Frostpaw's throat growing hoarse, she finally ceased her yowling. Slowly the rest of her clan-mates did the same, and silence once again settled over the night. Frostpaw's gaze flickered over to meet Pinepaw's, who was still standing at Frostpaw's side. Pinepaw gave Frostpaw a single nod, and for once, her amber gaze held no trace of contempt.

"Well done," Swoopstrike meowed to Frostpaw in his gruff voice, padding over to the two apprentices.

Frostpaw raised her chin, feeling a rush of pride. Swoopstrike turned to Pinepaw.

"And, I'm sure Grovepelt will be pleased with you when I tell him how well you fought once we get back to camp," Swoopstrike added.

Pinepaw's tail stuck up in delight, her amber eyes glowing.

"Pinepaw! Frostpaw!"

Frostpaw's ears pricked, and she turned to see Autumnpaw and Poolpaw running over to her and Pinepaw. Besides a few scratches, Frostpaw was relieved to see that neither apprentice looked any worse for wear. The two toms eyes were still alight with excitement from the rush of the battle, and they practically vibrated with energy.

"We sure showed them!" Poolpaw crowed, springing around and swatting at nearby strands of grass.

For once, Swoopstrike didn't scold Poolpaw for pouncing around like a kit, but he did give an eye roll, shaking his head.

"It felt so good to finally use all of those moves we've been practicing in a real battle!" Autumnpaw said, bouncing up and down on his toes, before turning to Frostpaw and Pinepaw. "And, I saw you two fighting together there towards the end! You made a good team!"

Frostpaw glanced over at Pinepaw, but the other apprentice didn't look at her, just loudly cleared her throat.

"…Frostpaw was surprisingly competent," Pinepaw sniffed.

"Careful, Pinepaw, that almost sounded like a compliment," Poolpaw purred in a cheeky voice, his black and white tail flicking.

Pinepaw curled her lip up at her brother, a warning growl rumbling in her throat.

"How are my apprentices over here?" A deep voice behind Frostpaw said, interrupting the apprentices' bickering. "No serious injuries I hope?"

Frostpaw turned to see Sedgestar, accompanied by Weaseltail, padding over to the group of apprentices. Weaseltail swept a worried gaze over the apprentices, scanning them all separately, but the tom seemed to relax as he saw everyone still had two eyes, two ears, four legs and a tail. The ShadowClan leader was missing a few patches of fur on his shoulder and had a cut down his side, but his amber eyes glowed with victory. Swoopstrike shook his head in response to Sedgestar's question.

"No injuries here beyond scrapes and bruises, Sedgestar," Swoopstrike meowed. "And, the apprentices all fought valiantly."

"Good," Sedgestar said, a content look entering his amber eyes.

Weaseltail nodded in agreement, his face taking on a proud fatherly expression.

Autumnpaw practically swelled with pride. Pinepaw and Poolpaw exchanged delighted looks. Even Frostpaw felt a jolt of happiness at the compliment from ShadowClan's leader.

"How did Damppaw and Dewpaw do with the attack on the camp?" Swoopstrike asked.

Sedgestar's whiskers twitched with pleasure.

"Excellent," he meowed. "It seems to me that they are more than worthy of their warrior names. I will hold their ceremony once we get back to camp."

"Darkpelt and Larkfoot will be pleased," Weaseltail purred.

Pinepaw gasped, her fur standing on in with excitement.

"I have to go congratulate Damppaw!" she said.

Pinepaw quickly bounded off. Sedgestar departed from the group as well, raising his voice to address all of the ShadowClan cats.

"Remark the borders, then head back to camp! Don't forget to take the prey that was stolen from WindClan back too. Tonight we celebrate our victory!" Sedgestar said.

ShadowClan yowled in excitement. As many warriors went to mark the border on the trees, Fogfur and Beeclaw made their way over to their apprentices. Fogfur was carrying a massive hare, evidently one stolen from the WindClan fresh-kill pile.

"Let's head back to camp," Fogfur mumbled around the fresh-kill in his mouth. "It looks like plenty of warriors have the border marking taken care of."

Swoopstrike nodded in agreement.

Weaseltail, Beeclaw, Fogfur, Swoopstrike and the three apprentices walked through the trees in the direction of camp. As the excitement from the battle faded, Frostpaw found herself fighting back yawns as exhaustion crept in. But, she knew she wouldn't be sleeping for a while. Considering the warriors ceremony planned and the rowdy state the rest of the clan was in, ShadowClan would be living up to its name and wouldn't be resting until the shadows were driven away by the dawn.

