Jaggedkit sat in the sunlight, peering out into the Clan camp. The snow was slowly starting to melt, and newleaf was finally here. He breathed in the fresh air, thankful that it didn't burn and sting his nose. It had been a moon since Robinkit's death, and the three kits were only days away from becoming apprentices. He wasn't sure how he felt about it, he couldn't stop thinking of the fact that Robinkit would never receive her apprentice name.

He stared at his paws, unable to focus on anything else. Behind him, Jaggedkit heard pawsteps. He lifted his head and glanced behind him, it was Elmkit. "Hey." He mewed, his voice low.

"Hi." Jaggedkit sighed.

"Thinking about Robinkit?"

"Always." Jaggedkit looked out towards the sky.

"Me too." Elmkit's gaze was distant. "But we'll be apprentices in a few days, we will have a duty to our Clan."

"I know."

"We can't let this distract us from our duties," Elmkit mewed, sounding a lot more mature than he looked. Jaggedkit turned his head to look at his friend. "Robinkit would want us to become warriors, for her. Before she died, Robinkit and I had talked about becoming leader. I don't think she wanted to, but she wanted me to."

"I know you could become leader." Jaggedkit mewed. "You're incredible."

"What about you?" Elmkit questioned curiously. "Do you want to be leader?"

"Maybe." Jaggedkit shrugged.

"Well, how about this: If I become leader, I'll make you my deputy and you become leader you'll make me your deputy."

Jaggedkit purred at the thought of leading LichenClan with his best friend. "It's a deal."

****

"If you don't calm down then I can't smoothe down your fur!" Fawnsky complained as Maplekit squirmed under her.

"You didn't wash, Jaggedkit's fur!" She pointed with one paw towards Jaggedkit who sat beside a freshly groomed Elmkit beside Mosswing.

"That's not true!" Jaggedkit complained, puffing out his spiky fur.

"I tried to," Fawnsky replied with a hefty lick to Maplekit's head. "There's no smoothing down that fur, I just hope they'll go away." She purred with amusement and lightly pushed Maplekit towards Elmkit and Jaggedkit. "Now go out there! It's time!"

The three kits looked at each other, sharing looks of excitement and bounded out of the nursery into the LichenClan camp. Jaggedkit breathed in the fresh air of newleaf and walked side by side with his sister and best friends towards the High Stump in the middle of camp. Birdstar noticed them from her den and began walking there as well.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather around the High Stump for a Clan meeting!" Her voice echoed throughout the camp, calling the cats of LichenClan to the center. Jaggedkit felt both nerves and excitement tingling in his paws with each step. Today was they day they would finally become apprentices! Deep inside him, however, there was a longing for Robinkit. He wanted so badly for her to experience this ceremony alongside her family, but he remembered his and his denmates' promise: to be happy for Robinkit, for she was watching them from StarClan.

Jaggedkit sat in between Elmkit and Maplekit before Birdstar. Elmkit held his head high and his amber eyes shimmered and Maplekit's eyes glittered with excitement. Jaggedkit held himself high beside them as Birdstar began to speak.

"Today is proud day for LichenClan, by naming apprentices we show that we remain strong for many moons to come. These kits have waited six long moons and it's time for them to receive their apprentice names." Birdstar's amber eyes glowed brightly. "Elmkit, from this day forward until you have earned you have earned your warrior name, you will be known as Elmpaw." Elmpaw's eyes glowed brighter than the sun. "Skytail, you have proven to be a strong and resourceful warrior and I know you will be a wonderful mentor to Elmpaw."

Skytail, a gray tabby tom stepped forward and touched noses with his new apprentice. Elmpaw stepped back into the crowd sitting beside his new mentor. "Jaggedkit." Jaggedkit's attention was pulled away from Elmpaw and back to Birdstar. "From this day forward, until you have earned your warrior name you be known as Jaggedpaw. Hareclaw, you are a brave and honorable warrior, I trust you will teach Jaggedpaw everything you know."

A brown warrior with joy-filled green eyes stepped forward, Hareclaw. Jaggedpaw eagerly touched noses with his new mentor and sat beside Skytail and Elmpaw. He looked past Maplekit and noticed Sunstorm and Fawnsky sitting close beside each other, their tails intertwined and looking at their kits lovingly. Mosswing sat beside them, but Rowanfang was nowhere to be seen. However, Mosswing had enough love in her eyes for both of them.

"Maplekit." Jaggedpaw noticed his sister twitch with excitement. "From this day forward, until you have earned your warrior name, you will be known as Maplepaw. Cedarcloud is a confident and intelligent cat and I know she will teach you everything she knows."

Cedarcloud was a brown tabby she-cat with gentle blue eyes, she stepped forward and touched noses with Maplepaw and the two joined Elmpaw and Jaggedpaw. "Elmpaw! Jaggedpaw! Maplepaw!" The Clan cheered their names and Jaggedpaw held his head high and enjoy the cheers from his Clanmates.

"So what should we do first?." Cedarcloud mewed to the other two mentors. "How about an exploration of the territory, with all of us?" Jaggedpaw shared an excited glance with Elmpaw, this is exactly what they wanted. To do their apprenticeship together.

"Sounds like good plan to me." Skytail nodded.

