Larkpaw crouched on the ground, her body rigid with concentration and her gaze fixed straight ahead on a single target. Slowly, she put one paw forward and let it land on the ground again as gently as possible. My success determines the survival of the Clan.

But she felt Silversky's watchful gaze burning into her dark pelt, and that was exactly what made her nervous. Larkpaw was determined not to be dissuaded.

One day I will belong to the Hunters' Circle.

So far, Larkpaw had only hunted alone three times, otherwise she had always killed her prey in a group hunt. She had to admit that it was much more relaxed this way and the danger of their prey escaping was also reduced quite a bit.

It was a vole scurrying around under the bushes - pitiful and small, but every fresh-kill counted.

Larkpaw started to jump. The next moment she felt the vole's warm, fragile body and slammed her fangs into its neck.

Bliss flowed through Larkpaw. It wasn't often that she was able to kill her prey so smoothly. More often than not, it got away from her.

With her catch in her mouth, Larkpaw ran back to Silversky.

"That was really good," he meowed. "You've improved a lot compared to the last few times."

Larkpaw twitched her ears, pleased with the praise. "I think I'm starting to get a feel for it."

In the beginning, she was also terribly nervous about her hunting trips. After all, Silversky belonged to the Hunters' Circle, and she didn't want to embarrass herself. Fortunately, he always sympathised with her and was always willing to explain even the simplest things to her several times.

"Now you should be ready for the next part," Silversky decided.

Larkpaw's mood immediately sank to where the roots grew. Part of her training was to regularly train together with cats she rarely interacted with. She was put into a group with Cloverleaf, Smallblotch and Chestnutstripe. All she knew was that Cloverleaf and Smallblotch stuck together like two burrs and did everything together, and that Chestnutstripe followed the warrior code to the letter and planned every single step exactly according to it.

As she trotted up the hill with Silversky back to the rest of the patrol, she suddenly felt the pulling urge to look behind. The RoseClan apprentice whirled around.

Nothing was to be seen. Strange. I could have sworn there was something there.

She decided not to worry about it any more. She had definitely become more skittish, but no RoseClan cat had been found in the same condition as Fernpool since the last Gathering.

Gooseleap, the leader of the patrol, twitched his ears expectantly as Larkpaw and Silversky came over the ridge. "Is she ready?"

"She is." Silversky nodded, making Larkpaw want to shout no.

Lakepaw regarded her with a pitying look. Larkpaw thought jealously of how he would have his assessment next moon and be promoted to warrior. It'll be another five moons before I'm ready! How am I supposed to manage?

"Good luck, Larkpaw," Silversky meowed. "You'll be fine."

Larkpaw looked at her hunting partners doubtfully. All she could do was hope that they would work well together.

After the four cats had moved out of sight and earshot, Larkpaw switched on her senses again. With her mouth open and ears perked up, she searched for the next scent.

Quiet whispering from Cloverleaf and Smallblotch kept throwing her off balance. Larkpaw suppressed an angry hiss and continued to concentrate on her task.

"I don't understand why we always have to care for the apprentices. Yesterday I had to hunt with Mushroompaw and Mottlepaw too. And the day before, they wanted me to let Elderpaw lead me through the territory with my eyes closed."

"Well, I don't give a mousedung about the apprentices. I haven't earned my warrior name just to have to deal with kits."

"Oh yes! Above all, we have to deal with Larkpaw now. I mean, this is pure humiliation! Amberpaw, on the other side, can do something. Sure, she hardly ever opens her mouth and when she does say something, it's of no value, but at least she's the best hunter among the apprentices."

Larkpaw's fur bristled with anger. Amberpaw! It's always Amberpaw! Look, Amberpaw caught something on her very first day! Look, Amberpaw can smell more than other cats! Look, Amberpaw is the best hunter of the apprentices. All too often, Larkpaw had overheard the older cats talking about her littermate. They never said a bad word about her.

