A/N: alternate title: I Promise There Are Gay Cats In This One!

Prey was definitely dwindling. As the path they walked got rockier and rockier, Twistedtail saw less and less wildlife. As always, she was still trying not to think about it. Smallkit, as always, put a damper on this.

"When are we gonna eat?" He said, in his sweet high pitched voice. Twistedtail sighed.

"When we stop for the resting day, of course," She snapped back.

"No, I mean…I don't see any mice...or birds…anymore." The genuine confusion in his voice made her regret lashing out at him, although he didn't seem to notice her anger.

"You don't need to worry about that, okay?" Twistedtail said. "Us warriors...and your mother are gonna take care of everything." Smallkit nodded, but he wouldn't look her in the eye.

"You know what I miss?" Bearheart said. She'd taken to walking close to Twistedtail. It was nice, to have company, and Twistedtail had to admit Bearheart's large stature made her feel a little more safe. "Fish. I'd kill for a good trout right about now."

"Minnows were always my favorite," Twistedtail said.

"Well, no wonder you're so tiny." Bearheart bumped Twistedtail with her shoulder.

"I'm not tiny, you're just giant!" Twistedtail purred.

"And how do you think I got that way? I ate right!"

"I thought family had more to do with it, I mean Stonefoot's just as big!"

"Denying all my hard work? You wound me!" Bearheart swooned over dramatically, leaning on Twistedtail, who nearly pitched over. The two broke into laughter.

"Quiet down, you two." Shrewpelt, the medicine cat, walked past, rolling their yellow eyes. "This isn't the time for clowning around."

"Aw, c'mon!" Bearheart said. "Yeah, times are hard right now, that's why we need to have good times when we get them."

"Yeah!" Smallkit piped up from the other side of Twistedtail.

Shrewpelt rolled their eyes one more time, and then stalked past, their thin tail switching. Bearheart waited until they were out of earshot to turn to Twistedtail.

"What a stick in the mud, eh?" Bearheart smiled. Twistedtail noticed the brown warrior was purring, and her blue eyes shone in the starlight.

Oh, Twistedtail thought. Oh.

She'd never had any interest in toms; she thought that she'd feel different when she got older, but then she became a warrior and it still wasn't there. Sometimes she worried something was wrong with her. But now she knew why. This was why. It wasn't like she-cats liking she-cats (or for that matter, toms liking toms, or cats who felt their body didn't align with who they really were) was unheard of, but Twistedtail had never considered until that she was like that. Everything made sense, now.

"Yeah," Twistedtail said, realizing she might have taken too long to respond. Bearheart hadn't seemed to notice, though. "They are."

Smallkit had taken to sleeping next to his mother more and more often after his bad dreams became more frequent. Reedstar was intensely worried about it, particularly about the cat Smallkit had mentioned once in his dreams. Twistedtail was curious, but she didn't want to bother Reedstar when she was already so stressed out.

Twistedtail though she'd like being able to sleep on her own again, but instead, she just felt lonely and cold. Today the sun felt especially bright, and her thoughts felt especially confusing. Around sunhigh, she stopped trying to sleep on her own.

She picked her way through her sleeping clanmates, being careful to not step on anyone. Smallkit was sleeping curled up next to Reedstar. Her parents, Streamclaw and Spiderfang, were curled tightly together (she wondered if she'd ever have a relationship like that), and she saw her little sister Bluepaw next to the other apprentices. She'd missed her family, but caring for Smallkit had been taking all of her attention. She considered stopping here to sleep, but kept walking.

Eventually she found Bearheart, sleeping peacefully. Twistedtail gently nudged Bearheart with her muzzle, and Bearheart stirred.

"Hey," Twistedtail whispered. "Can I stay here?"

Bearheart, still sleepy, just nodded, and then closed her eyes. Twistedtail settled down next to her; it was awkward at first but once she'd gotten comfortable it was...nice.

She didn't have any trouble getting to sleep after that.


"Have you been talking to Foxclaw, Goldendapple?" Woodpaw asked, sitting down next to her. Her blue eyes were still downcast, and her tail lay limp on the ground.

"I just make him sad now, I'm sure," She replied, her voice a whisper. "I don't want to bother him with all this."

"I'm sure he doesn't think of you that way." Woodpaw tried his best to sound reassuring, but his voice was closer to Goldendapple's own monotone than Lilypetal's soothing mew. "He must be hurting too. You should talk to him about it."

