[Fate Admin]

The Seeds of Friendship

“Why can’t I play?”

The elegant white queen looked down at her only kit, hanging over her back to look longingly at the three older kits playing a few tail lengths away, “You’re too small. You’ll just get hurt.” Palegaze leaned over to give her daughter’s fluffy black and white fur a few licks, smoothing it down some.

Ravenkit shook her mother off and plopped to her haunches stubbornly, “I won’t! I’m a WARRIOR!”

A sleek black tom slipped into the nursery in time to hear his daughter’s protest, and his mate’s response.

“Not yet, you aren’t,” she wrapped her fluffy white tail protectively around the tiny kit.

The tom padded over, leaning down to nuzzle his daughter affectionately before looking up to his mate, “Palegaze, she’s a moon old. You have give her room to grow.”

“Blackbird!” Ravenkit squeaked, leaping clumsily over her mother’s tail to rub affectionately against her father’s legs.

Palegaze narrowed her eyes and looked down at her tiny kit, “But… what if-”

“She’ll be fine. She may not be a warrior yet, but she’s stronger than you give her credit for,” he turned a loving gaze down to the kit at his paws, nudging her gently away with his nose, “Go play, Ravenkit.”

She looked up at him with wide eyes, “Really!?” She looked to her mother for confirmation.

Palegaze only stared at her for a time, then glanced over at the three kits; Featherkit, Birchkit, and Bonekit. Featherkit and Birchkit wrestled together, tumbling and squeaking, and made Palegaze flinch thinking of her tiny Ravenkit beneath their uncontrolled claws and strength. Bonekit sat a little away from his siblings, watching patiently. She turned back to Ravenkit, “There, Ravenkit… Bonekit doesn’t look busy, why don’t you ask him to play?” Bonekit was the largest of his litter, but Palegaze had also seen how gentle he was with his smaller siblings and how very mindful he was for such a young kit.

Ravenkit didn’t wait around for her mother to change her mind. Giving an ecstatic squeak, she scrambled off, skidding to a halt beside the one her mother had indicated as ‘Bonekit’.

“Hi! I’m Ravenkit! Wanna play?” She looked up at the larger tom-kit hopefully.

Bonekit turned to regard her briefly, “I’m Bonekit. Have you been out of the nursery yet?”

Ravenkit shook her head, “Can we!?”

He looked over at Palegaze and Blackbird, where Palegaze’s ears were perked forward, clearly listening to everything they were saying. Blackbird licked his mate between the ears once and simply nodded at him, silent encouragement.

The pale brown and white tabby tom stood then, “Sure. I’ll show you around, if you like.”

“Yes!” Ravenkit bounced after him as he led the way from the nursery cavern and into the main camp. She stopped outside, staring around. It was brighter than the nursery, and there were a lot of other cats too, “It’s so big!”

Bonekit looked down at her, “Wait until you’re an apprentice and you get to see the territory. The apprentices say its loads bigger than the camp.”

“Really? Have you seen it?” She followed after him as he led her away from the nursery.

He shook his head, “Not yet. Timberleaf says we’re too small, but Fleetfoot promised to take us when we’re bigger.”

Ravenkit huffed, “Why do they always say we’re too small?”

Bonekit seemed amused, “Well… we are rather small.”

Ravenkit vehemently shook her head, fluffing up her fur, “I’m big, see!” Bonekit easily pushed her over with one paw in response, “Eep! Hey!”

“Look,” he turned his nose toward a warrior padding by and Ravenkit looked up at the much larger cat, “We’ll be big someday, but right now… we just aren’t.”

Ravenkit pushed to her paws, shaking out her fur, “Who cares? Why does it matter if we’re small anyway?”

“Well…,” he hesitated, unsure if he should explain more, not wanting to scare the younger kit. Reality was reality, however, and the sooner she learned of it the better if you asked him, “Timberleaf says there are foxes and things outside of camp that might hurt us. Warriors are big enough to fight them off, but… we’re too small, they could hurt us too easily.”

Tilting her head, Ravenkit left the topic behind for now, appearing not at all frightened by this information, “What’s a fox?”

