Chapter 2:

Fawnpaw was given the rest of the day to rest. The next day however, she was woken early and thrown right into her training. She had woken up to the Clan deputy, Tigerclaw, leaning over her nest and jabbing a paw into her side.

"Wake up," he had meowed gruffly, "Training starts early today."

She quickly passed Cloudkit over to a sleepy Brindleface before exiting the den. She didn't want to be late for her first day of training and quickly found Tigerclaw standing in the middle of the clearing with two other warriors beside him. She recognized them both by their pelts but didn't know their names yet. The first, who was talking currently, was that sleek black-and-gray tabby she had seen at the Clan meeting. The other was a younger tom, with a dark brown tabby pelt. Both of them had protested against her joining the Clan.

She padded over to the group and Tigerclaw introduced the two, "This is Darkstripe, and his apprentice Dustpaw. They will be with us while we tour the borders today. We can't have you straying over the border while hunting now, can we?"

Fawnpaw was caught off guard by the sharp comment directed at her, but she shook her head quickly. "No, that wouldn't be good," she agreed, wondering what these 'borders' would be. She thought of the tall fences that separated her old Housefolk's garden from their neighbors in the Twoleg Place but knew that they wouldn't be anything like that.

"We will start by the Tallpines first," Tigerclaw told them as he turned. With a sweep of his tail, he gestured for them to follow him out of camp. "Then we will make our way along the RiverClan border, followed by ShadowClan's. We will end our tour back by Twolegplace."

Fawnpaw decided that she did not mind the Tallpines, but the Clan cats sure seemed to dislike it. She was pleased to see that the line between the forest and the Tallpines was very clear, with a tall fence and a clear change in trees on either side. The forest was wild and overgrown, while the Tallpines were unnaturally straight and the ground was bare. She assumed it was kept by Workfolk despite the lack of their smell in the air.

As they leaped onto a narrow fence for a better view, Darkstripe curled his lip and told her, "Don't even think about drinking the water from that place. Just a mouthful is enough to make a kit sick." Beside him, Dustpaw's pelt bristled as he scanned the bare land before them.

Fawnpaw gazed down at the puddles on the ground, made from the heavy rain in the days before. She wouldn't drink from it anyway, she wanted to point out. There was an unusually strong and bitter scent in the air that flooded into her mouth every time she opened it to speak.

"This is a good hunting spot," Tigerclaw concluded with a quick nod and prepared to leap down the fence. "But the lack of cover on the ground makes it easy to be seen. Only senior warriors hunt here alone."

The next landmark that had come across was the Sunningrocks. The border turned from a fence to a swiftly flowing river, and she was pleased for another obvious border. They padded upstream steadily, only stopping briefly from time to time so that the warriors could remark the border.

"Who is that?" Fawnpaw asked as the smooth gray rocks came into view. There were five cats, from what she could see, who were leaping down from the far sides of the rocks and bounding for the water's edge. They gave no hesitation as they slipped into the current and began to swim for the other side.

"Hey!" Dustpaw shouted and broke into a sprint. "Those are RiverClan cats on our territory!" He spat with bristling fur. His call did very little though, as by the time he'd reached the rocks, the RiverClan patrol had already reached the other shore. They slipped out of the water and raced into the forest beyond without a glance back, their pelts still streaming with the cold river water as they ran.

Tigerclaw came to stand beside the apprentice. "They left markers." he said, nose in the air.

"They didn't seem to have any prey," Darkstripe commented as he leaped onto one of the great shoulders. He stood stiffly and stared into the grees on the other side of the river, peering into the shadows as if he expected the RiverClan cats to return.

"Take a deep breath, Fawnpaw," Tigerclaw told her. "Remember that smell. You will come across it often."

