Bamboostep didn't even last a moon, let alone for the next few sunrises. Moonpaw stared at his body set in the center of the camp. His fur was dead still, not even a breeze was sent to move it. Moonpaw tried to kid herself, telling herself that he was simply exhausted from patrols all night. But that most certainly wasn't the case.

"He mentored me…" Swallowheart sobbed out. "He was… a good cat."

"A wonderful mate to Littleheart." Barely choked Frostflurry. "She would be so proud of him."

Moonpaw stayed quiet as the cats began to say soft words of kindness to her and her deceased father.

Iceflank looked down at the silver apprentice. He begrudgingly set his paw on the cat's small shoulder. "He… he brought you into the Clan, Moonpaw. The truth is, you were-"

Gullstar slapped her long tail against the lanky gray tom. "Hush, Iceflank. Now is certainly not the time to be telling her that."

"Tell… Tell me what?"

Gullstar blinked her pale blue eyes and looked away. "It's nothing, my dear."

"Well, of course he brought me here." Moonpaw said with large unblinking eyes. "He's my father, isn't he? Was Littleheart my mother?"

Iceflank opened his mouth to speak before Sparrowfeather gently shoved him aside with her strong hind legs. "Yes, she died giving birth to you." Iceflank glared frostily at the she-cat before turning and walking away. "That's why you had Quietweed and Eveningfern as your mothers for a little while. Isn't that right, Iceflank?" She hissed the tom's name and he coldly nodded.

Moonpaw looked down at her father once again. His gray tabby fur looked almost a glinting silver in the rising sunlight.

They think I'm dumb enough to believe I don't know how I really came here? She squinted her eyes shut. Quietweed told me when I was just a kit. She wasted no opportunity to make me feel like I didn't belong in the Clan. Perhaps it's best to let them believe I don't know...

Gullstar looked to two elderly cats, one dark brown and one a dappled gray. "Softbranch, Rubbleflight, you two may bury Bamboostep."

The elders dipped his heads and hoisted the twiggy and limp body of the ex-deputy onto their backs and carried him to the outside of the camp.

"He rests with StarClan now." Stonedust comforted his apprentice.

"Y-Yeah…" Moonpaw sniffled.

A shout rose above the cats, "Who shall be the new deputy?" Asked Quietweed.

Moonpaw raised her head to suddenly see the eager gazes of all the cats around her. Specifically, every cat who has had an apprentice at least once. Minnowfin gazed hungrily at the highrock where Gullstar sat, and Stonedust's tail started to twitch.

Gullstar stood up. "Quietweed is correct, I do need to assign a new deputy. However, I have time to think this through until moonhigh tonight. Bamboostep was a good deputy, and I saw him to become an excellent leader after me. Bamboostep, rest well, my old friend. Clan meeting is dismissed."

Minnowfin huffed and padded away.

Moonpaw followed Stonedust. "Are we going to train today?"

The tom smirked slightly. "Is that what you desire?"

She shuffled her paws nervously under the shadow of the larger tom. "I was just thinking… because there's nothing else to do."

"Shouldn't you be mourning your father?" Stonedust remarked.

Moonpaw twitched her ears and looked away. "I'd think he'd want me to move on as fast as I could." Even if the pain is eating away at my heart like a parasite.

Stonedust gave a sympathetic look in his gaze. "I want you to go to Wasppaw and Seedthorn. This must be hurting you more than you let on. I want you to be the healthiest you can be when we are training." Before Moonpaw could say another word, Stonedust was already walking away to the fresh-kill pile.

Moonpaw sighed and decided to do as instructed. She turned around and walked slowly to the medicine den to already see Wasppaw holding a large mouse in his jaws. Moonpaw blinked and watched as he slowly set it down in front of her white paws. He shrugged and gave an awkward smile. "For you."

Moonpaw did not object. She crouched down and began to eat the food provided to her within a few mouthfuls. She coughed out a small tuft of fur and brushed past Wasppaw into the medicine den, immediately settling herself into a nest.

The tabby sat down next to her. "I'm… I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." She muttered quietly. "At least I know how you felt when Goldenfoot died."

Wasppaw blinked and quickly looked away before giving a decided chuckle. "Right, that's a positive way to look at it."

Moonpaw did not respond.

He turned to his herb store. "I'll get you some sprouts."

She suddenly realized that her heart felt much more relaxed. "I… already feel better…" she meowed.

"That's because of the bamboo shavings I put in that mouse for you."

"B… Bamboo…" Bamboostep. She buried her head in the moss and her paws. "Bamboostep! Why did you have to go!? I still needed you! D...Daddy!"

The moments she had spent with him suddenly came rushing into her mind like a flooded stream. The times he has encouraged her, the moments of comfort and kindness. All of that was suddenly gone, and he is no longer going to be able to provide that for her. Bamboostep was gone.

"Moonpaw…" Wasppaw set down the barley sprouts in front of her. "If you'd like, I'll go to the StarClan Stones tonight and attempt to commune with him. It's the half-moon meeting for medicine cats anyway."

She sniffed. "You… You'll do that for me?"

"Of course. Now please put me at ease and eat these sprouts."

She looked down at them and cradled the tiny sprouts in her paws. "I thought they were for heart diseases?" Like Bamboostep.

Wasppaw nodded. "You remembered. But yes, they are for heart diseases. But they also help heavy depression. I should know, I have to administer them to Eveningfern every day."

Moonpaw reluctantly put them in her mouth, tasting the bitter earth they were dug up from. "Ugh…"

"Nasty, I know. Would you like some wasabi plants for that?"

"What're those for?"

"Food poisoning."

Moonpaw chuckled. "I… don't think I'm going to get sick from eating a few specks of dirt."

Wasppaw sighed in relief. "R-Right, sorry."

"By the way," Moonpaw meowed, "How is your mother doing?"

"Better." Wasppaw glanced at his mother sleeping in the other corner of the den. "I think I'm going to get Seedthorn to ask Gullstar to send her to the elder's den. She'd be more comfortable there I think."

Moonpaw laid back down. "Where's Seedthorn anyway?"

Wasppaw slicked back his ears nervously. "StarClan Stones. He left early. He insisted he has to commune with StarClan there as soon as possible. When I leave tonight, I think I'm going to bring him some prey."

"That's nice of you." The silver apprentice purred. She forced herself to stand up. "I think I'm going to go hunting and take my mind off of things for a bit."

"Alright, bring back something good for me." Wasppaw mewed.

Moonpaw left the den and exit the camp without a word. She felt the stares of the cats endlessly pitying her, but she didn't have the energy to care. She padded through the bamboo forest until she got to the cliff. Moonpaw sat down and stared at the endless gray ocean and the bright, cloudy blue sky. She scented thunder on the air. Moonpaw settled herself to lay down on the edge, concentrating on the sounds of waves crashing against the rocky cliff. She meditated there until sunset.