The days that followed Cedarcry's warrior ceremony had brought snow. The powder now covered much of the forest and the ThunderClan camp. There had also been no sign of the two rogues again and Cinderstar hoped that meant they were gone for good. Besides the clan had bigger problems to worry about now. The snow had made prey become scarcer than it already was. For leafbare prey had been running well but the snow had finished that off. Now the cats were out hunting all day everyday trying to fill the fresh kill pile. Cinderstar sat on the highledge watching the camp. Her den was dank and very cold under the snow. Without her and Lionblaze's combined body heat the cave was uninhabitable. Being outside wasn't much better. Cinderstar's pelt was damp as she looked out over her clanmates. She watched while the kits struggled to walk through the snow. Their tiny pelts shivering as they did. Hedgewhisker's kits didn't let it slow them down as they still scrambled off throughout the camp tossing up snow on one another. Cinderstar noticed that Volekit still wasn't among them. She hadn't seen him since the day in the forest and she wanted to make sure he was ok. Cinderstar leaped down the rocks and padded over to the nursery. She mewed a greeting to get permission to enter and Honeyfur replied that it was ok.

Cinderstar padded in to see volekit wrapped up tightly in his mother's fur. The den was much warmer than the rest of the camp. At least our warriors did a good job padding the walls she thought. It was nice to know that the clan could control something about this weather. She approached the two and then sat down. Volekit looked up as she did so. He didn't say anything, but his eyes did brighten at the site of Cinderstar.

"How are you both keeping warm." She mewed kindly to the two cats.

"Very well." She mewed. "Molewhisker and Sootspots did an excellent job patching the walls."

"I'm glad to hear it." Cinderstar replied. "Volekit have you been out to play in the snow yet?" The young tom shook his head.

"No, I'm not sure that would be a good idea. I don't have anyone to play with." He mewed.

"What about Hedgewhisker's kits? I'm sure they'd let you join them." She mewed.

"Yeah, but they're still so much quicker than me i'd never be able to keep up with them. Hazelkit offered, but I told her i'd just wait here and they could tell me about it when they got back." Cinderstar still felt sad for the poor kit. She knew if he was ever going to get better with the other kits he needed to be out with them. Then an idea occurred to her.

"Well Volekit, what if I went outside with you. Afterall, it couldn't hurt to at least walk in it." She mewed. Volekit thought long and hard about what she was saying and then nodded.

"I...I guess you're right." He said and then nervously got up to follow Cinderstar. Before they left he turned and looked back at Honeyfur. She nodded to him that it was ok and then he turned back to face Cinderstar. Honeyfur looked into Cinderstar's eyes with a look that said thank you. After that Cinderstar padded out of the warm nursery and into the cold. Snow crunched beneath her feet as she did. Luckily the stone hollow blocked out the wind, but Cinderstar could hear it howling above her head. She turned and watched as Volekit stumbled out of the den and fell into the snow. The young tom struggled to his feet before shaking the snow off his pelt. She sat and watched as he struggled forward again trying to find his balance in the thick snow. The young tom fell again after a few steps, but this time he got up quicker. Finally, he had got the hang of it. While he did Cinderstar encouraged him. After the young cat had walked for a few minutes he sat beside her. They watched Hedgewhisker's kits from where they sat. They were currently kicking snow up on each other. Cinderstar could see Volekit looking on with longing, but he didn't move from the spot he was in.

"You know you can go play with them." She mewed looking down at the kit. He shook his head.

"No, I don't think they'd want me to." Volekit mewed.

"Didn't you say Hazelkit invited you? She clearly was ok with you joining." She replied.

"Yeah…." His mew trailed off as he watched. "She's always really nice to me." He said.

"Well, then why don't you hang out with her at all?" Cinderstar asked.

"Because i'm afraid that she won't be nice to me anymore if she sees what i'm like." He said looking at the ground.

"How do you know that?" Cinderstar asked looking at him.

"She's so much more interesting than me and she can do all of these things that I can't" He replied.

"Like what exactly? You're both kits who have had no training as apprentices." Volekit didn't reply he just looked at the ground. "You know you need to get to know your clanmates right? They're your family." The kit looked up at her. "Even if you won't join the other kits maybe you'll at least agree to meet some of your clanmates." The young tom looked at her anxiety showing in his eyes.

