"What's my next duty?" Flamekit struggled to stay in pace with the fast owl. 

"Herb Collecting!" Stealthfeather replied. He dove into the forest. Flamekit, out of breath, ran in after him. "Help Mintwhisker collect herbs. He'll tell you which herbs are important. Go now!" 

"Hi, Flamekit. I see you're new here." a tabby tom padded out of the bushes. "Let's go!" he nodded at Flamekit and bounded off. 

"Ooof!" Flamekit wheezed. 

"Okay." Mintwhisker laid out several herbs on the sand. "This is yarrow, this is comfrey, this is poppy seed......" 

"Try to look out for them!" Mintwhisker finally concluded. 

"Okay!" Flamekit tried hard to remember the names. 

They went back into the forest, collected herbs, asking questions, and finally, they were staring at their bundles of herbs. "I'm scared of Gloomystar," Mintwhisker confessed. He stared at his paws. "When I was an apprentice, he used to bully me. Every time I disobeyed him, he would raise a paw and slash me. I would get injured, but luckily I was a medicine cat." 

"Aw, it must have been hard for you," Flamekit whispered, pressing his flank against Mintwhisker's. 

"Let's get these herbs back to camp." Mintwhisker shook out his pelt and picked up his bundle. Flamekit picked up his, and the two cats headed back to camp. 

"Good! Now, time for fighting!" Stealthfeather cawed, his voice dripping with malice. He rubbed his wings together excitedly. "Your mentor will be Moonshade(Special mentor named by Dorothyden in my Name That Apprentice book!)!"

"Sure," Flamekit grumbled, padding with his tail down towards his new mentor. 

"Hi! I'm Moonshade!" Moonshade was a graceful silver she-cat with black markings on her body. Her eyes were glowing with a soft amber light. She bounded over to him and they went out. 

After one whole hour of training, Flamekit was sure that he knew every trick in the forest. Then, with a pang of guilt, he realized that he was going to be six years of age tomorrow. "Good work! Go back to your den and rest!" Moonshade told him. 

Flamekit grunted in agreement and trudged to his den. When he slipped in, he felt like he was being watched.