Fawnpaw nodded in understanding and opened her mouth to take in the scent that hung in the air. The smell she was met was fishy and reminded her of the wet food that her Housefolk would sometimes give her. Her stomach growled at this thought, but she quickly pushed the hunger away. Beneath it though, there was a strong scent of foreign cats. She blinked as she said the Clan names to herself. RiverClan. ThunderClan, ShadowClan…

"Remark the border Darkstripe," Tigerclaw let out a half-growl half-sigh, "We need to finish this tour so that we can report to Bluestar."

The patrol was quieter after that. Tigerclaw continued being tense, and Darkstripe instructed Dustpaw to unnecessarily explain the Thunderpath to Fawnpaw. The Thunderpath was the ShadowClan border, she learned, and she was pleased to see that this border was a clear line as well. A fence, a river, and a Thunderpath. It was easy to remember. What had Tigerclaw meant by straying over one?

She shrugged the thought away and took another deep breath as they passed the border. Their smell wasn't necessarily stronger than RiverClan's, she thought, but it was definitely more bitter. After that, they began their return to the camp. She listened as Dustpaw mentioned the Snakerocks, and the Owl tree, and the Sandy Hollow, all of which she hadn't been shown.

"We don't have time for all of that," Tigerclaw interrupted the apprentice with irritation. "We will visit the Sandy Hollow tomorrow, and the Snakerocks is much too dangerous for a clueless kittypet to go wandering into."

Darkstripe snorted his agreement, and Fawnpaw just flicked her ear at their comments. It wasn't long before she was ducking through the gorse tunnel and emerging back into the camp. Tigerclaw immediately stalked off towards Bluestar's den, and Darkstripe padded over to the fresh-kill pile to help himself to a mouse. Dustpaw wandered off too, and Fawnpaw found herself alone and without instructions.

She glanced around for Fireheart and ignored a pang of disappointment when she couldn't spot him in the camp. Not knowing what else to do, she made her way over to the nursery. Brindleface welcomed her into the den, and Cloudkit was passed back to his mother. Fawnpaw curled around her son as they settled into her nest, and she was glad for a chance to wash her aching paws. The walk today was long, and she was glad to find that the day's training was over.

As she settled down though, she realized that her kit was a little warm. She pulled back and sniffed at Cloudkit. He didn't smell sick, but certainly felt warm.

She turned to Brindleface and asked, "Does Cloudkit feel a little warm to you?"

The queen reached over and touched her nose to the kit's white fur. She pulled back with a worried expression, "I didn't notice it earlier, but he does feel feverish. You should visit Yellowfang and get some herbs for him."

Fernpaw nodded and left the den. She paused in the clearing and glanced around. She had never been to the medicine cat den. She felt at a loss for a second, but then she remembered that as she had shared prey with Fireheart the previous day, she had tasted a whiff of herbs on the air. She opened her jaws and found the familiar scent again.

She padded over to a fern-shaded clearing and padded inside. "Hello?" She called.

Just inside the clearing was a large boulder and a couple of nests. In one of the nests was a young gray she-cat with an injured leg, and an older gray she-cat was listing herbs as she showed them to the younger cat. They both looked up as Fawnpaw entered, and the older medicine cat flattened her ears.

"You must be Fawnpaw," the elder spoke and collected her herbs back into bundles again. Her voice was gruff and unfriendly. The younger cat sniffed at a golden flower curiously, though she watched Fawnpaw closely.

"And you must be Yellowfang," Fawnpaw's ear twitched as she wondered if she was supposed to bow her head. But as she remembered that a medicine cat was regarded as an important rank among the Clan, she lowered her head respectfully. She noted privately that Yellowfang seemed to fit her name. The elder had long, matted fur, a broad face, and yellow teeth that were revealed when she spoke.

"What do you want?"

Fawnpaw blinked and straightened up, "My kit, Cloudkit, has a fever. Brindleface suggested that I get some herbs for him."

Yellowfang snorted, "That scrap of fur already has already gotten sick?" Before Fawnpaw could retort, she turned to the younger she-cat. "Cinderpaw, what herb do you think would help Cloudkit?"

