CHAPTER 2

Firestar took a paw step towards the apprentice. His eyes glinted. "Well?"

The apprentice began to shake. "W-we were p-playing o-o-on the s-stones..." He squeaked weakly. "We're s-so sorry..."

Out of the corner of his eye, Firestar noticed Bramblepaw beginning to bristle. Firestar himself felt furious, too. He could only imagine the punishment Leopardstar would give to them if she found out they were playing on ThunderClan territory. Not only was it offensive to him, but it went against the code. Did RiverClan just let their young scamper off without supervision, now? Since when did that occur?

The other two apprentices had ceased in their games, and quickly fled off the Sunningrocks. The first one stared in horror at Firestar, while the eldest stood rigid, arching her back.

He was about to hiss for them to leave but another furious growl beat him to it.

Firestar turned to see a bluish-gray cat paddling furiously across the riverbed. Firestar recognized her immediately, it was Mistyfoot, RiverClan's new deputy.

The she-cat waisted no time quickly making her way onto the riverbank. She snarled at the apprentices with a face twisted in scorn. "What in the great name of StarClan do you think you mousebrains are doing?!" She spat. She marched straight up to them, her muscles tensed agressively. "I ask you to go hunting and this what I find?! You playing on ThunderClan soil?"

The apprentice hunched before Firestar received a sharp blow to to his muzzle, making him yelp in shock, before Mistyfoot solemnly dipped her head towards Firestar. "Firestar, I'm very sorry. Please forgive RiverClan for this, I only sent them out to hunt, I didn't realize they needed an escort to keep them in line." She hissed the last words out with voice of contempt and threw the apprentices another glare.

Firestar felt himself become calmer; he understood Mistyfoot's rage; her fear for the apprentice's safety was probably what fueled it the most.

Hesitantly, he replied, "It's alright, Mistyfoot... Listen, it's good to see you. How has RiverClan been since the battle?"

Mistyfoot suddenly relaxed, maybe remembering the goodness that newleaf brought to her Clan. "RiverClan's been prosperous Firestarstar, thank you." She flicked her taiil at the slow current of the river. "The ice thawed early, and we've been abundant in its resources."

"That's good to hear!" Firestar's green gaze traveled over the three apprentices. "And I can see RiverClan's got future warriors to tend to."

Mistyfoot gave a dismissive flick of her tail. "The only thing these 'RiverClan warriors' will be doing when we get back is tending to the elders ticks."

The first two apprentices cringed as if her words smacked across their ears. But the third apprentice stubbornly lifted her head and flicked her tail at Mistyfoot. "Maybe you'll be picking out ticks, but I'll eating fresh-kill."

Firestar felt his nose flare in shock at the apprentice's disrepect. He felt like giving her a good whack across the cheek, but he didn't thinking Mistyfoot would carry the displine towards her own Clanmate. But to his surprise, Mistyfoot only sat there, slightly twitching in fury; her ears her noticiblily flat in embarrasment.

Bramblepaw and the only two apprentices all looked at the young apprentice in shock and fear; she stared right into Mistyfoot's eyes, as if daring her to speak back.

Stuttering, Mistyfoot growled, "That's enough Willowpaw. ...I-I'm sorry, Firestar, we really should be going," she angrily flicked her tail at the apprentices in a command to head to the river. "Reedpaw, Primrosepaw, get going."

Reedpaw and Primrosepaw instantly jumped to their feet. They solemly dippe their heads to Firestar, "We're so sorry, Firestar." Once Firestar nodded his forgiveness, they slinked off towards the riverbed. Bramblepaw quietly shifted his eyes from Firestar to Mistyfoot, to Willowpaw, who still sat there.

Mistyfoot glared at Willowpaw, "You, too." Willowpaw snorted and lifted herself slowly off the ground, taking her time just to get on Mistyfoot's nerves, and it was working, for Mistyfoot let a low growl rumble in her throat.

Firestar never thought he'd see such outright disrespect! She was worse than Cloudtail! Reaching out a quick paw, he sent a massive blow towards Willowpaw's rear end. With a yowl of surprise, Willowpaw was sent bowling into the ground a tail-length away. The apprentice shakily got to her paws and stared at Firestar with wide frightened eyes.

"What you did was very dangerous," Firestar hissed. "You should heed your own deputy's words before I give you a scratch or two to think about."

