Half a moon later, Tadpolepaw was still stuck in the medicine cats den as she waited for her wounds to heal. The only other cat still healing was, perhaps luckily, Weaselfoot. It had been a boring, and quiet half a moon.

As the sun began to set, one day, Tadpolepaw was treated to a nice surprise, a visit from Shadepaw and Honeypaw.

"Hi Tadpolepaw," mewed Honeypaw. "How are you going?"

"Well, I'm holding up OK," responded Tadpolepaw. "But I'm bored. Ready to get out of here."

"Whining won't make you leave any faster!" Stormbreeze brusquely growled at her as she walked past.

Embarrassment flooded over Tadpolepaw as she watched the senior medicine cat walk past.

"StarClan," murmured Shadepaw. "Is she always like that?"

"No, just when you get impatient." said Tadpolepaw sadly, annoyance at herself rushing through her blood stream. "Onto a different topic, how is Ashenpaw? I haven't seen her much since I got injured."
Shadepaw and Honeypaw shared a look. That can't mean anything good, thought Tadpolepaw.

"Ashenpaw has been quite distant," said Honeypaw slowly. "She has been working hard, and she has been desperate to become a warrior, but she just isn't very talkative. She seems sleep deprived and a bit snappy. I know Owlheart has tried talking to her, but I don't think she has told him anything."

"Is there anything we can do?" wondered Tadpolepaw

"Just be there, I guess," mewed Shadepaw. "If she wants to talk, she knows who her friends are."

The three of them, in unison, let out a long, collected sigh.

"Honeypaw!" came a call, presumably from Ashclaw, her mentor. "We're on the sunset patrol. Need you out here soon!"

"Fox dung!" hissed Honeypaw. "And I thought I was done for the day! I'll come back to see you later, Tadpolepaw." With that, the honey coloured she cat left the medicine den."

While Tadpolepaw wasn't happy to see that Honeypaw had left, she was her friend after all, and she liked having her friend around, she was a bit thankful. She had been hoping to talk to Shadepaw alone for some time now. With not much to do in the medicine den, her thoughts had returned to a mystery. A mystery which needed to be dug up, unearthed, so that the truth could come out.

"Shadepaw," she mewed. "Do you know if Tansyfoot had any siblings?"
"Uh, no." said Shadepaw. "She always told us that she was the only kit of her litter. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," responded Tadpolepaw. "I just thought it would be nice to have more kin in the camp."

"What, am I not good enough for you?" teased Shadepaw

Tadpolepaw could only force out a light hearted purr at that. It just felt too soon to cracking jokes. With Thornleap, her aching leg, and her worry about Ashenpaw, she just didn't think that laughing and teasing was what she needed.

Still, Shadepaw somehow managed to buy her strangled purr. The two of them continued to talk about nothing for a while, but as Silverpelt came out, Shadepaw headed over to the nursery, while Tadpolepaw prepared for yet another night in the medicine cat den.

"Can I return to apprentice duties today?" asked Tadpolepaw hopefully. The medicine cat den was not an easy place to sleep. The sharp tangs of herbs made it hard to fall asleep, when each time you breathed you were struggling to hold back a fit of coughing from the constant barrage of smells.

Juniperfern, who was sorting herbs maybe a tail length away from Tadpolepaw, turned to her.

"I think you might have one or two days left to go before you return to your duties." the dark ginger medicine cat mewed.

Tadpolepaw let out, the longest, heaviest, sigh she could, before making a big show of putting her head on her paws.

"Not gonna work, Tadpolepaw." mewed Juniperfern

"Can I go on a walk around camp?" Tadpolepaw begged. "Please, I'm desperate for a change of scenery."
"Fine, go." said Juniperfern.

Joy lifted through Tadpolepaw as she finally stepped out of the medicine cat den. She had only been out a few times since she picked up her injuries during the battle, and she felt so happy as sunlight sprinkled down onto her pelt.

Still, she wasn't allowed to leave camp, so she still wasn't sure what to do. Most of the patrols had already left, and now she joy she had felt at leaving the camp was replaced by indecision, and she felt a bit let down. Being outside wasn't as cool as she thought it was. Now what?

Tadpolepaw then noticed Magnepelt sunning herself in a clearing where the sun shone through. The oldest cat in the clan, and probably all the clans, with clumps of fur missing, and ugly, disease infected red skin showing, was there, where Tadpolepaw could talk to her.

