"Spotkit, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Spotpaw. Your mentor will be Stormclaw. I trust you'll pass down your courage and loyalty to Spotpaw."

Stormclaw came up to touch noses with his new apprentice.

Flashstar continued the ceremony.

"Brightkit, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Brightpaw. Your mentor will be Ivynose. Ivynose, if you can teach Brightpaw everything you know regarding fighting, I have no doubt she will be one of the best fighters in all the Clans."

Ivynose preened, and padded to Brightpaw and touched noses with the cream she-cat.

The rest of the Clan cheered, "Spotpaw! Brightpaw!"

Spotpaw waited for the noise to die down before walking to her mother, Sunpetal. The ginger queen - now warrior - had her eyes closed in sadness. Spotpaw knew that her mother was still grieving for the death of her other littermate, Sharpkit. Spotpaw sighed, and at the sound, her mother's eyes opened.

"Congratulations, Spotpaw! You should go check out the apprentices' den. I think I saw Brightpaw head over there." Her mother's voice was raised in fake happiness, but Spotpaw played along.

She nodded and padded over to the den.

Slowly coming in, her eyes widened as she saw how huge the apprentices' den was. Brightpaw had already set up a nest for her sister.

"Hi, Spotpaw! I already set up your nest for you."

Nodding in thanks, the tortoiseshell and white apprentice stepped out.

Stormclaw came rushing forward. "Perfect timing. We're going to explore the territory." She hurried after her mentor, who was already pushing through the thickets guarding the camp entrance. The gray tom led the way out of camp.

After walking in silence for a while, he stopped near a big, black thing.

"What's that?" Stormclaw shuddered before answering. "That's the Thunderpath. Never step on it. Monsters come very fast and can easily kill a cat."

Spotpaw hastily took a step back. Stormclaw turned and led his apprentice to a flowing stream.

"This is the border we share with ShadowClan." As if his words conjured them, a ShadowClan patrol appeared, a big white tom in the lead.

Stormclaw nodded to them. "Frostfang. How's the prey running in ShadowClan?"

The white tom bristled. "None of your business, fish-face." Their tucked-in flanks were enough of an answer. A smaller cat, a mottled brown she-cat, stepped forward.

"You're in our territory," she snarled.

"No, we're not. That log is on our side of territory," Stormclaw responded coolly.

The she-cat looked at the snow-covered log, then back at the gray RiverClan cat. "We changed our borders for better hunting. This log is now on ShadowClan territory."

Spotpaw ran forward and hissed, "You mange-pelts, you can't do that!"

Stormclaw warningly started, "Spotpaw, just leave it-"

The final member of the patrol, an apprentice by the looks of it, pushed his way to the very edge of ShadowClan territory and bared his teeth at the tortoiseshell and white she-cat. She didn't flinch.

"Who are you calling mange-pelt?"

She scoffed. "ShadowClan cats are slow. I'm calling your pathetic skin mange-pelt, or is that not obvious?" The dark ginger apprentice stood there looking mutinous, before turning to the mottled brown she-cat.

"Emberbreeze, are all RiverClan cats flea-brained?"

Emberbreeze nodded. "Good observation. Let's go, Foxpaw."

The ginger tom, Foxpaw, hissed once more at Spotpaw before following his Clanmates.

Completely unfazed, the RiverClan apprentice snarled in response.

After they left, Stormclaw sighed. "Try to control your temper. They hold grudges, ShadowClan cats. If we ever get in a battle with them, that apprentice will definitely remember and claw you."

Spotpaw scoffed. "Claw me? If he had stayed there for one second longer, I would've clawed his ears off. Him, claw me? I'd like to see that."

Stormclaw sighed again. Dropping the subject, he exclaimed, "Let's go to the WindClan border now."

Returning home was ten times harder than walking all the way to the edge of their territory. Spotpaw padded to her sister, her paw pads raw and painful. Brightpaw looked up from the prey pile.

"Hey Spotpaw! Let's share a shrew, and you can tell me all about the territory."

Spotpaw looked on with slight disappointment as her sister chose the smallest shrew. Then she scolded herself mentally. It's leafbare, and everyone's cold and hungry. Based on how those ShadowClan cats looked, they're probably sharing a frog with half the Clan. And here I am, complaining that I have to share a shrew with my sister. Spotpaw shamefacedly went over to Brightpaw, who was waiting by the edge of the clearing. Settling down next to each other, they devoured the shrew in a few bites.

Brightpaw turned to her sister. "So how was the tour? Did anything exciting happen?"

The tortoiseshell and white she-cat sat up. "The territory is SO BIG. It's huge! And we came across a ShadowClan patrol. They are so annoying." Brightpaw nodded, looking interested. She opened her mouth to add a comment, but was interrupted when their father approached.

"Spotpaw! How did your tour go?"

The new apprentice retold the day's events ending on, "Is ShadowClan always so annoying?"

Flashstar nodded wisely. "Slatestar is not the best leader; she hates the other Clans and her Clanmates share her hate."

Gratitude for Flashstar's great traits washed over her. Spotpaw had heard about the sullen ShadowClan leader, but had never seen her. She shivered.

"I hope I never meet her."

Flashstar tipped his head curiously. "You're supposed to go to the Gathering tomorrow. If you don't want to see Slatestar, should I not bring you?"

Spotpaw quickly shook her head. "I still want to go."

Flashstar purred. "I thought so."