By now, Larkpaw's anger was so great that she could hardly bear to be quiet any longer. But she had to control herself.

Then a rustling in the bushes caught her attention. Grateful for the distraction, Larkpaw dropped into her hunting crouch. It was a bird, a greenfinch, whose eponymous feathers didn't stand out so quickly among the leaves.

Larkpaw remembered how Fernpool had explained to her that birds were difficult for a single cat to catch. She narrowed her eyes. As if I would co-operate with them, she thought contemptuously.

The greenfinch still hadn't noticed her presence. It hopped around chirping carelessly.

I'll have you in a heartbeat. Larkpaw could hardly wait to return to the group with her catch. When they saw that she had caught a bird all by herself, they would give her the attention she deserved.

In the next moment, leaves whirled up and Cloverleaf stormed past. Letting out a warning call, the greenfinch fluttered away. Larkpaw leapt off out of reflex. She landed very clumsily and awkwardly with her head and forelegs in the bushes.

A derisive snort sounded. Her ears hot with embarrassment, Larkpaw climbed out backwards and flicked the leaves out of her pelt. She glared angrily at Cloverleaf. "You've driven away valuable prey with your carelessness!" she yelled at the light brown and white tabby she-cat.

"Did I?" Cloverleaf pretended to be clueless. "I'm so, so sorry!"

Smallblotch jumped to her side. "Actually, you're supposed to hunt with us and not without us," the black and white spotted she-cat explained in an annoyingly slow and clear voice.

Before Larkpaw had the chance to hiss something back, Chestnutstripe joined them. His golden eyes were narrowed in a serious manner. "You all behaved badly." The dark brown tabby tom turned to Larkpaw first. "It's not your job to hunt alone to prove a point."

Larkpaw spread her claws until it hurt and dug them into the ground. Of course she knew he was right, but at the moment she was just ashamed of herself for overreacting like that. All she could do was hope that she wouldn't be told off.

"And you should know better than to talk badly about a Clanmate," Chestnutstripe continued.

Cloverleaf's green eyes immediately widened. "Are you going to report this?"

Chestnutstripe returned her gaze impassively for a moment. Finally he said, "I won't let something like that go unpunished."

Larkpaw would have loved to purr when she saw the shocked faces of Cloverleaf and Smallblotch. Serves them right!

"Very well, now let's go hunting. And not another word about anything else," Chestnutstripe admonished.

Their yowling had scared all the prey animals in the surrounding area into their holes. They had to wander around for quite a while before they finally came across a squirrel.

With a sweeping movement of his tail, Chestnutstripe signalled Larkpaw to approach it from the other side. Cloverleaf and Smallblotch were to position themselves to the left and right respectively.

Larkpaw kept casting a furtive glance at the squirrel as she crept around it in a wide arc. On the one paw, she had to hurry before it decided to flee up a tree, but on the other paw, she couldn't act hastily.

She finally arrived at her spot and pressed herself to the ground. Her legs were tense, ready to dash off at Chestnutstripe's signal.

Why is he waiting so long? Larkpaw twitched her little white tail tip impatiently. If he didn't give the signal right away, she would run off herself.

Chestnutstripe's tail suddenly shot up. Almost simultaneously, Larkpaw, Cloverleaf and Smallblotch leapt out of their hiding places and headed for the squirrel. It fled in the only direction it considered safe - straight into Chestnutstripe's claws.

Another successful hunt, Larkpaw thought and ran back. It would only be nice if all hunts were like this.

"You see," Chestnutstripe meowed, "if you're not at each other's throats over trivial things, you can work together pretty well."

Cloverleaf stuck out her chest proudly, whereupon Larkpaw could only roll her eyes. Cloverleaf was the furthest away from the squirrel of them all. She shouldn't show off like that.

Chestnutstripe buried the squirrel next to a root. "We should keep going until the sun goes down," he explained, glancing up at the cloudy but still bright sky.

