MoonClan's ambitious story/(1): The First Four Leaders/2/27

### Chapter 27: The Ceremony of New Names

The day had never seemed so frightening to him before. He had already reached the age, but now he was trembling in fear of what could possibly happen, already with Birdkit's problems and Mousekit's death, and Stonepaw's terrible relationship with Nightnose on top of that. His stupid name seemed so trivial and insignificant compared to all of those huge problems now. Which was precisely why he didn't want to complain about it before.

Sandleap smiled at her apprentice. "Looks like you don't need me anymore, soon-to-be former apprentice," she mewed, seemingly intending for a joke.

Zebrapaw sighed at her longingly. It was one of the rare moments he would be found in the nursery, and of course, it was to talk to his mentor and Nightnose. *At least there's no one in here to bother me and Sandleap, except for Nightnose, but he's mostly fine.* "It's not like I was fed up with you or anything," he honestly claimed. "It was the opposite. I wanted to spend more time with you since you were my mentor."

Sandleap shrugged. "But still, you don't need me to be your mentor anymore. You can train by yourself, and go on patrol with me when I am finished with kits."

Nightnose sighed in immense relief. "And I won't have to see that she-brat's face again."

Zebrapaw looked at him and mentioned, "You still have to touch noses."

At the mention of that, Nightnose looked like he was going to vomit. "Ugh, I forgot about that!"

"At least you don't have to make it long or meaningful," Zebrapaw tried to comfort him, but Nightnose still looked like he was regretting ever mentoring at all.

Zebrapaw wondered if Nightnose was going to get another apprentice at all. Sandleap still had a chance, of course, since she did nothing wrong, she only became a queen. But Nightnose... Zebrapaw knew that the black tom was acting a little too immature with his apprentice. Instead of trying to understand her or discipline her strictly, he started a huge feud with her by arguing with her. Zebrapaw thought Nightnose would have a bad impression about mentoring *any* other apprentice, just in case they happened to be like Stonepaw. Zebrapaw wondered if he thought he was extremely unlucky or cursed by StarClan to have such an apprentice when no other cat he'd heard of had such an apprentice. *Does he blame Snowstar?* he wondered, but he figured, *Hopefully not,* but it did explain sort of why Nightnose or Stonepaw never seemed to be that respectful to Snowstar, much to his dismay.

Zebrapaw just shrugged and continued, "You won't have to see her again. Or you could just tell Snowstar that you don't want to do it."

Nightnose shrugged back. *"Probably,"* was all he said.

*That proves my point,* Zebrapaw thought anxiously. He didn't want them to be mad at Snowstar. He wondered why they never asked to change mentors, or why Snowstar didn't change *them. Maybe they all didn't know what to do, or there's a rule like that.*

It was a quarter-moon from when Birdkit ate those deathberries, and it was the exact time Zebrapaw and his littermate would become warriors. *Finally,* he thought with relief. *At least I won't have to train with anyone anymore, especially Violetrain, like Sandleap said.*

Since Sandleap and Nightnose were too occupied, Violetrain and Nutclaw offered to do the exams for them (while Swanpaw was sleeping). Stonepaw was relieved Nutclaw was helping them, and probably thought he was the better of the two brothers, but Zebrapaw was mostly neutral to it. They had passed with flying colors (since they were exceptionally skilled warriors), so lastly they would need to become warriors.

He looked at the kits sleeping, especially Petalkit and Birdkit, and thought nothing of it. Sandleap just smiled. "Well, other cats are still sleeping since it's dawn. It will be *just* a little while." She looked at her mate and apprentice's expressions. Nightnose was just staring at Birdkit while Zebrapaw was looking at Sandleap.

Nightnose just nodded slowly. "I suppose so." Then he suddenly seemed to remember something, and turned his head back to the black and white-striped apprentice. "Zebrapaw, you said you wanted your name to be Whitestripe, right?"

Zebrapaw's eyes widened in recollection. *"Oh, yes!"* He straightened up. "Speaking of which, do you support my decision?"

Nightnose warmly smiled. "Well, yes, of course. It's *your* wish what you want to be named. I can easily get used to the prefix change."

