The book skips two moons from Firepaw joining to Firepaw being an able apprentice. I'm fleshing out those two moons for the next, oh, two or three chapters or so. Purely for character development. If that's not your jam, feel free to skip the chapters until it's titled PLOT RESUMES.

A halfmoon passed. An entire half of a moon and Sparkpaw STILL hasn't caught a single piece of prey. Oh she'd come close! More than once she could swear she had some squirrel fur in her claws from their tails. But 'almost' filled no bellies, as Lionheart was fond of saying whenever she came back with nothing.

He'd seen her hunt too! It had taken a while for his teachings to take hold. Her tail no longer twitched when she stalked and her muscles no longer tensed before the pounce. But every time something went wrong. Either the wind would shift to blow her scent or something else would rustle or something ELSE would sound the alarm. It was beyond frustrating.

Especially when somebody saw. The sparrow flew just out of her grip, leaving feathers in her claws. "Son of a-!" She bit back the curse, aware of who exactly was behind her. She didn't think Spottedleaf would appreciate it. "What am I doing wrong?"

It was a testament to how much it was bothering her that she even asked. Spottedleaf purred in what Sparkpaw knew was supposed to be comforting. "You'll get it. For now, put those feathers in with the horsetail. The kits will appreciate something to play with."

Sparkpaw sighed but did as asked, depositing the sparrow feathers in the hole they were using to store the herbs they were collecting. The scent of the horsetail still made her nose wrinkle, but the earthy smell was enough to soften it. "How much more do you need?" she asked, going back to the medicine cat's side.

Spottedleaf hummed and observed the clump of horsetail they were collecting. "Just a bit more. Willowpelt's kits are due soon and I'd like to collect some borage."

Sparkpaw almost sighed but kept it in. She'd volunteered for guard duty when Spottedleaf asked for one. She'd hoped guard duty meant 'I'm going near the border and need protection' rather than 'I would like some company while I collect herbs and another set of paws to bring it back with'. "Okay. What does borage look like then?"

The answer came absentmindedly, like Spottedleaf didn't even have to think about it. Maybe she didn't. "Small, blue or pink petals, strong smell. You'll know it when you see it."

She made a noise of acknowledgement and went a separate way to cover more areas. She'd much rather be doing almost anything else. Sparring with the other apprentices, lazing about with Runningwind, or even taking care of the elders.

By this time she'd met all of them. Speckletail was the old she-cat who had tried to scold her that first day. Their relationship has not improved. One-eye, Patchpelt, and Rosetail, she liked. They were kind and good humored. Halftail had his moments where sometimes she laughed with him, sometimes she wanted to claw him, same with Dappletail.

The one she couldn't stand was Smallear. His name should have been Smallbrain instead. He wasn't as outwardly 'Clan blood is all' as, say, Darkstripe, but he was too caustic and he complained about everything. And coming from her, that was saying something!

Sparkpaw lazily swung her gaze back and forth, not expecting to find anything, but a flash of pink had her jerking her head back. Small and pink flowers. Did they smell strong? They smelled like regular flowers to her, but maybe to a medicine cat that meant something different. "Is this it, Spottedleaf?" She called.

Pawsteps came up behind her and Sparkpaw moved to show Spottedleaf what she'd found, but the older she-cat was already shaking her head. "No, that's bright-eye. It's still a good find though! Mixed with lovage, it can cure coughs. Pluck a couple of the leaves off for me and put them with the rest, please?"

Sparkpaw gave a dramatic, put-upon sigh but did as requested. Spottedleaf laughed softly at her before moving off again. In the time it took for Sparkpaw to collect a decent amount WITHOUT ripping the petals in half, Spottedleaf had found the borage, gathered it, and had two piles of their combined storage to take back.

They each took one and made their way back to camp. By the time they made it, Sparkpaw's jaws were aching from gently holding her bundle. The camp was active when they entered, and Sparkpaw waved her tail at Mousefur in greeting when their eyes met.

The brown warrior was the only one in the clearing she felt she was on good enough terms with for it to not be weird. Instead of just nodding back, Mousefur met them in the middle. "Good hunting?" She teased with a grin. In that moment she'd never looked more like Runningwind.

