With Rushingriver, the forest seemed a whole different place to Echopaw than it had on his expedition with Blizzardleaf. Smells that he'd previously ignored flooded his nose, and many different sounds filled his ears. He bounced on his toes, whiskers twitching with delight.

"Where are we going?" Echopaw asked as soon as Rushingriver had exited the gorse tunnel. "Are we going all over? Can I smell everything? What's that skittering sound? Is that a mouse? Can I catch a mouse, do you think? I bet I can! I'll—"

"Echopaw, someone else can catch that mouse," Rushingriver meowed, padding forward through the trees.

"But I want to catch it!" Echopaw protested. "I bet Owlpaw and Mintpaw have caught tons of mice already." He sniffed at the undergrowth and batted at a falling leaf. "I thought leaves only fell in leaf-fall. Isn't that why it's called leaf-fall?"

"Leaves fall all the time, but only one or two," Rushingriver replied distractedly, scanning the forest floor. "In leaf-fall, all the leaves come down and the trees are bare."

Echopaw tried to picture a tree without leaves. "That's so weird," he meowed. "Why do the leaves fall off?" Rushingriver ignored him. "Have you ever caught a mouse?" Echopaw asked.

"Sure," Rushingriver answered. "Hey, Echopaw, could you stop asking questions and help me?" His tone was casual, but his eyes were annoyed. Echopaw scrambled to catch up with his mentor. He'd fallen behind, watching a bird hop from branch to branch above him.

"Do different herbs smell different?"

"Now there's a decent question."

The two cats made their way through most of ThunderClan's territory and managed to scrounge up a few dandelions and some borage. Rushingriver seemed relieved to have Echopaw's mouth filled with herbs, but Echopaw was bursting to ask more questions. The forest fascinated him and he was awestruck the whole time.

The sun was already setting as they headed back to camp, and Echopaw felt a surge of pride as he realized he could now share in his friends' stories about their apprenticeships. Blizzardleaf hadn't appeared once, leaving Echopaw to really soak in knowledge about the territory.

They dropped off their prize and made for the fresh-kill pile. Rushingriver grabbed two mice and headed off to share tongues with Frecklestar. Echopaw picked out a squirrel and trotted to the tree stump that led to the apprentices' den, tail held high.

"You seem cheery," Robinpaw called.

"I am cheery!" Echopaw replied with a purr. He ignored his squirrel as he told her about all the amazing things he'd seen, which she had already seen the day before, but had the courtesy not to remind him of.

His stomach growled at the end of his story, and he finally took a bite of the squirrel. Even though he hadn't necessarily caught it, Robinpaw had been right in the fact that it tasted much better after he'd been in the forest himself. He savored every bite of it.

As Echopaw groomed himself after finishing his fresh-kill, Mintpaw and Owlpaw both returned to camp, looking far more exhausted than the night before. Owlpaw wandered sleepily over to the fresh-kill pile, and Mintpaw stumbled towards Echopaw and Robinpaw. "My everything hurts," Mintpaw complained. "I've never been so sore."

"You'll be much sorer, don't worry," Lightdawn assured him, padding over. "Echopaw, make sure not to give him anything to help with the aches, alright? Save it for someone who actually needs it." He flicked Mintpaw good-naturedly before joining Owlpaw at the fresh-kill pile.

Mintpaw slumped onto the ground as Owlpaw dragged over a thrush for each of them. Mintpaw mumbled his thanks and tucked in.

"That," Owlpaw meowed, "was super." Mintpaw nodded drowsily.

"Well worth the soreness," he added.

"Just wait 'till tomorrow!" Lightdawn called. "It'll be so much worse!"

Mintpaw frowned. "But it's so bad already…"

"What did you guys do?" Echopaw asked eagerly, wanting to get caught up after Flashpaw's interruption.

"Battle training," Owlpaw replied, eyes gleaming. "Parsleyshine knocked me down so many times. She's really tough." He laughed. "She knocked down Mintpaw, too. I wanted to gang up on him, but she said we could practice outnumbered fights a different time."

"Thank StarClan for Parsleyshine's pity," Mintpaw purred.

There wasn't much more to tell, but they shared tongues until the moon rose.

"I'll head to the medicine den, then," Echopaw announced. "Goodnight." The three warrior apprentices mewed goodnights and Echopaw trotted to the fern tunnel. He poked his head in.

"Rushingriver?" His mentor was asleep, and sleeping fitfully at that. Echopaw debated waking him up, but he decided he didn't want to scare Rushingriver any more than he already seemed to be. And what if he was speaking with StarClan? Echopaw made himself comfortable and drifted off.