"So what do you think?" Petalwhisker asked after swallowing a bite of squirrel.

Mapleshade was sharing said squirrel with her daughter after bringing it back from the sunhigh hunting patrol. "I don't know…" she murmured. "Deciding kit names should be left to after they're born. Redkit is pretty good, though."

"Maybe something more… you know…" Petalwhisker shook her head with frustration. "Agh! I can't express it right! Redkit is just so small of a name. It feels weird."

"You don't have to decide right now," Mapleshade reminded her. "And I actually wanted to ask you something about the kits. Well, and Yarrowclaw."

Petalwhisker's dappled ears perked. "What?"

"Is all of this because of… er… what happened with your brother?" Mapleshade asked delicately. "You're an impulsive cat, whether you want to admit it or not. Right after Larchfang left, you took a mate after hardly knowing him. Not only that, but you tried for kits then as well."

Petalwhisker averted her gaze to the ground, scowling. "Larchfang isn't my brother. Not anymore. If I ever meet him in battle, he'll die. That's what traitors deserve."

Mapleshade scooted closer to her daughter. "Surely you don't mean that, Petal."

"I do!" Petalwhisker snapped. "And enough with the nickname. That's something you called me when I was a kit! I'm a grown warrior. Treat me like it."

Mapleshade's ears lowered, and her eyes widened with hurt. "Very well," she mewed, trying to act unbothered. "I still love Larchfang, but I guess I can see why you're upset with him."

Petalwhisker huffed, "I just don't get it! What does he see in some RiverClan tom?" She cringed. "That's another issue. You take a mate to have kits! How do you have kits when you're both toms?"

Mapleshade glared at the queen. "That's a cruel thing to say. You take a mate because you love each other. Kits aren't required. Nettlebreeze and I are mates, but we don't have offspring together."

"W-well…!" Petalwhisker stammered. "That's different! I couldn't imagine being with a she-cat. It's just plain wrong!"

Mapleshade stood, nudging the remains of the squirrel towards Petalwhisker. "I'm full," she growled. "I'm leaving camp now. Goodbye."

She padded away, the fur on the back of her neck prickling, trying to stay calm. As she left camp, she felt someone brush against her side. She didn't stop, which made them walk alongside her. It was a while before she finally looked sideways to see Nettlebreeze, silent for once. She stopped.

"What is it?" she asked.

Nettlebreeze smiled gently. "Nothing. You seemed upset, so I thought I could try a paw at cheering you up."

Mapleshade sighed, "Petalwhisker is just…" She shook herself with a growl.

"I understand," the ginger tom mewed. "She can be feisty."

"It was more than that," Mapleshade insisted. "She was bad-mouthing Larchfang! Saying he should die for leaving, saying he shouldn't be with a tom because it's 'wrong.'"

Nettlebreeze frowned. "Neither of those things are exactly traditional, so I can see her confusion and frustration. Try to understand it from her point of view, and work on shifting her opinion from there. Keep in mind she might not want to change, though."

"I don't need your pathetic advice!" Mapleshade snapped.

The warrior flinched. "Sorry. I was only trying to help."

"I don't want you to!" she growled. She lowered her voice, regaining some form of calmness, "Maybe we shouldn't be together. We don't see things eye-to-eye."

Nettlebreeze nodded slowly. "Our relationship doesn't feel genuine, anyway. I know you don't really love me. You never have. You could've just rejected me, you know."

"I thought I could learn to love you," Mapleshade meowed, her anger fully gone. "You're a good tom. After losing Birchface, I didn't think I'd ever love again. But when I realized your feelings, I thought it couldn't hurt to try. I apologize for leading you on."

Nettlebreeze shook his head. "It's fine. I'm just glad we have this sorted out now. Better late than never."

Mapleshade groaned, "How are you so wise for someone younger than me?"

Nettlebreeze grinned playfully. "It's one of my secrets!"

Mapleshade smiled as well, though smaller. "You really are a good cat. You'll make a great mate for the right molly. Or tom, if you're into them."

Nettlebreeze nodded. "Thank you. You too, if you ever take another. It's good we're separating. Our personalities don't really… clash well. I'm sure with the right chemistry they could, but…" He shrugged. "Oh well, right?"

