Clouds drifted lazily across the sky. Birds chirped noisily as the light of sunhigh grew stronger. A soft breeze blew through the damp, lush undergrowth of LeafClan's territory.

Three lithe, muscular shapes moved silently along the boarder between their Clan and their neighbors, stopping to sniff a stale scent every now and again. Of the three cats, an oddly-marked black-and-white tom stood gazing towards the other Clan's territory, his apprentice looking wistfully up at him.

"Oh, hurry up, would you?" a beautiful brown she-cat asked angrily.

"Calm down, Russetflame. We won't be late for the ceremony, I promise," the tom, named Swiftstrike, replied, blinking away his trance. Ignoring the she-cat's grunt, he turned to the apprentice. "Singlepaw, do you smell anything?"

Russetflame did her best to block out their conversation and stalked onward, not caring if they were behind her or not. Why did Swiftstrike talk to her like she was an apprentice? After all, he was the one not born of LeafClan blood. The whole Clan knew that, and Russetflame wasn't about to let him forget it. Swiftstrike had been brought to LeafClan as a several-moon-old kit and had been raised by a queen named Rowantree, whom had taken him in without a second thought. That was something Russetflame would never understand.

For all we know, he could be a kittypet or a rogue's kit, Russetflame told herself. And to think, he's training our next generation of warriors!

After several harsh seasons, Singlepaw turned out to be the only of the 'next generation of warriors'. His two sisters had frozen to death when they'd gotten lost in a snow storm, and his only brother had died not long after birth. Of the Clan's many warriors, Swiftstrike was the only with an apprentice. The only other apprentice in LeafClan was Snowdrop, the medicine cat's apprentice. Snowdrop, however, was older than both Swiftstrike and Russetflame.

Anger burned up in the she-cat as she thought back to the day that her own father, Roanstar, had chosen Swiftstrike over her to mentor Singlepaw. This was another thing she didn't understand. With so many older warriors without apprentices, why give one to one of the newest warriors? Obviously few others agreed with Russetflame on this because they all seemed to believe that Swiftstrike was doing just fine. Briskriver, a senior warrior, had even offered to help him teach Singlepaw how to fish. Fishing wasn't one of Swiftstrike's strong points.

Russetflame clicked her teeth impatiently.

"Alright, alright," Swiftstrike sighed, "we'll head back to camp now. FernClan hasn't been to check on their border in awhile anyways."

The brown she-cat set a swift pace back towards camp, making sure she stayed in the lead, even though Swiftstrike was supposed to be leading the patrol.

Finally, she slipped between the trunks the two trees that guarded LeafClan's small camp. The trees grew so close together that their roots were completely intertwined. The rest of the camp was protected by brambles and thorn bushes. On the far side of camp, opposite of where the entrance was, stood another tree, younger than those where Russetflame stood, yet still older than many generations of cats.

"Are you stuck?" The young warrioress heard Swiftstrike's voice behind her. She merely grunted in response and moved forward to let the others in.

Most of the Clan was gathered around the younger tree on the other side of camp. Roanstar sat on a low-hanging branch called the Highbranch. A few stragglers were still slipping from their dens and taking a seat with everyone else. Without waiting for the other two, Russetflame trotted quickly over and sat next to a quiet, white warrior named Cloudwhisker, who nodded briefly to her.

"Perfect timing," he purred, smiling. Russetflame opened her mouth to answer, but stopped as Roanstar flicked his tail for silence.

"As I'm sure you've all noticed," the leader began, looking over them all, "we have been a bit short on apprentices these last few moons." There was a murmur of agreement among the gathered cats and Roanstar's gaze rested proudly on Singlepaw for a brief moment. "Rowantree's kits are very close to their sixth moon and are now ready to join Singlepaw in the apprentices' den." He looked down at where Rowantree sat at the front of the group, her three kits sitting close to her, eyes wide with excitement. Russetflame also noticed three warriors sitting at the front of the group, among them the deputy, Strongwind. Roanstar turned his gaze to them.