Zebrapaw's eyes widened even more at Nightnose's swift acceptance of his desired name. Then he smiled back appreciatively, thinking that Nightnose wasn't so incompetent after all. "Thanks, I guess," he replied. *He* is *very friendly to other cats,* he couldn't help thinking.

Then Zebrapaw looked at Flipsnow, Begoniaclaw, Applefall and Redwater sleeping along with their kits. *There* are *a lot of kits in the nursery.*

He looked back at Sandleap who said, "I guess you can go now."

Zebrapaw nodded. "Okay, then. I will see you at the ceremony! Bye!"

Nightnose shrugged and grimaced, probably at the thought of touching noses with Stonepaw. "I guess."

Sandleap just smiled, though, and Zebrapaw smiled back at both of them and left.

The apprentice, soon to be warrior, looked at the warriors' den which he would soon be part of and saw Peonyclaw and Rosepetal talking about him and Stonepaw. He was confused why they were talking until he realized, *Oh right, Peonyclaw knew Rosepetal very well when the latter was a kit. Right.*

Zebrapaw looked around for Snowstar who should probably have been awake by now. He saw many cats eating their breakfast at the prey pile and smiled. *I will become a warrior now.*

Then he saw Snowstar jumping on Highrock. Sandleap and Nightnose came out of the nursery with opposite expressions, Sandleap excited and Nightnose disgusted.

The black and white striped apprentice saw his littermate eating a mouse, too, and she looked really happy, too. Zebrapaw then went up to Nightnose and whispered, "At least be happy you are free of her."

"Right," Nightnose murmured, not looking at him.

Everyone was gathering and looking at the two apprentices and their mentors in anticipation for new things. Violetrain also smiled at Zebrapaw, since she helped mentor him for the last three moons, of course. Zebrapaw thought that they all four were pretty gossip-worthy to the Clan due to the events that happened, especially with Birdkit's condition and Stonepaw's history.

Snowstar smiled at Sandleap and Zebrapaw in joy, but he seemed to ignore Nightnose and Stonepaw. *I think I might know why,* Zebrapaw thought dismissively. But Snowstar began, "I, Snowstar, second leader of the ambitious Mountain Clan known as MoonClan, call upon our warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn." His tail flicked in Zebrapaw and Stonepaw's direction. Peonyclaw and Blazesky looked really happy their youngest children were becoming warriors. Stonepaw genuinely smiled at her brother and he smiled back.

Snowstar continued, "By the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name, Zebrapaw. From this moment on by your request"—Zebrapaw smiled that he would be getting a new name, but Peonyclaw and Stonepaw's smiles diminished slightly—"under the moon, you will be known as Whitestripe. StarClan honors your skill, courage and resilience, and we welcome you as a full warrior of MoonClan."

Zebrapaw, now Whitestripe, beamed up at Snowstar and Sandleap, and touched noses with his official mentor. Violetrain padded over to her younger brother and touched her tail against his muzzle in a playful manner. "Good job, Whitestripe. I will miss the name Zebrapaw, but Whitestripe is a good change." Sandleap nodded.

The black and white striped warrior nodded. "I suppose so."

Snowstar looked in the direction of Stonepaw next. "By the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name, Stonepaw. From this moment on, under the moon, you will be known as Stonetooth. StarClan honors your skill, fiery personality and resilience, and we welcome you as a full warrior of MoonClan."

Stonepaw, now Stonetooth, beamed at Whitestripe in delight, too, and whispered in a kit-like enthusiasm, "Now we can do whatever we want! Aren't you glad?"

Whitestripe nodded back. "Yes, of course." Then he narrowed his eyes slightly and whispered back, "Within the warrior code, right?"

Stonetooth just shrugged in reply, still smiling. Then she seemed to remember Nightnose and suddenly frowned.

*"WHITESTRIPE! STONETOOTH! WHITESTRIPE! STONETOOTH!"* the entire Clan cheered repeatedly. Whitestripe looked around and saw everyone cheering for him, especially Peonyclaw and Blazesky. He noticed Shadowclaw, Icemoon, Swanpaw, Mountainpaw, Primrosepaw, Nutclaw and a few other Clanmates seemed to be only chanting *his* name, but he was okay with it. He didn't expect them to be chanting Stonetooth's name anyway.

