Gingerheart's Prophecy

Chapter 3

Gingerpaw sneaked out of the nursery, quickly hurrying over to the high rock, only to be pulled back by her mother. "No! I don't need to be cleaned! I already cleaned myself!" Birchfall looked down and let Gingerkit go, knowing she was telling the truth about her glossy clean pelt. "But Oakkit didn't!" Gingerkit smirked as Birchfall looked over at Oakkit and started cleaning him. "Stop mom! We're going to be apprentices!" Robinfeather padded by and mrowed from laughter. "You can't look like this for your apprenticeship!" Oakkit gave up and let himself be washed. Hallowstar jumped onto her den and looked down at her cats. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey, join here beneath the high rock!" Cats stood up and padded over to the high rock. "Gingerkit, Oakkit come here." Gingerkit padded over, fighting the urge to run over. She glanced over at Oakkit, who was padding with his head and tail held high. They sat beneath the high rock and looked up at Hallowstar. "Oakkit, from this day forth, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Oakpaw. Your mentor will be Frostbliss." Oakpaw touched noses with his new mentor, but seemed a little down. He looked over at Quilltail, then back at Frostbliss. "Frostbliss, I hope you pass down your faith to Starclan and your compassion to Oakpaw." Frostbliss nodded and padded over to the side. Oakpaw followed and sat next to Frostbliss. "Gingerkit, from this day forth, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Gingerpaw. Your mentor will be me." Everyone hid thier gasps of astonishment, but finally got to thier senses. "Gingerpaw! Oakpaw! Gingerpaw! Oakpaw!" The clan cheered for the new apprentices. Oakpaw felt envy to his sister, having the leader as her mentor. Gingerpaw was shocked, but stood up and padded over to Robinfeather and Birchfall. "We're very proud of you Gingerpaw and Oakpaw." Thier eyes were shining with pride. Moonglow padded over to Gingerkit and congratulated her as well. Oakpaw looked over and felt more envy at his sister. Why did she get attention and not him? Was it because she's more friendly? Or kit-like? Should he jump around more? Or be himself? He shook his head of the thoughts and turned to Frostbliss. "What will we do today?" Frostbliss looked at Hallowstar who seemed to go into her den, then back to Oakpaw. "We'll go hunt with Gingerpaw and Hallowstar." Brackenclaw seemed to read her mind and padded into Hallowstar's den. A minute later Hallowstar came over and talked to Frostbliss. "Right now take Gingerpaw with Quilltail to go hunting." Frostbliss nodded and padded over to Quilltail. "Hallowstar told us to hunt with Gingerpaw and Oakpaw." Quilltail nodded and stood up padding over to Gingerpaw. "Ready to start today's training Gingerpaw? Hallowstar is busy right now, so she asked me to mentor you today." Gingerpaw nodded and followed the group out of the camp.

Gingerpaw padded into camp first, carrying two mice and a trush. Her eyes gleamed as she set the prey down on the fresh-kill pile. She turned and was happy that she was the one with the most caught prey. Oakpaw put his prey down and picked a mouse to eat. He ate next to Gingerpaw, thinking of what to say to her. "How come you were fussed over today?" Gingerpaw looked at Oakpaw, confused. "What do you mean?" Oakpaw rolled his eyes. "You know, you got Hallowstar as your mentor, you got more attention than me, you got more prey than me." Gingerpaw sighed and stopped eating her prey. "I can tell your jealous Oakpaw, but that doesn't mean I'm better than you. Maybe Moonglow and Hallowstar had a special interest in me?" She paused for a second. "I think your going to be Deputy when you grow up. Your so much stronger than me, I'd never be able to be Deputy." Oakpaw smiled and nuzzled his sisters shoulder. "Thanks. Your much faster than me." He mrowed of laughter and they stood up, curling in the Apprentices den.