Okay the next Chapter is up

Slight changes made but not too many.

RandomWarriorsFan228 mentioned Sparrowpaw being a little too emotional in the last chapter, I kind of did that on purpose, purely to show how overwhelmed she was by having the position suddenly assigned to her. I mean she just found out her dreams are more than dreams, and that she is being told to become Spottedleaf's apprentice without much choice on her part. Though I did kind sort of turned her into an emotional yo-yo. She's much calmer now

There are a few little spoilers in here for Crookedstar's Promise and Yellowfang's secret and I guess if you haven't finished reading the main series yet.

I can't wait for Tallstar's Revenge to come out. I already got the chance to read the browse inside from the HarperCollins website, though I had to search for it. It looked like it will be interesting.

Any way Enjoy.

Chapter 4

Sparrowpaw awoke in the forest once again and looked around, she spotted Featherwhisker watching her from close by the tom purred and beckoned her over to him.

"Hello young one, it's good to see you again." He purred

"Are you from StarClan? Did you know Spottedleaf?" Sparrowpaw asked

"I am from StarClan, and I did train Spottedleaf a long time ago." He told her softly. 'So what Spottedleaf said to me was true.' She thought with surprise.

"Why me? Why was I chosen?" she was determined to know why she was chosen over other cats in the Clan.

"It was written in the stars before you were even born." He breathed, "But that isn't important now, what is important is your training." He paused to let his words sink in.

"A long while ago there were only medicine cats that lived with the Clans their codes were as they are today, but many of them broke their code too many times, it was then decided by the medicine cats that their code needed to be changed to prevent this problem from occurring, this was the start of the medicine warrior." Sparrowpaw looked at him confused.

"I'm sorry but what does this have to do with my training?"

"If you do not know your past how will you succeed in the future? I am telling you this so that you know why these laws were put in place so that you will follow them better." Sparrowpaw nodded her head and settled down, once she was settled Featherwhisker began again.

"Medicine warriors were first thought of by the WindClan medicine cat named Thrushpelt, she herself had been a warrior for several moons before becoming a medicine cat, she was very good at interpreting signs from StarClan, she had been happy with her life as a medicine cat but she fell in love with a young tom from her own Clan who she could not be with. She was the only medicine cat in the clan and hadn't received an apprentice yet. It was the first time in her life she regretted being a medicine cat." Featherwhisker paused for a moment to let her hear all he had spoken. "She tried to ignore her feelings, but they eventually consumed her, then during the half-moon she confessed her feelings to other medicine cats and wanted to know why they as medicine cats couldn't have mates. Each cat began to state a reason, for why it was forbidden and every time Thrushpelt found a counter for each reason, "

"So what happened did they decide let her have a mate?" she asked intrigued by the story.

"Not yet, they decided to speak with their warrior ancestors to decide, so each of them Shared tongues with StarClan, and a deal was made between the ancestors and medicine cats. It was decided if medicine cats wanted mates they would have to train as warriors to earn the right to do so, to prove they're loyalty and commitment not only to their mate, But to StarClan and their Clan." Sparrowpaw seemed even more confused.

"I don't get it why would they decided to do that?" she asked in complete bewilderment. "Wouldn't it be easier just to let them a right to mate? How does this prove their loyalty?"

"Do you know how much you'll have to learn and remember? It wouldn't just be herbs and illness, but battle moves and hunting techniques as well. It's a lot of knowledge." Featherwhisker stared amusedly at Sparrowpaw as she absorbed this information. "If a cat were to succeed learning all of this and still be willing to serve their clan to the specifications of our code, it would prove their loyalty and their seriousness and drive to become a medicine warrior." Sparrowpaw nodded in understanding.

"Not every medicine cat wishes for a mate, this is also why these rules were made."

"I didn't want to be a medicine warrior, why am I being forced to become one?" she asked again gently. Featherwhisker regarded her carefully before speaking.

"While the rules were made so that medicine cats could have the option of a mate, sometimes there are cats born who are destined for the role of a medicine warrior and are trained to become one, regardless of whether or not they wish to become one." Sparrowpaw felt anger rise in her.

"That's so unfair, why must I be forced? Shouldn't I be allowed to choose my own path?" she growled fiercely.

