"Nice mouse," Brambleclaw scoffed as he noticed the meagre prey Cloudtail had caught. Cloudtail's fur bristled in annoyance as he retorted, "Not so bad yourself," while staring at the small squirrel Brambleclaw held in his jaws.

Brambleclaw growled warningly and Cloudtail raised his head in the air, "Respect your elders," The white warrior said smugly. Brambleclaw could not resist retaliating, "Then you should be respecting me. You act like a kit, Cloudtail,"

"Do not!" Cloudtail lashed his tail furiously. Brambleclaw giving a warning glance and a hiss before turning away, but Cloudtail was already leaping on the dark tom, and Brambleclaw whirled around, surprised.

As Brambleclaw was biting down on Cloudtail's ear, Sandstorm appeared. She dropped her quite large chaffinch to growl, "What's going on?" Both toms looked up from their fighting. Cloudtail jumped to his feet and began to swiftly groom his fur, "I don't know, Brambleclaw just attacked," Brambleclaw's jaw dropped, flabbergasted, "What? You leapt on me for no reason!" Cloudtail turned to Sandstorm before mewing, "You trust me, right Sandstorm?"

Before Sandstorm could answer, Sorreltail entered the clearing, "What's happening?" She asked. "Brambleclaw and Cloudtail had a fight, each one claiming the other started it," Sandstorm padded over to her former apprentice.

"I saw what happened," A nervous mew came from the bushes nearby and Thornclaw padded out looking around quietly, "I'm sorry I didn't try to stop them. I respected them both to finish it nicely,"

"That's alright, Thornclaw," Sandstorm mewed, "But what happened?" Thornclaw took a deep breath and padded loser to Sorreltail before answering, "Brambleclaw laughed at Cloudtail for his small catch," Cloudtail bristled with indignation, and Thornclaw went on, "Than the two started to lance insults. Brambleclaw was finished, and he turned away, but Cloudtail still wasn't done. He leapt on the younger tom for acting better then him, which Brambleclaw didn't"

Sandstorm looked from Cloudtail to Brambleclaw, to Cloudtail then to Brambleclaw before finally deciding to mew, "Mouse-brains, the pair of you. You stupid furballs, we're supposed to be a tribe, so we don't fight. Cloudtail, you lied. Brambleclaw, you provoked him. Watch your attitude,"

Brambleclaw bared his fangs but knew better then to argue with Sandstorm. He turned away angrily. Cloudtail just looked at sandstorm a moment longer, then lowered his head and padded over to give her a respectful lick.

Brackenfur peeked through the long grass into the clearing as Cloudtail, Brambleclaw and Sandstorm left it. Thornclaw remained with Sorreltail, and he was saying something to her in a soft voice. Brackenfur could not hear what they were saying, but then Sorreltail pressed her tail to the golden brown tom's flank and Thornclaw touched his nose to her cheek. Brackenfur turned away and bumped into Dustpelt, who was walking with importance of some sort, "Brackenfur!" he gave a friendly mew, "I just had a run in with Firestar. Apparently we are doing the tribe picking today and must be at the lagoon plateau by sunhigh,"

Brackenfur purred with delight. Maybe he could get his brother away from Sorreltail! "Will you tell the others?" He asked the brown warrior, knowing Dustpelt's answer. Dustpelt nodded, "Of course,"

Lagoon Plateau

"Come," Firestar welcomed the tribes with a flick of the tail, "Please step on one of the seven stones. Any one will do," The cats immediately did so. The first row, of three, was Sandstorm, Sorreltail and Thornclaw, in that order. The second row was composed of Brackenfur, Brambleclaw, Dustpelt and Cloudtail, edging as far way from Brambleclaw as possible, "If your stone has a star on it, come stand up here," Firestar instructed. Thornclaw and Brackenfur moved up. Brackenfur could see his brother looking at Sorreltail., "Brackenfur, choose first,"

"I choose Sorreltail," he said in a low voice, "For her agility and intelligence," Thornclaw shot Brambleclaw an angry glance, "I choose Dustpelt, for his wisdom and strength," Dustpelt bowed his head and moved over to stand beside Thornclaw. Brackenfur spoke again, "I choose Sandstorm, for her courage and determination,"

That left just Brambleclaw and Cloudtail. The two cats looked at each other nervously. Then Thornclaw meowed, "I choose..."