Sparkpaw glowered back at her and dropped her herbs to the floor. "Of course. In fact, why don't you open your mouth really wide so I can shove all this down your throat? You'll never be hungry again!" Because she'd be dead. Probably. Or just have a really bad stomach ache and never want to be hungry.

Spottedleaf had stopped as well and rolled her eyes at the exchange. "Can't you say hello like a normal cat?" She sighed. But the glow in her eye betrayed her amusement. "On a more serious note, never mix that many herbs together at once. The cat would be sicker than they were in the first place." Sparkpaw waited for the punchline, and Spottedleaf delivered. "Yarrow would work well enough if you just want to make someone miserable. Sneak a bit into the fresh-kill and…"

Sparkpaw laughed even as her nose wrinkled in disgust. "Gross. Remind me never to trust a mouse from you." Spottedleaf and Mousefur both 'mrow'ed in amusement. She soaked in the merriment she'd brought before poking Mousefur with a paw. "So did you want something when you came up, or were you just saying hi? Cuz I have some feathers to deliver to certain tiny furballs if not."

Mousefur's whiskers twitched. "Only that Runningwind will be on patrol until sundown. He specifically said not to get into trouble without him."

Sparkpaw grinned and meowed innocently. "Now why would I do that?" She bent down to pick the feathers out of her bundle and meowed around them, "I'd need him to blame it all on!" She walked away from them then, leaving both snickering, and approached the nursery just as the queen known as Frostfur exited. "Special delivery. Know any super bored kits who would enjoy a new game?"

Frostfur purred in greeting and leaned down as much as her swollen belly would allow to lick Sparkpaw on the head. She allowed the maternal gesture, if only because she barely remembered her own mother's face. "Please. Lynxkit keeps pestering us to take her out to the territory and Swiftkit keeps begging for stories about the other Clans."

Sparkpaw moved to the side and watched Frostfur waddle away. She was huge. Sparkpaw didn't have much experience with pregnant queens, not any in fact, but it couldn't be that long until they were born, right?

Putting that out of her mind, she pushed her way into the nursery and was greeted with squeals and tackles. Sparkpaw let herself fall, purring. Two kits about three moons old blinked down at her. One was a black and white tom with amber eyes, the other black and ginger she-kit with darker eyes, more yellow than amber. "Hello!" squeaked the she-kit. "I'm Lynxkit, that's Swiftkit! Who're you?"

Sparkpaw purred and gently pushed them off of her. "Sparkpaw. Joined the Clan with my brother half a moon ago." She glanced up to see Goldenflower and Brindleface watching. "I just came by to drop off some feathers for the kits to play with and see if you guys needed anything."

Before either queen could answer, Lynxkit caught sight of the feathers in question and squealed. She charged toward them and then charged THROUGH them, scattering them into the air. Swiftkit leaped at the largest one and grabbed it in his mouth before charging off. Lynxkit gave a high pitched attempt at a battle cry before going after him. "No fair! Get back here!"

The non-kit cats purred in amusement. It was Goldenflower who finally responded. "If you could fetch a mouse for Brindleface, that would be wonderful." Sparkpaw was about to do just that when Brindleface started protesting only to be cut off by Goldenflower. "Hush. You're expecting now so you have to eat for yourself and your kits!"

Sparkpaw waited until Brindleface gave a small nod of agreement. Then she trotted out to receive said mouse for the queen in question. Luckily there was an apprentice there just laying one down. "Hey!" she mewed to her brother, reaching forward to briefly nuzzle him.

Firepaw purred in greeting. "Hey yourself. Have fun with Spottedleaf today?"

If she had time she would have been happy to regale him with false tales of her battling off vengeful RiverClan warriors while the medicine cat cowered behind her. But the warmer the mouse was for Brindleface, the better. So, slightly apologetic, she meowed, "I'll tell you later. Right now I have to give that mouse you just brought in to Brindleface."

Rather than putting him down, Firepaw seemed to perk up. "I'll come with you!" The anticipation in his voice and posture had her blink curiously at him. He shrank back in embarrassment and shuffled his paws, looking an awful lot like Ravenpaw at the moment. "It's nice, knowing I provided for our Clanmates. I want to see Brindleface eat it."

