Well, it looks like Birdflame is the winner of the . . . contest? Birdflame, PM me so we can get this straightened out. ;)

And for the guy I met online, I recently met someone else(in person, thank StarClan, online relationships are to much work for lazy 'ol me.)and told the guy online that we weren't in a relationship and we could be friends. He had a melt down. It was hilarious. (Sorry, I'm feeling ornery)So, it's off.

And welcome to the next chapter of Running from Starclan~

I growled as my paws sank into me again. I stopped, licking fiercely at the tangle of fur. I looked up as Emberspirit and the other two trudged ahead, contentedly unaware of my muddied paws.

I gave up and was about to start walking again when a yelp of pain made me whip around. Winter was limping towards me, tears welling in her big green eyes.

"Snowflake! What happened?" I hurried towards her, my own paws forgotten.

"I stepped on a thorn," she whimpered, holding up her left paw. A berry-bright droplet of blood pattered into the sand and I crouched, looking down at the wickedly curved thorn.

"My, Snowflake. You picked a vicious one, didn't you?" She nodded, her lip trembling.

"It hurts!" she wailed, sitting down and holding it in the air.

I leaned forward, licking around it, then abruptly yanked. A small gush of blood accompanied it and she wailed again, leaping backward. I licked her forehead.

"Shh, it's out now," I meowed.

"Do you want a badger ride?" I crouched down again.

She nodded, eyes still full of tears. I picked her up by the scruff, swinging her over my shoulder. She scrambled forward to talking into my ear. "Do you like Emberspirit?" she mewed. I had taken off into a smooth trot and my strides got more choppy as I tensed.

I paused for a moment. "Yes, I do."

"Well, you can like him, 'cause I like him, so he's okay."

I grinned a bit. "So, whenever I like someone, I need your approval?"

"Yes! But the only cat you're going to like is Embersprirt, 'cause I like him."

"I like Emberspirit, you like Emberspirit, everyone likes Emberspirit." I was bordering on sarcastic now.

"Wow. Everyone?"

"Well," I amended, "Me, Willowfang and you."

Her voice took on a disappointed note. "But not Redstrike?"

I tipped my head, thinking. "Well, she likes him, but not when I like him. So she has to like him, so I can like him, so we can like each other, so everyone likes everyone." I was just doing it it to confuse the kit now.

"What? Why not!" she squealed, digging her claws in even farther. She was keeping up pretty well, much to my consternation.

"When we find your mother, Redstrike, Willowfang and I will go back to StarClan, and Emberspirit and you will stay here," I meowed, sadness edging my voice.

"Oh." I could feel her brighten. "What if Emberspirit goes with you?"

I shook my head. "He can't, Snowflake. He has a sister who is about to have kits."

"Oh," she mewed again, her voice glum-sounding.

"Me too, Snowflake, me too."

We crested the hill and Emberspirit bounded up to meet us, touching noses with me and licking Winter's ear.

"We'd thought you had gotten lost. I was about to come back for you," he meowed. I closed my eyes, listening to his voice. It seemed like a river, flowing and musical.

"Rainflash!" Redstrike's sharp voice cut through to my mind and I snapped to attention.

"Sorry," I muttered.

Winter giggled, sliding off my back and padding over to Willowfang, who promptly engaged her in a game of mossball.

"Winter got a thorn in her paw. I got it out."

"Oh?" Redstrike abruptly swung around, worry gleaming in her eyes. I laughed.

"Redstrike, she's still a Star, she can't be harmed. Unless we become real, which if we die of thirst or be made that way by the Elders, we can't be hurt." I padded over to a shady spot and gazed out over the the flat expanse of land we were about to cross into.

I squinted, getting to my paws. It couldn't be . . .

"Emberspirit!" I raced to where the dark ginger tom was laying the shade.

"I see the river!" I pointed with my tail and his eyes lit up.

"Really?" He leaped to his own paws and we ran back to the border between the shade of the trees and the stretch of golden plains.

"Up the tree," I meowed, clawing my way onto a branch, then higher. He followed closely, til we reached the top.

The glint of a river was still there, twisting and twining itself across the countryside.

My heart froze.

And beyond that, huge twoleg nests rose into the sky, gleaming dangerously in the mid-day sun.