Now that that's settled, your journey shall begin!  Continue reading this chapter, and flip back to the reference pages (Pages 1 and 2) as needed, because you won't be seeing me any more.  Good luck, and May StarClan Light Your Path to greatness... not the other way around.

  Early new-leaf light streams through the willow branches that tightly encircle the nursery.  You lift your head up and prick your ears, but you have just missed your father, Badgarblaze, on the dawn patrol.  You flick your tail in frustration, and lay back down.  The sunlight is hitting your face, making falling back asleep difficult, so you roll over to face the soft shadows of the forest.  Half-way through your turn, though, you crash into your orange tabby brother, Emberkit.  "Oh, Emberkit, you fat furball!" you think, until you remember that... "Emberkit's back!!" you squeal, waking up the other kits in the nursery.

  You see, Emberkit was confined to the medicine den for the last two moons after a terrible fox encounter.  In fact, your brother would be fresh-kill for that fox if you hadn't saved his life.  You remember the day all to clearly:

  It was the day Jaggedflower's kits were born.  Your mother had shooed you out of the nest to give Jaggedflower's some space, and you, Emberkit, and your sister, Fogkit, sat right outside the den, listening to Brightpoppy, your mother, talk to the medicine cat.  "Something isn't right." Brightpoppy cried when Jaggedflower's started coughing.  "She needs borage for her fever and to feed her kits, or this could all end very bad." Sharpleaf, the medicine cat, yowled back.  Upon hearing this, you and Emberkit ran into the forest to search for borage, but Fogkit ran to the medicine cat den.  She hadn't heard Sharpleaf's smaller hiss: "But, just my luck, I happen to be out of borage!".  While Fogkit was searching in the wrong spot, you and Emberkit had found the patch of borage your father showed you only a few sunrises ago, and snipped off some leaves.  It wasn't that easy, though; there was a fox who hadn't had anything to eat today, and tiny cats were the perfect snack!  It grabbed Emberkit, who was about the size of the fox's paw, and had bitten fairly deep into Emberkit's neck when you came to the rescue.  You dropped your borage and ran up at the fox's face, slashing it's nose, then it's eyes with tiny claws.  It worked though - the fox ran all the way to the stream to rinse out his scratches.  Emberkit was still awake, but in a huge amount of pain.  You put him on your back and, having Emberkit as the smallest in the litter, made it an easy job.  You also brought back the borage to help out with Jaggedflower's kitting.  You were a hero!!!

  And now Emberkit is as good as new, and just in time, you remember with a start.  Today you and your littermates will ever made apprentices!  The whole Clan is up now - the dawn patrol has returned, and Maplestar has just called a Clan meeting.  It's time!!

  Turn to Page 4: A Tradition-Breaking Surprise