Me: To Fantasy Forest – thank you for pointing that out. Now that I think about it, cats really wouldn't be using the word cool. I guess I'm going to have to take it out of their vocabulary! Also, thank you so much for the reviews! They give me warm feelings and an incentive to continue!

Lilypaw: Do I get to go to the Moonpool yet?

Me: Soon, my young apprentice.. soon. First, though, comes this chapter!

Lilypaw: -sigh- Dawnstreak doesn't own Warriors. She only owns the mentioned cats in the last two chapters..

Me: And also, sorry for taking so long! A month or two just flies by, doesn't it? Glad I'm on Spring Break, which means I can write much more! So, please enjoy!

Chapter 3

Thistlepaw stared at his sister, blankly mewing her new apprentice name. She.. she wasn't going to be a warrior, like him. Instead, she was going to take the medicine cat path – which was opposite of the warrior path!

As the crowd dispersed and the cats went back to their original jobs, he looked down at his paws. Lilypaw could've at least told him! Fury rose inside of him, as disgusting as mouse bile. She just crushed some of his dreams in the most hurtful way!

Soft pawsteps bounded quickly to him, and he looked up. His new mentor, Hollyleaf, stood there, a soft glow in her eyes. Thistlepaw remembered vaguely that he was her first apprentice – she might try to prove herself by keeping him busy.

"Thistlepaw, why don't we start? Usually, apprentices start by taking a tour of the borders and our territory."

Thistlepaw pointed his ears towards the camp entrance, or, in his case, exit. His paws itched to explore the Thunderclan territory. "Okay, Hollyleaf."

The she-cat nodded. "We'll start in just a moment. I want a word with Brackenfur first." Hollyleaf padded away, and Thistlepaw glanced at her retreating figure before turning his gaze toward the medicine cat den. Jayfeather had just entered the den, and Lilypaw was hesitating at the entrance, flicking her ears before turning and looking at her brother. Thistlepaw's fur stood on end suddenly, his pelt hot. She took deliberately slow steps before arriving in front of him.

"Listen, I'm really sorry, I wan-" She was cut off by his low hiss.

"Don't give me excuses! I thought you wanted to become a warrior apprentice with me! We could've done so much!" His eyes blazed.

Lilypaw crouched down, gazing up at her brother with momentarily wary eyes. "I wanted to tell you. I only made the decision last night! I couldn't tell you this morning," she blinked. "You were too happy."

He stood up, claws unsheathing. "What am I now?" He hissed.

Lilypaw suddenly looked like a helpless kit in front of him. She flinched, her ears straight back, head close to the ground. Realization hit him.. he should have understood a long time ago. His sister always went into the medicine cat den, had always been close to the herbs. When Amberkit had gotten a nasty cough, she had been the one to get the right herbs. Jayfeather had followed her, a look of understanding in his blue eyes.

She had always been on the edge of the medicine cat path, and Thistlepaw had just never realized it.

He sat down, his claws sheathed and his ears drooping slightly. "You should get to your duties. I understand, it's just hard for me to accept."

Lilypaw looked up at her brother. "Thank you, Thistlepaw. I'm sure you'll be happier once you go out into the forest." Her eyes took on a gleam. "Can you come back and tell me what it's like? I probably won't go out until tomorrow." She snorted.

Giving her a quick lick, he muttered, "Sure. I'll tell you everything."

At that exact moment, Hollyleaf called out, "Thistlepaw! Let's go!" from the entrance. Lilypaw bounded away towards the medicine cat den as he raced to his mentor.

The forest was amazing. The trees were huge, way bigger than he thought they were. The grass felt springy under his paws, soft and welcoming, and the plants were different shades of green, lush and leafy. They went at a slow pace, Hollyleaf pointing out different things like the abandoned Twoleg nest and and an odd hole in the ground. "Tell me what you can smell," Hollyleaf ordered. Thistlepaw opened his jaws slightly, tasting the air.

"It's a weird scent." He sneezed, ruining his concentration, but he continued his report. "It smells really bad. And it's stale." Thistlepaw looked up at his mentor as she purred.

"This is an abandoned fox den. That scent you smell is fox, but they haven't been here for a long time. That's why the scent is stale." She explained, then they continued their trek. At the borders, Hollyleaf pointed out the different scents of the Clans. Riverclan was rather hard to explain, since they were the farthest clan from Thunderclan.

To Thistlepaw, learning about where the Clans were and where everything was in their territory was boring. He wanted to learn how to hunt! He wanted to learn battle moves so that he could become the best warrior ever!

Unfortunately, those thoughts reminded him of his sibling. He would never be able to battle or hunt beside her. She would always be in the medicine cat den, barely ever able to spare time to talk to him. At least they would be where they wanted to be, even if they were on separate paths.

"Are you ready to go back to the camp?" Hollyleaf stirred him out of his thoughts. Only then did he realize that the sun was a large orb on the horizon, slowly sinking. He felt worn out from travelling everywhere. Obviously he would have to build his stamina up.

"Yes, please! I'm really tired." Thistlepaw mewed. Hollyleaf purred in amusement, then led the way through the forest back to the camp. Had they really been out most of the day? As they went through the camp entrance, he looked for his sister. He spotted Brambleclaw, Squirrelflight, and Sandstorm all gathered by the Highledge. Birchfall and Whitewing were sharing tongues by the warrior den, and Icepaw and Foxpaw were mock battling by the apprentice's den. Suddenly intrigued by this, Thistlepaw bounded over to them.

Foxpaw had his sister pinned to the ground, but not for long. She pushed him off with her hindlegs, quickly rolling over as she did so and knocking him off his paws. She stood up and launched herself toward him, but he quickly jumped up and dodged her. Thistlpaw broke in excitedly, "Wow! How long did it take you two to become so good?"

