As Maplepaw opened her eyes, the stale, rancid smell of death and swamps notified that she was in the Starless Forest, for the territory was not much different, just endless stretches of densely packed forest for both territories...perhaps MistClan's territory was not as depressing as the Starless Forest's, but was close enough to look like it.

Maplepaw headed towards the center of the territory, towards the Tree of Death, which she had dubbed it. The scent of corpses, blood and, of course, death, lingered so strongly in the centre of the Starless Forest that she reckoned it overwhelmed her so much the first time she arrived that she nearly fainted.

"My beautiful daughter," Scorchflame meowed, gently headbutting Maplepaw and rubbing her body against hers.

"Sister!" Goldenkit squeaked, bouncing up and down.

Maplepaw smiled. Now that Silentpaw had left for the so-called 'quest', her mother and deceased sister were the only ones who truly made her feel as though she was part of a family, despite the aching in her heart.

"We will continue training tonight," Scorchflame meowed.

Maplepaw kept quiet, but the gleam in her eyes told her mother everything. She saw her mother whipping her gaze around and frowning before she bellowed, completely scaring the wits out of Maplepaw, who never knew someone with a frame as delicate and elegant as hers would be capable of producing such a voice,

"Mapleshade! You lazy mouse-brain, get your paws over here this instant before I grind you into a pulp!"

"Yeah, yeah," a harsh, slightly distant voice called from her right.

Mapleshade burst through the undergrowth, a pale grey tom with dark grey paws and yellow eyes trailing behind her.

Maplepaw was confused by her sudden twinge of annoyance, until she noticed that this was the apprentice, Grovepaw, of Dovesprig.

"What's a medicine cat apprentice doing here?" Maplepaw sneered, astonished by her own ferocity.

"That's my child," Scorchflame purred, twining her tail around Maplepaw's.

Maplepshade gave a grunt before replying in a raspy voice, "He accepted my deal-"

Scorchflame's face twisted into utter fury, her features grotesque from rage as she screeched, thrusting herself forward until her whiskers practically brushed against Mapleshade's,

"You gave a deal to a good-for-nothing medicine cat apprentice when my daughter was right there in MistClan and killed an apprentice during the first days of her apprenticeship? What were you thinking?"

Mapleshade growled a response, baring her fangs, not fully, but it was certainly enough to make Scorchflame recoil slightly, though it certainly didn't cease the anger burning in her eyes.

"Look here Scorchflame. I've promoted you to a respected title, and this is how you treat me? Nevertheless, I will forgive this, just this time, since I understand a mother's devotion to her kit. But the reason is that I believe you will train her better than any other warrior here, since you are her mother and care about her much more than I do."

Scorchflame muttered some inaudible words but slunk back, standing behind Maplepaw.

"Do you know this apprentice?" Mapleshade continued coolly, almost as though the sudden spat had never happened.

Maplepaw forced to still herself as she replied with equal calmness,

"Why, of course not. I thought you knew that MistClan tends to not associate itself with others."

Mapleshade dipped her head in understanding, but she swore that she could see a glimmer of twisted happiness within those amber eyes of the warrior.

"Grovepaw," Mapleshade meowed, looking at the tom, "how about we teach this little kit about respect, eh?"

You mouse-brain! Maplepaw cursed herself. That was a test, stupid!

Grovepaw's once indifferent and almost scared-looking face morphed into cruel glee.

"Of course, Mapleshade," he meowed serenely. "It would be my pleasure."

Maplepaw's demeanour changed once again as a wicked grin of her own sliced across her face as she snickered,

"I'm sorry, but you're mistaken. The pleasure's all mine, Grovepaw."

She didn't wait to see his reaction before she soared forwards, a brash move, but she couldn't contain her anger any longer. Not at Mapleshade's manipulativeness, but at everything and everyone else in her life.

Her sight blurred as a choked yowl forced its way through her mouth when Grovepaw launched upwards, completely knocking the air from her lungs before slamming her into the ground.

Maplepaw saw red and fought against his grasp, which was surprisingly easy to do, but when she stood up, he was completely gone.

"Coward," she spat. "Come here and fight me, coward!"

Maplepaw's fury took over her as she launched straight after his scent, barrelling past the undergrowth, not listening to Scorchflame's yowls.

"Come back, coward!" she screeched.

A grey figure slammed to her side and before she could react, darted away into the darkness again.

"So this is how we're going to play it, huh?" Maplepaw muttered, a small smile growing on her face as she understood Grovepaw's tactics, slowly calming herself down.

Maplepaw stood in one place, tail swishing around slightly before she gave her fur a quick lick, pricking her ears as she tried to notice where the WillowClan apprentice was.