"Oh well," she agreed with a chuckle. "We'll stay friends, right? Couldn't bear to hate my daughter's former mentor, after all."

"Definitely. Wanna hunt? But without the unbearable tension, preferably."

Mapleshade nodded slowly, and so they went through ThunderClan's forest. By the time they decided to go back to camp, it was sunset. They threw their prey on the pile. The calico stretched in the fading sunlight.

"All that hunting has me famished!" she exclaimed. "I'm getting some prey and going to sleep."

"I think I'll eat with Frecklewish and Mistpelt over there," Nettlebreeze told her. "Do you want to join us?"

Mapleshade shook her head. "Thanks for the invite, though. I want to eat with Patchberry."

"Have a good meal!" the tabby called as he headed for the pile.

Mapleshade poked her head into the medicine den, only to see Patchberry getting a thorn out of Deerpaw's hind foot. "Hey, Patch!" she mewed.

"Hey!" he returned the greeting without looking up from his work. When the thorn was out and he sent Deerpaw on her way, he padded up to her. "What is it?"

"Come eat the evening meal with me," she invited him. "Unless you've already eaten?"

"I haven't," he meowed. "I don't have much of an appetite, though."

Mapleshade adopted a concerned expression. "Is something bothering you?"

Patchberry shuffled his paws before hesitantly nodding. "It was a dream I got last time Ravenwing and I visited the Moonstone," he replied quietly. "I haven't told him I got one of importance, though. I hoped to figure it out before informing him."

"Maybe I could help?" Mapleshade offered. "I'm no medicine cat, but a fresh pair of eyes could be of assistance."

"Maybe…" He seemed to consider it for a brief moment. "Okay, but let's go somewhere more private."

They headed to somewhere not far from camp, nestled in between two oaks. "So I open my eyes, right?" Patchberry meowed. "I'm at Sunningrocks, and laying on one of the stones is this little tabby kit. I don't recall the gender, but I do remember it having some splashes of white. Its eyes were closed, so it was probably a newborn. It lay in a huge puddle of blood. Probably its own.

"Floating down the stream were bodies. Several I didn't recognize, but I saw that one RiverClan warrior. What's his name? Appledusk. That's it. Someone else was there too. Petalwhisker." His voice grew uncertain. "Just… dead. I was so afraid, but I knew it was just a dream. And then, the stream was clear of bodies for a very long time. Until Darkstar and Oakstar, side by side, came down. It was horrifying, seeing two strong leaders stiff with death.

"Then the kit grew to reveal it had pure white eyes - no pupils. It grew so quickly to adulthood. It gained a huge, long scar across its throat. I just stood and watched until it turned and leaped into the stream. It climbed out what seemed like moons later with both a fish and a squirrel. It tossed them on Sunningrocks. It looked up and locked eyes with me. It spoke to me, but not with words. I could still tell what it was saying, though.

"'An old tear will always rip more when under stress.' Then these leaves drifted in the wind and fell on the squirrel. The cat smiled at me and said without words again, 'See you soon, but only after the storm.'"

Mapleshade was stunned by the description. "I… have no idea. I'm sorry, I didn't think it was so… complicated."

Patchberry nodded. "I haven't even started to understand it." He sighed quietly, "You know, telling someone made me feel a bit better about it. Thank you for listening."

Mapleshade smiled at her son. "Of course!" She dropped it and thought again about the dream. "The bodies probably represent death. The cats dying." She choked as she said this, remembering one of them to be Petalwhisker, but it was almost certain the correct interpretation. "Er… maybe the kit is Petalwhisker's, since she's due soon?"

"Maybe. Didn't look much like her or Yarrowclaw, though."

"Maybe the kit grows to be a threat to both RiverClan and ThunderClan, since there were dead from both Clans," Mapleshade suggested. "And maybe we unite together to stop it, or something. Since it brought a fish and squirrel out."

Patchberry shrugged. "Maybe," he said again. "It's okay if you don't have any ideas. I'm getting hungry, anyway, so we should probably go back. You still up for eating together?"

"Yeah," she replied with a small smile. "Let's go."