"Thunderpaw!" Skypaw called as she raced out of the camp entrance. Sunpelt had gone back to camp for help and here Skypaw was, but once she got to the clearing where the fighting was going on, everything was still, but yet tense. She lowered her head. Thunderpaw was standing over a fox only a bit smaller than him. There were three other foxes, staring at the dead fox cub. They looked around for a moment, then they disappeared into the forest. Skypaw stalked forward to her brother. "Thunderpaw, what happened? Did you kill it?"

He answered, "Yeah-- Yes, I guess I... I did." She saw Oakfur pad up to Thunderpaw in the corner of her eye. "Great work, Thunderpaw. But they'll be back before we know it, and those younger foxes will be full grown I bet. But you made one less to handle." Thunderpaw looked down at the fox.

"Shall we bury it?" He mewed quietly. Oakfur nodded. He ordered for Shadowfoot and Featherstorm to bury it with a quick nod of the head.

Skypaw turned and saw the three new apprentices creep out from the gorse tunnel. They must've been scared, Skypaw thought. After all, they hadn't really experienced something like that before, but one day they had to grow into strong, brave warriors.

She licked Thunderpaw briefly and the two padded over to the scared looking apprentices. Skypaw nodded to them, trying to reassure them that everything was alright.

It was dark as Skypaw made her way into her nest in the apprentices den. Her nest was now right next to Blossompaw, in a nest that used to be Rainflower's. Blossompaw sat down and groomed herself. They were the only apprentices in the den at that time. Everyone else was probably getting something to eat. As Skypaw licked her paw, she asked her new denmate, "So how are you getting along with the clanmates?" Blossompaw looked up and flicked her tail. "Ashpelt seems really nice, and that cream-colored cat... with frosty blue eyes... well, she greeted me kindly, too."

"You mean Frostlash? She's my mother. You know, she knew your mother well. I remember they were queens together. I wasn't born yet."

"So you were probably in your mum when I was in mine?"

"Probably. Frostlash is now nursing my new brothers, Whitekit and Stemkit. It will be a long time before they are apprenticed though. I might be a warrior by then."

"Skypaw, when will I be a warrior?"

"Oh, it sorta depends on how your training is. Like, how well you hunt and fight. But you and your siblings haven't even started your training yet. Just work hard when you do." Blossompaw nodded and lay down, curling herself up with her tail over her nose. Her breath quivered. She paused and then whispered, "Skypaw... my mother didn't love me, did she?" Skypaw's tail drooped down. She tinged with symphany. "No, no, I'm sure she did love you very much..." Skypaw trailed off. She couldn't imagine Frostlash not loving her. No mother could ever not love her kit. Skypaw lay down and licked Blossompaw. These poor cats, she thought, a mother for only when they open their eyes. And then gone. Skypaw closed her eyes and drifted right to sleep.

That night she dreamt. There was a starlit sky. She heard a rustle in the bushes nearby. Then, a shrew popped out of the bushes, sniffing around then grooming itself. Skypaw crouched and leapt, but right when she thought she landed on it, it scurried away. It paused by a tree. This time I'll get it. She crouched and leapt again, and once more, it sped away under a bramble bush. Skypaw was beginning to get frustrated. She crept over to the bush and looked under it. There was that pesky shrew, nawing on a berry. Skypaw tried to get closer under the bush, and then she stepped on a leaf, crunching the vains in the craggly leaf, and the prey dropped the berry and ran away, but this time it kept going. Skypaw thought why not? So she jumped off and chased the shrew. That little prey just kept running, it's tiny paws pattering on the grounded! Skypaw chased it all the way to a beautiful starlit clearing, then something strange happened. The shrew vanished in thin air. Skypaw paused, confused. Suddenly she heard whispers. She looked around, then up at Silverpelt in the sky. She gasped, shocked. The stars were moving! They were forming some kind of shape! A strong, overwelmed feeling swept over her and she fell down. She got back up again unsteadily and looked back up at the stars. She could strangley...

...read something in them! She muttered aloud slowly, "Four... Small... Lavender den... Red..." Skypaw was confused. What could this mean? And how could she strangley read the stars? She thought hard. Harder than she ever thought before. Then she remembered a red-colored queen expecting kits. A heavy amount. In a den draped in Lavender flowers... 

Rosetail!