"Briskriver, since Crimsonfur was made a warrior a few moons ago you are ready to take a new apprentice. You will mentor Mothpaw. You are a diligent fighter and an excellent hunter; I expect you to pass this on to your new apprentice."

Briskriver nodded and stepped forward to touch noses with a small, pale gray she-cat. His eyes glowed with pride. Mothpaw would be his third apprentice, an honor no other warrior of LeafClan could boast about; not even Roanstar.

"Mothpaw! Mothpaw!" the Clan chanted together, Russetflame among them.

The redish leader's gaze turned to the next warrior. "Strongwind," he began again, "you have told me that you would be honored to mentor another apprentice. You will train Shardpaw."

As a gray tom-kit took a step towards the deputy with wide eyes, Russetflame couldn't help but blink in surprise. The two toms shared the same color of fur and even the same blue eyes. Judging by the look on Strongwind's face, Russetflame guessed he would be mentoring his own son.

"You are an experienced, strong warrior and an excellent deputy. I have no doubt that your apprentice will learn a great deal from you," Roanstar concluded.

Strongwind leaned down and smoothly touched noses with the newly-named Shardpaw, before they both retreated to the back of the crowd. Again, the Clan called the new apprentice's name.

Finally, Roanstar turned to the last of the three warriors and the final kit. There was a distinct smile on his face, though he tried to hide it. "Birdwing, I have decided that you are ready for your first apprentice. You will train Drypaw."

The last kit was a tom like Shardpaw, but he looked nothing like his brother. He was a spitting image of his mother, Rowantree, with a tabby pelt and green eyes. He stared, awed, at the leader.

"You follow your heart as well as your mind in all that you do, Birdwing, making you an undeniably great warrior. I hope I can rely on you to pass on all your skills to your new apprentice."

Drypaw stepped clumsily forward and nearly tripped over his own paws as he tried to dash over to his new mentor. Birdwing chuckled and stuck out a paw to stabilize the young tom, before touching noses with him.

Satisfied, the Clan broke up into groups, happily calling congratulations to the new apprentices and mentors. Russetflame smiled as she noticed the crowd around Birdwing. Among them were Dustyfur and Hailfall, elders and also the young warrior's parents. Also with him was Rowantree, eyes glowing with pride for both her son and her younger brother. Strongwind and Briskriver nodded stiffly to each other, which was about as emotional as either warrior had ever been.

Though she was happy for her friend, Russetflame couldn't help but be a bit envious as another of her apprenticeship denmates received their first apprentice.

"Not jealous, are we?" Russetflame turned to see the medicine cat, Spiderfoot, coming over to her, looking amused.

Russetflame opened her mouth to object, but Spiderfoot spoke before she could say a word. "Calm down," the black and white medicine cat said in an amused voice. "Everyone can see that you are plenty ready for your first apprentice. I'm sure when Soloflight's kits are old enough Roanstar will choose you to train one. We all know how busy you've been the past few days. One day, those younglings will be lucky to train under you."

Russetflame couldn't help but glow with pride. "Thank you," she said, glancing at her paws.

"If I were Roanstar," a ginger-and-white tom said, coming over to them, "I would have given Singlepaw to you instead of that outsider Swiftstrike." It was Firespot, one of few cats who shared Russetflame's beliefs on Swiftstrike. "He'd probably be ready to be made a warrior if you'd trained him," the tom continued, glowering.

"Oh, not that nonsense again," Spiderfoot growled, rolling her eyes angrily. "First of all, Swiftstrike is doing an excellent job mentoring Singlepaw. Secondly, the apprentice has only been training for scarcely a moon; he's not near ready for his ceremony." She glared at the pale warrior. "I suppose it's a good thing you're not Roanstar!"

Russetflame and Firespot glanced at each other as the older cat stalked off, grumbling to herself.