A crack of a twig alerted Maplepaw's senses as she leaped into the undergrowth without a second thought and came into contact with a grey furry lump.

"Gotcha," Maplepaw purred with glee as her unsheathed claws dug into Grovepaw's body, but within a few seconds, completely disappeared from her grasp.

Grovepaw then landed on Maplepaw from an overhanging branch, but she didn't wish to become injured and even further delay her training, thus forced her eyes to open.

Sure enough, she was back in the real world, but she could hear the words "Who's the coward now?" ringing throughout her head.

Instinctively, Maplepaw stood up and went to the medicine cats' den to find her sister but realised she wouldn't be returning for a couple of moons. Maplepaw decided to continue her journey anyway since her dressing probably needed changing.

"Ghostwhisper?" Maplepaw called, sticking her head into the den.

"He's gone to forage for herbs," another soft voice called from inside.

"Ashpool," Maplepaw said instead.

"Yes?" he replied.

"Can you check my wound?" she asked, feeling stupid at the words she uttered, knowing that he probably already knew the reason she came.

"Of course. But that's my role, isn't it?" he replied curtly, in what Maplepaw could almost consider as a derogatory tone, "Come inside."

Ashpool must be one of Waspsting/Cinderstar's cats. Completely loyal dollies who wouldn't follow a rule from anyone else.

As Ashpool took off the moss and cobwebs, Maplepaw noticed the the wound clearly looked much better, the blood had completely coagulated and the swelling around it had completely disappeared, but she saw Ashpool frown and say,

"Oh...Maplepaw, I-I regret to inform you that your wound has become infected and you may need to rest for a couple of moons, otherwise you could lose a limb."

Maplepaw gritted her teeth as she tried not to slap Ashpool's pathetic-looking face and sat down serenely, licking a paw that was supposed to be on the medicine cat's face before meowing,

"Are you sure?"

She'd seen Silentpaw use this sole phrase countless times on both Ghostwhisper and Ashpool, making them second guess their decision even though most of the time, they were certain. Perhaps, despite the fact that her sister was slightly naive in other aspects of life, when it came to her duty, she treated it with utmost respect. However, since Silentpaw had used the phrase so many times, they adapted and reassured her, so it was mostly rendered useless now, thus Maplepaw didn't expect any large effect to happen.

"W-w-well...I-I mean, look at it. Doesn't it look infected to you? The shiny appearance of the wound is a tell-tale sign of infection," Ashpool stuttered, complete shock flashing across his eyes for a brief moment as he wrestled to contain it.

Well that worked better than I thought, Maplepaw mused to herself as she pondered what her response would be.

"Oh?" Maplepaw questioned, tilting her head. She'd decided to play innocent for this time around. After all, warriors weren't supposed to know much about healing, but she supposed that she had learned quite a bit from Silentpaw's constant nagging.

"You see," Ashpool quietly meowed, demeanour returning to normal, "When a wound becomes glossy and shiny, it's infected, meaning that-"

"Let me see the wound," a half-muffled meow stopped Ashpool short as a bulky white tom stood at the entrance.

"O-of course, Ghostwhisper. My, I see that you don't have a lot of herbs, I shall go forage for some more whilst you attend to her," Ashpool mewed, fidgeting slightly and dashed outside the moment he finished speaking.

"He's one of Waspsting's I'm afraid," Ghostwhisper muttered under his breath into her ear before speaking in a normal volume, "At least you've stuck around Silentpaw for long enough to know the difference between an infection and a wound that is healing normally."

It was Silentpaw who stuck with me all this time, Maplepaw realised as she felt her body tightening. What if she doesn't make it back alive? I'd be lost in this clan with no one to fend for me...

"Thank you, Ghostwhisper," Maplepaw smiled at him, glad that there was at least one other cat who didn't blindly follow the leader and deputy.

"Contrary to what Ashpool has told you, this is not an infection. The wound is mostly healed, however, I highly recommend you rest for another couple of days, the very least, to prevent it from reopening and actually catching an infection there," he analysed her shoulder and sat back down again, licking her muzzle, his cloudy blind eye gazing into the horizon.

"I should probably be leaving," Maplepaw dipped her head in acknowledgement and gratitude, "Thank you for everything."

"It was my pleasure," Ghostwhisper said. "Come back soon. You remind me of your sister's determination and her sheer power to thrive even in the harshest of conditions."

" I will," Maplepaw promised as she exited the den.

Silentpaw wasn't a determined cat, to a certain extent, nor did she have the will to live. It was purely her optimism and her ability to never lose hope in anyone.

