Sun shone onto the flat earth clearing, revealing generations of paw prints scored in the dirt. Mudpaw sat shivering in the cold winds, looking around the bustling camp. Minnowleap was on patrol and he was an apprentice now, so he couldn't go out on his own. Therefore, he had nothing to do but to stay out of Nightmaretalon's claws. Who was suspiciously nowhere to be seen... did Minnow actually keep her word? He doubted it. Nightmare was probably just on patrol. He gave out a long sigh. What has my life become? He needed to leave this place, but had nowhere to go. He decided to walk around and watch others to distract himself. It isn't weird, be quiet brain, he thought. Mudpaw padded over softly to the olive sedge den tucked in the corner that had a small, pretty stream flowing past it. Finbelly was outside of the den, drying some mallow leaves, but didn't look up at Mudpaw's approach. Finbelly's sleek orange fur shone like a carp's scales in the sun. A smaller copy of him bounded up to Finbelly. Their only difference was their speckles. "'Ello, big bro!" Carpaw squeaked slipping on some mallow leaves. "Careful!" Finbelly chuckled, gathering the leaves back up. "Oops. Why are you playing with leaves again?" "Cause I'm the medicine cat," he purred. Mudpaw watched, feeling a hollow pit in his stomach. "Ohhhhhhhh right!" Carppaw bounced in the air. "Can I help? Lunarsong is out of camp, and I'm sooooo bored." "That's strange. She doesn't have any patrols... oh well." Fin shrugged, scooching over for Carppaw to join him. Then he turned and spotted Mudpaw. "Hey Mudspa - I mean, Mudpaw. You can come too," he meowed kindly. "Um, ok..." "How's it feel to be an apprentice again? Ha! I'll probably be a warrior before you now," Carppaw laughed, oblivious. "Um...." "Carppaw! Don't be rude" Finbelly scolded. "But its true - " Carppaw protested. Mudpaw tried to hold back a sob and crept away. He didn't want to be there anymore. He flopped onto the grass patch near the sedge wall where the nursery was tucked away. Cedarheart and Mothspeck were gathered around their three kits: Polecatkit, Trunkkit, and Winterkit. They were all 3 moons old. "You have to put less weight into your haunches," Cedarheart meowed affectionately, adjusting Polecatkit's hunting position. "Yeah! You have to do that thing, Polecatkit!" Trunkkit said, as he dropped into a crouch as well. "Oh, like you know anything about hunting," Polecatkit teased. "Well, watch THIS!" Trunkkit sprang at Polecatkit, knocking him to the dirt. Winterkit hesitated, then joined in. "Break it up, kits, break it up," Mothspeck intervened. She put a paw between the tussling kits and they rolled over, laughing. Mothspeck smiled and happened to look up and see Mudpaw. "Oh, hi, Mudpaw," she said in a warm voice. Trunkkit looked at Mudpaw and mewed, "Go away! We're having fun, apprentice." "Trunky, that's rude..." Winterkit murmured, but Mudpaw interrupted. "No, it's okay. I'll leave," he said in a sad voice, and turned around to go elsewhere. He was trotting through the clearing when he saw Moonpaw and Wasppaw. They seemed like they were in some sort of fight. I wonder what that's all about... thought Mudpaw, so he decided to investigate. He sat in the shadows behind where the siblings were so that he wouldn't be seen. "Wasppaw, could you maybe just leave me alone?..." Moonpaw meowed. "But why? Being alone is boring! Why not hang out with me?" Wasppaw replied, pointing a paw at his chest. "I just want to be left alone," Moonpaw squeaked. Later on, Mudpaw had no idea why he had done this (he presumed it was the spur of the moment, but he couldn't be sure), but something inside him clicked together. Moonpaw isn't going to stand up for herself, so I will. He took a deep breath and padded over to Wasppaw. "H-hey, Wasppaw-" he tried to say in a confident voice. "What?" snapped Wasppaw. "I'm in the middle of something." "I-I think Moonpaw wants to be left alone... maybe you should go s-somewhere else?" He couldn't see Moonpaw, but she was probably wondering why Mudpaw was defending her from Wasppaw. After all, why would I be the one protecting her? "Are you trying to boss me around like you're my mentor? I already have one - oh, that's right. You got demoted, so you're not even a warrior anymore. And I'm just trying to hang out with Moonpaw, but you wouldn't know anything about that. Your family died," Wasppaw spat. "So maybe instead of me leaving Moonpaw alone, you should leave us alone!" Mudpaw froze in shock. "Wasppaw-" Moonpaw started, but Mudpaw bolted for the entrance before she could finish. He rushed past all the cats in the clearing and flew out of the entrance. He got to the stream and started sobbing quietly, feeling like he would never fit into the world.