"Then let's go!" Hareclaw said enthusiastically. Hareclaw took the lead and Skytail, Cedarcloud and the apprentices followed behind. They headed for the camp's main entrance, passing the warriors and apprentice dens on the way out. Gingerpaw sat outside the apprentice den, looking at them eagerly.

"I'll make sure you all have nests when you get back! And then you can get to know all the other apprentices." The she-cat purred and Jaggedpaw nodded to her. The group of cats pushed their way through the thick cluster of brambles that protected the entrance, Jaggedpaw half-expected it to hurt, but he just felt slight tugging on his fur.

"Where should we go first?" Hareclaw questioned, looking at his fellow mentors.

"We could go through the swampland and show the them the border of the gathering hollow and MoonClan's border." Skytail suggested.

"Swampland?" Elmpaw echoed. "That doesn't sound very nice." He wrinkled his nose, and Maplepaw nodded.

"You think that now." Cedarcloud mewed as they padded through the thick forest. "But I think you'll find that you enjoy more than you think."

Elmpaw looked unconvinced but didn't say anything else. Jaggedpaw personally didn't know what to think of swampland, he didn't even know that LichenClan territory had a swamp. He looked around the territory, feeling protected but the coverage of the towering trees and thick flora.

"LichenClan has the densest forest of all four Clans, even SunClan. Most cats don't like to come here because it can be dangerous to those who don't know it." Skytail explained. "So you won't often seeing cats attacking us much farther than our border."

"Will we get invaded?" Elmpaw questioned, also looking around the forest, his ears twitching.

"It's hard to say. You'll see the border with MoonClan here a moment, and they don't often cross it." Skytail replied, leading them farther into the thick forest. In the distance, Jaggedpaw heard the bubbling sound of a river through the trees. The group of cats broke through the trees where the river was.

"Across this river is the Gathering Hollow," Cedarcloud mewed. "That's where we hold our gatherings every full moon."

"How do we cross?" Maplepaw asked, looking at the gentle flowing water, her eyes slightly concerned.

"We walk." Skytail mewed, stepping forward and stepping into the water, it went up to his belly fur.

"I'm not walking in that." Elmpaw said, stepping with with his nose wrinkled. "What about in leaf-bare, or when it's raining?"

Hareclaw chuckled. "At times when it's too cold or when it's over flowing there is a place downstream that we can cross by jumping. I think you'll find, however, that the water feels quite nice. MoonClan think themselves the only ones who enjoy water, but LichenClan cats enjoy getting their paws wet every once in awhile. I think you will too." With a flick of his tail, Hareclaw continued walking along the rocky shore of the river. Jaggedpaw walked behind his mentor and beside Maplepaw.

He walked alongside the river, feeling the cold droplets splash his legs every-so-often. He looked at the river, wondering if he ever would enjoy it. With this thick, spiky fur he couldn't imagine himself doing so. With a flick of his ears, Jaggedpaw continued following the rest of his group.

As they walked along the river, Jaggedpaw felt the ground underneath his paws grow wetter, he looked down at his paws and saw that the forest was starting to turn into a marsh. Glancing forward, he saw the swampland of LichenClan's territory. It extended out towards a branch of the main river with several small pockets of water throughout.

They stepped into the marsh and Jaggedpaw was surprised at the feeling underneath his paws, he enjoyed the cool, soft wetness of the grass. He looked to Elmpaw and Maplepaw and they seemed to be surprised at the feeling as well.

"I don't see you complaining now." Cedarcloud purred, looking over her shoulder at the three apprentices. Elmpaw didn't reply, he just let out a snort and Maplepaw continued looking at the ground.

"We're approaching the MoonClan border." Hareclaw announced. "It's a bit of an odd border." There was a section of the river where it forked into two different, smaller rivers. "This is the border, neither of us cross it very much."

"So what's the border, exactly?" Maplepaw asked, looking at the formation of the rivers. "Is it the river?"

Hareclaw nodded. "Across this smaller river, the one that forks is the border with the MoonClan." He turned to the river that cut in front of the marshland. "And this one is the border to the Spirit Woods." Jaggedpaw glanced across the river, seeing white trees in the distance. "In the Spirit Woods is the the Spirit Tree which houses the Moonstone, where we speak with our warrior ancestors."

"Will we ever get to see it?" Elmpaw questioned, curiosity burning deep within his amber eyes.

"Someday. Every apprentice gets to journey there with the leader of their Clan. You may not see the actual Moonstone but you will see the woods and the tree." Hareclaw explained, then turned to face the apprentices. "Well, it's been quite the adventure." He looked towards the sky. "You three should get some rest, your actual warrior training starts tomorrow."

"What about the rest of the territory? The AshClan border?" Jaggedpaw questioned, stepping forward. He didn't want to go back to camp, he wanted to see more of LichenClan's territory, he wanted to see it all.

Hareclaw let out a purr of amusement. "Don't worry, Jaggedpaw. You'll see every inch of the territory in time, but you've just became an apprentice. It takes time to learn your territory, but you'll see it all before no time."

Jaggedpaw nodded, but he wasn't satisfied. He wanted more, he didn't want sleep. He wanted to learn how to hunt and fight, his paws itched for more excitement. "Let's go home." Skytail mewed and began leading the group back to camp. "Tomorrow will be even more exciting, trust me."