Chapter 2

Pinepaw sat outside the apprentices’ den, his tail twitching with excitement. It was his first day as an apprentice. His mentor, Mousetail, had promised him the other day that they would go on his first trek through the ShadowClan’s pine forest. That was even why I was named Pinekit, Pinepaw thought wistfully. Sparrowsong and Beeclaw named me after the pine forest! Maybe they want me to be the best warrior in ShadowClan, who can memorize the territory in his sleep!

He didn’t have time to finish his daydream. Mousetail padded up to him, her tail held high in the air, her sleek gray fur shining in the sunlight. Her sky-blue eyes sparkled as she mewed, “Hello, Pinepaw. Are you ready to go?”

Pinepaw immediately got to his paws. “Of course!” he exclaimed. “I promise I’ll try my best to remember every inch of our territory, and on everything else we’re going to learn afterwards!”

Mousetail smiled. “Oh, you don’t have to remember everything on your first day,” she chuckled, her eyes sparkling with amusement. “I just want you to get a good idea of what kind of environment we’re living in so you’ll be more comfortable learning everything else we’re going to learn. And I’ll also show a few good places to hunt.”

Pinepaw gave a little bounce of excitement. “That’s great!” he meowed. “I promise I’ll do my best.”

Mousetail purred. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you will,” she murmured. “And to make you feel more comfortable, we’ll be going with your littermates.”

Pinepaw barely stopped himself from jumping up and down and yowling in excitement. His littermates, Shadowpaw, Duskpaw, and Darkpaw were very kind to him. Not like most brothers and sisters are, he thought. A lot of cats have crazy, teasing littermates. He turned as his littermates bounded over with their mentors. I’m lucky. They’re so kind and generous.

“Hi Pinepaw!” Darkpaw mewed, gasping for breath. “Me and Shadowpaw were racing this morning, and Duskpaw was the judge. Shadowpaw beat me in a heartbeat!”

Shadowpaw head-butted his shoulder. “Hey, I wasn’t that fast!” she exclaimed. “We were pretty close, you know. But you’ve still got to work on not twisting your paw every single step!”

Pinepaw purred. “That sounds like fun,” he meowed. “But I bet going into the forest is going to be more fun.”

Duskpaw smiled. “Right,” he agreed. “Can we get going? Or are we going to stay here chattering like blackbirds all day?”

His mentor, Windcloud, nodded. “Yes, let’s get going. You’ve got a long day ahead of you. Watch out for the strict mentors! Don’t get too tired or we’ll make you work even harder!”

Mousetail nudged him playfully. “I don’t think we need to do that. What happened to ’let’s get going’?”

“Yes, let’s go. We’re wasting time,” Firepelt, Shadowpaw’s mentor, mewed. “Come on.” She led them through the entrance.

The first step into the pine forest was like receiving a warrior name. The whole forest was bright green; the pine needles soft and comforting under Pinepaw’s paws.

Darkpaw was skipping around as if it was the best moment of his life. Well, Pinepaw thought, it’s one of the best moments. And anyways, Darkpaw’s always been the most cheerful among us. “Wow,” Darkpaw breathed out. “This–it’s amazing!”

Shadowpaw seemed less amazed. “It’s…so big,” she mewed. “But it doesn’t feel safe, not like the camp.”

Firepelt curled her orange tabby tail around her shoulders. “ShadowClan is always safe,” she meowed. “Just remember that. You’ll get used to it, don’t worry.”

Duskpaw was staring around in nervous amazement. “It’s so beautiful,” he breathed, “but it’s too big. How am I going to remember every step of the forest?”

“It’s alright.” Of course, Mousetail was there to comfort him. “Like Firepelt said, you’ll get used to it. And plus, it takes time. You’ll be fine.”

I like that she’s always so comforting, even though she’s so young and doesn’t have as much experience as the other mentors, Pinepaw thought. She’s so kind, and she wants everyone to fit in. I’m glad she’s my mentor. He turned to Mousetail. “So where are we going first?”

“I guess we should go to the SkyClan border first,” Firepelt suggested. “We only re-marked RiverClan’s border yesterday.”

“Because those stupid stinky mange-pelts were trying to cross our border,” Windcloud muttered.

The four apprentices exchanged a confused glance.

“Don’t worry,” Grassfur, Darkpaw’s mentor, mewed. “You’ll know about border marking when we get there.”

They walked through the forest, and before long they stopped at a wide path leading away into the forest. “What’s that?” Darkpaw asked.

