Art drawn by Viivixen-

Deep in a dream, Poolkit was exploring a forest. She had never been outside of camp, Raindapple had described it in the nursery.. but..But.. it was nothing like she imagined. It was so.. creepy.

The forest she was exploring was shadowy with tall, dark grey trees. The air was cold and damp and had an echoing silence to it. She looked up and saw that the sky was black and starless, and the trees were so tall, it was so hard to anything above them, probably making no light to reach it.
As she kept trodding through the forest, she came upon a sluggish river. It's water was dark and lifeless and she could see that around the river was sucking mud.
As she hopped over the river, and continued into the forest, she could see glowing mushrooms near trees and fungus sickly grown in the trees.

As she pushed through a few bushes, she met face to face with another cat. She was a black she-cat with emerald-green eyes, and she had an sickly-looking scar that went from her eye to her underbelly.

The she-cat purred. "Welcome, young one."
Poolkit gasped at the other cat. "H-hi.. Who are you?"
The black she-cat's tail twitched. "Has IceClan forgotten over me already? My name is Darkfrost." She grinned. "And you are Poolkit of IceClan."
Poolkit looked curiously at Darkfrost, "How do you know my name?"
Darkfrost calmly sat down and groomed herself. "I know all cats from the Clans, and your entire family. Raindapple, Whiteclaw and Featherkit."
Poolkit sat in awe of the she-cat, "Whoa.. so are you from StarClan?"

Darkfrost started laughing. "Haha, no dear. I am from a special place. Sometimes StarClan cats send us to other places for special reasons. Cats like me help train cats from the living world to become better warriors. It's honor to be trained by us," she purred.
Poolkit purred at the she-cat. "Wow!" She never heard of this place, but it sounded so cool! "So what are you doing here?"
Darkfrost's soft gaze then became serious. "I have to warn you of your future.."

Poolkit flinched, "What is it?"
Darkfrost wrapped her tail around Poolkit and looked into her eyes. "A cat you trust the most will betray you in the end and the pools may drop in tears,"
Poolkit flinched. "The cat I trust the most?... Is it Featherkit?" She asked, though she was begging StarClan that it wasn't. Her sister wouldn't betray her! Would she..?
Darkfrost shook her head. "No.. time will tell, Poolkit.." Her pelt started fading, "I must go now, Poolkit.. You will see me again, young one."
Poolkit started out to her. "Wait! I need to learn more! Who is going to betray me?!"

Poolkit woke up with a jolt and felt a short fluffy tail strayed from Briarpool's overfilled nest and was twitching against Poolkit's muzzle. She padded it away, sighing.
Poolkit and Featherkit weren't the only kits in the nursery now. Four moons ago, Briarpool had become a queen and had her kits; a tom and a she-cat, called Blackkit and Icekit.
Blackkit was a pitch-black tom with deep blue eyes which kinda resembled Crowclaw.

And Icekit, who was white with emerald green eyes and had a grey splotch on her face, paws and on the tip of her tail.

It was fun having more kits to play with, even more fun when Dawnstripe had also become a queen and gave birth to Thornkit and Amberkit. Thornkit was a golden-brown tabby tom and had pale blue eyes..

While their sister, Amberkit, was a sleek, dark-ginger tabby with emerald-green eyes.

And now, it was so hard to get ANY sleep.

They were quiet now, but, as Poolkit closed her eyes again, Briarpool grunted in her sleep and, disentangling herself from Icekit, rolled over with a sigh. Blackkit rolled after her, rested his chin on his mother's flank, and began to snore loudly.

Poolkit rolled her eyes as she got to her paws, and stretched. She wasn't going to get ANY sleep at this rate.
It was now leaf-fall and she loved it! As leaf-fall had come, it gave off chilly mornings and now, in the nursery, thin streams of cold air trickled through the nursery.
She glanced at Dawnstripe's nest, and saw Amberkit stirred beside Thornkit and pressed closer to their mother.
Trying not to wake anyone, Poolkit squeezed out of the nursery.

The predawn sky stretched overhead, soft and gray as a dove's wing. She recognized the scents of Bluefeather, Ashfall, and Crowclaw, still fresh into the air. They must have left for the dawn patrol.

