"How does it feel?" Sagefeather questioned, watching Maplepaw place her hind paw on the ground.

"Feels fine." Maplepaw replied, lifting her head and looking at the medicine cat with shimmering eyes. "I can walk around and everything!" The golden-brown she-cat paraded around Sagefeather who let out a purr.

"Very well, Maplepaw." Sagefeather stopped her from running around. "You can get back on regular duties, just be careful." Without waiting for another word, Maplepaw took off towards Elmpaw and Jaggedpaw who were watching a few taillengths away. "Stay out of trees! And don't step on your brother's tail!"

Jaggedpaw looked over his shoulder at his tail, Sagefeather had been right in that it stopped hurting but also that he now had a permanent crook in his tail. He was grateful that in the half-moon since Maplepaw fell out of the tree that she was completely fine.

"Congratulations." Elmpaw chuckled as Maplepaw ran up. "Now we don't have to deal with you being so restless."

Maplepaw playfully batted at Elmpaw's nose, who ducked out of the way. "You try being confined to a nest!"

"I'm confined to camp." Elmpaw snorted playfully, twitching his tail.

"Yeah but you can hunt sometimes and you get to do things. I had to stay in the medicine cat which stinks of herbs and listen to Sagefeather snore."

"She does snore." Jaggedpaw added, recalling the two days he had spent in there. "And Stormsong mumbles in her sleep."

"Yeah she does." Maplepaw chuckled, then glanced around camp, looking for something. "I'm gonna go tell Cedarcloud that I'm free to go hunting, I'll see you two later!" Without hesitation, Maplepaw bounded away towards her mentor.

"She's really testing the limits of her injury." Elmpaw pointed out. "Hope she doesn't hurt herself again."

Jaggedpaw nodded, hoping that Maplepaw's injury was completely healed. "If Sagefeather says that she's okay then I'll believe it. I'm sure she'll be fine."

"At least she doesn't have a crooked paw." Elmpaw chuckled, touching Jaggedpaw's tail with his paw. Jaggedpaw looked at his friend who sneered at him, mischief sparking in his amber eyes. "I'm pretty sure you just confirmed your warrior name."

"No kidding." Jaggedpaw snorted. "Whatever," He sighed, stretching out. "It's not a big deal, it's makes me look cool."

"Ah yes," Elmpaw stood up, walking in front of Jaggedpaw. "The mighty warrior, Jaggedtail, defeated only by branches." Jaggedpaw swiped at Elmpaw who jumped back, laughing. He knew that Elmpaw would forever tease him about his tail, but he also knew that Elmpaw didn't mean any harm by it.

"Don't you have an elder's den to clean?" Jaggedpaw flicked his ears, sneering at his friend.

"Nursery, actually." Elmpaw lashed his tail and lifted his head. "I get to spend time with cute kits while you do boring things like hunt and get crushed by branches."

Jaggedpaw rolled his eyes. "Go do your duties, mousebrain." Elmpaw stuck his tongue out and then trotted to Sagefeather's den to get some moss, then to the nursery. Amberflame had given birth to two healthy kits, Foxkit and Flamekit, they were still tiny with closed eyes but Jaggedpaw had to admit they were pretty cute. Hareclaw was almost frequently at the nursery, so training for Jaggedpaw was slow.

"Hey, Jaggedpaw!" Jaggedpaw turned his head to see Patchfoot approaching him. "Have you seen Rowanfang? He's supposed to be coming on patrol but none of us can find him."

Jaggedpaw blinked, he didn't really keep an eye on Rowanfang but he did realize that he hadn't seen him around all day. "No, I haven't. Sorry, Patchfoot."

"It's alright," Patchfoot sighed and looked around. "Wanna come in his place? I don't want this patrol to be late waiting for him."

"Sure." Jaggedpaw stood up in excitement. "Hareclaw is busy with Foxkit and Flamekit right now."

"That's fine." Patchfoot mewed. "Let's go, we've waited long enough." Jaggedpaw followed the brown and white warrior to the waiting patrol which consisted of Barksong, Poppywing, Mothflame and the newly named Sparrowheart. He and Daisyfern had their warrior ceremony a few days after Jaggedpaw and Maplepaw were injured.

"Jaggedpaw is coming in place of Rowanfang." Patchfoot announced as he approached the waiting patrol. "We don't have time to look for him anymore."

"Alright, then." Barksong stood up. "Let's get going, shall we?" At Patchfoot's lead, the LichenClan patrol went into the forest.

"I saw Maplepaw was going out with Cedarcloud again, is she all healed?" Sparrowheart questioned.

"Yeah," Jaggedpaw replied, looking at the warrior as they walked. "She was cleared today, it wasn't a bad sprain."

"Does your tail still hurt?" Sparrowheart looked at Jaggedpaw's crooked tail. I'm going to be asked about this for the rest of my life. Jaggedpaw thought with a twinge of annoyance.

