Brightpaw padded through the territory a little behind her mentor. Amberpaw's words flashed through her head.

I can't do it! I can't be a warrior! What could Amberpaw mean? When Brightpaw went over to her sister, she expected her to say that she had a thorn in her paw, that her stomach hurt, or that her mentor was grumpy. She never imagined that she would be unhappy with being a warrior! Hmmm... She thought. Maybe she could be a medicine cat! Amberpaw had gone into the medicine cat den often when she was a kit. Frostfoot seemed to love her. The normally grouchy medicine cat's mood often seemed to lift whenever Amberpaw had visited him to talk about herbs and other things. It would be wonderful if she became the medicine cat because she already seemed to know as much about herbs as a medicine cat apprentice would. Besides, didn't Silvernight say that the medicine cat looked for a new apprentice whenever there were kits? And if that happened, I would have two cats of my kin in high, special postions: Amberpaw as medicine cat and my mother as... Brightkit's thoughts drifted again back to her dream. No! She thought fiercly. Never! I could never want that, knowing what would happen to so many cats... A new thought sprang to her mind. Maybe I should tell Frostfoot. Perfect! The elderly medicine cat would know what to do. He dealt with dreams and visions along with his healing of the clan, didn't he? As soon as she got back to camp she would tell him...

Nightshadow had just said something. Her thoughts had sidetracked her so much, she had kept walking but stopped listening. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"Brightpaw?" Nightshadow prompted. "Did you hear me?"

"Ummm...sorry, no. Can you repeat what you said...please?"

Nightshadow sighed. "I said, 'What can you scent?' "

The other mentors and apprentices had stopped under a large oak and were now waiting for Brightkit to speak.

"Uhhhh...mouse...I think. And...ooh squirrel. And also...ummm..." She paused for a moment, concentrating harder. She wrinkled her nose. "There's a really icky smell. Like...I don't know. It smells really bad though."

Nightshadow nodded in approval.

"Very good. That scent is the Twolegs. They have no fur, no claws, and the walk on only two paws. They keep kittypets - cats who are usually happy to live with Twolegs - in their dens and in their...what do those kittypets call them..."

"Gardens." Flameclaw broke in. "Two of them. One in front of their den and one behind. They're usually surrounded by fences. Sometimes they keep dogs too. Dogs-" He continued before Shimmerpaw could ask a question. "Are ferocious creatures who attack cats. They can be huge, they can be small, but they're always a threat to us."

"That's not true." A she-cat's voice meowed from the back. Birdflight. She padded through the cluster of cats to face Flameclaw, a look of defiance in her eyes as she unsheathed her claws, facingFlameclaw, who backed away with a shocked and kind of scared look in his eyes.

"How do you know, Birdflight?" Whitepaw asked, curious.

She responded, not taking her glare off of Flameclaw.

"Because I once lived with one. I once was a kittypet."