Chapter 14, Accepted

Icepaw stared at Petalstar's den. "I know that's Petalstar's den." she mewed confidently.

Snakepaw nodded. "You brought moss to her in her den. That's how you know, isn't it?" he asked, amber eyes glinting accusingly.

"Yes," she said, eyes shifting to the side.

He sighed. "Come on, which den is this?" he bounded over a trunk of a slender moss-covered tree and stood in front of a bush. She forced herself to run over to him. "This bush?" she asked in surprise. It didn't look like anything much, without much cover from the rain and no moss in it.

"No," he sighed in disappointment. He wriggled under a low branch and she followed, belly scraping the rocky soil painfully. She quietly wondered how the cats got in and out, the opening was so low. She looked up, only to see Snakepaw still in front of her, scrambling up a steep incline of rock. She followed him on top of it, silently glad she didn't have her sister's long fluffy fur. It would only get dirty and caught on things on this heap of rock. She gasped as she saw the perfect place for a den. "It's perfect!" she echoed her thoughts. A rhododendron bush was sheltering a dip, it's spindly branches stretching out above her. "But what about in the winter, when all the leaves fall off?" she asked, suddenly puzzled. The shrub was just starting to get it's leaves back, and she knew they would grow to a huge size, but they were still small.

Snakepaw shrugged. "What would you do?"

She sighed. He was deliberately making this harder for her. "Well... I would move dens!" she said with sudden inspiration.

He nodded in satisfaction. "Good! What den do you think this is, in Greenleaf?"

She looked around. It was near the entrance to camp, which made it seem like the warriors den. But it would be hard to get out of in a hurry, and the warriors were needed alert and ready at all times. Icepaw looked around for herbs. There were none, which meant it wasn't the medicine cat den. She finally sighed. "Well... it's not the medicine cat den." Grasping at straws, she said, "And it isn't the warriors den." She looked at him, her heart pounding. Had she gotten it wrong?

His amber eyes showed nothing except expectation as he looked back at her. "So which den do you think it is?"

She thought hard for a moment, closing her blue eyes. She knew the apprentice's den was somewhere lower down the hill from where they were, from seeing Snakepaw coming from it. It might be the elders den... or the nursery! The elders wouldn't want to move dens, and the kits would welcome the change of scenery! It was near the entrance, but not easily accesable. "The nursery!" she gasped.

He broke into a broad grin. "You've got it! That's the nursery."

"Do I have to say where they move to?" Icepaw asked nervously.

He looked down, unsure. "Well..." he began.

"It's ok, I'll do it." she assured him when she saw she had put him on the spot. She looked across the camp, and upon chance saw the entrance to a den. "It's over there!" she mewed. She cringed inside as she had said it instinctively, without thinking about it. But she wasn't going to gain anything by showing uncertainty. She bounded over the the entrance that she had saw. It was through a tunnel of ferns, and a pine tree sat to the right of the entrance. The bracken was brown, but she could see thorns woven into the ferns. "This is the nursery in Leafbare," she said without much confidence. She wondered what her chances of getting it right were. It looked warm with natural moss growing across the floor.

He nodded. "This is the Leafbare nursery. The kits born in Greenleaf are almost as impatient to move in here as into the apprentice's den! Well, or so Sweetsnow says."

"Sweetsnow?" Icepaw asked.

He cast an involuntary glance downhill. He looked back quickly and said, "She's our only elder."

"Oh." Icepaw said. What if the elder's den was downhill?

Snakepaw shook himself, and looked around the camp. "You already know where Petalstar's den is... you found both nurseries... Ah!" he bounded off towards the Greenleaf nursery again. "Where would you put a lookout?" he asked expectantly.

"Well, this is the entrance to camp," she said gesturing to a pathway seemingly cut through two mounds of earth. It was overgrown but everyone could easily pick their way through, if you didn't slip on the ivy leaves. "I'd put a lookout on the mound." She looked into his amber eyes, but was confident of the outcome. This was a test she could do without much guess work.

He nodded. "Good." He took her down the hill past the High Ledge, until they came to a huge oak tree. It was one of the few in camp. Looking closely, she could see hollows filled with moss in it's huge brown roots. "The apprentice's den?" she asked. She could see small claw marks on a huge fallen branch shaped like an hammer.

Snakepaw dipped his head. "Right again!"

"I saw you coming up from this direction," she confessed.

His tail twitched. "Fair enough. This one won't puzzle you at all, though." He leapt away, ears pricked and eyes playful as he looked back. "Come on!" he called.

She obeyed and entered the den. It was long and narrow, with a shelf to one side where moss grew. Some cat had been using it as a nest. The soothing aroma of herbs alerted her immediately that it was the medicine cat den. Sleetflash's scent also lingered. Dead leaves covered the floor. "Medicine cat den," she mewed with confidence.

