Chapter Eight

Why is Firestar letting these cats stay with us? We don't even know them. Dovewing was astonished by Firestar's decision, he was letting these cats, that, nobody knows about, how do we know if there even a prober clan? But knowing that Firestar's word is law, Dovewing went over to Ivypool, the apprentices of "Sunclan" had already gathered around her.

As she approached, she immediately stopped in her tracks; one of the apprentices was a black tom with a white spot on his chest and gorgeous green eyes. "Hi" she said as she joined the small group "I'm Dovewing." She then continued.

"I'm Amberpaw." A brown and white she-cat with blue eyes said immediately. "And this is Spotpaw, my brother" she nodded to the lean spotted tom with big brown eyes "and this, is Rainpaw."

Spotpaw nodded to her and Rainpaw only took a quick glance at her. Rainpaw, what an awesome name. "OK so, follow me and Dovewing and we'll show you to our den." Ivypool meowed.

There was something strange with the way she said our, it was more like "owweerr" Dovewing purred slightly. They then showed the apprentices to the den, once they were at the entrance; they let them go in first. When the black tom's tail flickered out of sight Dovewing whispered to Ivypool. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Ivypool purred, "Yep, he's cute."Ivypool then entered, with Dovewing following.

Why am I even thinking about this? Dovewing thought as she entered the den. In the gloom, Dovewing couldn't see much of Rainpaw, just the beautiful, bright, illumines green eyes that were easy to see in the dark, and a small glimpse of the white spot on his chest. Dovewing's heart fluttered and missed a beat in her chest; it was beating loudly with joy that she was afraid they could hear. But, knowing being with the young cat was against the warrior code, she settled for just being friends, and kept telling herself over and over in her head; I've got Bumblestripe, I've got Bumblestripe. "Ok, so, as well as me and Dovewing, there is also; Cherrypaw, Molepaw and Hollyleaf, so it may be a bit crowded for an apprentice's den." Ivypool's voice interrupted her thoughts.

Dovewing noticed that when Ivypool was speaking, her gaze drifted over the three apprentices but mostly on Rainpaw. Dovewing new that Ivypool liked Rainpaw as well and suddenly felt a flicker of annoyance in side of her. Then she realized with a start, that Ivypool was doing all the talking and she hadn't said anything but "hi." Annoyed even more, Dovewing decided she needed to speak and randomly said "this is mine and Ivypool's nests" she moved over to two mossy nests lying next to each other, "that is Molepaw and Cherrypaw's nests" she meowed flickering her tail to another pair of nests, and finished with saying "and that's Hollyleaf's" she nodded to a nest not far off from Dovewing's while saying it.

"Ok thanks." Spotpaw chirped from where he was standing in the middle of Amberpaw and Rainpaw.

Spotpaw then chose to put his nest behind Ivypool's, then Amberpaw put hers behind Dovewing's and Rainpaw quickly put his next to Amberpaw's. Yay! Rainpaw was quite close to my nest Dovewing thought happily. And it's closer to mine than Ivypool's. A happy purr threatened to escape from Dovewing's mouth, but she held it in, not wanting to look stupid in front of these apprentices, especially not Rainpaw. Then she noticed Ivypool looking at Rainpaw's nest annoyingly, she had probably hoped he would put his nest next to hers. But then Spotpaw's voice interrupted her thoughts "so, who's your deputy?" He asked in curiosity.

Ivypool opened her mouth to answer but Dovewing spoke quicker "Brambleclaw and our medicine cat is Jayfeather."

Dovewing could feel Ivypool's glare boring into her pelt, making her feel uncompfatuble, she started awkwardly shifting her paws. "So which ones blind?" Amberpaw asked with her head tilted to one side.

Dovewing started to get angry; there was something about the way she said blind that stated she didn't particularly like the idea of a important role in the clan like the deputy or medicine cat being blind. This made Dovewing's pelt prick with anger and she started to dislike this she-cat. How dare she, Jayfeather is one of the best medicine cats ever! "Jayfeather." Ivypool announced with her head held importantly, Dovewing snorted.