"Easy young one, we do this because we know that you will be a great asset to the Clan, your strengths and skills would be used to their fullest potential and make you a great cat," Featherwhisker spoke soothingly. "I know the path will be long and hard, but it is the path you were meant for. I will help you learn all that you need to be a great medicine warrior."

"It's time for you to go now but I will teach you more," he promised gently.

Sparrowpaw awoke from her slumber, stretching out of her nests. She yawned widely and looked around. She noticed that Spottedleaf wasn't in her nest, and headed out of their den to find her. She looked up at the sky and realized that it was getting close to sunhigh, she couldn't believe she had slept that long. She headed into the clearing she spotted Spottedleaf talking to Willowpelt. When Spottedleaf took notice of her she beckoned her over with her tail.

"Good morning Sparrowpaw, I want you to gather some borage leaves and give them to Frostfur." She told her patiently. Sparrowpaw nodded. She remembered what the leaves looked like from thanks to Featherwhisker's training and because Spottedleaf had shown her what borage looked like the night before. She looked around the herb pile and pulled out some small blue star-shaped flowers with hairy leaves. She picked off several leaves and carried them to the nursery. She saw Frostfur quietly nursing her four kits, Sparrowpaw placed the borage beside the white queen. Frostfur purred her thanks and began to eat the borage. Sparrowpaw purred at Frostfur's four kits. They had just become a moon old and would soon be on solid food. Sparrowpaw watched in amusement as the young gray she-kit, who had just finished nursing, pounced on her golden-brown brother's back; accidently forcing her ginger and white sister to stop suckling to avoid being squished. The other golden-brown tom continued nursing as if nothing had happened. Frostfur sighed exasperatedly.

"Cinderkit, didn't I tell you not to pounce on your brothers while they're feeding? Thornkit wasn't finished and you know it, you upset Brightkit also; I'm surprised that you haven't bother Brackenkit." The queen scolded the little she-kit. Sparrowpaw bid goodbye to the queen and kits and left the nursery to find Spottedleaf. She found the queen sorting herbs in her den.

"Ah there you are Sparrowpaw, I want you to go gather some black berry leaves, there's a good batch growing in tall pines." Spottedleaf called to Sparrowpaw.

"Why do we need black berry leaves?" Sparrowpaw asked trying to think of what they could be used for.

"I want to collect some honey, black berry leaves help sooth bee stings." Spottedleaf explained. Sparrowpaw stared in disbelief at Spottedleaf, then sighed and headed out toward the camp entrance.

"Hey Sparrowpaw," called a voice, Sparrowpaw turned and purred at the sight of her brother.

"Hi Firepaw, how's training?" she asked softly. He shrugged a little.

"I'm not sure I'm helping the elder's today, but I'll be training tomorrow. At least Graypaw is helping me. I had to get the ticks off of Halftail's back." 'And suddenly gathering black berry leaves doesn't seem so bad' thought Sparrowpaw.

'Well Spottedleaf has me gathering herbs today, so don't feel too bad." She purred softly.

"I guess I should let you go then huh? See you later" he called as he bounded back toward the elder's den. She sighed and headed toward the gorse tunnel.

"Finally," Sparrowpaw breathed as she ripped off a beech leaf. Spottedleaf had told her that beech leaves were good for carrying herbs and berries that need to be carried a great distance. She picked up the beech leaf and headed back to the spot where she had seen some black berry bushes. Once she had reached the spot she sat the beech leaf down in front of her paws and began pulling leaves and placing them onto the beech leaf.

"What are you doing?" an unfamiliar voice asked. Sparrowpaw jumped a little in fright, she had been so distracted by picking her leaves she hadn't noticed someone sneak up on her. She spun around quickly and got into a defensive position. She studied the tom standing in front of her carefully. He was a kittypet, she saw his black collar standing against his thick silver tabby coat, and noticed that he seemed to be in good shape despite being a kittypet. She narrowed her eyes at the tom

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" she hissed a little at the tom. The tom didn't seem to be threatened by her and sat looking at her curiously.

"What are you doing out here?" he countered smoothly, " you know the forest isn't a safe place for she-cats like yourself, you should go back to your housefolk before you get hurt." Sparrowpaw stared at the tom as if he had just said that his head was full of bees. 'They probably are,' she thought irritably. She was offended that he seemed to think she couldn't look after herself.