That made Bonekit pause, “Um… well… I don’t really know. I’ve never seen one. Timberleaf says they’re big red furred things with really pointy muzzles and lots of sharp teeth.”

“How big?” They began walking around again, though Ravenkit wasn’t entirely paying attention, finding all this knowledge Bonekit had to be more interesting than the big stone cavern NightClan called home.

“Bigger than a cat,” he replied, shrugging, “I don’t really want to meet one to find out.”

“Really? I bet it would be fun! I’d claw it right up!” She swiped one paw through the air demonstratively and stumbled forward as she threw herself off balance.

Bonekit moved to steady her, “I’m sure you will once you’re a warrior.”

“No! I’d claw it up right now!” she insisted. Bonekit could only laugh, “Don’t laugh at me!”

“I’m pretty sure a fox would carry you off for a snack right now,” he pointed out.

Ravenkit huffed angrily, “No. It. Would. Not!” She stood in front of him, glaring up defiantly. In response, he leaned over to grab her by the scruff and drag her a short distance, spitting at him. He dropped her scruff and she leapt away, hissing, “What did you do that for!?”

He seemed only amused, “If I can drag you around, a fox can definitely carry you off for a snack.” Her fur fluffed out with indignation and she stomped around angrily, unable to refute his claim. He laid his tail over her back, causing her stop and glare up at him, “It’s okay. We’re just kits. We’ll have plenty of time to fight foxes when we’re apprentices and warriors.”

“Hmph!” she turned away from him moodily, her gaze coming to rest on Dapplecloud as the medicine cat’s tail disappeared into another part of the cavern, “Dapplecloud!” She scampered after her.

“Ravenkit, wait!” Bonekit called, padding after her, “You shouldn’t go barging into the medicine cat’s den!”

The black and white she-kit slowed to a halt at the den entrance, turning to look at back at her new friend, “Pfff. She won’t mind. She’s Palegaze’s littermate!” She padded forward confidently and Bonekit hesitated outside for only a moment before following her in. She scrunched up her nose, “It smells funny in here.”

Dapplecloud turned at the sound of the small voice, “Hello, Ravenkit. Bonekit.” The silver tabby padded over to them, whisking her fluffy tail over both kits’ ears, “Does Palegaze know you’re here, Ravenkit?”

“Yup!” Ravenkit squeaked.

Bonekit took a step forward, “Palegaze and Blackbird are letting me show her around camp. I’m sorry if we’re bothering you.”

The pretty she-cat purred, “You’re not bothering me at all. Are you having fun?”

Ravenkit bounced around her aunt, “It’s WAY better than playing with stupid moss balls in the nursery all day! Bonekit said outside of camp its even bigger, is that true?”

Dapplecloud sat, curling her tail around her paws, “The world is very big, little one. Much bigger than you could ever imagine.”

Ravenkit lashed her tail, “I’m not little!”

“You can deny truth all you want, Ravenkit, but that will never change it,” her aunt replied patiently, “There is nothing wrong with being little.”

“Uh huh! No one lets you do ANYTHING when you’re little! I HATE it!” she huffed and stomped around grumpily.

“You will grow. You simply must be patient. Even the largest trees began as tiny seeds,” Dapplecloud explained.

The kit paused to look up at her aunt curiously, “What are seeds? And trees?”

Dapplecloud turned and fetched a seed from her stores, setting it down carefully before her niece, “This is a seed.” Ravenkit leaned down to sniff it, “As for trees… you will see plenty of them once you leave camp.”

Ravenkit prodded the seed with one paw, “It’s really tiny.”

“Yes. Most seeds are,” the medicine cat settled onto her belly, tucking her paws beneath her, “Ravenkit, will you promise me something?”

Kitten blue eyes turned away from the seed on the den floor and up to her aunt’s face, “What?”

“I’m glad you’re having fun exploring camp, and I appreciate you visiting me. If you ever come here to visit me again, promise you won’t ever touch anything in here. There are herbs that could make you very, very sick if you ate them,” she meowed seriously.

Ravenkit nodded, “Okay! I promise!”

“Good,” she leaned forward to lick the kit between the ears, “Now why don’t you let Bonekit show you the rest of camp. I have work I have to do, so I’m afraid I can’t visit anymore right now.”

