I am so, SO sorry I haven't been updating. I was super busy with school and then I finished The Last Hope (spoiler alert, there's a happy ending but Firestar dies and Bramblestar chooses Squirrelflight to be deputy…heehee, now you hate me XD.). But thank you for the reviews, they keep me going! Oh, and I'd like some suggestions for Echokit's warrior name. I have some that I'm thinking about but I'd like to hear your opinion.

Two moons had passed since that unforgettable night of vengeful promises and death. Some of the guilt had been lifted off Echokit's shoulders with the help of Rowanpaw and Tinypaw, but more than once she'd feel the all too familiar pang of sorrow. The image of Lionflame's bloody, mutilated body crept into her dreams at times, sickening her to her core. She hadn't forgotten her promise, either. And today, she was one step closer to achieving it.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather under the Highledge for a Clan meeting!" Hawkstar's voice rang out around the clearing, strong and confident.

Pinekit tumbled out of the nursery with Echokit right behind him. "We're going to be apprentices!" her brother shouted, circling the creamy she-cat.

Echokit felt excitement tingle its way through her limbs at the idea of finally, finally becoming a 'paw. She purred and brushed against Pinekit. "It's about time too!"

Jaypath padded over quickly and started to give her foster kits a thorough licking. "Just look at how unkempt you are, going to be 'paws with that fur!" she muttered in between rough grooming.

Echokit ducked her head out of the way. "Jaypath, we're not going to be kits anymore," she squeaked, her ears tilted back in embarrassment.

Jaypath's eyes were full of wistfulness. "You'll always be kits to me dear ones. Brightfeather would be so proud."

Pinekit ducked his head and murmured his thanks, while Echokit had to look away. Her heart twisted at the warrior's words. She might still be here if it wasn't for us…

"Come on, Echokit!" Pinekit nudged his sister forward and together they darted to their places at the front of the crowd. She looked around and saw Featherpool sitting beside Littlewhisker who was staring at his paws. Featherpool blinked her green eyes at Echokit sympathetically. He'll never truly forgive me, she thought sadly. Well, she couldn't exactly blame him.

"Echokit, Pinekit." Hawkstar's voice snapped her back and she turned her attention to him. The ThunderClan leader stood on the Highledge overlooking his Clan, and his amber eyes were filled with nothing but pride. Echokit twined her brother's tail with hers and they sat with their pelts brushing.

"Pinekit, step forward," Hawkstar commanded. The dark brown tom walked forward hesitantly. Echokit could see him struggling to conceal his anxiety.

"From this day forward, and until you earn your warrior name, you shall be known as Pinepaw." Pinepaw's blue eyes shone with happiness. "Ivypetal," her father continued. The dark gray she-cat stepped forth and Pinepaw excitedly turned to his new mentor. "You have great courage and have suffered an enormous loss. I hope you can pass on your bravery to this apprentice."

Pinepaw touched noses with Ivypetal and the two faded into the mass of cats.

"Pinepaw! Pinepaw! Pinepaw!" Echokit screamed along with them.

As the calls quieted down, Echokit couldn't contain herself. She bounded forward before her father had even said anything. A murmur of amusement shifted the cats around her but she had eyes only for Hawkstar. She squirmed impatiently, but refused to show her nervousness.

"Echokit," Hawkstar murmured. "From this day forward and until you earn your warrior name, you shall be known as Echopaw."

Finally, Echopaw thought, pale green eyes glowing.

"Forestfur!" The midnight black she-cat stepped forward and Echopaw felt her heart thump with a feeling she couldn't place. The quiet warrior touched noses with the creamy apprentice, her amber eyes full of warmth. Echopaw was weak with gratitude. She silently thanked Hawkstar and StarClan for giving her a good mentor.

"Forestfur, you are calculative and a thinker. I pray to StarClan your level-headedness will rub off on this apprentice," Hawkstar purred. Echopaw would've been indignant had she not heard the teasing in the leader's rumbling voice.

"Echopaw! Echopaw! Echopaw!"

Echopaw looked around at her Clanmates, her throat constricting. She saw Hollyfrost yowling alongside Whitepelt, Featherpool nodding her approval, and even Stormstripe was calling her new name. She felt something she had thought she'd never feel again after being captured.

As Echopaw's eyes grew misty, she realized that she'd never felt so happy to be accepted by her Clan.