Their group was the first to reach camp, and as they headed towards the thorn tunnel, the camp guard's voice rang out through the forest

"Returning ShadowClan warriors!" Hootflight called.

As Frostpaw emerged, blinking from the thorn tunnel, and she and her group were mobbed by the cats that had remained in camp.

"Where's everyone else?"

"Did we win?"

"Where's Sedgestar?"

"WindClan was soundly defeated," Fogfur boasted in a loud voice, dropping his hare at his feet. "The rest of the patrols should be right behind us!"

ShadowClan broke out into cheers.

Redclaw padded up to Weaseltail and the group of apprentices.

"Where's Pinepaw?" she meowed, her green eyes slightly concerned. "She's not injured, is she?"

"No, she's fine," Autumnpaw meowed.

"She just had to be the first to congratulate Damppaw," Poolpaw said with an eye-roll, mockingly huffing out Damppaw's name in the same breathy voice Pinepaw used. "Sedgestar is making him and Dewpaw warriors tonight."

"Damppaw, huh?" Redclaw said with an amused twitch of her whiskers, exchanging a glance with Weaseltail. "She's been padding after that tom since she was a kit!"

"We know," Autumnpaw said, sticking his tongue out and wrinkling his face up like he just smelt crow-food.

Frostpaw stifled a loud purr at his expression, trying to cover it with a cough. But, the noise didn't fool Autumnpaw, and he shot her a look out of the corner of his gaze, his amber eyes shimmering playfully.

"Stop teasing your sister," Redclaw said sternly, flicking her tail at Autumnpaw's ears, but her gaze didn't look serious.

"Yes Redclaw," Autumnpaw said dutifully, ducking his head to dodge her tail, but his gaze continued to spark with mischief.

"Come here, Frostpaw, let me clean that blood off of your forehead," Redclaw said, rising to her paws and padding over to her before Frostpaw could even respond.

Frostpaw obediently dipped her head to allow Redclaw to rasp her tongue over her forehead, washing the blood off and gently rasping over the cut. Frostpaw noticed with a jolt that she was taller than her now. Redclaw wasn't a particularly large cat, to be fair, but Frostpaw was still surprised that Redclaw had to stretch up on her toes to reach Frostpaw's forehead.

"There," Redclaw purred once she finished, giving Frostpaw another lick on the cheek for good measure. "You're back to being as pretty as ever."

"Thank you, Redclaw," Frostpaw purred quietly.

Redclaw's ears pricked, and she turned towards the thorn tunnel.

"I hear more cats coming!" she meowed.

Redclaw was right, and the rest of the ShadowClan patrols appeared, streaming through the tunnel with WindClan prey dangling from many of their jaws. Frostpaw spotted Pinepaw and Damppaw among them. Damppaw had a large WindClan pheasant in his mouth and a newly torn ear, but besides that looked no worse for wear. Pinepaw trailed after him, meowing something to him that Frostpaw could not hear because the camp had broken out into cheers again at the appearance of the rest of the battle patrol. Sedgestar was the last to enter camp, and he bounded victoriously into the center of the clearing, amidst his cheering clan-mates.

"My friends!" Sedgestar yowled, his shadowed figure stretched up proudly, and the cheering quieted so the cats could hear their leader. "As foolish as it may be, there are times when the other Clans start to think that they are stronger than us…"

A chorus of angry growls met his words, and Sedgestar waved his tail for silence.

"I know. I know," he said. "At gatherings, we carry ourselves with a quiet pride and dignity, reassured that we can face any threat that dares challenge us. But, sometimes the other clans see that and instead of seeing our strength, they think we are weak because we don't grumble and growl and puff our chests out and strut about like cardinals, as they do."

More angry yowls challenged his words, and Sedgestar nodded along with them.

"BUT!" he yowled out over all the other voices. "That false strength they display is just a mask to hide their insecurities and weaknesses! But, we are confident, so we are quiet! We know the value of our hidden strength! Of shadows!"

Frostpaw joined her voice to the others, yowling out her agreement. Her heart pounded in excitement. Frostpaw felt a strange feeling of collectiveness settle over her. It didn't seem anymore like her voice was shouting along with the others, but instead they blended together so now there was only one cry, one voice— ShadowClan's.