Ravenkit yawned and shook out her fur, “Kay. C’mon Bonekit!”

She scampered back the way they had come and Bonekit trotted after her, sounding amused, “I thought I was supposed to be showing you, not the other way around.”

[Fate Admin]

Battle Forged Bonds

Two more queens moved into the nursery and Ravenkit was glad that her mother was letting her leave the nursery now. It was getting a bit crowded, and Ravenkit often heard Lizardtail and Poppyfur murmuring about her. They even had the nerve to suggest to Palegaze that she wouldn’t survive to apprenticehood.

“Why do they keep saying that?” she hissed, pacing around as Bonekit sat in front of her, watching her impassively.

“You’re making me tired just watching you,” he murmured, “Why do you care what they say?”

“I DON’T!” she spit, stopping in her pacing and lashing her fluffy tail.

Bonekit looked bemused, “It seems like you care an awful lot.” With that, Ravenkit leaped at him, hissing angrily. He rolled over with her, pinning her easily beneath him, but careful not to put too much weight on her, “You’re really predictable sometimes.”

“YOU’RE PREDICTABLE!” she squealed, writhing and flailing beneath him to no avail.

“Calm down… it doesn’t matter what they say. Just ignore them,” he mewed. She finally stopped flailing and he stepped away from her.

Pushing herself to her paws, she shook out her fur, glaring angrily at him, “I’m going to be the best NightClan warrior EVER and then if they say things like that I’ll just claw their ears!”

“I don’t think Stripestar would like it very much if you went around clawing off everyone’s ears,” Bonekit mused.

“Everyone? Is everyone saying things about me!?” she strained her neck so she could get her face as close to his as possible with their height difference.

Bonekit could only sigh, “That’s not what I meant. You’re being frogbrained.” Though it wasn’t entirely untrue. Bonekit had heard a surprising number of cats talking about Ravenkit. Everyone seemed to think she was too small to survive a warrior’s life. He didn’t quite understand why, she seemed fine to him.

Before anything more could be said, Birchkit and Featherkit tumbled past in another of their many wrestling matches. Ravenkit and Bonekit watched them for a moment before she turned to look at him, “Why don’t you ever wrestle with them?”

He shrugged, “I always win.”

She snorted, “That’s a good reason to wrestle.”

“They just complain about it not being fair. They don’t have fun with me,” he continued to watch them until Ravenkit pressed up against his side. He looked down at her curiously.

“I have fun with you,” she returned his gaze.

He flicked his tail against her flank, “That’s why I spend time with you instead. They have each other, but you don’t have any littermates.”

Ravenkit purred, then stood up suddenly, “Why don’t we all play a game together?”

Bonekit’s ear twitched, “You can ask them, but they might not want to….”

Ravenkit wasn’t listening anymore, padding over to where Bonekit’s siblings wrestled together, “Birchkit, Featherkit, wanna play a game with us?”

The two took a moment to pull apart and stared at her for a moment. Eventually Featherkit spoke, “What sort of game?”

“Clan battle! I’ll be Ravenstar and Bonekit will be my deputy. You two can be from another Clan, and we’ll fight!” She looked from one to the other hopefully.

Birchkit burst out laughing, “You? Ravenstar? Leaders aren’t tiny kits! Bonekit should be leader, not you!”

Ravenkit’s fur fluffed up angrily, “I can be leader!”

Bonekit stepped up beside her, “Ravenkit would make a great leader.”

Birchkit stared at him, incredulous, “No, she wouldn’t.”

Featherkit nodded, “You’d be a much better leader, Bonekit.”

Bonekit laid his tail over his smaller friend’s back as she spit with fury, “I don’t want to be leader. Do you want to play or not?”

The two looked at each other for a moment longer. Birchkit shrugged, “I guess… I just hope it isn’t too easy to beat you or it won’t be any fun at all.” He stared pointedly at Ravenkit.

“I’ll show you easy to beat when I claw your ears off!” she growled.

“I won our wrestling match so I get to be Featherstar!” Featherkit declared, clearly not intimidated.

