The sky was a beautiful blue. Only a few clouds lingered in the late morning. The birds in the trees sang their songs. Each mixing together to great a perfect harmony. The light breeze was welcoming. It was times like this that made it hard to believe the lake clans were at war.

Two apprentices from Thunderclan were out enjoying the wonderful weather. A warrior was close by hunting. The younger apprentice, a light yellow she-cat with blue eyes shining in the sunlight, crouched down with her face buried under the root of the tree. The other apprentice, a black, ginger and white she-cat with darker blue eyes, was sprawled across a rock. Her breathing was slow and relaxed. She stood up and stretched, glancing at the other apprentice.

"Did you find what you were looking for yet, maplepaw?" She sighed, shaking out her pelt.

Maplepaw lifted her head up and frowned. "It's not here either." She clawed at the ground. "I swear I saw some confrey around here- oh. here it is!" She disappeared around a tree only to come pack a few moments later with a mouthful of confrey root. She set it done. "It was here all along. It's that funny, Moonpaw?"

Moonpaw yawned. "Yeah..."

Maplepaw tipped her head. "Are you okay? You seem down?"

Moonpaw scratched the rock, trying to wake herself up. "Yeah. I'm good. Just not sleeping well. Mine and my brother's warrior ceremonies are coming up soon ya know. Rowanpaw has been keeping us all up practicing and reciting random stuff. What a mousebrain! He knows all the stuff."

Maplepaw giggled. "Come on, we better head back to camp before Birdclaw starts getting worried." Moonpaw laughed picturing the old she-cat laying on the ground of the medicine cat den and rolling around, yelling for her apprentice. He smile faded a little when she realized how serious it really could get. Ever sense the war started Thunderclan had made a rule that no one was allowed to leave the camp alone. And no apprentices or medicine cats could leave without a warrior.

Her thoughts were interrupted by paw steps. Moonpaw parted her jaw to taste the air. It was a Thunderclan cat. A tom stepped out from the brush. He had a dark gray pelt and glowing amber eyes. The two apprentices dipped their heads in respectful greeting. The tom held a small thrush in his teeth. He looked down at the two she-cats with a soft gaze. "Are you good now?" He said, locking his gaze on Maplepaw. She nodded and picked up the confrey roots.

"Yes, Loudmorning."

"Great! Let's get back to camp now." Loudmorning turned in the opposite direction and walked away. The apprentices followed him. Maplepaw padded ahead joyfully. Loudmorning and moonpaw stayed behind deliberately. "Moonpaw. Your warrior ceremony is coming up after the next gathering."

"You're not gonna cram in a whole bunch of last minute training, are you?" She met her mentor's amber gaze. His eyes almost looked red in the sunlight. Loudmorning shook his head. "No, no. I think you're ready. But do you think you're ready?"

"Of course I do!" She responded defensively earning a chuckle from Loudmorning.

"Just making sure. Oh, and I would like you to help the elder's with their ticks."

Moonpaw smiled. Unlike the other apprentices she loved spending time cleaning out the elder's den or replacing the bedding. She even loved removing their ticks. Moonpaw liked listening to the stories the elder's told. Robinsong even remembered a little bit of the time before the war. She had said she was only a kit then. But her memory was better than in elephant's.

Loudmorning disappeared into the camp. Moonpaw quickly followed him. As soon as she was in she padded over to the elder's den. Two she-cats sat outside sharing tongues. The first one was Lightfur, a pale brown she-cat with hazel eyes. The other one was Poppyleaf, a calico with amber eyes.

"Hello Lightfur, Poppyleaf."

Lightfur looked up. Her glazed hazel eyes met with Moonpaw's dark blue. Lightfur was very sick. Birdclaw believed it was just from old age since none of the herbs seemed to work. "Hello there, Moonpaw. Here to give us one more tick search?"

"I'll still come by when I'm a warrior!" moonpaw said her head held high. Poppyleaf nodded and smiled. "Yes. We are sure you will."

The apprentice jumped up suddenly. "Oh oops. I forgot the mouse bile. I'll be right back." As she turned to leave Poppyleaf stood up. She carefully helped Lightfur onto her paws and went back inside the elder's den.

