Clouds drifted slowly overhead, the early morning air was chilly, biting at the ear-tips of the cats who lived in the mountains. Owlpaw breathed in the brisk air, her body shivering slightly. Leaf-fall is here. She thought fearfully. We only have so much time before leaf-bare, we shouldn't be travelling in the snow. Owlpaw looked down at her paws. I don't know if I can. This will be my first leaf-bare. What happens if I get greencough? She cleared her throat, it didn't feel any more scratchy than usual.

I just have to keep as healthy as can be. Owlpaw shook the thought of sickness away and padded back into the den that the Clan cats had been sleeping in. The rouge, Nettle, who had been injured by another rouge by the name of Raptor, was still sleeping.

Owlpaw padded to the rouge's side and gave her wound a gentle sniff. The only scent was of herbs, no infection. Owlpaw breathed a sigh of relief. That's good at least. She looked over Nettle's golden brown pelt, she would have a rather nasty scar, but she would live.

Owlpaw stepped back out into the mountain that she had called her home for almost two moons now. Her and seven other Clan cats had been sent by their leaders on a mission from StarClan. They originally had no idea what their mission was, until they met a loner named Sheer Mountain and her family who lived in the mountains. There was Sheer Mountain's father, Tumbleweed and her three adoptive kits, Finch, Wren and Sparrow. When they arrived in the mountains, the Clan cats had been visited by a former MoonClan medicine cat by the name of Mosscloud who told them their mission was to build a fifth Clan and return them to the mountains, and the leader of this new Clan was supposed to be Sheer Mountain.

Sheer Mountain didn't believe in StarClan, but her mother had. Her mother, a loner by the name of Star believed in cats that lived in the stars. This believe had gotten her killed during a thunderstorm. Sheer Mountain believed her mother was insane, and had gotten rather upset with Owlpaw when she brought it up.

However, Owlpaw had told Sheer Mountain the truth, that it was her destiny to lead a new Clan and that she would give Sheer Mountain time to think about it. In the short time that had passed, she and Sheer Mountain hadn't spoken about it since then. Owlpaw had been focused on healing Nettle instead.

Owlpaw knew her travel mates were getting impatient, she had to find a way to move Sheer Mountain along without pushing her too much. We can't wait forever, we have to go home eventually. Owlpaw looked at the pale blue sky. And if we take too long, we may get trapped here during leaf-bare.

"Hey, Owlpaw!" Owlpaw heard the eager call of Wren. She and her two brothers were sitting on the other side of the cavern, with a ball of moss between them. "Can you come over here?"

"Sure." Owlpaw trotted over to the kits. "What do you need?" She looked at the three of them. Wren had a very faint scar on her leg, an injury from when Raptor and his rogue's tried driving the Clan cats out.

"We want you to play with us!" Finch declared, his eyes sparkling.

Owlpaw blinked in surprise. "You want me to play with you? Why?"

"We want to play a game but we an uneven number." Sparrow explained. "You're small enough to play with us, and you can be on a team with Wren!"

Owlpaw looked at the three kits in curiosity. "Are you sure?" She was small, but she wasn't as small as the kits.

"Yeah!" Wren jumped. "It will be fun!"

"Oh-okay." Owlpaw wasn't quite sure how to feel about playing with the kits, she had never done much playing, she had been too sick as a kit to really play with her siblings, Briarrose didn't let her. "What do I do?"

"See the two piles of moss?" Wren pointed to two different small little nests of moss on either side of them. "Get the ball to the other side and we win!" Wren backed up, putting her back to one of the moss piles. "It's our job to protect this one."

"Okay." Owlpaw nodded slowly and crouched down, matching what Sparrow and Finch were doing as well. Wren set the moss ball in the center between them and backed up to stand besides Owlpaw.

"Get ready." Wren began. "Set." Owlpaw prepared herself for this game. "Go!" In an instant, Wren, Finch and Sparrow dived forwards towards the moss ball. Wow they're quick! Owlpaw thought in amazement and dived after them.

