Sandstorm woke slowly. She wasn't eager to leave her nest. Regret pricked at her pelt like sharp thorns.

"I do know you!"

Sandstorm shut her eyes again. Fireheart's desperate cries echoed in the back of her mind. It had hurt her deeply to leave him as she did—but what choice did she have? Sandstorm's claws dug into her nest. I liked him a lot, Sandstorm thought. But we never would have lasted together. Someone would have found out—StarClan's sake, someone already did—and we would have been ruined.

"I love you."

Did he? Sandstorm let out a heavy sigh. I'm not even sure if I loved him. Maybe I could have, if things were different. If they had more time, or if they had been from the same Clan—maybe.

I need to get up and take Snowpaw out, Sandstorm reminded herself. She forced herself to rise from her nest. Some warriors were still asleep, so she stepped carefully around them as she departed. A heavy feeling weighed down on her shoulders. It brought her no joy to hurt Fireheart the way she did, even if she felt she had to. I couldn't tell him about our kits… I couldn't let him talk me out of leaving. It was better this way.

Sandstorm stepped outside of the Warriors' Den, blinking tiredly in the sunlight. She scanned the camp, searching for her apprentice. She noticed him sitting with his mother near the elders. Speckletail was sitting up, beaming, as she chatted with the elders. Crowfur was with them, sharing a squirrel with Dappletail like they were old friends.

"Did you hear?" Speckletail crowed. "My boy caught a mouse on his first try yesterday!" She gave him a loving lick between the ears, and Snowpaw purred loudly.

Patchpelt snorted softly. "Yes, yes, Crowfur told us all about it yesterday."

"Well," Speckletail stamped her paws self-importantly. "It's not every day an apprentice catches prey on their first day out of camp!"

Sandstorm smiled to herself as she listened to the conversation. She felt some of the weight lift from her. I have Snowpaw to think about now, she mused. Training him already makes me happy.

Snowpaw glanced her way and caught sight of Sandstorm. He let out a wordless chirp and bounded towards her. Crowfur looked up and muttered something to Dappletail before he rose and joined them.

"What's your plan for today?" Crowfur meowed.

Sandstorm hesitated. I hadn't thought at all about that. Quickly, she meowed, "Let's try some more hunting practice." Sandstorm smiled at Snowpaw. "I want to do some battle training soon, but I think I should probably learn some more pawspeak before we start working with the other apprentices."

"That would probably be best," Crowfur agreed.

Follow me, Sandstorm signed, as she began to pad towards the gorse tunnel. Snowpaw hurried after her, his tail twitching eagerly.

Sandstorm's ears twitched towards the elders as she heard Speckletail speak up again.

"My boy's going to be a great warrior," she purred. "Fresh-kill on his first day… Tigerstar was right to have Sandstorm train him."

Sandstorm's chest fluttered, and she couldn't help but smile. Her pawsteps felt lighter as she continued out of camp. I made the right choice, she assured herself. It's time for me to focus on myself and my Clan. I can't worry about Fireheart anymore. She chuckled softly as Snowpaw stumbled into a small snowdrift and staggered away, shaking fresh snow from his pelt. I have Snowpaw to look out for now.

Fireheart awoke in the morning with a dull aching in his chest. He'd slept terribly after his conversation with Sandstorm last night. I don't know what to do, he thought. He covered his face with a paw. I don't want to get up… I don't want to talk to anyone. His heart still felt shattered. His time with Sandstorm may not have been long, but he was certain of the powerful feelings he felt towards her. She doesn't want me.

"Fireheart!" he heard Beechflower call. "You hungry? Come share some fresh-kill with us!"

Fireheart didn't even lift his paw from his eyes. I can't! He was sure he would completely break down if he had to go out and pretend everything was fine. How am I supposed to explain to everyone I got my heart broken by a ThunderClanner? Fireheart curled his tail tight around himself. "I'm sorry," he rasped. "I'm not feeling great. I think I need to stay in my nest today."

"Oh." Beechflower sounded disappointed. "Sorry, Fireheart. Hope you feel better!" Fireheart listened to the sound of his friend's pawsteps as the tom padded out of the Warriors' Den.

Sorry, Beechflower, Fireheart thought, feeling a pang of guilt. It only made him feel worse to turn his friend away, but what else was he supposed to do? I just want to sleep.

The next days dragged on slow as a slug, and Fireheart went through them in a clouded haze. He left his nest only to make dirt before skulking back to it. Fireheart languished in his nest, wishing there was something he could do to make Sandstorm take him back—but mostly he just lay there, wallowing.

One evening, Fireheart woke to a water vole next to his nose. Someone had dropped the piece of fresh-kill there, but the den was empty. Fireheart stared at it bleakly for a few moments, before his stomach clawed at itself, reminding him that even now he still needed to eat. Fireheart pulled it closer and began to eat it. It was tasteless. He pushed the bones away when he was finished and curled up again.

A paw touched Fireheart's shoulder, and he opened his eyes to see Silverstream sitting beside him. "Hey," he rasped.

Silverstream looked down at him with pity in her eyes. "It's your ThunderClanner, isn't it?" she asked, softly. "Beechflower said you weren't feeling well, but… you seem more sad than sick."

Fireheart looked around the den to confirm it was empty before he nodded bleakly. "We're not… seeing each other anymore. She doesn't want to. I don't know what I did wrong."