"I'm where I should be, so I'll ask you again, what are you doing out here?" she growled flexing her claws preparing to show this tom just how "helpless" she really was. The tom sighed a little as he looked at Sparrowpaw.

"My name is King, I'm new around here and wanted to have a look around. I use to go into the forest at my old home, so I thought I'd come out here too." He explained to her almost as if he was talking to a kit. She sniffed at him in contempt.

"Well this forest belongs to the Clan, ThunderClan and you would best remember to stay out of it if you value your life." She growled, and in one swift motion scooped up her bundle of black berry leaves and dashed as quickly as possible back to camp.

Once she made it back to camp she sorted the black berry leaves with the other herbs, she could feel her anger at King slowly start to ebb away as she moved the herbs around. Once she was finished Spottedleaf sent her to get food from the fresh-kill pile. She had almost reached the pile when she was intercepted by Dustpaw and Sandpaw.

"Well well, if it isn't our newest medicine kittypet," sniffed Sandpaw, Sparrowpaw narrowed her eyes at him, her irritation returning to her at full force.

"I'm a medicine apprentice not a kittypet," she spat at her.

"Once a kittypet always a kittypet," Dustpaw meowed, "You should give up now and let a real apprentice be Spottedleaf's apprentice."Sparrowpaw wanted to rake her claws through his pelt and show just how real of an apprentice she was. She didn't get the chance for she was disrupted by Whitestorm.

"Sandpaw, since you and Dustpaw seem to have a lot of free time you can go change the moss in the elder's den." He glared firmly at his apprentice. The two glared at Sparrowpaw as they ran off to the elder's den. Whitestorm gave her a gentle look.

"Don't let them get to you, you'll do fine as an medicine warrior." He meowed softly, Sparrowpaw thanked the white warrior and headed for the fresh-kill pile, feeling her irritation continuing to fester within her despite Whitestorm's kind words. She found a wood pidgeon and snatched up from the pile. She lied down near the apprentice den and began to pull off the feathers. Sparrowpaw tore into the flesh of her wood pidgeon aggressively, she was still seething about what Dustpaw, Sandpaw and that good for nothing kittypet she had run into, had said about her. She for some reason was angrier about King then the other two apprentices. She was aggravated that the tom seemed to think she was a weak and defenseless kit. She was so distracted by her thoughts that she didn't hear her brother come up beside her.

"Sparrowpaw are you okay?" asked Firepaw with some concern. Sparrowpaw sighed knowing that there was no use letting Firepaw worry about it so she kept her thoughts to herself.

"I'm fine Firepaw, really I just think I'm tired is all," Sparrowpaw told her brother, ' I'll just have to prove to them all that I can do this and it's not like I'll see King again.' She thought and snuggled into her brother as she finished eating.

Sparrowpaw awoke from a pleasant dream of hunting in the forest, and looked around the den she shared with Spottedleaf. She was a bit unnerved that she hadn't dreamed of Featherwhisker that night. For the last half-moon, Featherwhisker had been teaching her various uses for herbs. This was the first time the tom had not come to her in her sleep. 'I wonder if I did something wrong, maybe I'm not supposed to be a medicine apprentice' she thought worriedly. She looked at her mentor Spottedleaf, who appeared to be awakening herself; she wondered if she should voice her thoughts to Spottedleaf, but decided to keep her worries to herself for now. She wondered what they were going to do today. Spottedleaf purred as she stretched out of her nest.

"Good morning Sparrowpaw," she spoke softly, as she looked at her apprentice.

"Good morning Spottedleaf," she purred just as softly, "What are we doing today?"

"Well I considered making use of the black berry leaves you gathered the other day," Spottedleaf looked amused by the grimace on Sparrowpaw's face, "But I thought maybe I'd check your hunting capabilities instead." Sparrowpaw was brimming with excitement she could hardly contain herself. She quickly scrambled out of her nest and nearly bolted out of the den. She ignored the fresh-kill pile in favor of waiting beside the gorse tunnel for Spottedleaf to catch up. She knew that Spottedleaf had to tell either Bluestar or Lionheart where they would be in case of an emergency.

"Hi Sparrowpaw," meowed a soft voice, she turned in the direction of the voice and was greeted by Ravenpaw's golden eyes.

"Hi Ravenpaw, are you hunting today?" she aske just as softly.

