Waiting for the others to return was no easy task.
Greysight, Lostheart and Roseclaw sat anxiously at the center of their camp, in the place where the fresh-kill pile should have been. Now that Roseclaw's innocence had been proven, there was no longer any reason for them to keep her trapped in the medicine cat den; she wasn't dangerous. Moonfur and Raggedear, however, stayed in their nests, still recuperating from the intense fight with Scar.
Moonfur had insisted that she and Raggedear would be fine with watching Pineneedle, and that if he did try to pull on anything on her or Raggedear, they would help each other fend him off. Pineneedle had glared at her from across the den as she had said this and snapped that they should not to talk about him as if he wasn't there; this earned him a warning from Greysight, who said that if he even attempted anything, he would have to deal with her, and none of her clanmates would protest. She had also been quick to remind him that if it hadn't been for Lostheart, she, Darkpelt, and Moonfur would have already torn him to pieces.
Now that Moonfur and Raggedear were awake, being in the medicine cat den with Pineneedle was very uncomfortable. Moonfur avoided looking at him, opting to pretend like he wasn't there, but that didn't make his presence any easier to ignore. It was hard to remain passive when sharing a den with the same cat who kidnapped her daughter and then tried to harm her and Raggedear; Raggedear's presence, however, helped calm her and the two sat side-by-side in their nests, their sides pressed together, sharing warmth.
Moonfur wanted nothing more than to talk to him, but the venomous green gaze of the watchful tom lying a few fox lengths away made that impossible.
From beyond the stone walls of the den she could hear the muffled voices of her clanmates, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. She wondered if everyone had returned already, but it didn't sound like it. If Thistleprick and Darkpelt had returned, she was sure she'd be able to hear Darkpelt raise a fuss upon seeing Roseclaw out of the medicine cat den. Against her better judgment, Moonfur looked up. Pineneedle's gaze immediately flickered over to her and he narrowed his eyes in silence; he had been staring at Raggedear, she noticed.
She glared right back at him without fear for a few long seconds before she returned to ignoring his presence and listened hard for what was going on in the camp, guessing that either the apprentices had returned or Lostheart, Greysight, and Roseclaw were talking to Mintleaf. Sitting there, she wondered how long she and Raggedear would have to stay in the medicine cat den, it couldn't be too long. Now that they had been treated and were rested, Mintleaf would probably want to check on their condition another time, but they could continue to rest in the warrior's den; it wasn't like they were sick.
Moonfur was correct in her assumption. While Lostheart, Greysight, and Raggedear were sitting in the center of the camp, Mintleaf had emerged from the apprentices den.
She was, of course, surprised to see Roseclaw sitting with Lostheart and Greysight outside of the medicine cat den. Had they taken her out for some fresh air?
Mintleaf had been avoiding speaking to her former mentor after what had happened and only performed her medicine cat duties in silence for the white she-cat, but Roseclaw's scratches had been cleaned and attended to, now they would just have to heal completely on their own time.
A wave of discomfort washed over Mintleaf like a torrent as she felt all three she cats' eyes on her and Greysight stood up, waving her over. Mintleaf complied and padded warily to the center of the camp with them, even more surprised because Greysight and Lostheart didn't seem uncomfortable at all. Roseclaw was Greysight's closest friend, and Lostheart was Roseclaw's sister; of all cats in the clan, how could they be the ones to accept and recover from the event so quickly? Especially Lostheart.
Mintleaf couldn't even imagine what it would be like if Greysight tried to kill her out of the blue. It must have been an extremely jarring, confusing experience, she noted.
She still couldn't understand what would have driven Roseclaw, the she-cat who she had spent practically all of her days with, to do it. Mintleaf had already gone over it several times in her mind, thinking that maybe it was possible that another cat had put Roseclaw up to it somehow, or maybe Roseclaw had reason to believe that Lostheart was the one who had killed Wetfrost.
Mintleaf had ended her line of thought there, not only because of the grief that she felt upon thinking of Wetfrost, but also because she would think so poorly of Lostheart. She reasoned that it wasn't because she herself distrusted Lostheart, it was just because of their clan's entire situation, but Roseclaw had to have had a good reason. She had to.
Mintleaf wouldn't ever be able to accept it otherwise, and if she was wrong and Roseclaw was truly that nefarious and cold-hearted deep down that she would try to kill her sister out of spite alone, then Mintleaf couldn't forgive her.
She avoided eye contact with Roseclaw and gave Greysight her full attention, not at all masking her surprise.
