were two."

Blazefoot reeled back at the insult, curling his lip and unsheathing his claws, but Kestrelwing stepped in again, determined and firm. "Blazefoot, please calm down. I know you have a lot to deal with right now, but-"

"Of course I have a lot to deal with!" the ginger tabby snapped. "We are at war, there is a murderer on our territory, and now we have to feed yet another mouth whilst dogs run amok in our home! Is that not reason enough to be furious?! I am the deputy, for StarClan's sake! I will not bend over backwards to make a kittypet comfortable when we are already suffering!"

"It was an accident! I don't care about your Clan, I just want to go home!" Minnow piped up, managing to lift her head from the moss nest and look Blazefoot in the eye, even though his glare pierced her pelt like a thorn.

Blazefoot snarled, ears flattening. "I've had enough of this kittypet already." Then, he stepped closer, so their faces were a mouse-length apart, and hissed "Very well. If you wish to go home so badly, then you will leave tomorrow, whether you're ready or not." Then, he strode out of the den and disappeared.

"Don't worry about Blazefoot. He's been rather stressed out recently, what with the war and such. He's not had a moment of rest, between his duties and his kits. He's the deputy, so he's got a lot of prey to catch, if you catch my drift."

Minnow grumbled, not understanding the saying, and laid her head back on the nest. "Yes, so I've heard. It still doesn't excuse how much of a grumpy tick-brain he is."

Kestrelwing gasped in horror, tail lashing. "Have some respect, kit! Blazefoot is harsh when he's pushed to his limit, yes, but that doesn't mean you can just-"

"He's not my dad or my deputy or whatever. I can say what I want about him."

"He's given you a place to stay! Would you rather have been left in the forest to die and be picked apart by birds?!"

The kittypet fell silent, just in time to hear a subtle rustling. The medicine cat seemed to pick up on this too, as her ears swivelled around. Then, she groaned and turned behind her, to a clump of ferns just outside the den. "Rapidpaw, Foxpaw, can both of you please stop lurking around?"

A small ginger tom poked his head in, head held low. "Sorry, Kestrelwing. I told him it wasn't a good idea to eavesdrop."

"Shh, Foxpaw, don't tell her that I'm here!" Rapidpaw whisper-shouted from beside the entrance to the den.

"Rapidpaw, get in here now," Kestrelwing ordered, her soft ginger fur fluffing up in frustration. "Foxpaw, I expected better of my apprentice."

The two toms stepped into the den, crouching down under a thick clump of ivy that dangled from the top of the den.

Foxpaw was scrawny, with short, sleek fur, a broad head with large ears that always seemed to be flattened, and a short tail that drooped to the floor. Rapidpaw, meanwhile, was the polar opposite, standing taller than Kestrelwing at only a fifth of her age, his ears sticking straight up almost comically. His broad, muscular shoulders were caped in blue-gray fur, and his handsome face was highlighted by his light gray muzzle, a spot of darker blue right on the bridge of his nose.

"Sorry, Kestrelwing," Rapidpaw muttered sheepishly, pawing at the ground.

The older medicine cat sighed. "Well, it's good that you showed up. You two can guard the kittypet whilst I go gather some more herbs."

"What?!" Rapidpaw yowled, "come on, Kestrelwing, I'm an apprentice, I have important things to do like-"

"Eavesdrop on me?"

"Well- I was practising my stalking, so I can gather SunClan information when I'm a warrior. I didn't mean to upset you."

Swishing her tail, she tilted her head playfully and meowed "you need to actually sit still to be stealthy, Rapidpaw."

"I can't help it, I get excited and then I can't sit still!" he cried.

Kestrelwing licked his shoulder affectionately. "You'll get better at it," she reassured. "Now watch the kittypet for me. Be careful, she's got quite the mouth on her."

Minnow raised her eyebrows, unamused. "Wow."

"You're not my clanmate, I can say what I want about you," she parroted, a playful grin on her face. With that, she padded out of the den, and disappeared into the outdoors.

"Bitch," Minnow hissed after her, eyes narrowed to tiny slits.

Rapidpaw tilted his head to the side. "What's that mean?"

