I do realize that I only got one review for the previous chapter (!) but I got tired of waiting for more and decided to put up this chapter. So enjoy, and just be sure to review this one!

Throughout the days, Lightpelt and Talon continued to become better friends. They didn't talk to each other much, as mostly Lightpelt could only visit the dog when Foxnose was watching over them, but occansionally, the medicine cat would for a few minutes for some task, and two would hold quick, whispered conversations. It was during one of those talks that Lightpelt learned that the other cats had also become quite fond of Talon, or maybe they were just curious, but they visited him often, and he would listen to them closely, even if he didn't talk to them. Talon's shoulder was healing quickly, seeing as dogs didn't know anything about healing wounds, but Foxnose was one of the best medicine cats WindClan had seen, and Talon was soon walking around, even if with a bad limp.

It was on one chilly evening when Lightpelt was introducing Talon to Tallfang and Darktail, the oldest of the elders, who hadn't been able to come see him yet, when Kinkstar gave a loud yowl from the top of the rock to summon the cats. It wasn't until Lightpelt saw Snowstorm lead her three kits out of the nursery that he realized they were going to be apprenticed.

"Lead me over there," came Talon's voice in his ear. "and I will act like I am not completely sure what is going on."

Lightpelt nodded with a smirk on his face as he walked forward and flicked his tail to motion for the dog to follow him. Talon rose obediently and slowly followed the cat up to the crowd of cats. To anyone watching, it did indeed look like the two couldn't really understand each other. Lightpelt sat near the back of the crowd, Talon following suit, as Kinkstar began his speech.

"Today, our three youngest members are ready to become apprentices. Tallkit, Berrykit, and Owlkit, please come forward." Berrykit bounded forward quickly, while her brother and sister followed a slightly more dignified pace, though they couldn't hide that they were excited.

"Wetstorm, you shall be mentor to Berrypaw. Barkface taught you much, and I know that your apprentice will learn much from you." Wetstorm simply nodded, but there was no hiding the surprise and joy on his face as he bent to touch noses with Berrypaw.

Kinkstar was continuing. "Rabbittail, your apprentice shall be Owlpaw. You are a strong, loyal, and wise warrior. I hope you can pass on much to Owlpaw." Rabbittail smiled slowly and bent her head toward Owlpaw's nose.

Kinkstar now paused for a moment, looking around slowly at the Clan. With a slight smile, he began to speak again. "Due to the performance several days ago of saving a dog's life, I now place Tallpaw in the paws of Foxnose. I know that she can learn from you, Foxnose, and grow to be as wise and caring as you." Foxnose looked deeply grateful toward Kinkstar, as did Tallpaw as she happily walked toward Foxnose and the two touched noses. As most of the cats had dispersed, Lightpelt led Talon up to Tallpaw and Foxnose.

"Congratulations, both of you," the cat said to them. Talon gave them both a lick. Foxnose seemed calm, but Tallpaw looked a little apprehensive as the dog licked the top of her head. Foxnose smiled at her slightly and led her to his cave. Lightpelt told Talon he was going to hunt, as Foxnose showed no objections about his leg, and walked toward the entrance tunnel. He was surprised to find that the dog was following him. Without turning his head, he regarded the tan and white creature coolly.

"Are you coming hunting with me?" He heard Talon give a low whine as a laugh.

"You would be surprised how well dogs can hunt," came his anwering whisper.

Indeed, Talon caught the first prey of their expedition. Lightpelt had scented a squirrel, and had decided to let Talon show him how he hunted. And so the dog, without any warning, had leaped forward, pelting after the squirrel, who, unfortunately, had wandered away from the trees. The little grey creature had actually frozen for a moment in fear and surprise as Talon had jumped out from behind the grass, and that moment had given Talon the advantage. In no time, the dog was walking calmly back to Lightpelt, the squirrel dangling from it's mouth.

Lightpelt had to admit he was impressed. Though in the end, the cat managed to catch more prey than Talon did, the dog seemed quite skilled compared to how much Lightpelt had thought dogs could hunt.

"It is natural." Talon had said. "All us dogs could hunt just as well as cats if we wanted to. It is just that we are also naturally more dependent, and so when we end up in the care of the humans, we just choose to stay there with them."

Lightpelt just shook his head, signifying he thought such a notion was just plain strange, and he headed back to pick up the prey he'd buried and head back to the camp. Talon followed him closely, the pair of them limping together.

Sharpclaw paused to take a breath, breathing in the scents of the road in front of her. Mixed in with it's harsh scents, she could just barely smell the a cat-scent; that of the one that always came by, every day. He must have come by when she had been talking with her father. Sharpclaw flattened her ears for a moment as she remembered him. She didn't want to leave, just after she'd found him, but he was right. She had to go. So now she was determined to do as he said and leave them and the Twolegplace. So she stepped out onto the road, it's hard surface contrasting the ground she'd just been on.

And determined, she padded after the strange cat, following his scent down the road as best she could amongst the foul odor of the monsters, curious to find out who he was. An icy blast of air suddenly brushed down on top of her fur, reminding her that leaf-bare was drawing close, very close indeed. Her thin pelt wouldn't help much if it started to snow before she found shelter. She'd only seen snow once before; the past leaf-bare, it had snowed for only a few minutes, and it melted quickly on the ground. But up here, she realized, the weather was much colder. It if was going to snow, then it was really going to snow.