"WindClan was reminded of this tonight!" Sedgestar shouted, his amber eyes burning with fire. "It is a lesson they won't soon forget! And, so now we feast on their prey and celebrate our victory! To ShadowClan!"

"To ShadowClan!" the clan roared the echoed cry.

The prey taken from WindClan was distributed out among the cheering clan, and Grovepelt padded over to their fresh-kill pile to supplement it with a few pieces of ShadowClan prey so that every cat would have a full belly.

"Here you go," Fogfur said with a deep purr, dropping the massive hare he had stolen at Poolpaw, Autumnpaw and Frostpaw's feet. "This should be big enough to feed all three of you."

"Thank you Fogfur!" Poolpaw gasped excitedly.

Poolpaw quickly tucked in, inhaling the rabbit so quickly that it made Frostpaw wonder whether he thought that if he didn't eat it fast it would still run away from him.

"We better get in to have a piece before Poolpaw eats it all!" Autumnpaw meowed to Frostpaw with a purr.

He head-butted Poolpaw's black-and-white flank.

"Move your fat tail over and save some for us!" Autumnpaw purred.

"I'm not fat! I'm just fluffy!" Poolpaw protested through a mouthful of food, but he still scooted to make space for Autumnpaw and Frostpaw around the piece of prey.

Autumnpaw didn't reply, but he took a big bite of the rabbit, and the brothers' argument was forgotten for the moment as they both ate. Frostpaw took a bite from the flank of the rabbit, and let out a contented purr at the taste of the juicy meat.

"It's good, isn't it?" Autumnpaw mumbled around the food in his mouth. "And, it tastes even better than normal because we weren't the ones who had to catch it!"

The clan ate for a while, sharing prey and purrs and tongues while Elmclaw and Clearstream made their way through the group, putting herbs and cobwebs on wounds. Clearstream headed over to the group of apprentices, examining the cut across Frostpaw's forehead. She rubbed a poultice of herbs on it. Frostpaw winced as the juices stung the cut.

"That'll keep it from getting infected," Clearstream said. "But, it seems shallow, so I expect it will heal without a problem. Do you have any other wounds?"

"My paw was bitten," Frostpaw said, extending her forepaw towards the medicine cat.

Clearstream carefully studied the paw.

"It doesn't appear to have broken the skin. The paw might be sore for a day, but it should be fine," Clearstream chirped cheerfully, before turning towards Autumnpaw and Poolpaw.

"Where are your wounds?" she asked.

Clearstream put some poultice on a scratch on Autumnpaw's side, and dabbed a bit on Poolpaw's bitten shoulder before declaring the group of apprentices good, and moving on to the next cat.

As the feasting settled down as every cat in the clan ate their full, Sedgestar rose to his paws, raising his tail for attention. The clan quieted their conversations, and once more turned towards their leader.

"I have one more announcement to make tonight," Sedgestar said, a low purr rumbling in his voice. "And, it is one that fills me with joy and pride. Damppaw and Dewpaw, will you please step forward?"

The two apprentices strode out of the crowd to stand before Sedgestar. Frostpaw noticed they had taken the time to clean their pelts after the battle. Damppaw's dark pelt gleamed with inky blackness, and Dewpaw's grey pelt billowed like storm clouds around her. Besides Damppaw's herb-plastered newly torn ear and Dewpaw's scratched nose, their pelts looked unblemished, and they looked at their leader with shining eyes. Sedgestar lifted his head high, angling his gaze upwards to search the overcast sky. Some of the cloud cover had broken, and there was a few slivers of sky from which the stars of Silverpelt blinked through.

"The clouds have parted so our warrior ancestors can watch over us!" Sedgestar said, his voice ringing throughout camp. "We must have their blessing for this ceremony. I, Sedgestar, leader of ShadowClan call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these two apprentices. They fought valiantly tonight to protect the honor of ShadowClan, and I have found them to be more than worthy of their warrior names."

Sedgestar dropped his head to search Damppaw and Dewpaw's gazes.

"Damppaw and Dewpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your lives?"

"I do," Damppaw and Dewpaw's voices rang out in chorus.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior names," Sedgestar said, his chin held high. "Damppaw, from this moment on you will be known as Dampfang. StarClan honors your bravery and strength. Dewpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Dewleaf. StarClan honors your loyalty and determination. And, we welcome you both as full warriors of ShadowClan!"

The clan cheered as Sedgestar rested his muzzle first on Dampfang's head, then on Dewleaf's.