“It’s a Twoleg path,” Windcloud answered. “Twolegs use it in newleaf and greenleaf, maybe even in leaf-fall, but right now it’s leaf-bare, and there’s nothing to worry about. They won’t distract us. Probably staying in their dens because of the cold.”

“So it’s safe to cross,” Duskpaw meowed, tilting his head at his mentor.

“Yes,” Windcloud answered firmly.

The eight cats bound across the Twoleg path and continued through the forest. Before long they stopped at another…

“Another Twoleg path?” Pinepaw gasped. “Why do they have so many?”

“Well, yes,” Mousetail replied, “but this one we can’t cross.” She twitched an ear. “Do you smell it?”

The four littermates lifted their nose up and sniffed.

“Yuck!” Darkpaw spat. “What is that?”

“That,” Grassfur mewed, “is the scent of another Clan. Have you been listening at all? What was it we said earlier? Do any of you–”

“SkyClan!” Shadowpaw interrupted. “It’s the SkyClan border! You said we were going to the SkyClan border first.” Grassfur nodded in approval.

Pinepaw stared across at the other side of the path. Something rustled in the bushes, and five shapes stepped out. “Darkfur!” Firepelt snarled. “Riverleap!”

The largest cat growled at them. “What are you doing?” His dark gray fur bristled.

“Checking the border, just like you are,” Windcloud retorted, his fur standing on end. “You don’t have to make a fuss over it. We didn’t cross the border, that’s for sure.”

“How do we know for sure?” a skinny gray tom snarled. He took a few steps forward into the sunlight, and Pinepaw realized one of his hind legs had almost no fur, pink scars crisscrossing all over it. Poor thing, Pinepaw thought with a twinge of sympathy.

Mousetail glared at the gray tom coldly. “You believe it, Riverleap! That’s the only way to know for sure. And we’re telling you the truth!”

“How do we know?” a black-and-white apprentice piped up. “There’s no proof but your ‘we’re telling the truth’!”

“I think we should go along with what they tell us, Swingpaw,” a beautiful golden apprentice mewed hesitantly, her blue eyes flicking from Riverleap to Mousetail. “There’s no reason for us to argue over borders and tell each other we’re not telling the truth when we’ve got more important things to do, as long as the border is still secure.”

“No, Nimblepaw,” Darkfur growled. “A true warrior stands up for what he believes in.”

Nimblepaw shrank back into the shadows. A pale gray apprentice stepped forward and glared at Darkfur. “She’s standing up for what she believes in!” he meowed. “She’s telling you her opinion, and that’s what she believes in!”

Darkfur whirled around and glared back at the apprentice. “Opinions don’t count, Glidepaw!” he spat. “It’s the facts that really matter!”

Mousetail glared across the border. “Are you guys done arguing yet?” she yowled. “If you are, then finish marking your border and we’ll finish marking ours!”

Pinepaw couldn’t take his eyes off Nimblepaw. She had been so brave to argue against her mentor, or whoever Darkfur was to her. And she was so…shiny. Her blue eyes sparkled in the bright light, her sleek, soft golden fur smoothly staying on her back…

He shook out his pelt. He would focus on marking the border. He padded to a tree next to Duskpaw and started rubbing his pelt against it. As the argument with SkyClan died away, his group began to turn away from the border and look towards home.

“Come on, Pinepaw,” Mousetail beckoned. “You’ve done well today.” The mentors began leading their apprentices home, and Pinepaw trailed behind with Mousetail. He was still thinking about Nimblepaw. She was so beautiful, so brave…

“Are you okay, Pinepaw?” Mousetail asked, glancing at him. “You seem lost.”

Pinepaw sighed. “I’m fine,” he meowed. “It’s just…the argument is still bugging me.” That was part of the truth. “Is it normal to have such unnecessary conflicts with SkyClan? Or even RiverClan?” That seemed like the right question to ask.

Mousetail rested her tail on his shoulder. “You don’t need to know about that now,” she answered, giving a wry smile. “You’ll learn from experience. For now, let’s go back to camp and you can get a nice, juicy piece of prey from the fresh-kill pile to share with your littermates, alright?”

“Okay.” Even as they bounded over to the rest of the group, Pinepaw couldn’t stop thinking about Nimblepaw. She’s just so…I don’t know how to describe it… He sighed and tried to ignore his never-ending thoughts. But they still gnawed at him.

What am I feeling, exactly?