"It was awesome!" exclaimed Brightpaw. Heartstorm and Brightpaw were sitting underneath the shade of a tree. It was evening and the air was cool and calming. "I knew RiverClan's territory would be as big as I imagined! It was awesome. Eelfrost started with showing me basic stalking skills so I could learn hunting but I already learnt it with Thornstar so he taught me how to crouch and leap and I caught a pigeon! A really fat pigeon!" Heartstorm smiled.

              "That's great. I'm so proud of you," Heartstorm said. "Did you get to see the borders?" 

             "I did!" cried Brightpaw then made a face. "WindClan smells so weird and ThunderClan, don't even get me started. They stink. Like worst than skunks." Heartstorm laughed. 

           "Have you ever smelt a skunk?" asked Heartstorm. 

             "No, but I'm sure it's better than ThunderClan," shrugged Brightpaw. "Anyways, tomorrow I managed to convince Eelfrost to teach me fighting techniques. He wanted to teach me how to patrol and learn a bit more about being a warrior first but I really want to show him my moves and I want to start getting better at fighting. I want to be the strongest cat in all the Clans when I'm older. Have you talked to Bumblepaw yet? I've got to tell him I caught my first pigeon." 

            "Not yet," Heartstorm said. He got up to talk to Eelfrost. "You go talk to him. I'm going to see Eelfrost for a moment." He trotted away towards Eelfrost who was talking excitedly to Deerflame. 

            "I never knew being a mentor would be so fun and easy," grinned Eelfrost. 

            "It's not, " retorted Deerflame then smiled. "But Daisypaw learnt to crouch and leap perfectly." 

            "Well Brightpaw caught a pigeon!" replied Eelfrost smugly. 

            "Hey Eelfrost," called Heartstorm. 

            "Oh hey there my apprentice's father," Eelfrost smiled then padded over. "What's up? Brightpaw tell you what a great mentor I was?" 

            "Yeah yeah, she did," said Heartstorm. "And she said you were going to teach her fighting moves tomorrow." 

             "Oh yeah, she's going to do great," nodded Eelfrost. 

            "Don't you think you're rushing into things?" put in Heartstorm. 

            "No of course not, why?" Eelfrost frowned. 

            "You should let her get to know our territory. Tell her about the warrior code. Maybe bring her on a few border patrols," suggested Heartstorm. "Then teach her basic hunting. Then fighting. That's what I did with Hawkflight." 

             "Really?" Eelfrost raised an eyebrow. "Don't you want her to learn to fight? Be the best warrior?" 

            "I do, but being a warrior isn't only about fighting," Heartstorm told Eelfrost firmly. "Don't rush into things. I'm not telling you what to do but..."

              "I'm sorry," muttered Eelfrost. "You're right. I had planned all of it out... It's just she was so excited and I wanted to meet her expectations and I didn't want to disappoint her. I didn't want to say no..."

              "You're her mentor. You can say no. Brightpaw is really excited. She's a great cat. I know she will be a great warrior but only if you mentor her well. That means saying no sometimes," Heartstorm said. "You've got to be a bit hard. You can't always want her to like you: Plus, there's nothing that can make her not like you. You're my best friend." Eelfrost gave a small smile. 

            "Thanks," he said, flicking his tail. 

             "No problem," smiled Heartstorm. He spotted Frogleap and Bumblekpaw walking out of the medicine den. Brightpaw burst out of the medicine den and pelted towards the apprentice den. Bumblepaw spotted Heartstorm and trotted over to him. 

             "Hi," said Bumblepaw. 

            "hey, how was your day?" asked Heartstorm excitedly. 

            "It was great," reported Bumblepaw, sitting next to Heartstorm. "Frogleap showed me around the territory and we got to see all the main spots." 

            "Oh yeah? Like the borders and the clearing where you can train?" asked Heartstorm. 

             "What?" Bumblepaw said looking confused. "No. Like where all the main herb patches grow. He showed me this place where there's loads of moss. I can bring you there if you like and you can get some extra moss." Heartstorm smiled at Bumblepaw's excitement. He didn't understand why Bumblepaw was so excited about moss but he didn't care. Bumblepaw was becoming a medicine cat! He couldn't have been prouder. 

            "That would be great," said Heartstorm. "How was Frogleap?"

            "He's actually not grumpy," Bumblepaw said. "He's really nice to me." 

            "I'm glad," smiled Heartstorm. "So you'll be sleeping in the apprentice den from now on."

             "Yup," grinned Bumblepaw. "It'll be weird, not sleeping in the nursery. The apprentice den is gigantic though! And it's only four of us!" 

              "Which nest did you chose?" asked Heartstorm. 

              "There are like six nests, I took the one all the way at the back. I hate being near the entrance and feeling the draft. Brightpaw took a nest like right beside the entrance."

              "That sounds like her," nodded Heartstorm. 

              "Heatherpaw and Daisypaw have nests on the other side. I'm going to see them now, if you don't mind," Bumblepaw said. 

               "Of course, go ahead," nodded Heartstorm. He watched as Bumblepaw disappeared into the apprentice den. He trotted to the warrior's den where Silverdrop was talking to Deerflame. They both looked up and smiled at him. 

              "How was training for your kits?" asked Deerflame. 

              "Great, they loved it," smiled Heartstorm. "They'll soon find out it's not all fun and games. How was your first day as a mentor?" 

              "I can't believe it," exclaimed Deerflame. "I mean, it's so fun and I love it. I love teaching kits. I think I want to do it forever. It's so nice to see them learn new things and be so happy."

              "I know," nodded Heartstorm knowingly. "I felt the same."

              "Yeah, it's like she's my own kit," Deerflame nodded then spotted Eelfrost. She bounded towards him. Silverdrop smiled at Heartstorm and nodded to her nest. 

              "I'm back to warrior duties," she grinned. "I've already been around the whole territory. I'm glad my six moons stuck sleeping in the nursery is over, although it was pretty quiet and calm." 

               "I'm happy that you're back in here with me," agreed Heartstorm. "The kits seem to love being apprentices. They're already talking about where they're sleeping. They're glad to be independent now." 

             "I know Brightkit told me all about how she loves our territory," chuckled Silverdrop then ran her tail along Heartstorm's side. "Don't look so sad. They're grown now." Heartstorm sighed. 

              "I know," he nodded. "Want to go for a walk?" 

              "Sure," smiled Silverdrop. They padded out of camp, tails entwined.