"Ravenpaw, are you okay?"
The concerned voice rang out from behind the small black tomcat, cutting through the crisp night air. Ravenpaw, perching comfortably on the wide barn roof, turned around slightly and flashed a sad smile to the black and white tom standing in the barn window. "Yeah, Barley, I'll be there in a minute," he murmured, his voice barely audible. "I just had a bad dream and I need some fresh air."
The black tom gazed off into the distance, where two large stones jutted out of the rocky earth, reaching above even the trees. Highstones. Beyond those two stones lied an endless expanse of territory, but Ravenpaw would never know exactly what lied there. He vaguely remembered journeying there - once, when he was younger. He would probably never set foot on Highstones again.
"What was your nightmare about?" asked Barley, padding across the thin beams and settling down next to Ravenpaw, his amber eyes flashing with concern.
"It was about… Firestar," Ravenpaw choked out, wrapping his thin black tail tightly around him. "I had a dream… I think he's dead for real," he murmured.
Barley had met Firestar a few times, but had never really bonded with him as much as Ravenpaw. Nevertheless, he pressed his nose into the other tom's flank as a sign of comfort and murmured reassurance to his best friend. "It's all right. It was just a bad dream - I'm sure Firestar is fine."
Ravenpaw stared grimly into the distance, despair settling heavily into his heart like a stone. "Firestar appeared to me in my dream, though. I think he was talking to me from StarClan."
Barley blinked, realizing Ravenpaw was completely serious. "I… I'm sorry, Ravenpaw. I don't believe in StarClan, so I can't offer up reassurance about that that you'd believe, anyways."
"That's all right. I know someday…" Ravenpaw hesitated, swishing his tail and thinking. "I'm not sure if I'll go to StarClan or not. I'm not a ThunderClan cat anymore… my days of being a warrior are over. Do you think StarClan will accept me? Or will they push me away? What if I never see my friends again…?" Ravenpaw's words trailed off as he unsheathed his claws and dug them into the roof, trying to steady himself.
"I know StarClan will accept you," Barley purred, realizing how much this meant to the other cat. "You will see Firestar again someday, I promise."
Ravenpaw cast Barley a grateful smile, and turned around and padded back towards the barn window. "Thank you, Barley. I'm going to try and sleep now - things will be better in the morning."
Barley followed him, lost in thought. "Of course it will. I'm sure it was only a dream."