Alright! I hope you guys saw the new allegiances. Not much really happened, but the biggest changes happen in Shadowclan. Awww… Nightpelt wuvs Icegaze! Anyway, you guys are really patient, and I shall reward you with a chapter in Riverclan! This takes place during the fight against Thunderclan and Shadowclan (you remember it, yes?)

"OW!" Amberlight poked his head outside the medicine cat den to see who had yowled. "What's the matter?" he mewed, padding to a pale ginger she-cat and a golden-brown tom. The male apprentice lifted a paw, revealing a thorn driven deep into his pad.

"He picked it up during our assessment," Joypaw informed him. "I tried getting it out, but it won't budge. Plus it hurts him."

Amberlight grasped the thorn in his teeth and very gingerly tried to remove it. The thorn wouldn't come out, and Leopardpaw howled with pain.

"Hmm…" Amberlight puzzled. "That thorn's really been driven in deep. When did you notice it?"

"I noticed after a while that every time I put this paw down, it really hurt!" Leopardpaw replied.

"Yikes! You must've walked on it a long time!"

"It would be easier to pull out if it didn't hurt him so much," Joypaw noted. "What if he stood in the river for a while? The freezing water should numb the pain, and we can yank it out."

"Good thinking!" Amberlight mewed, and the little apprentice's eyes glowed with pride. Amberlight knew for a fact that the little cat had wanted to be a medicine cat, but he had already had been taken as an apprentice, and his mentor still lived, with a long life ahead of her. He watched as she began gently helping Leopardpaw down to the river. She turned back when she noticed that he wasn't following her.

"Aren't you coming?" she asked.

"That's alright. I trust you to take care of his paw," Amberlight replied, making the apprentice even happier. As the two of them left, Spottedwind, Joypaw's mentor, came over to him, his eyes clouded with worry.

"What's wrong?" Amberlight mewed.

"It's Joypaw," the tom meowed. "She did a horrible job on her assessment."

"It was only her first one."

"But she was so distracted! One moment, she's watching the river, her paw poised to grab a fish, and the next, she was walking over to some herb and sniffing it intently!"

Amberlight's tail flicked. It seemed to him that apprentice was born to be a medicine cat. Dawnpelt emerged from the medicine cat den, her ears pricked.

"I don't know what to tell you," Amberlight mewed truthfully. "Perhaps some more training will snap her out of it."

Not entirely convinced, Spottedwind padded over to Swordtail and Mudfire, who were sharing tongues. Dawnpelt padded over to Amberlight.

"You know no amount of training will snap that apprentice out of anything," she mewed. "Starclan have destined her to be a medicine cat."

"But I can't take an apprentice yet!" he protested. "I'm still considered one myself!"

"You won't be for long…" Dawnpelt replied, her eyes clouding over. Just then, Joypaw came rushing back, her tail fluffed in fear.

"What's wrong?" Amberlight asked.

"It's Leopardpaw!" She exclaimed. "The river's dragged him away!"

Dawnpelt streaked past them, heading towards where Joypaw came from. Amberlight dashed after her, beckoning the ginger apprentice to follow him.

"What happened?" he asked as he ran.

"The river was calm where we were, so I told him to stand in there," she replied breathlessly. "Suddenly this wave came out of nowhere and swept him away! Just like that!"

They had come to the river bank. Amberlight sniffed the air, then froze; his mentor's scent ended here. 'No!' he though, panicked. 'She can't have gone in! Not with the water so cold!!!'

"Stay here!" He yowled, leaping into the water when he spotted orange fur. He swam as hard as he could towards his mentor, who had Leopardpaw in her jaws. He couldn't remember the river ever being so fierce!

Dawnpelt looked sorrowfully at her apprentice, and without saying anything, passed the golden tom to him. Free of the burden, she spoke, "Farewell, Amberlight. I enjoyed teaching you."

"What? No!" He mumbled through the apprentice's fur. "You're not going to die!"

"My time has come," she mewed solemnly. "I must sacrifice myself to save this cat. That is what Starclan asked me to do."

"Forget Starclan! What about me?!" He wailed, fighting hard not to lose his grip on Leopardpaw.

"You will be a good teacher to Joypaw," were Dawnpelt's last words. She stopped swimming and let the current carry her away. Amberlight swam over and dragged himself onto shore with effort, never dropping the golden tom until he was sure the river couldn't reach them. He put Leopardpaw down, and looked at the river; by now he had accepted his mentor's death, though that didn't make him any less sad.

"Dawnpelt!" He yowled sorrowfully as Joypaw rushed over to them. "Farewell! May Starclan light your path!"

"I'm so sorry," Joypaw meowed for the fifth time that day, her head bent low in shame. "If I had never sent Leopardpaw to the river, she wouldn't have tried to save him and get swept away."

"Don't worry about it," Amberlight mewed comfortingly. "It isn't your fault; it was her time to go."

"But she was so young!"

"I know. I know."

He beckoned his leader, Weedstar, over. "Dawnpelt told me something before she died," Amberlight meowed. "If it's alright with Spottedwind, I would like to make Joypaw my apprentice."

The apprentice's eyes sparkled again. "Really?" she squeaked with joy.

"She wanted me to train you specifically."

"Very well," said Weedstar, nodding. "I'll tell him right away."

"Come, 'apprentice,'" he meowed. "Let's get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow!"

This wasn't really a chapter so much as a prologue for the upcoming chapters that will revolve a bit around Joypaw. I do remember promising that the owner of Joypaw will become an apprentice at any rate, and just like with the people that sent me a lot of Windclan kits, this inspired a little bit of the story. My fans are so inspiring! You'll be seeing Dawnpelt again in the final chapter, along with Moonglow and Redpelt (maybe a bit beforehand too!)