The air was crisp, and the softly rustling leaves whispered to him as he stepped lightly down the path. It was his first time out of camp alone since his naming ceremony, and he intended to enjoy it for as long as possible until another cat called him to fetch something or complete some menial task. Lostpaw paused to arch his back and scratch against a rough pine tree, and then curled up at the base to pick the burrs from his pelt. Once he spat out the last one, he stretched and stood, a bubble of excitement in his chest at the opportunity to explore ThunderClan territory. He started back on the path, then decided against it, wanting to blaze his own trail. As he shouldered his way through a scraggly patch of brambles he felt as if nothing could bring him down.

The morning chill began to fade as sunhigh approached, leaving him in a state of warm, hazy sleepiness. His pawsteps were growing heavy, and he was being careless. The newleaf sun had lulled him into a blissful lack of wariness, so that he did not notice when he blundered directly in to another cat's hunt – which was a big taboo among the Clans. He blinked and glanced up, confused and embarrassed, when he noticed something. Something bad.

The cats whose hunt he had just ruined, he did not recognize. They smelled… different, and the land upon which he was standing was different than that of most ThunderClan territory: marshy and wet, with the sound of buzzing insects more prominent. Oh StarClan.

These were ShadowClan cats.