I ordered Shattered Sky, but my hopes aren't very high. Unless the Erins actually decide to try something new, and not reuse the same old plot devices over and over again... ughh, at least Thunder and Shadow was decent.

As for the reviews since the last update.

Snowcrystal of Thunderclan(sorry I keep reading it as Snow-y crystal) I'm sorry to hear that you don't have ears.

Moonlight Talon of the Night Yup, Erin thinks only cats family to Jesus-cat are worthy of positions in the Clan. In fact, she even invented an additional position- the 3rd medicine cat spot- just so she could put in his grandkid.

Acorn. Leaf The dot in your name causes you to disappear in my writing unless I remember to put a space between it...

oooohguurl Glad you are enjoying it.

guest(oh come now, type in some clever name next time) No, there will be no more chapters, sorry. This chapter you see here is a figment of your imagination.

Dani So glad somebody finally made a comment on my Lion and Jay scene. I enjoyed writing it so much since we hardly got anything like it in the cannon books.

"Try balancing on your hind paws again," Thornclaw called from the far side of the training hollow. "And remember, just because you can walk again, that doesn't mean you can fly. Don't push yourself harder than your paws can handle."

Briarlight hit the sand with a soft thump, stumbling around after the clumsy landing. "My forepaws can handle anything," she panted, leaping to her feet to try the move again "I probably could fly if I flapped them hard enough."

A moon had passed since she had returned from the Moonpool with Bramblestar and Jayfeather, and this was her first real training session since. Thornclaw had been making her do nothing but walks around the territory every day to work up the strength in her hind legs, and he finally thought she was ready to take on some simple battle moves. She had been disappointed at first when she realized just how weak her hind legs were. They had grown thin and scrawny from lack of use and she knew it could be seasons until she had her strength back to where it was before the accident. If only StarClan could have made them strong too.

Thornclaw's cool eyes sparkled in amusement from the ferns as Briarlight tumbled into the sand for what felt like the hundredth time. They had been training for most of the morning and it was almost sun-high. He stood up and padded over to her, his golden brown fur glowing in the sunlight. "You are coming along well," he meowed, resting his muzzle on the she-cat's shoulder after she had pulled herself to her paws again. "But when you land, you are still putting too much weight on your forepaws. You need to lean back more and try to rest on your back legs."

Briarlight let out a disappointed huff, bracing her hindpaws against the sand for balance."I'm trying. This move used to be so easy back when I was an apprentice. I will be an elder before I'm any good at fighting again."

Thornclaw cuffed her over the ear with his tail. "Don't ever let me hear you say something like that again," he meowed sternly. "Nobody has ever known a more determined and hardworking cat in all of ThunderClan. You never gave up even though you had lost everything. Be grateful Jayfeather gave you another chance at being a warrior and stop feeling bad for yourself. I heard enough of that sad moaning over the past few moons to last me a lifetime."

Briarlight purred, giving her old mentor and appreciative lick on the shoulder. His words were truthful and she really had improved over the past moon."Thanks, Thornclaw. I just wish I could be a full warrior right now."

"Try one more time," he instructed, nudging her hindlegs into the right position. "And this time, pretend you are leaping from a branch onto the ground. I know how much you liked climbing trees back in the day so try to remember your movements and make sure all four legs touch down at about the same time. Wait for my call."

He stepped back to give her room and she returned to her fighting stance. I'm exhausted, but I'm not going to let Thornclaw know. I can't be weak anymore if I want to be a warrior again.

"Jump now!"

Briarlight sprang back onto her hind paws and swiped at the air with her forepaws pretending a ShadowClan warrior was charging her. Her legs screamed in pain but she finished the move with a leap, hurtling over her imaginary enemy to land behind it. She used Thornclaw's advice and pretended she was jumping out of a tree. She hit the sand hard and her hindlegs landed only a moment before her forepaws. To her relief they held firm and didn't give way.

"Well done!" Thornclaw cheered. "That is the Briarpaw I remember!"

She stood up, panting, but filled with satisfaction. "Thanks! Your suggestion worked and I stuck the landing. I can't wait to try even more advanced moves."

The brown tabby tom rumbled with amusement, watching her through proud eyes a little ways away in the sand. "Those are lessons for another day. I can tell you are exhausted."

