A cold breeze entered the warrior's den, rustling Riverstorm's pelt and causing her to wake with a shiver. She slowly lifted her head, breathing in the air. It was brisk and cold, burning her nose. She winced slightly and rose to her paws, judging by the low sunlight outside she could only assume that it was dawn. She sat up and stretched, bracing herself to face the cold weather outside. When she felt like she was ready, Riverstorm braced the outside.

She stepped into camp, flinching as the cold weather completely overtook her body. She glanced up at the beautiful dawn sky as small, fluffy snowflakes fell slowly from the sky. I guess leaf-bare is truly here now. Riverstorm looked back into the warriors den, she could see that Ivyheart as well as a collection of other warriors were already gone. I must have missed the dawn patrol. She thought. That's fine, I can ask Ivyheart if I can lead the next one.

Riverstorm waited patiently, allowing the rest of her Clanmates to wake up. She sat near the warriors den, watching AshClan come to life. She saw Cloverstrike and Mudthorn taking Leafpaw and Petalpaw out hunting, the apprentices both seemed amazed by the snow. Riverstorm had never enjoyed the harsh season of leaf-bare, and she didn't intend on starting now and she had a inkling that the apprentices wouldn't enjoy it for long.

The dawn patrol soon returned and Riverstorm approached Ivyheart, looking for her own assignments. "Looking for a patrol, Riverstorm?" The deputy questioned and Riverstorm nodded in response. "I'll have you lead the sunhigh hunting party, take Sharptongue, Hollytail, Graypelt, Lionpelt and Berryleaf with you."

"Understood." Riverstorm dipped her head.

"Before you leave though, Goldenstar wants to have a meeting with the senior warriors and you."

Riverstorm lifted her head. "A meeting?" The last meeting that Goldenstar had held had involved leading the attack on MoonClan a moon ago. "What about?"

"Not sure, let me gather the senior warriors and we'll meet her at her den." Once Ivyheart had gathered the warriors that Goldenstar had requested, they padded into Goldenstar's den where the leader was waiting patiently.

"Good morning, everyone." Goldenstar dipped her head. "I hope you're keeping warm."

"As best as we can." Jayclaw mewed, sitting down. "What did you need, Goldenstar?"

"Leaf-bare is officially here and we need to get to work while the snow is still light and cats are still healthy. Ivyheart I want extra emphasis on hunting patrols, we need cats hunting all throughout the day to keep AshClan fed. However, I don't want our border patrols to fall short either." The cats listened intently. "Ivyheart I want you to focus solely on hunting patrols, and Riverstorm, you will be in charge of border patrols."

All eyes went to Riverstorm who stared at Goldenstar in surprise. "Me?"

Goldenstar nodded. "You will be working for Ivyheart this season, together the two of you will plan out all of our patrols. You should make sure that the best hunters are chosen for the hunting patrols."

Riverstorm looked at Ivyheart. I've been given deputy duties. She couldn't help but feel a rush of pride and honor that Goldenstar trusted her with such a task. "I won't let you down, Goldenstar." Riverstorm bowed you head.

"I know you won't." Goldenstar purred. "You are all dismissed, except you, Riverstorm. I wish to have a word with you alone." Riverstorm nodded and once the other warriors had left, Riverstorm looked at Goldenstar expectantly. "As I mentioned a while ago, you would be mentoring one of Ravensong's kits."
"I remember." Riverstorm gave a small nod.

"Well I have been watching the kits closely and I have decided which kit you will be mentoring." Riverstorm listened with excitement. "I have chosen Batkit for you to mentor, he is energetic and has a very high energy drive. I think he will prove quite a challenge for you, but I know of all cats in AshClan that you will be able to handle it."

Riverstorm thought about Batkit, he was very high strung and very excitable. He's perfect. "Thank you so much, Goldenstar." Riverstorm bowed her head once again. "I am excited to begin his training once he turns six moons old. If you don't mind me asking, who will the other mentors be."

"I'm considering Rainsong for Nightkit, I know she will be out of the nursery by then and she will be eager to get her paws back to work. I've decided Owlstorm for Dustkit, and Echoheart for Crowkit." Riverstorm's ears twitched at the mention of her sister. "I'm not sure if you have noticed, but ever since the battle with MoonClan your sister has truly started to hone in on her warrior skills. She's more focused, more dedicated and a truly skilled warrior."

"I did notice." Riverstorm replied. "And I think an apprentice will do her well."

"I'm glad you agree." Goldenstar's eyes were pleased. "You may go now, you have a lot of work to do."

Riverstorm dipped her head one last time before stepping out of Goldenstar's den. She was met with Ivyheart and Jayclaw. "What did Goldenstar want?" Jayclaw questioned, he seemed curious, but also a little curt.

"She was just telling me that I will be mentoring one of Ravensong's kits." Riverstorm explained.

Jayclaw nodded approvingly. "Good. It's about time you got your own apprentice." He turned to Ivyheart. "I hope that once you take over leadership that you chose her as your deputy, it's clear thats what Goldenstar is pushing for."

"I will if I believe Riverstorm is the most capable cat." Ivyheart said sternly before turning her attention to Riverstorm. "But first, we have things to do. I want to keep Lilyclaw, Hazelfern, Echoheart, Cinderflower, Sharptongue and Duskwhisker for the hunting patrols as they are our best hunters."

"Echoheart?" Jayclaw spoke up once again, Riverstorm noticed that Ivyheart's ears twitched in annoyance. "Are you sure about that one?"

"Yes I am." Ivyheart replied. "Regardless of what you think of her, Echoheart has shown great improvements in her skills in the past moon. She is often the one to bring home the most prey." Jayclaw silenced himself and turned away, going to speak to Gorsestrike. "Anyway," Ivyheart flicked her tail. "I'm assuming that we're keeping border patrols the same. One at dawn, one during sunhigh and one before we rest. Don't overwork cats, we have to work together to make sure that no one cat is getting over worked. AshClan is big, we have plenty of warriors to work with."

"I understand." Riverstorm and Ivyheart worked close together to get all the days patrols sorted out and once they were done, Riverstorm felt a strong sense of accomplishment. I'm finally getting a taste of what its like to be deputy. I'm almost guaranteed to be made deputy at this point. Riverstorm thought confidently. Now that all the patrols were settled, Riverstorm waited for her own hunting patrol to leave.

As she waited, she spotted Echoheart standing with Spiderheart as they started to set out on their patrol. Everything about Echoheart had changed since the battle against MoonClan. Riverstorm recalled that night clear as day, she had been so enraged that her sister had been seeing a MoonClan tom in secret, but then she saw what happened to Echoheart. She had never seen her sister, or any cat for that matter, turn so violent in the blink of eye.

She had seen her sister violently attack Cedarclaw and Riverstorm had been convinced that she had every intention of killing him. Even when Riverstorm pulled Echoheart off of him, Echoheart had attacked Riverstorm briefly. From the moment that they came home, Echoheart was different. She was shut off from everyone else, she barely spoke to other cats but she had been working hard as a warrior so Riverstorm couldn't really fault her.

Riverstorm wasn't sure if she should be worried about her sister or not, but een if she tried to reach out to Echoheart, she knew that her sister wouldn't talk to her. She hasn't even spoken to Moonwhisker. Riverstorm shook her head as Echoheart left the camp, shrugging it off. She'll get better soon. She made her mistake and now she's living with the consequences.

"Are you ready?" Riverstorm heard the voice of Lionpelt as he padded up, the rest of the patrol joining them as well .

"Yeah," Riverstorm nodded. She couldn't spend time worrying about Echoheart, she had more important things to worry about. "Let's get going, we have a Clan to feed."