It seemed that Cloverleaf and Smallblotch had learnt their lesson, as they refrained from making a single sound. Larkpaw wondered what punishment awaited them. And what punishment she herself would get. Her ears grew hot as she thought about it. After all, she had also misbehaved.

The cats stopped near the StarClan rock. Another squirrel.

Larkpaw waited for Chestnutstripe to give the sign for them to disperse again.

But he did nothing. Larkpaw was slowly becoming impatient. Her fur prickled as she stared at the squirrel scratching in the ground near a tree.

If we don't hurry right away, it will escape! Larkpaw was nervous and found it hard to sit still.

Chestnutstripe, Cloverleaf and Smallblotch were still not moving. They just crouched low to the ground and kept their eyes fixed on the squirrel.

It was a complete mystery to Larkpaw why they weren't doing anything.

When the squirrel decided to climb the tree and disappear from their reach, she would have liked to hiss in frustration. "Why didn't you do anything?" she wanted to know. This was precious prey and they just let it get away?

"Don't get upset," Smallblotch meowed in a calm voice. "We wouldn't have got it either way. We were just waiting in case it moved away from the tree."

Larkpaw let her shoulders sink in. "You wouldn't take such a risk?" she murmured in disbelief.

"Sometimes it's better to know when to give up," Chestnutstripe said. "We couldn't have followed the squirrel up the tree either. That would've been far too dangerous."

Despite this logical explanation, Larkpaw felt a crushing sensation in her body. The hunting patrols were the most important thing in the Clan. They couldn't afford to make any mistakes.

***

The rest of the hunt was successful, though, and Larkpaw was immensely happy when they dropped their catch on the fresh-kill pile back at camp. Besides the squirrel, they had also caught two voles and even a dove, although it had to be mentioned that the dove was already injured and had no chance of flying away.

Silversky trotted towards her. "How was it?"

"Quite well, I think," Larkpaw replied. Except for the one small incident, that was true.

"Palestar wants to talk to you, by the way," Silversky continued.

Larkpaw's eyes widened. "Why is that?"

Panic spread through her. What would the leader of RoseClan want from her? The last times she had only seen her from a distance.

Silversky twitched his ears. "She told me nothing."

Larkpaw took a deep breath. "What if I've done something wrong? What if I'm banished? Where will I go then?" The words just bubbled out of her.

"But what are you meowing about?" Silversky tilted his head. There was an amused sparkle in his light green eyes. "I'm sure you won't be banished. No, I think it's more likely that Palestar wants to talk to you about your training."

I could've guessed that too. A stone fell from Larkpaw's heart. The next moment, however, doubts arose again. "Has she spoken to you yet?"

Silversky shook his head. "That will come later. Now go."

Larkpaw crept towards the Roserock with a pounding heart. Behind it was Palestar's den.

When she turned round, Silversky had joined Reddapple. I guess I'm on my own now.

She cautiously approached Palestar's den - and was almost startled when she saw the grey and white she-cat already sitting there under the ferns.

Palestar looked up. "Oh, Larkpaw! Come here!"

Larkpaw padded stiffly over to her.

"How are you?" Palestar enquired kindly.

Larkpaw looked nervously at her paws and past Palestar. She always felt terribly insecure in the presence of the highest-ranking cats. "G-good," she stuttered, hoping that Palestar hadn't expected a detailed answer. She certainly doesn't want me to pour my heart out to her. I wouldn't even know where to start.

Palestar twitched her whiskers in amusement. "I didn't expect anything else," she purred. "Do you actually get on well with Silversky?"

"Totally!" Larkpaw confirmed with excitement. "It's much easier for me to learn things now, too." She broke off abruptly and flattened her ears in shame. That sounded as if she hadn't appreciated Fernpool's efforts!

But luckily Palestar showed no sign of annoyance. In fact, there was nothing in her expression when she guessed, "So you'd like to have Silversky as your real mentor."

