"Birchfall! Larchnose! Hollyshade!" The Clan cheered. Larchnose leapt into the air, Birchfall smacked his brother lightly with his tail and Hollyshade just rolled her eyes and shook her head fondly.
"Congratulations, you lot!" Brambleclaw cuffed Birchfall around the ears affectionately.
"Thank you." Hollyshade mewed. "Oh, what the heck, it's my warrior ceremony. If I'm not allowed to be rambunctious now, when can I be?" That decided, she tackled Brightheart, laughing. The ginger-splotched she-cat soon kicked her off, and Hollyshade charged toward Squirrelflight, tackling her in a hug with whispered thanks.
"It was your work that got you here." Squirrelflight murmured. Beside them, Acornpaw, Barkpaw and Lakepaw sat, eyes glazed as they dreamed of being warriors.
Once the general hubbub was over, and each new warrior was licked at least ten times by each of their parents, the meeting broke up.
"Sunset vigil for you lot. Hope you're not tired."
"How could I be tired after that?" Larchnose asked.
"Oh, you won't feel that way at the end of your vigil." Brightheart laughed.
"Want to bet?" Larchnose queried.
"One mouse says you'll be tired."
"You're on."
Regret shone in Larchnose's eyes the next morning as he grudgingly promised Brightheart a mouse from his next hunting patrol.
The three siblings went to their new nests in the warriors' den, prepared by their mentors, and slept deeply.
It was sunhigh when they awoke, feeling more refreshed.
"Are you ready for your first patrols?" Brambleclaw asked them.
"Of course!" Hollyshade said, swiftly echoed by her brothers.
"Okay then. Squirrelflight, Ferncloud, Hollyshade and I will try our luck near the tunnels, Larchnose, Brightheart, Birchfall and Dustpelt can go on sunhigh patrol..."
After he had allocated the patrols, Squirrelflight motioned to her former apprentice. "Come on, the day is young yet!"
They trekked on until they could see an entrance to the tunnels; Squirrelflight immediately went into the bush while Brambleclaw pinpointed a starling on a nearby branch. Hollyshade blended into the dark bark of a tree, eyes roving for prey, while Ferncloud scanned near a bramble bush. Squirrelflight returned with a vole at the same time as Hollyshade darted after a squirrel intent on climbing the tree she was at. Ferncloud came out of the brambles with a large rabbit that had gotten tangled – presumably from WindClan – and Brambleclaw had taken his starling and buried it while they were doing that. Hollyshade suddenly perked up.
"I heard something from the tunnels!" She exclaimed. "Maybe it's Graystripe!"
"Be careful." Squirrelflight warned. "We don't know what's down there."
"I can hide from any wolves." It was obvious that Hollyshade was dreaming of the glories of finding Graystripe, of bringing him back safe, of finally getting Silverstream to smile again...
She stepped into the tunnel, and nothing happened. She roved down the tunnel, calling until her voice was just an echo on the wind, then they could gradually hear her voice grow louder as she came back. Just as they could see the tips of her ears, an almighty crack filled the air, and Hollyshade disappeared from view.
"Hollyshade!" They yowled as one.
The tunnel had grown a massive sinkhole where the new warrior should have been.
"Hollyshade, can you hear us?" Ferncloud asked.
"Hollyshade, answer me!" Squirrelflight yowled.
"Are there any ledges to climb?" Brambleclaw asked.
"It made a clean cut. I think it weathered away." Ferncloud mewed, dazed.
"Great StarClan..." Brambleclaw whispered, even as Squirrelflight yowled more and more desperate pleas into the void.
"Oh, great StarClan... my daughter..." Ferncloud whimpered, as Squirrelflight yowled and Brambleclaw tried to comprehend what had happened. Eventually it clicked.
"Help! Anybody!" He yowled, running away from the scene. He managed to run smack-dab into Birchfall, who shook his pelt out.
"What's the matter?" Birchfall asked.
"Your sister – sinkhole – not responding." Brambleclaw choked out. That was all it took for the patrol to take off running at his lead, coming to the tunnels where Ferncloud had sank to her paws.
Brightheart grabbed a small, dislodged pebble and dropped it into the sinkhole; they heard it fall, but could not discern when it landed.
"I'm sorry," Brightheart said, "but Hollyshade was very unlikely to have survived that fall."
Hearing it confirmed did little for Ferncloud and Squirrelflight, except for maybe causing Squirrelflight to stop yowling. Brambleclaw guided her to a stable patch of ground and curled around her, holding her as she shook and salty tears pooled in his eyes. She was always the 'mature' one of the group, he recalled. Always the one to be quietly snarky, the most pragmatic of the trio. He still remembered one day when the brothers of the group had tried to hunt on an ant's nest, despite their sister's warnings, and came back with myriad small bites and an 'I told you so' from their sister.
"We'd best tell Firestar." Brightheart said, getting to her paws.
"Eat that." Leafpool deposited a concoction of thyme and chamomile in front of all of them, which Squirrelflight robotically chewed. She could have done more... more to save her, more to warn her, more to train her. She could have forbidden Hollyshade from going into the tunnel, told her to wait until she went, done various other things to stop her apprentice's death.
And now it was too late.
Hollykit was always the one who came up to her to play most. As Squirrelpaw, when the warriors of the camp were busy, she used to take the kit on small badger rides and fishing trips and top-secret adventures to the Shining Cave. As Squirrelflight and Hollypaw, they went on hunts and patrols and training missions and explored every crevice of the new territory. And now there wouldn't be a Squirrelflight and Hollyshade, where Hollyshade and she patrolled as equals and they joked and talked and discussed Clan affairs and goofed off together, just like when they had been younger. There wouldn't be any more 'you're so old' jokes – truth be told, though she groaned and complained at the time, she would miss them.
("I wish it were me," she'd later remark to Brambleclaw, who'd press into her silently, words failing both of them as they sat vigil for the warrior who'd tackled Squirrelflight earlier.)
Hollyshade: Ha ha ha ha! Nothing bad ever happens to Hollys- WAH! *Falls down into sinkhole*