Thornpaw anxiously kneaded the edge of his nest as his Sunclan clanmates sprinted around the clearing, sniffing where Foxstorm had supposedly disappeared and consulting Fawnstar. Personally, he was terrified. But he puffed out his chest and held his chin high so he wouldn't show it.

   "I'm so scared," he heard the only other apprentice whisper. He swiveled his light brown head around to face Aquapaw, who had her face buried in her furry tail. As she lifted her head ever so slightly, he could see her bright sea blue eyes, sparkling with tears. She saw him staring and once again disappeared into her (beautiful) blue-gray fur.

   Feeling the sudden need to say something, Thornpaw meowed bravely but shakily, "I-I'll protect you."

    "Please." Aquapaw sniffed, and Thornpaw realized she was really crying. This was bad. Aquapaw never cries.

    "Aquapaw..." Thornpaw inhaled slightly, barely realizing what he was about to do. Random disappearances, Aquapaw crying... If the world can change so quickly, how long will it be before something happens to one of them? He needed Aquapaw to know. "A-Aquapaw, I've always-"

    "Thornpaw, Aquapaw," a voice said, cutting Thornpaw off. His mentor Sandhawk peered inside. "There's no training today. You're free to do whatever you want as long as you don't leave the camp." With that, the black warrior left.

    Thornpaw's stomach felt knotted and kind of queasy. It suddenly seemed really difficult to tell Aquapaw his feelings. But Aquapaw didn't even ask him to go on, so perhaps he should just tell her later... He swallowed and suddenly felt like crying himself.

    Don't you DARE cry, his self-conscious screamed. It won't help.

    So Thornpaw stayed in his nest, doing nothing but miserably watch Aquapaw sob. He wished there was something he could do for her, but he didn't know what.

<><><>

"Ah, too bad there aren't any kits," Cliffwalker yawned, stretching his old tattered legs.

    Flowerpath, who occasionally took a while to comprehend things, blinked slowly and said, "Why is that a problem, Cliffwalker?" The light silver tabby gave him the kind smile he always loved.

    "Being an elder is nice, but boring. I wouldn't have retired if I knew I'd never have something to do other than gossip." Cliffwalker laughed and went on. "Anyways, I like to tell stories to kits. Mousepaw and Bumblepaw are apprentices now."

    "Perhaps they'll come to clean our ticks again soon," Flowerpath offered after a second. She paused, looking thoughtful, then said, "I wonder how we get ticks, anyways? We barely ever leave the camp. It's not like warriors ever get ticks."

    Cliffwalker opened his mouth to argue, then realized he had no clue how elders got ticks and warriors didn't. "I guess you're right." I wonder if Stonewood has ticks, wherever he went...

    Stonewood was Clliffwalker's second cousin, and had vanished around a moon ago. Nobody knew what happened to him and still had no clues. The young tom had been part of a hunting patrol. They came back saying Stonewood was sent to hunt at the abandoned Fox Den and never returned.

    The helpless Shardstar, after hours of searching, had sent the two cats with the most information in Darkclan- Cliffwalker and Flowerpath. They had examined the Fox Den and agreed it was the perfect place for a kidnapper to hide and ambush an isolated cat. Most of the clan argued to this, though, saying there was absolutely no scent of a cat other than Stonewood. And even then, his scent trail cut off out of nowhere.

    "It's like the kidnapper is... Magic," Cliffwalker had murmured.

    Flowerpath cut off his thoughts by exclaiming, "Oh look, there's the apprentices!" as both Mousepaw and Bumblepaw sulkily walked into the den, each carrying a lump of mouse bile under their chins. "I've got a nasty tick on my shoulder, I can't quite reach it," Cliffwalker meowed. The truth was, he could reach it, but he didn't like the thought of biting off a tick.

Mousepaw padded over to him and quietly laid down some mouse bile on the ground. Then she picked up a piece and pressed it against the black tick.

"Ahhh, you two are too quiet," Flowerpath said as Bumblepaw parted her fur. "Let me tell you a story."

"Oh, Starclan," Cliffwalker heard Mousepaw mutter. He smiled in amusement.

Flowerpath paused for a second, looking blank. "Oh, right. Three foxes were in our territory, so instead of coming back to camp with my patrol, I snuck through the oak trees. I was too stealthy to step on any twigs and let the foxes know I was there." Her voice become hushed and mysterious. "The foxes were eating a rabbit, so I snuck forward and..." She let the pause last for too long, in Cliffwalker's opinion... "Bam! I scared all three of them off."