[TIMESKIP 4 MOONS]

It was time for Maplepaw's assessment tomorrow. She was glad that most of her apprenticehood after her exile was peaceful with very little drama. She lifted her head to the sky, seeing fragments of deep ink blue through the cracks in the canopy. Maplepaw headed towards the border of StormClan and MistClan, hoping to observe the border one last time before her assessment. However, she was going to rely on her wits and partially, as much as she hated to admit it, Shadepaw. His favouritism would've definitely granted him an edge in situations like these.

As she lay down and glanced at the deep abyss, the strong wind buffeting her face, she couldn't help push away the nagging feeling that there was a chance Silentpaw would never return at all. It had been four moons since she had left MistClan and she could only hope Silentpaw was on her way to return from her journey.

She squinted as the near full-moon exposed itself from behind the clouds and hit into the abyss. The task to go to the bottom and return seemed almost impossible when she first gazed into the abyss. That day seemed so long ago and yet she could still feel Tinycloud's presence beside her.

It took some time but she recognised why it was so difficult to accomplish this task. It may not be impossible, but now she considered it to be extremely difficult, for the ground beneath you could crumble beneath your paws without a moment's notice and you could be spiked on stalagmites that grew on the base.

Maplepaw headed back to camp, feeling ready for this assessment. She was going to succeed, not for herself, but instead, for her sisters, her friend, Ghostwhisper, her mother and above all, Speckledpatch. It had been so long since she'd met with that brown tabby she-cat that she wondered if Speckledpatch would even recognise her if she went back to the moors.

She snaked her way to her nest and lay down, not too sure whether sleep would pull her down this time or would she lie awake until dawn approached.

It seemed it was the latter that would occur thus far. She watched as soft, discreet streaks of pink and orange slowly consumed the dark blue of the night sky, turning it into a mosaic of colours.

Despite staying awake the whole night, Maplepaw felt as ready to go as ever. She was going to tackle this assessment head on. She popped out from her den and grabbed a frog from the prey pile, practically inhaled it and met up with Tinycloud at the edge of camp.

"How's my apprentice doing?" Tinycloud fondly asked, licking the top of her head.

"I'm doing fine," Maplepaw replied, a grin of her own smeared across her face.

A fluffy lilac-furred cat barrelled into Maplepaw and tackled her down, giving her furious, almost ferocious licks and said,

"My little kit! All grown up and ready to become a warrior. I could still remember when you were not even half my size and constantly stumbling around my paws, begging for entertainment."

Maplepaw giggled at Heatherstalk's energy and said,

"Well, that was only because the sole thing you did was sleep in the middle of camp or talk to other warriors."

"You must be mistaken, Maplepaw, for that was you," she purred, "I wish you good luck with your assessment today. I'm sure you will pass."

"Thank you, Heatherstalk. I hope I will as well," Maplepaw replied, giving her foster mother one last lick before climbing her way out of camp.

Cinderstar greeted her and Maplepaw saw Shadepaw and Cloudpaw standing with their mentors before the leader. Cloudpaw, despite being a couple of moons older than her, had to spend extra time on training due to the intense grieving period which he had gone through.

"Now that we have all arrived," Cinderstar declared. "The assessment shall begin. The assessment is composed of two parts: combat and strategy-building. You shall complete the combat part first, and you will be given a break until sundown, in which you will complete the second-half of your assessment."

Maplepaw stood, indifferent to the words Cinderstar was spewing out of that cursed mouth of hers. The same mouth that uttered the words of her apprenticeship to Tinycloud, the same mouth that uttered the words of her exile and presumably, the same mouth that announced Silentpaw's departure-

Maplepaw breathed. She wasn't going to let her emotions get the best of her again. When she was younger, she was naive and hotheaded. Now, she knew how to deal with them appropriately.

"For combat," Cinderstar continued as she led them to the training grounds, "You will be sparring with the mentor of another apprentice. Firstly, Cloudpaw will spar with me, since he is much more experienced than either of you and it would be considered unfair for him to have the same standards as you two."

Maplepaw's thoughts whirred at the possible plan Cinderstar was devising, chewing slightly on her tongue. She watched as the two faced each other, but then, blocked everything else out.

As her thoughts clicked into place, she was afraid that the complete suddenness of it all would be heard by everyone else. It was clear as to what Cinderstar was trying to do. She would make Cloudpaw battle her, so that she would have to either battle Waspsting or Blackcloud, both formidable warriors, however, Shadepaw would be able to battle Tinycloud, giving him an easy win to this assessment.

"Don't worry," Tinycloud murmured. It seemed that their training sessions together had allowed him to pick up slightly on Maplepaw's insightfulness and a sharp eye for detail or ulterior motives. "I won't go down easily. If anything, I'll try to beat your former brother."

Maplepaw gave a soft smile. She knew that even if Shadepaw lost, Waspsting would eventually convince Cinderstar about how valiantly he fought, and thus, should still be given his warrior name.

