A fresh sheet of snow had fallen overnight, covering the WindClan camp with its vast whiteness. Grasskit had stared in awe at the perfect, untouched stretch of powder from the opening to the nursery until his sisters had woken up and ruined it. Now their tiny pawprints dotted the snow, forming criss-crossing trails where they had run about, chasing each other.

Grasskit knew it was silly to be bothered by such an insignificant thing- after all, some cat was going to have to walk on that snow eventually- but it annoyed him nonetheless. Why couldn't anything ever just stay completely untouched? Somebody always had to come along and mess it up.

Well, if the snow already had this many pawprints in it, it couldn't hurt to add his own to the mix. Sighing, Grasskit stepped out of the nursery entryway and padded across the camp to the fresh-kill pile, wondering if Seedpaw was in camp. Seedpaw's father, Brackenclaw, had been very protective of him and Barkpaw since the incident at the lake, and even now that Lilyflower finally seemed to be recovering her strength she still rarely got the chance to take him out when he was being guarded like that.

Grasskit hoped that he'd be luckier than Seedpaw when he became an apprentice, which he guessed would be pretty soon, as he was going to be six moons old in just a few days. He guessed that meant Applekit and Berrykit were going to be apprentices soon too. That was hard to imagine. Berrykit had the naïve innocence of a kit who'd never been outside the nursery, and Applekit was too rowdy for Grasskit to ever imagine her gathering moss or checking elders for ticks or anything other than running around like a lunatic. Maybe it was mean for him to be thinking of his kin that way, but it was true. Sometimes Grasskit felt like the only sensible one in the whole Clan.

Applekit ran up toward Grasskit, Berrykit hot on her paws. She screeched to a halt when she got close enough to talk to him; Berrykit kept going and crashed into her. They both fell over and rolled around on the snow, purring.

Berrykit was still rolling around, her fluffy white belly fur just a couple shades off from the snowy ground, when Applekit scrambled to her paws and blinked at Grasskit. "Come play with us, Grasskit!" she chirped. "We're playing Rabbit right now, but we can change it to a different game if you want!"

"No, thanks," Grasskit muttered. He poked at the barely existent fresh-kill pile and wondered if a kit like him was big enough to eat a whole vole. "Hey, have you two eaten yet?"

"Nope," Berrykit mewed from the ground. "Are you going to share that vole with us?"

"Yeah, Grasskit," Applekit echoed. "Are you going to share it with us?" With a playful purr, she pounced on Grasskit and wrestled him to the ground. Grasskit was slightly irked, but he decided to humour his sister, and the siblings rolled around in the snow for a bit.

While Applekit was raking her paw down Grasskit's side, his belly growled. Maybe playing could wait. He pushed Applekit aside and grabbed the vole before some other cat could come along and take it away.

Grasskit was going to try to eat it by himself, but Berrykit nudged him and looked at him with her big round eyes and he sighed. He tore the vole into three pieces and tossed each of his littermates one piece. They all sat down together to eat.

"Ahh, it snowed," Minnowleap mewed disdainfully, picking up her paw and shaking flecks of snow out form between her pads. She fixed Waterpaw with a reproachful glance. "See, Waterpaw, StarClan is punishing us for your bad behavior yesterday! When will you learn to stop doing things like that? First you saved that WindClan cat, putting yourself in danger for the sake of someone unworthy of your sacrifice, and now you steal the life of your kin for the sake of a useless kittypet? The future savior of the Clans should pride her life more than this!"

Waterpaw shrunk back slightly, ashamed to have let her mother- and her Clan- down. She knew that the Clan had to be fed first! She really did know that! But that poor lost kittypet had been so cold and hungry… why couldn't Minnowleap see that she'd been trying to do the right thing?

Waterpaw had been on a hunting patrol the previous day when they'd heard a pathetic mewling. She'd gone with Foxfang to find out who it was coming from and they'd found a scrawny black and gray tom wearing a purple collar huddled in a mound of snow. He'd introduced himself as Arrow and said that he was separated from his twolegs and needed help. Foxfang had pointed Arrow in the direction of twolegplace, but Arrow had whimpered and said he needed food soon because he thought it would taken him at least a day to get back home and he hadn't eaten for almost a week already.