"Bitch? It means like, uh… like an insult. It's supposed to mean a female dog, but I've heard my friend Monty say it a couple times when he thinks I'm not listening. He doesn't let me say it."

His eyes lit up like a kit receiving a new toy and he immediately turned to his Clanmate and declared "Foxpaw, you're a bitch."

"Oh, okay," the scrawny tom muttered, lowering his head, his darker-tipped tail brushing the floor.

Rapidpaw shook his head in disapproval. "Nonono, you're supposed to say," he dropped his voice and growled, "don't talk to the deputy's son like that," before returning to normal, "and give me a good telling off."

He pawed at the ground. "No, it's okay, I deserve it." Even though he smiled playfully, Minnow could feel the truth in the tom's words.

"Foxpaw!" Rapidpaw yelped, "be nice to yourself!"

Minnow blinked slowly, looking between the two toms. "Are you guys stuck talking to me or am I stuck listening to you?"

Rapidpaw turned on her, tail lashing furiously. "Silence, spy! I know you're secretly a SunClan warrior who led dogs into our home to kill us all!"

"She wouldn't be a warrior if she's this small, Rapidpaw…" Foxpaw mumbled, beginning to rake together the moss from Minnow's nest to change it out.

Gasping, the other apprentice narrowed his eyes. "So they're using apprentices now to carry out their super secret stealth operations? How foxhearted of them! No offense."

"None taken," Foxpaw replied in a rehearsed manner, flattening out a fresh wad of moss for Minnow to sleep in.

The she-cat's blue eyes flicked between both toms, incredulous. "Can you just get it through your skull that I'm NOT a SunClan spy?! Are you as thick as your own droppings or something?!"

Rapidpaw opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off by Foxpaw letting out an ugly snort of laughter. The tom then shrivelled under his offended lavender glare, and muttered "sorry, she's just funny!"

"Well at least someone here agrees with me. You've got good taste, tiny Monty!"

Foxpaw tilted his head. "Who's that?"

Minnow lit up and grinned brightly. "Only the bravest and coolest cat I've ever met! He's this huge ginger tom with a big thick fluffy mane and he's my best friend. He hit a dog once to save me when I was a kitten, and it ran all the way back to its Twoleg with its tail tucked between its legs! I used to think he was part lion because he was so huge!"

"That sounds like my dad, he's really brave too," Foxpaw said, ears lifting up, then flattening again as Minnow scoffed.

"Yeah, right, if your dad's Blazefoot, there's no WAY he's that cool."

Jumping in- quite literally between the two- Rapidpaw protested "hey! Blazefoot is SO cool! He once led a big fight against SunClan at the border, and took out like six other cats by himself! And there was this one time, when I was a kit, I snuck out of camp with Foxpaw and Barkpaw to go on a big adventure, and we ran into a SNAKE! And then, and then, Blazefoot grabbed it in his teeth and shook it around-" the tomcat began to shake his head violently, and staggered off to the side, falling side-first against the slabs of bark that kept the herbs stored, causing one to slip out of place. With a thud, there were plants all over the floor.

"Oh nooo! It took me so long to organise those without Kestrelwing's help!" Immediately, Foxpaw stopped replacing Minnow's nest, and began raking the herbs back into piles with his claws. "Please be more careful!"

"C'mon Foxpaw, I was telling Minnow how cool your dad is, isn't that grounds for being excited? He's your hero too!"

"Surely you have something better to do than to gossip about your deputy, Rapidpaw?" Blazefoot said fondly from the den entrance, sending the apprentice shooting five fox-lengths into the air in surprise.

"I-I was just telling Minnow about that time with the adder!"

The ginger tabby nodded slowly, smiling. "Yes, but aren't you forgetting something?" He paused, and when the apprentice didn't seem to get what he was talking about, he added on "like the patrol you begged and pleaded to go on?"

A look of horror washed over Rapidpaw's face, and for a moment Minnow was almost certain he was going to sink into the dirt and never emerge again, but instead he shot out of the den, yowling "I'M SORRY!" as he passed his deputy.

Blazefoot rolled his eyes, and then his gaze steeled at Minnow, sending a shiver rolling down her spine. "Remember kittypet, you leave tomorrow. No ifs, ands or buts."