"Please?" begged Brightkit. 

              "Yeah please Silverdrop?" echoed Bumblekit. 

              "Pretty please?" added Brightkit. 

               "Come on Silverdrop," Heartstorm put in. "It'll be fine." Silverdrop glared at Heartstorm. 

              "You're supposed to be on my side," she muttered under her breath but finally sighed. "Alright. But you stay with Heartstorm and you are not allowed to get in trouble. Understood? Or you're grounded till you both become apprentices." Brightkit and Bumblekit cried in excitement and nodded their heads vigorously. Heartstorm grinned. 

              "Thanks Mum!" chorused both kits before racing towards the nursery entrance. Silverdrop sighed. 

              "It was just yesterday they were so small they couldn't even open their eyes," Silverdrop said then she heard Bumblekit cry out in happiness. "Go! watch them." Heartstorm hurried outside where the kits were running about, looking at the camp for the first time in their life. Heartstorm smiled.

              "Do you want to go to the stream?" asked Heartstorm. Brightkit and Bumblkit nodded happily. Heartstorm led them towards the stream. The cold water trickled gently past. Brightkit watched, mesmerised while Bumblekit stared into the water at his reflection. 

               "Who's that?" he asked.

               "Your reflection," explained Heartstorm. 

                "Can we go in?" asked Brightkit. "I didn't know camp was so big!" Heartstorm chuckled. 

              "You can put one paw in. Be careful, it's cold," Heartstorm warned. Brightkit plunged a paw into the water and quickly jumped back. 

              "Woah," she gasped. "It is cold!" 

              "Can I try? Can I try? Can I try?" asked Bumblekit excitedly. 

               "Of course," laughed Heartstorm. Brightkit watched curiously as Bumblekit plunged both of his feet into the water. His eyes went wide. 

               "It's so cold!" he exclaimed and quickly leapt out. He rolled into Brightkit and they began to wrestle. Heartstorm smiled proudly. Eelfrost ducked under some brambles and appeared, grinning at Heartstorm. 

               "First time they're out?" he asked. Heartstorm nodded. Brightkit and Bumblekit finished their fight temporarily and both scrambled towards Eelfrost. Brightkit sprang at Eelfrost's tail. He laughed. Bumblekit even tried to clamber onto Eelfrost's back. 

               "Hey," came a voice and Deerflame appeared. She laid her eyes on the kits. "Omigosh! They're so cute!" Brightkit and Bumlekit changed their direction and attention to Deerflame and started to scrambled towards Deerflame. Bumblekit tugged at her tail and Brightkit leapt at Deerflame's face. She laughed and pretended to be a fox for them. Eelfrost sat beside Heartstorm, watching the kits in amusement. Finally Deerflame collapsed beside Eelfrost and laughed. 

              "Wow, that was very tiring," she said. The kits amused themselves by running around a bramble bush since they had never seen one before. 

              "It's their first time going out, isn't it?" asked Deerflame. 

               "Yup. Silverdrop was all worked up about it. But we managed to convince her," Heartstorm said. 

              "I hope I get to mentor them," whispered Eelfrost. Heartstorm tiled his head, gazing at Heartstorm. 

              "You'd be a great mentor. I'd be happy to have you mentor my kits," smiled Heartstorm. Eelfrost chuckled. 

               "Aw, you're too nice. But I probably won't be chosen. It'll be Greyspeck or something," Eelfrost sighed. 

              "Thornstar asked me about mentoring Daisykit or Heatherkit along with Greyspeck," Deerflame put in. "So... you still have a chance to mentor Brightkit or Bumblekit." 

               "I bet it'll be Rainfeather then...," sighed Eelfrost. 

               "I'll talk to Thornstar about it then," smiled Heartstorm. "And Silverdrop." He added as an after thought. 

                "So who did you say you wanted to mentor?" asked Heartstorm. 

                "Well, Greyspeck said Heatherkit first. So I chose Daisykit," Deerflame said. "I mean, I don't mind. I'm sure Daisykit will be a great apprentice." 

               "I know she will be," Heartstorm nodded. 

               "So when are your kits becoming apprentices?" asked Eelfrost. 

               "Four moons and a half," Heartstorm said. 

