the sky was a stormy gray as the apprentices stepped onto the stonehill. small rocks tumbled down and settled down at the foot of the pile.

"shorepaw," raystar said. "are you ready to become a full warrior of tideclan?"

"i am," shorepaw replied solemnly.

raystar faced the crowd. "starstrike, is your apprentice, shorepaw, ready to become a warrior of tideclan?"

"yes, raystar," starstrike responded.

"then may shorepaw be blessed by sunclan under her new name, shorewave. may our ancestors give her cool waters, warm sand, and plentiful prey for her effort."

lilypaw looked happily at shorewave. "congrats," she whispered, as raystar continued, "lilypaw, are you ready to become a full warrior of tideclan?"

lilypaw was vibrating with excitement. "yes!" she replied.

raystar studied her for a moment before turning to the gathered cats. "streamsnap, is your apprentice ready to become a true warrior of tideclan?"

"yes, she has learned much in these short moons." for some reason, streamsnap's tail swished in annoyance. what was up with that?

"--under her new name, lilyfrost. may our ancestors bless her with cool waters, warm sands, anc plentiful prey for her efforts."

"shorewave! lilyfrost! shorewave! lilyfrost!" the clan chanted the littermates' names into the sky. they seemed to swirl into the sky, wisps of purples and tans and shades of gray.

"clan meeting dismissed!" raystar yowled, leaping off the Stonehill in one graceful bound.

lilyfrost hurried to streamsnap. "streamsnap!" she exclaimed. "i'm--"

"i need to talk with you and shorewave," he interrupted. his gray tail continued to flick on the sand.

shorewave trotted over upon hearing her name. she had been talking with lilyfrost's and her parents, flamenight and featherdawn.

streamsnap leaned in closer to them. "lilyfrost, i--"

featherdawn looked over at the group curiously. her eyes darkened and she nudged flamenight and said something. they hurried over.

featherdawn inhaled and exhaled. "your father isn't flamenight, lilyfrost."

"it's streamsnap."