The familiar smell of damp wood, the fresh, light scent of rain, the earthy aroma greeting Maplepaw as dense undergrowth and low-hanging leaves brushing against her pelt. Her green eyes scanned the forest for any signs of her clanmates. She nosed her way through the narrow tunnel, one that only the trained eye could notice or, in other words, MistClan members, and stood atop the MistClan camp, the dark, secluded crater in the ground. It was a second line of defence, she supposed. It was almost impossible to spot cats inside the crater, though, from inside, it was effortless to see any invading cats.

"Coming home, Maplepaw?" a familiar voice sneered to her right.

Maplepaw whipped around and came face to face with the blue eyes of her former brother, Shadepaw. Some darkness lashed around inside her, almost as though a beast was awakening.

"Why, indeed, dear brother. Or perhaps we should take you to Ghostwhisper?" Maplepaw purred, swishing her tail from side to side.

Maplepaw watched as Shadepaw's muzzle twitched in annoyance, a rustle from the bushes behind her snarled,

"I suppose you've forgotten your manners towards the deputy's son, rogue."

Maplepaw kept her mouth shut, knowing it would only bring her to her demise, however, one day, she'd bring them down to their knees. They'd bow down to her and beg for forgiveness.

"Much better," Waspsting smirked, stalking in front of her.

"We were going to celebrate tonight if you didn't return," Shadepaw growled, turning away and stomping towards camp.

Maplepaw stalked towards camp and leaped into the crater, landing deftly beside the apprentice's den. The scents of her denmates were strangely foreign.

"Maplepaw!" an excited purr emerged from behind her and knocked her onto her face.

"Good to see you, Heatherstalk," Maplepaw meowed, straining to keep her own joy contained within her.

Heatherstalk licked the top of her head and curled around her, like a mother would do with her kit.

"I hope you've found a part of yourself during that moon, for only during experience will you be able to find yourself."

Maplepaw didn't reply as she buried her face into Heatherstalk's chest, her soft fur a comforting presence and inhaled the soft, crisp and slightly sweet scent of her foster mother, allowing herself to be doted on like a kit.

It seemed after her moon of exile, she was treated more like a rogue than a clanmate. Not that it bothered her anyway. When Maplepaw finally looked up, she looked around. Something was off. It was only after a couple of minutes when she rasped in a panicked tone,

"Where's Silentpaw?"

Heatherstalk gently placed her nose on Maplepaw's cheek and reassured her,

"Don't worry. She's only been sent on a quest by StarClan to aid some far away souls."

Maplepaw's ears still remained pricked as she settled beside Heatherstalk. A slim white tom with yellow eyes stopped in front of her and purred,

"Welcome home, Maplepaw."

Though Tinycloud was possibly the most worthless of cats, she couldn't help the smile creeping onto her face.

"Thanks, Tinycloud. When will we commence training again?" Maplepaw asked, standing up and facing the tom.

"Soon, Maplepaw. Rest for now. We can begin tomorrow if you wish, but your body is in no state to train today," Tinycloud meowed.

Cinderstar's presence on the High-ledge meant the hubbub of MistClan dullened slightly and the familiar phrase rang out,

"May all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather underneath the High-ledge for a clan meeting!"

Reluctantly, followed by the nudging of Heatherstalk, she made her way to the front of the High-ledge, a small patch of empty space ballooning around her with every step she took.

"As you all may be aware," Cinderstar began once all cats had settled down, "Maplepaw has returned from her one moon of exile and we shall welcome her back with open paws, for StarClan has decided she has given up her past actions and begged for repentance."

Maplepaw snorted under her breath. Cinderstar's words were so fake and superficial a newborn kit would've been able to hear it. Nevertheless, she held her tongue and kept quiet, for more suspicion would certainly not work in her favour.

"Therefore," Cinderstar continued, "She will be welcomed back as one of our own and I hope that you will also, along with me, forgive and forget her past wrongdoings."

With that Cinderstar flicked her tail for the dismissal of the meeting and Maplepaw stormed towards the prey-pile, snatching the sparrow awkwardly lain on top, blood congealing its feathers together.

She bit into its stomach, blood seeping into her mouth and wrinkled her muzzle slightly. Though she could indeed taste the fresh, crisp, enigmatic tang that was only reserved for prey in MistClan, after a moon of meadow prey, MistClan prey tasted stale and rank.

