Chapter One, Part Two

“We would like to discuss your training,” Millie began once Lilypaw and Seedpaw faced their mentors.

            Anxiously Lilypaw’s ogle flashed from she-cat to she-cat. She and Seedpaw were Millie and Brightheart’s first apprentices, although they both had gray flecks in their furry coats. Lilypaw knew just why Brightheart and Millie were first-time trainers: Millie was a former kittypet, and Brightheart had lost an eye in a fight with a dog long ago. Nevertheless, Lilypaw still respected her mentor Millie with all her might despite her kittypet origins, as she knew that the now dead leader Firestar, who was killed by a falling tree when she was less than a moon old, used to be a kittypet.

            Lilypaw felt her stomach twist into a tangled, leafy bush branch as Millie continued to meow.

            “Brightheart and I feel that- well, not to be mean- one of you is doing really good, but the other… not so much,” Millie said.

            Suddenly, Lilypaw received sick emotions from her tummy. What if she was the failing one? Lilypaw could just picture it all in her head:

            “I name you Seedawesome. StarClan approves your awesomeness and being better than Lilykit. I welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan,” Bramblestar would say.

            Seedawesome would smile and look at Lilypaw, who would be renamed Lilykit and sitting in front of the nursery with her annoyed mother, Sorreltail, who thought she was done with the nursery.

            “Sorry you have an extra six moons to go,” Seedawesome would then laugh and prance away, Amberpaw, Dewpaw, and Snowpaw clinging to her side as if they were feeding bugs off her pelt.

            However, another better thought soon hit Lilypaw’s mind- what if she was the succeeding one? Recently Seedpaw had been much too arrogant and ornery to Lilypaw- she’d deserve to fail after all her nasty behavior.

            “Lilystar? Already?” Seedpaw, or, Seedkit, would ask in disbelief.

            “That’s right, failure,” Lilystar’d say. “And I’m going to make sure that you’ll stay as a kit for another twelve moons.”

            Seedkit would flatten her ears and sadly cry out, “You promised I’d be your deputy, Lilystar! Please let me be your deputy!”

            Lilystar would shake her head and smile happily. “Not after twelve moons of being a kit, twelve moons of apprentice training, twelve moons of being a warrior, twelve moons of being a senior warrior. Then my current deputy will have to die, but I doubt he will.”

            “But why, Lilystar?”

            “You want to know why? It’s the way you’ve been treating me.”

            Treating me… Treating me…

            Lilypaw snapped back to the present and dove into the conversation again.

            Now Brightheart was speaking, and Lilypaw listened to the ginger-and-white she-cat’s words carefully: “This evening we will find the failing apprentice and ask of them better. More practices will be added to each day for them. You are dismissed- happy day off!”

            Lilypaw didn’t know which she felt more- relief or dread.

            A little later, Lilypaw was scanning the camp with eyes still blurry from her early night nap.

            Her eyes fell on the nursery, which at this time almost three moons ago she was still sleeping in with Seedkit and Sorreltail. Brackenfur, their father, would check in on them every chance he got, between patrols and such. Lilykit and Seedkit’s older sisters, Cinderheart and Poppyfrost, would sometimes come for a visit too. When they did come, Poppyfrost and Cinderheart told wonderful stories of their deceased littermates, Molepaw and Honeyfern. They were all a big happy family.

            Now, in their place were Hazeltail and her kits. The expecting queen Icecloud lived there too.

            Lilypaw watched as Hazeltail herded her two sons, Smokykit and Larchkit, into the nursery. The gray-and-white queen eyed the gray, overcast sky nervously.

            Icecloud heaved her heavily-weighted body up and purred as Larchkit tripped over his brother. “They’re always so lively,” she said with a whisk of her tail. “I can’t wait for mine to arrive!” She seemed to pay no mind to the approaching weather.

            Hazeltail shrugged. “You get sick of them after a while,” she replied. “Two is enough for me- I hope you don’t have more than I did. I still can’t believe how Daisy handled Berrynose, Mousewhisker, and I.” Hazeltail sniffed sadly, and Lilypaw recalled her horseplace mother’s death the previous moon.

            Icecloud smiled and trudged into the nursery, ears pricked as Hazeltail started on a new subject: “Now tell me, who is the father…”

            Lilypaw’s ears swiveled toward another conversation between two warriors. Eavesdropping had become a bad habit of hers ever since she listened in on a discussion just after Amberpaw, Snowpaw, and Dewpaw were born.

            “Cinderheart, what did you have to tell me?” Lionblaze questioned, his handsome golden fur swishing around as he walked up to his mate.

            Ooh, this looks interesting, Lilypaw thought, and she settled next to the fresh-kill pile, offering to share a sparrow with Amberpaw. When she declined, Lilypaw jumped back into the serious chat.

            Her older sister was smiling secretly, and Cinderheart’s fluffy gray tail descended on Lionblaze’s shoulders to calm him. “I’m expecting kits,” she whispered joyfully.

            Lilypaw felt a jolt of happiness for her sibling. This was great! But I can’t act like I heard until it fully spreads around the Clan, she added to herself glumly. That was the hard thing about eavesdropping- you couldn’t tell anyone else until quite a few cats already knew.

            Lionblaze smiled shakily. “That’s… that’s wonderful, Cinderheart,” he said with a half-cold purr.

            Instantly Cinderheart’s face fell. “Is something wrong?” she asked, removing her tail from her mate’s broad frame.

            The golden tabby glanced at the ground, then looked back up again. “It’s nothing,” he responded. “You know… just first-time father jitters,” Lionblaze contributed with a forced smile.

            “Oh, oh,” Cinderheart murmured soothingly, stepping closer to him. “This is always what I wanted…” she hesitated, then continued. “… and always what Cinderpelt wanted too.”

            Lilypaw remembered the surprise she felt when Sorreltail told her that Cinderheart had been the recreation of Cinderpelt. Cinderpelt, a medicine cat with a crippled foot, was killed at Cinderheart’s birth, and right away cats noticed the striking resemblance between the two cats. Cinderpelt’s spirit had lived inside Cinderheart until Cinderheart admitted her true feelings, and that she wanted to be a warrior and have a mate and kits, just as Cinderpelt had wanted until her injury kept her permanently crippled for life.

            The dark tabby stopped listening when she realized that a chunk of sparrow she had been sucking on while thinking was now dry and had the taste of her own mouth. Lilypaw swallowed it in a hurry and took another juicy bite from her fresh-kill.