Silverpaw blinked her eyes open when sunlight flickered into the apprentice den and she stood up stretched.

 Her teal gaze looked at the other sleeping apprentices, Fawnpaw snoozing besides her brother and Silverpaw's siblings were snoring softly. 

She shot sleeping Flowerpaw a resentful look before quietly padding outside into ThunderClan camp.

 I can finally explore camp now that I'm free from the nursery! she thought excitedly.

 Silverpaw shook out her pelt and walked around camp observing her clanmates and greeting them. 

The two queens, Meadowfur and Embertail, were laying in the warm sunlight.

 "Morning Silverpaw!", Embertail called out to her, "How was your first day as an apprentice?" 

"It was great! Swiftstripe is a fantastic mentor!" Silverpaw replied happily to the expecting queen. 

"That's good" Embertail smiled and turned back to Meadowfur. 

She then continued to journey around camp, catching up with cats she barely talked to. 

Eagleflame, ThunderClan's loyal deputy, was organizing patrols and the elders were telling stories and gossip to each other.

 Swiftstripe then emerged from the warriors den and she trotted over to her apprentice. "Ready to train today Silverpaw?" she asked her.

 "I was wondering on the way maybe we can explore the gorge?" Silverpaw told the cream warrior. 

"Sure but then I want you to work hard during training. I want to see a fierce cat out there in Sandy Hollow" 

"Yes of course Swiftstripe!" the black striped she-cat grinned eagerly.

 Her mentor stretched and beckoned Silverpaw to follow her through the thorn tunnel.

   It was a beautiful day of new-leaf and Silverpaw enjoyed the pink blossoms falling from trees and the tall, forest green grass tickling her paw pads as she treaded through the bracken alongside Swiftstripe. 

They walked until they arrived at a clearing, where it the abruptly dropped off into the valley below.

Silverpaw stared at it in awe.

She always remembered the elders telling her stories about the Bramble Valley when she was only a couple moons old.

Silverkit was sitting besides her littermates, watching Hickorypad, one of the elders, with wide eyes as she listened to his story.

"Once, many, many seasons ago, StarClan was enraged with the four clans, for they were constantly battling and breaking the warrior code. ThunderClan was going to cause one of the bloodiest battles when, suddenly, StarClan ripped open the earth forming a great and dangerous gorge through part of ThunderClan's territory. The leader of ThunderClan realized that their ancestors no longer wanted the clans to battle and soon, peace settled throughout the forest territory, once again."

The silver furred she-cat knew the gorge got the name Bramble Valley since there were deadly brambles and thorn bushes at the bottom.

Some say that the brambles were covering the land above a wide arrange of tunnels below.

Of course, Silverpaw was pretty sure there were no mysterious tunnels the weaved their way below the valley. 

"You have to be very careful when you hunt or pass by here, Silverpaw." Swiftstripe meowed solemnly and her light blue eyes darkened. "I'm not sure anyone will ever survive a fall from there."

Silverpaw met Swiftstripe's gaze and nodded.

The cream she-cat turned and said, "C'mon Silverpaw. Let's head to Sandy Hollow."

The black pawed she-cat took one last look at the drop-off and followed her mentor once agin into the bracken.

Silverpaw leapt on her mentor's back and hung on her pelt.

Swiftstripe rolled over trying to shake the white and silver apprentice off.

Silverpaw went flying into the sand but she quickly got to her paws, shaking her fur.

Her mentor took this as an advantage and lunged at Silverpaw.

Silverpaw yowled in shock as her mentor pinned her down, grinning.

The black striped apprentice suddenly kicked upward, hitting her mentor in the underbelly.

The brown and cream warrior was soon pinned by Silverpaw.

"Well done, Silverpaw!" Swiftstripe stood up and licked the sand off her pelt.

Silverpaw blushed with pride.

"Thank you."

Her mentor smiled and said, "Well we better get back to camp."

Silverpaw nodded, still grinning, and trailed behind her mentor back to ThunderClan camp.