"No, Mistflower, Tigerclaw, Dustpaw and I are patrolling today." He explained, Sparrowpaw flinched a little at the mention of Tigerclaw; While the rest of the clan seemed to adjust to her being a medicine cat, Tigerclaw and his sister Nightsong had been annoying pains in her tail, ever since she had been named Spottedleaf's apprentice they had made it clear that they didn't think she was capable of being a medicine warrior or even a medicine cat, but she put up with them. 'At least Mistflower's nice' she thought of the pretty gray she-cat.

"Well, have fun with that, I can't imagine it being a horrible patrol," she told him sarcastically. Ravenpaw gave her an unreadable look.

"You don't know the half of it," he spoke with a dark haunted tone. She shivered at the sound of his voice and she felt a little worried for her friend.

"Are you okay?" she spoke quietly, Ravenpaw seemed to shake himself from his dark thoughts and regarded her carefully.

"Yes I'm fine, just thinking of Redtail is all," he told her reassuringly. Sparrowpaw was not completely convinced but decided not to push the matter.

"Good morning Ravenpaw, I trust your shoulder is no longer bothering you?" Spottedleaf asked as she looked at the black apprentice. He gave her a nod.

"Yes it's perfectly fine now, you and Sparrowpaw took good care of me." He purred happily, Sparrowpaw still felt a little embarrassment at hearing his comment directed at her.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. If you'll excuse us, we must be going, come along Sparrowpaw." Spottedleaf stated as she began to lead the way out of the gorse tunnel. Sparrowpaw bid Ravenpaw goodbye as she raced after her mentor.

They were steadily making their way silently toward TallPines, Sparrowpaw was deep in thought over Ravenpaw and the way he talked about his morning patrol. She didn't hear the question Spottedleaf directed at her. Spottedleaf was looking expectantly at her. Sparrowpaw looked a little sheepish as she looked back at her mentor.

"Sorry Spotttedleaf, I was distracted what were you saying?" Spottedleaf gave her a look that said clearly you're distracted.

"I was asking you if you were excited about meeting the other medicine cats tonight?" she asked curiously. Sparrowpaw blinked slowly in realization of what Spottedleaf had said. She had forgotten was the night of the half-moon when she would meet the other medicine cats from the different Clans. 'This will be the first time I'll be around other medicine cats and medicine warriors, I wonder if they'll accept me?' she thought nervously thinking of the Clans reaction to her becoming a medicine warrior, due to her kittypet roots. Suddenly her worries for Ravenpaw seemed less important than the impression she made on the other medicine cats she would encounter. Spottedleaf must have sensed her apprentice's unease, since she placed her tail on Sparrowpaw's shoulder comfortingly.

"You'll do just fine, everyone is pretty nice actually, though some might pick on you a little." She told her softly. Sparrowpaw forced herself to relax a little.

"What are the others like? are they all medicine warriors or Medicine cats?" Spottedleaf purred in amusement at her apprentice's sudden curiosity.

"Well, there's Mudfur of RiverClan he's a medicine warrior, but he lost his mate tragically, and his daughter, Leopardfur, is the new deputy of RiverClan; he currently acts as a medicine cat due to not having an apprentice. Barkface from WindClan is a medicine cat he's a very patient and kind tom. Then there's Yellowfang from ShadowClan, she's a medicine warrior, her mate was Raggedstar they were quite a pair together, they had three kits together, their daughters Creamfur and Milkpelt are incredible warriors and Brokenstar, their son, is now leader. Yellowfang's apprentice Runningnose is just a medicine cat however." Spottedleaf finished, Sparrowpaw was surprised by all this information given to her. She was really curious about Yellowfang, she wondered what is was like for her to be the mate of the leader.

"Well this looks like a good spot to start," Spottedleaf spoke suddenly, shaking Sparrowpaw from her thoughts. "How about you go in that direction, and see what you can find, we'll meet back here." She pointed her tail towards the right, then began heading in the opposite direction. Sparrowpaw headed in the direction Spottedleaf pointed out. She could just hear the heartbeat of a mouse nearby and got into a hunting crouch, moved a carefully as she could on her paws, making sure to keep them light, once she was within distance she pounced swiftly onto the back of it and finished off before it could squeak. She had learned her lesson the hard way the last time she hadn't been able to silence her prey fast enough. She quickly buried the mouse and began to look for another potential piece of prey. She spotted a magpie a few fox lengths away and made her way toward it as quietly as she could careful not to kick a stone or step on a random twig as she closed the gap between her and her quarry. She was now within pouncing distance she crouched and was bunching her muscles for the spring.

