Hey guys, what's up? *yawns* I'm so tired today. I got up at eight, and then went right back to sleep and didn't wake up until nine. I'm just going to crash at nine.

Snowfall16: Yeah I agree, Bluemist should have given Whitepaw more credit. But after all, this wasn't told in Bluemist's POV. Also, Whitepaw didn't tell Bluemist the prophecy. He was only supposed to tell Bluemist about the alliance, not any of the StarClan/Dark Forest stuff. You were also saying something about docs disappearing after seven days. That's weird, I still have all the docs you sent me. None of them disappeared from my inbox, ever. What is this about docs disappearing?

Otaku Fernsneeze: That is pretty funny. Green sun and yellow grass? I'd seriously love to see that. Oh yeah, those people are SO annoying. I hate those people who just see two people of the opposite gender walking somewhere together, and they automatically assume that they're dating. Am I the only one who sees a problem with that logic? God, I remember how awful that used to be in middle school. Just out of curiosity, why do you want to stab Heronclaw 97 times? Why not 100? 97 seems like an odd number.

CHAPTER 23: IN THE ELDERS' DEN

Waterpaw's POV

It was quite clear, when we entered Bluemist's den, that Sassafrasstar had already gone to see him. He merely scowled at us, and did not speak to us at all while tending to our wounds. Obviously he was as disgusted by our behavior as Sassafrasstar.

"Wouldn't she want to see us in her den?" Hareflight asked me. "Why does she want us in the elders' den?"

"I don't know," I said, dread rising up in my throat as I thought of our meeting with Sassafrasstar. We were in big trouble.

"She's going to be so mad," Hareflight groaned. "Silvermoon will be so disappointed in me and… why did I have to get into trouble?"

I did my best to reassure Hareflight. "Don't worry," I said confidently. "Yes, she'll be mad, but she'll forget about it soon. Besides, how bad can it be?"

That night, I learned to never ask that question again.

First of all, I entered the elders' den, expecting it to be empty save for Sassafrasstar. Wrong. Our parents were there: Silvermoon; Brightleaf and Volewhisker, Heronclaw's parents; and Mossfoot, Greennose's father. In addition to them, Spottedsky, Swanpaw, and Turtlepaw were also there. I had no clue why Sassafrasstar invited them.

"Welcome, Waterpaw and Hareflight," Sassafrasstar said in an icy tone. "Care to join us? We will start now."

"If I may speak," Hareflight began, but Sassafrasstar cut him off with a slash of her tail. "No, you may not speak. You have no right to speak. In fact, none of you may speak until I am finished."

Hareflight shrunk down and didn't open his mouth after that. Silvermoon cast him a furious look.

To the right of us, Greennose and Heronclaw were standing together, casting each other nervous looks and hopelessly failing at appearing defiant. Serves them right, I thought angrily. First they blackmail me, then gang up on Hareflight, and then they attack me! I hope they get into a lot of trouble.

"First of all," Sassafrasstar began, "Hareflight, Greennose, and Heronclaw will clean the warriors' den. You will replace the blood-stained nests and lick the floor clean. I want it to be spotless by morning. Tonight, the other warriors will split accommodations in the elders' den, the apprentices' den, and the field."

Lick the floor clean? Ugh! I thought, casting Hareflight a sympathetic look.

"Waterpaw, you will not be punished for the fight," Sassafrasstar added. "You were only defending yourself."

"Typical," Heronclaw muttered. "She's showing favoritism to her son."

Sassafrasstar whirled around, her face contorted with anger. "Did I ask you to speak?" she snarled. "That leads me to my second point. I am sick of your attitude, Greennose and Heronclaw. For a while, I've been turning a blind eye to it because I thought you would grow out of it. But there is something very serious we need to address here."

Sassafrasstar's eyes started to blaze with blue fire. She was looking much angrier than ever before. Uh oh…

"I deal with a lot of things," Sassafrasstar roared. "I'm used to apprentices who back-talk their mentors, complain about the elders, and sneak out at night. That's completely normal and all part of growing up. But one thing I will NOT put up with is bullying."