"Yes! Come on, only two more dens left to go now." He left her with leaves flying up beside her in the medicine cat den. She growled with annoyance and sped after him. He was sitting near an oddly shaped stout tree with a ginger and white shecat laying on some moss. Her blue eyes twinkled as she saw Icepaw. "There aren't any queens, and only three apprentices. Where's she come from?" she asked, not unkindly.

"She's joining us," Snakepaw said shortly. "But she has to figure out which dens are which before she can join us."

"She's probably already guessed which den this is without me telling her. But anyway, what do you think?" she asked.

"Elder's den," Icepaw asserted. This must be Sweetsnow.

The elder nodded. "Take her to the other dens and tell me all about it later."

The next place Snakepaw took her was next to the nursery, a medium-sized den with a side passage that looked like it went to the entrance to camp. She thought for a moment. The warriors den was the only one she hadn't done. "It's the warriors den," she mewed.

"Well done! One last thing." He bounded away again down the hill. She sighed and raced after him, a few brown oak leaves from the few oaks in the camp flying up as she skidded away. She slid to a stop in an open clearing with a less-used looking den off to the side. "Do you know where this is?" he asked kindly.

She looked around. But she had done all the dens! Then she noticed the small claw marks on the stunted tree off to the right. She also realized there were scuff marks on the ground. "Is this where the apprentices train?" She asked innocently.

"You have it right! And what do you think the den off to the side would be used for?" he coaxed.

She frowned at him and mewed grumpily, "Is it where the warriors watch the apprentices from?"

He said, "It's a multi-purpose den - that's one of the reasons. It's also where cats go if there is no other den to sleep in - if one of the dens need to be repaired, if the medicine cats run out of den in their den - the medicine cats store things here sometimes too." He looked down, then back at her, amber eyes glowing. "You passed the test," he whispered at her. It was only a tiny sound, such a quiet whisper; but she heard it like a shout in her ears. Icepaw's heart began to beat as she stared into his eyes. Her blue eyes refused to blink as they looked at each other for a moment that was both too long, and too short. You passed the test, she heard again in her mind. His voice echoed again and again. You passed the test. You passed the test. You passed the test. The moment ended abruptly as Petalstar's voice rang out from above them, near the apprentices den. "How did she do, Snakepaw?" she asked.

"She passed the test," he said, tearing his gaze away from her.

She also moved her head away from his, to look at Petalstar. Her head seemed to move too slowly, as if encased in syrup.

Petalstar nodded briskly, and beckoned with her tail as her white form bounded away towards the high ledge. "Cats of ShadowClan!" she began in a commanding tone. "Icepaw has passed her test, and she shall be made a member of our Clan. Come forward, Icepaw."

Icepaw obeyed, gazing up at the leader of the Clan she had come to join. "Icepaw, your mentor shall be Fishshadow. And from this moment forward until you receive your warrior name, you shall be known as Icepaw of ShadowClan!"

Whewh! 702 words! I've got a question! When I do in response to reviews, do you think I'm being too impersonal not replying to each review individually? I just wondered... The hopefully not too impersonal in response to reviews:

Koraki: I'm glad you like him - I like him too! I would have been annoyed at myself if I had done it - that doesn't make very much sense, does it? Oh wow, I've just noticed that too! Gosh, how weird! Thanks for pointing it out I'll try to be more careful in the future... Wow, I wonder why it does that...

Miryam Lea: Oh my gosh, I didn't mean to sound greedy for compliments! I'd just like to know if people are still reading or not and was curious as they seemed to disappear! I wasn't talking at all about you, and I'm really grateful that you always review! Thank you! I just don't get sometimes why if people read, they don't review... Anyways, thank you!

MyrtleFalls: Hi! I'm soooo glad you like it and can't thank you enough for reviewing! Hahahaha, I read part of Moonstar-kiwi's 'Reverse Psychology' one about Kestrelpaw - it was really good. (I'll have to finish reading sometime soon...) Anyway, I'm really glad you like it!

Drakan722: Hahahaha, thanks!

Sunmist: THANK YOU SUNNYMIST!

Moonfang16: Great to see you here! (That sounded weird, ignore it.) I'm so glad you like it it's my #1 priority and as I can see by looking at the number of reviews, I guess it paid off! Thanks a lot, Moonfang16.

-In response to reviews for Chapter 13-

Drakan722: Well, the Erins are the ones that decide how they act in the series, but I always think that because they like to act fierce they get blamed for everything - plus I get ShadowClan most the time when I take the 'What is your warrior Clan' quiz on the website. Note: Some people say ShadowClan cats are goths. I personally disagree with this sentiment unless they're purely joking. I don't think of goths as being fierce, but no offence to goths!

Iceshadow

~Iceshadow