She trotted back to the apprentice's den, causing a small flurry of debris in her wake. Unfortunately, the first cat who greeted her was Cloudpaw. The sudden change of the white tom shocked Maplepaw, so much that she almost stopped breathing. His once bright green eyes had been dullened, so much that it could almost pass for grey and his once sleek, puffy white fur was much slimmer, missing in several places.

"Monster!" he spat in Maplepaw's face, and dived back into his nest, chest heaving.

Maplepaw's lip curled as she stomped back to her nest, scent now stale, if anything, it barely existed anymore, though Silentpaw's was mingled among it, almost as though during the entire moon, she had been cleaning her nest to ensure it was still fresh for her arrival. It was that thought that made her next step almost falter, though a voice behind her allowed her to finish her step without hesitation.

"Welcome back, Deformedpaw," Shadepaw's voice sneered from the entrance.

Maplepaw growled, but her voice would not obey and collapsed in her nest, the world disappearing...

A butterfly slowly fluttered past Maplepaw's nose. Fascinated, she extended her paw in a futile attempt to grab it, though it only fluttered further from her reach. With that, she was prompted to catch the butterfly and sped along beside it. After a lengthy chase, it almost seemed as though the butterfly dissipated into the thin air and Maplepaw skidded to a halt. Turning her head to face the view in front of her, a bolt of lightning, followed by a clap of thunder greeted her. Pure chaos and destruction greeted the view before her as she held her breath and witnessed the carnage. Several corpses of dead cats lay before her, rotting and crawling with maggots, the rank smell of death invading her nostrils-

Wake up, wake up, wake up, Scorchflame's light voice urged, almost as though her mother's muzzle pressed against her ear.

A sharp pain jolted her right shoulder and her eyes snapped open. The world blurred slightly, abstract streaks and shapes strewn across her vision before sharpening and focusing into distinguishable objects. No matter how hard she inhaled the scent of pine sap and the damp mysterious smell of MistClan's air, the rank, vile scent of the corpses pervaded in her nose and mouth.

The snapping of a twig alerted her senses as she whipped around and came face to face her former brother standing beside her, a wicked grin on his face,

"Did you injure yourself, dear sister?"

Maplepaw twisted around and saw a deep wound, bubbling and oozing with blood on her right shoulder and glared up at Shadepaw, but kept her composure, as she replied in the calmest voice she could muster,

"Of course, dear brother. Why thank you for telling me. I am so blessed to have such a caring sibling like you. Now, would you mind escorting me to the medicine cats' den, since you have pointed out such a grave wound? I may not be able to walk properly."

She saw the muscle in Shadepaw's jaw twitch as he sneered back,

"Why would I assist a useless nobody like you? You can't even hiss of all things."

Maplepaw bit her tongue, inhaling and exhaling as she forced herself to not rip the smug face of her brother's face off, along with a few inches of his flesh.

My beloved daughter, Scorchflame purred. Keep calm in times like these. Remember, you are the sky, everyone else is only the weather.

Maplepaw's fur flattened as she forced herself to still her lashing tail, Shadepaw's grin an evident sign that he believed he had won this battle.

"I may not be able to hiss, but I'm no coward unlike you. I know what I'm going to do to prove myself. I'm not afraid to shed blood for it, so long as it will prove my worth and my skill. You, on the other paw, are sheltered ever so comfortably under father's care that you, I fear, have completely forgotten how to even hold your own in a verbal spar, because, just between you and me, Shade, we both know that you whine and complain like a 2 moon old kit to father when things don't go your way," she smirked, but a void opened up in her stomach, understanding how heavy the consequences could be for speaking so callously of her father.

"How dare you accuse your father, of all cats, of a deed as malicious as that? And how could you call me Shade instead of my full title? I am the next leader of MistClan-" Shadepaw began, Maplepaw seeing the rage that began to brew under his eyes as he tried to contain himself.

"After Waspsting, my sweetheart. You really think that just because father cares about you so much that he would forfeit a title of a leader for you? You are truly deluding yourself. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go the medicine cats' den as I have such a loving heart and wouldn't want my brother exiled for one moon because they have caused a potentially fatal wound," Maplepaw smiled saccharinely before harshly brushing past him with her right shoulder and immediately wincing on impact, having forgotten where her brother had injured her momentarily, but hid it under an indifferent mask on her face to prevent further taunting.

As she stalked away from the den, her shoulder throbbing from the impact, she noticed that dawn had finally broken, complete serenity slowly flooded within her, a soft tingly feeling running through her spine before that feeling deflated as she realised that she was no longer free from the responsibility of being part of a clan. Maplepaw sighed and trudged to the medicine cats' den, hoping that with an injured shoulder she would still be able to train. Shadepaw probably wished for her to delay her training even longer so that she would be made a warrior later than him.

