Chapter 6-The Next Day

Mintstar's POV

The warm rays of the sun gradually took over the forest long after the camp settled down. The sentry had already gone to take a nap. The sunlight stole into Mintstar's den, waking her as it brushed her eyelids. Sitting up, she realized that a mole was at her paws. Pineheart must have put it there. Hungrily licking her chops, she bent down and prepared to eat.

Before she could enjoy her meal, a furry brown head popped into view at the corner of her eye. "Mintstar?" Pineheart mewed.

"Is there a problem?"

"Yes. What should we do with the kittypets today?"

Mintstar hissed. "They are no longer kittypets, Pineheart. They are Thunderclan warriors."

"But they haven't even gone through training!" He protested indignantly. He was one of those cats not in favor of twoleg pets.

"Which you will ensure today," Mintstar snapped, so that was that. When she finally bent down to eat, Pineheart's usual scent wasn't present. Instead, a strange scent was wreathed around the prey, smelling of...Mahogany. What was he up to?

Streamleaf's POV

After battle training with Mahogany, Streamleaf was exhausted. She spent some time with Pineheart at the fresh kill pile, and then slept straight through the night, and didn't go on the dawn patrol. She couldn't understand why Pineheart wasn't as tired. The possible explanations she dreamed of briefly, yet never came to conclude that Oreo was fat, lazy, and weak.

That morning, she woke up to Pineheart prodding her awake with his paw. His green gaze met hers as she woke up, blinking her eyes blearily.

"We have to train the kittypets again today." Unless she was imagining it, Streamleaf thought she heard some scorn in his voice.

Puzzled, she asked, "But didn't Mintstar say she would see how they did after one day of training?"

"I guess."

Streamleaf padded out the warriors den to find Mahogany. Pineheart really wasn't helping with anything, but she would have to bring Mahogany to the leader.

Mahogany's POV

Mahogany was at the fresh kill pile, dropping what he had to spare into the meager supply. As a single cat, he had never before tried to catch more than he needed, so he had only managed to catch two moles and a dove. He could tell that Streamleaf wasn't pleased, but he hadn't gone through training for that yet. He hoped fervently that he could compare with whatever Oreo caught.

"Hey," Streamleaf greeted him, padding over. Mahogany nodded, giving a muffled response through his mouthful of prey.

"Can we share that?" she asked. "I'm hungry."

Mahogany glanced at the mole. Was food scarce enough that two adult cats had to share a single morsel?

"Sure," he mewed anyway, setting it down. "After this, could you help me with my hunting?"

"Of course. We need to prepare you for Mintstar's test in any way possible."

Mahogany nodded. "Have you seen Oreo?"

Streamleaf laughed. "He's still sleeping. He might have overworked himself yesterday."

"Oh. Poor Oreo," Mahogany said, rolling his eyes. Streamleaf giggled.

Smiling, Mahogany pushed the mole to the middle. "You can have the rest. I'm not hungry," he lied. He would catch some more later...

Streamleaf's POV

Streamleaf was sure he wasn't full yet, but she didn't protest. She finished the nearly untouched prey, grateful for another relatively full meal. Soon cats started wandering around camp, going about their daily duties.

"Let's go hunt," Streamleaf suggested, licking her chops after finishing the mole. Mahogany nodded, letting her lead the way out of camp.

"Where are we going today?" he asked.

"First I'll show you the borders and all the territories, and on the way back we can take a look around between camp and Moonpool for prey."

Streamleaf showed him the lake, which they could drink from, and the Windclan and Shadowclan borders. He realized that the day of that fateful crash, he had traveled up the territory, found the car, and came around the long way, seeing Streamleaf on the hilltop.

"What is Moonpool?" He finally asked, almost bursting with curiosity.

Streamleaf gave him a weird look, as if he should know this by now. "Oh, right." she mewed.

Sighing, she began.

"Whenever a cat dies, whether he is a good cat or a bad cat, Starclan decides."

Mahogany was about to ask another question, but she held up her tail and quieted him.

"Starclan is a heavenly place where the kind hearted cats stay after they die. If they have been evil throughout their life, they are not welcome. They are simply chased into the Dead Forest.

"Starclan lives up above us in the sky, and they shine over us in the night sky. It is beautiful. We call it Silverpelt."

"You mean the stars?"

Streamleaf ignored this.

"Each time we get a new leader, they must be renamed and given their nine lives. The medicine cat, and only the medicine cat, accompanies them to Moonpool. It is said that it used to be Moonrock, in the older days when the twolegs did not take over the clans' old homes.

"When they get to Moonpool, both cats touch their noses to the surface of the water. Next is the complete, and sacred, work of Starclan. They fall asleep kneeling beside the pool with their noses still immersed in the water, and dream of Starclan. No one knows how exactly they receive those nine lives.

"For medicine cat apprentices it is the same, but they don't get nine lives."

Mesmerized, Mahogany looked up at the darkening sky. He could see the faded, yet clearly there, twinkle of Silverpelt.

He had one last question. "Why is the pool called, specifically, Moonpool?"

Streamleaf nodded approvingly. "Good question, Mahogany. Every time a clan gets a new medicine cat or leader, at exactly midnight, the moonlight slides across the sacred waters, giving it a warm glow. It is at this time that their noses must touch the water."

Mahogany nodded. "So we want to go nearer to it, because there is likely to be more prey there since it is sacred." He guessed.

Streamleaf hissed and crouched down, as if his words had brought an enemy near them.

"No, we mustn't intrude on the holiness of Moonpool for prey; it is likely that that will take prey from Starclan and put our ancestors in a famine. It is just that prey is more likely there because we are the only large group of cats towards that border."

Mahogany nodded, considering these things. "Alright, let's go then," he said, getting more and more curious about Moonpool.

"One more thing." Streamleaf said sharply, stepping in his way.

"Yeah?"

"Do not go to Moonpool."

"Why not? Is it dangerous?"

"In a way, it could be." And without another word, she trotted past him towards the abandoned twoleg nest.

There, to those of you who forgot/don't know the warrior cats' traditions. :) Your welcome, Air Conditioners' Initials. (You know who you are!)

What do you think will happen next? What type of characters do you want to have in this story? Tell me in the comments below!