Foxfang had again told Arrow where to find twolegplace, but Arrow insisted that he needed food now. Waterpaw had wanted to help, but Foxfang had told her to let him deal with this. He'd said that Arrow wasn't allowed to hunt on Clan territory; Arrow had said that was okay because he couldn't hunt anyway. Waterpaw had felt so sorry for the poor cat that when Foxfang had told her to leave Arrow behind- "He's a lost cause," her mentor had said- she had snuck back out of camp the moment the patrol got back and went back to where Arrow had last been. He'd moved since then, but she's soon found him staggering along in a snowdrift that went almost up to his belly. Waterpaw had given him a few tips on how to get home faster, and she'd given him a fish she'd taken from the fresh-kill pile back at camp.

Arrow had thanked her and told her that if he ever met her again he'd make sure to pay him back somehow. Waterpaw had been feeling pretty good about herself when she'd heard angry voices coming up behind her and found a group of her Clanmates, who had discovered she was gone and went out looking for her.

She'd gotten a good talking-to from Foxfang, who'd recommended that Miststar discipline her, but the pale gray leader had given her a moderately light punishment- no leaving camp for a week. Minnowleap had been furious when she'd found out- not at Waterpaw, but at Miststar for punishing her.

"My daughter did nothing wrong," the silver-gray queen had snarled. "Punish the wretched kittypet who manipulated her into helping it, not my perfect little Waterpaw!"

Waterpaw was grateful that her mother had stuck up for her, but Miststar hadn't budged, and now she wasn't allowed to leave camp for a week. At least Arrow was alive thanks to her. Maybe he'd made it home to his twolegs now, she thought. If he'd really been gone for almost a week, they must have been so worried about him! Waterpaw smiled at the thought of the kittypet reuniting with his twolegs. She'd never understood why a cat would want to be a kittypet when they could hunt and fight as a warrior instead, but she supposed that it was the lifestyle that they wanted, and if they really wanted to leave they could just run away.

"I'm really sorry," Waterpaw murmured now. She gazed out at the fresh sheet of snow that had dusted the landscape. "…Do you really think StarClan sent this snowfall to punish me for helping Arrow?"

"Why else would they send more snow to us when we're already cursed with so much of it?" Minnowleap snapped. "It's because of you and your foolish selflessness! You are a special cat, Waterpaw," she added, her voice softening to a kind but vaguely accusing mew. "And I am very proud of you and everything that you do. I really am!"

So why do you insult me for trying to be a good cat? Waterpaw wanted to ask, but didn't dare. Minnowleap was already angry at her, and rightfully so, of course. She didn't want to make her mother have to punish her.

"But you make it so hard for me sometimes when you act like you don't care about your own precious life," Minnowleap purred, licking the top of Waterpaw's head so lightly that her blue-gray fur stayed in position. "You're a lucky cat, Waterpaw. It's not every cat who gets to have their own prophecy, you know. One would think-" her mew sharpened again, ever so slightly, but it made Waterpaw tense up with anticipation for her mother's criticism- "That you would be better behaved, considering that StarClan has chosen you to be their special cat. If you can't be as perfect as Miststar says you are, then what does that leave you as? Just another mouth to feed, really. And I know you are better than that."

Waterpaw's ears flattened and her tail drooped, but she forced her ears to prick back up again. She couldn't afford to be so soft! She wasn't like her weak-minded Clanmates; she was a special cat. And if she couldn't be perfect, then she would be useless. And if she was useless, then her Clanmates might not love her as much anymore.

Once the vole had been eaten, Grasskit lounged in the blinding leaf-bare sunlight for a bit while Applekit repeatedly ran up to him and jumped over his head. She kept getting Berrykit to try to join in, but the light brown she-kit was preoccupied with a brown and black feather that Rabbitleap had identified as belonging to a hawk.

Grasskit hoped that there were no hawks outside right now. Were there hawks in leaf-bare? He had no idea. He'd never seen a hawk or a buzzard or an eagle before. The only kinds of birds he'd seen were sparrows and finches and stuff. Grasskit preferred rabbits- "WindClan through and through," Owlwing always said- but other prey made a nice change now and then.

