Unlike yesterday morning, Jadepaw was wide awake the second the sun greeted the winter skies. It was unusually cold today, the wind sending horrible chills all around the den. It would have been better if there were more apprentices, but for now, it was only him and Ripplepaw. Still, there were kits that were almost ready to join the den, but it would be another few weeks at least.

Jadepaw noticed Ripplepaw was still asleep, but his mind was racing with so many ideas, he couldn't help but share them. Carefully, he prodded his companion's side, rousing her in the softest manner he could.

"Ripplepaw, wake up," he said quietly. "And keep quiet. I want to talk to you... about Dapplewing... I don't think he's from ShadowClan...."

Ripplepaw's blue eyes shot wide open. "No!" she gasped, though softly, "You couldn't think so ill of him, surely? You know ShadowClan may have done it. It wouldn't be the first time," she reasoned. She held no spite in her, and trusted just about everyone. In her eyes, everyone had a little bit of good in them. She only mentioned ShadowClan's previous treatment of cats because it helped the situation for poor Dapplewing.

"Exactly," said Jadepaw, "That was Tigerstar - he was a murderer. And that was a long time ago anyway, right? No one here remembers it."

It wasn't in her to so greatly mistrust a person. "I don't know Jadepaw, that's a fairly serious accusation. And if he's not from ShadowClan after all, then where is he from? It makes no sense."

The other cat shrugged lightly, but she could see that he was serious. Unable to concentrate, she slipped out of the den and offered to go do some hunting for the clan. Jadepaw stepped up beside her, and suggested it might be good practice for them. Honeyfoot, the deputy, agreed so long as they took a warrior with them.

After sniffing out Icepath, a happy-go-lucky warrior, they left the camp and moved down nearby the river. The clan could always do with fresh-kill, especially in leaf-bare, and if they broke the ice at the edge of the water, there might be some fish beneath the surface. Icepath spotted a skinny dormouse, and chased after it, leaving the two apprentices beside the water.

A strong scent drifted into Ripplepaw's nostrils, and her claws sank into the ground as the smell of WindClan cats grew stronger. Trying to steal from them, were they?

Icepath, seeing Ripplepaw's distress, placed her tail on the young apprentice's shoulder for reassurance, "Remember, they aren't stealing unless they cross the territory. Go back to hunting with Jadepaw, and I'll keep an eye out. Okay?"

Ripplepaw seemed to relax a bit, and with a glance at Jadepaw, turned her attention back to the river. Jadepaw was quickly absorbed in fishing, knowing he was quite good at what he did, however, noticed Ripplepaw constantly glancing up towards the Windclan territory.

"Relax Ripplepaw," Jadepaw said. "It's just a couple of apprentices hunting, like us."

***

Moonpaw, though not ordered, had kept vigil with Grasspool and Rustlepaw. Beetlepaw was the only was one of the three apprentices that had decided to sleep that night. It was Moonpaw's fist real night of guarding anything, and he had often almost dozed off, but he wanted to make sure everything was alright.

It occurred to him, that he and Rustlepaw were there for extremely different reasons, and although Moonpaw was suspicious of Sunpaw in some regards, he somehow felt that he wouldn't hesitate if Rustlepaw turned and attacked her.

He blinked at his own thoughts, turning his head towards his friend. Surely, he couldn't do anything like that to Rustlepaw, could he? He had just thought it....

He shook his head, and then turned back towards the camp. The morning patrol was about to leave, as was the hunting patrol. Things still seemed normal despite the strange occurrence that had happened yesterday.

Rustlepaw let out something akin to a growl, causing Moonpaw to look at him. His attention shifted again when he heard murmuring voices from the medicine cat den:

"Thank you, I feel much better," Sunpaw mewed.

Goldeneye stared down at her, a flicker of surprise coming to her face, "I've never seen a cat that injured heal so fast."

"It just proves you're a good medicine cat," the feline replied.

A good medicine cat? Rustlepaw growled to himself, for how naïve did this cat think they were? How dare she insult their intelligence like that? It had been just one night, and the cat was all fine and dandy?

