Firepaw stretched awake after being nudged by Stormpaw. "What?" he murmured sleepily.

"Bluestar wants us," Stormpaw replied. "Lionheart said she's in the medicine den, for whatever reason. Oh yeah! We have to go with Graypaw. He's needed as well."

Graypaw, Firepaw thought with a scowl. Bluestar and Darkstripe had trained the two together a few times during the past half moon, which was a first. During these rare sessions, Graypaw acted like a younger clone of his half-brother: pretentious, snobby, proud. He hadn't been afraid to flaunt it in front of his leader, either, which was surprising. This made the ginger tom quite dislike the fluffy gray apprentice, and he only doubted Stormpaw's insistence that he was once nice even more.

Firepaw looked around the den. "Where's Graypaw?"

"In the dirtplace," Stormpaw replied. "We'll just wait for him, and all three of us can go to Bluestar together."

Firepaw looked at Swiftpaw, who had grown less meek and afraid to being much like Graypaw: incredibly similar to his mentor, and Lynxpaw, who retained the kindness and playfulness of her mentor and herself. The two littermates had shared a nest at the beginning of their apprenticeships, and they still did despite the former's significant personality change. The tabby spent a few more moments reflecting on the many moons he'd spent in ThunderClan and the changes that had occurred before following Stormpaw out.

The duo sat and waited right outside of the dirtplace. Within moments Graypaw emerged, his fur messy and his eyes half-closed. It looked as if he'd just woken up and hadn't bothered to groom, which was probably what had happened. He lifted a brow when he noticed them, expecting them to go in. However, they sat and silently agreed to let him speak first.

"Why are you kittypets being so creepy?" he huffed. "Can't a cat just go train with his mentor?"

"Bluestar wants the three of us first," Stormpaw meowed. "So come on, grumpy! Get awake."

Graypaw sighed heavily, but followed as they led the way inside of the medicine den. There stood Bluestar, Spottedleaf, and three small piles of herbs. Yellowfang's tail could be seen poking out of the hidden herb store. For the past two moons after her trial, she'd opted to help Spottedleaf. Her wounds were fully healed, which meant she could leave, but she seemed to have grown acquainted with Spottedleaf and ThunderClan as a whole. More specifically, Firepaw. During the time he spent as her caretaker, he grew to like the old she-cat and had formed a bond with her.

"Each of you, take a pile of herbs and eat all of it," Spottedleaf ordered. "You three, along with Tigerclaw, are accompanying Bluestar to the Moonstone."

Firepaw's eyes grew wide. "The Moonstone?" he breathed. "Is it time for us to go already?"

"You have but a few moons to go until you're ready to be warriors," Bluestar confirmed. "You're coming as extra muscle in case we get attacked by ShadowClan or rogues, and I thought you might as well accompany us since you needed to go to the Moonstone eventually anyway."

"Why do you need to share tongues with StarClan?" Firepaw asked curiously. "Did something bad happen?"

"Of course not," Bluestar assured him. "But it's never a bad thing to be safe. Tensions between ShadowClan and ThunderClan have grown, especially since they decided to chase away WindClan and force RiverClan to share hunting grounds on their own land." She shook her head, clearly disgusted at Brokenstar.

"Why can't we just take the trip another day, and you just take a couple warriors?" Graypaw asked.

"Because I decided that today would be the day you went," Bluestar meowed with a hint of a warning in her tone. "All of you need to eat your travelling herbs. Hurry and do so. It will take a while for us to make it to Mothermouth."

Firepaw bent and lapped at one of the piles. The herbs didn't taste good at all, but he forced them down. "Won't you need some?" he asked his mentor.

Bluestar shook her head. "I'm sharing tongues with StarClan. You're forbidden to eat before you do so."

"Are we allowed to get some fresh-kill before we go then?" Stormpaw spoke up hopefully after eating his herbs. "Since we're allowed."

"I suppose, if you chew quickly," Bluestar replied. "But there really won't be much on the pile, with the exception of last night's stale leftovers."

"It'll do," Graypaw murmured, walking out. His denmates followed at his tail.

There were three pieces left: two mice and a thrush. Graypaw took the thrush, while Firepaw and Stormpaw each took a mouse. The trio ate quickly and returned to Bluestar. It wasn't long before they'd left camp with Tigerclaw joining at the leader's side and soon enough, they'd arrived to Fourtrees. Bluestar and Tigerclaw turned to look at them.