Sparkpaw debated teasing him about how creepy that sounded but decided against it. "Well, come on then! Pick it up and let's go." She watched Firepaw pick up the mouse he had literally just put down and led the way toward the nursery with her tail held high.

Both queens looked up when she entered, looking confused. That confusion ended when she moved aside with a flourish and let Firepaw come in behind her with his mouse. They each purred at him, causing him to flick his ears. "Hello Firepaw. Is that for Brindleface?"

He nodded and trotted up to the she-cat in question, laying it at her paws. "I just caught it too, so it's nice and fresh! Enjoy!"

Interestingly enough, Brindleface and Goldenflower exchanged amused looks before Brindleface laid down in front of the mouse. "Well thank you very much Firepaw!" She took a bite of it, making a show of enjoying it. "Mmmm…."

It was so condescending and patronizing that Sparkpaw felt offended on Firepaw's behalf. But when she looked to see how he was taking it, he looked like he hadn't even noticed. He was watching Brindleface with theoretical stars in his eyes, clearly so proud of himself. Sparkpaw couldn't take that away from him.

She glanced at Goldenflower, because clearly she was in on it, but found the more experienced queen was already watching her. Goldenflower's eyes flicked momentarily between Brindleface and Firepaw before looking back at Sparkpaw with an inquisitive flick of her ears.

It took far too long for Sparkpaw to decipher the meaning of that. Will you tell him? In response she gave a subtle shake of her head, and Goldenflower quirked a smile. "While you two are here, why don't you go through the nests and replace the old moss? Has anybody shown you how yet?"

Both 'paws said no, and the next little while was spent with Goldenflower teaching them how to tell when moss has lost its use and how to roll it up into balls to carry beneath their chins.

There was a momentary interruption that came when Swiftkit and Lynxkit leaped into their pile of mossballs to bat them around. Sparkpaw wanted to be upset with them but the joy on their faces made her laugh instead.

The queens weren't nearly as amused though. "Why don't you two go play outside?" Goldenflower 'suggested'. It was a tone of voice that wasn't so much a suggestion as a politely worded order.

The kits obviously heard it as such for they whined. "But we wanted to help!" Swiftkit exclaimed. Then he looked embarrassed at his outburst and ducked his head. "I mean, if you'll let us."

Sparkpaw made an impulsive decision and meowed, "Sure, you can help out." She ignored the disapproving look from Goldenflower and pushed the soiled mossballs toward them. "Each of you, grab one and take it outside." Each kit squealed and took one before trotting out with their tails held high. Sparkpaw pushed another toward Firepaw and asked, "Can you see if Spottedleaf has any spare moss? If not, we'll have to find somebody to show us how to find more."

He wordlessly obeyed, picking the ball up in his mouth and flicking his tail. With him gone, she whirled on the queens. "Explain."

Goldenflower lashed her tail. "New apprentices are often proud of their catches. The novelty will wear off soon. Your turn. Why tell them they can help directly after I send them outside?"

The 'them' in question being the kits, obviously. "Less for me to do, gets them outside, hopefully distracts them. I haven't been around kits much but I've been told their attention spans are smaller than they are."

There was a brief tense standoff before Goldenflower backed off with a twitch of her whiskers. "Well I can't fault that logic. Just next time, at least WAIT to undermine my authority. Now they might think it's okay to go to somebody else when I tell them no."

Normally such an instruction had her bristling in resentment. If it had come from, say, Lionheart, Sparkpaw would have snorted and done it out of spite. But Goldenflower had EXPLAINED her reasoning, instead of being a totalitarian dictator. That by itself was reason enough to listen. "Sounds good, if you don't patronize my brother like that again."

The three she-cats all purred in amusement, then turned when somebody entered the nursery. At first Sparkpaw thought it was some kind of eldritch moss monster come to devour them all, but no, it was just Firepaw with several drapings of moss on him. "I. Sort of come with moss?" Sparkpaw could only stare. "... Help?"

Nope. No good. Sparkpaw immediately burst into laughter, the kind of laughter that had her doubling over and wheezing. "What. What did Spottedleaf DO to you?" She gasped out.

