Blackshade followed her father, sister, and friend up to Goldenfeather's den. The Clan was still fast asleep, dawn's pale light just barely breaking over the horizon.
"Your wound is gone!" remarked Curlstep, and Blackshade discovered this to be true, thankfully.
"What in StarClan!" screeched Goldenfeather. So she had caught sight of them. "Blackshade?"
Blackshade sighed and flopped down, recounting her story to Goldenfeather, still excluding Sunbeam.
"B-But.." Goldenfeather stammered. By now the rest of the Clan had woken up, and Patchstep shoved Blackshade into the medicine cat's den.
"I'm sorry, but you need to stay in there so the Clan doesn't panic. Just wait a minute."
Blackshade nodded, and found a nice cranny where she could watch the cats gather. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the highrock for a Clan meeting!"
All the cats below turned in surprise at hearing their medicine cat instead of their leader.
Pebblestride was the first to comment on this. "Goldenfeather! The highrock is for the Clan leader!" he snarled.
The gold and white she-cat glared at him. "I have a very important announcement to make!" she stated.
Olivestar emerged from his shadowy den. "What's going on?" he asked.
Goldenfeather gave him a piercing stare which soon silenced the leader, who dipped his head in respect. "As you all know," she began, "Blackshade died of her wound last night, just after Kestrelscar."
The cats sitting in the snow let out moans of grief. Deerpuddle and Paleheart were outside the warriors den, Deerpuddle dragging her injured leg behind her. They had buried Kestrelscar the night before, on Goldenfeather's orders. She was worried that other foxes would track the scent.
"Well, this morning, something happened," she meowed intently. "Blackshade was sent back by StarClan."
The Clan gasped in awe. Some of them protested.
"You're just trying to make things seem better than they are!" piped up Badgerstripe. "We all saw her dead! StarClan couldn't have sent her back!"
"Ya!" added Slatefire. "Even StarClan doesn't have that power!"
Blackshade watched all this in silence, hidden in the rocks. More and more cats started rejecting Goldenfeather's words, and Blackshade sighed and stepped out of her hiding place. She padded into the clearing without making a sound.
A ripple of absolute amazement went through the Clan, and the cats who had been yowling, feeling cheated, choked on their words.
"Blackshade?" Olivestar called. "Is that actually you?"
She sniffed her pelt and looked up. "I think so." she told him. The rest of the cats just stood there looking like it had started raining badgers.
Olivestar padded up to her. "Welcome back then!" he exclaimed.
The Clan broke out of their stunned silence and raced over to ask her questions. Slatefire and Badgerstripe hung back uncomfortably. The first to reach her were the kits, bouncing with joy. Vinekit leaped onto her back, and the white tabby she-cat squealed, "Badger ride, badger ride!"
"Come on Blackshade! Please!" pleaded the light brown kit, Birchkit. Barkkit nodded in agreement, her dark brown fur puffed up to twice its size against the chill leaf-bare wind.
The three kits clambered on, as they were planning to do whether or not she wanted them, and the black and white she-kit Spiderkit, along with Podkit, a tiny tortoiseshell she-cat, were quick to follow.
Dewkit sat unhappily on the ground, his beige pelt matted. "Mommy I don't feel good!" he groaned, and Stormfeather scooped him up to take to the nursery.
Dropkit turned away from Blackshade, who was staggering under the weight of the five kits, and leaped at Tigerkit, his blue pelt dusted with snow. Tigerkit responded in a flash, and soon the two toms were battling. When Whitekit saw that his brother's tabby fur was now merged with Dropkit's, he bounded back towards the nursery, where Dewkit was.
Soon enough, Blackshade had managed to free herself of the kits, who had begged for more until she had firmly put her paw down. "I'm just going to walk around outside." she told anyone who asked, which was partly true.
She was going to walk around, but she would be paying close attention for signs that Sunbeam had been there.
There was a piece of fur up in that branch! Blackshade realized. From this far below she could not tell the color, though.
When she reached it, it was mingled brown and gray. She gave it a good sniff. The scent seemed familiar, but she couldn't place it. Blackshade moved on. If it became important, she would report it to Olivestar. "Great StarClan! I forgot how much I loath water!" rang out a voice up ahead. Blackshade dashed to see who it was.
"Adder!" Another voice screeched. "Oh, wait, sorry. It was a twig."
Blackshade burst onto the river bank. There stood two cats. One looking frustrated, the other, very confused.
It was a she-cat and a tom. One white, one brown.
"Oh, StarClan!" exclaimed Blackshade. The two cats spun around, guilt heavy in their eyes.
"Uh-oh…" meowed Hollowsky.