"My paws hurt!"

"I'm tired!"

"Are we there yet?"

"Can we take a break?"

"I want something to eat!"

"Will they ever shut up?" Sharppaw hissed under his breath while lashing his tail in annoyance and shooting a dark glare at the four wailing Clan-Born kits. "A blessed moment of silence is all I ask."

I flicked my ear in agreement while giving the complaining kits an unsympathetic look. I just couldn't bring myself to care for those spoiled brats. Sadly it wasn't much of a surprise when Nightfrost back tracked to join the kits. He murmured something to them before calling out. "Oceansplash, Redspark, Blackfang and Treefall, come here!" by now the group had stopped to watch as the four Stolen padded up to our leader, their heads bowed respectfully. "We still have a long way to go before we can rest, I want you to carry these four until then."

"Of course Nightfrost," Oceansplash murmured and I watched as she silently glanced over at her own kits, the three of which looked just as exhausted as the Clan-Born.

Nightfrost snorted his approval before returning to the front of the group. "I'll keep an eye on your kits," I exclaimed to Oceansplash who had now picked up a much more satisfied Flashkit. Her eyes gleamed her relief and she nodded slightly as I padded past her and joined the three kits.

"Spiritpaw," I looked down at Mintkit, whose frosty blue-green eyes gleamed with concern as he stared at Dustkit. Her face was set with determination as her small legs struggled to keep up with Venomkit. "I'm worried about Dustkit, do you think you could help her?"

"Of course," I smiled down at Mintkit in order to hide my frustration. These kits deserved kindness just as much as the others.

"I don't need help!" Dustkit protested and she frowned stubbornly back at me. "I can take care of myself."

"Of course you can, but there's nothing wrong with having you having help from time to time," I responded while bounding over to her and scooping her up, despite her protests. Talking around the squirming kit I instructed Orangepaw and Sharppaw. "Carry Mintkit and Venomkit, alright?"

They nodded and headed towards Dustkit's brothers. So with the three of us carrying a kit each, we continued to walk in silence. I wonder what it'd be like to live in a normal Clan… they never had to travel like this I'd bet. Everyone would support each other and there would be no prejudice among the members. An average Clan sounded just like an unreachable utopia.

"You guys are a traveling kit thief Clan aren't you," our group froze as an unknown cat spoke, I glanced around and finally found a slim black tom with blue eyes standing casually on a tall rock not too far from us. Agilely leaping down, he padded confidently up to Nightfrost. "If you want, I can show you guys to a nearby Hideout."

Nightfrost narrowed his eyes down at the slightly shorter cat as he considered the offer. "Hollynight and Spiritpaw will accompany you, we'll wait here for their return. If, by sun-high tomorrow they aren't back, we will presume it is a trap and will continue without them."

"If that is what you desire," the black cat who, with a closer look, had small white flecks running along his spine smiled. "Now then, which of you are Hollynight and Spiritpaw."

Placing Dustkit down, I started forward. "Be careful Spiritpaw," I glanced over my shoulder at Orangepaw. Her eyes gleamed with worry and it was clear she wished to accompany us.

"Don't worry I'll be fine," I tapped Orangepaw's shoulder reassuringly before making my way to the unknown cat. Hollynight was already waiting impatiently beside him and she shot me a glare.

"Well then let's get going," the tom, oblivious to the Hollynight's hostility, declared. He took the lead as he circled around the rock. Hollynight was close behind and, after a moment's hesitation, I followed.

"You guys probably want to know my name," the blue eyed cat meowed. "I'm Hailstrike, a BrambleClan thief."

"You're a part of BrambleClan!" Hollynight gasped, her jaw dropped and her eyes widened in amazement.

"I take it you've heard of us before."

"Are you kidding?! BrambleClan is only the most infamous thief Clan ever founded!" Hollynight gushed, she was all but drooling as she gazed admiringly at Hailstrike.

I snorted and rolled my eyes, what was so great about BrambleClan? They were practically exactly like ShadeClan only bigger. I was much more interested as to what a Hideout was. "Hailstrike can you tell me about Hideouts? What exactly is a Hideout?"

"You've never heard of one before?" Hailstrike looked at me in surprise before smiling. "Oh I get it, this must be your first journey. Ah how that brings back memories…" he paused and his eyes grew distant for a moment or two before he continued, "you see a Hideout is pretty much a rest stop for traveling thieves. Since we thieves often have to travel far distances to reach our targets, these bases were formed to make our lives easier. As long as you're a thief, a Hideout will gladly welcome you into their midst."

"How did the Hideouts form?"

"Well… no one really knows, they kind of just started popping up. Many speculate that certain rogue camps and Clans decided that, in order to prevent themselves from being attacked, they would open both their land and their camps to us. That would then give us a place to rest while they can live without fear of attack. It's a win-win for both sides."

"I guess that makes sense…" still the thought of Clan's willingly giving up their independence made my insides squirm with discomfort. "Say how far is this Hideout anyways?"

"Hmm… we should get there by nightfall," Hailstrike looked up at the sky, judging the sun's position. "So… maybe two redwood lengths."

"That's not too far," I mused aloud, still I was starting to grow worried about my wounds. They were starting to sting and I'm fairly certain the one on my shoulder had reopened. Licking at it lightly I could taste the distinct flavor of blood and frowned. I should be able to make it to the Hideout…

"So has your group ran into any troubles lately?" our guide wondered while gazing thoughtfully at my wounds.

"Thankfully we've been pretty lucky," Hollynight responded. "All we encountered so far was a group of half starved rogues."

"That's good, when you're on a journey you want to avoid fighting as much as possible."

"Of course, I was even a little reluctant to fight the rogues knowing we'd get some unnecessary injuries," I stifled a snort, Hollynight had been one of the first to leap into battle… what a hypocrite. After the comment I completely zoned out the conversation the two held, seeing that it would probably be nothing but Hollynight lying to attempt to impress the BrambleClan cat.

"Well looks like we're here," we had arrived just as the moon rose into the sky and it was a relief to hear those words.

"Oh Hailstrike who are these two?" a golden she-cat with a black underbelly meowed as she joined us. Her friendly blue eyes appraised the two of us and she frowned as she noticed my wounded shoulder, which had started bleeding again.

"These are Hollynight and Spiritpaw, they're members of a ShadeClan," Hailstrike responded. To us he explained. "This is Lionshade, she's our Clan's top healer."

"Now then, Spiritpaw come with me," the she-cat was still staring agitatedly at my wound.

"Nightfrost said we had to return after ensuring this wasn't a trap," Hollynight protested while sending me a withering glare.

"I'm sure Nightfrost will understand Spiritpaw staying here," Lionshade huffed while padding up to me. She began to herd me towards the Hideout entrance before pausing and saying. "Just let him know that Lionshade is with him."

"Does Nightfrost know you or something?" I looked at the healer with interest, what kind of relationship did they have?

"What he never told you? You see Nightfrost used to be a member of BrambleClan. Ever since he was a kit he had such high ambitions so it wasn't much of a surprise when he decided to leave and start his own Clan."

"Why did he leave? Couldn't he have just waited until he became BrambleClan's leader?"

"Of course not," Lionshade laughed. "Nightfrost was always so impatient, he figured why go through the hassle of going through a power struggle when he could just make his own Clan. It doesn't help that his brother was already close to becoming leader."

"Who is Nightfrost's brother?"

"Thornscar, BrambleClan's current leader. Now, enough with the chit-chat let's go and get your wound looked at."