Dust rose upon the plains, creeping ever closer upon the small figure lying down. She twitched her ears and yawned, blinking sleepily. Shaking the dust from her light orange tabby pelt irritably, she looked around to find out what caused all the dust to rise up. Licking her snow white paws one by one, she started to look for breakfast. Scurrying along the ground, the mouse darted side to side, looking for a small portion of grain to eat for breakfast. Its beady eyes looking left and right, it spotted a pair of white paws through the grass. Crouching low, she pounced before the mouse could flee, killing it neatly and quickly. Suddenly, a hawk spotted the mouse from above and screeched as it swooped down to take Echowing's kill. The orange tabby unsheathed her claws and swiped at the hawk's face, then jumped up and landed on its back, her weight pushing it down. She killed it swiftly by breaking it's neck, pleased with her big catch. Suddenly, there was a great rumbling beneath Echowing. The delicately sculpted she-cat glanced around wildly, panic showing in her gray-blue eyes. A tiny mole came up and stole her hawk and mouse kill while she was distracted. She growled, her neck fur bristling and her tail bushed out to twice its size. Behind her, there was a brief chuckling. Sighing, she calmed herself down and her fur flattened down. She sheathed her claws, spun around, and glared. "What?" she snapped, irritated by the loss of her amazing catch. Behind her, was Owlclaw with her kills in his mouth. She gaped. "Gawsh! I knew a mole couldn't do that!" she yelped and batted at his shoulder with a cuffed paw. "Honestly, the things I put up with!" Grinning, he tossed her kills back to her. "You do realize that mole is dead right? I had tied it to some dead grass and while you were gaping at it, I quickly took your kills and hopped back behind my rock and pulled my mole too." Picking the mole up, he mumbled around it, "See, here it is." She narrowed her eyes and her tail flicked once, but she knew it was no good to hurt a denmate. She sighed and pointedly turned her back on him, then padded off to find other things to hunt. Sighing, he picked up her kills and followed after her. Crouching low, she spotted a brown rabbit tail bobbing a few tail-lengths ahead. She pounced and killed it, picking it up with her eyes shining. The rabbit was as big as her! Wait 'till Owlclaw sees this. Blinking his eyes in slight surprise, Owclaw asked, "Would you like some help carrying that Echowing?" She narrowed her usually good-humored gray-blue eyes. Honestly, she usually was the most patient she-cat around, but Owlclaw really irritated her. She dropped her rabbit and snapped, "I can handle it!" Owlclaw sighed, "I was only offering to help. That's all Echowing." Picking up her former kills, he started heading back to the Clan. She sped through the dense forest path that led to their camp. Dashing into the clearing, she dropped her large rabbit on the fresh-kill pile, then went to ask Solarstar if he wanted her to go on any patrols. She poked her head into her father's den. "Solarstar? Would you like me to do anything else?" she meowed, padding into the den. "No." he replied. She nodded, padded out, and fetched a vole from the pile, then settled down outside of the warrior's den. Panting, Owlclaw dropped Echowing's kills down on the fresh-kill pile, even though they weren't all that fresh now...

She took a small bite of her vole, not really hungry, but knowing she had to keep her strength up, especially in green-leaf, since she was always warm and tired. Padding over to her, Owlclaw asked, "Do you mind if I sit beside you?" She shrugged. She couldn't care less, plus..she didn't want to make a scene in front of the rest of the Clan. "Go ahead," she meowed, taking another bite of her vole. Sitting

down beside her, he stretched and sat up again. Finished with her vole, the small orange tabby started licking her snow white paws. Echowing yawned and started washing her back, then blinked drowsily and rested her chin on her paws. Lying down beside her, Owlclaw licked her ear once and fell asleep. She blinked at Owlclaw, her delicate head tilted to the side. Standing up and stretching, Echowing padded into the den and curled up in her nest, quickly falling asleep.

