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| - "Now bring me back a sparrow," instructed Sunsplash, and Snowpaw whipped off into the forest, coming back a few moments later with a feathery sparrow in her mouth. "Good job," congratulated her mentor, as she dropped the prey at the growing pile at Sunsplash's feet. "I think we have enough to take back to camp." Snowpaw smiled, and, grasping a few pieces of fresh-kill in her mouth, she led the way back to the gorge where ThunderClan made their home. "Hello, Snowpaw. Looks like you had some fun today," greeted Squirreltail, the deputy. He and Sunsplash were identical, right down to the golden flecks in their dark green eyes. Snowpaw grinned again. As she padded away, dropping her fresh-kill on the pile, she heard the deputy remark to Tigertail, his mate and one of the seniormost warriors, "That apprentice is so cute." "Like a fluffy little cloud," replied Tigertail, entwining her tail with his. Snowpaw bounced away towards her mother, who was chatting with Cindertail, Snowpaw's father. "How much did my little warrior bring back today?" Ashfall purred. "Probably more than even Flamecloud," joked Cindertail, referring to the best and most efficient hunter in ThunderClan. "I caught four sparrows and four voles," chirped Snowpaw, and Sunsplash padded up behind her. "And don't forget the two shrews," he said. "Mrow!" An anguished wail came from behind the thorn barrier, and a dark gray tom bounded in, trailed by a black tom with lighter spots on his fur. "My tail," cried the black tom. "My tail! Mother!" Ashfall hurried towards the small cat. "Ooh, Darkpaw, what's wrong?" "Tore it on the tip of a thorn," Smokefur said solemnly. "Sliced the fur right off of it and took a few layers of skin as well." Darkpaw drew his tail towards his front for his mother to investigate, revealing a pale, bleeding, ragged tip. "Let's get you to Whiteheart, come on," urged Ashfall. "Let's go, Darkpaw." Snowpaw looked sadly after her brother, limping despite the perfect state of his legs. Cindertail stared after the apprentice, shaking his head. "Darkpaw's afraid of everything," he mewed. Snowpaw laughed. "Of course he is, Father, it's just his nature. He can't help it. It must have been the scare with the--" "Don't say it," whispered Swiftpaw, emerging from the nursery. "Briarfur's just gotten Palekit and Moonkit to sleep, and they were having ideas about--" she lowered her voice, "--badgers invading the nursery, and foxes coming to eat them in their sleep. Doveflight must've gotten them riled." "I'm sure he didn't mean any harm," Snowpaw offered. "I--" "Badgers!" Squeals came from the nursery, and Briarfur's exasperated voice filled the air. "Moonkit, Palekit, I told you--I mean, get to the back of the den, dears..." Two cats came bouncing into the camp, batting joyfully at each other and screeching with glee. Owlpaw and Heatherpaw were play-fighting, and Swiftpaw soon leapt into the fray, and the three sisters burst into laughter. "Badger?" Redstar appeared at the mouth of her den, looking quite alarmed, and the sole elder, Doveflight, was already padding slowly out of the den and attempting to haul himself to safety like he had been drilled to by Whiteheart. Heatherpaw and Owlpaw broke apart, leaving Swiftpaw rolling around on the ground, looking quite mad. She hopped up after a moment, realizing she was the only one still fighting, and gave her chest fur an embarrassed lick. "Heatherpaw, Owlpaw, protect the nursery. Snowpaw, Darkpaw, help Doveflight, Swiftpaw, protect Whiteheart and the herbs. Briarfur, keep your kits inside." The three apprentices shuffled their feet, looking at their paws, while Snowpaw looked at them, smirking slightly. Darkpaw limped out from the medicine den, his ears flat and his tail between his legs like some Twoleg dog. "Badger?" he questioned softly, then let out a wail. "We're all going to--" "It was a joke," blurted Owlpaw. "It was Heatherpaw's idea--" "--was not!--" "But we were just playing," mewed Owlpaw. "There--there is no badger." Redstar drew herself up to her full height, and looked down upon the three apprentices. "You could've...you could've...to my den, all of you, now." The three she-cats slunk up the side of the gorge and towards their leader's den. Snowpaw was just turning away when she heard her name. "You too, Snowpaw."
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