"I, Silverstar, leader of IceClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I command them to you as warriors in turn."

Silverstar looked down over to Featherpaw. "Featherpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"
Featherpaw nodded. "I do."
Silverstar nodded. "Featherpaw, from this moment you will be known as Feathershine. StarClan honors your kindness and cleverness, and we welcome you as a full warrior of IceClan. Serve your Clan well."
Silverstar stepped forward and rested her muzzle on Feathershine's head, and Feathershine licked Silverstar's shoulder gently.

Silverstar then gazed over to Poolpaw. "Poolpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"
Poolpaw dipped her head. "I do."
Silverstar purred. "Poolpaw, from this moment you will be known as Poolpelt. StarClan honors your determination and loyalty, and we welcome you as a full warrior of IceClan. Serve your Clan well."
Poolpelt fought to keep her paws still as Silverstar touched her head with her muzzle and Poolpelt gently licked Silverstar's shoulder in turn.

"Poolpelt! Feathershine! Poolpelt! Feathershine!"
Feathershine pressed against her. "We're warriors!" she whispered excitedly.

Happiness flamed like a shooting star inside Poolpelt. She looked around the Clan at the familiar faces, proud to be part of them, warmed by the kindness shining in their eyes.

Icefrost stood up and lifting her chin, she called the new warriors's names loudly to the darkening sky.
She's telling Whiteclaw. The thought stuck Poolpelt's heart like a honeyed thorn, soothing yet painful.
If only Raindapple and Whiteclaw had been among their Clanmates to watch this moment.
But they are among their Clanmates. In StarClan.

The newleaf evening was cold, and the camp was flourished with new snow with birdsong, as though even the birds were thankful for the cold and new life that had sprung in the snowy forest. The fresh scent of prey swirled on the breeze.

"In the tradition of our ancestors, Poolpelt and Feathershine will sit vigil until dawn and guard the camp while we sleep," Silverstar announced.
Poolpelt dipped her head. As the Clan began to melt away into their dens, she noticed with relief that Stormclaw was beginning to fatten up. He and Duskwing were always first at the fresh-kill pile now that it was rich with prey again.

Duskwing had recently moved into the nursery while she waited to have Darkcloud's kits. It turned out that she hadn't been eating extra prey to get fat after all. The whole Clan was pleased that new kits were only a moon away. Even Braveheart was yapping on about getting to become an uncle.
"It just doesn't feel right when you can get all the way to the dirtplace without tripping over a kit or two," Swiftwing had commented earlier.
Even Stormclaw was looking forward to kits. "It's been moons since anyone attacked my tail," he'd rasped wistfully.

As the night seeped in, the clearing emptied out until only Poolpelt and Feathershine were left alone in the dark.
Silently they sat, Feathershine scanning the camp—eyes and body alert, clearly taking her oath to guard her Clanmates very seriously—while Poolpelt gazed up at Silverpelt, wondering which of the countless stars was Raindapple and Whiteclaw.

By the time dawn began to pale the sky, she was struggling to keep her eyes open. Her body was stiff from sitting so long.

The lichen at the entrance to Silverstar's den twitched, and the IceClan leader padded out, with tired eyes. She glanced at the sky, washed pink by pale sunshine.
"Get some sleep," she meowed softly even with the tired eyes as she passed Poolpelt and Feathershine.
Relieved, Poolpelt stretched.

Feathershine yawned. "Where's she off to?" she wondered as Silverstar slipped out the camp tunnel.
"It's newleaf," Poolpelt replied. "I guess even leaders enjoy a little dawn hunting once the prey starts to run."

Out of habit, she turned her black paws toward the apprentices's den. Teeth nipped her tail gently.
"Hey, frost-brain!" Feathershine purred. "We sleep here now." She jerked her head toward the warriors's den.

Of course! Would nests be waiting for them?

Suddenly nervous, Poolpelt followed Feathershine up the slabs at the entrance and padded into the den. She blinked to let her eyes adjust to the den. Nests circled the den and spiraled to the edge.
Icefrost, Briarfang, Ashfall, Rainpelt, and Hawkflame were curled in moss lined scoops at the center, while Snowheart and Braveheart slept further out.

