"Yes.  They turned out to be Mistyfoot's, and most of RiverClan was suspicious that we'd been trying to steal them even though we nearly drowned ourselves rescuing them.  But eventually they were convinced.  They told us about how the river was poisoned, since we could see how skinny they were - RiverClan is normally the best-fed out of any Clan - and we offered to hunt for them a little in ThunderClan's territory.  But we were caught before too long and had to stop."  Fireheart's expression is more than a little sour.

"Caught by?"

"It was Cloudpaw to begin with, but since he was only a kit at the time I suppose the relevant thing is that Tigerclaw followed him."

"And they didn't approve?"

"Well, it was against the warrior code."

"Hunting for other clans in a bad spot is?"

"Yes.  It's an important rule; it's also the one that prevents warriors and apprentices from only hunting for themselves without feeding our elders or kits.  So Graystripe and I had to live like apprentices for a while as punishment."

"What does living as an apprentice consist of?"

"Having to do chores like taking care of the elders' bedding, not being able to leave camp without permission, sleeping in the apprentice den.  It's not a bad life but it's.  Humiliating, for a warrior."

"Why aren't apprentices allowed to leave without permission?"

"Because they're not fully trained and it's dangerous outside of camp?  Or they might be needed for something, and if they're out where no cat knows where they are then it's a pain in the tail to go looking for them.  Adults are better at knowing when there's work to be done."

"Okay."

"After that, the river was still flooded, and it blocked the way to Fourtrees, so a few days before the Gathering Bluestar sent Tigerclaw and Longtail and me to see if there was a way to cross.  There wasn't, but in trying to find that out Tigerclaw had me try and cross the stream on a very narrow branch, and I fell in and probably would have died if Longtail hadn't pulled me out.  I don't think it was planned in advance but it did seem like he saw the opportunity and decided to take advantage."

"Do you want a bridge over the river too?"

"Well it's not flooded now."

"...yes, but it might be again in the future..."

"From what the elders said I think it was a really unusually bad year.  But I'll - ask Bluestar."

"How do you normally get across, just jumping?"

"It's usually very narrow; there are places we can just step over."

"Neat.

Hey, uh, totally unrelated question."

"Yes?"

"How do you know about tigers and leopards? I can't rule out that they live around here but in most ways the ecology doesn't seem like a tiger- or leopard-having ecology."

"There are stories about them.  I've never met one."

"I wonder where the stories come from. I suppose someone could have been to a zoo at some point."

"What is a zoo."