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It was uncomfortably hot when Redwhisker woke up, and when he opened his eyes, he found the reason. All three of Grassfur's kits had cuddled up to him while he slept, and were sleeping quietly. He suppressed a purr of happiness, for it was a heart-melting sight, but he didn't want to wake the kits with the noise. He quietly got up, and exited the nursery without a sound. Once he emerged into the clearing, he saw Grassfur just outside the nursery, fast asleep.

The sun had already set, but all the dens were hot, especially the one for the warriors. It was warm enough outside for a cat to sleep in the open, a couple cats including Grassfur and Sagefrost were doing so.

All at once, Redwhisker's stomach growled loudly. It was a wonder it didn't wake up the cats around him, and he sheepishly trotted over to the fresh-kill pile, picking up a small mouse. He carried it over to the camp entrance, and walked through it. Perhaps the forest had a few cool spots where he could eat and be comfortable. As he passed through the bramble thicket, he noticed the guard, Lilyfoot, with her head on her paws asleep. Redwhisker dropped his small mouse, and prodded the sandy colored she-cat.

Lilyfoot jolted awake, and seeing it was only Redwhisker, she calmed herself. She murmured in a low voice, "Sorry for falling asleep on watch. I just settled down for a moment because it was so hot, and the next thing I know… you won't tell Rockpelt, right?"

Redwhisker shook his head, saying, "No one gains from that. I just wanted to make sure you were awake if anyone else came through."

Lilyfoot nodded gratefully, and resumed her post. Redwhisker padded off with his mouse, heading towards the forested border, thinking he might find cold spots beneath the tree coverage. The moon kept itself high in the sky as he walked through his territory. Finally, he found himself at the cool Darkclan border, the pine trees casting long moonlit shadows over the border. Redwhisker plopped down abruptly, enjoying the cool shade the trees provided. He bit into his mouse, tearing apart its flesh between his strong jaws.

If there was one thing Redwhisker could use in battle, it was his jaw and neck muscles. His mentor hadn't taught him many fighting moves out of fear that his effort would be wasted, and Redwhisker would never use them. Instead, he conditioned Redwhisker's body to become proficient for at least one skill without sacrificing his natural advantage of being conveniently sized for climbing. And so he trained his biting ability and began lifting things with his neck.

His mentor, now the elder Sleetfang, was tough on Redwhisker, but for the right reasons. Redwhisker couldn't practice with most other apprentices because he'd become the designated 'Mooreclan scratching post,' due to his small body, hence the Mooreclan reference. Sleetfang trained his durability instead, hoping that by the end of their training, Redwhisker would have enough muscle hidden in the shaggy fur of his neck to resist a killing bite, should it ever come to that situation. He'd also hoped that Redwhisker could grab and splinter bones as easily as he had done with sticks, but as an apprentice, Redwhisker didn't want to fight any battles if it meant relying on breaking bones to win.

Nonetheless, Redwhisker had a deceivingly strong pair of jaws. Since he was still working on controlling the amount of force he could exert with them, he usually ended up making somewhat of a mess with his prey. Which of course, was what he was doing. The front of Redwhisker's muzzle was crimson with the mouse's blood, blending into his own dark red fur. Since he had started chowing down on the mouse, about half of it ended up on his face and the grassy floor below.

Redwhisker's fur prickled, something didn't feel right. He flicked his ears, pointing them around and trying to figure out what had set off his danger sense. He slowly got up, and backed away from his kill, inching backward. Is there a fox nearby or something? I need to be ready to climb a tree, Redwhisker thought, his eyes wide and scanning from side to side.

"Hey stranger, you sure are a messy eater," a voice called out. "And I'd love to chat at this odd hour, but you're on my territory."

Redwhisker jumped slightly, then frantically looked around for the source of the voice. It was a cat's, and it didn't seem particularly friendly. But it didn't seem hostile either.

"Up here, trespasser," the voice said. This time Redwhisker identified it as a masculine tone, and looked up into the pine trees. From there, he saw two beady blue eyes, the color of the sky. They were watching him observantly with a hint of amusement in them.

Redwhisker growled, "What do you mean, 'trespasser?'"

"I mean you passed the scent markers. Do you have no sense of smell or something?" The tom with sky blue eyes chuckled at Redwhisker's confusion, his full body still obscured by the pine tree's leafy branches.

Redwhisker's ears burned in shame, and he put his nose to the forest floor, sniffing around several trees. Sure enough, he had crossed the border without knowing it. He looked back up to the cat in the pine, opening his mouth to say something about his sense of smell only being slightly poor, but he was interrupted.

"You should go," the Darkclan tom said while dropping down from the tree, "Before the rest of our night patrol gets here."

"Night patrol?" Redwhisker scoffed, "That sounds like a waste of time, if you ask me."

"We like the night, that's all," the tom said, stepping forward briefly out of the shadows. He was dark grey from Redwhisker's point of view, but he thought it could've just been the night making him look darker. "I'll take care of your scent and the… mouse remains. Just get outta here before they come through."

Smart enough to know not to stick around after the Darkclanner said that, Redwhisker turned tail with a nod to the cat, then scampered away until he was positive he was over the border. From there, he climbed his way quickly up into an oak tree, then turned around and watched the border quietly. Sure enough, the grey cat was gone and several more emerged from the shadows, renewing the scent markers then disappearing into the darkness.

Redwhisker decided that he'd had enough stimulation for the night, and headed back to camp. After a while, he began hearing the collected snores coming from ahead, and knew the camp was a good twenty or thirty foxlengths away. But Redwhisker had no desire to try and sleep while there were a bunch of snoring warriors around him. So he laid down then and there, under a tree, and closed his eyes. He let the soft forest noises clear his mind of the border encounter, and fell into sleep.