Nightnose also seemed to be disgusted as he looked at his former apprentice, and she reciprocated his expression. They touched noses for less than half a second and immediately pulled away as if the sensation burned. *How are they going to act with each other in battle,* Whitestripe wondered for a moment, as he thought they should eventually forgive each other *someday.* If one was in danger and the other was the only one to save them, Whitestripe thought their grudge as mentor-apprentice shouldn't stop them from being saved or saving the other, otherwise that would surely be anti-warrior code and Clan disloyalty.

Finally the chanting died down and everyone congratulated Whitestripe for being a warrior. The new warrior felt extremely happy in this moment. More than the praises he got, he felt more freedom and higher in the Clan hierarchy now. It was the highest most cats got to, but few rose to deputy and even leader. Whitestripe wondered if *he* could possibly reach those positions, but he knew he'd need to work hard in order to get a chance at them.

Peonyclaw and Stonetooth looked at their son or brother as if they still regretted his decision to change his name, but Whitestripe knew they would get used to it eventually. Most of the Clan had already accepted it, including Spottedpaw, Birchpaw, Primrosepaw, Sandleap, Nightnose, Shadowclaw, Icemoon, Swanpaw and a few others.

The crowd dispersed within a minute or so, and Whitestripe felt peace again, but Peonyclaw, Birchpaw, Shadowclaw, Mountainpaw, Primrosepaw and Berrypaw were still with him. Stonetooth had sprinted to the warriors' den with glee by this time, and he was okay with that. But more than checking out the warriors' den or hunting with the rank of a warrior, he just mostly felt content that he was simply now a warrior. For a moment he remembered that stupid AdderClan warrior Windwing. *That stupid dung-brain will see my words come true finally. He thought my name was stupid, he thought I was a lowly apprentice, but now he will pay the price for-*

The new warrior was about to think of ways he can punish him for his terrible behavior, until Berrypaw's voice broke him out of his thoughts.

"Are you... happy?" Berrypaw asked shyly, looking at Whitestripe's paws. Whitestripe knew she was always like that with everyone, except for her mother, Mountainpaw and Thymekit. But she was also very friendly to everyone, and never acted out even once, even through all this trauma of bad events. She was mostly interested in comforting Mountainpaw and Thymekit through those ordeals.

"Of course, Berrypaw," Whitestripe replied warmly. He looked at everyone's faces, and as he expected, all of them were very proud of him.

Mountainpaw looked at Berrypaw and said, "We're going to be warriors soon, too, in two moons!" Then he also smiled at his best friend Birchpaw. "Along with Birchpaw and Swanpaw." Berrypaw brightened at his words and nodded. Birchpaw also nodded and smiled slightly but it looked like he was still worried about something.

*Is he traumatized from all those incidents?* Whitestripe wondered darkly. Birchpaw wasn't the type to him to be easily traumatized by Clan events, but he remembered that Birchpaw usually took serious things seriously. Maybe *too* seriously.

But then Shadowclaw bantered, "And then we can all go on our first ever warriors patrol! Where we're all warriors! And don't forget to bring back a lot of prey, because we're going to have a grand feast that day!"

Whitestripe and Mountainpaw both laughed, and Berrypaw and Birchpaw smiled again. Peonyclaw also smiled at Shadowclaw.

"Ahem... remember me?" Primrosepaw spoke up using her usual booming volume, but with a glint of humor.

Shadowclaw looked at her apologetically and added, "Primrosepaw can join to have a bit of a taste of warriorhood. And she can join in for the feast! And she'll be treated like a warrior, too!"

Swanpaw was watching from the nursery, probably also listening in, and she smiled. Whitestripe smiled at her, too, and her smile increased. But when he remembered Swanpaw, he also remembered the cat who could only seem to think about him, who was also Swanpaw's older sister and Shadowclaw's littermate.