Briarlight's eyes grew wide. "I can keep going-"

"I know you too well, Briarlight," he interrupted sharply, standing up. "And the last thing you want to do is overexert yourself so soon after you've recovered. I thought all those moons training you as an apprentice had been wasted after you were hurt. I'm not seeing you cripple yourself again out of pride."

Briarlight dipped her head in understanding. Thornclaw's words were true and just the thought of crawling back to the medicine cat's den with her legs dragging on the ground made her skin crawl. She wished she could forget all those mornings waking up and remembering that she was broken. The only thing that had made her life bearable was Jayfeather's constant support and praise...

"Are you paying attention?"

She jerked, ears flicking forward again. She had been losing herself in her own thoughts but she focused her attention on her mentor once more.

"I want you to take a walk from the edge of our territory where the greenleaf twolegplace is and follow the border to the river. Once you've done that, return to camp." His serious gaze met hers. "If you find any traces of fox, badger or intruder, you are to leave immediately and without hesitation. You are in no state to be fighting. Am I clear?"

"Absolutely!"

"Then I'll see you back in the hollow later today." Thornclaw turned and raced away through the fens in the direction of the camp.

As soon as the warrior's pawsteps faded away, Briarlight stretched her sore hindlegs. She had been working herself to the bone for days and even though she went to sleep with aching muscles every night, she couldn't be happier. She was doing things that every normal cat should be doing. Once she was done stretching, she headed off into the forest.

It was an uneventful trip to the edge of the the territory. She reveled in the feeling of pine needles beneath her paws and watched as the leaves kicked up into the air as she trotted past. According to the border patrols, there had been no hostile actions from either of the neighboring Clans. The daylight Gathering must have improved trust between them all. I just wish I could have gone, she thought dryly, changing the direction of her paws so she was heading towards the WindClan border.

She picked up the pace as hot frustration filled her mind. StarClan had been content watching her struggle for so long without lifting a paw to help. Even after Jayfeather had planned to use Bramblestar's life to fix her, StarClan hadn't approved. Weren't they supposed to be watching out for her? Then again, they didn't let me die from my injury. I should have been dead the first leaf-bare after the tree fell on me. Or maybe that had nothing to do with StarClan and it was just Jayfeather's hard work that kept me alive for so long.

Jayfeather... She owed him so much- more than she could ever dream of repaying. If only things could be different. She didn't live in the medicine cat's den anymore so she needed to forget and move on. She pushed the gray tabby tom out of her mind as she plunged through the bracken.

She was rapidly approaching the abandoned twoleg den and her muscles screamed at her to slow down. But her heart was racing too fast to do anything but celebrate her freedom. She wasn't coordinated enough to hunt for herself yet, but she could already imagine the taste of the fat juicy mouse she would pick from the fresh-kill pile. The other warriors brought plenty in every day now that newleaf had melted away all the snow.

"Hey, watch it!"

She cleared a large fallen log and crashed into a cat who had been standing on the other side. Briarlight yelped as they tumbled together into the moss and sprawled in a tangle of legs and tails. "I'm so sorry, Jayfeather!" she gasped recognizing the gray tabby fur. "I didn't see you-"

"Get off of me," the medicine cat spat, disentangling himself from her with an angry hiss. "Even this far away from the camp I can't escape all of the mouse-brains!"

"I'm sorry!" she cried again, stumbling away from him in embarrassment. Of all the cats to run into, why did it have to be him?

Jayfeather sat down in the dirt and quickly let his fur lie flat again. He began licking the moss out of his pelt- his piercing blue gaze never leaving her. She could only imagine what was going on in his head. "So you are running and jumping now?" he meowed coolly once his pelt was thoroughly smooth and clean again. "Thornclaw must be working you hard."

"I'm working hard every day to be the best warrior in the Clan," she squeaked hastily. She felt heat rise up through her fur as she stared into Jayfeather's blank eyes. She did her best to steady her shaking voice. "Even though he's not really my mentor anymore, Thornclaw is doing a great job making sure I don't make a fool of myself."

Jayfeather's eyed her for a quiet moment, his face expressionless. He suddenly stood up. "I'm glad to hear that," he meowed flatly before turning and padding away from her. "I need to gather some herbs from my garden now. I'll see you around."

"Wait!" she called urgently. Her paws felt like they were rooted to the ground.

He stopped mid step. "Yes?"