"But we're not bullies," Greennose said, looking as scared as a kit. "We didn't"…

Sassafrasstar snorted. "If ganging up against someone and ripping them to shreds isn't bullying, then I don't know what is. What you did to Hareflight and Waterpaw is inexcusable. Don't think I don't know what happened! You both ganged up against Hareflight because you thought he had a crush on Swanpaw. And while we're on the subject, let me move on to my next point. You four need to stop worrying about she-cats and start focusing on serving the Clan to your best potential. You're all young, and there will be plenty of time to think about a mate in the future, when you're mature enough to handle it."

"I can't believe my son would play a stunt like this" – Mossfoot began angrily, but Sassafrasstar silenced him with a flick of her tail.

"Greennose and Heronclaw, you are confined to camp for two moons. You may not even think about leaving camp. I don't want to do this when we're in such a dangerous situation with ShadowClan and the Legion, but you left me with no choice."

"TWO MOONS?" Heronclaw screeched.

"You can't do that!" Greennose wailed.

"I most certainly can," Sassafrasstar said coolly. "I would not be so harsh if it weren't for so many things you've done wrong. Your attitude, your defiance, your clear disregard for basic common-sense rules, and the way you use your strength to domineer over the apprentices. You may think it's funny and 'cool', but it isn't. It's a sign of two cats that could have become respected warriors, but won't be trusted because of their behavior."

Greennose's eyes were misting up, as if he were about to cry. Heronclaw's whiskers were twitching furiously. Mossfoot was staring at his son with disappointment and anger. Heronclaw's mother looked angry, but his father just seemed… sad.

"Before I continue with my next points, I need some cats to leave," Sassafrasstar said, after a pause. "I'm going to ask everyone except Spottedsky, Heronclaw, Swanpaw, Waterpaw, and Turtlepaw to leave. Badgerfoot has figured out the sleeping accommodations, so go see him now."

I frowned. Why was she asking so many cats to leave? And why was Heronclaw looking so scared? Then it hit me.

Oh no, I thought frantically. I had a suspicion about what was going to happen, and it wasn't good.

I looked around the den. Spottedsky had a sad look in her eyes, Heronclaw looked terrified, and Turtlepaw seemed… unsettled. Then I saw Swanpaw, who was staring at the ground. In that moment, my suspicions were confirmed.

She told on me, I thought furiously. That stupid, nasty, good-for-nothing snitch…

"There seems to be a certain blackmailing incident we need to address," Sassafrasstar continued on. Her voice had changed. When she was talking about the fight, her voice was angry and scorching. Now she spoke coldly, and her eyes shone an icy blue. "Heronclaw, I think you should explain."

Heronclaw looked up at her with frightened eyes, unable to speak a word.

"Not keen, are you?" Sassafrasstar taunted. "Spottedsky can explain, then." She motioned for the tortoiseshell she-cat to begin speaking.

"Well," Spottedsky began, "yesterday evening, I overheard Swanpaw and Waterpaw arguing over something. When I confronted Swanpaw about it, this morning, I made her tell me."

So Swanpaw hadn't snitched on me after all. At least, she had only done so when she was forced to.

"On the night of Waterpaw's first Gathering, Heronclaw went up to him and told him to go out with a she-cat of another Clan, or else he would give him trouble. After Waterpaw went out, Heronclaw told Waterpaw that if he didn't become his slave, he would go and tell on him about breaking the warrior code. Many days since then, Greennose and Heronclaw have taken the opportunity to force him to get prey from the fresh-kill pile, and do other things he didn't want to do."

For a moment, everyone was silent. Then Sassafrasstar said, "All of you here know the she-cat Waterpaw was involved with." She looked straight at Turtlepaw.

All eyes went to the ShadowClan she-cat, who stared down at her paws.

"I don't think anything more needs to be said," Sassafrasstar said. "Except for the fact that Turtlepaw and Waterpaw have been continuously seeing each other, after the incident" –

"Hang on," Heronclaw suddenly interrupted, "I thought Waterpaw and Turtlepaw only saw each other once. I didn't think they were seeing each other afterwards"…

"You thought wrong," Sassafrasstar answered curtly.

"You didn't tell me," Heronclaw said, looking at me with wide eyes.

