Hey! here's the next chapter! No time for pretty words today!

Chapter 35

The next moon passed quickly for Echoripple, she was distracted by all the arrangements left as leaf-bare steadily drew to a close. The other Clans had been as busy as herself inviting more and more Clan-mates as they grew in numbers so that the meetings were as crowded as gatherings and she'd had to arrange shifts so as not to draw too much attention.

She was now confident that they had enough support, now she just had to talk to the leaders. RiverClan was the only Clan they only had a paw-full of cats in. Having only Stormfrost, the expectant queen, her mate, Fireclaw, and two of their close friends, Lionflower and Kestreltail.

So she had decided she'd might as well try first with Dawnstar, the RiverClan leader. She lay crouched on the riverbank now, her belly pressed against the cold snow as she waited at dusk for the RiverClan cats to bring Dawnstar as arranged.

Lionflower and Kestreltail were bringing her so as not to bring direct attention to the expecting couple. Echoripple shifted her bulging belly to the side. It'd grown so big that the Clan couldn't help but notice and both Hollypelt and Leafsong were sure that her kits would be born this moon, before leaf-bare was over, so they'd be safe from the sacrifice.

She couldn't forget Nighthawk's shocked and disappointed look when that happened. But he too had trust that the sacrifice would be stopped anyways so he hadn't looked too upset. Though he'd had some harsh words for her, demanding who her mate was, but her lips were sealed forever about Slash. No cat would understand the longing she felt for him with every intake of breath.

She was brought back to her surroundings at a flash of black, ginger, white, and brown fur. Lionflower had a particular pelt, black fur with patches of ginger, white, and brown, it was difficult to forget her. Her odd, but pretty, yellow-green eyes finished the image and fit her unusual name.

Kestreltail was a plain black and brown tom with plain green eyes, he was average in everything but his tufted tail, it was more like a lion's tail then a kestrel's tail.

She strained her eyes and finally saw the proud walk and regal air that signified a leader. Dawnstar was a plain, light gray with a silver sheen to her fur with new-leaf green eyes. She called them that because they were so bright and soft.

Echoripple stood up as the RiverClan cats carefully made their way over to her over the ice that was beginning to weaken as more sunnier and warmer days melted it. Dawnstar narrowed her eyes at her in suspicion as she stood up from underneath a straggly bracken bush.

Lionflower nodded at her and Kestreltail dipped his head as she neared, Dawnstar stood in between her two warriors, looking her over with cool eyes, there was no fear as those green eyes lingered on her bulging belly.

"Echoripple, my warriors tell me you have something you'd like to ask me?" Dawnstar mewed crisply, she was obviously not in a mood to waste time.

"Yes," Echoripple mewed, staring levelly at the leader, she wondered for a heartbeat if she should have asked her own leader first, so that she had Cinderstar's word to back her up, but that couldn't be helped now.

She wasn't in a mood to waste time either, being pregnant made her impatient and short-tempered. She cut straight to the point, telling Dawnstar of how she had struck out on her mission alone and now had many supporters.

"RiverClan was harder to get to since I had absolutely no connections in RiverClan," Echoripple concluded, explaining to Dawnstar why there was more support in other Clans then in her Clan.

Dawnstar nodded, Echoripple hadn't told her that she had been a sacrificed kit, but from the understanding gleam, Echoripple supposed she'd guessed. "Look, Echoripple, you're talking sense, and I'd love to support you, I've had kits of my own and know how hard it must be, but I'm bound to the warrior-code as leader," Dawnstar mewed quietly, her eyes looked regretful.

Echoripple shook her head, "But that's why you have to support this. The warrior-code also states that no warrior is to ignore a kit in trouble, much less kill a kit! StarClan never actually came down and asked for the sacrifice, it was invented by the leaders, and when it seemed to work, it became a traditional thing. But it doesn't work the way its made out to be, several cats have died this leaf-bare from the cold, lack of food, and green-cough, I wouldn't call that 'easy seasons and plenty of prey,'" Echoripple argued.

Dawnstar hesitated, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again, they shone with a strong intensity. "Echoripple, were you the sacrificed ThunderClan kit last new-leaf?" Dawnstar asked, Lionflower and Kestreltail shared an apprehensive glance but Echoripple just looked at the leader levelly.