"Foxclaw won't stop talking about having more kits. As if that'll fix anything."

"It….might help?" Woodpaw shuffled his paws. He wasn't good at this, but if Lilypetal wasn't willing to try… "But that isn't possible until we reach our new home, anyway."

"Woodpaw." Goldendapple looked him straight in the eye, with a focus he hadn't seen in a long time. "I don't know...I don't know if I want any more kits. What if something happened to THEM too? I can't... I'm not strong enough to go through this again."

"Well," Woodpaw said. "Listen, you don't need to think about that right now, really. Focus on getting well."

"Getting well? Getting well from what? I'm not injured, I'm not even sick, I'm just...weak."

"You're not weak." He could hear his voice shake again, but he couldn't stop himself. "You lost the worst thing any cat stands to lose, and you still care enough to worry about others. You're the strongest cat in ShadowClan, Goldendapple."

She just stared back at him for a heartbeat, eyes wide. But then she let out a sigh, her shoulders relaxing.

"Thank you, Woodpaw," She said. "It really doesn't feel like that, but...thank you."

"

"Just, um," Woodpaw mumbled. "Get some rest, okay? And talk to Foxclaw. If he…if he gives you any trouble, I'll…"

"Woodpaw!" Lilypetal's jubilant mew came from behind him. "What's my favorite apprentice been up to?"

Goldendapple dipped her head and scampered away as Lilypetal flopped down beside Woodpaw. He swallowed, trying to hide his newfound distrust toward her. He wondered what code she'd broken? Was it an important one? I need to stop thinking about this.

"Just talking to Goldendapple," He replied. "Trying to help her get better."

"Hmm." Lilypetal's tail twitched restlessly. "Get better from what?"

Woodpaw got up and stalked away before he realized what he was doing. Lilypetal gave an indignant yell as he did so, but he didn't turn back. He sat down near the end of the group of cats with his back turned to her, fuming.

"Calm down, little kit." The amused purr of Honeystar echoed in his mind, and he nearly jumped out of his fur. What was she doing talking to him? He wasn't asleep! "No, don't say anything, they'll hear you."

What are you doing here? Woodpaw thought very hard at Honeystar, who chuckled.

"I can hear all your thoughts when I'm here. Yes, even the ones about Pinepaw. He's real cute, isn't he?" He was already sick of her voice; honey-sweet, so much like Lilypetal's. She chortled again, having heard that too, he supposed. "The fact is, I'm bored, and mostly helpless, and you're the only cat I'm able to help directly. And you have some anger issues."

If you didn't want me to be angry with Lilypetal, maybe you shouldn't have told me she broke the code.

"Who hasn't broken the code?"

Me! I haven't!

"Eh, you will someday." Honeystar's tone evened out, growing graver. "But you need to focus your energy on what you can do, not on who you hate. They're all your clanmates. You need to talk to them and respect them."

Lilypetal doesn't respect me! Woodpaw's fur was bristled and his tail was lashing. He tried to calm himself; even if he wasn't saying anything, his clanmates would probably notice something was wrong. He didn't want them to think he was losing his mind. Even if that might actually be the case.

"Of course she doesn't. You're her apprentice," Honeystar said. "And it's a two-way street. Trying respecting her first of all, maybe that'll get you somewhere."

She doesn't teach me what I need to know. I mean, she taught me herbs but not how to fix cats the way I need to-

"I don't think anyone knows how to do what you're trying to, little thorn. Talk to her about it. Weren't you just telling that nice queen that?"

He didn't want to admit it, but she was probably right. He relaxed his shoulders and tried to stop bristling. Maybe he should try to explain this to Lilypetal; maybe the StarClan thing too.

Woodpaw looked over his shoulder; the sun had truly risen, and most of ShadowClan was settling down to sleep. He noticed Goldendapple next to Foxclaw, who was grooming her, and tried not to look too hard at Pinepaw, now that he knew a StarClan cat could see his thoughts. Shadestar met his gaze, smiled, and then turned her gaze nervously toward Lilypetal.

Rainfrost was sitting next to her. The pale gray deputy leaned close to Lilypetal's calico form, and Lilypetal lifted her graceful neck to whisper into Rainfrost's ear. For a moment, Rainfrost's gaze fixed on him, but only for a moment, and the two she-cats continued talking.

Honeystar, Woodpaw thought, can you tell me what Lilypetal did to break the code? Please? But she was already gone. His question wouldn't be answered, not today at least.