As Maplepaw stuck her head into the cool cave which was where the medicine cats resided, she meowed,

"Hello?"

The blue flicker of Ghostwhisper's eyes told her that some cat was inside so she entered and approached the half-blind white tom.

"How may I be of assistance?" Ghostwhisper queried, sorting herbs to their respective ledges.

Maplepaw merely sighed and showed him her shoulder, the blood already half-coagulated, turning an even darker shade of crimson. Ghostwhisper nodded and brought out some moss, binding it to her wound and adhering it to her shoulder with a patch of cobwebs. After making the final adjustments, Maplepaw dipped her head in thanks and prepared to leave but Ghostwhisper stopped her short, calling behind her,

"Do you know why your sister left?"

Maplepaw spun around, suddenly feeling defensive as she meowed fiercely,

"Of course I do. She's gone on a journey by the will of StarClan."

Maplepaw swore she saw Ghostwhisper droop for a fraction of a second before returning to his normal posture as he replied,

"Yes, she has. But...just between you and me, since your sister is such a skilled medicine cat, I believe that Dovesprig is lying-"

Maplepaw held up her tail as she interrupted Ghostwhisper,

"Hold up for a moment. Dovesprig of WillowClan? What does she have to do with any of this? Unless..." Maplepaw's head dipped, eyes darkening as her mind spun, trying to pull out a conclusion from this mess, "she announced her so-called prophecy at the Gathering which I wasn't here for."

Ghostwhisper nodded,

"You pick up on things so quickly, Maplepaw, it's really a shame that you didn't choose to become a medicine cat. You would've learned so well. But putting that aside, I suppose you don't know what's really happening, and since you must be attending training soon, I shall make this quick."

Maplepaw sat down, the coldness of the rock below her leaching the warmth from her paws as she listened, ears pricked to what Ghoswhisper had to say.

[TIMESKIP]

Maplepaw lifted her head and through the small gaps in the canopy of the forest showed the final strips of pink in the sky began to fade into blue and swivelled her head around to find Tinycloud. When her eyes connected with his yellow ones, he smiled and padded over to her.

"Hello, Maplepaw," he chirped in a bright voice but his face fell as he saw Maplepaw's patched up shoulder.

"I'm alright," she reassured him, praying that he didn't ask any more questions.

"I'm glad to hear that. Since you are injured, perhaps we'll take a tour of the territory? I was about to give you one but then..." he trailed off and the tips of Maplepaw's ears burned slightly as they both knew what he was referring to.

"Alrighty," Maplepaw replied with as much zeal as she could muster. It was good to be training now that she was back. It gave her something to do since being idle was something that Maplepaw definitely did not like doing.

As Tinycloud led her along their border, she was surprised with how little she was familiar with the territory, but not so much at the same time, after all, the furthest she had travelled was only the training area, which was only 10 fox-lengths away from camp.

As Tinycloud escorted her to the edge of the WillowClan-MistClan border, as she stared from their densely-packed woodlands and gazed at the endless field of grass, flowers and the softly-scented wind that brushed up against her fur and tickled her nostrils. She couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt at leaving Speckledpatch so abruptly, without a warning beforehand. That moon of leaving the clan had perhaps made an even deeper indentation on her than she previously thought. As Tinycloud turned to leave, she casted one last wistful glance at the moors before trailing behind him and towards the MarshClan-MistClan border. As they approached, the scent of mud, water and fish hit her in the face as she reeled back as the unpleasant combination of smells practically slapped her in the face.

"I know. It's always unpleasant the first time, but trust me, you'll get used to their fish-breaths and wet, muddy environments, but we can't really say much, after all, we pretty much eat crow-food in the middle of leaf-bare," Tinycloud mused after seeing Maplepaw's face of complete disgust.

"Right," Maplepaw nodded, holding her breath. "How 'bout we move on to StormClan."

"Very well," Tinycloud mewed, dipping his head as he led her to the StormClan-MistClan border.

As Tinycloud ventured deeper into the heart of MistClan's territory, a meow of protest broke out from Maplepaw,

"Hey, this isn't the bord-"

"Shhh," Tinycloud whispered. "We must pay our respects."

Even her MistClan eyes, so sensitive to light, and so useful within pitch-black places took time to adjust to the complete darkness of this portion of their territory and she treaded quietly behind her mentor. Slowly, a faint blue glow could be seen and as she squinted to see where such a light source could be coming from, Tinycloud abruptly stopped and she crashed into him.

