A/N: OH MY GRAPES THIS WEEK!...

We have been so busy, with school ending for the year and all, company coming over... Like, I'd be busy all day, lay down on my bed to sleep for the night and think, "OH CRAP MY STORIES! I gotta do them tomorrow, I'll have time then..." Then I end up either forgetting or not having time!

D:

Swirlspot: Maybe so, but he's always been a rather grumpy cat if ya ask me. I just kind of OVER magnified it! :D

echofrost: Thank you! I'm glad you think so! ;)

~*O*~-~*O*~

Icestrike yawned, stretching and curling his tongue up as he stood in his bed. Ah, to finally be a warrior!

He looked at the remaining cats in the den. Frogspot and Tawnypelt lay sleeping, their sides rising and falling softly with each breath.

Tawnypelt... Icestrike smiled softly, stepping silently from the den.

"Icestrike! Border patrol with Dustpelt, Mudpelt, Spiderleg, and Brackenfur!" Greystripe called, waving his plumy tail.

"Okay!"

The five cats slipped through the tunnel, Mudpelt going first. He waited outside the tunnel for the rest of the cats, having run through the tunnel instead of walking like the others.

"Small spaces, eh?" Icestrike said to his old mentor, smiling.

"Sort of."

~*O*~

Dawnfeather's P.O.V.

~*O*~

The wind tugged at her whiskers, bringing her the scents of warm prey. But the wind also carried strange smells, of cats not from any of the clans.

BloodClan...

Dawnfeather shivered, picking up her two mice and heading for the camp.

Dropping the first mouse on the freshkill pile, Dawnfeather settled down with the other, watching the cats in the camp as well.

The queens were still sleeping and a group of cats were bringing in extra brambles to wind through the dens to enforce them against BloodClan's attack.

"I want more brambles around the nursery especially! After that you can work on the apprentice den and warrior den! Don't forget to add brambles to the camp's barrier!"

Firestar was yowling orders from High Rock, tail tip twitching as he oversaw everything. Once he was sure that everything was going smoothly, he leaped down and began to help.

"If only the whole clan was like him."

Dawnfeather jumped, startled. Sandstorm was sitting calmly beside her, staring at her mate. "Excuse me?"

"The whole clan. If only it were all like Firestar. You wouldn't have to go through what you and your kits are."

"But if the whole clan were like Firestar, then we wouldn't really be a clan, would we? We'd all be one cat, in a sense. The clans need diversity, it needs good hunters, and it need some fighters to be better then others. Besides, if it were a clan full of Firestars, there would be no queens. ThunderClan would eventually die out."

Sandstorm nodded slowly. "Good answer." She stood, walking back to the nursery slowly.

Dawnfeather watched her go with some confusion. What was that even all about?

~*O*~

Birdpaw checked the stores of cobweb, noting that a few more wouldn't hurt. Cinderpelt was out gathering yarrow, goldenrod, and more, leaving Birdpaw to sort the herbs she brought in and inform Cinderpelt of any herbs they needed.

Let's see. So far, that's cobwebs, lamb's ear, and burdock we need extra of. I could go help Cinderpelt, I suppose...

Birdpaw turned to leave the medecine den, only to smack head-on into Cinderpelt herself. "Oh! Sorry Cinderpelt. Do you need my help? We only need cobwebs, lamb's ear, and burdock yet."

"Sure, but first, sort these out, okay? And make sure that the water-filled bark is clean!"

"On it!"

Birdpaw quickly sorted the herbs, quickly glancing at the bark as she went past it on her way out the entrance.

She ran through the tunnel, following Cinderpelt's scent trail to where she was biting off thick leaves of burdock.

"Here, take these back, and hurry."

Birdpaw nodded, mouth already full of the green stems as she turned and ran back to the medecine cat den.

Maybe we should gather traveling herbs for the warriors. StarClan knows we need the strength!

Stacking the leaves neatly, Birdpaw raced back out into the forest. "Take these cobwebs and lamb's ear back." Cinderpelt said.

"Maybe we should get traveling herbs? Do you think that would help?" Birdpaw asked breathlessly.

"Good idea, Birdpaw!"

Birdpaw smiled, then grabbed the herbs and cobweb and raced away again.

~*O*~

Tawnypelt chewed on her vole, listening as Frogspot spoke to Lightpaw, the new apprentice. "Yeah, Icestrike is Scourge's son. That means he's bad too!"

Tawnypelt hissed. "Well, is Icestrike is bad for simply being Scourge's son, then I'm bad as well for being Tigerstar's daughter!"

She lashed her tail, glaring at the new warrior with contempt. "Bad, bad kitty!" Frogspot said mockingly, fur raised.

"Why you!-" Tawnypelt leaped onto the dirty yellow warrior, scratching his face.

"Stop it guys!" Lightpaw was yowling, bouncing around the tussling pair. Her yowls and their hissing attracted the attentions of the warriors, and they hurried over, yanking the pair apart.

"We have enough problems without having injured warriors to add into the mix!" Greystripe said sternly. "You two are acting like kits!"

Tawnypelt lowered her ears apologetically. "I'm sorry, Greystripe."

Frogspot kept his ears and head up defiantly. "It's all her fault! I was talking to Lightpaw here and she attacks me! It's because she's Tigerstar's dau-"

"That's enough!" Greystripe hissed, fur puffed up.

"To the medecine cat den, both of you! And if I hear of any more fighting, you both are eating some mouse bile!"

~*O*~

A/N: Hehee, mouse bile... :D I'd say that'd be worse than elder duty!

But on a serious note, how in the name of StarClan do they even gather MOUSE BILE?! So, they have several LIVE mice just sitting around to barf on moss for them or something? And even if they did, how in the freakin' Dark Forest are they keeping the mice contained?! It's not like they can tie them up, or stick them in a jar, or anything like that. And how did they catch them and KEEP THEM ALIVE!? Living mice would bite the cats' mouths, right? And that would be rather painful, because I've been bit by a mouse before and know how it they never mention keeping any mice, or feeding any mice in the warrior books... so they catch live mice, make them barf, then release them?

Okay, this rant is going on for too long!

I'm done now.

:D

'Till next time! May StarClan guide your path!