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

## Part 1: Little Birchkit's Life

### Chapter 1: Nursery

Birchkit was in the nursery, watching kits play mossball. There were mostly older kits and kits *his* age, but right now he felt bored and didn't want to play with them right now, however, he didn't feel like sleeping, either. He was only two and a half moons old at the time, but neither his mother or his littermate and sister, Rainkit, were here, and he didn't know where they were. He decided to go to the elders' den and listen to some stories out of boredom, since the kits had stopped playing.

He saw his sister already there. An elder, Wisdomheart, who was also Moonstar's brother, saw him and signaled him to sit down.

"Hey! You're also the son of my niece, Petuniaheart, and her mate, Snowpool! Come sit down," he said nicely, but in an old, cracked voice. Birchkit sighed.

Being a grandchild of the *great* legend Moonstar, he had no choice but to acknowledge cats that were paying a lot of attention to him because of his heritage. His mother, Petuniaheart, being Moonstar and Orangehill's daughter, made cats pay even more attention to her. But Wisdomheart was Moonstar's brother, so he got the same kind of attention, in fact, probably more since he was an elder. Birchkit assumed they had already gotten used to it by now, but he was still disoriented by all of this attention ever since he was born.

Wisdomheart told Birchkit a story about a time before there were Clans. He used to be called Wisdom, his sister Moon, and her mate Orange, now known as Orangehill. Then Moon met up with two cats who were also her friends, Adder and Snow, and made the Mountain Clans based on a prophecy called the Mountain Clan Prophecy.

Then they created rivalries among themselves. They stayed away from each other.

Birchkit thought about it. Moonstar was still the leader, but she had her first litter, of which both kits died, at the age of forty moons. She had Petuniaheart and her brother, Blazesky, at fifty moons. His mother had Rainkit and him as her third litter at the age of thirty-six moons.

*Basically, Moonstar is really old,* concluded Birchkit's thoughts. *No wonder she was a legend.*

Wisdomheart went on about their ancestry and such. After a bit, he started talking about his deputyship. Birchkit never knew about him being a deputy before, and he wondered why he was in the elder's den if he was a deputy, until Wisdomheart said that he was retired. Birchkit never knew deputies could retire, but then again, he usually liked to stay in the nursery and sleep a lot instead of going to the elder's den. His mother was very comforting to him.

His great-uncle said, "You see, when the Clans were created, I was appointed as the first deputy by Moonstar, my sister, since she thought we were shared blood, and my brother, Calmpond, the medicine cat, since he was a healer already. But you see, I didn't know exactly *how* to be a deputy. I had never been in a leader-like position before, so I wanted to try and figure it out before I had apprentices." He started talking about how after about a dozen moons, he got two apprentices back-to-back. "I guess Moonstar knew what I wanted to do. Be a mentor before I have to retire, so she gave me an apprentice after my first one became a warrior! Well, I was getting pretty old so it makes sense. After a few dozen more moons, I started getting health issues, so I retired and now Falconblue is the deputy. In fact, just a few moons before you were born. But Moonstar is still going! She even mentored our cousin when the Clan was made, even though she was still trying to figure it out herself!"

Rainkit looked very excited about his story, but Birchkit started to wonder more about it. His curiousity grew about the entire history of the Mountain Clans, and then he wondered why he was sleeping so much and staying in the nursery.

But suddenly, he felt hungry. His mother had already weaned Rainkit and him, so that they could learn to eat solid food. Birchkit took out a mouse and wondered what to do next. Then he remembered that he had never met his grandmother before personally. He mostly met her when she was always talking to someone else which was usually about warrior matters he never understood, which usually had something to do with SnowClan and AdderClan, the Clans Wisdomheart mentioned. He wanted to meet her now.

So he went to Moonstar's den, which was obviously the leader's den. Moonstar was just sitting on her moss bed. Nothing about her changed when he entered the den.

"H-H-Hello?" he stammered.

Moonstar did a little smile. "Petuniaheart's son, Birchkit." She then said his other siblings' names, his sisters Sealpaw, Sandpaw and Hailpaw, his brother, Quailkit, and Rainkit.

Birchkit was really confused now and almost thought that Moonstar was losing her whiskers until she added, "I'm naming you. I'm losing memory."

Birchkit then realized she wanted to remember their names by saying them out loud. But he didn't understand how she could be losing memory if she was a leader. Or the other way around. He thought, *Maybe it's because she's* really *old like her brother.*

He just replied, "Okay, um, good-bye?" and left the den taking his mouse with him to a rock. He was still confused about that exchange, however. No one said that his grandmother was losing memory, not even Wisdomheart. He hoped nothing bad would happen all of a sudden.

He saw Quailkit there. He was much older than Rainkit and him, almost an apprentice. He was also smart and kind and usually taught Rainkit and Birchkit about certain things happening in MoonClan when the two couldn't leave the nursery. However, right now, Quailkit was barely touching his snow hare and seemed deep in thought.

*A Snowstar thing,* Birchkit thought. Quailkit didn't even seem to notice him. He just prodded the hare. Birchkit then decided to speak to his brother.

"Um, Quailkit, are you okay?" Birchkit asked him.

Quailkit replied, "Yep, I'm *all* right," in a rather sarcastic tone.

"Is something wrong? You don't seem-" Birchkit was saying, taking a bite out of his mouse, but Quailkit interrupted, "Nope, I'm *totally* fine!"

Birchkit knew there was something wrong with him since he didn't usually act like that, but he decided not to care about it. Why did he have to care, anyway? He was only a young kit. Quailkit probably had a good reason that he didn't know. *Is it about Moonstar?* he wondered for a moment but he shrugged since he didn't know the answer to that.

He finished his mouse and went to the training section. He saw Sealpaw training with her mentor, Blazesky, who was also their uncle and Petuniaheart's brother and littermate. He got the same kind of attention as his sister and uncle, too.

"Hey, Birchkit, you're not old enough to train yet," teased Sealpaw humorously.

"He can stay to watch," said Blazesky politely.

Birchkit went into a sitting position and started watching them fight. Sealpaw seemed to be concentrating on their uncle's moves. Blazesky looked at her head but aimed for the chest. Sealpaw toppled backwards, but immediately got up, and scratched his nose.

Birchkit thought the fighting was intense, so when they paused for a bit, he asked, "Don't you get hurt?"

Blazesky replied thoughtfully, "Not very hurt. Our claws are always sheathed during training so we don't hurt our apprentice or mentor. Safety is a big thing in Clans. But when Sealpaw falls down, she is expected to see this when she fights in real life. But honestly, falling down is a barrier to no cat, and shouldn't hurt you."

Birchkit thought about it. He looked at his paws, wondering if that made sense. He wondered about warriors who might get hurt from falling, but he couldn't think of any. *Will there be one in the future?* he continued to wonder. There were already a few expecting queens in the nursery, but he wasn't really sure if that was possible or not.

Then they had a snack break, which was three mice, and Birchkit also ate a mouse, too.

After their break, they continued. Sealpaw ran a few feet away from Blazesky and he chased her. But when Blazesky caught up, she immediately whipped around and scratched him on the forehead.

"Good method, because with claws unsheathed, that can make blood pour out and blind your attacker," he pointed out. Sealpaw looked proud of herself. But then he warned, "But be careful. He can immediately attack after you do, so always keep your reflexes and muscles active while fighting."

Sealpaw nodded, heeding the warning, and they continued.

Birchkit got a little bored of watching them since they seemed to be doing the same attacks over and over again and decided to go back to sleep as he usually did. But he started to wonder more and more about the world after listening to Wisdomheart's story.

### Chapter 2: Moonstar

A half-moon later, Birchkit felt especially light & joyous that day, as he was looking forward to new things. He and Rainkit were three moons old now. Wisdomheart had told him more stories by this time, especially about MoonClan's history, of which there was a lot because it was nearly sixty-nine moons since its founding. Rainkit was also fascinated by the stories. He saw a quintet of kits playing Clan, and Rainkit & Quailkit were two of them. He asked if he could join in, and Shadowkit, a tom-kit, who was playing as leader said yes.

Birchkit was supposed to be an apprentice and his mentor was Quailkit. The medicine cat was Rainkit, and she pretended to put some cobwebs on Shadowkit's invisible wound. Swankit, a she-kit, was pretending to watch over the borders, which was the entrance to the nursery. Icekit, another she-kit, who was playing as Clan deputy, said to Shadowkit, "I saw a fox! It was huge!"

"Oh no!" he exclaimed in mock shock. "Quailkit, Icekit, Swankit and Birchkit, you have to go fight it!"

Shadowkit & Icekit were littermates, and were as old as Quailkit. Swankit was their younger sister, about as old as him & Rainkit.

Their mothers, Petuniaheart & Goldenlily, were watching them, and they looked really happy. The other queens such as Rosepetal, who was one moon in, and Heronwing, who just joined, were also watching, too. And so was Orchidmoon, another queen who already gave birth, and his cousins' mother, Blazesky's mate, whom he didn't actually know who it was, since she was usually a sharp-tongued cat. *There are a lot of kits in the nursery,* Birchkit thought wondrously.

The four of them ran off in one direction somewhere else in the nursery, towards where the fox was supposed to be. "Who should be the fox?" asked Icekit curiously, since all kits already had roles. The other kits looked like they had the same question, too.

Birchkit spotted a kit in the corner, just watching them sadly. His mother, Flipsnow, was nudging him towards them, but he shrank back to his mother. The kit was smaller than him, probably younger than him. *Was he shy?* Birchkit wondered, but he decided to try and talk to him.

Birchkit walked up to the kit, and asked, "What's your name? I'm Birchkit!"

"Mountainkit," he replied rather weakly. Somehow to Birchkit, Mountainkit looked pretty scared of the other kits.

"Well, Mountainkit, do you want to play with us? We're playing Clan, and we need someone to play as a fox," Birchkit asked politely.

"Go on," urged Flipsnow softly. "You shouldn't be very shy, since you're eventually going to be a warrior." Mountainkit looked between his mother & Birchkit, then finally walked up to them, although grudgingly.

Then Birchkit went back and said, "I got someone to play as the fox," to the rest of the group. They were surprised, but in a good way.

"Well, he's not huge, but I guess he can do it," said Icekit quietly. Quailkit and Swankit nodded.

Mountainkit looked confused about what to do, but Birchkit said, "Okay, so you just need to act tough and strong and walk haughtily like this." He demonstrated. "And when we find you, say, 'You cats can't stop me!'" Shadowkit and Rainkit also nodded from the corner of the nursery.

Mountainkit just nodded, and obeyed. Birchkit thought he was starting to warm up to them, and it made him smile. He always wanted to be friendly to his Clanmates, no matter what.

"There's the fox!" Icekit pointed to Mountainkit with her big toe. He acted as Birchkit told him to do, tough and strong, and walking haughtily.

"We need to scare him off!" exclaimed Quailkit, going into a fighting stance.

Then the four of them started to surround Mountainkit, and he said silently, "You cats can't stop me..."

"No, louder, like you're tough," rectified Birchkit.

Mountainkit repeated, "You cats can't stop me!" He tried to look even more tough.

"Oh yeah?" Icekit mewed humorously. "Don't worry, we *will!"* She went into a pouncing stance.