Gasps escaped from Amberpaw and Spotpaw but Rainpaw remained silent; his expression unreadable. For a moment Dovewing wished she had Jayfeather's special ability to look into someone's mind. "How could a blind cat be your medicine cat? He can't see where he's putting herbs!" Spotpaw shouted in astonishment.

"Jayfeather knows what he's doing." Dovewing meowed defensibly, and then decided she would tell them something Jayfeather had said Starclan said to him. "The gift of sight has been given to the cat that cannot see." Dovewing lifted her head knowing that this might sound a bit wired.

And she was right, Amberpaw snorted and Spotpaw and Rainpaw were looking at her weirdly, even Ivypool was staring at her. Dovewing saw Amberpaw turn to Spotpaw and whisper something quietly in his ear. Dovewing extended her special senses to listen to what Amberpaw was saying. "Yeah, the sight of blackness." She heard her saying.

Dovewing new that Ivypool or Rainpaw wouldn't be able to hear Amberpaw's spiteful words but she was still angry. She fluffed her pelt out making her look twice her size. Then Amberpaw turned back round to face her and again looked at her weirdly. "Come on let's go see Twilightear about our injuries." Amberpaw meowed, before giving Dovewing one last glare and heading out the entrance, Spotpaw and Rainpaw followed.

"The gift of sight has been given to the cat that cannot see?"Ivypool mimicked her tone. "What in the name of Starclan was that?" She continued in a shocked and mocking mew.

Dovewing was still ruffled by Amberpaw, so she just hissed in Ivypool's face and tottered outside. Looking around, she spotted Jayfeather patching up Thornclaw's wounds. Thornclaw was in deep conversation with a tortishell tom with blazing yellow eyes. Dovewing could see that Thornclaw really didn't want to be talking to a cat that invaded camp but he couldn't move because Jayfeather was still working on a deep wound on the side of his flank. Dovewing padded over "Jayfeather."

"Wait." He hissed, and then finished patching up Thornclaw's wound. Thornclaw flicked his tail in thanks and stalked away, ignoring the tortishell tom. "What is it? And hurry up because I've got more patients to see, and I have to lend some of my herbs to Sunclan." He spitted at her in furry.

"What did Moonstar say in Firestar's den? How long will they be staying for? Where did they come from?" Dovewing asked a lode of questions quickly.

"ummm….. Nothing much, I don't know, they won't say." Jayfeather answered with a sigh.

"What! Firestar won't even ask where they came from or why they left?" Dovewing asked in amazement.

"Moonstar says he doesn't want to talk about it and that he's grateful to Firestar for letting them stay here for a bit and there be gone in no more than three sunrises, oh and I tried looking into his thoughts but it was completely blank" mewed Jayfeather.

"Has Starclan spoken to you?" Dovewing pressed.

Jayfeather was now padding into his den, Dovewing followed. Inside Twilightear was treating Amberpaw's ear. As soon as she entered, Amberpaw turned around to look at her, curiosity sparking in her gaze. "Jayfeather!" She demanded pleadingly.

Amberpaw's eyes were now narrowed and she was even more curious than before. "No! No they haven't!" Jayfeather spat.

Dovewing flinched, she even noticed Twilightear's ear flick with worry, and now Amberpaw's eyes were big and round. "Come over here." Jayfeather beckoned her with his tale to a place where Amberpaw and Twilightear wouldn't be able to hear them. Although Amberpaw still stared at them, at least Twilightear had the decencies to not try and listen into their conversation. "I need to speak to you and Lionblaze; I'll get you both later on when I've finished treating injured cats." Jayfeather spoke in an argent whisper.

"Ok." She agreed, but was curious of what he wanted.

"Would you tell Lionblaze? I'm busy." He continued.

"Sure." She mewed and then padded out of the den, she could still feel Amberpaw's glare on her back: raw and cold.