It was wrong. So twisted, and wrong. Shuffling his paws uneasily, he glanced up at Grasspool, who nodded faintly. Whenever things got too much for Rustlepaw to bear in the relaxed camp atmosphere, he would go out and hunt. He couldn't go alone however, and as tempted as he was to take along a different, older cat, he somehow didn't like the subtle attachment Moonpaw was developing to the intruder. It seemed unnatural.

"Moonpaw," he called, voice rough from lack of use, "Come for a bit of a hunt? The clan is always in need of more food."

Moonpaw only paused to consider it a moment before nodding, and following after him. Rustlepaw had no intentions of speaking to him. He just needed the companionship the large cat's presence offered.

Moonpaw wondered why Rustlepaw decided to venture so far from the camp, though, didn't question him about it. He had a few suspicions as to why he had invited him, and not his father Grasspool, but it didn't matter. He couldn't possibly have any real connections to Sunpaw yet, just, she was a cat... and he couldn't let her die. That was that.

Murmuring on the other side of the border broke Moonpaw's thoughts, and, though he couldn't make out what it was, was sure that it was coming from a few RiverClan cats. As a precaution, Moonpaw walked closer to the border, just to make sure they hadn't crossed it.

Rustlepaw probably thought that Moonpaw was going to do something stupid, because he rushed after the silver cat, his expression spelling out annoyed (at best maybe). Moonpaw inwardly growled. Rustlepaw may have been one of his friend's but the cat was more paranoid than a Twoleg.

Moonpaw locked eyes with the male apprentice, who had just finished catching a fish. He was envious of the RiverClan cats for that skill, but then again, he could chase rabbits, and jump high enough to catch birds when they flew low. At that thought, Moonpaw smirked, earning a scowl from the RiverClan cat.

"RiverClan losers," Moonpaw muttered to himself, knowing Rustlepaw would be able to hear him. If there was one thing they normally agreed upon, it was that RiverClan were sneaky little pieces of mouse-dung. Both of them had lost loved ones to the ridiculous war over borders, and neither of them were very forgiving of the clan as a whole, but over time, Moonpaw realized that this was clan life, and that every single clan had tussles like this. Any RiverClan cat may have lost its parents to a WindClan cat.

That realization had made Moonpaw realize that they were all just cats, and that, being a warrior was almost entirely useless. Still, Moonpaw never uttered his disbelief in the warrior code, ever, to any cat. He was fine with serving his clan, and living a normal life.

Rustlepaw held back his amusement as the RiverClan cats took notice of them. Of all the clans, he hated RiverClan the most. Scanning the three cats across from him, he spotted the heated glare coming from the ginger she-cat. Apparently, she had heard Moonpaw's comment. "Oh look," she hissed vehemently to her companion, "WindClan losers."

Jadepaw jumped when he heard Ripplepaw retaliate to the petty insult, but was immediately more focused on how Rustlepaw would react. Would he lash out? Jadepaw tensed, ready to leap forward if he needed to.

Rustlepaw's eyes narrowed; could she not even come up with something different to say? Pathetic. "At least," he growled deciding to use Sunpaw's story to his advantage. At least this way, there was a chance he could glean more information. "WindClan doesn't attack and cast aside its warriors!"

Driving out a cat from its clan... that sure sounds familiar... I wonder if Shadowclan knows about Dapplewing, Jadepaw mused, but his thoughts were cut short, because he suddenly felt extremely offended. Though something was amiss, Jadepaw was horrified that a Windclan warrior would even accuse this of them.

Icepath's blue gaze flickered to her apprentices. They were angry, but more confused. "Sorry? What do you mean by that?" she meowed.

"Sunpaw," said Moonpaw, "Ring any bells?"

"You peice of fox-dung. How dare you," Jadepaw suddenly yowled. It was unlike him to retaliate in these sort of bickerings, but he didn't like it when Ripplepaw was being targeted. Jadepaw immediately got up from his perch at the river, and walked up to the very edge of the border. Icepath followed him, making sure he didn't do anything drastic.

Though Jadepaw was a young apprentice, he was very smart, and tactful, and Icepath knew he could probably best the Windclan apprentices, but a fight would only bring shame to Riverclan, and only enhance any lies being made in Windclan.

