#archtail

"Now remember, the less you move that leg, the faster it'll heal." He turned to see Yellowfang lecturing Volepaw in her usual gruff manner. "Don't go chasing Mosspaw around if you know what's good for you!"

"Where is Mosspaw, anyhow?" Firepaw asked, glancing around for the little spotted apprentice. The scent of the Shadowclanner lingered, but they didn't seem to be around.

"Nightpelt took them out to practice hunting." Featherstorm, the kits' mother, spoke up now. "Apparently Spiderfoot hasn't done a single hunting session with them during their apprenticeship!"

There were murmurs of discontent around the room at her statement. "Shadowclan's fallen to pieces." Crowtalon grumbled. "This would never have happened in Raggedstar's time."

He noticed Yellowfang flinch at the leader's name, but he didn't get the chance to ask why. "Raggedstar was a fool to let Brokenstar become leader." Cinderscar, another elder, growled. "He should have chosen Blizzardwing instead. At least Blizzardwing would have followed the code!"

"Blizzardwing would have keeled over by his fifth life." Crowtalon croaked in response. "He's almost as old as us. Now, if he picked Wolfstep…"

The two elders bickered among themselves, but Firepaw was distracted by Nightpelt and Mosspaw returning. Mosspaw was proudly carrying a small vole, while Nightpelt was carrying a significantly larger squirrel. The smaller of the two trotted up to their mother, dropping the vole at her feet. "I caught my first prey!" They told her proudly.

"On your first hunt!" Featherstorm purred proudly, licking the apprentice's forehead gently. "No apprentice could have done better. Not even Raggedstar." Emotion flashed through her eyes as she spoke, scooping the kitten closer to her.

"Mom!" They complained, and Firepaw couldn't help but smile. He missed those days with his own mother. He thought briefly of Princess, not far away from here. It had been two moons since he had visited her. Maybe he could slip away for a little bit now… 

"Firepaw!" He blinked as Yellowfang called his name. "Quit dawdling and get that bedding out of here. Dewpaw can't be far with the fresh moss. And while you're out there, see if you can't catch something for my parents."

He blinked in confusion. "Your…?"

The old molly snorted in disbelief. "Archtail and Crowtalon. Surely you can see the family resemblance?" Indeed, he noticed now that Archtail had a similar thick coat as the Shadowclan healer, and Crowtalon the same broad, flat face. "Almost every cat in here is my family in some way. Like Nightpelt and Cinderscar, my littermates. Of course, I'm much prettier than my brothers." She fluffed her fur seductively as she spoke, and Firepaw turned away to keep her from noticing him stifling his laughter.

Nightpelt rolled his eyes at the molly while Cinderscar swatted at one of her torn ears. "Careful now, you can't afford to lose much more of those ears." The gray tom growled, his voice rough and gravelly.

"I guess I just didn't think about it." Firepaw admitted. Graypaw had explained most of the family relations in Thunderclan on his first day, and he had figured some out with how cats interacted around camp. But, aside from Crowtalon and Archtail being mates, he hadn't stopped to consider how some of the elders in here might be related.

"Yes, well, I suppose that's to be expected. You hardly think about most things." She waved him off with a paw. "Now hurry up already!"

He quickly bundled up the dirty moss and made his way outside, towards the edge of Tallpines. As he raked it open and scattered it, he glanced over to the Twolegplace. Most of the Twolegs and kittypets were carrying out their morning routines right now. No one would notice if he went missing for a little bit, and if they did, he was just hunting a little farther out in the forest than usual.

His mind made up, he ducked through a hole in the Tallpines fence and trotted down the fence of the Twolegplace. No cat saw him, or if they did, they didn't disturb him. It wasn't long until he was at Princess's fence once more.

"Princess? Are you there?" Firepaw called out, his orange tail swishing languidly. Given it was morning, it was possible she was eating her breakfast and wouldn't be able to come out. Still, he didn't mind in that case; he would just return to his duties as usual.

To his surprise, the light brown tabby was up on the fence in mere heartbeats. "Firepaw! I thought that was you!" She purred happily, jumping down to greet him warmly. "I've been so worried! It's been moons since I last saw you."

"I know, I'm sorry. With the war, Bluestar made a rule that we couldn't be out on our own for very long, and…" He hesitated, not sure how she would take him hiding her from the Clan. "Well, I'm not supposed to be talking to kittypets. Not even if they're my sister."

Instead of balking at his words, she nodded and smiled at him. "I figured as much. You don't see any other wild cats talking to kittypets, do you?"

He considered Tinyfrost for a moment. Did his mentor ever visit his old home? He'd made it sound like it wasn't pleasant, though. "I'd be surprised if they did." He admitted to her. "They've accepted me, but most warriors don't look on kittypets too kindly."

"You've mentioned that." She sat back and looked him over. "You look well. I take it that those Shadowcat warriors were no match for my brother?" She gave him a cheeky grin and gently patted his face with one prim white paw.

