Dawn

“Because then there would be no cat left to look after Birchkit.

You must have courage, Ferncloud.”

Leafpaw looked up. Cody flattened her ears. She had not met the ThunderClan leader yet.

“Ferncloud, I’m so sorry about Hollykit,” Firestar went on.

“We will make sure Birchkit survives.”

Ferncloud stared up at him. “Birchkit must survive,” she hissed.

Cinderpelt placed a poppy seed on the ground beside her.

“Here,” she mewed. “Eat this; it will help soothe your pain.”

Ferncloud looked uncertainly at the seed.

Cody stretched forward and sniffed the black speck. “Eat it,” she advised, pushing it nearer to Ferncloud with her paw.

“You need to save all your strength for the kit you have left.”

Firestar watched her curiously. “Sandstorm told me Leafpaw had brought a kittypet back with her. Is that you?”

“Yes. I’m Cody. Come, Ferncloud, eat the poppy seed.”

“You can see that the Clan cannot offer you much as a place of safety,” Firestar apologized. “But it’s even more dangerous for you to travel alone. When I have a free warrior, you’ll be escorted home. Until then, you can stay with us.”

“Thank you,” Cody murmured.

Firestar’s gazed flicked back to Ferncloud. “Will she be all right?”

“She just needs rest,” Cinderpelt told him.

“And Birchkit?”

“He always was the strongest of the three.” Cinderpelt bent down to lick the small scrap of fur that had begun to knead his mother’s belly in search of milk.

“Do your best.” Firestar turned and padded away.

Cody’s shoulders drooped. “It’s hard to believe your father was ever a kittypet,” she muttered to Leafpaw.

“I never really think about it,” she admitted. “It’s not as if I knew him back then. I was born after he became leader.”

She looked at Cody. “Will you be all right, staying here?”

“Of course.” Cody sounded surprised that Leafpaw should have any doubts. Sweeping her tail gently along Leafpaw’s flank, she turned and crouched down beside Ferncloud. “You two go,” she meowed to Leafpaw and Cinderpelt. “You have many cats to look after. There is little I can do for the rest of the Clan, but at least I can take care of Ferncloud.”

Cinderpelt looked uncertainly at the kittypet, but Cody reassured her. “I’ll make sure she eats the seed,” she promised. “And while she sleeps I can look after Birchkit. He’ll be missing his sister.”

“Very well,” Cinderpelt agreed. “But call me if Ferncloud becomes more distressed.”

Cody nodded, and Leafpaw followed Cinderpelt out of the den, glancing back just once to blink appreciatively at her friend.

The Clan was huddled in small groups on the exposed flank of the rock, their faces grave. Leafpaw suddenly longed to run through the woods on her own. The Clan she had returned to seemed filled with more suffering than she could ease, and she wanted to be away from it, if only for a short while.

She padded down the slope toward the trees. Pushing through the undergrowth she inhaled the earthy odors of the forest, drinking them in gratefully. She detected the familiar smells of Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw, and when she put her head to one side to listen she heard their voices mewing urgently up ahead. Weaving through the bracken, she found them in a small clearing near the RiverClan border.

“I told Firestar we’d have to leave soon,” Brambleclaw was meowing. “We shouldn’t try to cross the mountains after the snow comes, and we’ll never make it to newleaf if we stay here.”

“But how do we know we should go through the mountains?” Squirrelpaw argued. “The sign never appeared when we were at the Great Rock. A warrior was meant to show us the way, but no warrior came!”

“With no sign, how do we know we’re meant to go at all?”

Brambleclaw muttered. “Perhaps Midnight was wrong.”

“How could she be wrong?” Squirrelpaw mewed. “StarClan sent us to her!”

Leafpaw froze, her tail quivering. She closed her eyes, wishing for some sign that StarClan was listening, and then opened them again impatiently. Why was she being so feeble?

If StarClan had a sign they would send it. Until then, they would have to figure this out by themselves.

“Squirrelpaw?” she called. “Brambleclaw, it’s me.” She pushed through the bracken to join her Clanmates. The pair sprang away from each other and faced her warily.

Brambleclaw shifted his paws. “Did you hear what we were talking about?”

“Yes.”

“What do you think?” He stared at her. “Could Midnight have been wrong?”

Part of Leafpaw wanted Midnight to be wrong. She wanted to stay in the forest where she had been born. This was StarClan’s home, too. But why else would they have ordered Brambleclaw and the others to make such a dangerous journey? They would not have risked the cats’ lives for nothing.

“Is it StarClan you doubt or yourselves?” she murmured.

Brambleclaw wearily shook his head. “The journey was difficult enough. We didn’t think things would be even harder once we returned. We were so sure StarClan would show us the way, but they haven’t, and we can’t afford to wait. Taking the Clan away from their home is such a big responsibility…”