Snowfur's sides rose and fell gently as she lay in a deep slumber. She was dreaming.

She was standing at the lip of a rumbling waterfall. Moonlight showered the tumbling rapids, causing it to glimmer brilliantly. She felt the soft whip of a breeze tug at her pelt. Everything seemed so…alive…so peaceful. Snowfur closed her eyes, and let the smells of the forest rush into her jaws. She drank in many different scents, making her mouth water.

Suddenly, she cringed. A sharp tang caught her mouth. Glancing up, scanning the top of the waterfall, a dark, bulky shape was silhouetted in the bright moon. Tigerpaw.

Without warning, Tigerpaw lunged from the peak of the waterfall, and down to Snowfur in a blink of an eye, his sharp teeth glittering, despite the dank forest. Snowfur unsheathed her claws, flailing them in every direction, and hissing with terror and rage, when suddenly the world around her dissolved, and she blinked her eyes open to dull rays of sunlight, streaking into the loose bramble wall.

Looking around, Snowfur noticed that no other cats were in the den. Must be out on patrols, she though, feeling a stab of guilt for having slept so late. But then, she noticed something. In the midst of green-leaf, no cats went on patrols because of the scorching heat. Perhaps they're outside sunning themselves?

Then, she realized another factor. Her paws were sticky. Glancing down, she gasped in absolute horror. Leopardfoot lay in a pool of crimson-red blood, unmoving. Oh StarClan! Snowfur clamped her mouth shut tight so she wouldn't screech the words. What have I done?

Her dream. In her attempt to kill Tigerpaw, she must have released her wrath on the what seemed like him. Leopardfoot smelled like him. Even her fur had the same sleek texture.

"Mother?" Tigerpaw meowed, popping his head between the swath of ferns, "I caught my first…"

He cut himself short when he saw his limp mother laying in the bubbling blood, and Snowfur's paws smothered with it. Tigerpaw blinked, then absent-mindedly padded over to Leopardfoot.

"Are…are you just taking a nap?" he meowed quietly, "Because it's time to wake up now. Come see my rabbit! I'll give you the juiciest piece, if you'd like…" Tigerpaw looked desperately to Snowfur, his gaze practically screaming, "Why is there blood? Did an adder bite her? Because Featherwhisker can fix that."

Snowfur slowly picked her heavy paws up, and turned her soft gaze onto the little apprentice.

"She's…not going to wake up. She's dead…"

Before she could continue, a flood of cats streamed into the den.

"There she is! The menace! Kill her! Exile her! Torture her!"

The cats yowled their threats, until a large hiss from Sunstar interrupted them.

"Silence!" he called, quieting the crowd down. He turned his glare onto Snowfur, looking her up and down, focusing on her blood-drenched paws, and back onto her frightened face. After a few long heartbeats, he cleared his throat and simply said, "StarClan will judge her."