They stopped playing at looked at the newest member of the apprentices. "Not very long. We were just going over the basics. I think we're going to become warriors soon," Icepaw sighed lightly.

"Well, a lot of things have gotten in the way of a warrior ceremony," Foxpaw meowed. "I know it's soon, though!"

Thistlepaw scraped his claws over the ground. Now that he was an apprentice, it would take him a long time to get to warrior status. But he would achieve it! And become the greatest warrior ever!!

"Thistlepaw! I need you to go swap out moss for the elder's bedding. Some fresh moss," Hollyleaf padded up to him. "And make sure it's completely dry. How about the two of you show him how to collect the moss from the trees? That'll keep you off your tails." She flicked her tail at the three apprentices before padding off to join Lionblaze. Foxpaw stood up irritably.

"We're going to be warriors soon! Why do we always have to do the mousebrained duties?" He meowed, annoyed. Icepaw flicked him on the nose with her tail.

"Do you have bees in your brain? We're not warriors yet. Besides, Thistlepaw needs to know how to get the moss."

Foxpaw let his ears droop. "Alright, alright. Let's just go," he meowed lowly, and stood up and padded toward the entrance. Icepaw followed, beckoning Thistpaw to follow her.

--- ---

"...so now all you have to do is memorize each of them and what they are used for..."

Lilypaw nodded, watching Jayfeather intently. "And when it is best to use them." He finished. Lilypaw blinked. It was going to take some time to memorize all of this information. Her paws tingled suddenly. Still, it was going to be fun!

Her mentor seemed to sense this. "Being a medicine cat takes devotion and time," he meowed sharply. "You may see a cat die right in front of your eyes, and there's nothing you can do about it." Lilypaw crouched down; she had an eerie feeling, as if he could actually see her. "Being a medicine cat isn't a game."

"I understand, Jayfeather," she mewed. "Can you tell me more about Starclan? Do they give everyone visions?! Oh, wait, or do they just give you visions? Since I'm just an apprentice..."

He flicked his ears. "Starclan..." he muttered under his breath, so low that Lilypaw had to strain to hear him. "Not everyone gets visions from our warrior ancestors. Usually, only medicine cats and leaders get them. Rarely, if it's vitally important, does a warrior or apprentice get a sign."

"Does that include me?" She inquired, tipping her head slightly.

"No, it doesn't," he meowed. "You'll get visions, too, just as often as I do," to Lilypaw, though, he sounded skeptical. "And you should come to me as soon as you get them."

Lilypaw opened her mouth to speak again when there was a bout of noise outside of the den. Both mentor and apprentice pushed themselves outside of the den to see what the commotion was about. Lilypaw froze when she saw the patrol enter the clearing.

In between Thornclaw and Hazeltail hobbled Cloudtail, the best tracker in the Clan... though he could be a really annoying furball, too. Brightheart gave a distressed meow as she and some of the other cats surrounded the patrol. "What happened?!"

"Shadowclan decided they'd try and accuse us of going across their border!" He spat angrily, holding one of his forepaws up. "One of the mousebrained manges attacked me while I was defending us!"

"Try to remember who leapt first, Cloudtail," Thornclaw meowed while Brightheart urgently began licking his wound. Jayfeather then pushed himself in between the group of cats.

"Alright, give me some room!" He growled, causing them to widen out a bit. Soft meows floated through the band of them as he sniffed the wound. "The scratch isn't deep, but just in case, we don't want it to get infected," he meowed. "Follow me." And Jayfeather led Cloudtail into the medicine cat den. Lilypaw sat there indecisively, wondering if she should go and try to help or let her mentor do his job, when a new meow cut through the chatter.

"What happened?" Firestar padded among the group of cats to come to a stop in front of Thornclaw and Hazeltail. The other Clan members grew silent.

"We were marking the border between Thunderclan and Shadowclan when Hazeltail saw a mouse. It went over the border before she could catch it, but she stopped a few foxtails before the border. At that same time, a Shadowclan patrol saw her and tried to accuse her of trying to steal prey." Thornclaw explained.

"I stopped though!" Hazeltail defended herself. "And then Cloudtail challenged them to prove it, so they began to make false accusations between each other, when one of them got dangerously close to the border and Cloudtail overreacted and tackled him..."

"But we pulled him off before he could do any damage, and we apologized and quickly left," Thornclaw finished off. The others sat there, looking to Firestar to see what he would do. He was silent for a moment before the tip of his tail twitched.

"Let's hope they don't take it too seriously. As for Cloudtail, I'll have a talk with him when Jayfeather is done treating him," the leader meowed. "Thank you for ending the fight before it got too vicious."

The two cats bowed before Firestar signaled the Clan back to their duties and went back to his den, Brambleclaw following him.

"But what if they do take it seriously?" Lilypaw asked to no one in particular. She shivered. The clans wouldn't fight over a small incident such as this, right? Padding over to the fresh kill pile, she picked out a vole and a thrush for herself and Jayfeather, then began to carry them back to the den. I also wonder how Thistlepaw is doing! I hope he had fun, exploring the territory and all.

Who knew what destiny had in store for the clan? One cat did... but for now, the destiny would keep itself hidden, watching the two new, young apprentices as they slowly got closer to what they were made for.

--- ---

Me: Yay! Chapter 3 done! And I promise, next chapter will have some action in it to motivate me!

Lilypaw: ... Moonpool?!

Me: Not yet! I mean, how does 'action' and 'Moonpool' mix?

Lilypaw: Fine. I guess I'll just wait.. -grumbles-

Me: Please review! I enjoy reading your feedback!