"Dampfang! Dewleaf! Dampfang! Dewleaf!" Frostpaw cheered along with her clanmates.

Looking at Dampfang and Dewleaf's proudly raised heads, for the first time Frostpaw felt a thrill of excitement pass through her at the thought of one day being in their pawsteps, listening to ShadowClan cheer her name. She imagined the pride she would see in Redclaw and Weaseltail's faces, Sedgestar's contented expression as he watched his clan grow, and even maybe grudging admiration in Swoopstrike's eyes.

As the cheering died down, cats moved to congratulate the newly named warriors. There was some more yawning here and there too, and Frostpaw saw Amberberry usher Mosskit and Murmurkit towards the nursery.

"But, Mom! Why can't we stay up longer? We're going to be made apprentices any day now!" Mosskit protested.

"That's true, but until your name ends with a 'paw and not a 'kit, you still have to do as I say," Amberberry scolded, nudging her daughters along.

Frostpaw found herself stifling yawns herself, the weariness of her muscles from the battle catching back up to her. It seemed too almost like her cuts were stinging a bit more as if in echo of her tiredness.

"Lets go congratulate Dampfang and Dewleaf, then head to our nests," Autumnpaw said, rising to his paws and yawning. "I'm exhausted."

"Speak for yourself," Poolpaw said, puffing his chest out. "I still feel like I could take on three WindClan cats. I think I'll stay out for a bit longer and chat with them before they have to do their vigils."

"And, listen to Dampfang yammer on all night about how great he was in the battle?" Autumnpaw asked with an eye-roll, leading the way across the camp towards the new warriors with Frostpaw and Poolpaw following. "Thank StarClan warrior vigils are silent or no cat would get any sleep tonight."

Frostpaw and Poolpaw purred in amusement.

"You got that right," Poolpaw said.

Frostpaw shot a look at Poolpaw out of the corner of her eyes.

"Although, I think Poolpaw might be more concerned about Dewleaf than with Dampfang…" Frostpaw said, a quiet bit of mischievousness creeping into her voice.

Poolpaw widened his eyes at Frostpaw.

"What!?" Autumnpaw said, dramatically whirling around. "Is this true? Poolpaw, explain yourself."

"Shut up, you frog-brains!" Poolpaw hissed, embarrassed heat rolling off his prickling black-and-white fur. "They can hear us!"

"This conversation is not over!" Autumnpaw said, but Poolpaw bounded ahead of him to greet Dampfang, Dewleaf and Pinepaw who were chatting together.

"How did you know Poolpaw likes Dewleaf, and I didn't?" Autumnpaw asked in a quieter voice, turning to Frostpaw with a furrowed brow.

"Well it was more of a hunch than anything," Frostpaw admitted with a shrug. "He's not as obvious about it as Pinepaw is about Dampfang."

"So, I guess I'm just dense then?" Autumnpaw said, his dark red tail flicking.

"Your words, not mine," Frostpaw said with a stifled purr.

"Ouch," Autumnpaw said teasingly, flicking his tail at Frostpaw, which she nimbly dodged.

As the two of them approached the group, Frostpaw noticed they were in the midst of a lively conversation, with Dampfang holding everybody's attention as he spoke and gestured wildly. Dampfang narrowed his eyes at Frostpaw as she sat down by Dewleaf and Poolpaw, but he didn't pause in his sentence.

"—So, once we got into the camp, we fell immediately down on the WindClan warriors. They sleep out in the open in the middle of the camp, by the way. Can you believe that? They must have cold and wet pelts so many nights. But, anyway, so we got into the camp without alerting their sentries, and we pounced on them while they were still sleeping! Ha! What a way to wake up, huh?" Dampfang said, his green eyes glinting in excitement.

Pinepaw was eagerly nodding along, looking entranced by him. Even Autumnpaw and Poolpaw's ears pricked in interest, despite their common complaints that he never shut up.

"Then once Sedgestar told us to retreat, we snatched up all the prey in their fresh-kill pile and went running!" Dampfang meowed.

"WindClan claims to be the fastest in the forest, but they didn't catch us," Dewleaf added, giving her paw a satisfied lick and drawing it across her whiskers.

"Yeah!" Dampfang agreed, his tail tip twitching. "We made it to the border with them fox-lengths behind."

"Where we were waiting for them!" Poolpaw added, digging his claws into the ground.