“Great,” Bonekit mewed, nudging Ravenkit away, “Come on, Ravenstar… we need to talk about our battle plan.” Stiffly, Ravenkit followed him a short distance away as Featherkit and Birchkit did the same. He turned to her, apologetic, “I’m sorry. We don’t have to play with them if you don’t want to anymore….”

“We’re going to beat their tails!” she declared in response, gazing up at him with fiery determination.

He met her gaze and nodded, “All right. They’re going to target you because they think you’re weak-”

“I am NOT!” she growled vehemently.

“I know that, but they don’t. So pretend you’re weak-”

“Why would I do that?” she tilted her head.

“Because… they’ll think you’re beaten and then they’ll come after me, and that’s when you can jump on them when they aren’t expecting it,” he explained excitedly.

Her eyes widened in awe, “You always have the best ideas Bonekit.”

He shuffled his paws, “Well… we don’t know how great it is until we try it. Are you ready?”

She nodded, turning to look at where Birchkit and Featherkit were lounging in the middle of camp. Clearly their strategy meeting had already concluded. She looked around for an idea, then remembered how the elders told stories about when NightClan was called ShadowClan. She took a breath and screeched, “ShadowClan, attack!” With that she charged forward with Bonekit behind her.

Bonekit veered away, leaving Ravenkit charging in alone and vulnerable. Birchkit and Featherkit took the chance, both of them leaping to their paws to jump on Ravenkit. She reminded herself of Bonekit’s plan and barely fought back until Birchkit held her down firmly, “Hah! Ravenstar is finished! I knew this would be too easy.”

Both kits turned away to look for Bonekit, who was charging at them now. Featherkit circled around while Birchkit met his brother head on and the two went tumbling. Seeing her chance, Ravenkit slunk around behind Featherkit while she was focused on her brothers and leaped on the other she-kit’s back, clinging with needle sharp claws.

Featherkit screeched and tried to shake her off, but Ravenkit only clung harder until Featherkit wailed, “I give up, that hurts!” Ravenkit dropped from her back and Featherkit whipped around to face her angrily, “That wasn’t fair, Ravenkit!”

She flicked her tail dismissively, looking smug, “I never said I gave up.” She turned as Birchkit started yowling to see Bonekit pinning him down. She bounced happily over to her friend’s side, “ShadowClan wins!”

Bonekit stepped away from his brother and Birchkit scrambled away, “That wasn’t fair at all!”

“Oh? I thought you said it was going to be too easy?” Ravenkit countered.

“I’m pretty sure real battles won’t be very fair either,” Bonekit added.

Birchkit hissed in frustration and padded over to his sister, “Come on, Featherkit, they’re too boring to play with!”

Ravenkit laughed as they walked away together and turned to look up at Bonekit, “That was fun!”

Bonekit butted his head gently against her side, making her stumble, “We make a good team.”

Steadying herself, she purred, “We make the best team!”

[Fate Admin]

The Promise of Greatness

Timberleaf was laving her tongue over Bonekit’s fur, smoothing it and giving him a good thorough washing for the third time that day. Ravenkit sat a short distance away, watching, with Palegaze curled lazily around her.

Timberleaf paused to give Birchkit a stern look as he crouched in preparation to pounce on his sister, who was busily looking after her own fur and not paying him any attention, “Don’t you dare, Birchkit.”

He stood as Featherkit turned to look at him, “But Timberleaf….”

“No. No, no, no… I’ve spent all morning cleaning you three up so you’ll look presentable for your ceremony; you are NOT going to make me start over!” Timberleaf meowed seriously, “Now sit still and behave, you’re about to be an apprentice!”

Ravenkit flopped onto her side and looked up at Palegaze, “Why can’t I be an apprentice?”

Palegaze flicked her tail over her kit’s side, “You’re only 5 moons.”

Ravenkit huffed, “So?”

Palegaze gave her a look, “Kits must be 6 moons before they can become apprentices. You know its part of the Warrior Code as much as I do.”

“The Warrior Code is dumb,” she grumbled, and Palegaze gave her ears a swat.

“If you can’t understand and respect the Warrior Code then clearly you aren’t ready to be an apprentice,” her mother hissed.