*Where is Icemoon?* wondered the warrior in moderate confusion. *I thought she'd be over the* moon *or something about me joining her ranks now.* Icemoon was always eyeing him in a seductive way ever since he became an apprentice, probably, for a reason he had no idea what it could be. Maybe even before, but he didn't know about that. And Icemoon was always trying to flirt with him a lot, even on patrol, and always considered his kindness to her as mate love. But the good thing was she didn't even care once that Whitestripe wanted to change his name as a warrior, and she only supported his decision like Spottedpaw and Birchpaw did. If she truly liked him, wouldn't she be here now? Even if she just wanted to mate with him since they were both warriors now (but the thought of that was very disturbing to him). He decided to ask because it would probably bother him for the rest of the day if he didn't know.

"I had been wondering, where's your littermate that's always crazy about me, Shadowclaw? Surely you must know."

To his surprise, Shadowclaw started laughing, and Mountainpaw and Primrosepaw joined in. Even Peonyclaw and Swanpaw's smiles twitched with humor. Whitestripe looked at all of them with slight confusion but then he remembered exactly what he said. *Right, this probably comes off as love.*

"Do you actually have feelings for her, then?" Shadowclaw joked, still heckling at Whitestripe's misunderstood question.

"No, of course not," replied Whitestripe calmly but firmly, like a proud warrior would.

"Really? Not even... a swirl of fur's... worth?" Primrosepaw added to the blend of jokes.

"I *still* remember you touching noses the first day Berrypaw, Swanpaw and I became apprentices," Mountainpaw laughed.

"You know what I'm asking, right," Whitestripe sighed. *MoonClan cats* sure *love to gossip about love and kits. Those two are* the *main topics of gossip.* He looked at Birchpaw to see if he would say anything but Birchpaw just seemed preoccupied with something.

Thankfully, Peonyclaw answered without teasing him *that* much, "She said that she wanted to get a surprise for you, apparently. I mean, you *should* probably think about her." Shadowclaw, Mountainpaw and Primrosepaw all nodded. *The apprentices are all probably learning gossip humor from Shadowclaw, aren't they.* But with the exception of Birchpaw, seemingly, and Whitestripe looked at him again, but then back at Peonyclaw.

"I can think later," dismissed Whitestripe at that last part. "But what surprise does she have?" he asked in confusion. *Icemoon doesn't think I'm going to be flattered, right?* "A rabbit the size of a boulder? I can hunt by myself, you know. I'm not a kit, or even an apprentice anymore."

"That would be good for you, though. A day without needing to hunt because someone else is giving you food, wouldn't that be relaxing?" Shadowclaw laughed with mirth.

Whitestripe flicked his tail. "That will happen when the prey starts breeding like crazy and we have surplus even in leaf-bare. Probably not, as a warrior needs to do warrior duties. Or if you're a queen, but I'm not a she-cat."

"I was just pulling your tail," Shadowclaw replied apologetically. "I know you are an exceptionally diligent and selfless warrior, and you won't take a break even if you're tired." Finally Whitestripe smiled at him with appreciation. Shadowclaw was also a kind and grateful warrior, and Whitestripe liked those qualities in him.

Finally Birchpaw spoke, but rather awkwardly, which caught the surprise of everyone. "Um... to add to what Whitestripe said, didn't Nightnose become a queen?"

"I know of that," said his mentor softly. "You can't blame the young tom, he's been under too much stress lately. He needs some considerable amount of time to heal."

Shadowclaw and Primrosepaw's face fell. "I remember... Birdkit," Primrosepaw muttered almost silently.

"I guess she's okay but..." Shadowclaw sighed in a forlorn way, trailing off with his expression becoming sadder and sadder by the moment.

Mountainpaw and Berrypaw looked at each other, frowning greatly, and Swanpaw also looked sad.

Whitestripe flicked his tail with discomfort and looked at Birchpaw again. *Did Birchpaw know they were going to talk about that?* To him, this was definitely not how Birchpaw would normally act like this. *Only because of the incident, right?* He didn't know why it hit Birchpaw harder than the others, even through his ceremony, but Whitestripe didn't know how he could possibly help. *I'm not really the best cat to comfort someone else...*

"Um, you don't need to be sad," said Birchpaw even more awkwardly. "I was just thinking."

"What were you thinking about?" Mountainpaw asked in a very worried tone. Peonyclaw nodded in inquiry, wondering the same thing as her nephew. Whitestripe was, too, as he didn't know what Birchpaw was thinking.