Silverstream's tail twitched. "I'm sorry, Fireheart," she meowed. "Maybe it wasn't anything you did. I know as well as you do that relationships like the ones we have aren't easy. It might've been too hard on her."

But we weren't worth it? Fireheart wondered, a bit selfishly. I would've kept coming for her. No matter what.

"You can't beat yourself up forever," Silverstream added, when he did not speak. The pretty molly sighed softly. "It's not doing you any good to be laying around in your nest like this." She smiled at him. "Why don't you come hunting with Beechflower and I? He's worried about you, you know."

A small part of Fireheart wanted to go. A tiny voice in the back of his mind agreed with Silverstream—he felt awful just laying around like this. But his legs were heavy and his mind felt dull. He laid his head back on his paws. "I'm sorry," he meowed. "I just need some time to myself."

Silverstream took in a sharp breath. "It's been five days. You missed Beechflower's ceremony. He's been made a permanent nursery resident." She stood up. "He wanted you to be there, but he didn't want to disturb you."

Guilt stabbed at Fireheart. I didn't even realize there was a ceremony. "I'm sorry, really," he meowed. "I'm just…"

"I'm not trying to make you feel bad," Silverstream sighed. "But you're missing out on everything else in life, Fireheart. RiverClan needs all its warriors, and we're worried about you. I won't tell anyone about what happened, obviously… but you can't stay in here forever." With that, she turned away and left the den.

"For StarClan's sake, wake up!"

Fireheart's eyes flew open and he found himself nose-to-nose with Silverthorn. Great. Fireheart recoiled back in his nest. "What do you want?" he growled.

Silverthorn sat back on his haunches and scowled. "This is embarrassing to watch," he growled. "You've been laying in your nest for a quarter moon." He picked something up from beside him and tossed it at Fireheart's paws.

Fireheart looked down, dumbstruck. It was a shrew. "Eat it," Silverthorn ordered. "Minnow-brain. You can't feed yourself on self-pity."

"I…" Fireheart looked back and forth from the shrew to Silverthorn, who was continuing to scowl at him. "What?"

"I said—" Silverthorn shoved the shrew even closer to Fireheart's face. "Eat. It."

Fireheart blinked at Silverthorn a few times. "Why did you bring me fresh-kill?"

Silverthorn snorted. "Because everyone just can't stop going on and on about how you obviously aren't eating anything or going to the fresh-kill pile or getting up and doing anything and it's getting on my nerves and it would be extremely disgusting if I had to deal with your dead body because you starved yourself to death in our den!"

Fireheart stared at him in stupefied silence. What in StarClan's name is he talking about?

"Just eat it and stop looking at me like I'm a talking badger!" Silverthorn exclaimed. The silver tom rolled his eyes dramatically. "It's like you've never seen fresh-kill before."

Fireheart suspiciously pulled the shrew towards his nose and sniffed it. It was fresh—probably caught that morning. I'm surprised it's not crowfood. Fireheart was hungry, though. He couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten. So he bent down and took a bite.

"Finally," Silverthorn muttered. He kept a watchful eye on Fireheart, as though he thought he might quit eating and toss the shrew away. "To be honest, I didn't want to be out in camp right now. It's… weird out there." He glanced towards the mouth of the den and narrowed his eyes in displeasure. "Tigerstar is here."

Fireheart paused in his eating. "Tigerstar?"

Silverthorn nodded, his eyes still narrowed to slits. "Yeah. Apparently he's our 'welcomed guest', along with a whole patrol of ThunderClan warriors. I don't trust it, but Leopardstar's meeting with him in her den."

Is Sandstorm here? Fireheart didn't dare ask. The fresh-kill soured in his belly. "Oh."

"Yeah," Silverthorn carried on. "And worst of all, Leopardstar wants us to "socialize" with them. What's that even supposed to mean? I'm not getting friendly with a bunch of squirrel-chasing thieves, no thank you."

Fireheart was quiet. He looked towards the opening in the den. He almost wanted to get up and look for her. He mulled it over in the back of his mind. We wouldn't be able to talk like we need to, he thought.

"She's not there," Silverthorn muttered. "Sandstorm. She didn't come with."

Fireheart flinched in the slightest. He averted his gaze from Silverthorn.

Silverthorn looked briefly uncomfortable. He looked down at his own paws. "Look. I'm… uh." His tail flipped from one side to the other. "Sorry. About what happened. With you two." The words were dragged out of him like it was almost painful.

Fireheart found himself scowling. "No you aren't," he shot back. "Admit it. You wanted it not to work out. You told me as much."

"Ugh…" Silverthorn narrowed his eyes. "Look, okay, I didn't like it, and I still don't, but that doesn't mean I can't see that it's bothering you." He shifted his paws. "I thought we were trying that whole 'starting from scratch' thing."

Fireheart frowned, feeling suspicious once more. You didn't want to take me up on that when I was still with Sandstorm.

"Fine. Don't believe me." Silverthorn let out an irritated growl. "But we're all tired of watching you waste away in your nest. So… quit it!" He huffed and rose before padding away stiffly.

Fireheart watched him go, unsure of what to make of Silverthorn. He shook his head and finished his shrew. When he was finished, he sighed to himself and curled up again.