"That was great, Flowerpath," Bumblepaw said in a strained optimistic voice. "I love stories about foxes."

"Then I shall tell you another one!"

<><><>

    And the great Mythkit is so stealthy nobody notices as she follows the trail... She comes back, carrying enough prey to feed Moonclan the whole Leaf-Bare!

    Mythkit pounced on the dead mouse, her dark blue-gray ears perking up with excitement. Her tail lashed as she batted the mouse around the camp. "I'm going to catch all the prey on the world!" She boasted to her mother, Shimmersky.

She purred. "But I thought you wanted to be a medicine cat, dear?"

Mythkit stopped, eyeing the mouse with a sudden surprise. "But... Don't all cats hunt?"

"Medicine cats don't. They're too busy looking for herbs and taking care of cats."

"But they can hunt when they have nothing to do, right?"

Shimmersky blinked. "Well... I suppose, if they really wanted to, but they're not really supposed to."

"Oh." Mythkit turned away from the tattered mouse. "I'm not really hungry. Can I go play with moss now?"

"Alright. The mouse is too beaten up to put back in the fresh-kill pile, though... Are you sure you don't want it?"

Mythkit shrugged her shoulders. "You can have it. Where do we keep the moss?"

<><><>

Renegade smiled to himself as he spotted the Lightclan border up ahead. Their forest, in his opinion, was a giant clump of tangled trees impossible to navigate. That's why he likes it right outside their territory, where it is mostly a field with tall bushes and weeds, with a couple spindly birch trees here and there.

    He trotted right up to the border and pricked his ears to listen for any cats. They should send out a sunhigh patrol around this time. Renegade's morning had been pretty boring for a rogue. Perhaps his afternoon could be better with a bit of fun.

    Just then three cats stepped through the trees. Renegade recognized them- Brightfire and Frogleap, lead by Lionclaw.

    They took sight of him and immediately turned hostile. Brightfire's amber eyes thinned to angry slits, and Frogleap lowered his brown striped head. Lionclaw, a broad golden tom, instantly walked right up to him. Was he trying to intimidate him? Renegade couldn't quite tell, but it was fairly amusing.

    "What are you doing on our territory?" Brightfire snarled, springing forward. The yellow tabby had always been kind of jumpy.

    "I'm not on your territory," Renegade said lazily, gesturing to the border. "I'm next to it. Or are you guys hungry for so much territory I can't stay in the field anymore?"

    "Burnstalk, if you don't-"

    "It's Renegade, thank you very much," he interrupted. "My friends call me Ren, but we're not exactly friends anymore, are we? So you can call me Renegade."

    Lionclaw bristled. "Renegade means someone who broke the rules," he spat.

    Renegade pretended to look shocked. "Reeeaaallllly?" He said. "I had nooooooo idea."

    The three cats looked ready to slit his throat. Renegade smirked. He'd like to see them try.

    "Anyways, why are you all wasting your time here? Go on with your border patrol. Because there are definitely clans over here trying to take your precious territory."

    "We're here because of you!" Brightfire shouted, leaping up to the border so their noses were almost touching. Renegade had a sudden flashback of the two of them training together, but quickly dismissed it as she snarled in his face, "If you weren't such a- such a fox-hearted jerk- Minkstar wouldn't have exiled you!"

    "Ah, Minkstar. The cowardly idiot of a leader." Renegade laughed. "Exiled me. Tell him I said thanks, by the way. If he hadn't, I would still have to sleep in the same den as you three!" He faced them again. "So, Minkstar is still sending out patrols to stalk me? Doesn't he know I'm not going to invade the camp and kill him? Actually, he probably thinks I'm going to. It's always him that has to be safe from danger."

    "Don't insult our leader!"

    "You insult me."

    "That's because you're a dirty rogue!"

    "Hey, just because I'm not your clanmates doesn't mean I don't know how to use my tongue." Renegade cocked his head. "Did you get that? I can't tell if you did, speaking of the size of your brains."

    "We'll get Minkstar!" Frogleap protested.

    "Go ahead, run off to tattle that a 'dirty rogue' was hurting your feelings. What's Minkstar gonna do? Not face me, I know. He'll probably send out at least three cats, because a single cat can't face me alone, I see." He gestured to the patrol.

    Lionclaw looked ready to explode. He took a deep breath and said, "come on, guys. He's just trying to provoke us. Let's go."

    Satisfied, Renegade watched them leave. That had definitely added a touch of amusement to his day.