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River as a New-Claw

  River awoke early the next morning, and Crow was already gone. He figured she must have been taken to the moon passage.

  Not looking forward to that, he thought.

  There were many more cats around the den than River was used to, to the point where he ended up having to step around still-sleeping bodies to get to the entrance. When he did push his head through the ivy, Snowpelt was already making his way over. He looked as if he'd been up for hours.

  The black tom quickly spotted him too, and slowed to allow him time to come outside.

  "Morning, New-Claw."

  "Good morning, Snowpelt."

  "Since it's your first day, I figure we'll just start with escorting Poppydawn." He nodded toward the molly, who was sitting outside the healers' cave fiddling with the ties on her pouch. "Does that sound alright?"

  Oh great, I'm getting trained by those two together, he thought, but the only thing he said was,

  "Sure."

  As Poppydawn finished securing her herb pouch, Snowpelt and River padded over and sat beside her.

  "You alright with starting training a day early, Poppy?" River could hear the smile in Snowpelt's voice. He rolled his eyes to himself.

  "Oh, sure. So long as you stick around for tomorrow's training too."

  "That's only fair."

  Poppydawn lowered her voice, adding, "I'm sure Bluetail will be grateful he's being watched more closely, too."

  Snowpelt didn't care to match her tone. "That molly worries too much, honestly. He's a strong kid. So what if he gets into some trouble? He's never been badly hurt by it."

  River's fur was hot with embarrassment, despite him agreeing with the tom. You don't have to talk about me like I'm not here, he thought. He didn't say anything, though. He did his best to ignore the resulting conversation about him, instead simply trodding behind as the pair made their way to the Home's back entrance.

  Most new-claws would have to be taught how to balance on dead limbs in order to exit the camp this way, but River was already well-acquainted with this fallen tree. He trotted past his trainers, easily weaving himself through its branches and onto the main trunk before remembering that he was supposed to be ashamed of having snuck out as a kitten.

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