Quailkit added in a strong tone, "Because we're strong warriors!" Swankit nodded fiercely. Then they started playfighting.

When they stopped, they were laughing very much. Birchkit was laughing, too. *At least Mountainkit is finally being friends with us!* he thought happily. He had noticed Mountainkit before, but he usually just stayed with his mother, Flipsnow, all the time. But he occasionally talked to Birchkit's cousin, Zebrakit.

"Can I be a regular cat now?" asked Mountainkit joyfully.

"Sure," Icekit replied, brimming with happiness. "You can be my apprentice. By the way, I'm the Clan deputy!"

"Cool," said Mountainkit softly. Shadowkit walked up to them and added, "And the Clan name is after me, ShadowClan! Because I'm the leader. Like Moonstar and MoonClan!" He chuckled.

"And I'm the medicine cat! A more of a peaceful role! " Rainkit exclaimed gleefully, following Shadowkit. Swankit nodded, too.

"I'm a normal warrior, but I have an apprentice which is Birchpaw. I mean Birchkit," Quailkit said calmly. "But Birchpaw will be his apprentice name." He smiled at Birchkit. Birchkit smiled back and nodded.

"But having a deputy mentor is cool," added Birchkit. "I heard your father was Wisdomheart's first apprentice, Mountainkit. And then he got Applefall's mother, who is also my father, Snowpool's cousin, as an apprentice directly after your father became a warrior!"

Mountainkit looked very interested all of a sudden. "Really?" he exclaimed excitedly. Birchkit smirked. *He must be like me when it comes to lifestyle,* he thought jokingly.

Icekit quickly nodded. "Yep! But I also have deputy duties, too. Anyway, let's continue playing!" The other kits nodded happily. The queens smiled at them exuberantly, too.

So they played for a while, until it was time for lunch. As usual, the kits, queens & elders ate first, since they couldn't hunt for themselves.

Icekit flicked her tail when she got to the fresh-kill pile. "I'd like a hare," she said while picking it out.

"I want some water," said Rainkit, walking over to the wet mossball area. She took a mossball and squeezed it. Some water dripped into her mouth.

Swankit didn't speak while going to the fresh-kill pile. In fact, Birchkit didn't recall her ever speaking. *I wonder why,* he thought curiously but perplexedly, too.

So he decided to talk to her. "Hey, Swankit." She responded with a smile, but didn't say anything.

"So um... did you like playing Clan with me and the others?" Birchkit asked meekly. Swankit simply nodded.

Birchkit picked out a hare & Swankit picked out a squirrel. She sat next to Quailkit on a small grassy patch. Birchkit also sat next to her.

He remembered something was bothering Quailkit for a long time, for at least a half-moon. His troubled brother just touched his mouse again. Swankit didn't seem to notice, so Birchkit asked Quailkit something.

"What's bothering you so much, anyway? And are you going to eat that mouse?" he asked.

"Nothing for you to know, and yes," said Quailkit rather irritably. Swankit stared at Birchkit peculiarly, as if he was weird for asking the question.

"Why don't I need to know?" asked Birchkit a little angrily.

Quailkit turned his head away from Birchkit to Swankit. Then she nodded, and Quailkit sighed.

"Well, I don't see how you don't know this, the warriors were gossiping all this around, but maybe you were sleeping so much, but... well..." started Quailkit half-heartedly. Swankit nodded again.

Birchkit remembered he usually slept and stayed in the nursery a lot, but surely he must have heard some snippets of that gossip since he went to the fresh-kill pile and the elders' den, too.

"Moonstar, you know... Our grandmother? She's dying," his brother finished.

Birchkit was incredibly shocked and appalled. "Really? But how?" He remembered the silent worry he had for the half-moon, but he didn't think about it too much before. It was the first time someone had actually told him that Moonstar was dying. It opened up a new sense of worry and he had no idea what to think for the future of the Clan. He would be a warrior in the future. Even though he barely knew her that well, she was still his maternal grandmother, the founder of MoonClan, was an important part in the history of MoonClan, of what Wisdomheart told him, and one of the three cats in the Mountain Clan Prophecy. All of which he thought had a lot of significance to him and the rest of MoonClan. And he was also her youngest grandchild.

Swankit pretended to look ill, and cough a lot. That answered Birchkit's question.

"See? Moonstar's awfully sick," said Quailkit, looking really distressed. Now Birchkit fully realized why Quailkit was so irritated. He was even more worried than Birchkit or seemingly other warriors of the Clan were about this. It made sense since Moonstar was *his* grandmother, too, of course. And Quailkit probably couldn't do anything because he was only a kit, not even a medicine cat.

"Okay," was all Birchkit said. He felt very uncomfortable listening to all this, so he quickly finished half his hare, and went to Wisdomheart, who was eating next to the medicine cat's den. Birchkit remembered that his daughter, Lilypool, was the medicine cat. He wondered how it would be like to be an apprentice of his uncle, like Sealpaw and Maplestripe, Wisdomheart's son, since Lilypool's mentor was definitely Calmpond, his other great-uncle.

Wisdomheart was eating a squirrel and sitting with his cousin, Pinetail. Pinetail also lived in the time of the Tribe, while he was apprentice age, twelve moons younger than his three cousins. Then Birchkit asked, "Is Moonstar really dying?"

They looked distressed for a moment, then they both sadly nodded. "She is. From a sickness, which I don't know what it is, exactly," said Wisdomheart gloomily. "Not greencough since it's green-leaf, and it isn't contagious either since no one else got it." Pinetail nodded in agreement.

Birchkit nodded, but he wondered if the sickness was very fatal. "I have more questions," he said before they could stop talking.

He asked why Swankit wasn't speaking. Pinetail told him that she was a mute, so she couldn't speak.

He also asked if Goldenlily was related to anyone. Pinetail said Goldenlily was his daughter.

He even asked about Mountainkit & Flipsnow. Wisdomheart said Flipsnow was his mate's brother's daughter. His mate's name was a kittypet named Queen who temporarily joined the Clan as Queenheart, and her brother's name was Earl.

Wisdomheart said that Flipsnow was originally named Felicia, but at six moons old, she and her sister ran to MoonClan, Wisdomheart's Clan and was renamed Flippaw by Moonstar.

He also mentioned her sister's name, which was Penelope, who was renamed Peonypaw by Moonstar, later Peonyclaw, after her sharp personality. And she fell in love with Blazesky as an apprentice and mated with him as a warrior. Right now, their first litter was almost as old as Sealpaw, Sandpaw and Hailpaw, and the second litter almost as old as Shadowkit, Icekit and Quailkit.

Birchkit thought this was really interesting, but it didn't matter to him very much right now, since he was only a kit.

Birchkit asked one more question: Who was going to be the new leader & deputy if Moonstar died?

He explained that Falconblue would be the new leader, but it is unknown who he would choose as deputy. Birchkit was a little confused, but he was okay with it.

After listening to everything, Birchkit went into the nursery, thinking about everything Wisdomheart, Pinetail, Quailkit & Swankit told him.

*Moonstar's dying? From a sickness? Swankit cannot speak at all? Goldenlily's related to Moonstar, and also me? Flipsnow's that cat Earl's daughter, and so is Peonyclaw? And Peonyclaw is the name of my uncle's mate?* He knew what she looked like, since she was his cousins' mother in the nursery, but he never knew her name.

And it turned out she was also the sister of Flipsnow. He thought about Mountainkit.

Zebrakit and Stonekit were both littermates, a couple of moons older than him & Rainkit, and were the younger kits of Blazesky & Peonyclaw. Violetpaw and Firepaw were also littermates, and eight moons older than Zebrakit and Stonekit, so nearly warriors. Their mentors were Maplestripe and Mountainkit's father, Littleclaw, respectively, which he wondered if it was coincidental or not. Blazesky was Petuniaheart's littermate & Moonstar & Orangehill's son. *They're all cousins, too,* he said silently, remembering Mountainkit only talking to Zebrakit.

He only asked his last question because he wondered if Falconblue was fit to be the leader of the Clan. He had never seen him before, oddly enough, even thought he was supposed to be deputy. The elders, especially the wise Wisdomheart, and queens, like Petuniaheart, had told him that Falconblue joined the Clan at ten moons old as Falconpaw, and later on became a warrior in a few moons since he already knew most of the skills. But no one told him where he came from, or if he could be trusted. It started hurting his brain when he tried to think more about it.

*I'm only a kit,* he reminded himself. *I don't need to know so much about this right now.*

He got so sleepy from thinking that he padded over to his moss bed, put some moss on his pelt (like he liked to do), and thought about chasing rabbits and following butterflies instead, which were two of his previous dreams. When he told Rainkit about them, she said she got the same dreams, and they were both surprised and fascinated at the same time. They figured it was just because they were littermates. Birchkit then fell into a deep sleep.

### Chapter 3: AdderClan

A quarter-moon later, Birchkit heard Moonstar announcing something in a raspy voice.

Cats started crowding around Highrock. Birchkit stayed at the mouth of the nursery. Moonstar looked around to see if everyone was paying attention to her. Then she started.

"To begin, I have some bad news. I only have one life left from my illness, and I am so close to losing this one, too. Since I am ready to join the ranks of StarClan, Lilypool, I request that you don't give me any more treatment. I am ready to die peacefully. I am glad to give leadership to Falconblue once I die, and I hope he will be a great leader."

The cats didn't really look surprised since they knew about it already, but Lilypool just nodded. Birchkit wasn't really surprised, either, but very confused instead. *Why does she want to die?* She stopped to take a break then continued. "We have some new apprentices, too."

Moonstar then gestured towards Quailkit. She said the ritual, and Quailkit's mentor was Blazesky. Birchkit got confused for a moment. He thought Blazesky already had an apprentice, his sister, Sealpaw.

She also made Shadowkit & Icekit apprentices, since they were the same age, of course. Shadowkit was apprenticed to Birchkit's father, Snowpool, and Icekit to Forestcreek, Snowpool's brother. He thought it was interesting because Shadowpaw and Icepaw were littermates, and so were Snowpool and Forestcreek.

Then Moonstar did her smile and said, "We also need to welcome five new warriors."

His three sisters, Sealpaw, Hailpaw and Sandpaw were included in this list. They became Sealbranch, Hailstream & Sandleap. Two brothers (who Birchkit had never met before), Nightpaw & Nutpaw became warriors. They were Nightnose & Nutclaw.

All eight cats were congratulated for becoming apprentices and warriors.

Birchkit then knew why Blazesky was given Quailpaw. Because Sealpaw became a warrior, now Sealbranch.

Birchkit wondered when he would become an apprentice. He was a teeny bit more than halfway there, three and a quarter moons old, but seeing his siblings being promoted made him want to grow up faster.

#### Later -----

A few days later, Birchkit was minding his own business while carrying his mouse to a small dirt patch, until he was pulled back into the nursery by his mother. So was his sister, Rainkit.

All the kits were pulled back in by their mothers. Birchkit had no idea what was going on at all. Then he got told by his mother firmly, "Stay here. I promise I will come back," and she went out.

Goldenlily & Flipsnow told Swankit & Mountainkit to stay in the nursery, too, and left them very puzzled.

Birchkit gestured towards them to come to him & Rainkit, and they relaxed a bit.

