"From this moment on, this apprentice shall be known as Lavenderpaw. Sleetfur, you are ready for your second apprentice. You taught Beestone to be a courageous and wise warrior. Pass these traits onto Lavenderpaw."

The newest apprentice whirled around to see Sleetfur, who was briskly striding over to Lavenderpaw. She stretched upwards to touch his nose. He was popular throughout the Clan, and many appreoved of Talonstar's choice in mentoring.

"I'll make you the best apprentice in the Clan," Sleetfur murmured to her. "And I'll so everything you say," whispered Lavenderpaw after they had pulled apart. He purred in satisfaction as the Clan chanted the new apprentice's names.

"Nettlepaw! Lavenderpaw! Nettlepaw! Lavenderpaw!"

Lavenderpaw looked over at Nettlepaw, who was bouncing around his new mentor, Poppystep. She looked a tad bit overwhelmed at the flow of questions pouring from Nettlepaw, but also amused. She gave a sly smile to Sleetfur, and tried to answer Nettlepaw's questions.

Then Lavenderpaw realized that Sleetfur had asked something. She looked up at him guiltily, and asked, "Uh, sorry, what was that you said?" He laughed and repeated, "Are you ready?"

"Ready for what?" she asked. "To see the territory."

The territory! It had slipped her mind during the ceremony that she could go outside of camp now. "Yes! Let's go!" Lavenderpaw said gleefully.

Sleetfur lead the way out of camp, with Lavenderpaw at his heels. They caught up to Poppystep and Nettlepaw, who had left a few moments before Lavenderpaw and Sleetfur.

Lavenderpaw's eyes widened at the sheer wideness of the moor. It was so vastly huge and never ended. She gasped aloud, and Nettlepaw dug his claws into the ground, as if to keep from being swept away in a storm. Sleetfur came up to stand beside them and said, "It's quite a sight, isn't it? I remember my first time on the moor. I thought the world never ended for the moor. It was amazing." He trailed off, as if lost in thought.

Lavenderpaw gathered her wits about her once more, and raced away, careless as a newleaf rabbit. "Wait!" Sleetfur cried. Lavenderpaw skidded to a halt. She looked back, bewildered. He raced forward and faced her. "You have to be more cautious. There could be foxes or badgers just waiting for a careless apprentice to jump on."

Lavenderpaw looked around the landscape, but saw nothing. She blinked, realizing how easily she could have been taken by surprise. She looked at him guiltily, but he had walked on with Poppystep. "Come on," he called. "We've still got a whole territory to explore."

Lavenderpaw and Nettlepaw caught up to their mentors, but Lavenderpaw took much more caution now: tasting the air every now and then, as well as scanning the area. But mostly she paid attention to Sleetfur. He was marking borders, as well as explaining why the border was where it was, or how they discluded some area for some reason or another. Lavenderpaw was starting to get bored, when she heard something like a fierce wind, but different. She was just about to ask Sleetfur, when a gigantic body of water came into view. It was all rushing by, quick as a bird.

"This is the river," explained Poppystep. Lavenderpaw saw that the river wasn't quite as wide as she first thought. It was too wide to leap over, but not over three fox-lengths long. Lavenderpaw jerked back as a few drops of water splashed her in the face. She looked over to see Sleetfur looking very pleased with himself, and a limp fish under his paw. Lavenderpaw blinked in astonishment.

"Since when does FalconClan fish?" asked Nettlepaw. Poppystep shook her head, while Sleetfur replied, "Talonstar decided that we should start taking advantage of the river, since MapleClan certainly doesn't use it. It's full of fish in all seasons, so we wouldn't go hungry."

Lavenderpaw thought that over for a moment. That wasn't actually a bad idea. She had heard of leaf-bares when the Clan practically starved for lack of rabbits. Talonstar was quite clever to think of something like this.

"You can try a bite," Sleetfur offered Nettlepaw and Lavenderpaw. Lavenderpaw eagerly stooped forward and bit into the scaly fish. She almost immediately spat it back out. "That was weird!" she complained, passing her tongue over her jaws in attempt to get rid of the fishy taste.

Nettlepaw, on the other hand, chewed thoughtfully and swallowed after a moment. "I didn't think it was so bad," he informed them. Sleetfur purred in amusement at Lavenderpaw's distaste and Nettlepaw's almost polar-opposite reaction to the fish. Poppystep sidled over to Lavenderpaw and whispered to her, "I don't like fish much myself. Talonstar only tried fishing so his Clanmates wouldn't eat all the rabbits!" Lavenderpaw mrrowed in amusement as she pictured Talonstar disdainfully picking at a fish.