There was a problem though.

She was crazy.

The old cat believed that StarClan lived in trees, would call no one by her name (Tadpolepaw was eternally known to her as Ashenpaw), and seemed to think she was the most important cat in the clan.

And to top it all off, she was very snappy.

Tadpolepaw sucked in a breath, before having a moment of indecision as she realized actually why she wanted to talk to Magnepelt. She talked to most of the cats in the clan now, and no one would say that that Tansyfoot had siblings. If almost everyone in the clan was denying it, why did Tadpolepaw still think there might be a chance that Tansyfoot did have siblings after all?
It just didn't sit right with her. When Tansyfoot either slipped up or revealed a costly secret to Tadpolepaw, Tansyfoot had instantly seemed uncomfortable, and had taken the first chance she could to exit the conversation. Why would someone with nothing to hide act that way?

Still, everyone in the clan didn't seem to believe, or was hiding, the possible fact that Tansyfoot had siblings. But there would only be one cat who would be crazy enough to not jump on board this clan wide conspiracy.

Tadpolepaw let out her breath, and went up to Magnepelt.

"Hey Magnepelt." she said cheerfully

"Ah, Ashenpaw, good to see you." The old cat responded

"It's Tadpolepaw, Magnepelt." Tadpolepaw mewed, clenching her teeth.

"Ugh!" spat Magnepelt. "Not another cat who thinks they're someone else! Every cat in the clan appears to have an identity crisis!"
"Right," mewed Tadpolepaw cautiously. "Anyway, I wanted to ask about Tansyfoot."
"Honeypaw's mother?"
Tadpolepaw let out an annoyed sigh, before regaining her composure. "Sorry Magnepelt, I meant my mother."

"Ah, Graytail. A good cat, she is, your mother" mewed Magnepelt. "What do you want to know?
"Well, what was she like as a kit?" Tadpolepaw said curiously

"She was a little ball of energy, that one! Always playing with the other kits in the nursery, she had the energy outlast them all in a game."
Tadpolepaw's interest peaked. Here it was, her chance to finally find out whether her hunch was correct!

"Tell me," she said, trying hard to contain her excitement. "She was close with the other kits in the nursery at the time. Was she so close to them that she called them her siblings?"
"Of course not!" Magnepelt responded, looking confused at the question. "She would reserve that title for her actual siblings? And why are you asking?"

Tadpolepaw had to try very hard not to jump for joy. She was right! There was a conspiracy. But, oh this conspiracy, these secrets were not going to stay in the dark. She, Tadpolepaw was going to bring them out into the light of day and find out why her mother had lied to her.

"Tadpolepaw! Why are you asking!"

Tadpolepaw snapped out of her happiness and instantly went back to the conversation at hand.

"I just want to know more about my mother's life. Given that I'm now recently busy with my training, and she's always out on patrol, I thought it might be good to try and find out what she was like close to my age."
"Fair," mewed Magnepelt. "Now, let me ask you a question? How many StarClan cats do you think live in that tree?"
"Two?" tried Tadpolepaw

"Hmmmm," said Magnepelt turning her back to Tadpolepaw and her front to the tree. What she said next Tadpolepaw did not catch, as she was already heading back to the medicine den. The joy that she had felt on her realization that she was right had simmered down a bit. As she walked back, thoughts buzzed around in her head like hornets. But one underlying thought buzzed louder than them all: A cat just confirmed that Tansyfoot did have siblings. But dare I trust the word of the craziest cat in the clan?

Well, I actually have a legitimate excuse this time for taking so long. My mother had a seizure, and I was holding the fort, waiting with her for a week while she got better. We should be seeing regular updates soon.

Reviews!

ASJ7: Thank you! I hope Sparkstone is happy in StarClan!

A Sky of Blazing Stars: Weaselfoot living is definitely good. I think StarClan is a better place for Sparkstone.

ExplodingQuasar: We'll be seeing more of Ashenpaw and how she is adjusting to still being an apprentice in the next couple of chapters. Well, it's not bad, of course! You can ship whoever you want. As for if it will actually happen…. Sorry no spoilers on that front! You're welcome for Gorsewater.

Guest: Excellent. I'm glad I was able to capture Falconwing's personality well.

That's it folks! Thanks for reading, thanks for the reviews, and we will see you next time!

Thanks!

- Willowstorm