Her heart was pounding and she was terrified that Jayfeather could hear it. "Why do you hardly ever come watch me practice?" she asked. "It's like you have forgotten about me ever since I left the medicine den."

The medicine cat didn't move, still facing away from her. "Because that's not what medicine cats do," he meowed softly. "I heal you, then you go out and do warrior things. I was there for a few of your early sessions but I have no business interfering with your training."

"I wasn't just your patient, you know," she meowed back, sure that her heart was about to explode out of her chest. She stared at him intensely. "I thought we were friends."

He seemed to flinch slightly at her words, but he turned his head to face her. "We are friends, but that doesn't change our roles in our Clan. We walk very different paths, Briarlight, you of all cats should understand what that means."

A wave of disappointment fell over her, but he was right. She lowered her head. "I understand. I'll see you later at camp. Sorry again for running into you." She turned to go.

"Stop."

She looked around hopefully.

Jayfeather padded closer to her, his round eyes still expressionless. "We can hang out now for a bit. I'm in no hurry to get back to my herbs so you can tell me all about what Thornclaw has been having you do."

Briarlight perked up. She knew she was happier than she should be by his decision, but she didn't care. It wasn't like this would change anything. "I have a better idea. I can show you what used to be my favorite thing to do before my accident. Come see!"

Without even looking to see if he was following, she pranced over to the nearest tree- a broad maple a few fox-lengths away. She craned her neck to stare up into its branches. The leaves grew so thickly that she couldn't see the sky. She remembered her adventures with her siblings when they were apprentices. Few cats knew about it, but they would sometimes race to the very top of the great oak and whoever got their first got to pick the best thing from the fresh-kill pile when they got bask to camp. She usually won.

Jayfeather padded up behind her, narrowing his eyes once he realized the tree was in front of them. "Don't even think about it," he warned. "If you fell and hurt yourself again, I might just bury you alive so Millie doesn't find out and kill me."

But she only laughed and sprang up the trunk with a grunt. Her claws chewed at the bark but she pulled herself higher until she was on the lowest branch. She was shocked by how challenging it was. "It's not as easy as I remembered," she admitted once she was securely fastened to the branch. "But my forepaws are stronger than ever. I'm almost able to pull myself up without even using my hind paws at all."

Jayfeather stared up at her with worried blue eyes. "Did Thornclaw say this was a safe way for you to train?" he called. "If not, I insist you come down at once."

"He didn't," she meowed, already eyeing up the next branch. "But he's not around right now. Don't be a grump and maybe give me a little bit of admiration- I'm climbing a tree!"

"I don't admire your obsession with trees," he growled angrily. "I thought that after your last encounter with one you would have learned to avoid them. It was a tree that put you in the medicine den in the first place, or have you forgotten that already."

"Nonsense. That was a completely different situation. Besides," she lunged at the next branch up, her paws slowly remembering the motions of how she used to do it when she was younger. "It's not like this maple is going to fall on me or anything. This isn't so- oof, tough. Come on, Jayfeather. See if you can climb up to that branch there."

Jayfeather eyed her furiously from where he stood at the base of the tree. He wore his notorious look of disapproval that every Cat in the clan had learned to stay away from- but she liked it the most out of all of his expressions. He snorted and took a step closer to the trunk. "If I go up, will you promise to come down right afterward? If you fell and got hurt, I would-"

"I get it!" she moaned back, drowning him out. "You think I'll slip or fall, or pull a claw or get stuck. Now that we understand each other, will you just get up here and be amazed at how much stronger I have gotten in the past moon?"

"I would only do this for you, Briarlight," he growled resignedly. With a flying leap, the thin tabby tom threw himself at the trunk of the maple tree and, muttering, pulled himself up to the lowest branch. His claws scrabbled clumsily at the bark and it was obvious he had little experience in climbing. "I'm in the tree. Are you happy now?"

"See, it's not so bad," she mewed cheerfully down to him, already working her way even higher. "Now just keep climbing until I tell you to stop. I can see the top of the tree from here. No point going this far and giving up when I'm so close."

"Briarlight, please come down," he complained, worry trickling into his meow again. A fine layer of wood and bark shavings dusted his pelt. "This all reeks of bad-idea, and what would Millie think if she knew you were so high up in a tree? Her fur would turn gray with worry."

"Her fur is already gray, silly fur-ball," she laughed back.

