Brightkit sat near the Highrock, nervously flicking her tail back and forth. Sedgekit was desperately trying to get away from Sorrelflower's fretting licks, squirming and messing up whatever Sorrelflower had managed to accomplish, forcing her to continue her motherly assault.

"Stop! My fur's neat enough," Sedgekit mewed. "The Clan will gather around soon and I don't want to them to remember me as the apprentice who needed his mother to bathe him."

Sorrelflower let out good-humored huff. "If that were true, I wouldn't have to be cleaning your fur, would I?"

Sedgekit opened his mouth but was shut up by more licks. He closed his eyes in acceptance of his fate.

Brightkit had made sure her fur was in perfect condition when she woke this morning and she had given it a good licking before being called to the Highrock by Sandpelt. The ginger tom had disappeared into Tawnystar's den a few moments ago. When is the ceremony going to start? I can't take all this waiting. No sooner had she thought this when Tawnystar's head poked out of the lichen, quickly followed by the rest of his body and Sandpelt. His gaze was fixed on Brightkit, unnerving the small kit even more. Then his eyes caught sight of Sedgekit, who, luckily for him, Sorrelflower was done with. Tawnystar meowed something to Sandpelt and the deputy padded off toward the warrior's den. Tawnystar leaped to the top of the Highrock and yowled the familiar call for the Clan to gather.

Cats began to crowd in the clearing, most knowing the purpose of the meeting, as they gave cheerful looks to Brightkit and Sedgekit. The attention simultaneously made Brightkit swell with pride and glance at the ground with a lack of confidence. All my clanmates have high expectations for me. What if I mess up? Sedgekit was having no such problems, at least he wasn't showing it. His chest fur was fluffed out and he held his head like he was Clan leader. I wish I could be as unreasonably confident as Sedgekit.

Tawnystar's voice broke through Brightkit's thoughts. "As many of you have guessed, today Brightkit and Sedgekit will be made apprentices." He fixed his gaze on Sedgekit, who was bursting with barely held back excitement. "Sedgekit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Sedgepaw. Your mentor will be Smokefoot. I hope Smokefoot will pass down all he knows on to you." He turned his head to the front of the group of cats, where Smokefoot was sitting by Sorrelflower. "Smokefoot, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You have shown yourself to be loyal and kind. I expect you to pass on all you know to Sedgepaw."

Smokefoot approached Sedgepaw and lowered his head so his nose touched Sedgepaw's. Sedgepaw's mouth opened but before any noise could come out, Smokefoot slapped his tail across the apprentice's muzzle. "Let's wait for your sister's ceremony, shall we?" Sedgepaw nodded, looking a little embarrassed.

Tawnystar, however, had that homurous glint in his eyes as he looked at Brightkit. "Brightkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Brightpaw. Your mentor will be Dawnfrost. I hope Dawnfrost will pass down all she knows to you." This time, Dawnfrost padded up beside Brightpaw before Tawnystar continued. "Dawnfrost, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You have shown yourself to be brave and skillful. I expect you to pass on all you know to Brightpaw."

Dawnfrost bowed her head. "I will." She turned to Brightpaw and though she lowered her head like Smokefoot had done, Brightpaw still had to stretch her neck to meet her nose.

Once that was done, the Clan began chanting, "Sedgepaw! Brightpaw!" and warriors crowded around the new apprentices to congratulate them. Sorrelflower came up to her kits, her eyes brimming with pride. "You two are going to be wonderful apprentices and even better warriors." She gave each of them a lick on the head, earning a disgruntled meow from Sedgepaw.

Stonepaw and Petalpaw squeezed through the throng of cats and greeted them warmly. "I'm thrilled to have new apprentices in the den!" Stonepaw mewed.

"So they can clean out the elder's den?" Petalpaw questioned mischievously.

"Of course not!" Stonepaw replied, then added, "Maybe a little." He brushed his muzzle against Brightpaw's, meowing, "I really am glad to have you two as denmates."

Brightpaw nodded. "Yeah, I bet it's empty in there with just you two."

"Well, it was plenty full when Longstripe was taking up three nests," Stonepaw purred.

Petalpaw jabbed him with her paw. "Longstripe did not take up three nests! He just liked having extra bedding in his."

Stonepaw rolled his eyes and cast an aside glance at Brightpaw. "I forgot Petalpaw is over the moon for him."

"I am not!" Petalpaw wailed.

Sedgepaw, who had been dealing with a flurry of questions from Goldenkit and Frostkit, swiveled his ears toward their conversation. "Not what?"

Stonepaw spoke before Petalpaw could defend herself. "Not completely in love with Longstripe, which she is."

A sleek white and brown pelt appeared from the crowd. "Did someone say my name?"

Before anyone could respond, Petalpaw dashed away, leaving Longstripe looking very confused. "I better go fix this," Stonepaw meowed and ran off after his sister.

Brightpaw suppressed a mrrow of laughter.

Dawnfrost, who had been talking with Smokefoot, came back over to Brightpaw and Sedgepaw. "Are you ready for your first day of training?"

"Training? Now?" Brightpaw stammered. I didn't think we'd get started this soon.

Dawnfrost flicked her ears at the question. "Yes, now. Or did you think being a warrior was about talking with clanmates and resting?"

