Ashenfern's flame colored fur bristled as she heard the dog barking. She wrapped her thick and fluffy tail around her two kits, Leafkit and Darkkit. Silverfish chased the dog around camp, trying her best to drive it out. The dog had almost caught both Leafkit and Darkkit, and Ashenfern had the idea to hide them in the spare den. No cat in ThunderClan often visited the spare den since it hadn't been in use for many moons. The dog would expect the kits to be taken to the nursery.

Leafkit was trembling, and her fiery pelt was easy to spot through the heather they hid in. Darkkit pressed her face into her mother's flank, hoping that if she could see the situation, it wouldn't actually be happening. Ashenfern looked at her terrified kits and quickly whispered, "Just pretend you are practicing your warrior skills. Pretend you are hiding from a ShadowClan cat ready to attack it or something." Leafkit seemed as if she hadn't heard her mother, and Darkkit looked up, and mewed, "The dog isn't an enemy clan though! It's...It's scarier than that!"

Ashenfern's fur lay flat as the sounds of barking faded. She wasn't totally sure if the dog had left, so she told her kits to stay put. Leafkit mewed, "Mom, I'm hungry!"

Ashenfern glanced at the exit to the spare den that they were hidden away in. She meowed softly, "You're going to have to wait, Leafkit. I'm not sure if it's safe."

"I can't wait!" she squeaked. Ashenfern thought for a few heartbeats before mewing "Stay here, I'll go get you something from the fresh kill pile." She rose to her paws before touching noses with Leafkit and Darkkit.

"I'll be back soon," she meowed, "Stay in here."

Ashenfern warily stepped out of the den, looking both ways to make sure it's safe, she spotted Winterkill, the medicine cat, approaching.

"Hi, Winterkill," she meowed, "Do you mind watching Leafkit and Darkkit? There's a dog running around camp somewhere and it was after them. I hid them in the spare den to keep them safe."

"Of course," Winterkill replied before disappearing into the den.

Ashenfern trotted down into the clearing to see Silverfish talking to one of the elders, Bluecloud, in front of the elder's den.

"Hello, Silverfish," Ashenfern greeted the silver tabby she-cat as she approached the two. "Is that terrible dog gone?"

"Dog? So that's what was causing all the commotion," Bluecloud hissed. "You know, ThunderClan has had troubles with dogs ever since last new-leaf."

"Yeah, well we'll drive them off ThunderClan territory for good sooner or later…" Silverfish meowed to Bluecloud before turning to Ashenfern. "Oh, and yes, Ashenfern. It should be safe for your kits to come out now. The dog is no longer in camp."

Once Ashenfern returned to the spare den where her kits still were, she noticed she had forgotten about the fresh kill Leafkit had wanted.

"It should be safe now," she meowed as she emerged into the den, relieved to see her kits were still safe and hadn't wandered off.

"Where's my food?" Leafkit mewed, but Ashenfern flicked her ear, telling her kit to wait a few moments.

"Thanks, Winterkill. I owe you one." Ashenfern meowed.

"It was nothing. Welp, I better get back to organizing herbs." the white she-cat meowed, leaving the den.

"Come on, kits." she meowed, flicking her tail, "We can head back to the clearing.

"My food, mom!" Leafkit reminded her.

"Oh, yes-" Ashenfern was interrupted by Leafkit.

"I'll go and get it myself!" she gave a high pitched mew as she raced out of the den. Ashenfern chuckled and shook her head.

"Come on, Darkkit! Keep up!" Ashenfern meowed as she padded through the bright green undergrowth that covered the forest floor.

"Don't want to get left behind, do ya?" Leafkit added teasingly.

Ashenfern smiled, her kits were finally six moons old and she was taking them out for their first ever walk in the forest. They had their apprentice ceremony tomorrow morning. Ashenfern was glad to be able to get out of the nursery, and into the forest again like she used to do as a warrior.

That night, Leafkit decided to sneak out while her mother slept. She quietly began heading towards a hole in the nursery wall, trying not to wake anyone. Darkkit noticed she was leaving and quickly got up and spoke in a hushed voice so she wouldn't wake Ashenfern, "Leafkit?"

Leafkit paused and turned to face her sister who was barely visible in the dark. "What?"

"What are you doing?" Darkkit asked.

"I'm going to go and talk to the moonstone! Want to come?"

"Why though?" asked Darkkit.

"I wanna ask it if I'll be a good apprentice and which mentor I'll get!" Leafkit replied, her eyes sparkling as if she was looking at the bright stone right now.

"Sure! I'll come!" Darkkit leaped to her paws and followed her sister to the hole in the nursery wall.

"Aren't we going to go to the moonstone?" Darkkit tilted her head.

"No… sadly I don't know the way. But we can maybe talk to it from this hole. Think it'll work?"

Leafkit squeaked. Darkkit shrugged.

Ashenfern woke up with a jolt as Burntstar's meeting call echoed throughout the camp. She Stretched and looked down at the nest where her kits were supposed to be. "Leafkit? Darkkit? Where in StarClan did my kits go!" she cried. Almost immediately though, she spotted two small, dark colored bodies sitting in the hole in the nursery. Ashenfern gave a sigh of relief as she reached them. "There you are! Now groom yourselves really quick. It's time for your ceremony."

Leafkit sighed and nodded, giving her pelt a few quick swipes and mewing, "OK, done! Now let's go!"

The two kits had excitement running though their bodies. "I can't believe we are going to be apprentices!" Leafkit exclaimed.

"Shhh!" Ashenfern meowed softly into Leafkit's ear as Burntstar began to speak.