The Stream

Burntglare padded along the stream, sniffing the air cautiously for any sign of danger. He was taking his new apprentice, Cloverpaw, out of camp for the first time and it was an exciting moment for them both. Burntglare sat down a short ways away from the camp entrance and curled his tail impatiently, waiting for Cloverpaw so that they could begin really getting to know StreamClan's territory.

cloverpaw was excited. BUT NOT AS EXCITED AS SHE WAS DESCRIBED IN THE LAST PARAGRAPH. the mosquitoes were bugging her likw crazy!

"Alright!" meowed Burntglare, surprising himself with how chipper he sounded. "This is obviously the stream. It's an important landmark and border here, but that's not its only use.... Later on I'll teach you to hunt fish from it!" Burntglare smiled good-naturedly at the apprentice. "If in doubt, go to the river. For the most part it should tell you where to go in the territory, but eventually it becomes DuskClan's brook. You'll have to avoid that part." He continued walking along the river, glancing back at Cloverpaw and swiveling his ears subconsciously.

"But wait." Cloverpaw paused. "What'll happen if a StreamClan warrior goes fishin' but they actually go into the water, then accidentally come out on the other side because they are to far from the shore?" Cloverpaw sat down until burntglare finished his answer.

Burntglare smiled, amused by his apprentice's question. "Well in that case, it still would technically be trespassing. But as long as the cat didn't kill the prey in DuskClan territory and goes straight back over to StreamClan, it should be fine."

"WH-WH-WAIT! But what if there was a duskclan patrol and the warrior who fell in the river had like a squirrel that they caught before they fell in the river in there mouth, and they kept the squirrel in their mouth when they got to the other side. then the patrol like-like-like.." cloverpaw stammered. "like if the duskclan patrol saw the squirrel in the streamclan warrior's mouth and thought they caught it in duskclan territory, when really they had caught it in our territory all along?!" cloverpaw took a few breathes and continued, "then what would happen?"

Burntglare purred a rusty laugh. "I think you're over-thinking things! First of all StreamClan cats aren't often the ones to catch squirrels," he said with a still-amused smile. "You can leave that to DuskClan and BoulderClan. Second, it's pretty unlikely for anyone of StreamClan to fall in the river!" He paused for a moment, thinking more deeply about the situation. "But if it were to happen, it'd probably just be sorted out among the leaders. But maybe not! DuskClan might understand.... They sure wouldn't like falling in the river. They might sympathise."

"oh. hmmm..." a bright gleam appeared on cloverpaw's face. "hey! if anything goes wrong in the river and there's not many fish, than somebody will have to catch something else! like squirrels and chipmunks and goats!! Oh yes this is going to be brilliant! where can we find the fattest squirrels in streamclan?! burntglare, let's go! where should we start? huh?" cloverpaw looked around in amusement.

"Yes...." Burntglare meowed, slightly annoyed now with Cloverpaw's persistent questioning. "Around now: leaf-bare, the river freezes and fish are harder to come by. But there are usually a few water voles about that we can hunt. Or mice. Even birds. I am not a fan of squirrels, myself...." he replied. "But we aren't hunting yet. We still have to finish exploring the territory. C'mon, Cloverpaw, now I'll show you the training clearing. It's outside of the camp, and we'll be spending a lot of time there. It is definitely somewhere you should get familiar with."

"okay i guess that is also fun sort of!" cloverpaw replied. "lead the way, master!" he said playfuly.

"Sort of?" meowed Burntglare, smiling bemusedly. "That doesn't sound very enthusiastic." He continued in the direction of the training clearing, beckoning Cloverpaw with a swish of his tail. "Would you like to begin battle training when we arrive?" he asked.

"yes! that sounds very fun for real!"

"Awesome!" he purred, lashing his tail contentedly. "Let's go now, then!" Burntglare began a quick trot towards the training clearing.

(Continue in Training Clearing.)

Salixkit stiffened for a moment, then bounced along merrily. She thought back to the small argument she had with her sister. "I was just wondering... And my sis- I've heard that medicine cats can't have kits, right?" she asked, thinking back to when she was talking with Deerkit. "Sure, they can't have any affairs." Deerkit had agreed, listening to Salixkit half-heartedly. "Pff, like you would have an affair." Salixkit had snorted. Deerkit had ended their chat by giving her the evil eye.

Salixkit blinked. "Pff, rules..." she muttered under her rules, then glanced back up. "Well that's nice. Hey, what is that stuff? Do trees, like, heal us?" she asked, tilting her head as she stared down the bark he had stripped off the tree.

Salixkit frowned. "So you just rub the bark against your fur?" she asked. She inspected the wood again, her ears flicking. Thinking back to that no mate rule, Salixkit spoke up again, "Wait, why can't medicine cats have a mate? Leaders are allowed to have one, aren't they?"