********

Prowling through the high grass, Owlclaw heard a soft rustling to the left of him. Even though he knew it was only Echowing, he instinctively unsheathed his claws. The dainty orange tabby she-cat sighed and stopped. "What has you so paranoid?" she meowed, not unkindly. "What do you mean by that?" he asked evenly. She shrugged. "Just that you seem kinda jumpy." Shrugging, he replied softly, "Just thinking of that nice cat who I wish liked me in return." She tipped her head to the side. "Oh? Who?" "Maybe I can help," she chirped. Gently tapping her shoulder with his tail, he said, "Ehh, that's not all that important right now. We're supposed to be patrolling anyways right now." "Hmm, ok," she meowed and started padding along the border, her tail swishing from side to side, a sure sign of her pleasant mood. Smiling slightly, he followed after her. Nodding to the RiverClan cats patrolling their own border, she continued leading Owlclaw, another warrior and her apprentice, and her sister Dovesong, down the border. "Psst, Owlclaw!" a cat called after the others had left. He stopped and ducked into the bushes quickly. "What Otterfur?" he asked urgently. The brown tabby tom stared at his paws. "Oh..um...just..wondering how Echowing is...and...yeah.." he stammered. "She's alright I suppose. Why do you ask?" he replied, his eyes narrowing. Otterfur shifted from paw to paw. "Just wonderin'....D-Do you know if she has a mate yet?" he mumbled uncomfortably. It was a new time in the Clans, where liking someone from another Clan was not frowned upon.

It was a new rule, though, that if you did like said cat, you were to join their Clan.

Looking out at the bushes, he saw the patrol returning. "Hey! Echowing! Otterfur here wants to know if you have a mate yet!" Blinking, Echowing muttered something to her sister, telling her to go ahead without her, and trotted back to Owlclaw, glaring at him through narrowed eyes. "What do you want, Owlclaw? I don't have time for this," she snapped. "Otterfur here asked me if you had a mate or not. Me being me wanted you to tell him if you did or not." She blinked and glanced at the RiverClan tom. "Um, no..." she muttered, the whole topic of mates and crushes uncomfortable to her, seeing as she didn't want to end up cooped up in the nursery just yet. Otterfur nodded, "Okay. I was just wondering saying I don't have a mate yet either..." She blinked in surprise. Owlclaw's eyes started narrowing. "C'mon Echowing, we better catch up with the patrol and report back to the Clan." She flicked Owlclaw's shoulder with her tail. "Alright, alright, Mr. Grumpy, I'm comin," she purred. Slowing down, he whispered in her ear, "Would you really want to be mates with him Echowing? Either he'd have to leave RiverClan, or you ThunderClan." She shrugged, flicking her ears. "I don't like discussing that topic, but I don't want to hurt the poor guy," she meowed quietly. "And he doesn't know anything about hunting on land so he'd be just sit there for a ton of moons before he'd be helpful. And a ton of cats would miss you if you left."

"Including me."