"Yes, and ThunderClan never suffered more then the other Clans, in my opinion, its obvious that StarClan doesn't act differently on the Clans because of the sacrifice," Echoripple mewed.

Dawnstar hesitated once more, then lifted her head high. "Then I cannot stand by something that is pointless and wrong," Dawnstar mewed clearly, though Echoripple could see the doubt in her eyes.

"Then why are you doubtful?" Echoripple asked, she still wasn't in a mood to be considerate or clever in her words.

Dawnstar stared at her levelly, "If this is truly wrong, then why has it not been stopped before? If StarClan did not wish it, why didn't they order the leaders to stop it?" Dawnstar questioned, a question Echoripple was glad she could answer from her previous meetings with Silverpool, though she hadn't met her for some time now.

"StarClan didn't have the voice before, no cat was willing to carry out StarClan's wishes as they had no way to make any cat believe them. And when they did manage to convince their own Clan, they were attacked by the other Clans for not participating," Echoripple mewed.

Dawnstar nodded simply, she seemed satisfied, as if it made sense. "Then I will stand by you when you stand up," Dawnstar mewed, and dipped her head respectfully.

Echoripple nodded in thanks and then they mewed a quick goodbye before turning back to their own territories. Dusk had been replaced by grey twilight and Echoripple padded back to camp alone with her thoughts.

As she entered, she flinched as Nighthawk jumped in front of her, "What did Dawnstar say?" he asked in a low whisper.

"She's in," Echoripple responded quietly, but coldly. She stalked past Nighthawk and paused to tell Raincloud that Dawnstar was in and to tell the other cats that had joined them.

She looked around the Clan, the whispers of her return had reached the ears of all the cats in allegiance with her and she was warmed by there supporting looks. Moons of being alone had changed quickly.

Blackstorm, Squirrelfur, Blackpool, Hazelfrost, Goldenheart, Wolfheart, Brightwillow, Quailfrost, Jumpflight, Fawnleap, Creamcloud, Streamflight… And also Leafsong, as well as Nighthawk, Raincloud, and Spottedsky, that's most of the Clan!

Cats she hadn't known before had become some of her closest friends in just one short moon. There were just four more cats in the Clan she wanted to ask… One was Hailstorm, she thought he deserved to hear her story from her, so she'd been wondering how to tell her former mentor, even though he'd been hurt to learn she was expecting some other cat's kits.

And then Stormsong and her mate, Falconcry, Stormsong already knew she'd been sacrificed but she didn't know how to tell her what Echoripple had been doing for moons. And then Cinderstar, which was more of a 'have to,' then a 'want to.' But she planned to ask her tomorrow.

The word went around, quietly, that Dawnstar had excepted and cats retreated to their den, drawing some curious looks from the clan-mates who hadn't been told of the mission against the sacrifice yet. Echoripple padded tiredly to the fresh-kill pile and grabbed a finch before padding to the nursery.

Spottedsky was cleaning her ears, her eyes bright with hope as she padded in and collapsed into her nest. "So Dawnstar excepted." Spottedsky hadn't come out into the clearing, her stomach making her not want to move around, but she must have heard the happy whispering because it was more like a statement then a question.

Echoripple nodded, then frowned, "I think I'm going to need to put Briarberry and Blackear in charge for awhile, while I have my kits," she mewed softly, licking her belly. Tenderness pulsed through her at an almost alarming rate, she'd never been a soft cat, but she felt like she was the most sympathetic cat that existed when she thought of her kits, her only wish was that Slash could be with her…

She looked up through a tiny gap between the gorse branches of the nursery and watched a silver star. She could see Slash's silver fur in the star's gleam and his white stripe in its brilliance along with the sparkle of his blue eyes in the dazzling glimmer of the star.

Then she turned back to Spottedsky who was curling down to sleep, they'd become closer friends then they could have other thought during their time in the nursery together. Spottedsky was level-headed and smart, a little dreamy and forgetful, but always honest and polite.

She reminded Echoripple of Rain, Stormsong's long-dead half-sister. Echoripple sighed, she was exhausted and her paws hurt from walking so far with the extra weight, Hollypelt predicted three or four kits.

But she didn't give it another thought as she closed her eyes. She dreamed and dozed, thinking of how it could have been if Slash was still there.

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