[center][h3][u]Snowpaw[/u][/h3][/center]

[i]The rush of cold water tugged pleasantly against Snowpaw's fur. Her powerful legs pushed forcefully against the calm flow of the river, propelling her towards the shore. Her pelt soaked and dripping, she emerged from the water feeling fresh and exercised. 

The day was bright, sunny. Her clanmates were roosted lazily upon the Sunningrocks. At this precise moment in time, they belonged to Riverclan, but what the stone colored cats didn't know couldn't hurt them. 

Sandfire, a pretty ginger brown warrior, narrowed her eyes at Snowpaw's arrival. Snowpaw had always had the prickling suspicion that Sandfire mistrusted her. The she-cat, a devoted follower of the Warrior Code, seemed to, at times, doubt where Snowpaw's loyalties lay. Still, she flicked her an ear in greeting and Snowpaw meowed what she hoped was a friendly sounding hello.

She settled herself on the Sunningrocks next to Sandfire, not quite sure of her decision as she did so. It didn't make sense. As often as possible, Snowpaw avoided placing herself close to Clanmates whom she suspected despised her. 

Just then, the pathetic mewling of struggling kits pierced the air around them.

[b]Pebblekit and Smallkit,[/b] Snowpaw thought, as the  matted heads of two small bundles floated into the view of the sunning cats. She had never seen either kit, but her gut told her that both the drowning little ones were her half-siblings.

Beside her Sandfire's eyes narrowed. Snowpaw was horrified to hear a voice very unlike Sandfire's come from the she-cat's mouth.

"Will you save them? Or leave them? Where do your loyalties lie?"

"Loyalties?!" Snowpaw mewed, shocked. Surely the lives of two kits were more important than her loyalty to the Clan. Sandfire and the cats around her nodded solemnly, their faces impassive, dark, cold.

Snowpaw's ears flattened against her head. The cry of the kits was becoming louder, more desperate. 

Whispered doubts burst forth from the cats around her. The air had become chilly, unfriendly, and nipped uncomfortably at the tips of Snowpaw's paws. 

Finally, she could take it no more. Bounding forward, she dived headfirst into the now murky and rushing water of the river. In turns, she snatched and dragged each kit back to shore, and when finally both were safe, licked them vigorously so that the water they had swallowed was coughed back up in tiny hiccuping meows. 

"You don't belong here," A voice purred in her ear darkly, "Leave. Clan traitor. Blood betrayer. Code cheater."[/i]
[hr]
Snowpaw woke with a start, her claws dug deeply into the bedding of her nest. Glancing around her hesitantly, she checked to make sure no other apprentice had been awoken by her struggling. Feeling frustrated and frightened, she slinked out of the apprentice den quietly, desperately desiring fresh air and repose away from that terrible dream.

[center][h3][u]Sandfire||Bravefeather[/u][/h3][/center]

Sandfire yowled frustratedly as a paw prodded her side roughly, rousing her out of a pleasant dream. She had been dreaming about catching the biggest squirrel in the forest, a juicy, red pelted, strapping creature, who was bounding excitedly from tree to tree. Sandfire had been, unrealistically, flying through the forest hunting the animal down. 

She looked up angrily into the face of her mellow, green-eyed, brother Bravefeather, who purred amusedly at the sight of her shivering, indignant whiskers. 

"Rise and shine," He meowed, pushing her gently again.

"I know," She snapped irritably, rising to her feet and shaking her short, glossy pelt out. The two cats stared at each for a moment, before Sandfire broke out into a gentle and affectionate purr, reaching out to give her brother a friendly lick between the ears.

It was hard to stay mad at Bravefeather. They were, in many ways, opposites, and Bravefeather helped to balance out Sandfire at times. The two cats accompanied each other outside the warrior den.

Sandfire spared a fleeting glance towards the medicine cat den, where Mallownose rested. Her paws prickled with something, and she looked away quickly.

"So," she meowed, "What's on the agenda for today?"