"Why should I tell you anything?" I snapped back.

"Anyways," said Sassafrasstar pointedly, "I think we've had enough debate. Heronclaw" – she motioned to the warrior – "Your punishment will be: out of one of the moons you are stuck in camp, your rank as warrior will be demoted. You will sleep in the apprentices' den and be assigned a mentor. I think Brindlefire will do an excellent job."

The look on his face was priceless.

This time, Heronclaw had absolutely no comment. He didn't even look at Sassafrasstar. He just stared down at the ground, refusing to acknowledge anyone.

"And Waterpaw," Sassafrasstar added, "you will be punished as well."

"Wait, why should I be punished?" I protested. "The only reason why I went out with Turtlepaw is because Heronclaw made me"…

"I know what happened. What Heronclaw did was inexcusable. What you did was inexcusable as well. After Heronclaw asked you to do something that was clearly against the warrior code, you should have gone to me, your mentor, or any other adult cat in the Clan. But you agreed to follow Heronclaw. You let him push you around. That makes you just as guilty as him.

"Therefore, I'm putting you on nursery duty for two moons. You can look after the kits, play with them, and tell them stories. You will also replace the nests with fresh bedding every three days."

Well, that didn't sound too bad. I knew nursery duty was a lot better than elder duty. The kits, although mischievous at times, were a lot nicer than the grumpy elders. At least I could play with them.

"And now I'm speaking to you as well, Turtlepaw," Sassafrasstar added. "You can help him with nursery duty. And neither of you can leave the camp without an escort, because I don't trust either of you for the time being."

She doesn't trust me, I thought, feeling dejected. I stared at Heronclaw, who had buried his face in his paws. Despite the fact that he had blackmailed me, I suddenly felt an unexpected twinge of sympathy for him. Sassafrasstar's being really tough on him. He's a jerk, but he doesn't deserve all this. But maybe this will teach him to be nicer. Maybe he'll stop bullying all the apprentices… Well, he most definitely would stop that, because Sassafrasstar would be keeping an eye on him. But I certainly hoped he could become a nicer cat.

Turtlepaw was also staring at the ground, but unlike Heronclaw, she looked angry. She glared at Sassafrasstar, but she took no notice of the ShadowClan she-cat.

"I think that is about it," Sassafrasstar said, after a moment's silence. "Spottedsky, younger warriors have to sleep in the field, so you should go there. Apprentices, as usual, will sleep in the apprentices' den."

We were about to leave, but Sassafrasstar pulled me back. "Waterpaw, I need to speak to you for a second," she said.

"Um, yes?" I asked nervously.

"Do you remember when I told you not to interact with Turtlepaw?" Sassafrasstar asked. "Why didn't you listen to me? Why didn't you trust my judgment?"

I scratched the ground. "I did. I wasn't going to speak to her. But then I saw Turtlepaw being picked on by some other apprentices, and I couldn't take that. Then I found myself asking her out. I figured I could do Heronclaw's dare and get it done with, but then things got crazy after that. I ended up agreeing to see her more often. I"… I didn't need to go on.

"I see," Sassafrasstar said. "I hope you learned that every decision you make can always escalate into something further. Any move you make can get you into trouble."

"Yes," I murmured.

"You should go now," Sassafrasstar murmured. Her voice had become much gentler and softer than before. "Try not to think too much about your punishment. And don't be too harsh on Greennose and Heronclaw. They're going to have a tough time, but if we make things bearable for them, they may end up getting back on the right path."

"I will," I promised. I left the den, towards my nest. I was tired now, and there was no time to do anything but sleep – but the next day I resolved to talk to Turtlepaw.

I just had a question for all of you. Would you prefer it if I sent review replies by PM instead of responding to them at the beginning of each chapter? I'd actually prefer that. I'll still reply to guest reviews here, of course, but it just won't take up so much space in the beginning of the chapter.

AOTD: The prophecy… well, I can't say much about that, since it'd spoil the whole thing. I don't think Bluemist should have reacted like that, of course. But I guess Whitepaw was being a bit rude too.

QOTD: I haven't done this in a while, so… How many fruits can you name?