Autumnpaw nodded in satisfaction, turning to look at Frostpaw.

"Are you excited that you finally got some revenge on those WindClan cats who tried to attack you?" Autumnpaw asked.

Frostpaw shuffled her paws, feeling her fur prickle uncomfortably as the full attention of the group was turned on her.

"…Yeah," Frostpaw said, but she felt like her voice didn't sound enthusiastic enough.

Frostpaw's brow furrowed, and her thoughts reeled, as she saw Dampfang and Pinepaw's gazes narrow critically at her.

"I mean… it wasn't really about me though. They disrespected Sedgestar and ShadowClan. That's why they needed to be taught a lesson," Frostpaw added rapidly, shooting a quick look at Autumnpaw for support.

Autumnpaw nodded along to her words, giving her a reassuring blink.

"Of course," he meowed.

"Well, I definitely enjoyed tearing them up!" Pinepaw cut in, jumping to her paws.

"I'm mean, you four haven't been training long," Dampfang drawled, casting his green gaze harshly over the four apprentices like he wasn't an apprentice himself only a few heartbeats ago. "But, this is WindClan that we're talking about, and everyone knows that they're scrawny cowards. So, I'm sure they weren't too much of a problem for you to fight."

Dampfang's gaze slid over to Frostpaw.

"Even for someone like you," he added pointedly to her.

Frostpaw clenched her jaw, and she felt her stomach clench as a rush of tight anxiety washed over her, but Autumnpaw jumped in before she could say anything.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Autumnpaw said, a slight warning growl in his voice. "Frostpaw has been training just as long as me or my littermates. She fights just as well as we do too."

Dampfang shrugged, his sticky green gaze sliding from Frostpaw to Autumnpaw.

"Training can only do so much though, right?" Dampfang said. "What I'm talking about is blood. You can't change that. I mean… a squirrel will never learn how to fly no matter how many times it jumps out a tree. Even if it was raised by birds. Because it was born a squirrel. Not a bird."

Frostpaw's ears flattened. Her stomach rolled with hot anger. She wanted to snap at Dampfang that it wasn't true, that she was just as much as a ShadowClan cat as him, and she would be just as good as a warrior—no. A better warrior than him someday. But, strangely her throat felt bone-dry, and she could make no words come. Not that it would make a difference anyway, what could she even say to change a cat like Dampfang's mind?

Fur prickling with heat, half from anger, and half from her inability to defend herself, Frostpaw jerkily rose herself to her paws and whirled away from the group, stalking towards the apprentices' den with tense muscles.

"You must have tadpoles in your brain because Frostpaw is a cat, just like you and me and the rest of us, not a bird or a squirrel!" Frostpaw heard Autumnpaw snarling behind her. "That's all that matters!"

"Not true. Blood is very important," Dampfang sneered. "Does a WindClan cat like to swim? No. But, RiverClan does. That's a difference in blood."

Frostpaw heard Autumnpaw growling something in a low, angry voice, but then she heard Poolpaw's voice cut in.

"He's not worth it," Poolpaw muttered.

I wonder if Pinepaw agrees with Dampfang, Frostpaw thought, her jaw clenching.

But, she knew she couldn't look back and check the she-cat's expression, that would just add to her already horribly embarrassing exit. Her stomached rolled as she thought of how she must look like such a pathetic coward to them, running away.

"What's going on?"

Swoopstrike appeared out of nowhere as Frostpaw thought he so often did, his green eyes not missing a thing as they swept over Frostpaw's prickling pelt and clenched jaw.

"—Dampfang…" Frostpaw growled, her voice coming back to her.

She shook her head. There wasn't a point in telling Swoopstrike. Then he would just think she was a pathetic coward too, which wouldn't benefit anyone.

"Don't worry about it. I'm handling it," Frostpaw said through clenched fangs, turning her gaze away from him.

Swoopstrike's gaze studied her face carefully.

"Good," he said in his curt tones.

Swoopstrike turned away from her, and Frostpaw continued towards the apprentices' den.

"Frostpaw," Swoopstrike said with a tail flick, drawing her attention back to him. "Remember what Sedgestar said. Quiet, hidden strength is what ShadowClan values. The cat that yowls the loudest doesn't win. Just be unyielding."

Frostpaw's brow furrowed, wondering how much her mentor was able to decipher about Dampfang just from her expression. But, she nodded to him before turning again and padding into the dark apprentices' den.