Poolpelt guessed that, as the newest warriors, their nests would be near the outer moss beds. But where?
"Can you see any spaces?" she breathed in Feathershine's ear.
"Over here!" Snowheart raised her head and hissed across the den.
Carefully Poolpelt picked her way around the sleeping warriors, her heart in her throat in case she stepped on a tail or a paw or scraped stone and woke someone.

The stone was as flat as a Thunderpath and the moss smelled damp and stale when Poolpelt leaned down to sniff it.
But she didn't care. Right now she was so tired that she'd be happy to sleep anywhere.

"Sleep well, Feathershine." She relished using her sister's warrior name.
They could be friends again. They'd hunt together, patrol the borders to check for scent marks and invaders.
Feathershine touched her nose with her muzzle. "You too, Poolpelt."
Happily Poolpelt circled down into her new nest, and, purring, drifted into sleep.

The other warriors were gone by the time Poolpelt woke up. Feathershine was still sleeping.
Poolpelt nudged her with a black paw. "Wake up!"
Feathershine sat up, her eyes blearly. "What?"

Bright sunshine filtered through the den inside.
"It must be nearly sunhigh," Poolpelt observed.
"Are we supposed to be on patrol?" Feathershine wondered.
Poolpelt shrugged. "No one told us."
Feathershine started lapping at her chest. "I'm going to look my best for my first day as a warrior."
"Me too."

Poolpelt's tongue ached by the time she'd finished washing.
She sat up proudly, knowing that her fur was smooth and clean and her tail fluffed up. 
A scrap of moss was clinging to Feathershine's shoulder.
"You missed a bit." Poolpelt leaned forward, nipped it out with her teeth, and spat it away. "Perfect."
Feathershine's pelt looked as soft and pale white as a fawn's belly.

Poolpelt led the way out of the den and climbed down off of the warriors's den.
The clearing was bright with sunshine. Blue sky stretched over the camp, and a cold breeze was swishing the frozen leaves in the trees above.

"About time, too!" Icefrost's sharp mew sounded across the clearing. She was frowning beside a frozen nettle patch.
Dismayed, Poolpelt glanced at Feathershine. "Are you sure no one mentioned a patrol?" she whispered.
Icefrost waited, tail flicking, as they padded toward her. "I don't mind that you missed the dawn patrol," she meowed. "But the hunting patrol had to leave without you, which means they're short of paws and there'll be less on the fresh-kill pile come sunset."
"But no one told us!" Poolpelt cried. Why was she lecturing her like she was still an apprentice? The fur ruffled on her spine.
"You're warriors now," Icefrost told her. "You shouldn't need to be dug out of your nests to serve your Clan!"
Poolpelt stared at her black paws, too shamed even to glance at Feathershine. "Sorry."

"There's something else you can do."
Poolpelt was relieved to hear Icefrost's voice soften. She looked up. "What?"
"Owlpaw wants to gather catmint from Twolegplace."
Leaf gathering! Poolpelt's heart sank.
"She needs a warrior escort," Icefrost went on.
Poolpelt pricked her ears. This was more like it.

"There's been more kittypet scent than usual around the border," the IceClan deputy explained. "I don't want her to go alone."
So! Kittypets could be dangerous. Poolpelt began to understand why Silverstar had been so angry at finding her near the Twoleg fence. Talon didn't look like he could win a fight with a mouse, but it could have been just an act to catch her off guard.

Owlpaw trotted from the tunnel, her eyes bright. "Are these my escorts?" She looked Poolpelt and Feathershine up and down before nodding a greeting to Icefrost.
Feathershine fidgeted in the snow. "Yes," she meowed. "We'll make sure no cat hurts you."
The medicine-cat apprentice's whiskers twitched. "Thank you."

"Are we going now?" Poolpelt joined them.
Owlpaw glanced at the sky. "The dew should be burned off by now."
"Is that good?" Poolpelt wondered.
"It means the sprigs will be dry when we gather them, so they won't rot in the store." Owlpaw was already heading for the camp entrance.

Once in the snowy forest, Poolpaw fell in beside her while Feathershine trotted at her other flank. She scanned the snowy trees, ears pricked for any danger. She was in charge of protecting a Clanmate.

