-Chapter Six-

Okay, I take back what I said about no cat liking me. Plenty of cats like me, since I'm supposedly the princess of BerryClan and all of that whatnot, but they all find me exasperatingly annoying. One cat in particular has never seemed to have much of an eye for me: our medicine cat, Pinewhisker.

Pinewhisker is beautiful, and her voice is melodic and sounds like honey on mother's milk, and she used to baby me like I was her own kit—which of course is impossible, since she's a medicine cat and all and can't have kits. But she used to treat me like one, like I was the next best thing.

Then, one night after returning from the Shining Stone where the medicine cats go to meet with StarClan, she seemed scared and tense. She never wanted to go near me, always flinched when I came near, and never seemed to spend much time with me anymore, even when I was hurt and she had to take care of me. It was awful. It still is.

Do I understand it? No, and I doubt I ever will. But I started to feel just the tiniest bit better when I started talking with Navy.

Who is Navy?

Often I don't even know—but he might be the most mysterious cat I've ever known.

-Chapter Seven-

I wouldn't call Navy a friend, exactly—more like an acquaintance of sorts. I met him right after I became an apprentice, and I was border patrolling by myself because I didn't like how my mentor, Snakeclaw, was telling me to hunt. To make a long story short, I wanted to hide in trees and spring down on top of my prey. Snakeclaw didn't like the idea, which is why he's so boring. I know that Mistypaw would have loved it. She got a much nicer mentor than me, Leafwillow, widely known for being the kindest and most creative cat in the Clan.

Even if Mistypaw is my best friend, that can't stop me from envying her. She's often told me she envies me—"Princess of BerryClan? I'd give anything to be that!"

But now I'm getting off topic. I was trying to talk about how I met Navy.

I was in the woods, all by myself, grumbling about how fat Snakeclaw's cheeks are, and how he'll never get any she-cat to fall in love with him whether he likes it or not, and some other things that Ashstorm would probably hit me with a stick for saying, when I ran into Navy. Literally ran into him.

He was hunting a squirrel, and I was looking the other way, and I just slammed into him, slamming both of us down onto the ground. I jumped backwards immediately and felt my claws unsheathe.

"Intruder on BerryClan territory," I snapped. "I'm Snowypaw, princess of this Clan, and I order you to leave."

He looked at me with an almost bored expression. He couldn't have been much older than me—about eight moons, and I was about six-and-a-half—but his eyes looked so serious that it made him seem like he was much older than his appearance.

"Cute," he said finally, flicking his short-furred tail against my cheek. "Really cute. But game's over, sister. You don't play princess in the den anymore. This is the real world, not a fantasy game."

I hissed, and my fur puffed up to twice my size. "This is not a game! I am daughter of Hawkstar, our leader, and of Ashstorm, our deputy! That makes me rightful princess of BerryClan!"

My claws dug into the dirt. I don't often like having conversations with other cats but I would when I had to (unless it was Mistypaw). And plus, this guy was really getting on my nerves—who was he to call my rightful heritage a game?

The loner tom looked at me for a long while, as if trying to decide if I was lying or telling the truth. I hissed. "Can't you tell that I'm—?"

"—you aren't lying," he said at the same time, and then we both blinked, looking at one another curiously.

"How did you know I would say that?" I asked. He laughed, a short sound, brusque but in a way, soothing of sorts, and flicked his tail against my shoulder carelessly.

"I know a lot of things," he smiled, his dark blue-grey fur flashing in the sunlight. "The name's Navy, by the way. Always lived on my own, most likely always will. It's a pleasure to meet you…'princess.'"

-Chapter Eight-

"Snowypaw, Snowypaw!"

Great StarClan, who is it now? Some other cat who wants to torture me with their failed belief in me? One of the kits, going to blame me for why they didn't have a nice mouse?

Then I realized that the figure was a blue-grey she-cat with black paws, and I relaxed upon realizing that it was my best friend, Mistypaw. She tried to blend in with the rapidly falling snow but failed miserably. It made me laugh. She always makes me laugh.

"I'm here," she panted through clenched teeth. I wondered why they were clenched, and then I realized that she had a plump, juicy squirrel in her jaws. I quickly meowed my thanks and dove in, eating it up in just three bites.

It was Mistypaw's turn to laugh now. "You'll have a stomachache for a moon if you keep eating at that pace!" she purred mischievously. "Anyways, Badgerpaw keeps talking about you."

She was referring to the other apprentice besides Skypaw. Badgerpaw was pretty nice, most of the time, and his fighting skills were over-the-moon. And…yeah, he was kinda cute. But he was just another cat who wanted me to be something I wasn't.

I looked at her inquisitively. "Was he?"

She nodded. "He kept on saying in his voice, 'How do you think Snowypaw's doing? I really hope she's alright. Blah, blah, blah, rambling on and on…' I got so fed up with it that I had to bring you a squirrel—and I'm pretty sure the night's almost over."

I smiled. Again, I don't know where I would be without Mistypaw.

-Chapter Nine-

I wanted to sleep back in my den after the punishment was over so badly that it hurt—but no, I had to go on a dawn patrol, of all things! It was to be with my mentor, Snakeclaw, and Ravenbreeze. I hated them both.

"Hate?" one might think. "That's a strong word to describe your mentor and his sister, of all things, Snowypaw." But it's true. Both Snakeclaw and Ravenbreeze were pieces of foxdung that some fox had forgotten to bury.

Snakeclaw is a terrible cat and a terrible mentor—big surprise there. He's super bossy, and never lets me try new ideas—it always has to be Snakeclaw, Snakeclaw, Snakeclaw all the time, every second of every day of every night.

Ravenbreeze is no better. She hisses a lot, and is always grumpy about one thing or another, and never lets any cat get their own say in. If some cat catches more prey than her she hisses and claws them—then tells Hawkstar that it was a training accident.

The sick, weak fool my father is, he believes her.

Did I mention I hate the way Hawkstar rules BerryClan?

-Chapter Ten-

If I was leader of BerryClan, like every cat seems to want me to be, then I would be a much better leader than my father could ever be. I would change all of his mousebrained ideas about what cats can do and what can't.

First of all, since the Clan leader's choice is law (according to the code I care nothing about) every cat has to do what I say. I would tell them to prove everything they say that I think is suspicious, and I'd keep an eye on the cats I think make a lot of trouble. I would always organize border patrols so that the mischievous ones, the ones that are traitor material, are never on patrol together, but only patrol with the most trustworthy cats.

Any cat that hadn't eaten in half of a sunrise was allowed to eat before greedy kits and needy elders, who basically lay around all day doing nothing and eating to their heart's content while all of the warriors hunt for them. Have I ever liked that? Nu-uh.

Mistypaw, whatever her warrior name is to be, would be my deputy. That was one of the things I was most sure of. And I'd want every cat in the Clan to be treated equally, unless they seemed like they were going to be traitors.

One might be surprised how much I have planned out. But hey, if so many cats think that I'm going to be the leader of BerryClan someday, can't a cat make some plans?