In response, Larkpaw remained silent for the time being. Of course she wanted to continue being trained by Silversky. Fernpool was nice, but most of the time she was far too hard on Larkpaw.

Larkpaw noticed that Palestar was still waiting for her answer, whereupon she flapped her tail restlessly on the ground. "I don't know," she finally admitted with a sigh, "I probably just need more time to make a decision."

"There's no real hurry," Palestar reassured her. "However, you should have made a decision by the end of the moon. It's best if you talk to Fernpool as well."

Larkpaw nodded eagerly.

Palestar flicked her tail. "Then you're dismissed now."

"Goodbye," Larkpaw meowed and then looked to put as much distance between herself and the Roserock as quickly as possible. She only came to a halt when she found herself in front of the nursery.

I could actually go and check on Shadowkit, Mistkit and Bramblekit. Guiltily, Larkpaw remembered that she hadn't spoken to them at all in the last few moons. Hopefully they wouldn't take offence.

Carefully, the tortico apprentice made her way through the thorny undergrowth. In the cave, at the very back of the rock face, Blossom, Nettle and Owl were sleeping in a ball of fur. Larkpaw felt a pang of sympathy. Flutter was still not ready to join her kits in the nursery.

A delighted meow tore her from her thoughts. The next moment, Shadowkit hopped towards her. "We thought you'd forgotten us!" he squeaked reproachfully.

It was amusing to see how the small, grey-brown mackerel tabby tom, who had almost reached Larkpaw's height, stared at her excitedly with his blue eyes.

They're so adorable. Larkpaw blinked. "I would never, never forget you," she affirmed.

Mistkit came running up, his head tilted. "Soon we'll be made apprentices, too. Then we can share a den again."

"Exactly, until Amberpaw and I become warriors," Larkpaw meowed.

In response, Mistkit narrowed his greenish-golden eyes. "Amberpaw is here much more often and she always brings us something to play with," the dark grey tabby tom explained. He sounded far too serious for a kit his age.

Shadowkit jumped up and down. "How come you don't do that?"

Larkpaw scratched sheepishly in the moss. She had no idea that Amberpaw took such good care of the kits. "I'm sorry. I'll try to change that," she placated Shadowkit. "But as an apprentice, I usually have so much to do that it's hard for me to make time for anything else."

"Is it really that bad?" Shadowkit asked curiously.

"Well, it depends on your mentor and of course on you," Larkpaw explained. "But training is hard and you hardly have time to relax."

Shadowkit pranced around her excitedly. "I don't care about that! I'll always try very hard and always pay attention."

A disdainful snort sounded. "Says the right one," Mistkit said calmly, but with a sardonic undertone. "Yet you're the first to fall asleep and give up far too quickly when playing."

"I'm gonna change, just you see!" Shadowkit protested.

Larkpaw watched their little quarrel in amusement. Then she noticed that Bramblekit had been sitting a few steps away, not looking if she wanted to come over at any time. "Is everything alright?" Larkpaw was a bit worried. Though the light brown ticked she-cat was known to be calmer and quieter than her littermates, she was awfully different this time.

Bramblekit ruffled her fur. "I'm alright."

Mistkit trudged towards her. "Tell Larkpaw what you're planning to do," he urged her.

What are they talking about? Excitedly, Larkpaw leaned forward. The memory of her own kithood was like haze anymore, but she could remember that she was a mischievous kit, so perhaps the three kits had some mouse-brained plan.

"I..." Bramblekit's voice got so quiet that she was barely understandable. "Well, I need - no, no, I mean I want to become a medicine cat."

"We just don't get that!" Shadowkit explained, his eyes wide. "The whole time Bramblekit had been playing mock fights and mock hunts with us, and now she wants to become a medicine cat!"

It hadn't escaped Larkpaw's hearing that Bramblekit had misspoken. "But do you really want that?" she asked. "Really, really? The work of a medicine cat is at least as hard as that of a warrior. Besides, you have to make difficult decisions in some cases. In the worst case, you have to lead the Clan temporarily if there is no leader or deputy at the same time." And you will never know how wonderful it is to be a warrior apprentice, despite all the effort. Larkpaw thought of the thrill she always felt during her training sessions.