0o0o

"So what are we doing first?" Echopaw asked, bounding up to where Ivypetal and Forestfur were sitting. "Can we go into the forest? I've already seen most of it but I wouldn't mind seeing the rest. I mean, if that's okay with you. Oh! Can we hunt? Or do battle practice? I mean, if RiverClan attacks, we need to be prepared. So what is it? Please don't make us stay here and clean the Elders' nests!"

Ivypetal purred with amusement. "You sure have your paws full with this one, Forestfur."

The black warrior nudged her sister playfully and turned to Echopaw. "I was thinking of exploring the forest with Ivypetal and Pinepaw. Does that sound good to you?"

Honestly, Echopaw would've much rather preferred hunting or battle training, but she knew when respect was needed. She nodded enthusiastically. "Sure!"

Pinepaw raced up to them, skidding on the sandy ground to stop himself. Dirt flew at Echopaw and she ducked away. "Hey, watch it!" she growled, shaking out her pelt.

"Sorry," Pinepaw said, flicking her ear with his tail. He turned excitedly to his mentor. "So are we leaving now?"

Ivypetal stood and shook out her fur. "Yes, we shall go now." She motioned for the apprentices to follow her. Forestfur brought up the rear as they walked to the entrance of the camp.

"Echopaw! Pinepaw!" The shout came from behind them and Echopaw turned to see Rowanpaw running towards her with Tinypaw right behind. The ginger tom stopped in front of them, panting. "Congratulations!"

"It's so good to finally have you with us again," Tinypaw mewed happily, weaving around them.

Echopaw was purring too hard to speak. She was glad to be with her friends again. Tinypaw turned to Pinepaw and teased, "You're already big enough to be a warrior!"

Pinepaw ducked his head. "Um…thanks?" he looked shyly up as if to catch the silver cat's eye, but she'd already turned away. Echopaw looked closely at her brother. Well, he's acting a bit strange, she observed. She shrugged the thought away.

Forestfur cleared her throat pointedly and Echopaw flashed her a guilty look. "Are you coming or not?" her mentor asked, tail twitching. Ivypetal was standing in front of the entrance, waiting.

"Oh, I'm sorry Forestfur," Tinypaw meowed, backing away. "We didn't mean to keep you waiting."

Rowanpaw nodded. "Yeah, we better get going anyway. See you later you two." He walked away with Tinypaw and Echopaw followed Pinepaw to the waiting cats.

"Are we ready now?" Ivypetal muttered, disappearing through the brambles. Forestfur's whiskers twitched in amusement and the four cats entered the woods.

"Wow…" Pinepaw breathed in awe, staring around. Echopaw poked him with her paw. She remembered the first time she'd went into the forest, and how stunned she'd been by its beauty. She lifted her chin proudly. I'll show him the best spots for running and where to hide! I'll teach him everything these trees have to offer!

Forestfur slunk around the bushes, her pelt hardly more than a shadow of the oaks. Echopaw raced ahead, paws pounding the ground as she sped past the warriors. "Don't stray too far ahead!" she heard Forestfur call. She rolled her eyes. It wasn't as if she'd never been there before. Her muscles burned as she flew through the undergrowth and she raised her voice in a yowl of joy.

"Echopaw!" Pinepaw's voice made her skid to a halt. Her brother burst through the trees, not even breathing heavy. "Forestfur wants you to come back so that we can go patrol the ShadowClan border."

Even though she hated to stop, the creamy she-cat nodded and followed Pinepaw back to the warriors. Forestfur was settled on the ground, paws tucked neatly underneath her, while Ivypetal was sharpening her claws on a tree.

"Finally," Forestfur growled, getting to her paws. "Come on, the sun will be setting soon and we have a while till we reach the border." Ivypetal scraped her claws down the trunk one last time, claws sharpened to perfection.

"Can you two tell us what you scent right now?" she asked, while they continued on.

Echopaw tasted the air. ThunderClan scent hit her along with a rank, foul smelling aroma. She wrinkled her nose. "I smell ThunderClan and something else that smells disgusting."

Pinepaw gaged. "What is that?"

Forestfur stiffened and sniffed the air. After a moment, she relaxed. "It's just the ShadowClan scent," she assured the apprentices.

"Hardly the most pleasant thing to smell, though," Ivypetal grumbled, pushing her way through some ferns. Pinepaw muttered his agreement.

