Before I start this chapter, I have a few important announcements.

Come March, I'm starting driver's ed. -shudders- I've heard it's the most boring class in the world, but I have to take it eventually. Tomorrow, I'm going to get the information on when the class meets and at what times.

When summer rolls around (somewhere around sixty days from today), my -insert bad names here- step-dad is forcing me to get a job. Who would hire a sixteen year old (I'm fifteen now, but my birthday is in March) who can only work on Tuesdays, Sundays, and Saturdays (those are the only days my mother gets off), especially during an economic recession, I have no idea.

What does all this mean for you? Well, there are going to be less chapters coming up. There's already very few, but divide zero. (I know that's impossible. That's the point.)

Although warm, greenleaf sunlight was pounding on Shrewpaw's back, the young cat was shivering. His throat was slowly closing up into a choke, and he barely managed to stammer out some words. "Light. You… back here? I-we-Swiftpa… Go?"

Light purred. "Oh, Shrewpaw, Shrewpaw, Shrewpaw."

Brambleclaw growled, reminding both cats that he was still, in fact, there. "You know this she-cat, Shrewpaw? I thought she was Russetfur, the ShadowClan deputy." The large tom surveyed Light, who looked very different from the last time Shrewpaw had seen her. She really did look exactly like Russetfur, which worried the apprentice. Light had told him that Hawkfrost and Tigerstar killed and took the bodies of Flamekit and Tigerkit, two of Tawnypelt's kits, so, if they were going to aim for a leadership position in ShadowClan to get revenge on the other clans, then the deputy would be the first target.

"She's…" Shrewpaw struggled for a word to describe his relationship with the she-cat. "A… friend?"

"It is nice to see you, Brambleclaw of ThunderClan. I must speak with Shrewpaw and Swiftpaw alone."

"I can't allow that," mewed Brambleclaw. "You show up out of no where and expect me to leave you with two new cats of my clan?"

Light snarled, reveling rows of threatening, glistening teeth. "I demand to speak with these apprentices!"

Shrewpaw held his breath; it seemed as if the whole forest went silent along with him when not one bird dared to sing. If it comes to a fight, he thought, I'm betting on Light.

"I won't let you," repeated Brambleclaw. "I don't trust you."

Light narrowed her eyes and hissed. "You don't know me, so why not? What d'ya think will happen? It's not like I'm telling them how to destroy ThunderClan, so shut your mouth, and let me speak with this apprentice and Swiftpaw!"

"What could possibly be so important that you refuse to say it in front of other cats?"

After the large tom finished speaking, Shrewpaw turned his gaze to Light; the she-cat was shaking, and her shimmering eyes were the sharpest claws cutting through the grass below the three cats. She let out the most hate-filled hiss that Shrewpaw had ever heard, and, for many heartbeats, every cat stood in silence while she unsheathed her claws and ripped them through the ground below.

Suddenly, her gaze brightened. "Fine. Do you really want to know?" She paused until Brambleclaw nodded. Light narrowed her eyes to half slits and sighed slowly. "It's Shrewpaw's mother."

"Huh?" Both toms meowed.

"Yes," she verified. "You see…" She paused dramatically. "She left two poor, helpless kits all alone in the very height of leaf-bare. No food or water for these small, cold kits, who wanted nothing more than a mother to wrap them in her loving embrace and give them shelter from the pounding snow! But, of course, they did not have that, for their mother was tragically taken away from them!""Heh?" Shrewpaw blinked.

"Yes, Shrewpaw! You were too young to remember, but your dear, sweet mother was taken from you! You had no where to go, no food to eat- nothing! Then, like the noble cat that he is-" Light clamped her eyes shut and in took a quick breath, "-was, your uncle swooped in and, when it seemed all hope was lost, saved you and Swiftpaw! He truly was an amazing cat, the best of us all! But-"

"But?" Brambleclaw echoed her.

"But, proving to be an even greater tragedy, he-he-heee died! Oh, poor, innocent Shrewpaw, I lament at having to pass on this dreadful news to you! How I wish there was some cat, perhaps sharing in some of your great uncle's nobility, who would take me in to ThunderClan for a moment and allow me to express my deepest sorrows to Swiftpaw! Alas, I daresay that there is no such cat around! I truly just wished for the honor- nay, the privilege- of being the cat who, I must say this humbly, could speak the name of such a wondrous cat as your uncle in the mixed company of-"

"Enough!"Brambleclaw gasped. "Please, for StarClan's sake, shut up! Just… shut up!"

Light looked up at the large tom and blinked at him. "May I go and see Swiftpaw then?"

"I still don't think that you-"

"I haven't told you of their uncle's times as an apprentice yet!"

"-can go fast enough."

"Thank you, Brambley!" Light, with a wink hiss of satisfaction, herded Shrewpaw in the direction of the ThunderClan camp. The brown tom was led through a bush; he was then out of the sight of his mentor.

"…Brambley?" Brambleclaw shook his head. "I will never speak of this moment again."

Short chapter, but it's getting pretty late, and I want to go make brownies…