"Um..." Birchpaw drawled, and Whitestripe thought he looked uncomfortable before, but now he looked the most awkward yet. "I was thinking about Swiftclaw." Then he blinked in surprise about what he said.

Everyone's face contorted in shock, including Whitestripe.

"Why are you thinking about *him* of all cats!" Whitestripe exclaimed. The other cats seemed to be thinking the same thing, except for Peonyclaw who now looked uncomfortable, too.

"Wait, how do you-" she started, but Birchpaw interrupted, *"Nothing, I just..."* Then he paused for a moment in perplexity, then continued, but with curiousity replacing his awkwardness before, "Wait, do you know who Swiftclaw is?"

"He's the brother of Briarstar, obviously!" Shadowclaw said before Whitestripe could. Birchpaw blinked for a few moments until it was his turn for his face to contort into shock.

"Wait... *what?"* Birchpaw said in immense bewilderment. Then he looked at Peonyclaw in shock. Peonyclaw opened her mouth but closed it almost immediately, then looked at everyone else.

The other cats were perplexed now, including Whitestripe. *Did Birchpaw actually not know?* he wondered with disbelief. *How is that...* He had no idea how it was possible that his mother did not teach Birchpaw about Swiftclaw, after *six* moons of apprentice training. Not even the simple fact that his sister was the rigid and unyielding Briarstar. Then suddenly Whitestripe felt a little angry. From what he knew about Birchpaw, he knew he was usually a curious and inquisitive cat. He didn't understand at all why Peonyclaw would withhold such important information about other Clans.

*"Hey, Peonyclaw, why didn't you tell him?!"* Whitestripe hissed. He didn't really care much that she was his mother at this point, but he felt like the information was necessary, so that Birchpaw can have a better sense of his neighbors. *Imagine if Birchpaw meets Swiftclaw or Briarstar or her kits face to face. If he has no idea who they are then...* He internally shook his head. Birchpaw was the one who tried to warm up to him and become his friend, and therefore, became friends with everyone else. Birchpaw was an outgoing, kind and friendly cat who wanted to be friends with everyone in the Clan. Of course Whitestripe cared about him a lot.

The other cats were still very bewildered, as they looked between Birchpaw and Peonyclaw with wide eyes. Primrosepaw looked even more stupefied than the others, probably because she was younger than Birchpaw but she still knew about it from Hailstream. Even Swanpaw from the nursery looked shocked. Other cats were watching and listening in, but they only started paying attention after they heard that Birchpaw didn't know who Swiftclaw was, including his parents Snowstar and Petuniaheart. Birchpaw was only looking back and forth between Shadowclaw and Swanpaw for whatever reason Whitestripe didn't know, but it didn't really matter to him.

Peonyclaw groaned. "You-you wouldn't understand, Whitestripe. Or anyone else." That only made Whitestripe angrier.

*"What?! What good reason is there not to tell him?! How will he deal with SnowClan, then?! What other things didn't you tell?! Things in* AdderClan?!" he yowled.

Birchpaw looked a little embarrassed, but he was still looking between Shadowclaw and Swanpaw. Other cats from around the camp started to notice Whitestripe's volume, and looked like they wondered what could have happened since his ceremony. Peonyclaw narrowed her eyes at her boisterous son but didn't say anything. Finally Flipsnow came out of the nursery with Thymekit, Lilackit and Jumpkit following her with confusion and said cautiously, "That's... okay, right? I can teach him along with Peonyclaw." Then she gave her sister, Peonyclaw, a look which Whitestripe could not decipher. But it probably meant, *Why didn't you teach him?*

Birchpaw was looking at his paws now, looking even more embarrassed than before. Then Mountainpaw tried to comfort him, "Um, no need to be embarrassed. I guess Peonyclaw wanted to... protect you."

Whitestripe scoffed at his cousin. "For *six* moons? I cannot believe this!" Then he shook his head and sighed. "Birchpaw, Swiftclaw is Briarstar's only littermate and only sibling. Swiftclaw is very loyal to his sister and doesn't like anyone breaking the warrior code *at all."*

Birchpaw's face contorted into shock again, but this time it looked more anguished. "Wait... *what?!"* he repeated, but more urgently and anxiously than before. *"Are you... sure?"* Peonyclaw sighed in what was probably defeat and looked at the sky.