Finch caught the moss ball first, hooking it in his claw and tossing it to Sparrow who caught it in his teeth. He dived forward, but Wren jumped in front of him. She swiped forward, knocking it out of his teeth. It landed on the stone floor. Owlpaw took her chance and ran forward, picking the moss ball up in her teeth.

She started running for the goal, but instantly felt tiny claws in her pelt. She looked over her shoulder and saw Finch and Sparrow had jumped on her. They weren't that much smaller than her and the combined weight of the two toms dragged her down. She landed on her stomach, the ball of moss flying out of her teeth.

"Hey that's not fair!" Wren argued as Finch jumped off Owlpaw's back to run for the moss ball.

"She's bigger than us!" Sparrow argued with a sneer. "Of course it's fair!" Owlpaw got back to her paws and made a run for Finch and Sparrow. The two toms reached the moss ball and Finch hooked it with his claw again and threw it over Owlpaw and Wren's heads. Sparrow ran after it and picked up with when it hit the ground.

Wren ran around and jumped on her brother's back, causing him to flatten against the ground and drop the ball. Wren picked it up and started charging towards the other side. Owlpaw saw Finch running in to stop her. Owlpaw jumped in front of Finch and stopped him as Wren raced by.

Sparrow ducked around Owlpaw's side and met up with Finch. Owlpaw ran along side them as Wren made a break for the nest. "Not so fast, Wren!" Finch declared and ran faster, his little paw thrumming against the stone. He's so fast. Owlpaw was older than him and she struggled to keep up with him.

Finch reached Wren and extended his paws, tripping Wren. She stumbled forward and dropped the moss ball. Owlpaw saw Sparrow running for the ball while Finch and Wren wrestled for a moment. Owlpaw sprang forward, catching the moss ball before Sparrow.

She swatted the ball forward, it soared through the air and landed in the pile of moss. "We won!" Wren declared and jumped up in delight. "Good job, Owlpaw!"

"That was actually a lot of fun." Owlpaw laughed. Her heart was racing and she felt energy buzzing in her paws. I can't remember the last time I had this much fun. Owlpaw purred happily.

"That was a good toss." Sparrow praised. "Is that what warriors learn?"

Owlpaw chuckled. "Not usually, but those skills do help when it comes to games like this."

"I'd love to learn skills like that." Finch spoke, his ears twitching happily.

"You could probably ask some of my travel mates if they could teach you something, if Sheer Mountain's okay with it of course."

"Really?" All three kits beamed. "That would be so cool!"

"Is that what you're doing with your time?" Owlpaw heard a sharp voice behind her. She looked behind her and saw Slatepaw glaring at her. Behind him the hunting patrol consisting of Earthpelt, Leafdawn, Berryheart and Sheer Mountain had returned. "Playing with kits?"

Owlpaw narrowed her eyes. "What else should I be doing? Nettle's resting."

"I don't know, maybe our mission?"

"What mission?" Wren tilted her head.

"Nothing, Wren." Owlpaw told her. "Thank you for inviting me to play, I should go talk to my Clanmates." She started walking past Slatepaw. "You know, I think you're running out of ways to insult me."

Slatepaw growled. "It's your job to convince Sheer Mountain to become this new leader. Shouldn't you be doing that?"

"I'm giving Sheer Mountain time to decide. It's not an easy decision to give up your entire life for something you don't understand." Owlpaw countered. "This isn't like deciding to have squirrel for breakfast instead of mouse."

"We're wasting time out here." Slatepaw growled. "If she's not going to become leader then we need to figure out a cat who will."

"She will, Slatepaw." Owlpaw stopped walking to assure him. "I know she will, she just needs time."

Slatepaw narrowed his amber eyes. "I sure hope you know what you're doing, Owlpaw." With a scoff he pushed past Owlpaw, flicking his tail in annoyance. Owlpaw let out a low sigh and looked at Sheer Mountain who was talking with her kits. I hope I know what I'm doing too.