There was a small breeze drifting through the forest. The leaves were rustling, and there life everywhere. Every now and then the sun would shine through the clouds and light up the forest with its glowing rays. It was a perfect green-leaf.

There was a small patch of grass. A plump rabbit sat in the middle of a scrap of grass and was gnawing on some grains.

"RAWR!" yowled a cat as it appeared from a bramble bush. With a screech of terror, the rabbit whirled around and speeding in the other direction headed for a hole in the ground. The cat behind it tried to hurry up but wasn't fast enough.

All of a sudden another cat ambushed in front of the rabbit. The rabbit stopped immediately but it was too late to turn around for the rabbit had been killed.

"Thanks, Flowerpaw, for chasing that rabbit right into my paws so I could kill it." said the black tom as he slid out his claws that were stained with blood.

"Any time, Blackslip," returned Flowerpaw. The sunlight filtered through the clouds and shined on Flowerpaw making her tabby fur glow. She looked up to see the sun then moved out of the sunlight and gave her chest fur a few embarrassed licks.

"Okay, I think it's time to head back to camp. Do you want to carry the rabbit back or should I?" Blackslip asked. He already knew the answer to the question but he had asked anyway.

"I do! I do!" cheered his apprentice excitedly. Flowerpaw jumped up and down on her toes. Then she picked up the prey and started running through the forest in the direction of the camp. Blackslip raced after her. Flowerpaw was very agile and easily outran Blackslip as they headed for Stoneclan camp. A few moments later Blackslip saw the thorn tunnel, the camp entrance and raced through it even though thorns were tearing at his fur.

Flowerpaw was already at the fresh-kill pile depositing the plump rabbit with the other prey. Blackslip padded over to a group of warriors and sat down next to an orange tabby she-cat.

"Hello, Applestream." He greeted her

"Hey, Blackslip. How was hunting with Flowerpaw?" Applesteam asked.

"It was good. Flowerpaw and I caught a rabbit, she was excited." Blackslip looked over his shoulder to see Flowerpaw sitting with some apprentices boasting over her catch.

"Yeah I can see she's excited," said a white tom with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"It was Flowerpaws first rabbit," Argued Blackslip. "Plus you haven't caught a rabbit in moons, and they're hard to catch.

Whiteclaw paused for a heartbeat before meowing,"... Um...Well...Fine, you win. But I'll prove you wrong!" Whiteclaw jumped onto his paws and raced for the thistle entrance before disappearing behind the tangle of thorns.

"Finally we got rid of him." Applestream let out a sigh of relief as soon as Whiteclaw had left, "Applestream!" A shocked mew came from a dark ginger she-cat, with her muzzle turning grey from age, "Whiteclaw is a fine warrior. He is good at hunting and volunteers with border patrols. He is al-"

"I get it, Roseheart," Applestream muttered, "I'm not a kit anymore!"

Roseheart was Applestreams mother. Even though Roseheart was the oldest warrior she still refused to go to the elders' den. She wanted to serve her clan as much as possible. Roseheart was one of the most loyal cats in all the clans.

"Well just remember what I said," Roseheart remarked. "Roseheart my darling let's go get some fresh air from walking through the forest." A pale ginger tom mewed smoothly padding up to the group of cats. "I would like that Grasspool" Roseheart gave Grasspool and affectionate lick on the cheek and walked to the entrance.

Once the two cats had vanished through the thorn tunnel Blackslip asked, "So Applestream you were on border patrol, right?"

"Right" Applestream replied.

"Did you see any Tumbleclan warriors?" - Recently Stoneclan and Tumbleclan fighting over territory. There was plentiful hunting at a spring near the sycamore tree. But Tumbleclan thought it was unfair that Stoneclan rightfully owned that part of the territory.- "Yeah we did," Applestream a glimmer of hatred in her gaze, "but we managed to chase them off." She added satisfied.

"All cats old enough to catch there own prey gather beneath High-branch for a clan meeting!" Blackslip turned his head swiftly to see Raystar on top of High-branch. Below Raystar was a hollow in the trunk of the huge tree, he was sitting on one of the branches with his deputy, Snowfang, and medicine cat, Silvershine, just below him on a lower branch. Raystar was the leader of Stoneclan, he had served his clan for many seasons and he was starting to get close to moving to the elders' den.

At the sound of their leaders call, cats started forming a circle around High-branch, Bluesky and Darkstem got up from where they were grooming, Smokepelt, Willowstorm, and Cloudstripe padded over from the prey pile, Firewing jumped off of a big rock and walked over to the assembly of cats, while Leafspring was at the entrance of the nursery with her three kits Sagekit, Sorrelkit, and Ivykit.

Blackslip moved his way into the circle with Applestream at his side. Once all cats had settled in Raystar began, "as you all know we have been quarreling with Tumbleclan for our territory," After Raystar had spoken warriors started screeching in fury.

"How dare Tumbleclan think they can steal our territory!"One warrior yowled.

"They should pay for breaking the warrior code!" Another spat.

Raystar flicked his tail for silence. "But I can't do anything yet. I must get more guidance from starclan." He turned his head to were Silvershine was sitting. She hesitated before speaking "Starclan has not spoken to me in many moons," She mewed quietly as she looked up at the cloudy sky as if trying to see the stars of silverpelt were their loved ones rested when they joined Starclan. The whole camp fell silent except for the constant birdsong and the rattling of leaves when a breeze came.

Raystar let out a long sigh. "The gathering is in a couple of days. I will tell Stormstar"-the leader of Tumbleclan-" That if he doesn't stop then there will be a... war" The last few words choked out of him as if he was grieving. Shocked gasps rippled through the cats around High-branch. Raystar leaped off the branch he was perched on and headed for the hollow in the trunk called over his shoulder, "Snowfang, Darkstem, Bluesky, and Rosethorn please come into my den I need to speak with you." Raystar disappeared into his den.