Moonpaw found Maplepaw in the medicine cat's den sorting through herbs. A black tabby was curled up on a bed of moss. She recognized him as Blackmoon. Maplepaw looked up. "Oh, hi Moonpaw."

Moonpaw smiled at her best friend. "Hey, Maplepaw. You got any mousebile."

"Oh, yeah. Hang on." She disappeared deeper into the herb storage then came back with a stick and moss dabbed in mousebile. Moonpaw wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Do you just keep that stuff lying around. It's got to smell awful in there."

"The smell isn't really too bad once you get used to it."

Moonpaw took the stick from Maplepaw and swished her tail. "Whatever you say." She didn't understand why Maplepaw wanted to be a medicine cat when they were kits. She spent more time watching Birdclaw work than she did with her own mother. moonpaw personally thought she would have made a great warrior. Maplepaw was fast, compassionate and a very quick learner. But she didn't believe that hurting other would do any good.

Moonpaw pushed out of the medicine cat's den and bumped into her brother, Redpaw.

Until Maplepaw Redpaw was definitely build to be a warrior. He was big, strong and would never heisitate to knock a few heads together. Moonpaw looked up at the dark red tom. Redpaw pushed past her without saying a word. "Nice to see you too, bro." She murmured and walked back to the elder's den. She stepped inside. Her other brother Roawnpaw, a light ginger tom with friendly amber eyes was already there searching through Lightfur's fur. He swished his tail in greeting.

Moonpaw sat by Ratbite, a large dark gray tom with burning green eyes, and began searching through his pelt for ticks. Moonpaw was sure Ratbite was the reason Redpaw was such a grouchy brute all the time. Robinsong had told her that he was just like Redpaw as an apprentice. Always wanted to do things his own way and fought first then asked questions never. Now that she thought about it, Robinsong was no were to be seen. "Where'd Robinsong go?"

"She went for a walk with Lightningstar." Poppyleaf answered. Moonpaw nodded in understanding. The two had been spending a lot of time together lately. She didn't know why but Lightningstar was beginning to cling to her. She laughed a little as she thought of the yellow tom as a kit, clinging onto his mother. Who actually happened to be Robinsong. Moonpaw continued searching for ticks and listening to Poppyleaf's story.

"So anyway, as I was saying Rowanpaw. You shouldn't be so worried your final test. It's extremely rare for an apprentice to fail. Even if you do fail they'll let you retake it." Her voice was full of sympathy.

Rowanpaw nodded. It was hard to believe Redpaw, Moonpaw and Roawnpaw were related in anyway. They looked so different. Redpaw was big with strickingly red fur and mighty white paws and his eyes where a deep burning amber. Moonpaw was a little smaller but still had strong muscles. She had pitch black fur with a fleck of ginger here and there and white paws. Her eyes were dark blue light the deepest parts of the lake. Rowanpaw was small and had light ginger fur and amber eyes.

Poppyleaf continued. "I remember when me and Lightfur took our tests. It was easy really. All you had to do was hunt pretty much. I'm not sure how they do it nowadays but it's still easy I'm sure. I got a big fat vole and Lightfur climbed a tree and got a carndinal! Isn't that right Lightfur?"

Lightfur nodded, only understanding a little of what Poppyleaf said.

"The warrior ceremony was the best part. Lightningstar was just a kit back then. Our leader's name was Willowstar. We walked onto highledge and stood infront of her. I still remember her. She died in a fight and leadership was pasted on to her deputy. He was the leader when your father became deputy. She did Lightfur first. Then me. I was so thrilled I could barely sit still. That night we had one more assignment. guard the camp all night without saying a word. And that's what we did."

Moonpaw pictured everything in her head. Her mother had told her about Willowstar. But she didn't remember many of the details. Her mother was killed only a few moons ago when Windclan had tried to raid their camp. She finished Ratbite's ticks and began helping Rowanpaw with Poppyleaf.

Tomorrow night was the gathering. The one night of every moon were the cats of the lake were at peace with each other. It was her last gathering as an apprentice and she could hardly wait.

Hey guys. What do you think so far?

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