"We need to go through WindClan territory to reach Mothermouth, but ShadowClan has been occupying it ever since they chased them away," she meowed. "They only occasionally patrol, since they seem to have noticed that they don't have the skill or speed to catch rabbits. We should be fine, but we'll have to stay hidden and silent while we go through anyway."

"And no dilly-dallying!" Tigerclaw added. "We're to go through quickly, quietly, and stealthily."

Graypaw nodded obediently. Firepaw's and Stormpaw's affirmative nods were much less enthusiastic. They set off again, but their pawsteps grew silent once they reached the breezy moors. The ginger tom fluffed out his pelt, trying to form some sort of resistance to the chiliness. As they walked, they hid in what little undergrowth they could find. Otherwise, they focused on rocks and the rare tree. They did scent ShadowClan, but all of it seemed a few days stale. That is, until Firepaw felt paws crash into his side.

Firepaw, not expecting it, allowed himself to be pinned by what appeared to be a kit. His Clanmates surrounded them, claws unsheathed. The kit had light brown fur, striped with a slightly darker shade. He had a pure white undercoat and gentle blue eyes, which were wide with unspoken and desperately hidden fear. He had claws to Firepaw's throat. The former kittypet guessed that he'd been chosen out of the bunch because he seemed the weakest.

"Gentle," Firepaw meowed quietly, trying not to show his own fear. Despite his enemy's incredibly small size and seemingly harmless nature, his fight-or-flight reflex had already activated.

The kit bared his teeth, but all it really proved was his hesitance. The entire tough act was clearly forced. "This is ShadowClan land," his light, shaky voice managed to growl. "You aren't supposed to be here."

"We need to get to Mothermouth and back," Firepaw meowed calmly. "That's it. Surely you can't inform your Clanmates of this. We're innocent here, aren't we?"

The kit seemed to consider it, then he shook his head. His bristled fur and bared teeth had fallen to make way for him to show his true feelings. "I don't want to fight, but Clawface will do away with my fur if he finds out I let you go," he whimpered. "Brokenstar has our mentors do such horrible punishments. Last time, I had to chew a claw off." He showed off his right forepaw, unsheathing his claws again. This time, Firepaw noticed one missing.

"What's your name?" Bluestar asked gently, using the tone of a mother.

This seemed to soothe the kit, who also happened to be an apprentice. "Littlepaw," he murmured. "I'm Littlepaw. You'll know my brother, Brownpaw. He's the one who was reported dead at last moon's Gathering."

Firepaw felt his heart sink with sympathy. "I'm so sorry. Were you close?"

Littlepaw nodded slowly. "Very. He caught a rat from Carrionplace and ate it, but luckily the poison didn't spread to anyone else. Brokenstar called him foolish and refused him a vigil, but Runningnose insisted on holding one anyway." He took a few shallow breaths, as if his heart had begun to race. "Wetpaw hasn't been the same since he died. He's abandoned trying to follow Brokenstar at all, which has gotten him punished many times. I'm afraid he's going to turn up dead."

Tigerclaw's impatience finally forced itself through the somber moment. "This is all very tragic, but what are you doing here? Where's your mentor even at?"

"He brought me here to hunt, and he promised to leave me alone while I did so," Littlepaw replied, clearly too intimidated by Tigerclaw to refuse his questions. "It's rare, since we typically just focus on fighting. But I'm glad for the change."

"He'll be expecting you, I assume?" Bluestar mewed, and she got a nod in response. "Then go hunt. While I don't approve of WindClan being gone and your Clan trying to take their prey, there's nothing I can do about it. All we ask is that you keep our secret. If your Clan knows that I'm gone, as well as multiple fighters, Brokenstar will surely order to invade. Do you understand, young Littlepaw?"

Littlepaw nodded quickly. "Yeah, I do. It'll be scary to lie to Clawface and Blackfoot and everyone, but I'll do it. I don't like battles. I don't like unfair attacks. I won't let either happen if I can help it."

Bluestar breathed an almost silent sigh of relief, showing that even she had her doubts. "Thank you. ThunderClan will never forget this. You've done a good thing. May StarClan light your path, young one."

"May StarClan light your path, Bluestar," Littlepaw returned. "And you… Tigerclaw, right?" He looked at Firepaw, who he'd since let stand, and Stormpaw. "And the kittypet apprentices." He cracked the smallest bit of a smile. "Your paths too." Graypaw seemed slightly upset that the ShadowClan apprentice had no idea who he was.

Bluestar began leading her patrol away in the same stealthy manner in which they'd been travelling in as Littlepaw stood, staring after them almost wistfully. They continued their trek to Mothermouth, the place in which Bluestar would learn what she desired to know.