“I thought you might want to share,” she mewed. Was this her way of apologizing? Lionpaw doubted it. He suspected that his sister didn’t realize how bossy she could be. But he was grateful anyway. However alone he felt, knowing about the prophecy, he had to remember that Hollypaw and Jaypaw shared it too. As long as he had his littermates, he would never truly be alone.

“Thanks,” he purred, settling down to eat.

Birchfall and Whitewing were sharing prey with Brackenfur, while Thornclaw and Spiderleg stretched out nearby, their meals already finished. This was the first time since the journey to the mountains that the Clan had eaten together, and Lionpaw began to feel more at ease. Nothing had really changed, he told himself hopefully.

“So how were the Tribe?” Firestar asked Brambleclaw.

The ThunderClan deputy swallowed a mouthful of fresh-kill. “They’ve a hard leaf-bare ahead of them,” he meowed. “But I think they’re going to be okay.” Lionpaw narrowed his eyes. Was his father as confident as he sounded?

“Do you think they’ll be able to defend the borders you made?” Thornclaw asked.

Squirrelflight shrugged. “We trained them as well as we could.”

“Which will be very well, if I know you,” Graystripe chipped in.

“They stand more of a chance now than they did when we first got there,” Brambleclaw meowed. “It was hard for them to get used to the idea of marking such distinct borders around a portion of where they hunted before, but I hope they understand how important it is for them to fight for what they have.”

“And we certainly taught the invaders that they can’t help themselves to anything they want,” Squirrelflight added.

“Were many cats injured in the battle?” Sandstorm asked.

“Nothing serious,” Brambleclaw informed her. “But it was a hard fight.”

Which you would never have won without me. Lionpaw waited for his father to tell the Clan how well he had done.

“All the apprentices fought like true warriors.” Brambleclaw glanced at Lionpaw. “They were a credit to our Clan.”

Lionpaw’s pads pricked with his frustration. “Isn’t he going to mention how I fought?” he hissed under his breath.

“Shh!” Hollypaw warned him. “It’s best if they don’t know. We mustn’t draw attention to ourselves.”

Lionpaw bit angrily into the thrush. What’s the point of being so powerful if no cat ever knows? He found himself half wishing for another battle this moon, so he could show his Clanmates just what sort of warrior he was going to be. The other Clans had better watch out then, he thought darkly.

Paws weary, muscles still aching from the journey, Lionpaw crept into his nest. Just one long sleep and he’d feel more like his old self. He spiraled down into the clean, dry moss and closed his eyes.

“You’re not going straight to sleep, are you?” Poppypaw called across the den.