A bit before sunhigh, Barkpaw and Seedpaw came through the tunnel, each carrying jawfuls of prey. Their mentors padded proudly behind them, Lilyflower walking confidently although she still carried a faint air of sickness about her.

When Sandstar saw them from the shallow hole he'd dug in the ground and used as his den now that he could no longer get up the short, steep slope that the real leader's den was on top of, he broke into a grin. He slowly rose to his paws, and though Grasskit couldn't hear his joints cracking from across the camp, he knew the sounds were being made. That poor cat really did need to retire… the only problem was that it wouldn't do the Clan any good because the deputy was even older than he was…

His curiosity piqued, Grasskit stood and padded closer to the elderly leader so he could hear what he was saying. His green eyes widened when he did.

"I don't see why we should wait until tomorrow," Sandstar was purring. "Any cats who can catch that much prey in one morning deserve to be warriors."

Warriors! Pride for his friend warmed Grasskit, but then a pang of jealousy crept in. Seedpaw's going to be a warrior before I even get to be an apprentice…

"I don't know about you," Lilyflower mewed to Runningfoot, who was Barkpaw's mentor, "But I'm inclined to agree."

"Of course you'd say that," Runningfoot meowed, though not unkindly. "You want Seedpaw out of your paws as soon as possible so you can focus on recovering. I, meanwhile-"

"On, shush, you!" Lilyflower weakly slapped her tail across Runningfoot's muzzle. It should have come off as an angry gesture, but when she did it, it seemed oddly playful. "Barkpaw did even better than Seedpaw on the assessment- no offense, Seedpaw- so if only one of them was ready, I'd say it would be her. But in all honesty, I say they both deserve to be warriors."

Runningfoot nodded slowly. "You're a wise cat, Lilyflower," he purred, and he brushed his dark gray tail over her pale pelt. Then he turned his attention back to Sandstar, who was watching them with a fond look in his eyes. "You're right, Sandstar. You can call the Clan meeting in a few minutes."

"Can you believe this?!" Seedpaw asked when he padded over to Grasskit. "Barkpaw and I are going to become warriors! It's a pity you're still a kit," he muttered. "We never got the chance to train together."

"I don't think you'd have trained together anyway," Barkpaw chimed in. "The age gap is so big that even if we stayed 'paws for a couple more moons, Grasskit wouldn't be experienced enough to train with us."

"I guess I'll be stuck training with Applekit and Berrykit, then," Grasskit grumbled. "Lucky me, right?"

Applekit sprang up behind him. "What's that? Did you say something about us? What're you guys talking about?"

"Is it true that Seedpaw and Barkpaw are going to be warriors?" Berrykit squeaked, eyes wide. "That's amazing! Didn't you used to be kits just like us?"

"Of course they used to be kits," Applekit scoffed. "Everybody used to be a kit, even old cats like Gorsewind."

"…And Sandstar?"

"And even Roseflower!"

"Whoa!" Berrykit blinked at Applekit in amazement. "I never knew that!"

"You didn't? But it's just common knowledge," Grasskit mewed. "Besides, Seedpaw and Barkpaw may have been kits when we were born, but I can only remember as far back as when they were 'paws already."

"That's because we became apprentices just a few days after you were born," Barkpaw recollected. "Lilyflower was just getting better from one bought of greencough then, and a little after she started training Seedpaw it came back even worse."

As Seedpaw, Barkpaw, Applekit, and Berrykit rambled on, Grasskit began to zone out. He realized how lucky Seedpaw was to be alive right now to even become a warrior at all. That cat who'd saved him a moon or so ago when he'd fallen in the lake sure had seemed friendly. Grasskit wondered how Waterpaw was doing now.

He could only assume that her life was pretty much perfect, considering how she'd said that she had a prophecy about her. Every cat in RiverClan probably loved her. Grasskit wondered if Waterpaw was even really a nice cat, or if she'd only saved Seedpaw to show off. If that was the case, would StarClan have really picked her to save the Clans?

Grasskit hoped not. He hoped that StarClan would have higher standards for their "special" cat than that.