Also, because I failed to mention it before… Briarlight is listed as an elder because she cannot do the duties of a warrior. It's a little mean, but in all reality she is pretty much an elder now.

I'm working on the sequel to Celestial Eclipse, so don't worry! It will probably be up sometime either later this month or early next month. I want to get a proper amount of buffer chapters written so that I can have time to work on other things.

Edited out a mistake - I knew somewhere in the back of my mind that Littlecloud is younger than Graystripe, but some part of me thought otherwise. Sorry, and thanks for all your comments!

Chapter 2

"ShadowClan!" Squirrelflight demanded. "What are you doing here?"

The Clan was silent, waiting for the small she-cat's reply. Maplekit looked at her, wondering if she was afraid. With the way that Brackenfur and Amberpaw stood by her, Maplekit guessed she wasn't part of a battle patrol.

"Who is that?" Maplekit asked.

"I don't know," Spottedpaw replied. She stood up and mewed, "If anything happens, get behind me."

Maplekit's heart pounded as she saw that, though Spottedpaw's fur was flat, her friend's claws were unsheathed. Suddenly any appetite that Maplekit had was utterly gone. As the cats gathered around, crowding the small ShadowClan cat, Maplekit feared that something terrible might happen. Her paws went numb – she wasn't ready for a fight!

"Mistpaw!"

The mew broke through the thin hostility of the cats in the camp. Maplekit looked to the medicine cat's den. Leafpool was padding out, her tail high. Jayfeather, her son and apprentice, followed behind at a distance, his tail neutral and an irritated expression on his blank, blind face.

Mistpaw? Maplekit wondered. Leafpool knows a ShadowClan apprentice?

At the mention of the name, the bristling fur flattened. Whoever Mistpaw was, she wasn't a cat to be feared. Maplekit watched as Leafpool touched noses with the small she-cat, before cats crowded in and Maplekit's vision was partially blotted out by the older warriors. Maplekit's stomach settled and she ducked down enough so that she could see Mistpaw.

"What's going on?" Leafpool asked. Her white paws worked the ground. "Where's Littlecloud?"

"Littlecloud?" Maplekit repeated, confused.

"He's ShadowClan's medicine cat," Spottedpaw mewed. Her spine was unbent and her claws were sheathed. "Mistpaw must be his new apprentice."

"He asked me to come," Mistpaw explained. Her voice was shaky, as if she wasn't used to talking in front of such important cats. "I ran into your dawn patrol and Brackenfur offered to take me here."

"Well, then," Leafpool wondered, "what is it you need?"

"I need you," Mistpaw replied. There was a tremor in her voice, and Maplekit wondered if she could smell fear over the apprentice's rank ShadowClan scent.

The Clan murmured in shock, but Leafpool and Jayfeather stayed calm with only a glance between them. Squirrelflight and Bramblestar sat down beside them.

"What's happened?" Bramblestar wondered. His powerful frame and dark pelt rippled in the newleaf light. Beside him, the sun turned Squirrelflight's fur to flame.

"Littlecloud is sick," Mistpaw told them, her pale eyes wide. "When… when I had no idea how to treat him, he told me to come and ask for you. I know I'm his apprentice, but I don't know what to do, and…"

"It's all right," Leafpool meowed calmly, her amber eyes soft. She looked to Bramblestar. "Is it all right if I go?"

Bramblestar nodded. "Be back as soon as possible," he meowed. "A medicine cat's health affects us all, and we know Littlecloud trusts you."

Hope lit Mistpaw's eyes.

Maplekit cocked her head. "Is Littlecloud dying?" she wondered.

"He was ill at the last Gathering," reported Icecloud, who stood beside her. The white she-cat's pelt shone brilliantly in the light. "He's one of the oldest cats in any Clan."

"It'll be sad to see him go," commented Bumblestripe. He padded up behind his daughter and sat there. "If this is to be his last newleaf, that is."

"So, he's older than Graystripe?" Maplekit meowed.

Bumblestripe shook his head.

Maplekit blinked. Graystripe was an elder, and in no risk of dying. So why was Littlecloud suddenly so sick?

"Littlecloud was forced into his apprenticeship at a young age," Dovewing meowed. Maplekit felt the softness of her mother's fur as she sat down beside her kit. "He's lived a long life, but he's been very sick lately and sickness can make a cat seem much older than they really are."

"ShadowClan has a bloody, sad history," Sandstorm mewed, turning her head to look at Maplekit. Her whiskers were white and her back was splotched with spots that showed her age and weariness. She had been the best hunter in the Clan; but time had seemed to catch up to her quickly, and she left the hunting for other cats. "Come to the den sometime, and we'll tell you."

Maplekit wasn't sure she wanted to know about anything bloody or sad. She frowned at the thought.

"Come back to ShadowClan with me, Mistpaw." Leafpool's meow made Maplekit crouch down again to look at Mistpaw. "We'll get some supplies and go back to your camp."