Whitestripe nodded. "Of course. Briarstar also has kits named Crystalwing, Thundermoon and Gravelpaw. Gravelpaw died when he was still an apprentice, but like his siblings, he also supported his unyielding mother's leadership."

"Does Swiftclaw have a mate...?" Birchpaw asked slowly, still seemingly stuck about Swiftclaw.

"No," filled in Shadowclaw. "He's probably not going to have one either, but boy, he sure is annoying." He flicked his tail in anger. Birchpaw stared at him in a strange way before Whitestripe continued.

"Ugh, and there's Blackwater, who for some reason also supports Briarstar," he added. Suddenly, all of a sudden, Peonyclaw's expression became dark and Birchpaw was even more shocked. "Black-Blackwater?! Isn't-isn't-I thought-" he said, but he caught eye of Peonyclaw's commanding stare at him and immediately shut up.

*What was that even about...?* Whitestripe wondered in the most confusion he had ever experienced. It suddenly occurred to him he had no idea about the dynamics of Birchpaw and Peonyclaw's relationship, or how exactly it was. He had an idea it must be sort of strict, but he didn't know that they were *probably* trying to keep a secret of some sort. The details of his sister's and his mentor's mate's relationship were pretty clear because they usually argued a lot. But Birchpaw and Peonyclaw... he wasn't sure if he should ask Birchpaw, but after he figured out Peonyclaw didn't tell Birchpaw anything, he very much thought there was something fishy going on here and he wanted to know.

"His mate is Whitelight, if you do know that," Flipsnow said almost quietly. "At least she doesn't agree with her mate but..." she trailed off. Her expression looked pained for some reason, but Whitestripe thought it was because Blackwater was terrible anyway. But then Birchpaw looked at Flipsnow understandingly for some reason, and her expression softened. *Are Flipsnow, Peonyclaw and Birchpaw having a secret conversation through their minds?* Whitestripe wondered. The expressions of all of them three probably confused him even more than Birchpaw got confused at Swiftclaw.

Then Peonyclaw groaned, "Alright, you can all stop explaining to him now. You're making him overwhelmed." She straightened up and narrowed her eyes even more to look menacing, and glared at her sister and son. "I can teach him in one of my training sessions later. Right now, stop talking about that. Aren't we supposed to be celebrating Whitestripe's ceremony?"

"Yes, yes, of course!" Shadowclaw exclaimed. "You know, we should be glad for him!"

"I saw his ceremony, and I wanted to become a warrior even more!" pointed out Thymekit excitedly. Whitestripe ignored the fact that everyone was ignoring Stonetooth, because he obviously knew the reason why. *But* I *can't really ignore my littermate. I don't think I can, since she's the only one I talked to in kithood other than Peonyclaw.*

"Me too!" said Lilackit humorously. "I bet I can be a better warrior than you!" She poked Thymekit playfully. "Maybe I can be his apprentice, I know he's very good at fighting, so I can be that better warrior!" Whitestripe hadn't thought about mentoring anyone when he became a warrior, but he started thinking about it now.

"I know Whitestripe is a good warrior, too," Jumpkit said admiringly. "Maybe we can throw a mossball and see who catches it first and gets him as our mentor!"

"Maybe, but I know Violetrain is great, too. I've got everything set out for me," joked Thymekit back. "Also I'm older than you both, so I'll be an apprentice and a warrior first."

"I know that, obviously. Violetrain and Whitestripe *are* both siblings," pointed out Jumpkit.

Primrosepaw nodded. "It *is...* pretty good." She still looked very uncomfortable, however, as she kept touching her front paws together and looking down at them.

"Yeah, I guess you should calm down, Whitestripe. This was *your* ceremony after all," Flipsnow agreed with Peonyclaw. Whitestripe sighed at his aunt in exasperation, but nodded. Flipsnow smiled at his silent obedience, then looked back at Peonyclaw. "Let's eat, shall we?" she continued. Most of the cats became relieved when she said that, and the three kits excited, except for Birchpaw.