Slowly, Bramblekit looked up. Her usually intense green eyes seemed abnormally lacklustre. "I've dreamt about it so often lately. They weren't normal dreams. They came from StarClan, I'm sure of it."

Snorting, Mistkit lashed his tail. But now Larkpaw's attention was awakened. No cats except leaders and medicine cats dreamt of StarClan. Bramblekit's explanation almost seemed like a bad lie to her, but maybe StarClan contacted the cats who had what it took to be medicine cats and just didn't know it.

With a quivering but proud voice, Bramblekit continued, "It's always shadowy and misty where I am, so I can't see anything..."

"Crazy, I wonder if it's a coincidence that she dreams of us as a place," Shadowkit whispered sarcastically.

"...but there's always this voice that just tells me that I should become a medicine cat and that it's my destiny. I won't be successful as a warrior."

Something didn't seem right here. If StarClan was the place where the good cats went after they died, it should be much more idyllic there. Larkpaw felt an icy chill. "I rather think your dreams come from somewhere else." She took a deep breath to mentally prepare herself for the following words. "Most likely they're from the Dark Forest."

She was met with an awkward silence. Larkpaw unsheathed her claws. "Now think about it! Would you imagine it like this in StarClan?"

Bramblekit kept her gaze fixed on the ground. "But the Dark Forest can't invade dreams," she contradicted, though her trembling revealed that she wasn't so sure.

Mistkit tilted his head thoughtfully. "What reason do these cats have for wanting someone to become a medicine cat?"

"I'd love to know," Larkpaw groaned, overwhelmed. Only cats who had done terrible and unforgivable things came to the Dark Forest. Why would they want a kit to decide to become a medicine cat? It would make much more sense for them to try to spread their wickedness to others.

"Still," Bramblekit affirmed, "I have to listen to that. Otherwise... Otherwise something bad will happen."

Larkpaw was startled. "Did they tell you that too?"

But Bramblekit didn't answer, because the next moment Lightshine slipped into the nursery. "Oh, hello, Larkpaw," she purred, "I haven't seen you here for a long time."

Larkpaw twitched the white tip of her soft black tail in greeting. "I actually wanted to leave now," she meowed hastily. I need time to think. If Bramblekit really is visited by a cat from the Dark Forest, it could have bad consequences.

"Really? Then I won't keep you," Lightshine replied cheerfully.

Relieved, Larkpaw left the nursery and breathed in the fresh air. Bramblekit's words sent a shiver down her spine. Just like StarClan, no one knew anything about the Dark Forest cats, and that was exactly what they could take advantage of. If no one knew what they were like and what they were doing, they could act in a way that no one would suspect. Mousedung, they are dead cats! They're not supposed to have any influence on the living.

Then she spotted Fruittail and an idea formed in her mind. She didn't know if it would help her, but it was definitely worth a try. It only remained to hope that Fruittail was willing to co-operate.

Larkpaw hurried towards the medicine cat. "I'm sorry, but do you have a moment?"

Fruittail paused. "Yes? What is it?"

"Why did you become a medicine cat?"

Fruittail narrowed her blue eyes slightly suspiciously. "It's a long story," the tortico she-cat warned. "Do you want to hear it anyway?"

Larkpaw pressed her paws into the ground energetically. "I don't care."

"Very well." Fruittail led her to a secluded spot, a hollow at the back of the camp, and began to tell her story. "The truth is that I wanted to be a warrior. The thought of becoming a medicine cat was as repulsive to me as mouse bile. But let's start from the beginning. I was in a litter with Pinefur and Yewpelt, who you never met because he died during the battle with the rogues. We could have been normal kits like all the others. But we are half-Clan cats. Our mother, Mossnose is her name, was once a SnowClan warrior and is now one again."

