Stormeye led the patrol towards the IceClan border. Her apprentice, Otterpaw, was leaping on every fallen leaf he saw, hissing, "Stupid IceClan! Stupid IceClan! I can't wait to give them a surprise and leave them licking their wounds!" Otterpaw's fur was bristling, but his eyes were bursting with energy. 

Sharpjaw chuckled, his sharp jaw bobbing up and down. "That's the spirit, young one!" He placed a paw on Otterpaw's shoulder. Otterpaw looked up at him with wide, determined eyes.

"I can't wait to show my claws!" Otterpaw declared. He shredded the leaf he was standing on, and he bared his tiny teeth. 

Stormeye gazed at him with her dark-blue eyes. "No, Otterpaw," She mewed sternly, "we are not going to fight. We are marking our borders with peace. We don't want another battle; do you want to see our clan, full of blood and tears, grieving over dead cats and at the same time, watching your clan get weaker and weaker? When the other Clans find out that FlameClan is weak, they will keep on attacking us until FlameClan is extinct." She paced along the border, watching the other cats marking the border.

"But what if the other clans are friendly? They probably won't attack us," Otterpaw protested, flexing his tiny paws.

"That was a suggestion, Otterpaw! Hurry and mark the borders!" Stormeye sighed.

"Halt! Who goes there!" A sharp mew jerked the partrol from their duty. They looked and saw a IceClan patrol: Cinderash, Swoopleap, Owlcry. Owlcry had noticed them, mewing Stormeye's clan in disgust. 

"What are you doing on the border? FlameClan always tries to steal our prey, isn't it?" Owlcry challenged. Stormeye knew he wanted to show off his battle skills. But her skills were stronger, she fought him before. Owlcry then noticed Stormeye in the patrol.

"Oh." His gaze fell.

"Wanting to start a fight, right?" Otterpaw sank to his paws, ready to pounce.

"Don't, Otterpaw! Remember my words! And you know, I beat Owlcry before!" Stormeye snapped. She turned to face Owlcry. "You should also know that having a fight can weaken your strength, personality, and wisdom. You need to save these traits, and if you don't care, you are known as a failure who only knows victory and violence." Stormeye lashed her tail.

Sharpjaw nodded. "Yeah, all of the cats in this world have these traits. We must respect them, and use them wisely. We must use these traits to serve our clan." 

Smokefur was eyeing the patrol strangely.

Cinderash was looking uncomforble. "Um, Owlcry, these FlameClan cats are right. You can't just leap into battle without these traits. If you do that, and if you don't think about what you're doing, you are just - broken. You can't just accuse them from crossing the border if it didn't happen. We need to believe in StarClan, and hope that they will guide your path." She flicked her tail.

Swoopleap nodded her head in agreement. "Listen to them, Owlcry. We are several moons older then you, you know we are wiser than you."  

Owlcry shrank to his knees. "Fine," he hissed. "I'm going to ask Coldstar about this." He stood up, marked the border, and bounded back into the trees. Before he disapeared, he yowled at the FlameClan cats, "this is not over yet!"

Swoopleap and Cinderash faced the patrol. "Thank you for teaching Owlcry about these hero traits. He always loves violence, and he is young. Thank you for teaching him a lesson, Stormeye, Sharpjaw." 

"It is a pleasure to help." Stormeye dipped her head.

As the IceClan cats headed back into the trees, Stormeye noticed that Otterpaw was looking rather disapointed than triumphant. 

"I wanted a fight..." Otterpaw muttered.

"You can fight your littermates at camp." Sharpjaw replied. 

"But I want to kill!" Otterpaw objected, holding his paws up in dismay.

"You can kill prey." Smokefur told him, licking his lips.

"But I want to-" Otterpaw yelled.

"No buts!" Stormeye interuppted, continueing padding along the tree-path. The tree-path led to their camp. 

Otterpaw was acting strangely- wanting to kill, battle. What was wrong with him?