"Come on," Sleetfur said as he stood up. "Time to move along." He brushed the remains of the fish into the river, and turned to walk along the shore of the river. Lavenderpaw leaped to her paws and raced ahead of Sleetfur, Nettlepaw hot on her heels.

They skidded to a halt as they saw cats emerging from the trees on the other side of the river. Sleetfur and Poppystep raced to catch up to the two newest apprentices, and stopped when they spotted the warriors on the other side.

The cat in the lead was a big golden tom with a brown streak on his back, followed by a small black apprentice and a pale grey she-cat. The last to emerge was a dark blue-grey tabby tom.

"Greetings Pineflight," called Sleetfur. The golden tom acknowledged him with a cold dip of his head. The black apprentice stared at Lavenderpaw and Nettlepaw with mockery shining in his blue eyes. "They've brought kits with them!" he exclaimed, which made Nettlepaw and Lavenderpaw bristle. "Kit yourself!" snarled Nettlepaw. Lavenderpaw bared her teeth in a tiny snarl.

The pale grey she-cat cuffed the black apprentice over the ear. "Be polite, Beetlepaw! I thought Daisyfleck taught you better that to pick fights!" Beetlepaw glared at her, which turned into glum sulking. "You're not my mentor," he muttered.

"It's their first time out of camp," called Poppystep. "Nettlepaw is my apprentice, while Lavenderpaw is his," she gestured to each kit in turn, while Sleetfur puffed out his chest.

The grey she-cat purred in pleasure. "It's always nice to see fresh 'paws," she said. "Unless they're from a different Clan!" hissed the blue tom. Lavenderpaw had seen him glaring aggressively across the river the entire conversation. "We're here on a border patrol, not to chatter like starlings with an enemy Clan," he muttered. Pineflight dipped his head in acknowledgement of the blue tom, while the she-cat looked at him with ruffled fur and an angry expression.

Sleetfur flicked his tail in annoyance, while Poppystep laid back her ears. "Come on," Sleetfur growled to his patrol. "It's time we got moving again."

He marched ahead, leaving the others to scurry after him. They walked along the river in silence, not daring to break the endless chatter of the river. As they peeled away from the river, something caught Lavenderpaw's eye. There was a field with flowers all over it, but the flowers had not opened up. Not a single flower was in bloom. That's strange, thought Lavenderpaw. It's the middle of newleaf. Those flowers should have opened up by now…

"Sleetfur?" she asked the muscular tom. "Yes?" he said, turning to face the young apprentice. "Why aren't those flowers in bloom?" she gestured towards where the flowers were, so Sleetfur would know which flowers she meant. His face broke into a smile while looking at the field just outside FalconClan territory. "That's the Moonflower Meadow," he replied simply. Nettlepaw gaped in astonishment. "That's the Moonflower Meadow?" he asked. "That's what I said, isn't it? Now come on, you can meet SpiritClan there another day." He turned and walked along the well-worn border trail.

Lavenderpaw's mind was on the mysterious meadow, even when they arrived back at camp. She had heard that the flowers only opened when the moonlight struck then, and opened up the connection to SpiritClan. She wondered what it would be like to visit her starry ancestors.

Amberpaw, the oldest apprentice, strolled over to where Lavenderpaw was standing. "What did you see?" she asked cheerily. "Everything," yawned Lavenderpaw. Amberpaw laughed, and replied, "I doubt you've seen everything just yet. Did you get to see the Moonflower Meadow?" Amberpaw queried. Lavenderpaw nodded sleepily. The older apprentice noticed her new denmate's tiredness, and guided the young cat over to the apprentice's den.

Lavenderpaw flopped in some fresh moss, beside her brother. "We made both of your nests," Larkpaw said as she slipped into the den. "I hope you are comfortable," sighed Amberpaw, sinking into the nest next to Lavenderpaw's. Lavenderpaw wanted to stay awake and ask a thousand more questions, but she was so tired. Sleep overcame her soon after she laid down her head.


Side note for this chapter, yaayy! SpiritClan is the equivalent to StarClan, and the Moonflower Meadow is the Moonstone/pool. Though I thought that was reasonably easy to figure out.

But you have to remember that blue tabby tom! He is SUPER-DUPER IMPORTANT OMG. Gosh, I'm so mad that I can't give spoilers. Oh well! Read on, and I hope you enjoy!