Erin Hunter - The Sight

“You think they’re showing signs of aggression?”

“Not aggression,” Cloudtail corrected. “But they never used to be so thorough about marking their boundaries.”

“Should we be stepping up patrols?” Ashfur slid out of the warriors’ den, making Hollykit jump. He padded toward Cloudtail and Brambleclaw, and Squirrelflight followed him, leaving Hollykit alone.

“We’ll ignore it for now,” Brambleclaw decided.

“Isn’t that a decision for Firestar to make?” Ashfur meowed.

Brambleclaw looked sharply at the gray warrior, but Ashfur’s eyes showed no disrespect, only concern.

Brambleclaw nodded. “I’ll speak to him about it, of course,” he meowed. “But there’s no point overreacting if ShadowClan and WindClan are just trying to provoke us.”

Squirrelflight looked at Cloudtail. “Did you refresh our boundary markers?”

Cloudtail nodded.

Hollykit felt another pelt brush her side. Lionkit had joined her, and Jaykit was scrambling out of the nursery after him.

“What’s going on?” Lionkit mewed.

“The dawn patrol’s reporting back,” Hollykit told him.

The idea that ShadowClan and WindClan were pressing on their borders worried her. But if she was going to be a medicine cat, she must learn not to be so bothered by warrior concerns and concentrate instead on the needs of her Clanmates.

She glanced around the clearing. Whitewing, Spiderleg, and Thornclaw shared a pigeon beside the halfrock.

Honeypaw and Poppypaw were play fighting on the grass patch outside their den. As she watched, the apprentices stopped and looked up at Highledge. Hollykit followed their gaze, her paws pricking with anticipation.

Firestar was leaping down the tumble of rocks that led from his den. Sandstorm nimbly picked her way after him.

Hollykit’s heart felt as if it flipped right over when Firestar called to the Clan: “Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Highledge. It is time to fulfill a promise I made to three of our kits.”

Hollykit glanced at her brothers. This was it! The moment when they would begin serving their Clan!

Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight hurried toward them.

Squirrelflight quickly smoothed the fur between Lionkit’s ears.

“Are you ready?” Brambleclaw’s eyes were shining.

“Totally!” Hollykit mewed.

“Good.” Brambleclaw padded away and sat beside Birchfall.

Does that mean Birchfall’s going to be a mentor? Hollykit wondered.

Squirrelflight licked Jaykit’s cheek. “Good luck, all of you.”

She went to join Brambleclaw.

Mousefur emerged stiffly from the elders’ den, guiding her blind denmate, Longtail, with her tail. Honeypaw, Poppypaw, and Berrypaw clustered together, whispering. Whitewing, Spiderleg, and Thornclaw padded over from the halfrock, leaving the remains of their meal behind. Within moments, the whole Clan stood gazing at Firestar. For the first time that morning, Hollykit’s excitement felt closer to anxiety.

The expectations of Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight, of Firestar, of the whole Clan, pressed down on her shoulders like a badger’s paws.

She felt a soft muzzle nudging her from behind. She turned to see Leafpool ushering her toward the circle. She searched Leafpool’s eyes, but they gave no clue about what would happen next, only encouraged her forward with a gentle blink.

Hollykit pushed her way between Ferncloud and Daisy and halted. Lionkit and Jaykit squirmed into place beside her, and she felt herself trembling against Daisy’s flank. The cream-colored queen glanced fondly at her and ran a smoothing tail over her black pelt.

“I gather you all for one of my favorite duties,” Firestar announced. “Hollykit, Lionkit, and Jaykit have reached their sixth moon.”

So Jaykit was going to be included in the apprentice-naming ceremony after all.

“They have had an adventurous kithood,” Firestar went on with a hint of amusement in his voice, “but I hope they have learned valuable lessons, and I believe they are ready to become apprentices.”

The Clan meowed in approval. Firestar waited for the noise to die away before going on. “Lionkit!”

The golden brown tabby kit bounced forward, quivering with excitement.

“From this day until you receive your warrior name, you will be Lionpaw.”

Berrypaw called his name and the other apprentices joined in. Firestar looked at the cloud-darkened sky. “I ask StarClan to watch over you and guide you until you find in your paws the strength and courage of a warrior.”

Lionpaw’s eyes sparkled as he gazed up at his leader.

“Ashfur,” Firestar called.

The pale gray tom lifted his head. His eyes brightened, and excitement showed in the tiny twitch of his tail as he stepped forward.

“You mentored Birchfall, and he is a credit to his Clan,” Firestar meowed. “Now ThunderClan asks you to prove yourself once more a great mentor.”

Ashfur dipped his head as the Clan leader went on. “I trust you to pass on all you have learned to Lionpaw and help him become a warrior the Clan can be proud of.”

“I won’t let ThunderClan down,” Ashfur promised.

Lionpaw hurried forward and raised his muzzle to touch noses with his new mentor.

“Hollykit,” Firestar announced.

Hollykit suddenly forgot to be nervous, and she raced to the center of the clearing, skidding to a halt beside Firestar.

His whiskers twitched. “From this day until you receive your warrior name, you will be Hollypaw.”

“Hollypaw! Hollypaw!” Cinderpaw led the chant this time.

Hollypaw stared at the apprentices as they called her new name. Berrypaw and Hazelpaw seemed so big and strong. In the nursery she had been older than Icekit and Foxkit. Now she would be one of the youngest of her denmates. Her heart drummed like paws racing over the forest floor. Then she remembered: I might not be sleeping in the apprentices’ den!

“Leafpool,” Firestar called.

Yes! Hollypaw felt so light on her paws she was afraid the breeze would carry her away over the trees. She was going to be a medicine cat apprentice!

Leafpool padded forward and stopped beside Hollypaw.

“I know that I am putting Hollypaw in safe paws,” Firestar meowed. “I pray that StarClan gives your apprentice all the strength and wisdom she will need.”

“I will teach her everything I know,” Leafpool promised.

She touched Hollypaw’s muzzle with hers, but she didn’t meet Hollypaw’s eyes; instead, she looked past her, her expression clouded.

Surprised, Hollypaw turned and saw that Leafpool was staring at Squirrelflight. She wondered why there was sadness in both cats’ eyes.

Jaykit marched into the clearing and stood in front of Firestar. “What about me?”

“Surely he can’t become an apprentice?” Whitewing’s whispered comment hung in the still, damp air.

“Longtail moved to the elders’ den when he went blind,” Thornclaw murmured, as if he agreed that blind cats couldn’t be warriors.

“He wouldn’t be safe out in the forest,” Spiderleg put in.

“Poor mite,” breathed Sorreltail.

Hollypaw’s pelt bristled. Why shouldn’t her brother be given a chance like any other cat?

“I want to be an apprentice like Lionpaw and Hollypaw,” Jaykit spat defiantly.

“Of course you do,” Firestar agreed. “And your mentor will be Brightheart.”

Brightheart?

Jaykit felt a rush of anger so strong it almost knocked him off his paws. Why had Firestar chosen one-eyed Brightheart when there were so many other warriors to choose from? As if he couldn’t guess!