Ravenkit turned away moodily, “Whatever.” She watched Timberleaf finishing up her grooming of Bonekit and padded over to him, “I wish I could be an apprentice today too….”

He flicked her with his tail, “It won’t be long. Only one more moon.”

“That’s like ages…,” she groaned, looking at her paws, “… I’ll miss you.”

He laughed and she looked back up at him, “I’ll just be across the camp. I’ll come visit you and show you what I’m learning.”

Her ears perked forward, “Really?”

“Of course,” he promised, giving her a lick between the ears, “Don’t worry about Lizardtail and Poppyfur, all right? Next moon you won’t have to listen to them and their frogbrained gossip anymore.”

Ravenkit snorted, “Their kits are so noisy all the time. I won’t get any sleep for the next moon.”

“You’ll be fine,” he mewed, and turned to look as Fleetfoot slipped into the nursery to greet his kits and mate.

“Ravenkit, come here,” Palegaze meowed and the fluffy black and white she-kit reluctantly turned away from her friend and returned to her mother’s side. She watched as Bonekit’s father gave him a few swift licks, looking down at him proudly, and sighed. She was happy for Bonekit; being an apprentice would be great; but that didn’t mean she wanted him to move on without her.

A familiar yowl sounded, calling the Clan together, and Ravenkit’s heart dropped. She jumped up as Fleetfoot and Timberleaf herded their kit out of the nursery and chased after them even as Palegaze tried to call her back. Bonekit paused to look back at her and she came to a stop in front of him, “Don’t forget about me, okay?”

His gaze narrowed affectionately, “You’re being frogbrained.”

“Promise!” she insisted.

He butted his head against her shoulder, “I promise, frogbrain.” He turned and followed his family out and Ravenkit followed as far as the nursery entrance. Palegaze stopped her from going any farther with her tail and she plopped onto her haunches miserably.

Blackbird saw them as he was passing by and padded over, seeing his daughter’s expression, “What’s wrong?”

“Bonekit is leaving me!” she cried, looking mournfully up at him, “You’re the deputy! Can’t you tell Stripestar to make me an apprentice too?”

He purred and leaned down to give her a few affectionate licks, “I would never ask Stripestar to disobey the Warrior Code. You’ll be an apprentice next moon.”

She slid to her belly and rested her chin on her paws, “It’s not fair….”

“Your time will come,” he promised, then turned to join his Clanmates gathering beneath the Boulder Ledge.

Ravenkit did not see Bonekit for the rest of the day, though Blackbird came to visit her that evening, “He forgot me! He promised he wouldn’t!”

Blackbird purred with amusement, “He hasn’t forgotten you. It’s his first day as an apprentice. He’s gotten a tour of our whole territory and he’s sleeping. It’s a lot to take in for a new apprentice.”

“See! He’s just going to be training and training and training and he’ll never remember to visit!” she cried.

Blackbird sighed, “It is part of an apprentice’s duties to clean out old moss and lay down fresh moss for nests, especially for the elders and in the nursery. I’m sure you’ll see him soon.”

Palegaze stepped from the nursery and whisked her fluffy white tail over Ravenkit’s ears, “Come now. It’s time to sleep.”

Pushing to her paws, Ravenkit followed her mother, tail dragging. Blackbird gently placed his paw over it to stop her and she turned to look back at him, “Would you like to see what it’s like outside of camp tomorrow?”

Her ears angled forward and her pale amber gaze brightened, “Really?”

He narrowed his eyes affectionately, “Go get some sleep. We won’t be gone long, but perhaps we can catch Bonepaw training at the Pineneedle Clearing.” He released her tail and she bounced happily after her mother.

“Toadkit, leave Fernkit alone now,” Lizardtail mewed softly, nudging her kit toward their own nest and away from Poppyfur’s.

Ravenkit curled up beside her mother with a huff. Stupid Toadkit was always so annoying. She thought of her father’s promise and managed to fall asleep, dreaming of the world beyond NightClan’s camp.

The next morning she was woken rudely by small paws trampling over her. She yowled in surprise and leaped up, fur fluffed out in alarm and eyes wide. Her pale gaze fell on Toadkit and his brother Murk-kit. She hissed angrily, “Watch where you’re going!”