She blinked, tilting her head to the side. "Oh really?" she purred. "I thought you disliked me." He shook his head. "I've liked you for a while now. I just wanted to be quiet about it unless I found out you liked me in return. But then this came up, and yeah..." She sighed, flattered but exasperated. "I told you, Owlclaw...I don't like this topic." Owlclaw nodded, somewhat weakly. "Okay, I'll be quiet. Though we do have to hurry up otherwise there'll be trouble." "I won't be, but you might be," she teased, nudging him playfully. Rolling his eyes, he groaned, but smiled and licked her cheek. "Let's go then." Picking up the pace, she sped through the forest with Owlclaw. "You know, I don't see why Otterfur annoys you so much. He isn't a bad cat." "He doesn't. It's that you'd be with another cat that would hurt me, not annoy me." She blinked. "But if you were a friend..like you kinda said you were, then you'd be happy for me~!" "I guess so, but we'd only see each other at Gatherings if you went to RiverClan.""And I'm pretty sure your sister would miss you a good deal too.""What if he came to ThunderClan?" "Not to be mean or anything, he would be kind of waste of space for a while until he learned to hunt in the forest." "No offense to him." She shrugged. "But...I just don't get why he's interested in being my mate." He playfully tapped her head with his tail. "You'd be surprised what us toms see in you queens." "Oh? And that would be?" He leaned in closely, whispering in her ear. "To me, you're an amazing queen who perseveres in whatever she does. You're quite the hunter too. I know I'd never be able to take down that hawk or that rabbit the other day. No this isn't just flattery if you think that. You truly are one amazing cat." She blinked and felt the heat rushing to her face. "Y-You think so?" He nodded and smiled at her. She blinked and kept her eyes on her swiftly moving white paws. Owlclaw gave chase, and sighed. "I'm sorry if I embarrassed you Echowing..." "I-It's not that..." she took a deep breath. "Well, you've always been one of the few toms who I thought of as a friend....and, well, it's just kind of weird hearing this..." "Oh..." "Oh..I'm sorry...it's just.." "It's alright. I understand, somewhat." "I'm really sorry....it's just..that, well, you always made it seem like you were TRYING to irritate me, and most toms try to please me...and I was kinda glad that you were different." Owlclaw grinned slightly. "You were glad that I was trying to irritate you...?" She shrugged, smiling. "Yeah, I guess." "Oh," he replied, smiling "Echowing, in time, I'm saying this because I know you don't want to be stuck in the nursery for a while, would you be my mate?" She shrugged, glancing at her feet. Arriving back at the entrance to the camp, he smiled slightly. "Well, you didn't say no." he said, and winked at her. She giggled and followed him. "But I didn't say yes," she purred and padded to the den, flicking his head with her tail. Purring in amusement, he walked up behind her and licked her cheek. "The 'maybe' is still better than 'no' for now though." She settled down in her nest near the middle of the den and curled up, resting her tail on her nose. Lying down beside her, he tucked his tail around her protectively. She blinked and looked at him, blushing ever-so-slightly, and fell asleep. Placing his paws beneath him, he fell asleep, dreaming happily...

********

Blinking, she looked around and saw that Owlclaw was asleep. Not wanting to disturb him, she quietly slipped out of the den and went to gather the dawn patrol. Waking up a few hours later, he saw the sun was out and a small piece of fresh-kill in front of him.About to take a bite, it hopped out of the den. Padding through the forest with Nightwing and Thistlepaw behind her, she scouted the area for more

