"Ravenkit," whispered Shadowpaw softly. "What's the matter?" Her son was curled up in a miserable ball in the nursery, ignoring everything passing by. Although many others had tried to comfort him, he refused to budge, and only whimpered and curled up tighter, not meeting their eyes.
"I'm so bad..." he whispered softly. Indeed, many had given him harshly disapproving glares as he passed between them, after his lie about the Twoleg had been exposed. If only he hadn't lied! Hadn't his mother always warned him that lying was evil, and that it would eventually be found out? "Mommy...can you ever forgive me?"
"I've forgiven you already!" she exclaimed, licking his forehead gently. "We all forgive you. Now all that's left is for you to forgive yourself."
Slowly, Ravenkit uncurled himself, and gently touched noses with his mother.
"Come on, let's get out of here. You've been in here long enough."
Meanwhile, Strawpaw and Flarepaw were training with their mentors. Whitestar had specially taken time out from her schedule to help with their skills, and she had warned them that it would be tough. Even though Strawpaw had seemed happy at having the leader mentor him, she had given him a hard glare that seemed to warn him that, even though it was a honor for the leader to mentor him, it also meant he would have to work doubly hard.
"Attack me," Whitestar snarled at Strawpaw. "Go ahead-pretend I'm a ShadowClan cat." Smirking, the young apprentice launched himself into the air, his claws extended, aiming at his leader's shoulder. She stepped to one side and pushed her head into him, knocking him over and forcing the breath out of him.
"Gack!" gasped Strawpaw, getting up and glaring at Whitestar. She merely looked back coolly.
"Not as easy as you thought it would be, was it? Try again."
"Gyahhhh!" roared Strawpaw, lunging forwards again. Once more, she sidestepped him, and he crashed into the sand. Coughing and choking, he got up and started spitting. How was this happening? Spinning around, he snarled viciously, then lunged again, this time aiming low. Whitestar took a step backwards and reared back, and hit him full force in the chest. Winded, he flew back and slammed into the ground.
"You are not using your head!" hissed Whitestar. "Your fangs and claws aren't the only thing StarClan gave you!" Just for good measure, she forcefully tapped a paw against his forehead. "Use it!"
"Oww..." muttered Strawpaw. Backing up, he began to study Whitestar, trying to figure out where her weak points were. He was painfully aware of her eyes following his every movement icily, waiting for him to leap. At last, a vague idea formed in his mind. He reared up, as if aiming for her head, and lunged, changing his direction at the last moment to aim downwards. As he had expected, she crouched down, and he was able to give her a cuff on her ear.
"Nice," she muttered. "You did get me off guard that time. But let's see how well you defend yourself!" Without warning, she suddenly pounced at him, her paws reaching out to cuff him sharply on the neck. With a groan, the golden-furred apprentice was knocked to the ground, momentarily stunned.
"Oof! That wasn't fair!" snapped Strawpaw, pulling himself to his feet.
"Fair? Do you think that in a real battle, your opponent is going to turn to you and say, 'Hey, watch out, I'm going to claw your shoulder?' Strawpaw, that's not how life is. You need to be prepared!" That last word tumbled out in a rush, as the leader ran forwards and faked a slash at her apprentice's shoulder. Strawpaw barely managed to sidestep it, and the paw still caught his tail, unblancing him and flinging him to the ground. Suddenly, he leapt up, and tried to catch his mentor's neck with his claws sheathed. Succeeding, he managed to bring her off balance, and with renewed optimism, he slammed into her side, making her stumble. At last, he reared back and crashed his head into hers, knocking her to the ground.
"Ugh!" gasped Whitestar, pulling herself up and spitting out a mouthful of sand. "But now you're getting the idea. You have to surprise your opponent, and that's exactly what you did! I'm proud of you, Strawpaw."
Flarepaw danced around her mentor, waiting for Rosethorn to make a move. However, the deputy merely watched her apprentice's movements, not attacking at all. Finally, growing impatient, she leapt and swung a fire-colored paw, trying to hit her mentor's face. Rosethorn stepped backwards in one fluid movement, then reared up again and placed one paw firmly over her apprentice's body.
"Ow!" squealed Flarepaw. "Rosethorn, what did you do that for?"
"To show you that I am not so easily tricked," the red-patched she-cat replied. "Your feints are quite obvious, and you clearly weren't intending to attack. Your position changed to a crouch when you were going to attack, so I was able to avoid you quite easily."
"Oh," muttered Flarepaw. "Okay then, get ready for a real attack!" She lunged upwards, her paw slapping inches from Rosethorn's face. The deputy still didn't move, not even when Flarepaw's talons danced paw-lengths from her body. Finally, when Flarepaw leapt at the back of Rosethorn's head, the she-cat stood up, and with a languid movement, leapt lightly forwards, making Flarepaw land on her face.
"Ouch! That was undignified!" muttered Flarepaw, getting up. She hissed softly, then suddenly dashed up to Rosethorn's side and pushed herself against her mentor. This time, her attack connected, but Rosethorn merely shifted her weight, pushing her apprentice over. Flarepaw snarled with fury, and lunged again. Rosethorn didn't even move, as Flarepaw's ill-calculated lunge took her sailing past her mentor and crashing into a thicket of brambles.
Rosethorn turned around and padded over to her apprentice. She gently pulled some brambles away from the red apprentice's fur, and the young cat wrenched herself free, looking very haggard and angry.
"Flarepaw, Flarepaw. You need to learn to control yourself," sighed Rosethorn. She brushed some more brambles away from Flarepaw's fur, then backed off. "Alright, try again. And remember, I am much larger than you. It is a foolishness to attempt overcoming me with brute force. Think, Flarepaw, think."
Flarepaw put her head to one side, her eyes wide with confusion. Apparently, to win a fight more through intelligence had not occured to her. Finally, she circled around her mentor, her ears pricked and tail stiff. Suddenly, she dashed in underneath her mentor, her small teeth upraised to give the deputy a small nip on her stomach. Rosethorn, while expecting the attack, still couldn't avoid it, and winced a little in pain. Flarepaw quickly reared up, using both her front paws to bat fiercely at Rosethorn's stomach. Rosethorn leapt away, but she was grinning.
"That's more like it!"