He chuckled at that and looked away. "Well, sort of. We haven't fought them much yet, to tell the truth." He didn't bother to correct her, given it didn't really matter anyways. "Bluestar wants to go on the offense now, though. We recently found out that they've been doing… doing a lot of bad things. Thunderclan - my Clan - has to stop them."

The young molly studied him carefully. "I'll take your word for it." She finally mewed softly. "Come back safely, won't you? I can't stand waiting another season for you."

Firepaw nodded. "I promise. I'll come see you by the next full moon, so don't worry." He paused to consider that for a moment, before  giving her a small grin. "Actually, next time you see me, I might even have a new name!" 

The dark tawny kittypet blinked at him in confusion. "A new name?"

He nodded enthusiastically. "Yea! In the Clans, as a cat grows up, they get new names for each stage of their life. The paw in my name means I'm an apprentice, learning how to be a warrior. When we become a full warrior, the leader gives us a new name that reflects us somehow." He could see her nodding, though he could tell she didn't quite understand what he was on about. "Recently my friend Pepperpaw received her warrior name, so now she's known as Peppermask." 

She furrowed her brows a bit. "So next time we meet, I should call you Firemask?" Princess asked, her green eyes meeting his.

"Maybe not Firemask. I don't know what my name will be yet. It could be something like Fireflash, or Firefang… Firefrost, after my mentor…" He wondered what Bluestar would choose for him. Did she decide on the spot, or did she have a name in mind for every apprentice? He wished he could ask her, but he doubted she would respond kindly to such nosy questions.

"How about I call you Fire until then?" His sister's broke into his reverie, shaking him out of his thoughts. "And you can let me know next time, when you come back a big brave warrior." Her voice was teasing, but he still couldn't help but grin back at her.

"I will." He promised once more, before standing up and stretching out. The sunlight felt good on his back in the early morning frost. "I should get going, though. The Clan will start to miss me if I'm gone too long."

The tabby molly shook her long, fluffy coat out and stood up as well. "I should return to my housefolk anyhow. She'll get worried if I'm not there for morning kibble." With a precise leap, she scaled the fence separating her garden from the forest. "See you next time, Fire."

"Until next time." He watched her disappear into her garden before turning and stalking into the forest. He still had to bring back prey for the elders - Yellowfang's parents, he reminded himself - if he wanted to keep up illusions with the Clan.

Thankfully, he didn't have to go far to find a small flock of clueless pigeons. Though he was only able to catch one of them, the bird was juicy, well fed on the bounty of the forest; hopefully it would be enough of an apology for being late with the elders' freshkill.

When he arrived back at the temporary Shadowclan den, the elders were still impatiently bickering. "There you are! Where have you been, chasing snails?" Crowtalon growled as he presented the still-warm pigeon to her.

"I'm sorry. The prey was faster than me this morning." He glanced around to notice both the healers were missing. "Where did Dewpaw and Yellowfang go?" He asked the Shadowclanners curiously.

"They got tired of waiting for you." Archtail grumbled through his bite of bird. "Yellowfang said she was gonna send Tinyfrost back for you if you didn't hurry up." 

His fur bristled at the thought of his mentor angrily chasing him down. If Tinyfrost found him talking to his sister… "I better get going, then."

"Yes, you should." Cinderscar growled from his nest. "We don't need more apprentices around here to interrupt our naps."

"You watch your tongue." He heard Featherstorm hiss as he darted out of the Twoleg den. He wasn't about to stay around for that argument, knowing how feisty a mother could get - and how moody the Shadowclan elders were in general.

He hurried back through the forest, keeping his ears alert for Tinyfrost's presence. Only birdsong rang through the trees as he jumped over giant tree roots or ducked under bramble growths. 

But as he neared the Thunderclan camp, he heard something else. There was a voice, low and soft, that traveled through the trees towards him. Was it Tinyfrost coming to find him? He grinned to himself and dropped into a crouch. They'd been practicing stealth techniques recently, mostly due to the night sessions caused by the greenleaf heat. Now was a perfect time to show off what he had learned.

Creeping forward, he was surprised to hear that it sounded like his mentor was arguing with someone. He hesitated, unsure if he should be interrupting a heated conversation, but then curiosity got the better of him and compelled him forward. It wasn't until he got very close that he was able to place the voice; it wasn't Tinyfrost speaking, but Tigerclaw.

He froze in place as the giant warrior spoke only a few tail-lengths ahead. "To think I ever loved him as a son." The ginger tom could see him now, hidden in the shadow of a giant fern bush. "But now he's too far gone. Revealing our camp to Shadowclan spies, trying to break into the nursery to steal kits, nearly poisoning our deputy…"

"The Clan would be better off without a traitor like Ravenpaw." This voice was eager, almost like an apprentice answering a mentor, but the thought made Firepaw's heart lurch with horror. Though he hadn't heard him speak much, he could only guess that this was Darkstripe talking.

"I wish I could disagree." Tigerclaw's voice was despondent, but the apprentice knew all too well that he was faking it. "We can't risk him giving intel to Shadowclan about our plans. We must act quickly."

"But how?" A third voice - Longtail's? Dustleap's? He couldn't tell from here. "Quickflash refuses to see reason, and Bluestar is no better."