"Can we hurry?" Mistpaw begged worriedly.

"Of course," Leafpool agreed. Maplekit saw the tabby's legs move. "Jayfeather, you'll be fine without me, I presume?"

"Unless every cat in the Clan comes to me complaining about a sneeze, I think I'll manage," Jayfeather meowed back tartly.

"Hey!" Foxleap called from within the crowd. His red pelt was easy to spot. "It wasn't just a sneeze! I was coughing, too!"

He was largely ignored as Leafpool and Mistpaw worked their way through the crowd. Maplekit tried to follow them, but too many cats blocked her view. She tried slipping beneath them, to possibly see what Leafpool would do, but she felt teeth in her tail and looked back.

"Oh no you don't," Dovewing teased, letting her go. "That's medicine cat business."

"I… I wasn't planning on intruding!" Maplekit insisted. Her tail smarted now, and Maplekit gave it a lick.

"Leafpool doesn't need a kit spying on her," Dovewing went on. She glanced at Bumblestripe, then back at Maplekit. "Get back to the nursery. Bumblestripe wants to help you with your hunting crouch."

Maplekit flattened her ears. "I don't need help!" she insisted.

"Maplekit," Dovewing soothed. "Listen to me and go back to the nursery. Don't you want to practice some more? You don't need to be underpaw when other cats are busy."

Me? Underpaw? Maplekit thought. Her ears pressed against her head. Some cats stopped to look at her, and suddenly all Maplekit could feel or think about was them thinking she was nothing but a nuisance – a useless nuisance. She turned tail and fled for the nursery, her heart clenching in her chest.

"Maplekit!" Dovewing called. "I didn't mean it like that!"

Maplekit didn't hear her – she was too busy running for the nursery. Her paws moved so fast that she didn't realize it when she stumbled over herself and tripped, landing face-first into the thorny wall of the nursery.

"Oh, you're a clumsy one, aren't you?"

Maplekit opened her eyes to gloom. Musty smells swirled around her, the smells of things old and things that didn't seem to grow quite right anymore. When her eyes came into focus, she could just barely discern the wrinkled, drooping shapes of dark-wooded trees against the dankness. Nary a star was in the sky, and the grass felt somewhat… dirty.

"Get up, kit," the voice told her, with a soothing mew.

Maplekit blinked. The last thing she recalled seeing was the thorn walls of the nursery rushing to meet her. She stood up with a start. Her face felt fine – her entire being felt fine, in fact. There wasn't a scratch on her that she could see.

So what was she doing here?

"Ah, you're up," the voice purred. It was sweet and soft. "You need to start learning how to watch your step."

Maplekit turned towards the voice.

It was a she-cat – pretty, long-bodied, and lean; with sleek fur that concealed hard muscle. Her face was slightly scarred, but it did not mar her looks. In fact, it made her look more distinguished. Her tortoiseshell pelt was mostly ginger and white, with only faint splashes of dark brown or black, and her amber eyes were warm, like a sun in the gloom.

"Who… who are you?" Maplekit asked. "And… where am I?"

The ginger-and-white cat flicked an ear. "I am Mapleshine, little kit," she meowed.

Mapleshine? Maplekit thought. She'd never heard that name before. Somehow knowing her name made this place seem a lot less creepy. She looked at the mist covering her paws and clinging to the low-hanging trees. Fungus grew along the trunks, glowing and casting a green light over the wood. "Am… am I in StarClan?"

"You're just fine, little kit," Mapleshine insisted with a purr. "You just took a tumble into the nursery wall. You only have a few scratches. You're in the medicine cat's den now, getting treatment. They gave you a poppy seed."

"I tripped…" Maplekit murmured, recalling. She hung her head low. "I'm a failure! I can't even run without tripping over myself! How am I supposed to be an apprentice, or even a warrior, if I can't even keep myself from tripping?"

"Some cats are just naturally clumsy, little kit," Mapleshine meowed. Her voice was smooth as honey. She stroked Maplekit with her tail. "In fact, all kits are born clumsy."

"I think I was born clumsier," Maplekit mewed. She must be from StarClan! She thought. No strange cat would ever be so kind! Mapleshine had such a lovely, strong look about her. Maplekit wasn't sure what StarClan cats were meant to look like, but she had a feeling in her gut that Mapleshine was one. "I should have been named Clumsykit."

Mapleshine's eyes lit up with amusement. "Now I know that name doesn't suit you. What is your name, little kit?" she asked.

Maplekit scuffed a paw against the ground. "I'm Maplekit," she replied.

Mapleshine gave her a sweet smile. Her eyes glowed. "Maplekit is a fine name," she meowed, "and I promise, you'll live up to it."

"I… I will?" Maplekit asked.

"With my help, little Maplekit," Mapleshine promised sweetly, "you can do anything, I promise. I never, ever, break my promises…"