Maplepaw stood in some sort of clearing. It was also foggy. The fog was so thick she could hardly see her paws in front of her. She wasn't sure how she'd gotten there, exactly. The last thing she remembered was padding over to a mossy nest and lying down in it.

So that was it. A dream.

"Hello?" Maplepaw called. "Is anybody there?" There was no reply.

And then the fog started to swirl around her. Then the wind seemed to whisper as if it were made up of the whispers of a group of cats.

The kin of ice and flame, the voices seemed to say. The kin of ice and flame! Utterly confused, Maplepaw cried out to them. "What are you trying to tell me?" But her wail was lost in the sound of the rising wind. The wind became stronger and stronger until Maplepaw thought it might blow her pelt off; and then she was blown away suddenly.

Maplepaw awoke with a gasp, sitting up in her nest. It was dawn already, and Thunderpaw was looking at her with a concerned glint in his green eyes. "You alright?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Just a bad dream." She stretched and padded outside the den. It was a beautiful greenleaf day. She hoped that it'd be a good day for hunting - Foxleaf had promised to give her an assessment today… She wondered what the dream had meant.

Maybe it's a prophecy! Her paws tingled with excitement. But she was no medicine cat - that was Ivydawn's job. If it was a prophecy, Ivydawn would probably know anyway. She decided it probably wasn't important.

Maplepaw dropped into the hunter's crouch, and stalked the mouse, careful to put her paws down as lightly as possible. She pounced - her paws landed on top of the mouse, which let out a small squeak before she quickly nipped its spine. She tasted the air again and didn't scent any prey. But that was okay, because she knew she'd gotten enough prey to pass the assessment anyway. She padded over to a clump of ferns where she'd buried her prey, and dug it up to take back.

Maplepaw returned to the camp carrying a squirrel, the fat mouse, and a very large pigeon (which had been quite difficult to catch) and dropped it in the fresh-kill pile. She spotted Foxleaf in the corner of her eye, and turned.

"Great job!" Foxleaf purred. Maplepaw's chest swelled with pride. "I bet Crowstar will make you a warrior within a few moons. It's a nice day, so go talk with your denmates." Maplepaw took a blackbird for herself and went to join the other apprentices.

Thunderpaw was sitting in a sunny spot near the elders' den, and he waved his tail for her to come over. "Wolfpaw isn't back yet," he mewed when she sat. "Anyway, what'd you catch?"

"A squirrel, a mouse, and this huge pigeon," Maplepaw reported. "When do you think Wolfpaw'll be back?"

The ginger tom shrugged. "He has to be back by sunset. He's never been the best hunter." Maplepaw remembered that Wolfpaw's mentor, Sagetail, had sent him to an area near a badger den to hunt; she prayed that he would return safely. They hadn't had much trouble with badgers in the past, but she didn't think the badger scent there was stale.

As Maplepaw finished her blackbird, she noticed a small gray cat padding into camp. Wolfpaw! He was carrying only one piece of prey, but it was a huge rabbit, so she supposed that made up for it. "Hi Wolfpaw!" She mewed. "How'd you do?"

Wolfpaw didn't respond at first, but after he set the rabbit down he mewed, "Not very good, I think. If that rabbit wasn't so big I bet I'd be in real trouble."

"Mm," Thunderpaw mumbled (his mouth was full with the mouse he was eating).

"Also, I have something very important to tell you," Wolfpaw added, his face deadly serious. "Can you meet me at the abandoned Twoleg den at dawn?"

"What's so serious we need to go all the way out there to hear it?" Maplepaw mewed, wondering what was troubling Wolfpaw.

"I can't tell you now!" Wolfpaw hissed. Maplepaw noticed his green eyes flicker up to where Sagetail sat on the deputy's rock, and back. He's worried Sagetail will hear him! Maplepaw realized. What could he want to tell us that the deputy can't hear? Surely she should be the one to hear, out of all of us?

"Okay," Maplepaw mewed. Wolfpaw and Maplepaw both looked at Thunderpaw, waiting for his verdict. Thunderpaw looked up from his mouse, nodded, and continued eating.

Maplepaw wondered if Wolfpaw's secret would have anything to do with her dream. Maybe he knows what "ice and flame" means!