Hawkpaw jumped awake. What in great StarClans name...? Her emotions? Hawkpaw was now more confused than ever. She looked around the den to discover she was the first one awake. She let out a small breath, turning her green eyes towards the entrance to her den. She gazed for a moment at her two sisters and Dustpaw before standing, carefully, as not to wake them. Then she dare leave her den.
All she could really see was white. Everywhere. The snow was s high; she could barely walk in it! She was surprised when her fathers scent overwhelmed her. She remembered that Icebelly was white and silver, almost impossible to see in this weather. "We're going to have to clear all of this out," he mewed, looking across camp at all of the snow. "Dad, it's almost as tall as me!" Hawkpaw mewed, discovering she was sinking into the snow bank. Icebelly let out a soft purr of amusement. He grabbed hold of Hawkpaw's scruff and pulled her out of the snow. "Just pat it down a bit; it'll make it more firm," he told her daughter. Hawkpaw did as she was told, patting down the snow a bit so she could stand on it better. She licked the snow out of her brown and silver fur, already melting into clumps. "The snows not going to melt anymore, is it?" Hawkpaw mewed, turning her green gaze up at her father. Icebelly shook his head lightly. "We're stuck with it," he mewed, turning his ice blue gaze down at Hawkpaw. She looked at her father for a moment and remembered something important. "Dad, I need to tell you something!" She mewed, urgently, excitedly, and then spilled the contents of her dream.
Well, almost the contents. She didn't mention Silverfeather's last warning. That she would deal with on her own. Icebelly didn't need to know about that much.
"What?!" He mewed, looking surprised. "Come with me, we must tell Skystar about this!" He told his daughter. He hurried off to the leaders den, Hawkpaw doing her best to follow him. "Dad! I can't move that fast in the snow!" Icebelly paused, turning and waiting for his daughter, who was mealy making her way through the snow bank. Hawkpaw managed to catch up with her father and let out a small exasperated noise. From there they made their way to Skystars den together, pausing at the entrance. "Skystar, we must talk about something urgent!" Icebelly called. "Alright, come in," Skystar mewed from inside his den. Icebelly wandered in, Hawkpaw following him a bit shyly. Skystar and Tinywhisker were lying together, looking as if they had just woken up. "Skystar, Hawkpaw had a dream last night," he mewed. He turned his gaze on Hawkpaw for her to talk. She took in a deep breath and began to explain it once more, exactly how she had to her father.
Skystar looked rather surprised. By everything, it seemed. Why StarClan would send something like that to her, how Twilightthorn planned to destroy them. He just looked shocked. "Double the patrols," he told Tinywhisker. "I want every cat who is not hunting watching the river. Making sure our scent stays nice and strong. If you catch a whiff of their scent on our territory, I want to know," he told her mate. Tinywhisker nodded softly. "You may leave, Hawkpaw, thank you," Skystar told the apprentice. He nodded at her father and he took it as a sign to leave as well. The two of them wandered out, Hawkpaw following after Icebelly, walking in her fathers paw prints. She looked towards camp, finding it already more active. Fireleaf and Brightdapple were clearing snow around the warriors den. Tallshadow was just leaving the warriors den, and went to do the same around the nursery. Her mother was sticking her head inside the apprentices den, likely to check on her kits. Fawnleaf did that often, when things went a little bit astray. She always wanted to make sure her three kits would be alright, no matter what. "Let's go hunting, you and me," Icebelly told Hawkpaw, swiping his paw over her ear lightly. Hawkpaw turned her green gaze on her father, an excited look on her face. "Sure," she agreed. She followed her father out of camp, walking in his footsteps once more so she could actually move. She knew the chances of them finding prey was pretty scarce, but they had might as well try she figured. She followed after her father, continuing to walk in his footsteps. Underneath the trees it wasn't so bad, so she stuck to that after they had left camp, walking along rather slowly. Hawkpaw looked up towards the sky, where the sun was starting to rise over the tree tops. She paused when she heard a rustling. It wasn't mouse. She almost prepared herself for battle when Firepath appeared out of the brush. "You're back!" Hawkpaw said brightly, happy the medicine cats were alright. "Yeah, we are," Firepath mewed. "We didn't manage to make it to the Moonstone last night. We were into WindClan territory when the snow storm hit. We ran into Sundapple and Sootpaw a little while later. Sundapple was really hard to miss," he purred in amusement. The WindClan medicine cat had a bright and sunny pelt. She would be very hard to miss anywhere, not just in a snow storm.