"Jadepaw, step away from the border," Icepath ordered in a voice so stern it sounded unlike her. Jadepaw didn't pay her any heed though, daring the apprentices on the other side of the border to come closer.

Rustlepaw stiffened at the threat, but he was keen to catch this information. He was almost positive that the confusion in the RiverClan cats was genuine. So then, Sunpaw was lying? What for? Where was she from, and how did she get such a precise knowledge of clan workings? He hated these unanswered questions.

"No. We've no cat called Sunpaw among us," the ginger she-cat finally answered, "How could you accuse us of something so horrible? We'd never do that!" His tail twitched irritatedly. She had such a whiny attitude, it made him want to lash out. "Do you have any evidence? Who is this 'Sunpaw'?" she continued. How dare she voice his questions? RiverClan, agreeing with him, was something he couldn't understand. They murdered his mother.

Because she wanted to protect her clan, and him. Because she had fought so hard for the land with the best food, at the time. Some part of him felt at fault for her death, but more than that, it was RiverClan who killed her. He had never, would never, forgive them for that.

"Of course they would lie," Moonpaw said to himself. Chasing a cat out of their own clan? Disgraceful. Surely they would hide it, right? One glance at Rustlepaw told Moonpaw that he believed the RiverClan cats.

I definitely need to be careful, Moonpaw decided, unsure of what side was the right one, but for now, that wasn't a problem. The problem, was the rather intimidating apprentice standing at their border. Moonpaw let out a hiss of warning, his claws unsheathing.

"I'm half tempted to best him," Moonpaw growled. "But we're outmatched. They have a warrior. Maybe we should just leave. There are plenty of other places to hunt. There's no point in hanging around with a bunch of murderers anyway."

Jadepaw let out a hiss at that, but couldn't think of a comeback. He had suffered no loss in the war over food and borders, but he was not about to let these two pricks think they'd won.

Moonpaw ignored Jadepaw's hiss, and looked at Rustlepaw in the eyes; clearly, Moonpaw was fuming, but he knew that this was better than starting anything. Hopefully, Rustlepaw agreed.

Reluctance reflected in his eyes, and he slowly sheathed his claws, narrowing his eyes again. Moonpaw, he knew, was right, and so the two WindClan apprentices left the border.

***

Across the river, Ripplepaw padded up to Jadepaw's shoulder. "They're leaving now." Her tone was heavy; she was just a kit when the war occurred, but she felt sympathy for the WindClan cats, no matter the insults they threw. It seemed to her that they must have lost someone, to accuse them of being murderers. It stung her though, as she would never even consider killing. Perhaps that was another sign she was a weak warrior apprentice; she loathed the idea of hurting anyone, and dreaded the moment when they would begin learning how to fight.

Turning away from the retreating WindClan cats, she suddenly felt no desire to hunt anymore. Certainly, it was needed, but she couldn't summon the energy anymore.

Jadepaw's suspicions about Dapplewing came back to her; cats being chased from their clans violently? Now she felt terrible; she mistrusted the supposed ShadowClan cat, and it made her feel filthy. Also, that WindClan could possibly think her clan capable of something so low hurt her pride, and made her all the more determined to follow her friend's lead, and apply herself to solving this mystery.

Icepath suggested that after they caught a few more fish, they should return to the camp, and tell Pebblestar what had happened. The accusation must hold some truth, though they knew RiverClan were no part of it. If WindClan had also come upon a cat claiming such a thing, it was worth investigating further. Ripplepaw was then reminded of what a young warrior Icepath was, having only received her warrior name a moon ago. She couldn't help feeling that somehow, Pebblestar would be as ever calm about this as he was everything else. His down-to-earth nature was what made their previous leader select him as deputy. Now he utilized this to be a beneficial leader; right now though, she couldn't help but think this was more or less stubbornness.

"Jadepaw," she whispered to her friend as Icepath wandered ahead, "I don't think Pebblestar will do anything about this, do you?" without waiting for a response, she went on, "No matter if those WindClan cats had the wrong idea, I bet something funny is going on. Maybe you and I should question Dapplewing in more..."

"...detail? Yes. I was just thinking that."