But Birchkit still felt awfully confused like the others until Swankit gestured Birchkit to come to the mouth of the nursery. Rainkit & Mountainkit also went to the opening. They saw tons of cats fighting. Swankit turned her head towards Birchkit, and she had a very scared expression.

*What?!* thought Birchkit quickly. *They're fighting? Against whom?* It was the first time he witnessed an actual fight happening. Otherwise he only heard of these fights happening. He didn't know that he would witness a fight so young, only a kit.

Then Sealbranch ran to the nursery, and seemed to look perplexed at four kits staring out the nursery watching their Clan fight unknown cats, two of them her younger siblings.

She said, "Hey, um, I thought I would check up on all of you kits..."

"Will you tell us what's going on, sister? it's scary!" said Rainkit. Swankit and Mountainkit nodded, although fearfully of the fight.

*If Swankit could speak, she'd probably* still *stay silent like Mountainkit,* thought Birchkit seriously.

Sealbranch filled them in. Apparently, Adderstar had died, but his great-nephew, Fangclaw, became the leader of *AdderClan,* and he had his great-uncle's bloody ways. He had sent a group of highly-trained warriors to try and murder MoonClan. The newly-made apprentices, Shadowpaw, Icepaw & Quailpaw, weren't going to fight, since they had almost no experience compared to the older apprentices, so they stayed in the apprentices' den with Blazesky and Maplestripe guarding them. The older apprentices had to help the warriors in battle though.

The queens in the nursery who weren't expecting or nursing any kits were going to fight, too. But they wouldn't fight on the front lines, Sealbranch had said, only help the regular warriors fight.

Sealbranch then had to run off to fight, too, and Birchkit felt lonely again. He knew MoonClan was the biggest Clan of all three Clans (as per the tales of the elders, anyway), but there weren't a lot of queens in the nursery left. There were only two, and both were still pregnant with kits.

The other three kits had fallen asleep, who were Birchkit and Mountainkit's shared cousins, Zebrakit and Stonekit, and a kit who usually only hung out with Mountainkit, Berrykit, due to either boredom, or sensitivity to their mothers not being there.

The four kits were still awake, but scared. They kept watching out the nursery to see what was going on. They saw a few warriors defending the nursery, including Sandleap, which made sense to Birchkit. He shuddered at the thought of fierce and dangerous AdderClan warriors entering the nursery. Birchkit or the other kits barely knew how to fight.

But then, to their horror, they saw Goldenlily pinned, and about to be bitten in the neck. Swankit looked like she gasped, even though she made no noise. But then, Snowpool leaped onto the AdderClan cat, and they rolled over in a tumble.

Swankit was very shocked, but then she relaxed when Goldenlily got saved by Birchkit's father.

Birchkit bit his lip hard when he saw his father fight ferociously and intensely against the AdderClan warrior.

Then Birchkit saw Falconblue fighting. But then his senses almost seemed to corrupt when he saw who he was fighting against. Petuniaheart. His mother. And Peonyclaw, too. His vision became blurry as he could not comprehend what was going on. *The deputy?! Fighting against Petuniaheart and Peonyclaw?!* his mind screamed. He remembered Wisdomheart's stories and his worries about Falconblue, if he was fit to be a leader of MoonClan. *Were those worries... right?* he wondered as he was still trying to make sense of it.

"What? What's going on?" asked Rainkit confusingly, looking at Falconblue fighting against Petuniaheart & Peonyclaw. She had seen it, too.

"One of them must be a traitor," suggested Mountainkit thoughtfully. Swankit nodded. Birchkit and Rainkit didn't respond, because they were still confused. Birchkit saw Falconblue, Petuniaheart and Peonyclaw disappear from sight and his heart started pounding even more, as it already was. *What is going on?! What happened to them?!*

They kept watching, but Birchkit still could not forget Falconblue fighting against *another* MoonClan Clanmate. Two of which were his mother and aunt. He couldn't find either of them on the battlefield and his mind worried the worst could have happened.

In an hour or so, the fighting ceased, but Sealbranch came back with sad news.

"Our deputy, Falconblue, has been siding with AdderClan all along. He murdered poor, frail Moonstar, hoping to become leader. We decided we wanted to send him off to AdderClan, but he refused, saying he'd stay and become leader for the Clan. But then, a ton of warriors got angry and killed him. He's gone now, but we're afraid he had told AdderClan about our secrets before that, and we're without a leader or deputy!"

Birchkit blinked. The news was shocking for him. *Moonstar's dead? Because of Falconblue?* His head started to spin, and Rainkit, Mountainkit & Swankit looked just as shocked, surprised & very confused as he did. Birchkit had no idea what to say, or think, except that... maybe... he was *indeed* right about his worries all along.

"I'm sorry if this is too much for you, since you're only kits, but... this is the truth," continued Sealbranch gloomily. She looked at the floor in sadness.

Snowpool, their father, came in and nodded. "Your grandmother died, and without a doubt, Falconblue killed her, and started attacking your mother & aunt."

*"Is Petuniaheart okay?"* Birchkit couldn't help asking.

Sealbranch looked nervously at Snowpool, and he drew in a sharp breath. The four kits felt really scared. *I swear to StarClan, if she isn't okay...* Birchkit thought anxiously, fear gripping his heart. *I might die!*

"Well... she's in the medicine cat den," Snowpool said carefully.

"She's hurt?!" yowled Rainkit in shock. Birchkit had the same expression.

Snowpool shook his head. "Not much. But Peonyclaw is fine."

Swankit pointed to herself and looked confused. It took a moment for Birchkit & Snowpool to understand.

"Oh... your mother? She's okay, too. Goldenlily & I fought off an AdderClan warrior that was about to kill her, but I saved her. She's fine, too," said Snowpool, and turning his attention to Mountainkit, he replied, "Flipsnow is okay, too. She has a scratch on her chest, but that's pretty much it."

All the kits were relieved. Their mothers weren't dead.

"Alright, do you want to come with me to the meeting? We need a new leader," he said slowly. Birchkit thought about it. He didn't know Moonstar very much, anyway, but since she was very important to MoonClan's history, he wondered how it was so easy for Falconblue to kill her, a legend of the Mountain Clans. After all, she brought the change to the Mountain Tribe. He wasn't at all sad about Falconblue dying, though. But he knew that since both deputy and leader were now dead, they needed a knew leader.

"Yes!" yowled Rainkit & Birchkit. Mountainkit & Swankit simply nodded.

"Okay, then," Snowpool said, leading them out. Birchkit noticed Shadowpaw, Icepaw and Quailpaw outside, too, and they said nothing, just looking confused instead.

The cats were negotiating a lot about the new leader and deputy. There were even some arguments going on.

"I think that Blazesky should be the leader," Peonyclaw commanded. "He *is* a pretty good candidate, not to mention being Moonstar's son."

"Well, it doesn't matter if he is the son or not," Maplestripe started, looking at Peonyclaw, "but I guess he is good enough?"

Blazesky shook his head. "I am pretty sure Moonstar would have chosen someone else other than me."

Flipsnow tried to defend her sister, and even stated that Peonyclaw could be leader, but then Orchidmoon spoke up and said, "She doesn't have MoonClan blood, though."

"Does that matter?" Peonyclaw hissed. Another argument ensued about cats wanting Blazesky or Peonyclaw to be leader.

Then Snowpool yowled, "*Be quiet! Moonstar was know for always staying calm even when things get tough! You can't argue all the time! It isn't MoonClan to do this nonsense!"*

Everybody stopped talking and stared at him. Then a lot of MoonClan exchanged looks and started talking about something different. Birchkit blinked when he realized what they were talking about, and Rainkit looked surprised. Then Petuniaheart went up to Snowpool and said, "My dear, you should be the new leader of MoonClan! It's clear you have the leadership to do it."

"What? But... I'm not very..." started Snowpool, but he trailed off.

Then other cats started approving of him being leader, and finally, Snowpool gave in. Birchkit noticed Shadowpaw looking shocked for a moment, but then he started smiling along with the other MoonClan warriors. Birchkit thought it was because he was Snowpool's apprentice, soon to be Snowstar.

Birchkit was confused. His father would be leader? He was again a leader's descendant? He thought he should be proud of his father, but he only felt pure confusion at *EVERYTHING* that happened that day.

He went to the nursery again, and fell asleep, feeling awfully tired all of a sudden, and too confused, ignoring the celebration. His head was hurting too much from the worries he had previously, and how it *all* came true.

### Chapter 4: Zebrapaw & Stonepaw

A moon had passed since Snowstar became leader. It hadn't occurred to the Clan his name would be the same as the founder of SnowClan, but nobody seemed to care.

Snowstar ran the Clan pretty well, and had chosen Sealbranch as deputy. Her sisters, Hailstream, Sandleap & Rainkit congratulated her, and so did her brothers & mother, Birchkit, Quailpaw & Petuniaheart.

Zebrakit felt tired. He had wondered when it would be time for his & Stonekit's ceremony. It was now six whole moons away from their birth. He looked at his cousin, Mountainkit, and he was talking eagerly with Birchkit, Rainkit & Swankit.

*If only I was that talkative to other kits,* Zebrakit thought longingly.

He thought about his namesakes. His grandmother through his mother, Peonyclaw, a kittypet named Wendy, had went to the savanna before with her Twoleg and told Peonyclaw about zebras, striped animals. Wendy said her Twoleg called them "zebras", otherwise she used to call them "striped horses."

Zebrakit felt a little embarrassed his name was just something his grandmother's Twoleg called them, which wasn't even a cat word.

He scratched the nursery floor, out of impatience, and finally decided to look for Stonekit. She wasn't necessarily nice to anyone but her littermate, himself. She wasn't even nice to their parents, Blazesky & Peonyclaw, or Violetpaw & Firepaw, their brother & sister in their parents' first litter.

So he was the one to look for her.

*You are the only one to tame the beast,* said a voice in Zebrakit's head. It was Peonyclaw's voice, but he wasn't sure *she* was the one who actually said that.

He shook that off and kept looking. He finally found her by the rock slicing up a bunch of prey.

"What are you doing?! You're not supposed to do that!" Zebrakit yowled. Stonekit was about to protest but seemingly remembered who she was talking to, and swallowed. Then she replied calmly, "I can do whatever I want since I'm a kit, right?"

"No, you have to *eat* it. Not play with it! Like this!" Zebrakit protested, and then took a chunk of prey and dropped it into his mouth. "See!" he said, swallowing. Stonekit yawned in boredom and said, "Whatever. When is our ceremony, anyway?"

"I dunno," Zebrakit replied, his anger fading away. "We're exactly six moons old."

Then he spotted Snowstar talking to his father, Blazesky, and Snowstar nodded. Then he leaped up to Highrock, and did the formal StarClan sayings. Zebrakit & Stonekit looked elated, and cats started gathering. Zebrakit remembered that it was also his siblings' warrior ceremony.

"Zebrakit & Stonekit, you both have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, under the moon, until you receive your warrior name, you will both be known as Zebrapaw & Stonepaw. Your mentors will be Sandleap & Nightnose. I hope they will pass down all they know on to you."

*"Zebrapaw! Stonepaw! Zebrapaw! Stonepaw!"* the Clan cheered.