"What are you doing out here?" asked a voice. Sparrowpaw spat crossly as the magpie flew off at the sound of the voice. Sparrowpaw turned around with the urge to viciously claw the ears off the mouse-brained fool who messed up her hunt. She saw it was King, she hadn't seen the tom since she told him off a while ago, but she had scented him here and there a few times.

"Obviously I was hunting, but you probably wouldn't know a thing about it so I'll give you a hint, you need to keep your jaws shut," she spat angrily at him, he looked at her confused.

"Why do you need to hunt? Don't you know that all you have to do is let your housefolk know you're hungry and they'll feed you?" he told her matter a factually. She opened her mouth ready to tell him what she thought of his advice, when she caught the scent of a patrol.

"You need to go," she stated calmly, as she tried to pinpoint which direction they were coming from. King shrugged his shoulders.

"That's fine I'll walk you home, it would be irresponsible of me to leave a lovely she-cat like yourself out here all alone, I've heard some vicious cats live out here I wouldn't want you hurt." He meowed smoothly. Sparrowpaw's irritation with the tom dulled a little at hearing his comment. 'He's worried about me, but why?' she didn't let her thoughts dwell on the matter as she could hear the patrol now and they were coming in their direction. She spotted a thick patch of lavender growing nearby and began to nudge him toward it.

"Quickly," she hissed, "rub your pelt in the lavender then hide in those bushes." King looked at her as if she was crazy, but as she persisted he finally obeyed her. 'Hopefully it will be enough to hide his scent.' She thought to herself. The pawsteps were closer now and King looked out the bushes and called worryingly to her.

"It's those forest cats, they'll hurt you, come hide with me." He called softly to her, she ignored him as the patrol came in sight. She saw it was Ravenpaw's patrol that he had mentioned to her earlier. She could still hear King's calls for her, but as the patrol got closer they suddenly died down.

"Sparrowpaw what are you doing out here?" Tigerclaw growled at her questioningly. Sparrowpaw fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"I'm hunting, Spottedleaf is assessing my hunting skills" she told him.

"Show me," She sighed and lead him over to the spot where she buried the mouse she had caught. Tigerclaw seemed to accept this.

"Have you seen a strange cat wandering around?" asked Mistflower suddenly. Sparrowpaw forced the fur on her spine not to rise as she looked at Mistflower in surprise.

"No I haven't," she lied trying not to glance over at the bushes where King was hiding. 'Why am I bothering to hide him again?'

"We've been scenting this cat for a few days now, Whitestorm found the scent the other day and we've been trying to catch the cat sneaking into our territory." Tigerclaw growled. "I you see him let me know at once." Sparrowpaw nodded as the patrol start off. Ravenpaw hung back a little.

"Are you alright Sparrowpaw, you seem worried." He asked her with concern. She purred softly and shook her head.

"I'm fine just worried about tonight, I guess" she told him

"You'll be fine, don't worry so much." He pressed his nose to her flank gently then took off after his patrol. Sparrowpaw felt more relaxed now that they were gone. She was starting to go back to hunting when a voice startled her.

"You're one of them?!"

Okay I'm stopping here, what do you think of King? Interesting isn't he?

I might put up the full allegiances in the next chapter since I mentioned a few new characters.

Yellowfang and Raggedstar's daughters were never named in the books, I gave them names for this story.

Also the story of Thrushpelt isn't exactly made up, in Sercrets of the Clans, Thrushpelt was listed as one of the most influential medicine cats of WindClan, the story of her falling in love is a heap of foxdung, but the rest is true. Though I think that she might become a genderswitch cat, Thrushpelt appears in Tallstar's revenge in the prologue and is mentioned as a tom if it's the same cat, the cat was definitely a medicine cat and was from WindClan and mentioned as having been a warrior before becoming a medicine cat.

I don't know for certain but I'm not going to say much more than I already have.

Anyway review and let me know what you think of this chapter.

The poll in my profile is still up for Ravenapw so there's still time to vote.