Chapter 1

"C'mon Swiftpaw, we've already gone over this. When you're thinking of attacking, say, an enemy's side, you don't stare at their side! If you do that, then they'll think you're going to do something to attack their side. Plus, you could zone out and then that would give them an opportunity to attack you."

"Okay, okay, Stormflower. Hey, look, a mouse!" Now that she thought about it, Stormflower did smell mouse scent. The apprentice pounced on her and held his ground.

"You sneaky little thing! But, consider this; there may not be mouse scent around you every time, and your enemy might favor vole, for instance."

"Alright, alright. What about when I become a warrior…who am I going to get with?"

"Say what? Swiftpaw, if a she-cat were to get with you, I would laugh. Honestly, I'd be unable to see past your clumsy, goofy ways," mewed Stormflower with laughter.

"Oh ye cat of little faith! Everyone's a critic."

"Well don't take it that way….okay I see your point. You have to persevere, though. You'll find a mate sooner….or later. Let's go back to camp." The two cats were at the Training Meadow, which was situated on a hill that overlooked camp.

Of course, there were trees on the hill, plus the shrubs. That meant that any cats going to or from the meadow probably wouldn't be seen. A thick band of bushes and bramble strings encircled the path to the meadow.

"Oh, crud, I got a stupid bramble in my pad. I'll try to get it out here, now, I guess."

"No, don't do that, Swiftpaw. Brambles are sharp, with hooks at the end. If you pull it out here, it'll only be painful."

"I had a bet with Warblerpaw that I'd stay out of her den for one week, and not get hurt."

"Well, that was a stupid bet to make. You're clumsy enough; what did you bet for?", asked Stormflower.

"Loser had to steal food from a kittypet…and eat it." Swiftpaw shuddered as he finished this last sentence. When Swiftpaw had just become an apprentice, Dunepaw tricked him into eating kittypet pellets. Swiftpaw vomited promptly afterwards.

"Didn't you vomit the last time you ate it? I'll certainly have to talk to Warblerpaw," Stormflower told her apprentice.

"But then Mistyleaf will find out, and I don't want to get my sister in trouble!" , Swiftpaw exclaimed.

"Hey, we're at camp now, young one. Keep quiet and don't say a word." It was a cloudy sunhigh, but cats were still gathered outside their dens to share tongues. Vixenstar, SpringClan's leader, trotted across the clearing, intent on speaking to Stormflower.

"Hello, Vixenstar. How are you doing?"

"I'm faring well; the ticks are gone now, thankfully. So, how is Swiftpaw's training going?"

"He's doing well, my leader. I think it may be time to make him a warrior soon, when the weather is better."

"Ah, good point. If a warrior's ceremony was rained out, it would be perceived by some as an omen from StarClan that that apprentice shouoldn't be a warrior."

"You read too deep into things sometimes, Vixenstar," Stormflower commented.

"I've felt the need to….especially since Sandfeather passed."

"To be a leader, but to watch your mate and kin die, while you still have the blessing of multiple lives to lose yet."

"They're out there, though. She watches over us constantly. Never forgot that, Stormflower. Never."

"Take care,now," Stormflower said, placing her tail gently on her leader's shoulder. The black and white she-cat walked away, to the nursery. It was always a joy to see new life.

The nursery was a dugout surrounded by brambles, so if enemies invaded camp, they wouldn't see the new kits right away. "Hi, Stormflower!" , greeted Briarkit. His sister, Mousekit, joined him.

"Hey, Stormflower's here! Did you bring a story to tell today? I wanna hear the one about the kittypet who became a warrior!", begged Volekit.

"Yeah!", Briarkit eagerly agreed. Mousekit began to pout, in plain view of the whole nursery.

"Oh, now Mousekit, why are you making that face?" ,inquired Stormflower.

"I want to hear what you and Swiftpaw did today. After all, he is my big brother."

"Alright, then. When we were practicing today, your brother said there was mouse scent in the meadow. I checked, and there actually was. That had me distracted long enough for him to make a move. I said that that might not actually work every time, even if there is mouse scent in the area. If you were fighting someone, why would you stop to scent a mouse that might not even be there?"

"I'd rip my enemy to shreds with my bare claws," Briarkit boasted.

"Teeth-shredding is better," Volekit bluntly said.

"Of course you'd say that. All you do is bite me when we play-fight. Why don't you actually use your claws for once?"

Volekit sprang at his littermate, and scratched Briarkit playfully on his ear. This obviously wasn't just a teeny scratch, for Briarkit yowled with pain. "What did you do?" , gasped Dustpetal, the kits' mother.

"We were just playing," Volekit huffed.

"You should watch over your kits more," suggested Evesong, the other queen in the nursery.

"And what would you know about that? You haven't even had multiple kits yet…..that survived to even possibly play-fight."

"How dare you!" , hissed the black queen. Both the queens' backs bristled, and ears were flattened.

"Hey, you two are adult cats. Is this what you want to act like in front of your kits?" , Stormflower cautiously asked.

"Butt out," snapped Evesong. The black queen spat at Dustpetal, who then snarled threateningly.

"Don't talk to her like that!", Dustpetal hissed. Stormflower wanted to hear no more and took Briarkit to the medicine cat den. Mistyleaf greeted the two.

"So, what happened? Hmm, that looks a tad bad, but you'll be okay," Mistyleaf observed.

"Briarkit and Volekit got into a fight, and this resulted," explained Stormflower, pointing to Briarkit's ear. "Then, Evesong commented that Dustpetal should watch her kits better and the two got into a hissy fit. They're probably still arguing, I bet."

"Ah, the life of queen she-cats. They're always so sensitive, in general. Tsk."

"You can say that again, Mistyleaf. Hey, I'm gonna head to the warriors' den to take a nap. Mentoring takes a lot out of you, for sure." Stormflower padded out of the medicine cat den and entered the scooped-out area of land that was the warriors' den.

Moss slid across her back as she entered, and all was quiet, except for the snores of exhausted warriors. Stormflower found her moss bed and curled up quietly. Ah, bliss at last.