Zebrapaw spotted Birchkit staring warily at him & Stonepaw. He simply ignored him and touched noses with Sandleap. It felt weird that his mentor was the leader's daughter, and his much older cousin.

Snowstar continued , "I, also call upon our warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices, Violetpaw and Firepaw. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn. By the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior names." He continued the ceremony and they were Violetrain and Fireclaw.

*"Violetrain! Fireclaw!"* the Clan repeated.

Snowstar concluded the ceremony, and Zebrapaw wondered what he should do now. "Do we train?" he asked Sandleap.

"Sure, if you want to," she answered calmly. "We can do fighting training."

"Well, I do," he replied, thinking about what his warriorhood would be like.

Then they trained for about an hour in a quiet, secluded area, where no one would usually bother them. But then he noticed Birchkit eating a mouse and watching them. It made him feel uncomfortable, so he asked Sandleap if he could take a short break, and she agreed. She must also have felt uncomfortable with her brother watching them, seeing this was her very first time as a mentor.

"Birchkit, can you please play with your friends? We're training right now," Zebrapaw requested Birchkit.

*"Why?* When your father trained Sealbranch as an apprentice, he let me watch!" Birchkit said defiantly and walked away.

"Phew, I felt nervous with him watching! Let's continue," Sandleap said calmly.

After another hour or so, Sandleap said, "Wow, you have very interesting methods, indeed, Zebrapaw! Keep up the nice work!"

"Thanks, Sandleap," Zebrapaw replied quietly.

Then four kits went up to Zebrapaw later when he was eating a snowshoe hare. Three of them were his cousins, Birchkit, Rainkit & Mountainkit, but one was a kit he didn't know much. He tried to remember the name. Finally it came to him.

"Swankit? Birchkit, Rainkit & Mountainkit? What are you doing?" he asked nonchalantly.

"We're talking about how you made Birchkit sad!" blurted out Rainkit. Zebrapaw sighed.

*Kits are so emotional,* he thought. But then again, these kits were only two moons younger, Swankit and Mountainkit a quarter-moon younger than Birchkit and Rainkit.

"You were making me and Sandleap uncomfortable, Birchkit, and you didn't even ask her if you could watch," said Zebrapaw casually.

"So? How am I doing anything?" Birchkit yelled.

Zebrapaw sighed in exasperation. "Do you know what it is like to be watched when you are doing something that needs incredible focus? And if you make a mistake, everyone who is watching you will judge you based on that stupid mistake. But you aren't an apprentice yet so you won't understand until you *do* become one."

The four kits looked surprised but it didn't seem to calm them down. Instead Birchkit and Rainkit seemed to look angrier.

"That is a dumb explanation! *I won't judge you!*" Birchkit yowled. Rainkit fiercely nodded.

Zebrapaw shrugged in resignation. "Whatever! I am not going to waste any more precious time arguing with an immature kit! I will eat in *peace!*" Then he took his snowshoe hare and sat in his new den, the apprentice den. Then Stonepaw came up to him with a mouse.

"How was your training? I bet it was terrible," Stonepaw teased. Zebrapaw sighed. "Don't be so negative, please. Was *your* training terrible? Hopefully not otherwise you will take out all your frustration on me."

Stonepaw just raised her eyebrow and shrugged. "Fine, whatever. But Nightnose is just a tad bit weird so I got frustrated." She flicked her tail and sat down next to him with her mouse.

"But I did spot you with those really younger kits. What were you doing? Arguing with them? I doubt their mothers would be happy with you," Stonepaw continued, smirking. Zebrapaw sighed in exasperation again. "No, they were arguing with *me!* About how I didn't let Birchkit watch me while I was training with Sandleap. I thought it was ridiculous."

Stonepaw looked a little surprised but she just shrugged and replied, "Really? Well, then I agree with you. Kits like them are dumber than *newborns.* They shouldn't be so sensitive otherwise they will want to run away from the battlefield once they see AdderClan's fierce and killing glares."

Zebrapaw shrugged in reply, but in an appreciative way. His littermate was really annoying at times (and sometimes with extreme descriptions, too), but she was the only one who sided with him sometimes. He wanted to change the subject to something more meaningful, though, so he talked to her about their training, and Stonepaw complied.

After a while, they took a nap, and woke up the next day. Zebrapaw ate a mouse at the prey pile and looked around for Sandleap. She was talking to Sealbranch.

Then Swankit came and took a mouse, too, but she glared at Zebrapaw. Zebrapaw ignored her, of course. *I never thought these kits would have a grudge against me,* he thought angrily. It was annoying to him.

Then Sandleap went to Zebrapaw and asked him to train, and he was glad, so he did training with Sandleap again. Swankit was still glaring at him, though.

When he was finished, he decided to drink some water from a soaked moss ball. But then suddenly, he felt something pounce on him.

"Hey! Who in Silverpelt is that?!" Zebrapaw exclaimed and tried to throw it off. Then he turned around and saw it was Birchkit.

"Hmph, I learned some pouncing moves! See, I can also be an apprentice, too!" Birchkit yowled indignantly.

"That isn't what I said at all, I am pretty sure!" Zebrapaw groaned. "If you have nothing better to do, bother someone else like Quailpaw."

Then Birchkit's friends came. *Oh, great, what is their problem,* Zebrapaw thought, really bugged off by them now.

"Look, if you want to pick on someone, pick on Stonepaw," he told them. "She is probably more annoying than I would ever be to you."

Stonepaw was sitting at the prey pile somewhere within earshot and she glared at Zebrapaw, except in a nicer fashion, since she was only ever nice to him.

Then Rainkit told him something surprising. "Well, Stonepaw said that you were being weird, too."

Zebrapaw blinked. "Come again? What do you mean by being weird?"

Swankit pointed to a mouse at the prey pile and then pretended to snatch an invisible one harshly and eat it.

"Are you saying I stole a mouse?" Zebrapaw responded, somehow understanding what she said. "I am pretty sure the only mice I stole were from the prey pile itself, not from another cat because that would make no sense."

"Your sister, Stonepaw, stole a mouse from Birchkit yesterday and said that you told her to!" Rainkit fully explained, with a little anger in her voice. Mountainkit nodded.

Zebrapaw blinked a few times before understanding what she said. Then he looked at Stonepaw and back at Rainkit. "What are you even talking about? Why would I tell her that?" he exclaimed in disbelief. He didn't think kits were so gullible as to believe anyone, even if it was wrong. He never remembered him or Stonepaw being gullible like this. "Why would you believe her anyway?" he continued.

"Why not?" retorted Birchkit. Zebrapaw just sighed. *I will have to talk to Stonepaw about this,* he thought angrily, except his anger was redirected towards Stonepaw now.

But then Stonepaw came towards him first. "Hey, you said those kits were bothering you, right? So I gave them a taste of their own medicine," she explained casually.

Zebrapaw glared at her. "I didn't say you had to do anything. And why did you even throw me under the dirt? Did I ask you to?"

Stonepaw just shrugged. "Whatever, you did seem pretty annoyed about the kits."

Zebrapaw flicked his tail uncomfortably, since she didn't answer his second question. But he just decided to drink the water from the moss ball and left. The other five cats watched him leave. Zebrapaw went to the mouth of the apprentices' den and watched them to see what they would do. Then he heard a voice, which somehow seemed familiar.

"What were you doing?" asked Shadowpaw, coming up from behind him. Then he sat next to him. Shadowpaw's sister and littermate, Icepaw, also came up to him and sat next to Zebrapaw.

"I agree, what were you *doing?!* Were you *arguing* with them?!" Icepaw said to Zebrapaw loudly, which made him think that she was probably angry, too.

"They were arguing with me over something that Stonepaw did!" Zebrapaw answered her in a firm but respectful tone. "I thought it was ridiculous so I left the scene."

Shadowpaw perked his ears up. "Really?" he asked, a little bit confused but intrigued at the same time. "What was it about?"

Zebrapaw told him about how Stonepaw stole a mouse from Birchkit, and she did it because the kits were annoying him previously.

Icepaw looked astonished and exclaimed, "Really! She is a piece of dirt, then. But did you tell her to do it?"

Zebrapaw sighed. "No! Why does everyone think that? Do you think I would do that?"

Birchkit, Rainkit, Swankit and Mountainkit started running away from Stonepaw and she was chasing them. Shadowpaw and Icepaw noticed too and looked at Zebrapaw skeptically.

Zebrapaw groaned loudly and shouted, really pissed off by now, "You know what, let me end this once and for all!" Then he ran out of the den and asked, *"What are you doing?!"*

Birchkit yowled in reply, "She said that she would claw us up! And you are her brother and littermate, you know!"

Stonepaw growled, "They called me a piece of crowfood." Then she looked at Icepaw and hissed, "I also heard what Icepaw said about me being dirt!" Icepaw just shrugged dismissively.

Then Shadowpaw came to see what was going on. Other cats around them started to notice what was going on. "Stop yowling otherwise cats will hear you and be disturbed!" hissed Shadowpaw quietly.

Swankit looked between her older siblings and Zebrapaw and Stonepaw warily. Rainkit yelled at Zebrapaw, "Well, you still didn't apologize to Birchkit!"

*"For what?!"* Zebrapaw snapped. *"Shouldn't you be saying that to Stonepaw or something?!"*

Stonepaw just snorted and said firmly, "They could, but I will never oblige. And besides, you did start it."

Shadowpaw looked confused. "How did he start it?" he asked no one in particular.

Rainkit explained how he didn't let Birchkit watch him while he was training. Shadowpaw looked at Zebrapaw in a puzzled way again. "Well, that doesn't seem extreme."

Zebrapaw groaned very loudly that it could be heard across the camp. He yowled very loudly at everyone, *"You don't understand! I told him politely to play with his friends instead of watching me and Sandleap since we were getting nervous! What if we make a mistake while training?!"*

Shadowpaw raised an eyebrow, then rolled his eyes. "Really? As if *other* cats aren't looking at you while fighting." Most of the other cats that were there seemed to agree, including Stonepaw herself, which made Zebrapaw even more angrier.

He groaned even louder this time, getting the attention of everyone in the camp, and yowled, *"So?! I am not a seasoned fighter and Sandleap isn't a seasoned mentor! So that is why we were nervous because we didn't want to make mistakes! For full warriors it's fine but I just started out a day ago! We even went into a secluded place in the camp to train but Birchkit somehow found us!"*

Everyone looked startled then, including Sandleap, who was just talking with her sisters, Sealbranch and Hailstream. "Um, what are you talking about, Zebrapaw?" Sandleap asked with great puzzlement, since she recognized her name was said.

Zebrapaw didn't really have time to explain. *"I don't know why they were bothering me anyway!"* he yowled at everyone at the top of his lungs. *"WHILE I WAS JUST TRYING TO EAT, THEY SUDDENLY CAME AND STARTED ARGUING WITH ME ABOUT IT FOR NO REASON! THEN SOMETIME AFTER THAT STONEPAW STOLE A MOUSE FROM BIRCHKIT WHILE HE WAS TRYING TO EAT, AND THEN-AND THEN-AND THEN-"* He growled very explosively and lost control. *"THEY STARTED BOTHERING ME AGAIN AND BEING ANNOYING! THEN THEY TOLD ME EVERYTHING WHICH IS WHY I WAS SO ANNOYED!"*

Everyone was silent for a few seconds and looked stunned by his words. Swankit and Mountainkit looked fearful of him. Peonyclaw and Blazesky, his parents, looked shocked at this, especially. Then Peonyclaw asked, "Um, Zebrapaw, maybe you need to cool down a little, and try to get away from them."