"Is it safe?" Owlpaw asked.
Was that a hint of a purr in her mew?
"No danger here," Feathershine reported.
"What a relief," meowed the medicine-cat apprentice.

The snowy forest was filled with fresh scents as they headed for the border. It was to resist following the prey trails, but they had a duty to perform. Poolpelt wasn't going to let anything distract her.
As they passed the cold hollow, she spotted flashes of fur beyond the snow-filled undergrowth. Icepaw and Amberpaw were practicing their battle moves.
She wondered what Owlpaw had felt when she had been told that she would be spending her time as a apprentice in a medicine den rather than in the cold hollow.

"What a shame you're not a warrior, too," she commented to Owlpaw.
Owlpaw blinked. "But I wouldn't want to be."
"Why not?" Feathershine was staring at the apprentice medicine cat as if she had announced she was about to grow wings.
"I prefer to help my Clanmates by healing, not fighting."

"But don't you wish you could hunt sometimes?" Poolpelt wondered.
"Who says I don't?" Owlpaw suddenly darted between the frozen snaking roots of a birch and raked her forepaws through a drift of snow. Plunging in her muzzle, she jerked back with a mouse dangling from her jaws.
Feathershine hurried forward. "That's amazing!"
"How did you learn to hunt?" Poolpelt gasped.
Owlpaw dropped the mouse and started digging, dug until there was earth seen, and dug a shallow hole into the soft earth.
"I don't spend every moment gathering herbs!" She dropped the mouse in the hole and scraped the earth over it. "I'll collect it later." Trotting away, she headed once more for the border.

As they passed through Tallpines, the scent of Twolegplace drifted through the snowy trees, and by the time they reached the line of IceClan scent markers, the smell of kittypet had grown strong.

Icefrost had been right. Poolpelt paused to taste the air, wondering if she could recognize Talon's scent among the jumble of others. She wrinkled her nose. Kittypets smelled worse than SmokeClan, and there were far too many of them to tell which was which.

Feathershine and Owlpaw had padded along the border without her, and she hurried to catch up to them. "Where's the catmint?" she called.
"Outside an abandoned Twoleg nest." Owlpaw's mew sounded taut.
Poolpelt tensed. "Is it dangerous?"
"Not usually."
"You sound worried."
"I'll be happy when I see if the catmint has survived leaf-bare," Owlpaw explained. "The frosts were usually hard."

"What if it's dead?" Feathershine asked.
"Then I'll have to ask Echofall for supplies," Owlpaw told them. "There's no other cure for greencough."
Poolpelt bristled. Even though greencough could be deadly, asking the DawnClan medicine cat for anything would be humiliating. What if DawnClan used the catmint to bargain for Icerocks?

A blackbird shrilled overhead. Had they alarmed it? She let Owlpaw and Feathershine push ahead into a thick frozen swath of ferns and scanned the area.

Poolpelt froze.
A kittypet?

She squinted through the snow-filled undergrowth and stiffened in surprise when she realized it was Silverstar.
What was she doing out here on her own?
She noticed Silverstar still had her tired eyes.
Wow, she must be very sleepy.

Silverstar dropped into a crouch. She raised her belly and lifted her tail a bit and Poolpelt saw she was looking over to a squirrel.
SHE IS HUNTING IN TWOLEGPLACE!

Silverstar then began creeping towards it, and sprang, swatting the squirrel to the snow, pinning it, and sank her teeth into its neck.
Poolpelt took a step back in shock.

She shook her head. Silverstar must have a good reason for hunting in Twolegplace.. she has to.
She is supposed to be guarding Owlpaw. Treading lightly so Silverstar wouldn't hear her, she hurried after her Clanmates.

"There you are," Feathershine greeted her. They were crouched beneath a wall. Rocks lay scattered at the bottom, and a break gaped at the top where the stonework had crumbled.

"The catmint's over there," Owlpaw stretched her forepaws up the wall.
Feathershine's eyes opened wide. "What if kittypets come?"
"Scare them off!" Owlpaw leaped up. "It shouldn't be hard," she called from the top. "They think Clan cats eat bones and grow to the size of badgers when we're angry." Scrabbling over the top, she disappeared down the other side.