"If it's a fever, then feverfew would be best." The apprentice asked after some thought, "But since he's just a kit, catmint would be safer. We need to be careful of the dose however, since he is so young."

Yellowfang nodded and stood to fetch the herb from a crack in the boulder. "A treatment of catmint would surely make that fretful queen Brindleface more at ease too," she commented and pulled out a bundle of the familiar herb.

Fawnpaw's nose twitched at the sweet smell. She was instantly reminded of the fake mice toys that her Housefolk used to get her back at her old home. But she was more preoccupied with Cinderpaw to remember the life she had given up. The gray apprentice was dividing herbs into separate piles carefully, sitting at an awkward angle in her nest as her heavily injured leg stuck out lamely. She glanced up as she sensed that Fawnpaw was still watching her.

"Fireheart speaks of you greatly," Fawnpaw told her, as to not be rude by staring. She hadn't meant to look at Cinderpaw's leg, but somehow her eyes kept wandering back to its wounds and she had to force herself to look away.

A spark of surprise shone in Cinderpaw's eyes. "He told you of me?"

"Yes, you sound like a wonderful cat. Maybe we could share a mouse and talk later?" Fawnpaw wanted to say more but Yellowfang had finished grabbing Cloudkit's dose of herbs along with a bit of honey as well.

"I'd like that," Cinderpaw agreed with a slight purr, but couldn't say anything more as Yellowfang led Fawnpaw out of the den and across the camp once more. They ducked back into the den to see that Goldenflower was watching over Cloudkit closely and that Brindleface was watching anxiously.

"Did you bring catmint?" Goldenflower asked, moving back to let Yellowfang examine the kit. She sniffed the air at the mixture that Yellowfang had on a broad leaf. The medicine cat sniffed the kit all over before finally opening his protesting jaws and pawing the sticky medicine into his mouth. He cried out but swallowed it still, and Yellowfang snorted.

"He should be fine," she flicked her tail, seemingly unimpressed. "If he isn't feeling better tomorrow, come and get more herbs from me."

Fawnpaw thanked the medicine cat as she collected her used leaf and left the den. The only response she got back was a simple flick of her tail, but Fawnpaw was okay with that. She sank back into the nest next to her kit and began to wash his fur. He was still whining after taking his herb mixture, and she soothed him with long strokes over her tongue.

The other queens were settling down in their nests again, sniffing at their own kits and talking to one another now that their worry had subsided. Goldenflower looked at Fawnpaw, "How was training today?" she asked, voice soft as to not wake the kits. "Was it just you and Tigerclaw?"

"No, Darkstripe and Dustpaw were there too."

Brindleface gave her a look of sympathy. "That must have been hard. Those three are known to be unfriendly towards kittypets."

"I was fine." Fawnpaw insisted. "A few sarcastic comments aren't going to hurt anyone." Her ear swiveled as she tried to move on. "We just did a tour of the borders today. It went fine, except for when we came to the Sunningrocks."

"What happened?" Brindleface asked with interest.

"We came across a RiverClan patrol on the boulders. Dustpaw tried to run after them but they were already back in the water." She curled her lip at the thought of diving into the freezing water. She was glad that her brother had joined ThunderClan, and not RiverClan. She didn't think that she could go swimming like that regularly, if at all.

"That's RiverClan for you." Frostfur meowed. "They're all mouse-hearts if you ask me."

Brindleface looked between the queens. "Well, it's probably a good thing that Dustpaw couldn't catch them. It would have been a terrible thing for Fawnpaw to face a battle on her first day of training. Bluestar will figure out something to do with those RiverClan invaders."

Goldenflower nodded in agreement. "It's probably best if you rest for now, Fawnpaw. Knowing Tigerclaw, he'll have you on your feet before dawn tomorrow."

Fawnpaw chirped her agreement and laid her head on her paws. She listened quietly as the queens continued to discuss the day's events together, but her mind soon wandered and sleep began to tug at her. Grateful for the rest, she let herself slip into the darkness.