Zebrapaw listened to her and shrugged. *"I suppose so! But they better not follow me again!"* Then he stomped out of the scene and over to the nursery which he thought was the safest place to be, leaving his tense words hanging in the air. He saw a queen which was about to give birth soon looked a little skeptical at him, but she just smiled. Zebrapaw didn't feel like returning it and mostly just ignored her and fell asleep quickly.

Sometime later, he woke up from his short nap and remembered what happened. *Hopefully it doesn't happen again,* he hoped.

He went out to get a mouse but then he noticed his mother talking to all of the apprentices and kits that had bothered him, including Stonepaw.

"Don't try to escalate simple conflicts about kit fights again, because MoonClan is a Clan of peace, as Moonstar intended it to be," Peonyclaw told them strictly, especially Stonepaw. "And don't try to fight other cats' battles without their permission unless they are in desperate need of help."

She padded away from the young cats and they were still a little confused. Then Stonepaw stalked away grumpily as her mother did.

Then the group of cats left noticed Zebrapaw watching them. Birchkit padded up to Zebrapaw with a mouse and put it down, and nudged it towards him.

"Peonyclaw told us to apologize to you for making a big deal out of it. I suppose I shouldn't have watched you without permission, but I thought that you would be like other cats who usually train out in the open," Birchkit explained apologetically. "I just wanted to be friends..." Rainkit nodded, and Swankit and Mountainkit followed.

"Well, I also thought that you were being rude to him which is why I was angry but you were actually being okay," Rainkit added in the same tone.

"Yeah, it was mostly Stonepaw's fault for escalating everything. You were just trying to mind your own peace but then your sister went behind your back and did that," Shadowpaw agreed with slight remorse in his voice. "We probably should have tried to understand your situation."

Zebrapaw was speechless as he hadn't thought about their quick apology. His mother, Peonyclaw, had a knack for making other cats' egos crack and making them submit to her, especially with kits and apprentices, but he hadn't thought about their reaction. He searched their faces for any signs of sarcasm or falsity but there was none, only friendliness. Then he forced himself to smile and he nodded.

"No, it's okay, I should have more polite with you, too, and tried to understand it from your perspective. You or Stonepaw aren't the only ones at fault," Zebrapaw replied understandingly and with humility. "I also should have let you watch so we could have become friends. I also shouldn't have yelled at the top of my lungs." He apologetically looked at Swankit and Mountainkit who he remembered looked fearful of him a few hours before.

"Well, we all have ego, right?" Shadowpaw joked. "We should all just learn how to lower it at the right time!" Birchkit, Rainkit and Zebrapaw chuckled, because they understood.

"What is ego?" Mountainkit asked Shadowpaw, and Swankit nodded. He simply replied that it was a thing which helps someone be self-appreciative and proud of themselves, and think of themself as a great cat. He also said that if ego was too high, then they would consider other cats as lower to them, and be too proud of themselves when they shouldn't be, and Zebrapaw thought that Mountainkit and Swankit understood Shadowpaw.

Zebrapaw thought that he could finally be friends with someone other than Stonepaw, as she definitely had different tastes than him. He was also very happy that he was accepted by them despite his loud outbursts and tough behavior with others, but he also had a good heart, which he figured was the reason why they connected.

He hadn't made friends with them before due to his thinking that they were too much younger than him, and neither with Shadowpaw, Icepaw or Quailpaw because he figured they were too much older (despite being only one moon older), and neither did Stonepaw. So he was only friends with his mother and littermate.

*Maybe I need to stretch my legs outside of the box,* Zebrapaw figured, and he asked the kits and Shadowpaw, "Do you want to play Moss Fetch?"

The kits and Shadowpaw eagerly agreed, and they swiftly went to playing the game. He thought his time as an apprentice was going to be much better than his kithood.

### Chapter 5: Primrosekit & Dandelionkit

It turned into leaf-fall.

Primrosekit was one moon old. She was born last moon to Rosepetal and Maplestripe when Zebrapaw and Stonepaw were made apprentices. Maplestripe was Queen and Wisdomheart's youngest child, so she felt quite proud of being related to someone cool, since Wisdomheart was Moonstar's brother and the first deputy. She was also related to Flipsnow and Peonyclaw through Queen.

She turned to her sister and littermate, Dandelionkit, and prodded her in the arm.

"Erm, what?" asked Dandelionkit, sleepy.

"Can we play?" she asked. "Mama... is sleeping."

"And I'm sleeping, too," meowed Dandelionkit.

Primrosekit groaned, but then saw Swankit, Rainkit, Birchkit, Mountainkit, Shadowpaw and Zebrapaw in the mouth of the nursery. Then all six of them exited the nursery.

*Lucky them,* she thought jealously of the four kits. *They get to leave the nursery by themselves since they're so much older. They're going to be apprentices themselves!*

Primrosekit wanted someone to play with, but there was pretty much nobody except for Dandelionkit, since she was shy with everyone else.

Then she looked at her mother and sister sleeping soundly. Primrosekit wasn't at all sleepy, so she sneaked out of the den to see what the other cats were doing.

Shadowpaw and Zebrapaw were throwing moss balls, and the kits were trying to catch them. She wanted to play, too, but her condition was that her reflexes couldn't be very fast, no matter how hard she tried to be quick.

When Primrosekit stepped closer, none of them even noticed her. She stomped back inside in gloom.

There were almost no kits in the nursery left, just two frail newborns who were born a couple of days ago, and their sleeping mother. A new queen, Redwater, had joined the nursery a half-moon ago, but of course, she had no kits and Primrosekit was too shy to talk to her, anyways. Plus, she was also sleeping as well.

"Well... do I bother," muttered Primrosekit silently, laying down in her moss bed next to Rosepetal. She still wasn't tired. Then she went back outside again, and they were still playing that game.

*Hmm, maybe if I explore, instead...* thought Primrosekit, feeling clever. She padded away from them, going into the trees. She saw buttercups and poppies. She smelled each of them, and it smelled good.

*I wonder if there are any primroses?* she thought, wanting to smell her namesakes.

She padded deeper into the trees for a few minutes, and saw some small, white flowers growing near the edge of something.

*Orchids? Roses? Lilies?* she thought as she tried to go closer to it.

Primrosekit went closer, and closer, and smelled it. Suddenly, something went out from under her, and she felt like she was falling a great height.

She started wailing until she fell right onto a branch. She felt like she was going to fall again, so instinctively she put her paws on the branch and tried to climb up on top of it. Since Primrosekit was small and light, the branch didn't seem to even be damaged from her weight.

Primrosekit tried to wail for help, but none came. She felt hopelessly tired all of a sudden, but had no idea what to do about it. She hung on tightly for her life, and kept screeching, *"Help! Help! Help me!"*

An hour had passed, but Primrosekit felt it had been seasons instead. It was almost getting dark, and Primrosekit was too tired to do anything. She tried her hardest not to fall asleep otherwise she would fall off and probably die. She couldn't fall into water, since she didn't know how to swim. It was probably a very tall tree that the branch that she fell on was part of, but she didn't know how to climb, either. She didn't even know if she could walk on the branch without losing balance and falling off.

She decided to scream again, until someone said, *"Primrosekit? Are you there?!"*

*"Yes!"* she squealed in relief. But she was still scared that she might fall down.

"I'm going on patrol with my mentor, I'll tell him you're down there!" the cat said.

"Okay," Primrosekit breathed. She felt hungry, too. She wanted to suckle some milk from her mother, but there was no way to do that.

*"Primrosekit?! Are you there?! The entire camp had been frantic about you!"* a much older male voice shouted a few seconds later.

*"Yes!"* screamed Primrosekit.

"Well, this is dangerous, but there's a creek down there. I know how to swim, so I'll catch you, Primrosekit," the older voice said much more calmly, but still loud enough for Primrosekit to hear. "Quailpaw, stay here while I get her. Got it?"

"Got it, Blazesky," said Quailpaw. Primrosekit was surprised. *Quailpaw and Blazesky?* They were both related to her, since they were descendants of Moonstar.

Primrosekit watched as Blazesky aimed for the water, and jumped. He fell down the mountain edge, and plunged into the deep waters.

"Now fall! I'll catch you!" rang Blazesky's voice from down there. Primrosekit had seen the height from where she was before, but she felt nervous dropping much more than a few tree-lengths down.

But she let go... and fell backwards. She saw Quailpaw's worried face get farther and farther away. She felt like she was falling... then floating. The air was blowing wildly about...

Primrosekit felt a sudden lurch, and she fell into the water, and got pulled up. She saw Blazesky's face, and she felt relieved.

But then Blazesky exclaimed, *"What in Silverpelt were you even thinking?! This is the mountain's edge!* A good thing there's a creek, otherwise we wouldn't have gotten you in time! For your sake, you shouldn't have exited the nursery by yourself, much, much less go into this strand of trees with no one with you!"

"I'm sorry. There was... no one to play with... and-" Primrosekit was saying but she got interrupted by Blazesky who replied calmly, "Well, then, at least go out of the nursery, but not *camp!"* He sighed. Then he looked up and yelled at the top of his voice, *"Quailpaw! Can you hear me?! Go back to camp and tell them this! Be safe!"*

Quailpaw's voice rang back, "Okay! I will!"

Blazesky turned his attention back to Primrosekit and said, "Okay, all right... we'll go back up there safely. We are descent from mountain lions, so we can climb easily. It could be easier to just use the Twoleg trail they made, but whatever. It'll be faster the traditional way."

Primrosekit had to climb onto his back as Blazesky climbed up all the way to the top. It was already moonhigh when they arrived, and when they did, almost everyone was awake, and looked worried until they saw Blazesky and Primrosekit. Quailpaw was right there.

"Well, Quailpaw told us what had happened," said Snowstar. Rosepetal, Maplestripe and Dandelionkit were the most frantic, until they saw her.

"Oh, oh, are you all right, my kit, my kit!" Rosepetal was saying, pushing cats to get to Primrosekit. Primrosekit got very embarrassed with all eyes on her. Maplestripe scolded her for leaving camp. Dandelionkit said nothing, however, but she was very worried.

Primrosekit felt very tired and wet, and yearned to sleep for a moon. She spotted those six cats she saw earlier watching her weirdly. She hung her head shamefully, not wanting to look at anyone. She wondered why everyone was awake.

"Dandelionkit?" Primrosekit asked quietly. "Why is everyone... awake?"

Dandelionkit muttered to her sister, "Because you were gone for so long, MoonClan didn't know what to do. They didn't want a kit to die."

*They thought I was dead?!* was one of Primrosekit's horrific thoughts. *I'm that important?* was one of Primrosekit's confusing thoughts.

Blazesky was talking to Snowstar about something, probably her fall off the cliff. After a little while, everyone was told to go back into their dens, which they did. Except for Quailpaw.

When Primrosekit went into the nursery, Quailpaw followed. Petuniaheart saw him and said, "You're supposed to sleep with the apprentices," but Quailpaw replied, "I want to comfort Primrosekit. She's been through more than she should."

