"Woohoooo! It's MORNING! Yeah!" Fuzzykit burst out of the nursery, and into the center of TreeClan's camp, doing a series of jumps and twists. "Morning, morning, MORNING!"

      Around her, cats were emerging from their dens, some curling their tails up in amusement, others yawning and scowling. Fuzzykit saw Spottedstar getting up from his nest in the Kit Tree, a tree in camp that was so easy to climb that kits could climb it, under their mothers' watchful eyes.

      Fuzzykit bounded up to the Kit Tree and jumped into its lowest branches. "Hi, Spottedstar," she mewed brightly.

      The spotted tom looked down at the fuzzy white kit. "Hi, Fuzzykit."

      Fuzzykit was about to ask if she could join the dawn patrol when her mother, Snowtail, and her sister, Moonkit, bounded up underneath her.

      "Fuzzykit, come down here right now!" Snowtail hissed. "You woke everyone in camp up with all that yowling!"

      "Including me," Moonkit mewed sulkily.

      Fuzzykit jumped down to join her mother and sister. While Snowtail washed her, Fuzzykit watched the clearing. Firepaw and Barkpaw got ready to leave with the dawn patrol; Lionfur organized patrols near the Kit Tree; Berrypelt emerged from the elder's den and yowled nonsense words; Patchtail treated Runningpaw, who had a thorn stuck in his pad.

      "Let all cats old enough to climb trees gather here beneath the Highlog for a Clan meeting!" Spottedstar yowled from the Highlog, which also served as his den, though he liked to sleep in the Kit Tree.

      Fuzzykit raced toward the Highlog. She blinked, confused, when her mother didn't try to stop her, just nudged Moonkit forward.

      "I have a ceremony to complete before the dawn patrol leaves. Actually, two ceremonies. Fuzzykit, Moonkit, come here." Spottedstar beckoned with his tail.

      Fuzzykit didn't dare believe what she was hearing. She bounded forward until she was under the Highlog.

      Spottedstar started speaking again. "Moonkit, from this moment on, you will be called Moonpaw. Snowtail, even though you are her mother, you will be Moonpaw's mentor. Share your loyalty and determination with her." Fuzzykit was surprised at how calm Moonpaw looked as she touched noses with Snowtail.

      Now Spottedstar was speaking to her. "Fuzzykit, from this moment on, you will be known as Fuzzypaw. Windflight, I know you will mentor Fuzzypaw well." Windflight came up and touched noses with Fuzzykit, now Fuzzypaw.

      Fuzzypaw! I'm an apprentice! Fuzzypaw quivered with excitement. Unable to hold it in any longer, she bunched her hind legs and gave a flying leap, her biggest one yet, almost two tail lengths high!

      "Moonpaw! Fuzzypaw! Moonpaw! Fuzzypaw!" The Clan called out their new names. Fuzzypaw's tail was high in the air as she padded up to the dawn patrol, Windflight among them. She was a tiny bit disappointed that she'd miss Firepaw and Barkpaw's warrior ceremonies, but she was excited that she'd be joining the dawn patrol.

      The dawn patrol pushed through the thorns woven into the bushes between the trunks of the trees that served as the warriors' and apprentices' dens. Fuzzypaw loved the way the thorns tugged at her pelt as she exited camp for the first time.

      She saw the Training Oak, the tree where most of the apprentices' training took place. She started to bound up to it, but Windflight stopped her with a flick of her tail.

      "Remember, Fuzzypaw, this is a patrol," Windflight reminded her.

      The patrol trotted along until they came to the river that flowed across their territory. TreeClan cats could swim better than ThunderClan, WindClan, and ShadowClan, but they didn't like it that much. They only hunted in the river when they absolutely had to.

      "Cling onto my fur," mewed Windflight. "We're swimming across."

      Swimming?! Oh, no! Fuzzypaw groaned inwardly. She reluctantly dug her claws into her mentor's pelt and rode across the river.

      The current swept the patrol onto a little island covered with long, dusty, dry grass.

      "That's Snakefields," Windflight meowed in Fuzzypaw's ear. "It's kind of dangerous, and you have to watch out for vipers, but it's a good place to hunt mice."

      "Sunstripe, you watch for snakes while we patrol the RiverClan boundary," meowed Lionfur to Sunstripe. He bounded away, signaling with his tail for Windflight and Fuzzypaw to follow.

      "Do you smell anything?" Windflight asked Fuzzypaw as they approached a huge, old, flat-topped Twoleg den. Fuzzypaw opened her mouth to taste the air.

      She immediately regretted it, wrinkling her nose and exclaiming, "Fish! YUCK!"

      Windflight's tail curled up in amusement. "And which Clan would that be?"

      "Um..." Fuzzypaw hesitated, unsure of the answer. "Rrr... RiverClan?"

      Windflight nodded and opened her mouth to speak, but Lionfur interrupted her. "Windflight, I've found a rogue's scent trail, but I'm not sure whether it leads into or out of our territory."

      Windflight went to help Lionfur, leaving Fuzzypaw alone in the dry, dusty grass of Snakefields. She decided she might as well make use of her time. She listened as hard as she could and managed to pick up a mouse's footsteps near the Twoleg den. She dropped into the hunter's crouch, trying to do it right, and crept up on the mouse, staying as silent as she could. The mouse came into view. She bunched her hind legs, preparing to pounce on the mouse, but suddenly it heard something and ran away.

      Fuzzypaw sat up. "Mouse dung!" she muttered. She barely had time to wonder what had scared the mouse away before Sunstripe yowled a warning.

      "SNAKE!"