"Greysight, what are you doing out here? Does Darkpelt know? Is he guarding Pineneedle?"
"Pineneedle's fine, Moonfur and Raggedear are watching him, don't worry. Darkpelt, Thistleprick, and the others haven't returned from their patrols yet, we're waiting for them." Greysight replied, flicking Mintleaf slightly with her tail. "And Darkpelt isn't a clan leader, he can't control every little thing we do."
"But...why?" Mintleaf's gaze inadvertently drifted toward Roseclaw as she spoke.
"We found out something very important after talking to Moonfur and Raggedear." Greysight explained. "You should wait with us, everyone will need to be here to hear it."
Mintleaf blinked, suddenly feeling anxious as to what Moonfur and Raggedear could have told them that would be so important.
"It has to do with Wetfrost and what really happened. We don't want to have to repeat ourselves, which is why it'd be best for everyone to be here before we talk about it, but I will tell you this: Roseclaw and Raggedear are innocent."
Mintleaf's eyes grew wide; how could they know? How was that even possible?
She looked to Lostheart for confirmation- she had been the one to fend off Roseclaw, after all- and the black she-cat with the ominous eyes nodded in agreement. Afterwards, Mintleaf's pale gaze flickered to Roseclaw, who had been watching her with a sad expression; Roseclaw offered her a small smile, but Mintleaf could only blink.
She looked back to Greysight.
"What?" she meowed. "How-? Both of them?"
"Yes."
"You can't just say something like that and expect me to wait, you have to tell me!"
Greysight let out a small breath of air at Mintleaf's expected response, which admittedly she would have expected from any cat.
"It'll be easier for everyone if we wait, trust me; that way we won't have to restart whenever someone enters camp."
Mintleaf snapped her mouth shut. She wanted to argue, but she was smart enough to know that it would be pointless with Greysight, and she didn't want to make her angry. So, with a look of resignation, almost a pout, Mintleaf sat down and wrapped her brown tail around her equally brown paws.
For the sake of her own patience, she hoped the other cats were just about finished with their duties.
The apprentices' hunting party returned first and they came back bearing the body of a freshly killed rabbit, much to Greysight's delight. They split the rabbit amongst each other while they waited, each cat getting at least one or two mouthfuls. Roseclaw was the only cat who completely abstained, having already eaten recently.
One rabbit didn't last long among the six cats though, and it was picked clean before they knew it, leaving their stomachs craving more.
It was pitiful, Lostheart noted after eating her fill, the way that six cats had to share a single rabbit. But what other choice did they have?
The apprentices were equally as wary of Roseclaw as Mintleaf had been, though they were less adamant about pressing Greysight for answers; Warpaw knew that invoking the wrath of Greysight, disobeying her orders, was less than a pleasant experience. They were eager, but they could wait. The wait shouldn't have been long anyway, seeing as Darkpelt and Thistleprick had left early that sunrise when they had. Eating the rabbit Branchpaw had caught- though he wouldn't have been able to catch it if Amberpaw hadn't blocked it's path one way and Warpaw in the other- helped kill some of the time.
Greysight wouldn't be the first to say anything out loud, but she was getting worried as the seconds ticked by.
Scar had been with two other cats, Karma and that Pain, but that didn't mean there weren't more of them hiding out somewhere close by. Darkpelt and Thistleprick could handle two cats, but could they handle more of them, especially if they were as strong as Moonfur and Raggedear led them to believe? It had taken Moonfur and Raggedear's combined efforts to take down Scar, and they were almost killed in the process. They didn't know either that it was practically by a stroke of pure luck that Moonfur was able to take him down. Greysight silently prayed that Scar had been the strongest of the three, if not the smartest. When they had entered their camp, they had made it seem like the black cat, Pain, was their leader, but what if that was intentional? What if that had also been part of their scheme?
It wasn't for herself that Greysight feared for though, it was her clanmates. She had no doubt in her mind that she'd be able to take care of these strange cats, but she didn't want any more of her clanmates to get hurt. Not like Wetfrost, who had never volunteered to be killed, not like Raggedear, Moonfur, Lostheart, or Roseclaw...
Would they hurry it up already!?
She and the others were kept waiting for another tense five minutes before she finally detected Darkpelt and Thistleprick moving through the forest. A feeling akin to relief sprinkled down on her as she alerted her clanmates and they took to watching the tree tunnel expectantly, albeit a bit nervously, but not for their clanmates' return, for the knowledge of what was to come, the mysterious nature of what Greysight had to tell them. They held a heavy feeling of dread that it would be some form of bad news.