Willowpaw gulped and got to her paws, padding towards the riverbank to join the other apprentices.

Mistyfoot gave Firestar a grateful look and she mewed, "Thank you, Firestar... I'm truly sorry for what's happened here." With an apologetic dip of her head, Mistyfoot rose and headed back towards the river.

As Firestar watched her leave in uncertainty, he called, "Until the gathering!" Mistyfoot turned to him, nodded, then waded into the river with the other apprentices.

Once the RiverClan cats were gone and out of earshot, Bramblepaw let out a furious groan. "That Willowpaw's such a arrogant mouse brain! If I'd said those things to you, I'd be crowfood."

Firestar flicked Bramblepaw's ear. "You sure would. But I've trained you differently than her and I only expect greatness from you; the kind of greatness that will earn you your warrior title one day."

Bramblepaw's tail shot straight up and gave Firestar a look of pure excitement. Firestar warmly nodded towards his apprentice, silently thanking StarClan he was no near as rash as the young Willowpaw.

"Let's get back to hunting," Firestar continued, choosing a different route from the Sunningrocks.

"Yes, Firestar," Bramblepaw meowed, following.

Firestar made quick a glance back towards the river; his thoughts went out to Mistyfoot and suddenly of RiverClan, but he pushed them out of his thoughts.

xxxxxxxx

They arrived back to camp during daybreak; Bramblepaw had done a great job of hunting. Along with a mouse caught near two leg place, he also hunted down a plump gray squirrel and two wood pigeons. Firestar, of course, was very proud of his hunting performance. That and his worthy battle skills performed at the BloodClan battle only ensured Firestar that Bramblepaw was close to earning his warrior title.

Firestar eyed the camp, noting a hunting patrol had restocked the fresh-kill pile and several warriors had returned from their border patrols; most of them were outside of their dens, sharing prey together and chatting in hushed voices. Seeing his Clanmates made him think of the RiverClan apprentices playing on the Sunningrocks, but he pushed the thought away. Alerting the Clan about something that most likely wasn't a threat would cause his Clan unecessary panic. He decided to speak with Graystripe, his friend and deputy, instead. There he was, eating fresh-kill with Brackentail and Sanstorm near the nettle patch. His friend saw him and rose to his paws to pad over to him.

Firestar looked towards Bramblepaw, "Go on and take your prey to the fresh-kill pile and have yourself a good rest. Tomorrow we'll go back over your battle skills."

Bramblepaw nodded, his mouth stuffed with prey.

As the young tabby padded towards the fresh-kill pile, Graystripe approached Firestar. "Hey Firestar! How's the training?"

He gave Bramblepaw an approving glance. "He's doing really great; If he keeps this up, Bramblepaw will become a warrior in no time."

Graystripe nodded. "We're all proud of him, he's really come along."

"Speaking of Bramblepaw, we were out training near the river," Firestar made sure to lower his voice.

Graystripe piped up. "Did you see Mistyfoot? Or my kits, were they there?"

Firestar shook his head. "I saw Mistyfoot, but something else happened first." Graystripe blinked and leaned closer to listen. "There were RiverClan apprentices playing on the Sunningrocks."

Graystripe's nose flared. "What?!"

"Shh," Firestar hissed. "Listen, everything's alright now, Mistyfoot came to take them back to RiverClan."

Graystripe still looked startled, but his shoulders began to relax.

"I'm not sure what's going on with RiverClan right now, and I didn't get a chance to talk to Mistyfoot, but I want extra patrols near the Sunningrocks."

Graystripe nodded. "You got it, Firestar."

Out of the corner of his eyes, Firestar noticed Longstripe and Dustpelt approaching him.

Firestar tapped his friend's shoulder with his tail. "I'll meet you and Sandstorm by the nettle patch."

Graystripe nodded, still looking weary, and padded away as Longtail and Dustpelt came up to Firestar.

"Hello, Firestar," Longstripe mewed. "We'd like to discuss our apprentice's warrior ceremonies with you."

Firestar's eyes grew in interest and he glanced over at Fernpaw and Ashpaw. The two apprentices had contributed brilliantly to the BloodClan battle and he had noticed their progress. He knew what Longtail and Dustpelt were going to ask him and he couldn't agree more.