Frostpaw headed to her nest. Even though Dampfang and Dewleaf wouldn't be sleeping in this den any longer, giving the remaining apprentices more space, Frostpaw still curled up in her cramped nest, pushed tight against the side of the holly bush. Frostpaw closed her eyes, hoping for sleep to wash over her quickly.

The entrance to the den rustled, and Autumnpaw's earthy scent drifted over to Frostpaw as he pushed his way inside the holly bush. Frostpaw kept her eyes tightly shut, pretending to be asleep. Her stomach still clenched anxiously as her cowardly retreat played over again and again in her mind.

I can't face him… not yet.

Frostpaw heard Autumnpaw pad into the den, growling quietly to himself. He paused his growling and then more rustling began. As the rustling persisted and grew increasing louder, Frostpaw cracked one of her eyes open a tiny sliver, overcome by curiosity. Autumnpaw was in the center of the den, clawing up Dampfang's old nest and viciously kicking it out of the apprentice's den. Frostpaw closed her eyes again before Autumnpaw could notice, and she continued to pretend to sleep, waiting for her mounting exhaustion to make it a reality. Eventually Autumnpaw's rustling died down after he must have gotten every scrap of moss that smelt like Dampfang out of the den.

Frostpaw felt herself teetering on the verge of sleep, her thoughts becoming more and more incoherent when she felt a muzzle gently nudging her shoulder, snapping her out of it. Frostpaw's eyes flickered open, and she saw Autumnpaw's shadowed form standing over her.

"Hey…" he meowed in an abnormally serious voice, blinking dark amber eyes down at her. "I got rid of Dampfang's nest, so there's more room in the center of the den now. I moved my nest over there, and you can come put yours next to mine if you want. It's less drafty in the center."

Autumnpaw's gaze flickered towards the holly branches that reached their way from the side of the den and into Frostpaw's nest.

"And, less poke-y," he added, a hint of his normal mischief appearing back in his gaze.

At the sound of his joking voice, Frostpaw couldn't stop a soft purr from rumbling in her throat.

"…Okay," she murmured quietly.

Frostpaw rose from her nest, and Autumnpaw helped her move the moss, pine needles, and feathers over a few tail-lengths into the center of the den, reassembling a cozy nest for her there, next to Autumnpaw's. The tightness in her stomach miraculously gone, Frostpaw curled up in her new nest, wrapped herself into a ball, and covered her muzzle with her tail. Frostpaw felt Autumnpaw circle in his nest beside hers, and his back brushed hers as he curled himself into a tight ball.

"Goodnight, Frostpaw," Autumnpaw meowed.

"Goodnight, Autumnpaw," Frostpaw replied.

Frostpaw's eyes drifted shut, and sleep draped over her effortlessly.

Author's Note:

Hey guys, sorry about the really long wait in getting this chapter out. The holidays were pretty crazy for me, and without going into too many gory details, I'll just say that I'm going through a rather unpleasant rough patch in my life right now, so I've been pretty stressed and unhappy. I've been sitting on this chapter for a while because I like to have the next chapter in the works before I post the previous one. But, with everything that's going on, I haven't made much progress with the next one chapter. Still, I felt like enough is enough, and I should go ahead a put this one out. Maybe posting this one will help motivate me with working on the next. Thank you all for your patience and for reading/reviewing.

Here we are finally introduced to Mr. Racist Dampfang. Interestingly, this chapter is the first one that he talks in even though he's been mentioned a bunch of times in earlier chapters by other characters. He's not a totally insignificant background character either, so he'll be back.

Reviews:

Clearsight1010: Thank you! Frostpaw is a sweet, sensitive girl; I really enjoy writing her.

ToxicUniverse: Hey! It's really great to hear from you! I'm so glad you're enjoying the story, and I of course would love to see any kind of artwork if you desire to do it :)

Kitty-Guardian Dorothy: Haha thanks! And, yeah Swoopstrike is rough around the edges but not a total bad guy.

Brian.H.H: Thanks! I definitely like your theorizing, but I don't want to give anything away! Haha although I will say Pinepaw and Frostpaw's relationship won't be mended only by this one battle they fought together. And, I'm glad you liked the little insight into Rabbitstar! I actually have a rather interesting backstory for him in my head, and I'm a little disappointed that I won't be able to explore it very much in this story since the POV is from Frostpaw who is of course in ShadowClan. But, I might try to sprinkle more of it in subtly in the background at gatherings and stuff as we go along.