"This is the elder's den," finished Deerpaw. They were in front of a bunch of fern bushes. Suddenly, a grey and white spotted cat poked his head out of the ferns. 

                "What is this?" he snapped. "Deerpaw, are you bringing in a ShadowClan cat without introducing him to me?" Deerpaw smiled. 

                "Heartpaw, this is Pigeonfeather," announced Deerpaw. Pigeonfeather grinned. He looked young to be an elder and not grumpy at all. He took a liking to the elder at once. 

                "Nice to meet you, Heartpaw," said Pigeonfeather.

                "You too," he smiled. 

                "You must be thinking why I'm here," sighed Pigeonfeather. "My two hind legs are lame." 

                "Oh sorry," Heartpaw said, not knowing how to respond. 

               "I'm thirteen moons old," sighed Pigeonfeather. 

                "Deerpaw!" yelled a voice. 

                "Come on!" Deerpaw said and Heartpaw followed her to the middle of the camp where a brown and white cat was waiting impatiently. Beside him was a white cat with a black tail. 

                "That's my mentor," whispered Deerpaw into Heartpaw's ear. "He's pretty annoying." 

                "I have ears," said Deerpaw's mentor sternly. "I am Moorpelt. This is Blacktail. Good to meet you Heartpaw. I am Deerpaw's mentor and Blacktail will be yours for now." Heartpaw nodded. "We will not waste time. We will start training now. If you are to become RiverClan, then you must learn our ways." Heartpaw nodded excitedly. Blacktail smiled in approval.

                "Come," motioned Moorpelt. He led Deerpaw and Heartpaw out with Blacktail behind. They trotted into the forest. The air was cool but Heartpaw felt happier than he had had in a while. No cats had come over to talk to him but none had whispered to each other right in his face or started a fight. They seemed to be talking his arrival into their stride. But he knew he mustn't celebrate yet, he had to show that he was trustworthy and a good warrior. Blacktail turned to me. 

                 "You will start with fighting," she told me. Moorpelt nodded. 

                "Deerpaw, you will attack Heartpaw," he orderd Deerpaw nodded eagerly. Heartpaw was starting to take a liking to her bright personality. 

                 "Yes. For now, Heartpaw, you will only defend," said Blacktail. Heartpaw nodded and faced Deerpaw. He fixed his eyes on her and watched her every movement. She crouched and kept her tail low. Then she sprang, her paws out. Heartpaw's instinct was to try and push her down but he dodged sideway and turned to face her once more, restraining himself from striking out as she landed, back on him. Deerpaw turned around and pounced once more, lower to the ground. Heartpaw sidestepped but she shot her paw out to trip him. He managed to stumbled out of her grasp but she then lashed out with her front paw, going for a front paw strike. Heartpaw rolled away from her. She went for a back kick and Heartpaw managed to block her flying foot which didn't take much strength. Finally, Blacktail called a stop. 

                "Good job," she said. "How many moons old are you?" 

                 "Um," Heartpaw thought. He hadn't thought about it. He had had more pressing things on his mind. But he thought to be about nine moons old. "Ten moons." Blacktail nodded. 

                 "I'm eight moons old," grinned Deerpaw. Moorpelt rolled his eyes. 

                 "Deerpaw, that was poor performance for someone who was attacking. You barely landed a blow!" Moorpelt said. Deerpaw hung her head and Heartpaw felt slightly guilty but mostly proud. 

                  "Good job Heartpaw," Moorpelt then said. Heartpaw puffed out his chest fur in pride. Blacktail then told them to switch roles. This time, Deerpaw pricked her ears and was much more determined to win. Heartpaw too, felt a new spark of determination in him. He crouched and bunched up his muscles, feeling his strength. He concentrated hard on his position and the jump. Quickly, he leapt up, low and fast. Deerpaw didn't have time to react. She tried to roll away but Heartpaw rushed into her and brought her to the ground. They struggled and wrestled for a while, until Deerpaw almost slipped away but Heartpaw jumped onto her back, making her sprawl. He then overturned her and pinned her down. He cried to himself in triumph. 