Petuniaheart nodded, and went off into thoughts as if she was thinking of something terrifying. Then she shivered and went to sleep.

Quailpaw sat down next to Primrosekit and said, "Do you want to hear a story?"

"Sure," replied Primrosekit with a head-splitting yawn.

"This is about me when I was your age. I also fell off the mountain edge."

Primrosekit was shocked, but at the same time felt excitement flow into her and responded, "Really?"

"Yes, but not the same one. A different one that doesn't have that many trees, and mostly rocks and streams. I fell off a waterfall when I was your age," Quailpaw continued.

Primrosekit was even more shocked. *A waterfall? When he was just my age?* "That's way... before my birth," she remarked.

He nodded and continued, "I also wandered out of camp, but not because of boredom. Because of intrigue. The mountain edge and the waterfall was amazing for me. I wanted to touch it, but I fell in, and into the waterfall. Luckily, I was with Shadowpaw at the time, Shadowkit back then, and he immediately ran back to camp and told cats to rescue me. I was saved, but unconscious.

"You also notice the way my mother acted when she thought about your fall? It reminded her of mine."

"Interesting," murmured Primrosekit, almost drifting off to sleep.

Quailpaw did a huge yawn and mewed, "Well, I'll let you sleep, and I'll go into my own den. Good night, don't let mice bite."

"Good night," said Primrosekit and watched through half-closed eyes as Quailpaw left the den peacefully and silently. She felt her eyes close, and drifted into very deep sleep.

### Chapter 6: Swankit & Stonepaw

The next day, Birchkit couldn't help watching his mother frantically keep looking at Primrosekit sleeping and Quailpaw training outside the nursery. He felt terrible that this had to happen to a very young kit, Primrosekit, such an horrific experience. Nothing like that ever befallen *him* before, and he hoped nothing would.

Quailpaw had told Birchkit what had happened to him before Birchkit was born, so he knew what Petuniaheart was scared of.

He wanted to invite Primrosekit to his games, but she seemed too young and shy to do so, and it reminded him of Zebrapaw and Stonepaw when *they* were kits. At least Dandelionkit still talked to other kits, but Primrosekit seemed to be too bashful, probably because of her condition. But Swankit was *mute,* and she wasn't this hesitant. He wasn't sure what else to do since everyone else was occupied, so he decided to take a nap.

When he woke up, Primrosekit was gone.

Birchkit was baffled. Her mother and sister, Rosepetal and Dandelionkit, were still there but they were awake.

He searched everywhere for Primrosekit in the nursery, but she wasn't there.

*Oh no, did she wander off again?* Birchkit wondered frantically. He went outside of the nursery, but simply saw her playing along a small place in the clearing with...

"Quailpaw?!" Birchkit cried out. "What are you doing?"

"Playing tag with Primrosekit. She's not very fast because of something with her nerves, so I'm going slow," mewed Quailpaw.

"Don't you have to train?" asked Birchkit interrogatively.

Quailpaw answered, "Well, not all the time obviously. I'm taking some of my time to play!"

Birchkit looked at Primrosekit and wondered why she wasn't in the nursery. "Isn't she not supposed to exit the nursery by herself?" he inquired curiously.

Primrosekit stopped, and seemed to hang her head sadly. Quailpaw narrowed his eyes and replied, "But she isn't by herself. She's with me. I even told her mother, Rosepetal, and she said it was fine."

Birchkit blinked, but murmured, "Oh, ok..."

Then Quailpaw narrowed his eyes even further to look a little menacing, "And besides, staring at her yesterday wasn't helping her. Stop bothering us."

Birchkit was surprised, and got a little sad when Primrosekit looked away from him and continued playing with Quailpaw. He didn't want to be rude or anything. When the incident happened with Zebrapaw, he tried to be more considerate of others from then on. He didn't want to misunderstand anyone or to be misunderstood himself.

He looked around for Shadowpaw, who was sitting in a grass clearing with a mouse, and told him everything what happened with Quailpaw.

"What? Why would my best friend do that? That's *ridiculous!*" cried Shadowpaw in disbelief.

"I don't know. Maybe they found a similarity between each other. Quailpaw told his story to me & Primrosekit. You apparently saved him," replied Birchkit thoughtfully.

"Well, that part is true. I did alert the cats to help rescue him. I was part of the rescue team, too," agreed Shadowpaw.

Birchkit was puzzled. "How would they let a one-moon old kit help?"

Shadowpaw narrowed his eyes and replied firmly with a glint of humor, "Don't question it, because it's true."

Birchkit shrugged at his reply since he didn't really care. But then he remembered his kit friends, so he asked, "Well, where's Swankit & Mountainkit & Rainkit?"

Shadowpaw tilted his head as if he was thinking. "Rainkit is watching Lilypool heal injured & sick cats, well... Mountainkit is watching a training going on with Stonepaw & Nightnose, and Swankit... hmm..."

Birchkit was waiting for the answer, and became distraught when he replied, "I don't know where my sister is."

"Well, okay, I'll look for her myself. But thanks, Shadowpaw!" mewed Birchkit, walking off.

"You're welcome," Shadowpaw replied warmly.

He looked all over the camp for her, but to no avail. Birchkit sat down on the border of camp & sulked. *Where could she be?* Birchpaw wondered frantically, similar to what he thought when he found out Primrosekit was gone from the nursery. *She usually doesn't leave camp like Primrosekit does...*

Then unexpectedly, he heard scratching & blowing somewhere.

*That must be Swankit... in trouble!* thought Birchkit immediately. Since there was a lot of chatter going on in the clearing, he kept his ears sharp on the sound. Since Swankit was mute and had no voice, she'd have to do everything she could to make a ton of noise. It never occurred to Birchkit she could still make breathing sounds, however.

It seemed like it was coming from outside of camp. He remembered what happened to Quailpaw and Primrosekit, but he thought Swankit must be in dire trouble, so he left camp anyway. Birchkit heard the scratching & blowing very clearly in some huge hole. He peered down.

He saw Swankit scratching harshly on some wood and taking deep breaths to make big blows. She looked up and she looked relieved when she saw him.

The only emotion that Birchkit could feel at that time, however... was sheer horror.

"*Swankit?! What happened to you?!*" Birchkit yowled in terror. He knew she couldn't say anything about her story, but he wanted to know if she was okay.

Swankit pointed to herself, and did a thumbs-up and a nod. *That probably means she's fine,* thought Birchkit in great relief.

"Well, how did you get down there?" asked Birchkit calmly, knowing she was perfectly okay. But then, Swankit made a sad face, then demonstrated. She imitated pushing someone, and then she pretended to fall down backwards.

"Someone pushed you into there?" Birchkit screeched in sheer horror again. Swankit nodded sadly. "Can you get out?" he asked. She shook her head, then she demonstrated her trying to climb out, but it was too steep for her and she slipped and fell down again.

"Um... stay there, and don't panic. I'm going to get help," Birchkit replied anxiously. He waited half a second for her reply (which was a nod), and dashed back towards camp, and looked for his father.

Snowstar was simply just looking at his claws, and not doing much else. He was about to groom himself until Birchkit told him the news of Swankit.

"What... is-is this true?!" meowed Snowstar indignantly, getting up.

"Well, I just talked to her, and she was actually stuck in there, so..." said Birchkit quietly, trailing off, knowing his dad should know what to do.

"Well, I know what to do. This is Moonstar's cousin's granddaughter, and every kit is important. Show me the hole first, so I know what to do for it," replied Snowstar, rather valiantly.

Birchkit started to leave camp, and he saw Snowstar even more stupefied as he followed his son. Birchkit showed him the hole and Swankit, and Snowstar's eyes became even wider. The hole was probably way too steep for even an experienced adult mountain cat to climb, especially with a kit hanging on. "What the-" he exclaimed, but he was interrupted by a hawk noise.

"Oh no!" said Birchkit, but Snowstar was ready for something. The hawk pressed its talons into Swankit's pelt and flew with her out of the hole. Then Snowstar pounced on the hawk, and scratched it, making it let go of Swankit.

Swankit dropped onto Snowstar's back and seemed to hang on for her life. Then he put Swankit down and asked worriedly, "Are you okay, Swankit?" She just nodded.

"Birchkit told me someone pushed you down here," he continued. She nodded again, and looked sad.

They all promptly walked back to camp, but they heard Shadowpaw, Icepaw, Quailpaw, Mountainkit, Rainkit, Goldenlily, even Primrosekit calling out Swankit's name.

"Someone pushed Swankit into a hole! A hawk got her out!" blurted out Birchkit, thinking they should know. Everyone looked confused for a second, but then Goldenlily ran to her daughter, and so did Shadowpaw & Icepaw (they're all siblings, Birchkit remembered), and asked if she was okay. So did Mountainkit & Rainkit.

Snowstar told everyone what happened and that Birchkit was the one who saved her. Primrosekit stared at Swankit strangely. She must have been remembering what happened to *herself.*

Goldenlily thanked Birchkit graciously for finding her, but Birchkit just did nothing in reply, not sure how to react for finding her. Then she turned to Swankit and asked, "Who-who pushed you in? Point-point to whoever did, my kit!"

Birchkit spotted Stonepaw sulking, and glaring at Swankit. Then she looked hopelessly at Zebrapaw, who didn't even look at anyone. Birchkit narrowed his eyes at Stonepaw, and she did an almost silent hiss back.

Swankit took a big breath in, and looked around. Then she pointed at Stonepaw. Everybody looked at Stonepaw. Blazesky & Peonyclaw looked very surprised, seeing their own daughter had done it.

"Really? Stonepaw?" mewed Goldenlily. Swankit did an angry face and nodded.

Then Zebrapaw exploded all of a sudden at Stonepaw.

*"YOU CROWFOOD, STONEPAW! YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD THE TRUTH! DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO EVERYTHING FOR YOU?! DISGUSTING!"* he yowled at the top of his voice.

Birchkit was nonplussed by the apprentice's volume, and he remembered the last time Zebrapaw lost control. A moon ago.

"Wait, what? You knew about this?" asked Peonyclaw almost woefully.

*"Well, she told me about it just now! I didn't think she would do that to a mute kit who can't cry for help!"* Zebrapaw whined agonizingly.

"*Well, she's a dumb kit! She can't speak, so who cares?!"* countered Stonepaw.

*"THAT'S IT! SNOWSTAR, GIVE HER THE WORST PUNISHMENT BEFORE EXILE!"* screeched Peonyclaw wrathfully at the very top of her voice. She glared at Stonepaw in almost the worst fury.

Snowstar nodded and told Stonepaw very sharply, "Stonepaw, you cannot eat, drink, or do anything like training or playing for two whole days. You also can't talk with anyone but the elders. If you have to sleep, you shall sleep outside on bare floor. Instead of activities, you will only care for the elders. There's one elder in there which can stomp on you for doing things wrong, you know!"

An elder named Redear who looked very ragged glowered at Stonepaw.

Birchkit spotted Stonepaw's mentor, Nightnose, getting relieved and Birchkit wondered what *that* was about. Stonepaw looked like she was about to vomit.

"This is your fault, you know," mentioned Zebrapaw. "You do not have any liberty whatsoever to harm a poor kit who cannot talk at all."

