"If you hadn't chased that badger into our territory, Silverfur would have still been alive!" Thrushstar hissed at the gray ShadowClan leader. Thrushstar's fur had begun to bristle, and his tail lashed back and forth. Vulturestar growled in response.

"ShadowClan did no such thing! It could have been WindClan! Or RiverClan! How do you know it's ShadowClan, and not that you frog-brains just weren't smart enough to keep watch over your camp!?" Vulturestar snarled, baring his teeth.

Larkpaw's brown eyes shone with fear and worry, dreading what would happen next. She looked up at the sky, searching for any sign of StarClan sending clouds to cover the moon- but there were none. The sky was clear of clouds, just twinkling with stars and the moon glowing bright.

Why isn't StarClan doing anything!? Larkpaw mentally shrieked. Her thought process was interrupted by a sharp response.

"You don't know the pain of losing your mate, Vulturestar!" Thrushstar yowled, flattening his ears. Larkpaw, caught up in the moment, leaped up onto the Great Rock and stepped in between the two angry leaders.

Cats stared at her in shock.

She heard a murmurs of disapproval. Troutstar gaped at her.

"Stop!" Larkpaw demanded. More murmers. I just want the Clans to get along and be at peace!

"Even if StarClan hasn't covered up the moon yet, that doesn't mean that we should wait until they do so! By then, it'll be too late! Gatherings are supposed to be a night of peace, not arguing and fighting with each other!"

Thrushstar rounded on her. "You're just a mouse-brained apprentice! What would you know?!" Thrushstar growled.

Larkpaw instinctively took a step back, lowering her head.

"My apprentices are not mouse-brained!" Troutstar hissed.

The ThunderClan deputy, Amberfrost, took a step forward to Thrushstar and murmured something into his ear. Thrushstar turned toward Amberfrost.

"But she's just an apprentice! What would she know?!" Thrushstar hissed. Amberfrost meowed something into his ear again. Thrushstar growled softly and turned toward Vulturestar.

"Fine. We will stop arguing, as this apprentice requests. However, ThunderClan will not back down." Thrushstar snarled. He hopped off of the Great Rock, followed by Amberfrost and Frostfern.

While hopping off of the Great Rock, Frostfern worriedly glanced up at the sky, toward the moon. She shook her head to herself, and trotted after Thrushstar.

Vulturestar growled, and hopped off the Great Rock. Morningmist meowed something to him, but he just shook his head quickly and padded toward ShadowClan's territory. Morningmist followed, along with Mudpool.

Larkpaw hopped down quickly, not looking at Troutstar. She padded quickly after Lilywhisker with her head down.

"Larkpaw." A voice from behind her meowed. She jumped.

She turned around to see Troutstar.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Larkpaw mewed frantically, lowering her head even more.

"Why would you do that?! Do you know how that made RiverClan look?" Troutstar asked, but he didn't wait for an answer. "It made us appear as if we couldn't keep our apprentices in line- your actions were inmicable to RiverClan's reputation! And do you know how disrespectful it is for any cat but the leader to stand on the Great Rock without explicit permission?!" Troutstar growled at her.

"I'm sor-" Larkpaw started.

"I don't want to hear it!" Troutstar interrupted her. "You will be cleaning out the elder's den, every day, for an entire moon! And you will be checking them for ticks every day as well! I should delay your warrior ceremony for this- but I won't. Keep that in mind as a warning for next time; which I sincerely hope that there isn't a next time."

Larkpaw nodded her head solemnly. She padded after Lilywhisker toward camp.

___________________________________

Stonetooth was waiting by the camp entrance, sitting silently and diligently.

He didn't utter a single word, but his eyes asked what he was not allowed to say, 'How did it go? What happened?'

Larkpaw just looked at him and shook her head, and padded toward the apprentice's den.

She plopped down onto her nest, not caring that the moss had been all messed up. She fell into a restless, yet deep sleep.

___________________________________

Larkpaw blinked a couple of times, and groggily stood up. Recounting the events from last night, she instantly groaned and flumped back onto her nest, scattering some of the moss from her nest.

She felt Blossompaw shift beside her.

"Hey! Stop m-!" Blossompaw started to sneer. Larkpaw turned her head toward Blossompaw, opening one brown eye.

Blossompaw immediately looked away from her and inched to left, away from Larkpaw.

Larkpaw sighed, got up, and shook her short brown and white fur out to get the scraps of moss out. She padded toward the elder's den to start cleaning out their den. She expected the elders to ignore her like Blossompaw did, but they did exactly the opposite. She was met with a bombardment of questions and other comments.

When she walked into the den, nosing her way through the curtain of lichen, she was met with a chorus of meows.

"I've never seen an apprentice, or even a warrior jump onto the Great Rock without permission!" Leaffur purred in amusement. Larkpaw looked down in embarrassment.

"Meh. I don't see what all the fuss is about, except for the fact that she jumped onto the Great Rock without Troutstar's permission." Salmontail yawned.

"That's exactly what all of the fuss is about! She jumped onto the Great Rock, of all places!" Mudfoot growled softly, rolling his eyes.

"While I can see the error made, I can look past that, and see that she had good intentions, as well as her fault." Salmonfur rasped.

Larkpaw nodded gratefully toward Salmonfur, and started gathering up the stray scraps of moss from the elder's nests.

"Just because you're Troutstar's niece doesn't mean that you can do whatever you like and get away with it." Mudfoot muttered quietly- but not quiet enough so that Larkpaw wouldn't hear. She lowered her head, ashamed. She nosed the scraps of moss together into a pile.

"Oh, come on Mudfoot. Don't be so harsh on her." Leaffur meowed, licking her paw and drawing it over her ear.

Larkpaw heard a thump, and she saw Stonetooth on the floor of the elder's den. He had landed face-first, and his leg was wrapped in a piece of the lichen hanging from the den entrance.

Larkpaw rushed over towards Stonetooth.

"Are you ok, Stonetooth?!" Larkpaw mewled, helping Stonetooth up.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Stonetooth gave his chest fur a quick lick. "But it's you that you should be worried about!"

"Uh... About that..." Larkpaw muttered.

"I heard already, Larkpaw." Stonetooth playfully rolled his eyes, and gave her a gentle cuff on the ear. "What were you thinking!? That's disrespectful, not to mention it made us look bad."

Larkpaw lowered her head, waiting Stonetooth to give her a lecture. She didn't get what she expected, though.

"I can help you with the elder's den. You don't deserve the punishment- not that I'm saying this is a punishment, guys- you had good intentions." Stonetooth meowed, looking at the elders, and starting to nose the pile of dirty moss toward the entrance of the den.

Larkpaw shook her head no. "Sorry, but it's my job. I appreciate the help, but you don't have to."

Stonetooth sighed. "Fine. But if you need any help, just ask."

Larkpaw nodded, and got back to work cleaning the elder's den and checking them for ticks.