                 "Nice," commented Moorpelt. 

                  "Very good," said Blacktail. "That was a very good leap, just make sure that you balance yourself properly, you were slightly to your right." Heartpaw nodded. 

                  "Deerpaw, we're going to have to work on your defending and attacking," said Moorpelt seriously. Deerpaw sighed. 

                   "But I'm two moons younger!" protested Deerpaw. Moorpelt frowned and gave her a stern look. Heartpaw was glad he wasn't his mentor, although Moorpelt would be able to teach him a lot. 

                     "Do you think other cats care? Do you think a ShadowClan warrior of sixteen moons will care that you're only eight moons?" retorted Moorpelt harshly. Heartpaw felt slightly bad for Deerpaw. 

                    "No...," she replied. Moorpelt sighed and his eyes softened, as if he had just realised how hard he was being on her. 

                     "Come on, let's leave Heartpaw and Blacktail to it. They don't need us for now. We can work on defending first," Moorpelt said then spotted Deerpaw's worried look. "Don't worry, I'll teach you all there is to it." Blacktail beckoned Heartpaw to follow her. They made their way towards the sound of water. 

                      "Let's see how good you are at hunting," she said. 

                    "I don't know how to swim," admitted Heartpaw. Blacktail shrugged. 

                     "You seem like a fast learner, you'll learn," said Blacktail. "Now hunt." Blacktail slipped away. Heartpaw watched till she was out of view and looked around. The ground was frozen and the singing of birds seemed slightly far away. He wouldn't be able to catch a bird, that was for sure. He crawled towards a bush. No sound. He peered in. There was no sign of life. He crept to the bark of a tree and suddenly saw a flicker of movement. He froze and waited. A lizard was still at the bottom of the tree. He had never eaten or caught a lizard but some of his Clanmates..., well former Clanmates had. Quickly, he slammed his front paw forward and felt the tiny lizard wriggle underneath him. He unsheathed his claws and caught the lizard. Quickly, he nipped it on the neck. It was tiny but it was food. He hoped RiverClan ate lizards. He continued on his way. He finally heard something. A small rustling. He looked up. Above him, on one of the bare branches was a squirrel. The trees, being so spread out in RiverClan, were not easy to jump from one to another. So the squirrel wouldn't only be able to flee by running down the tree. Heartpaw grinned. He crept to the bottom of the tree and started inching up, slowly. Suddenly, the squirrel spotted him and scurried down. Swiftly, Heartpaw leapt to the ground and followed the swift creature. He pelted towards it and raced after it as it made its escape. Finally, his claws caught its tail and it squeaked and tried to leap away but Heartpaw had caught it. He quickly bit into it and sighed in relief. He trotted to another tree foot where he had buried the lizard. Suddenly, Blacktail trotted towards him. 

                     "Good job, Heartpaw. You did better than I thought you would," she said. "Come now. It is almost sunset." Heartpaw nodded enthusiastically. He followed Blacktail back into camp. A light ginger cat stepped forward. 

                     "Good catch," he said, slightly shy. Heartpaw beamed. 

                     "Thanks," he exclaimed. 

                     "Heartpaw, this is one of our best swimmers. Sparkbelly," introduced Blacktail. 

                    "Hey," said Sparkbelly. "We're all good swimmers." 

                    "Don't flatter yourself," she smiled. She nodded to Heartpaw to drop the fresh-kill into the fresh-kill pile then nodded to allow him to choose something to eat. 

                    "Go to the apprentices den and sleep for tonight," said Blacktail. "Tomorrow, we will do more training. And by a week, you will either have no Clan or you will be a proud RiverClan. Go now, Deerpaw and Eelpaw will tell you which nest is yours." Heartpaw nodded and trotted to the apprentice den, a small mouse clutched in his jaws. These cats were accepting him. They hadn't really talked to him as if he were one of their friends but they had accepted him. He would have a new start.