fresh-kill. "Thistlepaw, why don't you go look under the beech tree?" Nightwing suggested. His apprentice nodded and shot off in the direction of the old tree. "So, Echowing, I noticed Owlclaw's nest is closer to yours now..." Nightwing meowed, trying to sound casual. She blinked. "Um, yeah, I guess," she replied and shrugged. "Oh...and you're okay with that?" He muttered. "Hmm? Yeah, I guess. Why?" the small orange tabby asked. "Well," the black tom muttered, shuffling his paws, "I..was kinda wondering if you guys were mates." "Oh? Well, he asked, but, I'm not ready to be stuck in the nursery yet," Echowing replied, scouting the forest floor. "Oh." Nightwing mumbled, then dove into a bush to kill some prey. Echowing shrugged and went to find some prey of her own. Yawning, Owlclaw padded out into the clearing and wandered a bit. Wondering how Thistlepaw was doing, the gentle she-cat went to go find him. Following Echowing, he saw Thistlepaw up ahead practicing skills needed for when he became a warrior. She purred when she saw the young apprentice practicing his skills in the clearing. "Well, I'd say you're doing very well, Thistlepaw," she meowed. The young gray tom grinned. "Thanks!" "Any time! Now, did you have any luck at the beech tree?" she asked, flicking him on the shoulder with her tail. "Nah...I think they're all on the prairie...and apprentices aren't allowed to go there." Thistlepaw said and sighed. She nudged the apprentice encouragingly. "No matter, I'll help you with your combat training." Rustling up a few leaves, Owlclaw padded over and said, "How about I help out Echowing? I might not have an apprentice myself, but I'm willing to help out." She laughed. "Well, show him the turn and rake, and I'll practice with him when you're done."Thistlepaw's eyes shone. "Seriously? Awesome! Thanks, you guys!" "No problem," she meowed, smiling at the eager young tom. Grinning slightly, he stepped forward. "Well then Thistlepaw, you do realize that when you have an enemy about to swipe across your nose, there are usually, two options." "One, dodge to the side or two, duck down." "I did say show him the turn and rake, did I not?" she purred, trotting up and flicking Owlclaw on the back with her tail. "The turn and rake is where, even though you let your side get raked a little bit by your enemy's claws, you'll be the one who does more damage to them." "Here, pretend you're my enemy and you're trying to do that." Thistlepaw rushed at Owlclaw with lots of enthusiasm, and raked his side lightly. Echowing purred, quickly jumping out of their way. Owlclaw pivoted on his front left paw to turn against Thistlepaw's left side, dragging his right paw across his side. Thistlepaw yelped. "Wow, awesome! Let's do it again!" Echowing purred. "I love the enthusiasm, Thistlepaw. Nightwing will be pleased!" Grinning, Owlclaw got back into position. "Ahh, Nightwing. Where is he anyways? Isn't he supposed to be training his apprentice?" "I think he's hunting. We were on a hunting patrol, but Thistlepaw couldn't find anything, so he wanted to train. I decided to let Nightwing hunt so I could help out." Echowing explained. "Ahh, okay then. Well, what else can we teach him? There was that old forbidden technique till you were a warrior..." "Oh...well, I think we should wait.." Grinning sheepishly, Owlclaw thought of a different technique. "How about the duck-kick-rake?" "Isn't that a little advanced?" Echowing asked with a tilted head. "Possibly, but the technique I just taught Thistlepaw is actually a bit harder," he replied. The small orange tabby shrugged. "'Kay then." "Let's see... how did it go again...?" Owlclaw grinned sheepishly. "Guess I kinda forgot..." She chuckled and bumped his shoulder. "Let a pro show how it's done," she teased. Licking her cheek, he nodded. "Okay then. Go ahead," he said, and winked. Aware of Thistlepaw watching them, she flicked his shoulder with her tail for him to move aside. Sheepishly, Owlclaw backed away to clear space for Echowing. Showing the eager young apprentice the slightly harder move would be a task, so Echowing pondered on how to approach it. Suddenly, a rogue cat appeared at the edge of the clearing. Blinking, the delicate she-cat's claws instinctively unsheathed and