"Quick!" Feathershine sprang after her. By the time Poolpelt scrambled up, Owlpaw was streaking around the edge of the enclosed clearing on the other side.
"Let's keep watch from up here," Poolpelt suggested.
Feathershine nodded. "I'll stand guard at that corner." She beckoned with her nose to where the wall turned a few tail-lengths away. "And you watch from there. We'll have every view covered."

As Feathershine picked her way along the crumbling stonework, Poolpelt padded to her corner and sat down. Her heart flapped in her chest.
This was her first warrior mission. She was in charge of getting Owlpaw home safely with a supply of catmint that might one day save IceClan a life. They could be attacked by kittypets at any moment. Or a Twoleg might appear from anywhere.

She looked down anxiously. Owlpaw was digging through the thickly weeded undergrowth at one side of the snowy clearing.
"Is the catmint alive?" she called, but the medicine-cat apprentice's muzzle was too deeply buried in weeds to hear.

"Get away!" Feathershine's hiss made Poolpelt jump.
"What's wrong?" She scooted along the wall, hackles raised.

Feathershine was staring down at a tortiseshell kittypet, who was gazing up at her with enormous golden eyes.
Poolpelt arched her back. "We grow big as badgers when we're angry!" she warned.
"And we eat bones," Feathershine spat.
Yowling in terror, the kittypet whirled around and sped into the frozen undergrowth.

Poolpelt purred. "That was easy." She bounded down into the snowy clearing and ran to tell Owlpaw. "Don't worry!" she announced. "We're frightened off the kittypet."
Owlpaw plucked her head from the weed tangle. "What kittypet?"
"The one threatening to climb the wall!"
"Threatening, eh?" Owlpaw's eyes glowed.
Poolpelt fidgeted with embarrassment. "Well, it might have jumped up!"

Owlpaw purred. "Thanks," she mewed. "Can you call Feathershine? I need both of you to help me carry this catmint back."
Poolpelt dashed back to the wall. "Owlpaw needs help."
She led Feathershine back to where Owlpaw had piled bundles of catmint on the snow, and scooped up a bundle under her chin just as Icefrost had taught her. The fragrant scent made Poolpelt's claws itch. It smelled delicious. "I can manage more," she offered. Owlpaw dragged another frond from the plant, and Poolpelt grasped it in her jaws.
"I want to try that!" Feathershine sounded impressed. She struggled to grasp two bundles as Poolpelt had, securing them in place at last, and the three cats set off for home with the precious herb.

"You've brought loads!" Flowertail was delighted when they dropped the catmint in the medicine clearing.
Poolpelt felt a surge of pride. Her mouth was still watering from the tantalizing taste. It had been hard not to munch a leaf or two, but she knew it was too precious to waste.
"You must be hungry," Flowertail went on. "Go get something to eat." She glanced at Owlpaw. "You may as well go, too, and while you're at the fresh-kill pile, you can bring me back a morsel to eat."

Icefrost was nosing through the fresh-kill pile when they reached it. She looked up. "Silverstar's just arrived," she meowed.
Poolpelt glanced at the IceClan leader, who was washing beside the frozen nettle patch.
The image of Silverstar hunting in Twolegplace flashed through her mind. Her pelt prickled.
Should I tell the Clan of her hunting in Twolegplace?

"How did you get on with your first assignment?" Icefrost asked.
"Okay," Poolpelt mewed, hoping Owlpaw agreed.
Owlpaw purred. "They gave me enough time to gather plenty."

Silverstar looked up with her tired eyes. "You were gathering catmint?"
"Enough to see us through till leaf-fall," Owlpaw replied.
Was that alarm flashing in the IceClan leader's eyes?

Icefrost pawed a thrush from the pile. "I'm glad they were useful."
"They scared off a kittypet," Owlpaw told her.
Icefrost dipped her head. "Well done, you two." She sounded generally pleased.
Poolpelt puffed out her chest as Icefrost carried the thrush to Silverstar.
The IceClan leader turned it over with her paw and sniffed it.

Poolpelt's belly was growling like a SmokeClan warrior.
She picked a mouse from the pile and settled beside the cold tree stump. As she began to chew on the mouse, she looked at Silverstar again. She was nibbling delicately on a wing while Icefrost dozed beside her.

Just why in StarClan had the IceClan leader been hunting in Twolegplace?