She saw Tinycloud's glowing yellow eyes stare at her before she took one step sideways and then another forwards and saw bioluminescent mushrooms sprouting in random clusters, emitting a soft, blue glow, casting strange shadows on nearby foliage.

"The place where we bury our dead," he whispered to Maplepaw. "The mushrooms represent that they have found peace and rest in StarClan."

What about my mother? Was the sole question that echoed in her head. What about those who end up in the Starless Forest? Do they not ever grow mushrooms on their graves since they have not 'found peace'? But why must they be bound by the conventional norm of what others describe as 'peace'? What if they believed that peace meant residing in the Starless Forest? Who dictated what peace was and why were the mushrooms used to symbolise such 'peace'?

Tinycloud must've noticed Maplepaw's furrowed brow and explained,

"The blue light reminds us of the stars, thus when they sprout, we know a certain cat has rested in StarClan peacefully."

Maplepaw nodded, her thoughts slightly falling into place.

In other words, that frail excuse of a mentor is trying to tell you if you end up in the Starless Forest, you don't 'emit light' because you are not 'pure',  Maplepaw's mother meowed.

Maplepaw almost snorted in amusement but kept contained herself, waiting a few more seconds before following her mentor to the edge of MistClan's border.

The sudden gusts of wind buffeted her fur as she stared into the deep abyss gouged into the land between MistClan and StormClan. From where she was standing, she could barely make out the bottom of the deep maw, but when she did, she saw...bones? Or the very least, white objects on the ground.

"I think you've noticed Maplepaw, since you're one quick-minded cat, but the bones down there are the remnants of the skeletons of the traitors or those who have been found on our territory without permission from our clan. In fact, now that we're talking about this topic, one of the parts of your warrior assessment will be to go down into the abyss at the exact moment the sun disappears from the horizon, pick up a piece of bone from the bottom and make it up to here before the sun's first rays break the horizon. If you fail, or slip by a mere fraction..."

Maplepaw nodded, knowing that Tinycloud's averted gaze told her everything about what would happen if you failed. She was determined not to, so long as her shoulder healed soon. Then she would come here and practise as much as possible before the assessment.

"And there is a strict policy that apprentices may not enter the abyss beforehand, even if the leader permits. This is to ensure equality during the assessment, so that no one has an upper paw," Tinycloud continued.

Maplepaw's jaw tightened as she was certain that Waspsting would give his beloved son tips and tricks or even allow him to enter the abyss in secret, just to ensure a passing of Shadepaw's assessment.

"Anyways, let's head back to camp," Tinycloud meowed, turning away from the border.

"What about hunting training?" Maplepaw meowed. Sure, she wouldn't be able to spar with a wounded shoulder, but hunting should be fine, right?

"You see, Maplepaw, not many in our clan can actually hunt. We prefer battle, as you can see. You only train in the basics of hunting unless you are apprenticed to a well-known hunter in the clan," Tinycloud apologetically explained.

"Can we learn the basics then?" Maplepaw asked persistently, hoping that her pestering skills would eventually win.

"As eager to learn as ever, I see," Tinycloud smiled, "But, unfortunately, I don't want your wound to reopen. Rest a few days, Maplepaw and I promise my life that we will start training then."

Maplepaw gave a huff that sounded something between impatience and annoyance but said nothing more as she trudged back to camp.

It must've been the adrenaline of finally being able to commence training again because the second she collapsed in her nest, she could feel the incessant throbbing of her shoulder, the feeling of sleep weighing heavily down upon her.

As she lay down, she saw the fragments of sky through the densely-packed vegetation slowly blossom from a soft, baby-blue to a pale, pastel orange. It was only then when the words her mother spoke sunk in.

That frail excuse of a mentor... repeated itself through Maplepaw's head. Perhaps what Speckledpatch told her about her mother's history was true.

Speckledpatch, Maplepaw thought, her chest squeezing, throat constricting until she thought she wouldn't be able to breathe anymore. Speckledpatch's presence now echoed everywhere. In the breezes that blew past, in the soft, warm nights. Perhaps Maplepaw was someone who did not react immediately, but when the feelings sunk in, they hit hard.

Maplepaw closed her eyes and willed for sleep to come, and wished to resist it at the same time. It seemed as though there was no safe haven anymore. Not in the waking world, not in the dreaming realm. Nowhere felt like home anymore.