she glared at the rogue. "What do we have here... Some forest kitties and an even smaller one." The rogue grinned devilishly. "Easy prey..." Glancing at the apprentice, Echowing nudged him up a tree, then faced the rogue. "State your business, rogue," she growled, her neck fur bristling and her tail bushed out to twice its size. "Oh, is little ole pussy scared of me? Aww... ain't that cute!" the rogue lunged, claws unsheathed. Growling, the tom jumped again, trying to land on Echowing. Eying the young rogue as he leaped at her, she ducked, turned, and raked his right flank. Yowling in pain, the rogue landed in the bushes and started limping away. Purring with amusement, she padded over to the tree Thistlepaw was in. "And that is the duck-turn-rake," she meowed as the apprentice leaped down from the tree. "I have to say, that rogue has impeccable timing," she purred as she rejoined Owlclaw. Owlclaw nodded. "We better head back now, getting close to sunset." "Alright, I'll go find Nightwing," she chirped and disappeared into the forest. "Thistlepaw, does Nightwing often leave you to train with a different warrior?" Owlclaw asked. Thistlepaw shook his head. "No...I couldn't find any prey, so I decided to practice some battle moves by myself, then Echowing said she'd help me out." "You should ask Nightwing to help you out then. He is your mentor and that's what he's there for as well. Not to leave you in the forest to train on your own while he hunts." "He's a great mentor," Thistlepaw retorted in a rush of defensiveness. "I was the one who decided to train, and Echowing volunteered." Stalking through the forest, the small orange tabby searched for Nightwing. "Hmm, okay then. Just curious, that's all." Spotting the black tom with his jaws full of prey, she softly called out his name. "Echowing? Is that you?" Nightwing meowed, dropping his catch. "Yup," she meowed, emerging into the small clearing he was standing in. "Time to head back to camp." "So um... Echowing..." Nightwing stuttered. She pricked her ears. "Yeah?" She kept moving through the forest, occasionally glancing at her denmate. "From what I've noticed, you seem to be spending a ton of time with Owlclaw and I was kinda wondering why..." "What's so wrong with me spending time with a friend?" "Nothing..." he muttered. "Don't tell me you're jealous?" she teased. Nightwing tripped for a moment, then caught up again. She purred good-humoredly. "If it makes you feel any better, I won't be choosing a mate any time soon. I'd hate to be stuck in the nursery so soon after I got my warrior name." "Oh..." "By the way, I hope you don't mind, but Owlclaw and I were helping Thistlepaw practice battle moves," she said casually. Nightwing's fur bristled faintly, but he continued running. "No, it's alright with me. He needs a ton of work, that apprentice. "Not really, he did quite well," she continued. "Plus, he learned the duck-turn-rake." "Really now... Interesting to hear that. He could barely accomplish the rake-jump when I was working with him a moon or two ago." Tilting her head to the side, she glanced at Nightwing. "Oh? He caught on quite well." "Maybe we should check on a transfer of apprentice with Solarstar then..." he replied. "Huh? Why?" "Never mind, I was simply jesting." Her gray-blue eyes narrowed. "Really? Didn't seem that way." "There's camp, better drop off this fresh-kill then get some sleep. It's been a long day." She muttered something inaudibly, but nodded. Owlclaw walked out with Thistlepaw laughing. "So what else would you like to eventually learn? I might not be able to teach you as my own apprentice, but I'll show you when you're a warrior." She waved her tail at Owlclaw and started padding over to the fresh-kill pile. Owlclaw looked up and smiled, following her. "I'll catch up with you later Thistlepaw!" Thistlepaw nodded, "Okay, see ya!" Not looking, Thistlepaw bumped into Nightwing. Her eyes flicking over to Thistlepaw briefly, she saw him collide with Nightwing. In surprise, Thistlepaw backed up quickly. "S-sorry about th-that Nightwing." She nudged Owlclaw with her paw and pointed at Thistlepaw and Nightwing with her tail. Owlclaw looked up from his piece of fresh-kill to watch Thistlepaw and