The toms turned to look at her and Murk-kit sneered, “It’s not our fault you’re so small you’re hard to see!”

Ravenkit unsheathed her claws and dug them into the moss beneath her, leaning forward, “Say that again, frogdung! I’ll claw your ears off!” Lizardtail and Poppyfur’s kits were three moons younger, but they weren’t that much smaller than she was, and they had for the most part picked up on their mothers’ gossip and had taken to making fun of her. Especially when Palegaze wasn’t around to scold them.

Fernkit padded up behind her meekly, “Murk-kit… you really shouldn’t be so mean….”

Ravenkit turned to look at the younger she-kit, “I don’t need your help!”

She stalked away from them all, her tail lashing behind her, toward the nursery entrance. She stopped when she heard her mother’s voice, “Blackbird… you can’t really have been serious? She’s too small to leave camp.”

“She’s nearly 6 moons. She’ll be an apprentice soon. Now is as good a time as any for her to take her first venture out,” Blackbird replied calmly, “Besides, I’ll be with her, and it will give you a good chance to rest.”

“I don’t need to rest, I need to know my kit is safe,” she hissed anxiously.

“Palegaze… I would never let anything happen to her,” there was a brief pause and Ravenkit crept forward to see her father brushing against her mother’s side, “We cannot protect her forever. She is a warrior at heart.”

Palegaze shook her head, “Have you thought about what I said?” She looked seriously at him.

Blackbird sighed, “I will not ask Stripestar to delay her apprentice ceremony. She is not sick or injured, Palegaze. There is no reason to delay it.”

“She needs to grow!” Palegaze insisted, “Dapplecloud and I are small, I know, but not like Ravenkit. Dapplecloud even….” She trailed off, pressing against her mate’s side, “Even Dapplecloud had doubts about her ability to survive….”

Ravenkit’s ears pressed against her head. Dapplecloud was saying things about her too? Blackbird was silent for a short time, “Had. She had doubts, in the beginning. She’s assured you many times now that she is a fine, healthy kit.” His ears twitched and he lowered his voice some, “You should not let Lizardtail and Poppyfur’s gossip worry you so much.”

Ravenkit felt herself relax a little. So Dapplecloud thought she was fine after all? She shook her head and padded forward, pushing up against her father’s side, “Can we go?” She wanted to leave the camp and this stupid, annoying talk about how she would never be a warrior behind. Her mother jumped a bit at her sudden appearance and Ravenkit pointedly didn’t look at her. Her mother wanted to hold her back. She closed her eyes and leaned into Blackbird’s smooth black fur. Her father was the only one that believed in her… him and Bonekit, no, Bonepaw now.

Blackbird leaned down to lick her between the ears, “You don’t want to eat first?”

She looked up at him excitedly, declaring, “We can hunt while we’re out!”

He purred in amusement, “That’s true enough.”

Palegaze gasped, “Blackbird! She’s too-”

Blackbird’s tail whisked over her mouth for quiet and he assured his mate, “Young, I know. I can catch us both something.” He nudged Ravenkit gently, “Come on then. Bonepaw and Dreadscar have already gone to the Pineneedle Clearing.”

Ravenkit bounced along beside her father as he led the way out of camp. She blinked and squinted in the harsh, bright light outside NightClan’s underground camp, stopping for a moment as her eyes adjusted to so much light, “It’s so bright out here!”

Blackbird purred, “Yes. For now. When night falls it is much more similar to being in camp.”

“Is that why we’re called NightClan?” she blinked up at him, her eyes watering a bit from the brightness.

“We are NightClan for many reasons, and that is one of them,” he agreed, brushing his tail along her spine. “Let’s go,” he padded onwards, “And stay close to me, I don’t want you wandering off and getting lost.” She stuck by his side until he told her to hide amongst some roots and he disappeared to catch them some prey. She stared up at the trees around her, wondering at just how huge they were and recalling Dapplecloud’s words. Even the largest trees were first tiny seeds. These huge things came from those tiny seeds her aunt had shown her? She wondered why everyone was so concerned with how small she was… maybe she would grow as big as a tree! He returned shortly with a frog dangling from his jaws and Ravenkit bounded over to meet him. He dropped the creature between them, using one claw to carefully peel the rubbery skin away and reveal the meat beneath.