"But I suppose that's how our scent smells to them," Echopaw added thoughtfully. Leaves crunched under her paws as she trotted lightly around a thorn bush. The hot Greenleaf sun was settled low over the horizon, casting dark reds and vibrant oranges across the sky. They traveled in silence until Ivypetal and Forestfur halted just in front of marshy, muddy land and tall skinny trees. ShadowClan scent was so pungent that Echopaw had to hold down the bile that rose in her throat. The ShadowClan border, probably. Her ears pricked at the sounds of unknown voices traveling their way. Forestfur stiffened beside her and she cast a glance at her mentor. The black warrior's pelt was slightly ruffled and her tail tip was twitching. Ivypetal's head swiveled towards the sounds of paw steps.

"ShadowClan patrol," Ivypetal hissed.

"Why, is that bad?" Pinepaw questioned, eyes round.

Forestfur snorted. "They haven't been exactly friendly to ThunderClan in a long while. We should go; we don't want to start trouble."

"Agreed," Ivypetal lashed her tail and padded back towards the forest with the others behind. Suddenly, a jeering yowl stopped her in her tracks.

"Look Snakefang, ThunderClan sending kits to patrol its borders!"

Echopaw whipped around and saw four ShadowClan warriors staring at her. One was a molted tom with an incredibly large fang hanging out of his mouth; the one standing at the head was a black tom; a yellow she-cat stood to one side, gazing evenly at the ThunderClan cats while a pure white she-cat hissed menacingly.

The speaker stepped forward, paws right on the border. "So, ThunderClan so weak Hawkstar has to send kits to do warriors' work?"

"Blackpelt, enough," the golden warrior murmured.

Echopaw felt anger bubble up in her stomach. She charged right at Blackpelt, only stopping right at the border. "I'm an apprentice, you mangy flea-bag!"

The white cat spoke up. "Probably only just made a 'paw today, by the looks of you." Her blues eyes glinted coldly. Echopaw growled low in her throat, fury taking over.

"Echopaw!" Forestfur's voice was a command. "Get back here right now!"

Echopaw glared at the ShadowClan cats. Hissing, she slowly backed away, their taunts like burrs in her pelt.

"Run back to camp, kit!"

"Maybe you should learn how to fight before provoking one!"

When she reached Forestfur, Ivypetal, and Pinepaw, she felt her mentor's stern gaze on her. "There's a reason we were to leave, Echopaw," she hissed, fur fluffed up. "We can't start border skirmishes now, especially when you haven't even trained yet!"

The unfairness of the situation stung the apprentice. "I didn't see you trying to defend Hawkstar!" she spat, glaring at Forestfur

Pinepaw stepped forward, as if to intervene, but Ivypetal held him back. "They need to work this out themselves."

Forestfur stuck her muzzle right up to Echopaw's, her amber eyes blazing. "There's defending your leader and Clan the right way, and there's the stupid way. If you had just walked away, they would have seen that their pathetic taunts didn't ruffle our fur."

Echopaw knew she'd been wrong to answer the ShadowClan cats' jeers; but she would never admit it. So, instead, she just ducked her head and reluctantly muttered, "Sorry."

"So you should be," Forestfur hissed, stalking past her and back to camp. Echopaw stared at her paws and didn't look up when Pinepaw pressed sympathetically against her.

"She's only worried about your safety, you know."

Echopaw's head jerked up at Ivypetal's words. "What?"

The warrior looked down at her steadily. "It is natural for a mentor to worry about their first apprentice, I suppose. Don't take it too badly, Echopaw. She'll get over it." Fondness edged its way into her mew and she gazed after her sister. "Just don't do anything else mouse brained." And with that she, too, headed back to camp.

Echopaw sighed. "How is it that I've made yet another cat mad at me on my first day of being an apprentice?" she asked sorrowfully, looking at the sky.

Pinepaw shifted closer. She felt his broad shoulders rise and fall in a shrug. "I don't know," he answered. "But don't dwell on it too much. Ivypetal says Forestfur understands. They were apprentices a few moons ago."

They sat in silence for a few moments until he broke it. "But that was rally dumb, Echopaw."

She shrugged. "Yeah, I know. That seems to happen a lot."

Pinepaw purred. "I'm glad you're my sister. You make life so much fun!"

Her throat closed up and she let out a rumbling purr that shook her small frame. Even if everyone else hated her existence, Echopaw realized, she would always have her brother by her side.

Well? What did you think? Kind of a filler chapter, though. The drama begins again soon. And R&R please! I need some warrior name suggestions. :D