Nightwing. "In the name of StarClan did you learn that technique!?" Nightwing glared at Thistlepaw. "W-what are y-you t-talking ab-bout?" Thistlepaw stammered. Her eyes widened as she watched their dispute. "The duck-kick-rake! Echowing told me that she and Owlclaw taught you some new harder techniques than I've ever taught you... It took you 2 moons to learn the rake-jump and you learned these in one afternoon!" "Do you think we should do something about it?" she whispered to Owlclaw, her gray-blue eyes betraying her dismay. Nightwing snarled at him. Owlclaw shook his head to clear his head out of his trail of thought. "We should at least tell Solarstar." "We should?" "Well... things are starting to look nasty, and if you don't want to, I'm going to go see him to see about possibly taking Thistlepaw off Nightwing's paws. Thistlepaw seems absolutely terrified of him." She nodded, stood, and trotted over to the quarreling mentor and apprentice. Owlclaw headed towards the leader's den. "Solarstar? You there?" Clearing her throat, Echowing glanced from the mentor to the apprentice. Growling at Thistlepaw, Nightwing stormed away. She glanced at Thistlepaw, her gray-blue eyes questioning. Thistlepaw shivered and slowly started walking back to the apprentices' den. Narrowing her eyes, she followed Nightwing, quickly catching up to him. "Would you care to tell me what happened back there?" she snapped. "None of your business Echowing. He's my apprentice, so would you stop teaching him techniques beyond his skill level?" "Would you stop being so harsh on him? He could be way above the other apprentices, if only you encouraged him." "That's why you're such a softy Echowing. You go all soft on them when they're apprentices, that's the way they're going to stay, weak." "Would you stop being so NEGATIVE, Nightwing?" she snapped, her neck fur bristling. "You do realize that the only reason Thistlepaw isn't doing well is because of you, don't you!?" "Whatever..." Nightwing turned around and walked out of the Clan campsite. She rolled her eyes and stalked into the warrior's den. Owlclaw rushed back with Solarstar. "Phew, back. Echowing...?" Muttering under her breath and shot a glare at Owlclaw. "Deal with Nightwing yourself, I've had it with toms!" She turned around quickly and curled up in her nest, quietly fuming. Owlclaw sighed. "Sorry for dragging you out into this for nothing Solarstar." Solarstar's eyes narrowed in concern for his daughter. "It's no trouble, Owlclaw." Owlclaw nodded. "But there still is the problem with Nightwing and his apprentice, Thistlepaw." "Hm..." Solarstar muttered thoughtfully. "I'll think about it, then I'll let you know, alright Owlclaw?" "Okay then, see you in a bit Solarstar." The sandy tom nodded and padded across the clearing to his den. Owlclaw sighed. He thought, "Now to try and make it up to Echowing..." Licking her tabby fur, she soon felt calm, but still angry towards Nightwing. Padding in slowly, he whispered, "Echowing, you okay?" She pretended to be asleep, to avoid snapping at Owlclaw again. Owlclaw sighed and licked her cheek, walking out to go hunt. Curling into a tighter ball, Echowing stared at the walls of the den blankly. Trying to focus on hunting, Owlclaw shook his head to clear his thoughts. Scenting a mouse, he went into the old routine. Killing it, he picked it up and walked back to camp, setting it in front of Echowing. Smelling mouse, she blinked and glanced up to see Owlclaw. "Got you something to eat. You looked a bit hungry." Nudging the mouse forward, he smiled and sat down. She smiled slightly. "Thanks," she meowed and sighed. Laying down beside her, he asked, "Something wrong?" "Sorry I snapped at you," she said sheepishly. "Oh... it's alright. Seeing what happened between Nightwing and Thistlepaw would drive me pretty nuts too..." he replied. "Ugh, the jerk of a tom..." she muttered. "I know... Treating his apprentice the way he does."Her ears twitched. She hadn't meant for him to hear that. Owlclaw laughed softly. "I have better hearing than most cats Echowing." He nudged into her playfully. She smiled slightly. "I can tell." He smiled in

return. "Almost dusk, would you mind going on the dusk patrol with me?” She shook her head. “Sorry..I don’t want to run into Nightwing at the moment.” Owlclaw nodded. Alright then. I’ll be back soon, okay?” “’Kay…” Running out, Owlclaw met up with the resto f the patrol, heading out of the camp. Returning at nightfall, Owlclaw tiredly walked back into the warriors’ den, only to see Nightwing laying on his spot asleep. His fur bristling, Owlclaw padded quietly to the edge of the den and fell asleep shivering slightly. Blinking sleepily, Echowing looked around and saw Nightwing beside her. Her eyes widened and she crept out and into the clearing. Shivering, Owlclaw woke up and saw Echowing walk out. Getting up, he slowly made his way out. She glanced at her sister Dovesong, who stoo guard that night and gave her a little wave of her tail to say hello. Dovesong responded by flicking her ears and smiling. She sat down, her tail wrapped up around her paws neatly, and glanced up at Silverpelt. Collapsing out of exhaustion several tail lengths behind Echowing, Owlclaw got up slowly. Walking over to her, he laid down beside her.She glanced at him. “Hey…shouldn’t you be asleep?” “Yeah… Someone took my spot though in the den. And it was too cold where I went to sleep, so I saw you and followed you out here.” “Oh.” “Yeah.” She sighed and glanced around at the peaceful camp. “Everything’s so nice now. The night is really calm and cool.” She nodded in agreement and lay down next to him. Licking her cheek, Owlclaw wrapped his tail around her. Feeling her cheeks burning, she glanced up at Silverpelt. Looking up, he saw a star flash by quickly across the dark sky.