Firepaw's response was sheepish, even as Goldenflower started unwrapping him like a bundle of herbs. "I wasn't sure how much we needed and asked Spottedleaf to give me as much as I can carry and I'm pretty sure she took that as a challenge. Would you please stop laughing and help?"

Still giggling a little, Sparkpaw stumbled forward and started carefully shredding the moss. Hey, she figured it would need to be shredded anyway. Might as well start it now. That was when a head poked into the nursery, and all of Sparkpaw's good humor drained at the bright amber eyes that glinted. "Ah, there you are." Tigerclaw growled, glowering at her. His expression dropped smoothly when he looked at Goldenflower. "Are you done with her? I'd like to assess that fighting prowess she's always going on about."

Sparkpaw's tail started bristling in excitement. She hadn't had a good spar since she joined the Clan and she was DYING to sink her claws into something. She shot a wide-eyed hopeful look to Goldenflower, who rolled her own eyes but gave an indulgent sigh. "Oh very well. I suppose I can help Firepaw with the nursery for his first time. But you owe me!"

Tigerclaw purred. He freaking PURRED. If Firepaw's eyes were available, Sparkpaw would have traded a freaked out look with him. As it was, she made a face to herself before mewing a 'see you later!' to her brother and following Tigerclaw out.

The transformation back to scowling as soon as Tigerclaw was out of Goldenflower's sight was just as freaky as him purring was. Sparkpaw frowned as she wordlessly followed him out of camp. For him to switch between personas so seamlessly, one of them had to be false. Was it the scowl? Was his grumpiness a front for a sweet gentle soul? A defense mechanism to keep others out of paws length?

Either option was terrifying in a number of ways and Sparkpaw decided she didn't want to think about it anymore. Which was good timing, as they were approaching the training hollow. The OCCUPIED training hollow. Tigerclaw paused at the lip of it and Sparkpaw stopped beside him to look down curiously.

Darkstripe and Dustpaw were there. The two were circling each other from the center. From the scruffy look of their pelts, they'd been there a while. Dustpaw though looked distinctly more ruffled and even slightly mutinous. He lunged for Darkstripe in a way that looked desperate and without a plan, and Darkstripe dodged while looking distinctly unimpressed.

Tigerclaw hailed them before they could continue. "Darkstripe. May we join you?" he asked in a way that wasn't asking. Darkstripe's assent was purely for show, as Tigerclaw had jumped into the hollow even while he was agreeing.

Dustpaw gave Sparkpaw a dark look, one that she happily returned. The other apprentice sniffed derisively and pointedly turned back to Tigerclaw. "Why is THAT one here? I thought Ravenpaw was your apprentice, not one of the kittypets."

Sparkpaw bristled to twice her size and drew her lips back to show her fangs. She was as much an apprentice as he was! She'd make him eat those words if she was right about why they were here. Tigerclaw interrupted her thoughts smoothly. "Ravenpaw is taking care of the elders today. I thought, since she's such an abysmal hunter, we would test dear Sparkpaw's fighting capabilities."

The term of endearment made her shudder, but it wasn't like she could deny it. The abysmal hunter part. , not. Everything else. "So whose pelt am I clawing up?" she drawled, deciding not to bring attention to her utter distaste. But that was fine, because all three cats wrinkled their noses at her in a way that had her snort with laughter. "I don't know what I said but all three of you look like somebody snuck a half-eaten mouse in your nest and hid it."

Which sounded like a grand prank to her. So she would absolutely have to do it. It was Dustpaw who answered her, bluntly and with a scowl. "Only rogues train with unsheathed claws. Makes sense why you'd want to though."

Sparkpaw WOULD have retorted… but the sight of Tigerclaw and Darkstripe exchanging glances and rolling their eyes behind Dustpaw's head made her narrow her own eyes. Clearly those two didn't agree. But from the look of Dustpaw's pelt, scuffed up as it was, they hadn't been using claws. So why disagree yet go along with it anyway?

Maybe it was more just Clan cat weirdness. Sparkpaw would have to ask one of the Clanborn cats later. Ravenpaw was always happy to answer her questions, when he could get through them without stuttering. Graypaw would just make a joke about it or get distracted halfway through or add his own opinion to it. Ravenpaw gave straight answers and facts.

So in the end, she just shrugged Dustpaw's words off. "Suit yourself. We'll do things your way. So which one of you am I NOT clawing up?"

