Chapter 3

The camp was flooded with sunlight; Faithpaw looked up he saw that the sky was a crystal blue, the only clouds were wispy cirrus ones that floated gently at the horizon lines. There was no breeze, and the birds sung happily. It was paradise.

At that moment two cats padded over, Northwing and Windfrost, two of the warriors.

"Hey, Faithpaw," Windfrost said, "We'll be your mentors for today. Come on! Let's see what we can get done while the day is still on us."

As they left camp, Northwing took the conversation. "We decided not to show you around the territory incase some of the disease still lurks. We can't have you being killed." She smiled emptily.

The training hollow was a cool area with a sandy, smooth ground. Faithpaw worked his paws into the soft grains.

"We're mainly here to talk about Clan duties. It's a very important thing in the Clan." Windfrost said.

"You're Clan duty is to mate," Northwing continued. "Because you are the only male, in order to make it so the Clan doesn't die out, you will have to mate with every she-cat in all the Clans when they are in heat."

"I don't want to do that. I won't take a mate," Faithpaw said as if it were obvious. And to him, it was.

"If you don't, we'll all die out," Northwing said. "You wouldn't want that, would you now, Faithpaw?"

"I wouldn't care," he said truthfully, "Because it wouldn't affect MY death in any way."

Windfrost smiled serenely. "Don't worry, Faithpaw. Someday you'll understand. Maybe you need to get a bit bigger. Why don't we go back to camp? It's been a good, long day."

"But—," Faithpaw was confused, and looked between his two mentors. "But what about training? I mean, learning anything? Aren't you going to teach me to hunt…or fight?"

Northwing smiled. "Dear Faithpaw, you won't have to worry about learning all those difficult, hard things the rest of the apprentices have to learn. You're special. Come on now, you must be tired after such a hard worked day."

"I-," Even though he was confused, Faithpaw followed Northwing and Windfrost out of the cool, nice clearing and back to camp. He was genuinely surprised, because it had sounded like he wasn't going to get trained like a real warrior. He shrugged. His bad ears deceived him too much.

As soon as he placed one paw inside camp, Silverpaw hurled herself into him, knocking him over, where he lay dazed on the ground. She jumped on him and looked down into his black eyes.

"Hello, Faithpaw!" She said, smiling. "How was your first day of training."

He was cross because of her frightful appearance, and he got to his feet, flicking her off him. "I'm tired," He said grumpily, "Leave me alone."

He could tell she was upset, but he decided not to apologize. He padded over to the den and lay down. He was surprised when he realized that his body and his mind both weren't tired, and glancing up through the ferns, he saw that it was barely sun high. He sighed as he realized his training had barely lasted half an hour. He emerged from the den again, blinking in the sunlight.

"Brightstar?" he called to her, padding across the camp as he saw her, heading into her den.

"Yes?" She asked, turning. "Oh, dear Faithpaw! Dear Faithpaw! What is it that troubles you?"

Faithpaw blinked for a moment, moderately surprised. "I was wondering what to do for the next long while. Northwing and Windfrost already finished my training."

"Dear Faithpaw!" Brightstar said gushily, laying her tail tip on his shoulder. "Dear tom! Well, I think you should go do whatever you like, dear cat. Never worry! Do what you like whenever you like!"

"Yes, thank you." Faithpaw said, quickly turning and padding away. From behind him he heard an unhappy sigh that was filled with want. He flicked his ears, acting like he hadn't heard it. Then he sat down, thinking about what to do. Instantly he thought of roaming the territory, to find out things about the forest. And, because his mentors refused to show him it, he decided he could just teach himself.

The forest was cool, the leaves springy and moist under paw. Everything was alive with birdsong and the chirping of bugs in the grass. Faithpaw was surprised at how very there everything was.

He moved quickly through the trees, wanting to inspect the other borders. The nearest was WaterClan, so he turned in the direction of their territory. He stopped when he smelled their border.

He looked over into WaterClan territory. It was noticeably wetter then MidnightClan's territory, with streams running by, accompanied by sprigs of lush, green moss.

He was just moving along the border when he heard a shout. He was surprised; he wasn't expecting to see other cats so soon.

Faithpaw turned and stopped as the she- cats worked their way up to him. Soon they stopped.

"Hi," said one breathlessly, "who are you?"

"I'm Faithpaw,' he said calmly, backing up from the noisy she-cat.

"I'm Dogwind," she said loudly, "This is Pinestripe, Bluepaw and Clockpaw."

Pinestripe was a brown tabby, Bluepaw was silver-blue, and Clockpaw was grey and brown.

"You're a male," Pinestripe said in a voice much slighter then Dogwind's. "How come you aren't…dead?"
"Because I was born after the disease came and went," Faithpaw explained.

"You must be the only one," Pinestripe said, "We don't have any toms in our Clan, and according to them, neither do FireClan. To bad, though, isn't it? We need a tom to mate with. You must be the lucky one."

"I'm not taking mates," Faithpaw said quietly, not wanting it to be the topic of discussion.

"Oh," Pinestripe said. "So why are you here?"

"Exploring," he said casually, "Looking around."

A new voice came in, Faithpaw turned and saw it was Clockpaw speaking.

"Are you sure you're a tom?" She asked, looking at him steadily.

Faithpaw stared at her, insulted and confused. "Of course I am!" he said, "Why wouldn't I be?

She shrugged, looking at her paws. "Just…a thought."

Faithpaw turned away from her, back to the warriors.

"We better be going," Pinestripe said, "Bye Faithpaw." They started off. "Come on, Dogwind."

"Just a moment," Dogwind told them, waving her paw. As soon as they disappeared, she turned to Faithpaw, and now her voice was lowered.

"How would you like to take me as a mate?" Dogwind asked.

Faithpaw stared at her furiously. "I'm so, so sorry, Dogwind," he snarled at her, not sorry at all. "But as I already said, I'm not taking mates."

He turned and ran off before she could reply, still angry. He didn't like this. He wasn't taking a mate. Nobody could understand that.