QUOTE : a wail sounded from behind Firestar. “Cinderpelt! Look at my paw!” “Great StarClan, what now?” the medicine cat muttered. Sorrelpaw, the smallest of the apprentices, lurched into the clearing on three legs, holding out her forepaw. “Look, Cinderpelt!” The medicine cat bent her head to examine the paw. Firestar could see that a thorn was driven deep into the pad. “Honestly, Sorrelpaw,” Cinderpelt mewed, “from the noise you were making I thought a fox must have bitten your paw off. It’s only a thorn.” “But it hurts!” the apprentice protested, her amber eyes wide. Cinderpelt tutted. “Lie down and hold your paw out.” Firestar watched as the medicine cat expertly gripped the shank of the thorn in her teeth and tugged it out. A gush of blood followed it. “It’s bleeding!” Sorrelpaw exclaimed. “So it is,” Cinderpelt agreed calmly. “Give it a good lick.” “Every cat picks up thorns now and again,” Firestar told the apprentice as her tongue rasped busily across her pad.