"Dreampaw, you're treating the elders for the rest of the day," Sparkpelt growled, "Puny punishment. If someone asked me, I would have you exiled for comparing me to Tigerstar. Get more moss. By yourself."

Dreampaw nodded. Her eyes were dull and full of shame, and her ears were laid back in her discomfort.

She padded over to a tree. She scraped the bark with her claws, letting moss fall. "This will help me practice fighting and hunting!"

She gathered the scraps of moss and carried it back to camp, setting it in the elders' den. A gray tom with amber eyes scratched his ears. "I just returned a half-moon ago, hearing that StarClan returned. I abandoned trying to find the Moonstone."

Dreampaw nodded, her mouth to full to speak and padded out of camp again. Slice. Claw. Scratch. Gather. Dreampaw got into a pattern as she collected more moss. Her mouth full again, she returned to camp.

She set down her second mouthful of moss and cleared out the old bedding, taking some prey to the elders. The gray tom with amber eyes offered to share his four mice, pushing two to Dreampaw.

"Don't worry," the gray tom assured her, "You've been doing very hard work."

Dreampaw's eyes brimmed with tears of gratitude. "Thank you, Graystripe."

Graystripe flicked his ears. "It's the best I can do for some nice bedding. I thought there were thorns in my old one!"

Dreampaw let out a purr of amusement.

"Do you mind getting my ticks with mouse bile?" a golden-brown tom asked.

"Okay, don't be such a bossy furball, Thornclaw," Dreampaw teased. "I'll get some moss and mouse bile."

Dreampaw wrinkled her nose as she pushed her way into the medicine cats' den. A golden she-cat, just a bit older than her, was sorting herbs. 

"Mouse bile?" the golden she-cat asked.

Dreampaw nodded.

"I'm Starpaw," the golden she-cat announced, "I started training a moon ago. You're Dreampaw, aren't you?"

Dreampaw nodded again.

"Amazing," Starpaw purred, "My mentor's Alderheart. Jayfeather stopped training me due to his grumpiness. I don't know how Alderheart could stand all his yowling. He was Leafpool and Jayfeather's apprentice. He might as well had his ears bitten off!"

"Yeah," Dreampaw laughed.

"Here's the mouse bile," Starpaw instructed, "Soak it in this moss. Don't get any in your teeth or you'll have a foul taste for maybe a moon. Wash your paws when you're done. In a stream, not with your tongue."

Dreampaw nodded and took the moss to the elders' den.

"Let me tell you a story about my son Berrynose," a cream-colored she-cat rasped.

"Oh Daisy," sighed a long-haired white tom.

"What are you going to tell her then, Cloudtail? Your mate seemed confused, Brightheart. Perhaps you would like to tell a story?"

Brightheart blinked, startled. "Well, Brackenfur has gone on many patrols."

Brackenfur yawned. "What?"

"I'll tell you about Firestar," Graystripe meowed, "We trained together. We brought back WindClan together."

Dreampaw nodded and dabbed some moss in mouse-bile.

"We fed RiverClan together. He saved Bramblestar when he was just a tiny little wee darky browny kit."

"Quit saying "darky" and "browny", Graystripe."

"Okay. He tries to sacrifice his life for his Clan's but Tigerstar holds him down. Bluestar saves Firestar and she dies. Firestar saves my kits and Mistystar, then Mistyfoot. Firestar loses a life from Scourge, and kills Scourge after returning. He treats his kit, Squirrelflight and Bramblestar unfairly since Cinderpelt gets a vision from StarClan which she thought meant they were destroying the forest, but they were actually saving it."

Dreampaw had finished Graystripe, Brightheart, and Cloudtail's ticks. 

"He gets saved by Bramblestar. In the battle with the Dark Forest, he kills Tigerstar. Then lightning struck a tree. It crashed down on Firestar. He died. So he joined StarClan."

Dreampaw finished with the ticks and sat up. "Thank you for telling me that story."

"It was my pleasure," Graystripe purred. "Please get us some fresh-kill."

Dreampaw nodded and returned with a few pieces of fresh-kill.

"Thank you!" they called.

Dreampaw waved her tail and picked two voles. I wonder what these taste like. They looked like mice.

She bit into the fresh-kill. It tasted almost as good as mouse. She swiped her tongue over her jaw and pushed her way into the apprentices' den. Sweetpaw's white pelt stood out in the darkness as she slept in the nest next to Dreampaw's. Dreampaw lay down into her nest. "I'm an apprentice of ThunderClan."

Then she drifted off into a deep, long sleep in peaceful silence with only the chirping of crickets in the still, night air.