Ravenkit took a few greedy mouthfuls, her tail swishing happily behind her, “I love frog!” Blackbird took neat bites alongside her, until they had finished. He buried the remains before leading her onward. Ravenkit puffed beside him, “How big is it out here anyway?”

Blackbird chuckled, “Very. Our territory is only a small portion of the world, Ravenkit. No cat truly knows how big the world is.”

She stared up at him with wide eyes, “No cat knows? No cat ever?”

He nodded agreement, “Though, I’m sure StarClan knows.”

StarClan. She looked up through the branches in the trees. The elders said you could see StarClan warriors in the sky at night, but right now it was day time. She huffed, “Will you take me out at night so I can see the StarClan warriors?”

Blackbird looked down at her briefly, before nodding, “Of course. But only just outside camp. You’ll be able to see them well enough from there. It’s too dangerous for you wander around at night without any training.”

Ravenkit nodded. She didn’t want to wander around at night, she just wanted to see the StarClan warriors. Finally they heard noises ahead and Ravenkit’s ears perked forward, “What’s that?”

Blackbird paused, “What do you smell?”

She glanced up at him and parted her jaws, tasting the air. Her eyes widened excitedly, “Bonepaw!” She scampered ahead and Blackbird trotted after her. She burst in the clearing to see Bonepaw clinging to an older tom’s back. The old black tom flung himself down, crushing Bonepaw beneath him, and rolled back to his paws, standing over the apprentice triumphantly.

“What’d you think you were gonna do, young one? Weigh me down? You’re hardly more than a kit!” the older tom mewed, “You got a good head on that neck of yours, use it!” Bonepaw pushed to his paws, panting, and nodded.

“Bonepaw!” Ravenkit called, and the younger tom looked over in surprise.

With a glance at his mentor, he padded over, “Ravenkit, what are you doing out here?”

Blackbird padded into the clearing then and gave Bonepaw a nod of greeting, “I was showing her just what it was like outside of camp. I thought we would come watch you train for a little while.”

Ravenkit’s tail waved happily, “I bet if we team up we can beat him! We can beat anyone together!”

Bonepaw purred in amusement, “One day, when we’re warriors, we’ll be unstoppable, I’m sure.” He leaned down to touch his nose to Ravenkit’s and then turned back to his mentor.

Blackbird loosely wrapped his tail around his daughter, “Hush now, so he can concentrate.” Ravenkit fidgeted, wanting to join her friend, but kept her jaws shut, not wanting to mess him up.

The older black tom looked over at her, and then to Blackbird, “Why not let her join in?”

Blackbird blinked in surprise, “She’s a bit young to be training, Dreadscar.”

“I don’t think one’s ever too young for learning,” he replied, “Besides, she issued me a challenge. I think she should back it up.”

Ravenkit looked between the two older toms, a little confused, “A challenge?”

Boneshadow looked back at her, “You did say we could beat anyone together.”

Ravenkit leaped to her paws, “We can!”

“Bold words for a kit,” Dreadscar replied, amused.

“I’ll be an apprentice in one moon!” Ravenkit insisted defiantly. She looked over to Blackbird, “Bonepaw and I can beat him!”

Blackbird shook his head and looked over at the older warrior briefly. Dreadscar only twitched his ears, looking thoroughly amused. The deputy sighed, “Very well. You should not boast if you cannot back it up.” He glanced down at his daughter thoughtfully, but she was already bounding forward.

Dreadscar padded a few paces away as Ravenkit bounced up to Bonepaw, “We’ll show them!”

Bonepaw glanced between his mentor and deputy before looking down at his friend, “We will do our best, at least.” He lowered his head to hers, “This won’t be like play fighting with Birchpaw and Featherpaw, you know. Dreadscar is a senior warrior, he’s been in plenty of real battles.”

Ravenkit flicked her tail dismissively, “I know. That’s what makes it fun!”

“As long as you know,” he shrugged, “Well then.” He looked over at where Dreadscar stood, waiting, “Dreadscar is big… but we can use your size to our advantage too.”