Whitestripe looked at him and saw he still looked embarrassed. He decided to say *something* so he wouldn't feel left out. "Hey, I'm sorry that she didn't tell you about that."

The dark brown apprentice shrugged. "I didn't really care about it, though. I didn't mean to make everyone sad or shocked."

Whitestripe nodded. "That's still okay. Come on, don't be sad on the day of my ceremony."

"I guess so," Birchpaw said. "I was just thinking about it because it bothered me."

"Maybe." Then he suddenly remembered something. If Birchpaw didn't know about Swiftclaw at all, where did he hear about him? He decided to ask him. "I just remembered, where did you hear about him?"

"Um... From someone else," said Birchpaw slowly and cautiously. "I was eavesdropping on someone who was talking about it."

*Right, obviously. How else?* Whitestripe just nodded and replied, "Okay, that's cool." Birchpaw just nodded back in response.

They were all at the prey pile now and talking about Whitestripe now. Finally, after what seemed like moons, Icemoon came back to camp with three rabbits. Whitestripe was secretly glad *she* of all cats wasn't there while they were talking about Birchpaw, because he didn't know just *how* she would have reacted. He was also glad Stonetooth wasn't there either.

Icemoon spotted him and ran over to him. "Hey, I'm back! And I got three rabbits for you!" she exclaimed happily after putting the rabbits down.

Whitestripe shrugged in mock dismissal. "Great job, but please give them to Lilackit, Jumpkit, Thymekit or another kit instead. Kits and elders first!"

"What an excellent idea, my good friend!" Shadowclaw asserted with glee. Then he looked at his littermate and said, "You will listen, right?"

Icemoon deposited the rabbits in the pile and said, "Fine, *older* brother Shadowclaw. No need to rub it in my face."

"I don't need to do that because it's already in your face!" Shadowclaw cracked a joke and most of the people laughed, including Whitestripe. Even Peonyclaw, Icemoon and Birchpaw smiled. *Apparently Icemoon isn't even denying it anymore.* Thymekit, Lilackit and Jumpkit eagerly took the rabbits and tried to measure which one was the biggest of the three.

"All right, stop yapping like a sly fox. Say, did you miss me, Whitestripe?" Icemoon frivolously groaned at her brother.

"I won't miss someone if they're just out for patrol," Whitestripe replied nonchalantly. He remembered his name again and was happy everyone caught onto it quickly.

"But you are still friendly with Icemoon, right?" Mountainpaw asked him in the same tone as Shadowclaw's. Whitestripe remembered Icemoon and Mountainpaw were sort of friends, ever since Birchpaw invited him to that first game they all told Whitestripe about, and he got to be Icemoon's apprentice for a while. So Whitestripe sort of understood Icemoon better now. He nodded in reply to Mountainpaw.

The only thing left for him to think about was Stonetooth, and he wasn't sure how she would survive in the Clan if almost everybody in the Clan hated her or at least wasn't fond of her, especially now being a warrior. It seemed to him even Snowstar the leader probably didn't like her, and definitely wouldn't give her any apprentices. If all the cats who hated her had kits, they'll definitely not want Stonetooth to be their kits' mentor. But Stonetooth didn't seem to like kits either, which was okay with Whitestripe. He wasn't really *that* interested in kits either.

But he hoped Stonetooth would be better as a warrior, and learn from her mistakes as an apprentice. *Surely,* he thought, *she was a well-behaved kit, so what about now?* He wondered if she was just going through a phase of some sort as an apprentice, as silly as it sounded to him, but he truly hoped to StarClan that Stonetooth learned and would later apologize to everyone for her mistakes.

*After all, she's my littermate.* And he sincerely hoped Stonetooth would swiftly accept his new name, too. They shared their apprentice and warrior ceremonies, and they shared their parents and their mother's womb together. *Hopefully, she will become better.* He looked up at the bright sun, squinting his eyes, and remembered Goldenlily, Mousekit and Birdkit. *Hopefully better things happen now that we're warriors. Hopefully to StarClan. Hopefully the Clan would look forward to new things.*

**This is a chapter subpage of MoonClan's ambitious story (1): The First Four Leaders.**

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