News soon travelled around the camp when the Gathering cats came back from their meeting. Laurelleaf wasn't chosen to go this time, even though he was healed enough to move freely. He remembered the times he was with Silverhawk in all the Gatherings he have been in as an apprentice, and suddenly missed the feeling of laughing with his friend while cats scolded them for being the noisiest apprentices of the Clans. After the incident, Silverhawk have never talked to him like he did before again. He also seemed very off-mind when talking to him in Gatherings now, always clawing the floor and leaving behind scratches on bare trunks, which chilled Laurelleaf to the bone and separated them for a long while.

Most of the day he sat in the medicine den talking to Larkwing and Vixentail, who decided to talk with Laurelleaf about her memories and what happened in the past. Larkwing, the wise medicine cat, have listened on and added in details the other Clans thought happened from time to time.

The chilly spirit coming off of leaf-bare seemed to dissolve in the medicine den, because Laurelleaf liked it when he had someone to talk to in the lonely medicine den that wasn't Larkwing or some cat who came in complaining about thorns in their paws. Vixentail was an interesting cat; even though she needed much patience to talk to, she always manages to catch the most prey for the Clan even in the harshest days of leaf-bare and help Larkwing find the herbs when he was too tired from his work.

"Oh, and I do know some things about herbs," Vixentail nodded, wrapping her paws around her body. "In RiverClan, our medicine cat used to teach me a lot about medicine. Life outside the Clans also taught me how to survive better than how the Clan taught me. When I am injured, I learned to figure out how to heal myself. Which was how I came out fine even after you nearly killed me."

"Ha," Laurelleaf chuckled, amused. Vixentail glared at him, and he was a bit unnerved by her aggressive gaze again. He listened to her throughout the day, and Vixentail told him that she was impressed with Laurelleaf. "You seem to at least show some gratitude and friendliness to me, unlike the other cats of your Clan," she told him. "Maybe because they don't know who I am, or thought me as a rogue and doubted Gorsestar's choice of keeping me. You bee-brained mange-pelt nearly killed me, though."

"Yes," Laurelleaf replied. "I would need to risk my life trying to protect my ears from being clawed every few seconds if I am not friendly towards you." "Fish-brain," Vixentail snorted. She left the medicine den.

Cats were pouring into the camp, searching for their friends and Clanmates to tell stories to. Laurelleaf climbed out of the den and tried to blend in the chattering crowd. His paws crunched on snowy grass and a faint sear of icy pain shot through his soft paws. For some reason every cat seemed nervous and chatty today, and he knew something must've happened.

"Did anything happen to RiverClan?" Laurelleaf heard Vixentail ask. Even though she was abandoned by her original Clan, Laurelleaf could see that she still held a trace of care for them.

"They were fine," Swiftflight told her, turning around. "Prey were running well for them and Twolegs didn't come to invade their river."

"Like usual," Vixentail mewed and rolled her eyes. But Laurelleaf could see a thin trace of relief in her gaze.

Meanwhile, most of the cats were talking about ThunderClan. Laurelleaf perked his ears to listen. He have to catch anything important, and that was first priority. His brown fur bristled when he heard the name Manglethorn. A few cats glanced in his direction, and suddenly the crowd seemed to grow silent. Laurelleaf looked at them for them to start talking again, but everybody seemed to stare at him.

"What?" He asked.

Swiftflight glanced uncomfortably at him and then at the rest of the chattering cats, and they all seemed to stay still at Swiftflight's glance. Flowersight whispered something to Petalclaw, and she replied something in a hushed mew. Laurelleaf felt his heartbeat slow down in suspicion and confusion. "Is there very bad news?" Laurelleaf asked.

"Um," Leafstripe began.

A cold wind blew through camp. It stirred the gray-green grass.

Uh-oh, he thought. Why do I feel like something very bad's going to happen? Real, real bad…

"Yes," Blackstorm answered hesitantly. "I'm afraid you'll be very... unhappy about this." He flicked his tail, glanced uncertainly at the other cats, and they nodded quickly to him.

Laurelleaf instantly knew, with a dreadful feeling, that it was about Manglethorn. He tried to brainstorm what they would say, and he thought about all the possibilities. Did Manglethorn kill some cat? Did Manglethorn cause more trouble, maybe for ShadowClan and RiverClan this time instead of WindClan? Did Manglethorn disturb the entire Gathering with something dreadful? Or did he…

No. Laurelleaf shook the last thought away.

"What?" He asked again. Gorsestar thrusted his way in front of the cats and faced Laurelleaf, as if he knew exactly how to handle this. But instead of hesitating like the other cats, Gorsestar's voice was stern and sure. "Oakstar died," he meowed. "And Manglethorn would go to the Moonstone tomorrow to receive his nine lives."