When Redwhisker woke up, he immediately noticed something: he was in a warm stone den, not between the roots where he had fallen asleep. He got to all four paws, and shook his fur out. Turning around, he looked up in surprise to see Lionstar, looking at him with a stoic expression. The big golden tom blinked, then turned his eyes away.

Curiously, Redwhisker asked, "Why am I not in the forest?"

Lionstar sat back on his haunches, yawning, then explained, "Well, you weren't here in the morning. Rockpelt was going to send Stonewind, Longears, Sagefrost, and you out on the dawn patrol, but he couldn't find you. So I went out into the forest to look for you, picked up your scent, and found you sleeping. I didn't want to disturb your sleep though, I heard you were taking care of Grassfur's kits yesterday, and I wasn't sure how worn out you were. So I carried you back here and let you sleep."

"Did I really sleep that heavily? I remember back in our apprentice days, you'd sometimes pick me up while I was sleeping. I'd freak out every time," Redwhisker purred fondly, remembering his youth. His purring suddenly stopped as he realized he had missed a patrol and Rockpelt would be mad with him.

Lionstar smiled knowingly, recognizing Redwhisker's face of anxiety, and he said, "Thinking about that patrol, huh? Don't worry, Rockpelt's still in camp. I'm sure he'll find some work for you to do."

"I never had to worry about Dawn patrols when you were deputy," Redwhisker huffed, leaning his head outside the den. It was just past sunhigh.

Lionstar rolled his eyes, shoving Redwhisker with a gentle paw. He sarcastically said, "Sorry I made you so soft to those dawn patrols during the two moons that I was deputy. Now get outta here and be a warrior."

Redwhisker stuck his tongue out, but bounced out of the leader's den, down the slope and into the camp clearing. He felt refreshed after all the sleep he had gotten, and was ready to go out run through the forest and hunt with Sagefrost by his side.

"Redwhisker," a stony cold voice said. "You're on nursery duty for a moon. That means making adjustments to the den and making sure Grassfur is fed." The words came from Rockpelt, who was glaring at the small cat who had stopped bouncing.

Redwhisker turned around and exclaimed, "What! But I wanna go out into the forest!"

"You may be my brother's kit, but I make no exceptions," Rockpelt said simply. "There's no good excuse for missing dawn patrol. Especially after you slept all of yesterday."

Redwhisker lashed tail, but walked off without another word. Nothing good would come of an argument with the deputy. He had energy, and he needed to get rid of it if he was just going to be attending the nursery the rest of that moon. He wasn't too upset by the whole ordeal of being on nursery duty itself, since he didn't have any bad relations with any of the den's residents. He thought to himself, Grassfur usually seems tired. Maybe I can play with her kits after I fix up the nursery?

Even though Redwhisker had put a few seasons between him and his warrior naming ceremony, he still had a love of playing around. He decided that perhaps that moon wouldn't be too boring if he could spend some time bonding with the new kits, seeing as Grassfur was always tired and Longears seldom visited. He trotted up the nursery and stepped in, the already warm air intensifying.

Grassfur was laying on her side, her kits playing with a ball of moss a tail-length away. She looked up, meowing, "Ah, Redwhisker! What a pleasant surprise, I have to thank you for taking care of my kits yesterday. When I came back, you were all curled up asleep! I don't know how you got them to quiet down, but I'm grateful. I haven't had a walk in the forest as good as the one I had in awhile."

"Always glad to be a help," Redwhisker kindly gestured, tilting his head to the side. "Anyway, I'm on nursery duty for the next moon since we don't have any apprentices. So tell me, is there anything in the nursery that needs to be restored?"

Grassfur thoughtfully looked around for a moment, then said, "I suppose we could use some new moss and clear out the old stuff. I'll have thought of something else by the time you're done, thank you dear."

Redwhisker nodded, and began gathering all the scraps of dried and dead moss. He left alone the ball the kits were playing with, it looked relatively fresh. At one point while he was clearing the nursery out, Gingerkit looked up from the moss ball game, which she was dominating, and noticed Redwhisker. She exclaimed, "Hi Redfur!" The other two kits turned their eyes up from their game, and their eyes lit up when they saw the dark red cat.

"It's not Redfur, Gingerkit," Poppykit stated, matter-of-factly. "It's Redwhisker."

Gingerkit lowered her perked up ears in embarrassment, but as soon as Leafkit let out a little giggle, she batted at his ears. This shut the little black kit's mouth up rather quickly.

Poppykit looked up at the dark red tom, and with wide murky green eyes, asked, "Have you come to play with us, Redwhisker?"

"I will later, Poppykit. For now, I'm cleaning up your den," the warrior responded. He had gathered a large clump of dry moss, and flicking it with his claw, he sent it flying out of the nursery's opening. All three kits looked awed at his dexterous tossing skill, and they immediately pounced on the moss ball, each kit determined to fend off their sibling and win the moss ball to try and replicate Redwhisker's trick. He chuckled as they swarmed around the small ball, and stepped out of the nursery.

Redwhisker relocated the used moss outside of camp and trotted around in the moods, searching for mossy roots and trunks. He found a few trees next to each other with the desired plant, and began gently tearing them off, not trying to get bits of bark coming off with it.

When early evening had come, he had accumulated a reasonable sized ball of fresh and soft moss. He stretched his jaws open wide, and bit the moss ball, picking it up in one go. It tasted like the earthy bark which it had come from, and evoked nostalgia from his apprentice days.


Thus begins Redwhisker's nursery duty, soon to be accompanied by some flashbacks. Stay tuned for more, and leave a review! It helps me out!

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