Again, the older toms rolled their eyes. It was Tigerclaw that answered. "Dustpaw, of course. He's the best fighter in the apprentice den." Dustpaw puffed his chest out, like being a better fighter than a goofball like Graypaw and a coward like Ravenpaw was something to be proud of. Sandpaw was probably the only actual competition he had, and he had a size advantage against her. A small one, but an advantage is an advantage.

Sparkpaw grinned toothy, baring her fangs juuuust enough to add an intimidation factor into it. "Not for long."

Tigerclaw and Darkstripe moved themselves toward the edge of the hollow, leaving the apprentices in the middle. Dustpaw started circling her and Sparkpaw stayed where she was, only moving to keep him in front of her.

Heartbeats later, Tigerclaw declared, "Begin." And then it was on.

Dustpaw lunged at her, clearly intending to take her off guard. Likely he was hoping to pin her quickly and be done with it. And if Sparkpaw hadn't been expecting it, he likely would have. She darted to the side and let him careen right past her. The sandy floor underneath his paws did not lend itself to a smooth stop.

He tried to spin around, but the sand interfered, making his paws slip and stumble. Sparkpaw looked blankly at him. "Is that it? If this is what the best fighter is capable of, ThunderClan is doomed."

Dustpaw growled and crouched, muscles tensing for another lunge. This time Sparkpaw let him come, tensing her own muscles. When he was close, she went up, leaping in the air and twisting so she'd land on her paws right behind him. Rather than attack right away, Sparkpaw jabbed lightly at his back. "Boop."

He spun around again, and Sparkpaw could see the gleam of triumph in his eyes when he went to grab her extended paw in his jaws. He was so focused on that paw though that he neglected to pay attention to the other one, and was caught very much by surprise when her other paw crashed into the side of his head.

The aforementioned size difference was the only reason he didn't go flying. Dustpaw backed away from her to shake his head and Sparkpaw made her move. She FLEW at him, diving low to grab one of his front legs in her mouth. Once she had it, she went in the opposite direction, using his own weight to flip him on his side in a way that drove the breath from his lungs.

Two steps forward and she placed her paw at his throat, satisfaction curling her tail behind her. "I win." She declared smugly.

There was silence in the hollow and Sparkpaw didn't move, waiting for the spar to be called. When the silence went on, she glanced at the two warriors to see them both gaping at her, even the self controlled Tigerclaw.

Surprisingly it was Darkstripe that snapped out of it first. "What in StarClan's name was that?" He demanded. Sparkpaw decided that worked well enough to end it and stepped away to let Dustpaw up. Only when she did, Darkstripe's glare stayed on his apprentice. "First Longtail, now you? Are all my apprentices destined to be failures?"

In a flash, Sparkpaw was standing right in front of him. She was practically nose to nose with him. "Hey! Let's get one thing straight, Dirtstripe. Longtail and Dustpaw didn't lose because they're failures. They lost because they underestimated us. Get it right. Now if you don't have anything constructive to add, sit back and shut up."

To Sparkpaw's shocked delight, he actually did. He glowered as he did it, but he sat back and looked away. She looked over at Tigerclaw, who shut his mouth. He had a glint in his eye that Sparkpaw couldn't decipher, and he gestured back toward Dustpaw with a paw. "No please, go on. Do our jobs of mentoring for us. I'm interested in where it can go."

She squinted her eyes at him before deciding it was useless to understand his motives. Sparkpaw turned back to Dustpaw, whose ears were flat against his head and his eyes were on his paws. "Eh, buck up. You'll do better next time. Just don't let your emotions get in the way and control yourself and you'll be fine."

Finally he looked up with a snort, still upset but visibly less so. "That's rich, coming from you. I'm pretty sure you start every day with a curse and an insult." The fact that it was true made her throw her head back in laughter. Dustpaw was wearing a smirk when she looked back at him. "Alright kittypet, you've proved your point. You're not as weak as I thought. But can you do it again?" He was met with yet another toothy grin.

Time passed. Dustpaw and Sparkpaw sparred over and over again. By the time Tigerclaw calls it a day, their win/loss counter was about even, and their relationship improved to a cool neutral.