The medicine cat huffed, heaving himself up onto another branch still a little wet from the morning dew. "It is? I wouldn't know, I've never seen it. Regardless, you are going to get us both killed."

They were easily over two dozen fox-lengths off the ground now but Briarlight had never felt more confident. This was what she was better at than any other cat in the Clans. She had been itching to climb again for seasons. "Just get to the branch I am on now and then we can stop. Careful with that patch of bark," she warned as he hugged the trunk and began pulling himself higher. "The moss is slick and I almost slipped when I climbed up."

As the medicine cat continued his slow progress towards her, she took a moment to think about the days before her accident. Everything had seemed so perfect then, surrounded by her friends and family. She had been very competitive with Blossomfall and Bumblestripe as apprentices, especially when they were tree-climbing. But as they grew older, her siblings lost interest in the games they used to play. She had often found herself alone in the branches of the oaks that overlooked the lake, watching the sun rise behind the mountains in the distance. I wonder what it is like to live in the mountains. Instead of climbing trees, you would be climbing on rocks all day.

A flutter of wings suddenly darted close to her perch and a loud alarm cry from a magpie startled her out of her thoughts. She jumped in panic and at the same time, felt her hind claws slip from the branch. She sank her front claws deep into the branch, but her hindlegs dangled high above the forest floor. "Help!"

"I'm coming, Briarlight, hold on!" Jayfeather called to her, his meow laced with terror. She couldn't see him because of the position she was in, but it sounded like he was still a few branches below her.

She clung on, desperately trying to swing her hind legs up so they could get a grip, but the movement only made her claws slip more. I'm going to fall. And I'm either going to die or live the rest of my life in the medicine den again. She closed her eyes as the bark peeled and chipped beneath her weight.

In a single panicked moment, she felt her claws tug free from the wood and at the same time felt teeth sink into her scruff. She dangled in the air, her hind legs kicking at open space.

"Stop- struggling!" Jayfeather growled in her ear, his voice muffled by her fur in his mouth.

Briarlight went limp, feeling like a kit in her mother's jaws again. Please don't let me be too heavy. If he had to choose between letting her go and falling himself, would he drop her?

But Jayfeather held on tight, his claws grinding into the wood as he suspended her among the branches. She craned her head down to see how far away the ground was, and to her relief, spotted a branch only a tail length beneath her feet. "I can see a close branch," she yelped, still swinging from his jaws. She felt like she might plummet at any moment. "If you can lower me just a little bit, I might be able to reach it."

Jayfeather gave a strained grunt of understanding and very slowly, he dipped her down towards the landing.

"You can let go now," she gasped once her hind legs were just a whisker's length away from the lower branch. Jayfeather obliged and she fell, slamming into the branch and having the breath knocked out of her. For a horrified moment, she thought she was going to careen off the side, but she sank all four sets of claws into the bark and held on for dear life. "I'm okay!"

There was a moment of relief as Jayfeather scurried down the trunk to her spot. He was too out of breath to say anything, but when she looked up into his eyes, she saw rage. She was in serious trouble now. "I'm sorry-" she cried.

"I don't want to hear it!" he snapped furiously, interrupting her. "Just get out of the tree!"

She lowered her head miserably and crawled down the trunk after him. Neither of them said another word until they were both safely in the grass again.

Her heart was still racing as he turned to face her, his eyes glittering. Was he going to tell Bramblestar about this? Would she have to stop training to be a warrior?

To her surprise, he stepped forward and embraced her with his head on her shoulder. "Never scare me like that again," he whispered into her ear, his voice shaking. "I've lost too much already."

She didn't know what to say so she just closed her eyes and enjoyed the comforting warmth of his fur touching hers. She had never been so scared in her life and her pelt still quivered in shock.

Jayfeather stepped back, his blind gaze meeting hers. "I'm not going to tell anybody about this," he meowed seriously, his voice steady once more. "Because I know you have already learned your lesson about what happens when you are reckless. Go back to camp."

"Thank you, Jayfeather," she breathed in relief.

"Just go, now," he meowed coldly, his eyes expressionless once more.

She didn't need to be told twice. She turned away from him and raced through the trees as fast as her tired and aching legs would carry her. She didn't look back but she could still visualize his tabby striped face fresh in her mind. He has saved me so many times. I will never be able to forget how much I owe him my life.

Constructive reviews always appreciated.