She was so borrredd. There is nothing to dooo! She took a deep breath, and let the scents of the forest flow into her. She smelled, rich with decay, cold, fresh-killed prey. She was excited to be an apprentice, to hunt all the prey in the world, and fight off all the Clan cats that threaten her Clan!
Besides, it won't be long now.. She was six moons now, so she should be an apprentice soon.. But why is Silverstar making it so lonnggg? She wish she could go out and explore the forest!

"Do you want to go out?"
Icefrost's voice made Poolkit jump, and she spun around to see the IceClan deputy was beside her.
"Yess.." she sighed.
"I'll take you out, if you'd like," the IceClan deputy offered.
Poolkit blinked, "But I'm not an apprentice yet. Won't Silverstar be mad?"
"Not if you're with me."
Poolkit grinned. This is my chance! She tried to hold in her excitement as she and Icefrost padded through the tunnel. Poolkit followed, feeling her tail brush the cold walls and ground beneath her paws, smooth from so many paw steps.

As she emerged on the other side of the tunnel, the scents of the forest flooded her nose. Upon her was so much snow! She wanted to roll in all of it, but she had to contain herself. She saw bushes and trees above her covered in snow.
And she could smell so many scents! Earth, leaves, prey, snow, flavors so rich she could taste them on her tongue.
A wind stirred her whiskers; untainted by the familiar scents of camp, it smelled strange and wild.

Icefrost led her along a well-trodden path toward the foot of a slope so steep that Poolkit had to crane her neck to see the top. "We are in the very heart of IceClan territory," She glanced upward. "But up there, at the top of the ravine, the forest stretches to our borders on every side."
Poolkit blinked. "You climb up there?" Everyday? She thought miserably as she now knew she'd had to do it everyday as a warrior.

"This is the easiest path." Icefrost padded to a gap between two massive boulders where stone and snow had crumbled into a slope. She bounded nimbly up and leaped to one of the boulders. Looking down at Poolkit, she meowed, "You try now."
Poolkit padded tentatively to the bottom of the rock fall. It was easy to scrabble up the first few tail-lengths, but the slope suddenly steepened and her paws started to slip on the loose stones. Heart racing, she made a desperate leap toward the boulder where Icefrost waited, she then shook out her fur.

Icefrost purred, "It gets better with practice." Icefrost turned and led her along a snowy gully that wove along the slope. It stopped at the bottoms of another huge boulder.
Poolkt groaned. Why meeeee?

Icefrost was gazing up at the smooth rock surface, her eyes narrowed. "Can you see the dents and holds where you might get a grip?"
As Poolkit scanned the rock, she started to notice chips and cracks in the stone: a dip in one side that would give her something to push against, a chunk just above it where she might get a clawhold.

She looked up at Icefrost as she motioned upward with her muzzle. "You go first," she meowed. "I'll be right behind in case you slip."  

Crouching back on her haunches, she tensed to jump, her eyes fixed on the first tiny ledge where she might get a grip. Trembling with effort, she leaped and hooked a claw onto the chink, she hissed. She hated climbing! She used all her strength to propel herself upward and pushing against the dip of the rock with her hind paws. She was at the neck crack, grabbing hold, pushing upward until the found herself at the rock where Icefrost was.

"Great climb!" Icefrost purred. "Come along,"

Poolkit followed her gaze to a snowy trail with paws looking like they shuffle out the snow to make a pathway. It twined upward through a cluster of small rocks. She followed her along it, letting her paw steps fall in behind hers. A tail-length from the top, the path ended in a sheer wall of rock that leaned out above them. Poolkit could scent the heavy scent of forest and see branch-snow-tipped poking out high above the ravine.

With one leap, Icefrost bounded up and over the edge. Poolkit looked up confidently, and jumped up, reaching up her her forepaws to grasp the rocky cold cliff top. Her muscles burned with the effort as she dragged herself over the edge and flopped on the cold ground, panting.
"Well done," Icefrost purred.