Brigthpaw shrunk at Dawnfrost's reprimand, and it seemed that Dawnfrost looked guilty just for a second, but the look was gone as quickly as it came. Dawnfrost turned and walked to the camp entrance, motioning for Brightpaw to follow. I'm leaving camp! I'm going to see the territory! Though Brightpaw's enthusiasm was dashed after an embarrassing time trying to get over the ravine resulted in Dawnfrost picking her up by the scruff and dragging over the rocks.

"Sorry," Brightpaw mewed softly, not daring to look her mentor in the eyes. To her surprise, the warrior's voice contained nothing but sympathy.

"Don't be sorry. Your legs aren't long enough to get over the ravine by yourself yet, but you're still growing. I bet by next moon, you'll be leaping clear over the ravine."

Brightpaw took that as encouragement and straightened up. "Alright, where are we going?"

Dawnfrost examined Brightpaw for a moment. "I thought you could decide."

The apprentice was taken aback. "Me? But I've never seen the territory. I don't know where anything is."

Dawnfrost gestured with her tail to the forest. "It's best to discover things for yourself. When I was an apprentice, my mentor told me to wander through our territory by myself."

"Wasn't that dangerous?"

Dawnfrost purred a little. "Oh, it certainly was. I almost fell in the river, but my mentor was following me the whole time and managed to save me in time." She drew her gaze from the trees to Brightpaw. "But this time, I'll go with you and keep you from going too far."

Brightpaw thought back to stories the elders had told her. "In that case, I want to see the gorge."

Dawnfrost dipped her head. "Very well. Which way do you think it is?"

As confidently as she could, Brightpaw stalked straight into the undergrowth, declaring, "This way!" Truly, it was just a blind guess, but she that ShadowClan was to the right and something called a Twolegplace was in the other direction. So this way must be to the river and RiverClan. Brightpaw's stomach dropped as she remembered how Pinetail's unconscious body was found near the river, but pushed that thought from her head. RiverClan was never proven to be responsible and she had Dawnfrost with her.

The ceremony had been performed just before sunhigh and it was nearing sundown by the time Brightpaw had managed to navigate to the gorge. Well, it wasn't actually the gorge, but it was as close as Brightpaw could get using Dawnfrost limited hints about which way to go.

"That way leads to Sunningrocks," Dawnfrost explained, pointing with her tail to the left. "And that way is to Fourtrees," she meowed, gesturing up ahead.

"Let's…go…to…Fourtrees," Brightpaw panted. The walk to the river had exhausted her, but she wasn't going to tell Dawnfrost that, despite the fact that she was doing a poor job of hiding it.

Dawnfrost clearly knew Brightpaw was tired as she simply mewed, "A good warrior knows their limits," and turned to go back the way they came.

It's going to be dark by the time we make it back to camp. The two trudged through the undergrowth, this time with Dawnfrost in the lead. They had been walking for awhile when Brightpaw heard something that sounded like a voice. Dawnfrost heard it too, as she perked her ears and lowered herself into the underbrush. Brightpaw quickly copied her and when the golden warrior starting slinking through the bushes toward the sound, Brightpaw trailed behind, carefully trying to be as silent as possible.

A small clearing opened up in front of them and Brightpaw could clearly hear the voice. "What did we do? Is it something I should know about? How could-"

Dawnfrost padded into the clearing, all stealth gone, meowing a greeting. "Hello, Smallfeather."

Brightpaw followed her mentor out of the trees and saw the hunched shape of the medicine cat. His eyes were wide open with surprise and his hackles were raised. For a moment it seemed Smallfeather didn't recognize the two, but then his fur flattened and he spoke a quiet greeting.

Dawnfrost looked him over before asking, "Are you looking for herbs?"

Smallfeather peered around, and for a moment Brightpaw thought he hadn't heard. But then his soft mew answered, "Y-yes."

Dawnfrost flicked her ears and turned to Brightpaw. "Let's leave Smallfeather to his herb gathering and get back to camp."

As they left the clearing, Brightpaw couldn't help but wander how good a medicine cat he was if he was empty-pawed when gathering herbs.

Back at camp, the whole Clan was out in the clearing. Brightpaw wondered for a moment what they were all doing but her thoughts were cut off by a chorus of greetings when she came through the gorse tunnel. Sedgepaw came rushing up to her, meowing, "I thought you'd never get back!"

Before Brightpaw could ask him what he meant, Tawnystar stood on the Highrock and gave a yowl for everyone's attention. "Tonight, we feast to celebrate our newest apprentices!" He leaped down from the rock and invited Brightpaw and Sedgepaw to pick first from the fresh-kill pile. Brightpaw took a plump thrush and looked around for a place to eat. "Over here!" Stonepaw and Petalpaw were by the apprentices' den and Sedgepaw eagerly went to join them. Brightpaw dropped her thrush next to her brother, but bounded over to Dawnfrost throwing a, "I'll be right back," over her shoulder.

Dawnfrost had already settled down with Smokefoot and Snowclaw. At Brightpaw's arrival she tilted her head questioningly. "I haven't called you."

"No, but I wanted to know if I should take fresh-kill to the elders," Brightpaw responded.

Dawnfrost's face brightened with shock, then slid into a look of subtle praise. "They've been taken care of, but it's very good that you thought that. I like an apprentice with respect for her elders." She flicked her tail. "You can go and join your clanmates."

Brightpaw nodded and headed back to where Sedgepaw, Stonepaw, and Petalpaw were eating. Settling down beside her brother she couldn't help but feel a growing sense of pride and excitement in her apprenticeship.