Ravenkit fluffed up, “What about my size!?”

He looked down at her seriously, ignoring her indignant tone, “You can get under his paws and trip him up while I distract him.”

Her pale amber eyes brightened and she nodded, “Okay!”

He flicked his tail against her flank as he turned to face his mentor, “Keep close to us, but wait until I’ve got his attention to move in, and then try to slip between his paws, all right? Grab one of his legs or something, it’ll throw off his balance.”

Ravenkit stared up her friend in awe, “You’re the smartest warrior ever, Bonepaw.”

He sighed, “I’m not a warrior yet… and I just think about things before I do them, unlike you.” He flicked her with his tail again, teasing, “Are you ready?”

She was about to argue, but his question had her snapping back to the task at hand, “Let’s claw his ears off!”

He purred amusement, “That’s your answer to everything.” With that he charged forward, Ravenkit scampering after him. Dreadscar lashed out with one paw, quick as a snake, as they drew near, but the two of them separated and the blow met nothing but air. The warrior turned to watch Bonepaw’s progress as he came back around and he spun to face his apprentice, searching for Ravenkit’s whereabouts. Bonepaw gave him little time for looking around, lashing out with one paw at his mentor’s face, causing the older tom to flinch back and retaliate with a return blow. As he swiped his paw toward his apprentice his other forepaw slid forward as something rammed into it and he lost his balance. Bonepaw leaped from the side, sending his mentor crashing to the ground as Ravenkit shot out from between his paws. The two had a moment to look triumphant before Dreadscar was rolling easily back to his paws and leaping for the both of them.

Bonepaw shoved Ravenkit out of the way as his mentor descended on top of him, squashing the breath out of him and leaving him gasping. “Bonepaw!” Ravenkit leaped onto the older tom’s back, small claws pricking as she clung to him defiantly, “You leave him alone!”

Dreadscar threw himself to the ground, but at the last moment Ravenkit remembered how he’d done the same thing to Bonepaw when she and Blackbird had first entered the clearing and leaped off him, tumbling as she landed awkwardly on the ground. Bonepaw was pushing to his paws, panting, and took the opportunity to leap on top of his mentor before he could get back to his paws, but Dreadscar was ready for him, rolling onto his back and flinging Bonepaw away with all four paws. He rolled back to his feet as Bonepaw tumbled half way across the clearing.

Blackbird stepped forward, “I think that’s enough!”

Ravenkit was crouching, tail lashing behind her, ready to leap again when her father’s call came. She turned to look at him, “But no one won yet!”

Bonepaw pushed wearily to his paws and padded over to her, shaking out his fur and wincing slightly, “Dreadscar won, Ravenkit.”

“What!?” her head whipped around to face her friend, “Nuh uh!”

“I landed pretty heavy… if you had attacked while I was laying there, Dreadscar would have pinned you… and neither of us can beat him alone,” he murmured, sitting heavily.

Ravenkit’s tail lashed and she shook her head, “We still could have won!”

Blackbird rested his tail over his daughter’s back, “Know when you are beaten, Ravenkit… and learn from it.”

She glared up at him for a long moment, “What do you learn from losing!?”

Dreadscar padded over, “You learn more about your enemy, and how best to attack them if you ever face them again.”

Ravenkit looked over at the old tom, still glaring, but Blackbird spoke, “Thank you for letting her join your training for a time. I think it’s time we head back to camp now.”

She gasped up at her father, pleading, “What!? Not yet! Pleeeeaaaase?”

Blackbird was already turning, amusement in his tone, “You can walk like a warrior or I can carry you like a kit.”

Huffing, Ravenkit looked back at Bonepaw, insistent, “We could have won!” With that she hurried after her father, leaving Bonepaw shaking his head.

Dreadscar padded over to his apprentice, laughing, “You surprised me today. I never would have expected a kit and a brand new apprentice to get the better of me like that.” Bonepaw looked up at his mentor as the older tom stopped beside him, watching Ravenkit disappear into the pines, “You two will do great things together, Bonepaw.”

Bonepaw looked after his friend as her tiny form disappeared, “You think so?”