Squirrelpaw and Leafpaw were sisters, and their father was Firestar. Squirrelpaw did everything first. "Me first!" she shouted, every single time.
"Fetch fresh moss for the elders," said Firestar. "The best moss grows under the old oak." "Me first!" said Squirrelpaw, and she was gone in a flash of ginger.
Squirrelpaw was first up the bank. First across the log. First into the big pile of red leaves. "Me first!" Leaves flew everywhere.
Leafpaw walked slowly. She sniffed a yellow flower. She nibbled a little green leaf. She looked under every bush, as if the forest were telling her secrets.
At the old oak, Squirrelpaw leaped for the softest moss. "Me fi— OW!" A bramble thorn was stuck in her paw. She sat down hard and could not run at all.
Leafpaw arrived last. She looked at the paw, then pulled the thorn out with her teeth, quick and gentle. Then she pressed a cool dock leaf on it. "I saw these on the way," she said.
Together they peeled the soft moss off the roots and rolled it into two neat bundles. It took a long time with one sore paw.
On the way home, Squirrelpaw walked slowly too. She saw a shiny beetle. She smelled the yellow flowers. "Did all this stuff grow here today?" she asked. Leafpaw purred.
Firestar met them at the camp. "Who found the dock leaf?" he asked. "Me fir—" said Squirrelpaw. Then she stopped. "Leafpaw. Leafpaw first."
That night they shared one nest, warm and tangled. "Me first," whispered Leafpaw. And she fell asleep first.