Everybody glared at Stonepaw as she stomped off to the elders' den.

"Everybody resume your normal duties!" announced Snowstar.

Birchkit went up to Swankit and asked, "Um, do you want to play?" She nodded, and touched Birchkit and started running. "Ok, let's play chase!" mewed Birchkit running after her. He thought he heard Swankit kind of laughing, but it must have been breathing sounds.

They had tons of fun, but something about Birchkit couldn't make him forget about what happened to Primrosekit or Swankit.

### Chapter 7: The Fox

Zebrapaw groaned. It was a quarter-moon since Stonepaw pushed Swankit into the hole, but Stonepaw still hasn't recovered from her punishment. She still looked frail and about to wither away, it seemed, and Swankit seemed very scared of them both. Zebrapaw had no idea what he had to do with Swankit.

It was soon going to be time for Birchkit & Rainkit's ceremony in three quarter-moons. Then Swankit & Mountainkit's in a quarter-moon after theirs. He heard Flipsnow was expecting Littleclaw's kits again, her second litter.

He stretched his limbs, and got ready for training. Sandleap gestured him to come and asked, "Do you want to do some more hunting training?"

He replied, "Sure, as long as we're preparing for leaf-bare." She nodded and they went into an area into the forest.

"Ok, so you see that sparrow, right?" mewed Sandleap. Zebrapaw nodded. Sandleap continued, "You have to be silent to catch it. But first, climb a tree next to it—not the same one—and..."

She demonstrated while saying, and leaped onto the sparrow, and bit it severely. The sparrow stopped struggling and died.

"You can also swipe it, but personally, I think it's better to bite it," said Sandleap. "Ok, let me try," said Zebrapaw. He climbed onto a tree, and as soon as he saw a bird, he swiped at it and it fell out of the tree.

Sandleap watched with interested eyes. Then Zebrapaw climbed out of the tree slowly, and leaped onto it, as it was trying to fly up again, and bit it.

Sandleap took the sparrow she caught into her mouth, and climbed down the tree, and buried it. Zebrapaw buried his, too.

"Hmm, cool method," mewed Sandleap. "Though easier, it would take much longer to catch it, and there is a chance it can fly away when you get down. It can also alert the other prey around here to hide, so... not very effective."

Zebrapaw looked down at the bird he buried. "Is there somewhere else we can get prey?" he asked.

"Sure. Our territory is big, since we live on a big part of the mountain," Sandleap replied. "We can catch snowshoe hares in the flat, grassy areas. Since it's close to leaf-bare, they're going to start turning white, remember that."

"Got it," replied Zebrapaw. "What about our prey we caught?"

"We'll take it back first, then go. We don't want too much prey with us, or to forget where we buried it if we go far from it," said Sandleap.

They dug out their prey, went back to camp, and deposited it into the prey pile. Swankit was checking the prey pile, but when she saw Zebrapaw, she stared with a confused expression. That made Zebrapaw uncomfortable, so he walked faster. He looked back only once to see which prey she picked out. His sparrow.

They moved onto a flat, grassy area. "This place is called Rabbit Residence. By cats, anyway. There are tons of them here, there is no doubt about its name," informed Sandleap.

"There can also be Twolegs here going to their green-leaf twolegplace and whatever. But what they like to do is kidnap cats & throw their rubbish everywhere onto the mountains," she continued. "If you see a Twoleg, keep a close eye on it to make sure it doesn't do anything wrong to us. If it *does* do something wrong, well, scare it off. Their existence is fatal to us cats. If they have kittypets, talk with them to become Clan cats. If they are aggressive towards us, scare them off as well. We don't want soft cats with anger issues in the mountains unless they're here to do *us* some good."

Zebrapaw nodded, processing all this information. Then he told his mentor, "Well, I think I know how to catch a snow hare. Since they're fast, chasing them can be tiring. I can ambush them or chase them." Sandleap nodded and meowed, "Ok, now we have to be quiet if we're stepping onto the clearing. I'll go this way, you go that way. Don't go far."

Zebrapaw nodded again, and kept his eyes peeled. He soon saw an unnoticing rabbit with his back turned on him. Zebrapaw slowly padded towards it, but then it saw him a couple of paw-steps away and immediately started running. Zebrapaw started running, too, but soon, he was very close, and he leaped...

He felt the rabbit under him, and he bit into its neck, and did a paw swipe on it for it to die. He then stepped backwards to see the size of it. It was a plump rabbit, enough to feed three kits, or two apprentices.

Zebrapaw then dug a hole and buried it. He put some dirt on it and wiped off the excess dirt. Then he kept his eyes open for another one. He saw another one, a bit smaller, but effective to feed the Clan. He went slowly behind it, and sliced into its back. It tried to run away, but it was weak, and Zebrapaw caught up with it easily, and sliced it again. It died, too. He buried that one, too.

Then Sandleap came back with three rabbits. "Dig up your prey," she instructed, and he did.

"Whoa, that's *huge!* Pretty amazing for an apprentice like you! Let's bring them back," she remarked.

They both carried their prey back to camp. Then they put their prey in the pile. Sandleap concluded the training and went into the warriors den.

Shadowpaw came back from *his* hunting training with Snowstar and deposited his mice into the pile. He then stared at the size of the first rabbit Zebrapaw caught.

"Uh... you actually caught a rabbit the size of two and a half kits?!" Shadowpaw remarked.

"Well, we can both share it if you want," suggested Zebrapaw, looking down at the rabbit.

Shadowpaw agreed with the idea, and they both ate the rabbit. When Zebrapaw bit into the rabbit he tasted tons of juice & meat. The flesh seemed to taste just right, and the juice was savory. It lulled his senses greatly... and it made him want to eat more... and more...

"Um... mouse-brain? What are you doing?" mewed Shadowpaw with a glint of humor in his tone. Zebrapaw found himself biting nothing at all. He straightened up, looking a little embarrassed. This made him disappointed and meowed, "Aw, man, there's no more?"

"I mean, it's really big, enough to feed the two of us, but it's not as big as the mountains, you know," replied Shadowpaw, getting up. "But whoo, that was a really filling meal! I'm going to go make some dirt then take a nap."

"Um, ok, then, Shadowpaw. That rabbit was really tasty, indeed!" responded Zebrapaw, also getting up. "Good night, I guess?"

Shadowpaw looked back and smiled, then paid his attention back to the Dirtplace.

Then out of the blue, someone yowled, "*THERE'S A FOX!"*

It was Fireclaw, Zebrapaw's brother. He was running wildly about from something big and orange, and it had a weird snout. Its tail was bushy.

*"HELP ME, MOONCLAN!"* he shrieked.

*"Ahh! A fox!"* screamed Mountainkit. *"Zebrapaw, do something!"*

*"I DON'T KNOW WHAT A FOX IS!"* Zebrapaw screamed back.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Sandleap, coming out of her den. "It must have followed us, Zebrapaw!" Then she yawned and replied, "And I barely got to sleep a few winks."

A ton of warriors hissed at the fox, but the fox kept swiping and a few warriors jumped back. Sandleap joined them.

Zebrapaw remembered what Sandleap just said. He thought about how peaceful their walk was back to camp. That it must have followed them back without showing any trace. He looked at the fox, then at Mountainkit.

The fox, then at Mountainkit. Zebrapaw needed to do something.

Facing in the fox's direction, Zebrapaw braced himself for a sprint, took a deep breath, and started to run... and run... and finally...

*"FOR MOONCLAN!"* hollered Zebrapaw, as he leaped onto the fox's back gracefully. He dug his claws into the fox's back, and it growled. It tried kicking motions, trying to boot Zebrapaw off, but he held on tight, thinking if he died, it would be for MoonClan's safety.

*For MoonClan... For MoonClan...* thought Zebrapaw, closing his eyes. Suddenly he heard panting, and hissing sounds. It was a weird hiss, like only air was in the hiss. Suddenly, he realized which cat would do that.

"Swankit?" said Zebrapaw surprisingly. He saw the light yellow & slightly pinkish fur of Swankit, and she was also on the fox's back, scratching at the fox's neck. Her hind legs' claws were dug into the back of the fox.

The fox was running wildly among camp, scaring all the cats. The warriors were trying to chase it out of camp, and some got close enough to claw on it. But Swankit & Zebrapaw were trying to keep their balance on the fox's back.

He spotted Birchkit, Goldenlily, Shadowpaw, & Icepaw in the crowd calling out for Swankit.

"Swankit, what are you doing here?!" Zebrapaw exclaimed. Swankit looked up, her expression focused. She nodded down to her mother, Goldenlily. Zebrapaw had no idea what it meant.

*Is she doing this for her mother? Is she saying her mother is scared for her? Is she saying her mother will save her?* were Zebrapaw's thoughts.

"How did you get up here?!" Zebrapaw meowed almost indignantly. How could a kit help this situation?

Swankit put her two paws together and lifted them up and then down again, as if they were jumping on something.

"Swankit, *you-you JUMPED on here?!"* Zebrapaw yowled. He couldn't believe a kit could help this situation, even if it were a kit whose ceremony was in a moon.

Suddenly, while they were trying to communicate, the fox did one final kicking motion, and the two of them got hurled off of its back into the air.

*I'm falling,* thought Zebrapaw peacefully... as he became one with the ground.

#### Later ----

Zebrapaw woke up in Lilypool's den. He saw Swankit awake, too. Birchkit & Mountainkit were with Swankit. So were her siblings & family. Peonyclaw, Blazesky, Primrosekit & Quailpaw were with Zebrapaw.

"Zebrapaw, are you okay?" asked Peonyclaw frantically.

"I'm fine, what happened to me?" replied Zebrapaw calmly.

Lilypool arrived and mewed serenely, "No need to worry, they were just a little shaken up. But my, were they really brave to tackle a fox like that!"

Rainkit was with Lilypool. She looked proud of herself about something.

"Oh, right, I forgot to ask, what happened to the fox?" asked Zebrapaw. Swankit nodded, also wanting to know.

"It ran away," answered Birchkit nonchalantly.

Zebrapaw just nodded, and wondered if his actions meant that he was a good warrior.

Zebrapaw was mostly interested in sleeping in the apprentices' den, after meeting that experience.

### Chapter 8: Medicine Cat

It was a half-moon later. It was only a quarter-moon before Birchkit & Rainkit's apprentice ceremony.

*Why is this so dramatic?* Primrosekit asked herself.

She remembered when the horrific time happened a half-moon ago. Swankit & Zebrapaw... launched off like crazy. Them hitting the ground. Primrosekit had screamed. She thought they were dead.

So now, she was just playing catch the moss ball with the other kits. Quailpaw & Zebrapaw were throwing them and the kits were catching them.

Primrosekit dared to look at Swankit & Zebrapaw's bruises. There was only a scar, but it still looked horrifying.

Since Primrosekit couldn't move quickly, the game also went slowly. Suddenly, she realized that Rainkit wasn't even there. She was in the medicine cat's den.

*Why is she spending so much time there?* Primrosekit asked herself. She shrugged it off. The reason couldn't be very important.

Finally, the game stopped, because Quailpaw & Zebrapaw had to train.

