Chapter Two

After the Dawn Patrol came back, Firestar called a gathering. "All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Bone Rock for a clan meeting!"

"Is he doing this daily?" grumbled a cat, padding slowly towards him. Wetfoot and Stumpytail yawned, padding out of the warriors den. Littlecloud, Tawnypelt, and Rowanclaw gathered beneath the rock, and Brownpaw excitedly followed everyone. Oakpaw just huffed and sat down beside Wetfoot, his mentor.

"I called you for a meeting today because Darkflower, Tallpoppy, and Dawncloud's kits are all ready to become apprentices."

The three she-cats were just now coming out of the nursery, their kits excitedly hopping along. "Don't roll in the dirt," scolded Dawncloud, grabbing her kit's scruff.

The queens swiftly licked their kits, and Firestar called them up. "Cedarkit, you are now Cedarpaw, and your mentor is Rowanclaw," announced the leader, his eyes moving on to Dawncloud's kit. "Russetkit, you are now Russetpaw, and your mentor is Tawnypelt." The tom continued on to the last kit.

"Jaggedkit, you are now Jaggedpaw. I will be your mentor." With that, the meeting ended.

"So, you decided to mentor one?" purred Tawnypelt. Firestar's pelt tingled as she brushed against him. He quickly pulled away from the she-cat, and Tawnypelt blinked, then glanced away. "Yes," Firestar replied finally. Jaggedpaw and Russetpaw bounced up to them.

"Can we hunt?" asked Russetpaw. "Are we going to do battle training? Please!" pleaded Jaggedpaw. "Jaggedpaw, come with me. We can get new moss for the elders," meowed Firestar. The tabby tom groaned and his tail dragged as they padded to the elders den to clear out the old moss.

Tawnypelt gave Russetpaw a stern look, and the over-excited apprentice sat down.

"At last!" Jaggedpaw mewed as Firestar patted down the last nest. "It's getting late," muttered the bulky leader. "Go eat, then settle in your nest." Jaggedpaw nodded and raced out of the elders den.

As Firestar neared the fresh-kill pile, he noticed Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt sharing two plump mice. Tawnypelt looked up as Firestar passed and gave him a sorrowful and mad look. 'I wonder what I did now' thought the ginger tom as he settled down with a frog.

He stared uncertainly at the frog for a moment before digging his fangs in. "This is delicious!" he exclaimed. Tawnypelt shot him a smile. "I told you that they're good," she meowed before turning back to Rowanclaw.

The dark tom seemed to glare at Firsestar before grinning at Tawnypelt and taking a bite of mouse.

Russetpaw let out a yowl. A small white furred tom raced into camp, and Firestar let out a hiss as a familiar dark tabby followed. 'Tigerclaw,' he thought, immediately getting up and unsheathing his claws. He now noticed the white tom from earlier had black paws and was panting heavily.

Wetfoot growled and stepped towards the tom, but Firestar raised his tail, and he backed off a bit, ears flattened. "I'm Blackfoot," the tom managed to say, gasping for breath as he glanced at Tigerclaw. The dark tabby growled and shot Firestar a look of contempt before turning tail and dashing away.

"I had to get away from him," panted Blackfoot, struggling to catch his breath. Russetpaw padded up to him and hissed, hackles raising. "No, Russetpaw," meowed Tawnypelt, gently pushing the dark ginger she-cat aside. Firestar broke into the conversation with a loud mew. "He can join if he wants to."

"Really?" asked Blackfoot, his eyes lighting up. "Of course," rumbled Firestar in a purr. The ginger tom quickly noticed Blackfoot's ragged state, and his eyes widened a bit. "Stumpytail, can you fix up a nest for this poor tom?" asked Firestar, twisting around to glance at the brown tabby. "Yes," replied the tom-cat, and headed off towards the warriors den.

Tawnypelt yawned loudly, and Firestar gave her a stern look. She suppressed a sigh and followed Stumpytail to the warriors den.

I noticed the problems in the story that someone pointed out in a review. Rowanclaw should be an apprentice, but please try to ignore that. I guess I could say his training got sped up. Also, Russetpaw and Jaggedpaw should be rogues right now, but I had to change that up because of the fact that Rowanclaw is a warrior. Sorry for the mess-ups, I hope it's still enjoyable. Review please! -sophtiger