Larkpaw was stunned. Never in her life would she have thought that Fruittail and Pinefur were part SnowClan cats. They were bigger than the rest of the Clan and their fur was much thicker, but Larkpaw had never thought about the concept of half-Clan cats before, so it was more of a shock to her.

After a short pause for breath, Fruittail continued, "Half-Clan relationships and resulting kits are a touchy subject. Opinions have been changing extremely quickly since countless leaf-changes, long before you and I were born. Some think it's the biggest proof that you're not loyal to your Clan, others think that half-Clan relationships should be allowed in order to have more genetic diversity."

"I think the last one makes a lot more sense," Larkpaw interrupted her. "In a single Clan, you can have a pretty narrow choice of mates."

Fruittail nodded. "That's why I think it would be a good idea for the rogues to join us. But now back to the topic. They always behaved suspiciously towards my littermates and me, sometimes almost hostile. The fact that RoseClan had an extremely tense relationship with SnowClan at the time didn't make things any better. Even as a kit, I had realised that I had no future if I didn't do something about it. So I made a plan to win the Clan's favour. As I said before, I wanted to become a warrior. It was my biggest dream and I wouldn't have given it up for anything in the world."

Larkpaw knew exactly how that felt. It had been her dream ever since she could remember, and she was determined to do everything she could to achieve her goal.

"But as a normal warrior, I would have had to achieve great things to be noticed at all," Fruittail continued. Her voice became more wistful and her gaze wandered absently into the distance. "That was the moment I decided to become a medicine cat apprentice. I had a lot of doubts and could hardly sleep for a while, but then I made a momentous decision. However, I had to act on it. Medicine cats have a very high level of authority. That's why I thought it would help me to gain the cats' recognition. So I became an apprentice of our medicine cat at the time."

Larkpaw lifted her tail in confusion. "Wait, does that mean you did something you didn't want to do?" She was incredulous.

Fruittail twitched her ears sadly. "Today I think that maybe it wasn't necessary at all. Pinefur and Yewpelt have become warriors. They haven't even done anything special and yet they have earned the respect of their Clanmates all by themselves. And I was stuck in the medicine cat's den all day, trying to make everyone believe my love of herbs. I could hardly stand the smell." She purred with amusement. "Then two strokes of fate hit me in a row. Mossnose returned to SnowClan and wanted Oakflight to come with her. When he refused, Mossnose disappeared without a word. Nobody could understand that. Since she had joined RoseClan countless leaf-changes ago, she was highly respected by all cats. Well, a few moons passed. One day, a border patrol came back to camp injured, including Oakflight, who was already standing with one paw in StarClan territory."

How terrible! It must be horrible to lose both of your parents.

"It turned out that Mossnose had inflicted the most wounds on him. She was also the one who had secretly spread RoseClan tracks around SnowClan territory to instigate an attack. All because she was angry that Oakflight wouldn't come with her. I did everything I could, but eventually his injuries became infected and he.... he died."

Larkpaw sat there, stunned, trying to understand what she had just heard. A she-cat indirectly killed her former mate because he had remained loyal to his own clan. If I ever meet this flea-infested creature, she'll regret ever being born! Larkpaw paused, ashamed. She shouldn't think like that. Then she was no better.

With a sigh, Fruittail continued her story. "However, I had to keep living and being there for my Clan. Nowadays, many moons later, I've taken a liking to my medicine cat duties, and if I had the chance to choose again, I wouldn't want to do anything else. Well, that was the story why I became a medicine cat. But tell me, why do you wanted to know this?"

"It's Bramblekit," Larkpaw replied. "All of a sudden, she wants to become a medicine cat. I thought I could understand her decision more if I ask you for your reason to become a medicine cat."

"Oh," Fruittail sighed. "I know of that. It's weird to me as well, but we shouldn't try to change her opinion."

Larkpaw stood up. "Yes. Maybe. Thank you for telling me all this."