Bitterly wishing she had a pelt as thick as her uncle Patchclaw's, she continued down the road until she came to edge of a forest where the road suddenly veered off to the left. However, the cat's scent went straight into the trees, so that was where Sharpclaw followed them. The scent suddenly changed. From the way it smelled, as soon as the tom had stepped into the cover of the trees, he had taken off running. Confused, Sharpclaw just shook her head and followed the scent at her own pace. She kept walking for a while, wondering how long she would have to go until...

It was then that Sharpclaw stopped walking. She hadn't thought about what she would do when she found this cat, or group of cats, or whatever was waiting for her. She sat down and began to wash herself as she pondered over what she would do, but a moment later, a group of toms stepped out from the surrounding trees. Sharpclaw stood up and looked around in surprise. She was surrounded by the toms, and her fur began to fluff up as she readied to defend herself at whatever cost, but the cats looked unconcerned. Even bored. But Sharpclaw could see the muscles rippling underneath each of their pelts, and knew that not even two of the strongest cat in WindClan could take on just one of these warriors, who she just realized were all tabbies.

But she glared around bravely until one cat stepped forward from the group. He was equally as muscular as the others, perhaps even bigger, and he commanded total respect as he spoke in a strange accent.

"Do not struggle. It would not be worth it." He said nothing more, but he gave a flick of his tail. Sharpclaw had been about to object, but the tabbies surrounding her closed in suddenly, leaving her no choice but to follow them through the trees.

Eventually, they came to a tangled wall of weeds and briars. Following the lead of the tabbies surrounding her, Sharpclaw ducked underneath the thorns between two bushes where the gap was slightly larger. Standing up straight on the other side, she looked around and was surprised to see that it looked not so different from WindClan. There were dens on either side of a large clearing, and a paritcularly large-looking den was next to a fallen tree, which she guessed would serve the same as the tall rock in the WindClan camp. It was amazing, she realized, how all that time she'd lived with the Clan, she'd never thought that there could be other Clans, living far away from them. It made sense, after all.

It was then that she realized the cats within the camp weren't just lying around. The majority of them were practicing fighting with each other, much rougher than the Clan cats would have, and also, there was no fresh kill pile. The caught prey was strewn around the camp everywhere, and none of the cats were sharing with each other, keeping their food to themselves and eating ferociously. The cats weren't sharing tongues, but instead, they would merely give themselves a few brisk licks and snarl if another cat came too close. Sharpclaw could see no young cats, kits or apprentices, and upon closer inspection, she realized with a slight gasp that they were all toms! Looking around again, she couldn't a she-cat anywhere!

The tabbies around her were moving again, the one that had addressed her heading for the fallen tree, while the others escorted her toward the opposite end of the camp that she hadn't noticed before. There was another wall of bushes here, but Sharpclaw could see a slight gap and as they neared it, the tabbies stopped and made a semi-circle around her. The only place they left her to go was through the gap, so with a snort she kept to herself, she pushed herself through.

She was greeted with a sight much more inviting than the main part of the camp. Here she could see plenty of she-cats, most of them with swollen bellies that suggested they were carrying kits, while young kits played around them, and here, there wasn't a tom in sight. However, the queens here were still all tabbies. Sharpclaw was beginning to feel a little self-conscious amidst all her confusion and fear. Among an entire Clan of tabbies, she had a full color pelt, save for the white dash on her chest.

Sharpclaw hadn't been standing there very long when one of queens, this one apparently not expecting kits, trotted up to her. She looked very strange indeed, Sharpclaw saw, as she was a strikingly white cat with dark black tabby stripes running down her fur. As she drew closer, Sharpclaw saw that the four telltale tabby marks on her forehead were also as dark as midnight on a new moon. The queen stopped and looked at Sharpclaw carefully. Sharpclaw realized she must be some sort of head queen; she looked authoritative, but kind enough.

"Did the patrollers just bring you in?" asked the queen in a commanding voice, but nice enough not to make Sharpclaw feel threatened. The black cat realized she must have been talking about the toms and nodded.

The white tabby nodded back. "That's all I need to know for now. Go over there, to that den. Ask for Kal. She'll tell you all you need to know." She walked away, and Sharpclaw stared after her for a moment before walking slowly off toward the den the queen had mentioned toward. As she walked, she looked around and saw each of the dens either had queens expecting kits, or normal she-cats, but they were never mixed together. And the cats whose kits had already come, but weren't ready to leave their mothers yet had still separate dens.

Sharpclaw finally reached the den she'd been directed toward. Inside, there were only three other cats, who all turned to look at her. As Sharpclaw settled herself inside, she turned to look at the cat beside her, a black tabby.

"Are you Kal?"

The cat nodded. "I know, you were told to come and see me. But not now. I'm tired. You must be too. Sleep now. The sun is setting. We must rest now, to wake up in the morning for the march. Do not worry. I'll protect you. Just sleep now. All will be well."

Sharpclaw nodded and settled her head down on her paws. She really didn't know who Kal was, but the cat's words had a strange effect on her. She felt ready to do whatever Kal asked. Now, although she hadn't thought she would sleep at all, she was quickly dreaming.

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