"Like who?" He mewed. Cinderstar looked around the camp. She needed to find a cat who he could talk to on a regular basis and get to know. It was then that she saw Brackenfur leaving the elders den. Brackenfur would be perfect she thought. Her father was a friendly cat who had plenty of stories to tell the kit.

"How about Brackenfur." she told Volekit.

"Is he nice?" He asked nervously.

"Of course, he's nice." Cinderstar replied. She then began padding off to see her father. At first, she was worried that Volekit wouldn't follow, but then she heard the scampering of little paws behind her. By that point Brackenfur had seen her approaching and sat down waiting for her and Volekit to arrive.

"Hello Cinderstar." He mewed as she padded up and sat before him. He then turned to Volekit "and hello to you too." He mewed.

"H... Hello." Volekit forced out not looking up at Brackenfur.

"It's ok to look at me ya know I won't bite." Brackenfur said amused before letting out a cough. Volekit slowly looked up to meet Brackenfur's gaze. Brackenfur looked back down at him his eyes kind eyes trying to invite the kit to speak.

"Volekit, this is my father Brackenfur." She mewed. Volekit looked surprised at the fact he was her father, but it seemed to calm him down. "I think you'll certainly like talki….." Cinderstar's sentence was cut off by the sound of Ivypool's mew. Cinderstar turned to face her deputy racing towards her. She kicked snow up as she ran. Ivypool stopped in front of her with a serious tone.

"What's wrong." Cinderstar mewed seeing something in the deputy's eyes.

"We've found some signs that might lead us to the rogues." She mewed quickly, but we must hurry before they disappear. Cinderstar nodded and then turned back to Volekit who was shifting on his paws. Brackenfur then broke the silence.

"Cinderstar, you go on ahead. I'll introduce Volekit to the elders and we'll all tell him a few stories." Cinderstar nodded thanks to her father before following Ivypool. The she-cats raced through the Thorn tunnel and out into the forest. Ivypool lead her through the undergrowth until finally they reached the old twoleg nest. Cinderstar could see Cedarcry waiting in the little opening in the wall. Cinderstar leapt up to where her den was and padded inside. When she reached it she could smell damp bedding and the barely recognizable scent of WindClan cats. When Cinderstar leapt to the floor she could feel Ivypool land right beside her. Stoneclaw was also inside the nest sitting patiently in the corner.

"A patrol found it this morning when they out hunting not far from here. At the time the three of us were patrolling the border, but when we were told about this we came immediately. From what we can gather it seems they sensed the patrol was coming and got out." Cinderstar looked around noticing the bones of a small mouse in the den. Cinderstar smelled the remains of the mouse. The smell was different than the one she had encountered in the woods the other day. This must be the second cat she thought.

"It's unfortunate that we weren't a bit quicker we probably would have had them." Stoneclaw mewed.

"It's fine." Cinderstar replied. "They'll slip up sooner or later." Cinderstar sniffed around hoping to find some clue as to where they could have gone, but there didn't seem to be a trace.

"Do we have any idea what way they came from?" Cinderstar asked turning to face Ivypool.

"From what we've gathered it looks like after you chased one of them down the other day they doubled back after they escaped through the northern border. It looks like the other was here the entire time though." Ivypool replied. Then a thought occurred to Cinderstar.

"Why would they be hunting at half strength in hostile territory in the middle of leafbare?" She asked.

"We were wondering the same thing." Ivypool replied "Honestly we don't really know, but we're working on it."

"You're doing well. As scarce as prey is right now I hate to waste so much effort looking for another Clan's traitors." Cinderstar admitted.

"Well for whatever reason they've decided to gravitate towards our territory and we cannot allow them to keep stealing prey." Ivypool mewed. Cinderstar dipped her head to the deputy and then leapt up to the ledge leading out of the Twoleg nest. She leapt down onto the forest floor. All she could think about though was why one of the warriors wasn't out hunting. Cinderstar didn't know why, but she could feel that this situation was going to get more complicated before it got better. She wanted to banish the thought from her mind the gathering is in a few days. Maybe if we're lucky WindClan will have caught them she thought to herself as she walked through the snow-covered woods. Somehow though she knew that she wasn't going to be that lucky.

Thank you for reading another chapter of this story. I hope you enjoyed it. Sorry it took so long to post. The person who normally reads my chapters was busy. Either way here it is now. Pleaser review and enjoy your day.