"No it doesn't hurt, but it probably won't straighten out." Jaggedpaw looked ahead, sniffing the air. It was a chilly leaf-fall day, in the mornings the forest would have a small layer frost. Leafbare is around the corner. Jaggedpaw thought, fear digging into his belly. We have a nursery full of kits. Please, StarClan, don't let any of them get sick. Memories of Robinkit's death flashed in his mind. I don't want Amberflame, Hazelshine or any of the kits in there to go through what we did.

With his mind semi-lost in thought, he barely noticed they had reached the MoonClan border. The scent of MoonClan was a lot of heavier than usual. He perked up his ears, noticing that his Clanmates had scented the same thing.

"Have MoonClan been crossing the border?" Mothflame questioned. "It sure smells like it."

"It does," Patchfoot said, marking the border and covering the MoonClan scent. "I'll report this to Birdstar and she can decide on what to do next. We don't want another fight like the last one." Jaggedpaw tensed slightly.

"Let's hurry home, then." Barksong mewed. "My bones are starting to ache from the cold."

"You're not that old, Barksong." Poppywing nudged the brown she-cat.

"I was born before Birdstar," Barksong snapped. "I've got moons on all of you."

"If you feel so old," Patchfoot added. "Then maybe you should retire."

"Just because you're mates with my daughter, Patchfoot," Barksong turned on the spotted tom. "Doesn't mean you can tell me what's best for me. I'll retire when I die."

Jaggedpaw and Sparrowheart shared an amused glance. Barksong had to be the most stubborn cat in LichenClan, a Clan who were known for their stubbornness.

"Don't listen to them, Barksong." Mothflame purred, falling in beside the old she-cat. "You'll outlive us all."

"You're dang right I will!" She lashed her tail. "I've got more fight in me than all of you combined."

Jaggedpaw honestly didn't question Barksong's logic, he assumed her claws were just as strong as her words. I hope I'm like that when I get older. Jaggedpaw thought. That is, if I don't get crushed to death by branches.

The patrol returned to camp and Patchfoot delivered his news to Birdstar while the rest of them went about their lives. The sun was slowly starting to set and the night was becoming cold. Barksong went into the warrior's den and Jaggedpaw looked around from Elmpaw and Maplepaw. He also couldn't help but notice that Rowanfang was still nowhere in sight.

Jaggedpaw found both cats he was looking for, eating prey near the apprentice den, they had an extra mouse beside them. Maplepaw quickly spotted him, and called him over. "Jaggedpaw! Over here! We got you a mouse!"

With his head high, Jaggedpaw trotted over to the two apprentices and sat down, taking a bite of his mouse, it was still warm. "How was training again?" Jaggedpaw asked, mouth partially full of mouse.

Maplepaw swallowed part of her squirrel and looked at Jaggedpaw. "It was great! I caught a lot of prey, it felt so good to be back out there." She flexed her claws. "How was the patrol? I noticed Hareclaw wasn't with you, though."

"Yeah," Jaggedpaw cast a glance at Elmpaw who was pretty focused on his own mouse. How would he react to all that had happened? "Patchfoot couldn't find Rowanfang so they took me instead." Elmpaw's ears twitched at the mention of his father and he looked up from his meal. "We went to the MoonClan border and found their scent in our territory."

Elmpaw flicked his tail. "Really? Maybe an apprentice had the same idea I did." Elmpaw took another bite of his mouse, he had a very sharp edge to his voice.

"I don't think so." Jaggedpaw mewed. "It was really strong, and MoonClan cats eat fish. Why would they need to come to our territory to catch them. Their entire territory is surrounded by rivers."

"Who knows?" Elmpaw shrugged and swallowed the rest of his prey. "Let's just hope we handle this a lot better than we handled it before." He stood up and disposed the remains of his prey. "I'm gonna get some sleep, it's cold."

Jaggedpaw sighed and stared at his paws once Elmpaw slipped into the den. "I shouldn't have mentioned any of that."

Maplepaw pressed against Jaggedpaw, he felt comforted by the warmth of his sister. "It's not your fault, Jaggedpaw. Elmpaw's just in a bit of a hard place right now, he still feels bad about killing Blacksky and after everything that happened with Rowanfang..." She sighed, looking up at the dusk sky. "He just needs a little more time."

Jaggedpaw looked up as well, he knew that Maplepaw was right but he couldn't help but worry about the future. What would come of MoonClan crossing the border? Or Elmpaw's struggle with his family. Would greencough run rampant through the Clan this year? Or would they be okay? The thoughts swarming Jaggedpaw's mind gave him a headache and tightened his chest.

"You okay?" Maplepaw questioned, noticing Jaggedpaw tensing.

"Yeah," He shook his head, trying to clear all of his thoughts. "I just need some sleep."