"Thank you for bringing this up, those two have worked hard up to now," Firestar lifted his muzzle. "Take them out for an assessment tomorrow and I'll see how they do."

Dustpelt's eyes glowed, "Thank you, Firestar!" Longtail nodded his thanks as well and they padded off towards the fresh-kill pile. Firestar let out a light purr of amusement; he could imagine how happy Dustpelt would be for Fernpaw to finally receive her warrior name. Thinking on the subject, Firestar looked towards the nursery. Willowpelt was sitting outside now, watching Sorrelkit and Rainkit play fight together with Sootkit pawed a piece of moss with tiny extended claws. The three kits looked strong and healthly, making Firestar's heart swell with pride.

He walked over to the kits and Willowpelt looked up at Firestar, meowing a greeting. Firestar nodded at Willowpelt and looked down at her kits.

Sorrelkit rolled off her brother and padded up to Firestar, her eyes wide. "Hi, Firestar! Did you come to play?"

Firestar was happy to note that the young kit was still her youthful, preppy self, despite her encounter with the deathberries given to her by Darkstripe.

Sootkit rolled his eyes at Sorrelkit. "He doesn't have time to play! He's too busy being the leader of ThunderClan!" He gave Firestar a look of admiration.

"And soon you'll all become busy with apprentice duties," Firestar reminded them.

This made the kits jump up in excitement.

Willowpelt nodded. "You're almost six moons old."

Rainkit lifted his chin. "We know that!"

"When will our ceremony be?" Sorrelkit asked.

Firestar nosed the kit. "Soon. Perhaps after the gathering."

The kits' eyes grew and start happily skipping around Willowpelt and nuzzling her. As Firestar gave them all an affectionate look, Willowpelt meowed, "Have you thought about who will mentor my kits?"

Firestar nodded, eyeing the cats among the camp. He noticed Sandstorm and Graystripe twitching their whiskers at something apparently funny that Brackentail had said.

"I'd like Sandstorm to mentor Sorrelkit, since I noticed them working so well together before the battle," He mewed taping the young she-kit's shoulder with his tail; Firestar silently mentioned that it would also make up for her not receiving an apprentice before in the past, "And Brackentail to mentor Rainkit." Firestar knew the young warrior had become experienced enough to take on his first apprentice.

From the look on her face, Firestar could tell that Willowpelt was agreeing with his choices; the warriors he mentioned were very credible.

Then Firestar nodded towards Cloudtail, who shared a wood piegeon together with Brightheart just outside the warriors den. "And I'd like Cloudtail to mentor Sootkit."

Willowpelt suddenly twitched her ears with concern. "Firestar, is that a good idea?"

Firestar unfortunately knew why Willowpelt was reluctant about Cloudtail being a mentor to one of her kits. The white warrior didn't believe in StarClan, and his loyalty towards the warrior code waivered.

Firestar gave Willowpelt a look of understanding. "I have the same doubts as you, Willowpelt. But I have faith in CLoudtail. He's young, and an expirenced, loyal warrior." Willowpelt nodded her head slowly, thinking on his words. "And we all saw how well he had done in training Brightheart to become a full warrior herself." Willowpelt's eyes narrowed. As his final words, Firestar mewed, "I believe if he gained an apprentice, it would serve the white warrior well; perhaps it would also force him to mature a little more."

Willowpelt's eyes sparkling with amusement. "Yes, I suppose you're right, Firestar."

"And if anything does happen, I'll be sure to find another mentor for Sootkit." Firestar promised.

Willowpelt nodded. "That's fine." She dipped her head to him. "Thank you, Firestar. My kits have great mentors to look forward to." She sighed, looking up at the evening-orange sky. "Whitestorm would have wanted to see their ceremony."

Anguish flew into Firestar's heart; he didn't realize how much the white warrior still meant to him. If only she could have seen him.

Sympathetically, he nosed Willowpelt's cheek. "But he will see them. He'll be watching them from StarClan."

Willowpelt nodded gratefully, and she stretched her legs. "Thank you, Firestar... Soon I'll be heading back to the warriors den."

Firestar eyed the cozy-build nursery itself. "It'll be empty then."

Willowpelt purred and gave him a knowing look. "No, Firestar. It won't be for long."

Firestar felt himself blush at her gentle words and he looked over at Sandstorm and the others. The ginger she-cat noticed him looking at her, and she returned his expression with a look filled with love.