               "Wow, they grow up really fast," Deerflame gasped. Brightkit returned to Heartstorm and settled down in his warm fur, looking tired. Bumblekit was staring at some leaves. 

               "They're so pretty," he was mumbling. "I wonder what they could be used for." 

               "Nothing, probably," Eelfrost said loudly. Bumblekit turned to Eelfrost. 

               "How do you know?" he asked, cocking his head. 

                "They're bramble leaves," pointed out Eelfrost. "What can they be used for?" 

                "Maybe Frogleap knows," Deerflame suggested. 

                "Who cares?" interrupted Eelfrost and although Heartstorm gave Eelfrost a stern look, he totally agreed with Eelfrost. He turned to Bumblekit with a smile. 

                 "Why don't we go ask him?" asked Heartstorm. 

                 "Sure," smiled Bumblekit. Heartstorm picked Brightkit up and walked towards the medicine den with Bumblekit in tow. Heartstorm stopped right before the den. He remembered Cinderstar was there. 

                "Ah, there is going to be a er, cat," Heartstorm. "Inside." 

                "We know. It's Frogleap. The medicine cat," Bumblekit said.  

                "Well, no it's Cinderstar actually. She's er, the leader of ShadowClan. Well former leader," Heartstorm said, having trouble to explain. 

                 "ShadowClan?" frowned Brightkit. "But we're RiverClan!" she lashed her tail. "What is Cinderstar doing in our territory?" 

                "She's been, er, thrown out of ShadowClan," Heartstorm said. "Just ignore her. Everything she says are lies, alright?" Bumblekit and Brightkit nodded and they entered the den. It was dimly lit as always and Softcry was sitting, watching Cinderstar, a small bundle on the ground. Softcry turned to Heartstorm with a smile. 

                "Hey," she said. "Oh hello there Brightkit, Bumblekit." 

                "hi!" piped in Brightkit. "Who are you?" 

                "I think you know Eelfrost. I'm his mother, Softcry," Softcry smiled. 

                "Hi Softcry," Brightkit said. Heartstorm was glad that Cinderstar seemed to be sleeping, her wounds he had given her still healing. Bumblekit had advanced to peer at the herbs arranged neatly. He sniffed at them, inspecting each. Frogleap bustled in. 

                 "Hello Heartstorm," he said. "Are you going to bring trouble?" Brightkit looked up. 

                 "Oh, helloe there Brightkit. And Bumblekit. Don't touch those herbs!" Frogleap said. Bumblekit backed away from the herbs. "What do you need?" 

                "Bumblekit wanted to ask you a question," Heartstorm told Frogleap. 

                 "Ah, what is it, little one?" Frogleap asked gently, bending down. Bumblekit shuffled his feet. 

                 "What can we use bramble leaves for?" he asked shyly. 

                  "Ah bramble leaves," Frogleap said thoughtfully. "... Nothing." 

                  "Sorry?" frowned Bumblekit. 

                  "They're not used for anything," repeated Frogleap. Heartstorm stifled a laugh. So Eelfrost had been right. Bumblekit nodded and thanked Frogleap. 

                  "Right, let's not disturb Frogleap. Say thank you," Heartstorm said, backing out of the den. Brightkit said thank you and trotted after Bumblekit. Bumblekit nodded to Frogleap and followed his sister. As he left, Frogleap gazed at him in a weird way but before Heartstorm' could think what, Frogleap turned away and Brightkit was scampering towards the nursery. Heartstorm led Bumblekit towards the nursery where they joined Silverdrop. Brightkit was talking excitedly about all that had happened and Bumblekit looked silent and thoughtful. Heartstorm felt a stab of worry. Was Bumblekit sick? 

                  "Don't worry about me Heartstorm," assured Bumblekit, seeing Heartstorm's face. "I was just thinking." Heartstorm nodded and settled down beside Silverdrop. 

                  "How was your first time out of the nursery?" asked Silverdrop. 

                  "Good," Bumblekit said. "I learnt something." 

                   "Oh! What is it?" asked Silverdrop with a small smile. 

                  "Bramble leaves are not used for anything," Bumblekit said proudly. Brightkit raised her eyesbrows. Heartstorm gave a small chuckle. 

                   "Ah, that's great," Silverdrop said slowly and gave Bumblekit a funny look.