"I hereby announce..." Cinderstar puffed, clearly looking tired already from their spar, "that Cloudpaw has passed his combat training assessment!"

"Now," she continued, after pausing to catch her breath, "Shadepaw will be fighting against...Tinycloud."

Maplepaw casted her mentor a dark glance, both of them seemingly sharing the same thoughts, but couldn't do anything to change their fates.

"Good luck," Maplepaw whispered.

Tinycloud nodded as he stepped into the arena. Maplepaw watched the two circle each other for a while before Tinycloud launched forwards, Maplepaw wincing at the brash move. She'd always play defensive, even with a visibly weaker foe, for her time in the Starless Forest taught her that looks were pretty deceiving, to say the least

Shadepaw merely stepped out of the way and Tinycloud crashed onto the sandy floor. Maplepaw internally face-pawed, yet surprised that her brother managed to learn anything at all with that fat ego of his and watched as Shadepaw took advantage of the situation and stood on Tinycloud.

"As you can all see," Shadepaw declared, eyes gleaming with pride, "I have defeated Tinycloud and should-"

Maplepaw and Tinycloud's eyes only connected for a mere second before Tinycloud launched upwards and flung Shadepaw onto his back. Tinycloud spun around, his hind paw digging into the sand, causing a small spray to land on Shadepaw and consequently in his eyes. Shadepaw shrieked, probably at the sudden turn of events, his sudden loss of control at the situation.

"You little piece of fox-dung!" Shadepaw screeched as he tried to paw the sand out from his eyes.

Tinycloud stood to the side, waiting for Shadepaw to recover and Maplepaw found that it was, apart from his determination, another part of him that she could not understand. Tinycloud was already a bad warrior, why still fight with chivalry? He should've just lay down and accepted that Shadepaw would've won either way.

When Shadepaw recovered enough to spar again, they both launched at each other this time, Shadepaw's claws unsheathed as he dug them into Tinycloud's pelt, a spray of crimson unleashed from Tinycloud's sides.

"Stop!" Cinderstar yowled.

Shadepaw still had his claws dug into Tinycloud's flesh but after Waspsting murmured something inaudible to him, he gingerly let go.

Maplepaw rushed to Tinycloud's side and meowed,

"Are you okay?"

Tinycloud gave a small chuckle before wincing,

"I'm all good, Maplepaw. It's nothing I can't handle."

Maplepaw found her paws flying towards camp, so fast that she nearly forgot that MistClan's camp was actually a crater in the ground and fell into it. She landed, barely, on her paws and sped into the medicine cats' den.

"Ghostwhisper!" she yelled, startling the medicine cat out of his fur as he leapt so high Maplepaw nearly saw his head hit the ceiling of the den.

"Yes?" he replied, still shocked from Maplepaw's voice.

"Follow me. Bring some herbs for wounds, like bleeding wounds. Tinycloud. Injured. Follow me," Maplepaw's voice was urgent, unable to form proper sentences as each of the words she formed tripped over one another.

"Lead the way," Ghostwhisper dipped his head, understanding her jumbled up words, and assembled batch of herbs in his mouth.

Maplepaw leaped out of the crater and returned to the training grounds in what seemed to be the fastest she'd ever run in her life. Legs pumping, eyes watering from the speed, she skid into the training grounds, sending a spray of sand flying into the air, Tinycloud still bleeding on the floor.

It took Ghostwhisper a couple of seconds to arrive, but once he did, he wasted no time treating Tinycloud.

"Maplepaw," Ghostwhisper meowed. "Please use this moss to fetch water for-"

Maplepaw tore the moss from Ghostwhisper's grasp, not allowing him to finish and headed towards the nearest stream she could think of. The seconds it took for the moss to soak almost seemed as though she could hear the breaths of her mentor slowly fading away.

Without wasting another second, she returned and handed the moss to Ghostwhisper who then rinsed the wound clean.

"The wound's quite deep, but there has been no internal damage done," Ghostwhisper analysed, looking at the claw marks in Tinycloud's side.

"Maple," a croak sounded from Tinycloud. This wound alone showed how fragile he was, his strength bleeding out onto the sand along with the blood.

"Shhh," Maplepaw mewed. "Be quiet. We're trying to help you."

As Ghostwhisper chewed some leaves that Maplepaw did not recognise into a pulp before spreading it onto his wound, she felt puzzled as to why she had become so worried about Tinycloud when he was merely her mentor and taught her so little compared to what she had learned with her mother.

"There," Ghostwhisper meowed. "All done. Now would some cat please volunteer to carry him back to camp with me?"

Blackcloud dipped his head and spoke while stepping forward,

"I shall, Ghostwhisper."

The second he uttered those words, dread pooled in Maplepaw's stomach.