They wouldn't be completely wrong.
Darkpelt and Thistleprick emerged from the shadowy tree tunnel, each wearing their own form of surprise as they were met with the sight of an audience upon their return.
"Couldn't wait for me to get back?" Thistleprick meowed, grinning after his initial surprised silence.
Darkpelt blinked and his eyes rolled over to the only white she-cat in the bunch, and Lostheart could see him doing so.
"Before you say anything," Lostheart said, "Let us explain."
Thistleprick, who had been too caught up in being pleased with himself, snapped back into reality suddenly at the sound of Lostheart's quiet, serious tone of voice and he noticed Roseclaw standing among them for the first time.
Darkpelt, much to Greysight's surprise, kept his mouth shut and waited, sizing up the crowd sitting in the center of camp as he did so, recognizing the sign of an impromptu clan meeting.
There was a brief moment of awkward silence that made Greysight wonder what Lostheart was waiting for, but Lostheart spoke up again, continuing what she was saying. It was then that Greysight realized that Lostheart had probably been waiting for her to take over and explain the situation, but she hadn't caught Lostheart's hint in the way her body had shifted toward her.
"It's a long story, and it's a lot to take in."
Lostheart was now speaking to the clan as a whole, not just Darkpelt and Thistleprick.
"But before we begin a meeting, would you tell us the results of your patrol?"
Darkpelt and Thistleprick padded deeper into the camp with their clanmates and helped to form a circle for their clan meeting, all cats now facing each other.
Darkpelt and Thistleprick were sitting side-by-side and they exchanged glances briefly before looking back up and across the way to where Roseclaw was sitting between Lostheart and Greysight, looking rather uncomfortable.
"We followed the border completely and re-marked the clan's scent boundaries, but not just on the OceanClan and TreeClan border, but on the other side of that swampy patch just by the twolegs' barrier too. Any rogues or cats from Twolegplace who try to wander in will know we're here alright, and that we mean business." said Thistleprick, who stole a glance at Roseclaw to no avail, she looked away as soon as he did.
"We did not come across the trespassers." Darkpelt added. "We combed almost every part of the territory in search of foreign scents or signs of their presence, but we found nothing. No bones, no scent trail, no sign that any cat has been staying on our territory. They've more than likely moved on, but we should keep an eye out and patrol the borders, as well as keep our scent boundaries strong for the time being."
As a whole, the clan seemed very content to hear this, namely the apprentices who appeared pleased by what Darkpelt had to say.
"You think they left?" piped up Branchpaw, a hopeful sound in his voice.
"No, I think an intelligent cat would have made the choice to move on, but we do not know these cats nor the ways in which they choose to operate, or think. It is a possibility that they have left, but it would not do well to get your hopes up; it is better to act the opposite and tell yourself that they are still lurking out there somewhere, waiting to strike. With their clanmate, or friend- whatever- dead, the smart, wise decision would have been to move on. But we cannot assume that that is what they will do, or what they have done. In any other situation I might have added that that cat could have acted on his own accord, but those three cats came into our camp, with no regard for our scent boundaries, and left us with the message that our clan would be destroyed. Nobody can try to tell me that this is coincidence."
Darkpelt's gaze scanned over his clanmates, as if daring one of them to do so, but no one spoke up, and thus his and Thistleprick's report was concluded.
"Now, would you be so kind as to explain why that traitor is sitting amongst us!?" Darkpelt growled lowly, his calm disappearing as he narrowed his eyes at the clan's former medicine cat.
"She's not a traitor!" Greysight retorted loudly, her fur bristling defensively.
Darkpelt's ears swerved back as he looked at the petite, blind she-cat who continually refuted and challenged him, a snarl on his face.
"Roseclaw is innocent." Lostheart meowed, distracting Darkpelt from Greysight for the time being.
Branchpaw, Amberpaw, Warpaw, Darkpelt, and Thistleprick were equally astounded by such a definitive statement from Lostheart.
"Innocent?" Darkpelt barked. "You're the one who said she attacked you in the first place! Are you saying that that was a lie?"
Lostheart saw something in Darkpelt's eyes then, something she hadn't seen directed at her in her own clan for a long time: distrust.
"No." Lostheart returned plainly, her face unreadable. "I didn't lie. It was Roseclaw who attacked me, but it also wasn't."
"...Explain."