"They let you stay in camp?" Icebelly asked, sounding a bit surprised. "Geez, you warriors!" Firepath purred in amusement. "Medicine cats have no boundaries. Goldenstar was glad to let us stay. Though of course not for too long," he continued. Icebelly nodded softly. "Hawkpaw and I were just looking for some prey," Icebelly mewed simply. "You're not going to find much today," Firepath mewed; he turned his amber gaze at Redberry, who was carrying a scrawny mouse. "Redberry had some luck though," he mewed, looking rather proud. Redberry shuffled her paws, looking down a bit. "Well we might as well head back then," Icebelly mewed thoughtfully. He turned his ice blue gaze on Hawkpaw momentarily. He obviously wanted her to tell Firepath about her dream. She sighed inwardly, allowing Icebelly and Redberry to go ahead, falling in step with Firepath. "Something you wanted to talk about Hawkpaw?" Firepath asked her, turning his amber gaze on her. "Firepath, do you think I should be a medicine cat?" Hawkpaw asked suddenly. "Absolutely not," Firepath mewed immediately. "Hawkpaw, you are far too warrior like to be a medicine cat. The medicine den would suit you ill. You have too much fight in you," Firepath pointed out. "Why?" he continued, giving her a quizzical look. Hawkpaw took in a deep breath. "Last night, I had this odd dream. Silverfeather was in it," Hawkpaw said simply, looking up at Firepath. He looked curious, but his gaze seemed to want her to continue. Hawkpaw began to explain the rest of her dream to Firepath, whispering the bit about her emotions being tested to the medicine cat. That she would allow only him to hear. Him and maybe Flamedapple. Firepath made a 'Hmmm' noise, looking up for a moment. "The warning is perfectly understandable. The rest you'll have to figure out on you own," Firepath told her. Hawkpaw nodded softly. "I figured," she mewed. She paused for a long moment. "Hey, maybe Silverfeather only came to me because you couldn't make it to Moonstone...?" she mewed. Firepath too, paused for a long moment. "StarClan still came to me last night, Hawkpaw," he told her, "I don't think they went to Redberry, but they did come to me," he continued. "This dream was on purpose. Silverfeather doesn't make things up as she goes along. She wasn't that type of she-cat," Firepath mewed, a small amused purr escaping him. He spoke of Silverfeather with a sort of fondness that most cats shared for their mentors; one Hawkpaw definitely shared for Flamedapple.
Hawkpaw wandered into camp, gazing all about. They had already cleared out a lot of the snow. She could actually walk in here now!
"Firepath! Thank StarClan you're back!" Fireleaf mewed urgently, hurrying towards the medicine cat. "What is it?" Firepath asked, looking only slightly worried. "Willowtail is having her kits!" Fireleaf mewed. Firepath nodded softly at the tom. "Let's go Redberry," he mewed, hurrying towards the Nursery, his apprentice trotting after him. "Perfect timing I figure..." Hawkpaw mewed, looking somewhat surprised. "I figure," Icebelly agreed with his daughter.
"Hawkpaw, there you are!" Hawkpaw heard Flamedapples mew. She turned her green gaze on her mentor. "Brightdapple and I are checking the border. You and Dustpaw too. I guess Rippedpaw can come too, considering she's down a mentor," Flamedapple told his apprentice, referring to the fact Fireleaf was probably going to stay with his mate now that she was giving birth.
"I'll take her, Flamedapple," Roseheart told the tom, approaching him with Blackpaw following. "Blackpaw and I were going to do some hunting today anyway, so I'm sure Rippedpaw will be able to bring back a lot," Roseheart mewed. Rippedpaw looked between the two, seeming to want to go with Roseheart. "That's alright with me," Flamedapple mewed, nodding his head a bit at Roseheart. With that the two groups headed off, splitting once they reached the outside of camp. Flamedapple, Brightdapple, Dustpaw and Hawkpaw went towards the RiverClan border and Sunningrocks to check the scents and renew them. Hawkpaw separated herself from the group to go and mark a tree, sniffing a bit for RiverClan's fishy scent. She could smell nothing, but neither could se hear anything. She gazed out towards the river, finding it mostly frozen over, except for a few places where the ice had cracked a bit. However, it didn't exactly look very steady. Twilightthorn couldn't possibly make his way across that yet. It wasn't frozen enough yet. She knew Cloudchaser had to be right though. There was no doubt in her mind he would try. She pulled away from the river, walking along the border with the river once more. That was when she heard the loud, terrible, squeaking yowl. She looked out of the brush again, towards the river, where she saw a little kit, its back legs had fallen in the water, its front paws were clawing hopelessly at the ice.