"Time for breakfast, kits!" someone called. It was Petuniaheart, Birchkit, Rainkit & Quailpaw's mother. She was also Zebrapaw's aunt & Moonstar's famed daughter, also Maplestripe's cousin.

Then Rainkit finally arrived. Primrosekit picked out a rabbit, and Rainkit picked out a bird.

"Um... Rainkit?" Primrosekit tried to ask. She was also slow on talking.

"Yes, Primrosekit?" Rainkit mewed.

"Why... do you... spend so much time... there?" Primrosekit asked, slowly raising a hand pointing to the medicine cat's den.

Rainkit blinked a few times, then replied, "I like it there, what do you think?"

"I thought... it was because... you were interested... in medicine."

"Well, I like it, you might, too, when you get to Birchkit & my age."

"Oh.. that's cool... Rainkit. But maybe... not."

"Oh, ok. Maybe if you change your mind? And also, no offense, but what will you do if you're not very fast as a warrior?"

"I think I'll... manage as a... warrior. Just not... the extreme parts."

Then Rainkit nodded, and replied, "Ok. I'm glad we had this chat, Primrosekit. I'm going to go tell Birchkit something."

"Ok, then... Rainkit," Primrosekit mewed.

She saw Rainkit pick up her half-eaten bird and pad over to Birchkit. She also saw Snowstar & Lilypool come over. Rainkit said to Birchkit, with a sly smile, "I'm really, really sorry, Birchkit, but I can't be with you in your ceremony."

Their friends stopped talking about stuff and stared at Rainkit curiously. Primrosekit had some idea what was going on, based on what Rainkit told her, but she couldn't quite put her paw on it.

*Is she going to be a medicine cat?* she asked herself. She didn't know. Birchkit's mouth gaped open.

*"What? What went wrong?!"* exclaimed Birchkit in agony. "This can't be true!"

"What went wrong," mewed Rainkit *very* serenely, "is that kits can only become medicine cat apprentices by the next half-moon meetings."

*Now I know,* thought Primrosekit.

"What?" asked Birchkit, shocked. "What does that mean?"

"It means..." started Primrosekit, making sure everyone was watching her, "that she wants to... become a medi...cine cat."

"Exactly," finished Rainkit. Then Lilypool spoke up. "Ah, yes. She told your father, the leader, that she doesn't want to be a warrior apprentice. She wanted to give her efforts by helping cats heal and such. She was also interested in StarClan, too."

Then Snowstar spoke. "Yup, Birchkit. She's going to be an apprentice two sunrises after you. A different kind, obviously."

Everybody seemed to stare at them, but then Lilypool mewed, "I'm getting old, and it was about time that someone became my apprentice. Rainkit seemed ready for the job, apparently. My mentor, Calmpond, was the very first medicine cat of this Clan. He used to be one of our tribe's healers before the tribe split into three Clans. Of course, I wasn't born at this time, but he told me stories. I learned a lot from him, and I'll teach *you* those things, too."

"Will you tell me those stories?" pleaded Rainkit.

"Sure, there's tons of them to tell," replied Lilypool.

Rainkit then turned to Birchkit and graciously mewed, "Well, Birchkit. This is the perfect role for me. I'm not in any way interested in toms or having kits or warrior moves, but I am interested in StarClan & treating cats. This is the path I want to take. Ok, Birchkit? Fine with that?"

Birchkit looked at everyone, and finally said, "Ok, then. Fine." He left his mouse and went into the nursery.

"Well, why... is he upset?" Primrosekit asked Snowstar. He answered, "Oh, he just wanted to have his ceremony with his littermate, that's it. By the time this quarter-moon is up, he will already have processed his emotions correctly."

"Yup, he will be a-okay with me being a medicine cat," Rainkit added.

"Oh, I really... hope so. I... don't want him to be... sad about all this... medicine cat... stuff," Primrosekit replied.

"Me either," meowed Rainkit.

Primrosekit saw Mountainkit finish up the half-eaten mouse that Birchkit left behind. She then thought about what Rainkit said about Primrosekit being a medicine cat.

*Do I want to be one?* she asked herself. She wasn't very fast, because of her lethargic nerves, so she could never be a very good warrior, especially when speed is essential for hunting or fighting, but being a medicine cat would mean she would never be really happy, either.

Unlike Rainkit, she wanted to take a mate and have kits, see her descendants and all that. She also wasn't very confident with StarClan duties. She didn't think being a medicine cat would be much fun for her.

*Maybe I can just help out the medicine cat,* Primrosekit told herself. *And I can still be a warrior. But I will be not be chosen ever as the main warrior to lead something ever.*

Primrosekit also thought about the way she speaks, compared to the way everyone else speaks. Everyone else got their meanings through quickly, while she had to pause every now and then & speak sluggish because if she didn't, she couldn't really move anything at all.

Primrosekit sighed sadly. She looked at Swankit, who also had a condition, to not speak at all.

*At least she can normally move like a regular cat,* Primrosekit told herself.

She wasn't sure what role to be, because of her slow-moving condition. She thought about her sister, Dandelionkit. She was perfectly healthy, with no conditions, sicknesses, disabilities, or whatever.

*Is speed everything?* she told herself while walking back to the nursery. *Of course not. But how do I be a warrior, and how do I tolerate being a medicine cat?*

Primrosekit still had four moons to decide, which was a long time, being two moons old, but to her... four moons seemed way too short.

### Chapter 9: Apprentice Ceremony

It was now the day of Birchkit's ceremony.

Birchkit thought about Rainkit being a medicine cat. He looked back at his mother sleeping.

*This will be her last night here as a queen,* he thought solemnly.

He was sitting at the mouth of the nursery (which was facing the right direction of the sun), watching the sun rise into the sky. It was still dark, but almost light, so it was dawn. Birchkit had slept mostly while it was light the day before, so he had no worries about getting tired now.

*Is Snowstar going to do my ceremony now?* he wondered curiously.

Since Birchkit got hungry, he went to the fresh-kill pile, picked out a small hare and took it back to the nursery.

When he started eating, Mountainkit woke up. It was now sunrise. There was some light in the sky.

"Hey, Birchkit, what are ya doing?" mewed Mountainkit. Birchkit remembered his mother, Flipsnow, who was expecting Littleclaw's kits. Littleclaw was Mountainkit's father.

"I'm just eating," replied Birchkit, taking another bite of the rabbit.

"Okay. You're going to be an apprentice now, right?" Mountainkit asked enthusiastically.

"Yup, it's great."

"I wish I didn't have to wait a quarter-moon." Birchkit remembered that Mountainkit, Swankit and Berrykit were born a quarter-moon after him Rainkit and him. *I guess Snowstar is following the exact birth order,* he thought contemplatively.

"Well, every time you wait, you get closer to anything. So wait," he tried to cheer up.

"Alright, I guess," Mountainkit replied, seeming to understand.

"By the way, when I leave, you'll still have Swankit & Primrosekit. And I'll be just as active with you when we were kits until you become apprentices, too. Then we can *all* do apprentice things!"

"Yeah, great. Oh, wait, I just remembered Primrosekit & Rainkit. What about them?"

*"What* about them?"

"Rainkit's going to be a medicine cat apprentice in two days, and Primrosekit is much younger, and has a disability. You can literally feel her struggle having a disability as she *speaks.* But it's on her whole body."

"Rainkit, I know is going to be fine. When it comes to Primrosekit... well, I don't know. Having a nerve problem is causing her to be slower. At least she's fine in every other way possible, let's appreciate that. Maybe Quailpaw can take care of her, because she's much younger than *us,* since he seems to like her so much, because of their similarity."

"Falling off a cliff? That's a similarity that I'd feel very, very, *very* ashamed of. But I guess that's fine for them if they're okay with it. I wouldn't."

"Of course not"—Birchkit did a chuckle—"you'd rather clean ticks off of elders' backs."

Mountainkit laughed, too. "Oh, yeah. But Rainkit is happy with her role, isn't she?"

"Yup," replied Birchkit. "That really *is* the proper role for her. She's so into it, she doesn't even have time for playing!"

"Yeah, I guess so. I heard medicine cat apprentices have a million different things to learn, like about StarClan, herbs, bundles, helping queens, and all that stuff. That's why the training takes much longer than eight moons, and they still never have spare time. I could never be a medicine cat, even if that is what I was meant to be, if I couldn't be a warrior, which I can, really."

"Well, I guess *I* could be one, but that's not what I want to be in life, really. Rainkit chose it, so I hope she is happy with it, having to learn so much," responded Birchkit, finishing the last of his hare.

Mountainkit sat down next to Birchkit and looked at the sunrise. He had to squint to see it though, because the sun was going to blaze directly in his eyes.

"Wow, it's really bright out now. Warriors and other cats should start to awaken," he mewed in amazement.

"Ah, yes, I've been watching this ever since dark," Birchkit mewed back.

"Whoa, cool! Ever since midnight?"

"No, just a few hours after that. Probably quarter an hour before I saw the first of the sun."

"Uh huh. Pretty great experience, huh?"

"Yup. Amazing."

They stared at the sun (while still squinting) for a while longer, until Mountainkit got up and said, "I'm going to get a snow mouse now. See you at your ceremony!"

"Ok, see ya, I guess."

Birchkit also left a few moments after Mountainkit, to check up on Snowstar. There were tons of cats awake now, and most of them were grabbing some prey. The prey pile looked plentiful, but a third of it got consumed.

He saw his father pad out of the leader's den and jump up on Highrock. He spotted Birchkit and winked at him. He waited a moment longer until he called out, "All cats awake come under Highrock & the moon!"

The cats started gathering, and they looked content. They anticipated Birchkit's ceremony.

Snowstar looked around, then continued, "Birchkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, under the moon, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Birchpaw. Your mentor will be Peonyclaw. I hope she will pass down all she knows on to you."

*"BIRCHPAW! BIRCHPAW! BIRCHPAW!"* the Clan cheered. He noticed Swankit making the movements of his name, as if she was chanting, too. Mountainkit was chanting his name at the top of his voice. So were his five siblings and mother. Even Primrosekit was doing so, too.

Birchpaw felt very, very proud of himself. Then he went down to greet his new mentor when the chanting died down, who was also his mother's brother's mate, Peonyclaw.

"Hey, Peonyclaw," Birchpaw said ecstatically; he was now an apprentice.

He looked at his four kit friends, Rainkit, Mountainkit, Swankit & Primrosekit. They were still kits, but very, very soon, three of them were going to become apprentices.

Now he was the same rank as his apprentice friends, Shadowpaw, Icepaw, Quailpaw and Zebrapaw, and he could train together with them.

The other cats congratulated him for being an apprentice, and he saw Flipsnow and Blazesky congratulating Peonyclaw for becoming a mentor.

"Birchpaw, do you want to train now?" asked Peonyclaw eagerly.

"Yes!" he meowed delightfully. Like every other apprentice, he wanted to train immediately.

"Alright, hunting first, since the Clan needs fresh-kill!" said Peonyclaw happily. It was the first time she had mentored, so it was understandable that she was eager about her first apprentice.

They went into the forest. Birchpaw knew he was going to love his apprenticeship.

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

*← Previous Part: Prologue: Beginning of the Mountain ClansNext Part: Part 2: Birchpaw's Training →*

*Next Chapter: Chapter 10: SnowClan? →*