Poolkit grinned as the praise of the IceClan deputy, she had impressed her! She saw a bright light glimmering on her pelt and stepped forward and glanced down the ravine. The camp was hardly visible beneath the snowy treetops, and the clearing appeared as a pale splash beyond the snowy golden leaves.
She twisted her head to look in the snowy forest while the sun was rising. Nearly white bushes crowded the edges, and snowy trees stretched away in the shadows. Branches creaked and shuddered in the wind.
She gasped at the sight. It was beautiful..

She noticed that even though the sun was rising, not a hint of the snow was turning into liquids. When she listened to Elder stories, they said that StarClan had cursed the forest to have permanent snow in their territory so they could live up to their name. Poolkit didn't believe it at first, but at a sight like this, she believed it all right.

"Come on. Let's get back to camp." Icefrost purred as she turned and disappeared over the edge.
Poolkit sighed, knowing she have to spend more and more days awaiting her apprentice ceremony.

She slid her front paws over the rim of the cliff. She half slid, half fell down the steep tumble of rocks, scrabbled down the face of giant boulder, and trodded towards the other side of the tunnel.

As she and Icefrost trodded out, Silverstar had hopped from one rock to the next to get onto the Highrock. "All cats old enough to drift in the snow, gather below the Highrock for a Clan meeting!"
Icefrost nodded and trodded onto the deputy spot on the Highrock.

She saw the new warriors, Bladewing, Ravenbird, Springleaf, and Snowheart. IceClan has gotten more stronger warriors since then.

"Poolkit!" Poolkit twisted her head around to the nursery to see her family waiting for her at the nursery. When she trodded forward, Whiteclaw was the first to speak. "Where were you?! We were worried sick!"
Poolkit dipped her head, he knew he was just worried for her. "I'm sorry dad.. I just was stretching my legs and then Icefrost had said I could go outside camp with her."
Whiteclaw's gaze widened. "Outside?" He mewed, startled.

Featherkit's mew was sad, "You went outside of camp without me?"
Poolkit affectionally stroked Featherkit's shoulder with her tail. "You were asleep. You know I would never do that to you."
Raindapple sighed and nuzzled her head to Whiteclaw's chest. "It's alright, dear. Poolkit is safe and sound, and that's all that matters."
Whiteclaw had a deep purr. "You're right."

Poolkit twisted her head around to see the cats gathering around the Highrock and turned her head to Whiteclaw. "Can we go now? Pleassseee?" She begged.
Whiteclaw sighed. "Alright. But tell us where you're going next time."

Poolkit nodded and trodded forward, and Featherkit grinned as she sat next to her sister. "I wonder what this is going to be about."

Silverstar let out a meow that echoed to all the cats. "Today, we will be having two new apprentices."
Poolkit's excitement sprang through her. That must be us!

"Poolkt and Featherkit." Silverstar was beckoning them forward with her tail.
Briarpool and Dawnstripe backed away to make space beneath Highrock.

Poolkit was already scampering forward and glanced behind her and saw Raindapple nudging Featherkit forward. "Go on. It's your spirit she wants to welcome to IceClan."
After a moment, Featherkit nodded and trodded forward to where Poolkit had sat. Poolkit purred and whispered, "Don't be so nervous, sis. We're finally becoming apprentices!"
Featherkit grinned. "I guess you're right."

Silverstar gazed down. "You have been with us for six moons. Today you will start your training. Your mother and father have been loyal to IceClan and are both brave warriors. May you both tread in their paw steps."

"Featherkit." Silverstar's mew rang out in the cold dawn air as the sun began to turn the snow gold-isn.
Featherkit lifted her muzzle.
"From this day forward you shall be known as Featherpaw."
As Featherpaw dipped her head, Silverstar scanned the warriors watching from beneath Highrock. "Bluefeather," she meowed.
The silver furred she-cat looked sharply up at them, as though surprised.
"You will mentor Featherpaw. Train her to be a fine warrior."
Blinking, Bluefeather stepped forward and touched her muzzle to Featherpaw's head.

"Poolkit," Silverstar went on. "You have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Poolpaw. Your mentor will be Icefrost. I hope Icefrost will pass all they know onto you."
Icefrost dipped her head and nudged her head with her nose.

Poolpaw was so excited. She was an apprentice of IceClan!