Chapter 15

Thawing Tensions

Fallenfrost trailed behind the rest of her Clan, eyeing in between each of the cats quietly. Tigerheart was among them, walking and talking casually with his sister, Dawnpelt while Scorchfur kept in pace with the siblings. Fallenfrost walked side-by-side with Pinepaw. The black she-cat had gone through a growth spurt, and she now towered over Fallenfrost, much to the warrior's disappointment. It was only a matter of time before she, Ferretpaw, and Starlingpaw became full-fledged warriors as well.

RiverClan had already arrived to the island, ShadowClan being the second. Blackstar quickly broke away from his Clan and scampered quickly to one of the high trees in the center of the island, frost nipping at his heels.

Fallenfrost glanced around, trying to find Hollowpaw before WindClan and ThunderClan arrived. She peered through the crowd, trying to search for the flicker of the tom's shadowy dark pelt. She actually struggled at first, since the tom was sitting by himself rolling rocks in between his paws. Fallenfrost felt pity grow in her chest seeing the tom sit by himself.

She looked to Pinepaw, flicking her tail. "I'm going to talk with some friends."

Pinepaw smirked and pointedly turned her gaze toward Redwillow who was sharing tongues with Owlclaw. "I think I got some "friend" to talk to as well," the black she-cat purred with her tail kinked over her back.

Ugh. Fallenfrost rolled her eyes. "You're only an apprentice."

"Not for much longer," she argued with a soft coo to her voice, "I've had my eye on him for the past few moons. We shared a sparrow a few sunrises ago, it means something, don't you think?"

Fallenfrost folded back her ears. She wasn't sure if she was ready to toy with the thought of romance yet. Her eyes slid back to Redwillow, who was now laughing at something Owlclaw had told him. His rheumy gaze flashed over to lock eyes with Pinepaw in which the black she-cat simply trilled in response.

"I'll talk with you later, Fallenfrost." She assured as she bounded away from the brown she-cat.

Fallenfrost huffed audibly and turned around to make her way toward Hollowpaw through the thickened throng of cats. After gently pushing aside another RiverClan cat, she sat down in front of Hollowpaw. "Hey."

The brown tom's rounded ears turned up as he looked at Fallenfrost with an expression of relief. "I didn't think you'd make it," he meowed anxiously as he shuffled his paws. "How are you doing, Fallenpaw?"

Fallenfrost puffed out her chest proudly. "Actually, I'm Fallenfrost now."

Hollowpaw's eyes widened. "You're already a warrior?"

"I became one just a few nights ago. I haven't seen you in the Place of No Stars, so I couldn't tell you." She defended casually. "How's RiverClan?"

"We're finally able to fish again," he happily reported, "The ice is beginning to thaw at the shoreline. I missed the taste of fresh trout."

Fallenfrost couldn't wrap her head around the idea of happily gobbling down a raw rish, but she was supposed to each their own. The brown tabby shrugged and gave a sideways grin. "That's good your prey is returning."

"Is Flametail okay?" He blurted out, "a RiverClan patrol told me that he slipped into the lake, but he's doing fine, right?"

Fallenfrost shuffled her paws. She wasn't sure if Flametail could be truly defined as completely 'fine' at the moment. He still shivered and kept to the medicine den for his recovery. He came down with a cough only a day after he was fished out from the water, and his skin was still cold to the touch. Though what mattered most was that he was still alive.

"He's okay," she replied cautiously, "Just taking time to recover."

Hollowpaw nodded in understanding. "Reedwhisker fell into ice-water once, he told me he was bound to his nest for days!"

Fallenfrost breathed a sigh of relief that the RiverClan tom understood her concern. RiverClan cats must have to deal with their warriors slipping into cold water quite often, though she assumed that they were able to brush off the freeze without a problem. It was somewhat reassuring to hear that it wasn't uncommon and that the medicine cat would likely turn out fine.

A yowl split the air and redirected the cats' attention to the tangle of branches with the leaders perched in them. Firestar was balancing in the fork of a branch, with Mistystar crouched on the branch below. Onestar sat on a higher branch, his tail hanging down. Fallenfrost spotted Blackstar lurking in a clump of dead oak leaves that clung to the bough, casting dappled shadows on his white pelt; his eyes gleamed, glaring down into the clearing.

Fallenfrost felt a spark of pride seeing how strong and able-bodied Blackstar looked.

"Prey is running well in spite of the cold weather," Onestar reported. "And Whiskernose has been made a warrior."

"Whiskernose! Whiskernose!" WindClan welcomed the young tom, who ducked his head, looking pleased and embarrassed. Fallenfrost called out after the new WindClan cat's name, but she noticed that the other Clans weren't cheering. Only the fellow Dark Forest trainees were yowling his name. She wondered with a note of confusion what was going on as Onestar sat down again, his gaze raking across

the cats as if he was asking himself the same question.

Fallenfrost watched as Blackstar emerged from his clump of leaves. He surveyed the cats below him in silence before he spoke. "Our medicine cat Littlecloud had a brief attack of whitecough," he announced. "But he is now as strong as ever, and so is ShadowClan. Another order of business, one of our apprentices has earned her warrior name a couple sunrises ago, Fallenfrost." He closed his jaws with a snap and retreated.

"Fallenfrost! Fallenfrost!" She noticed that most of the cheers came solely from ShadowClan, while there was a few weak mews from RiverClan and WindClan. She turned her head with a smile to see Hollowpaw being the loudest of the RiverClan cats. He did come off a little strong, but she could see herself as having him as a friend.

Mistystar rose to her paws. "RiverClan is happy to see the ice gone from the lake," she meowed. "It's good to catch fish again. And our Clan has welcomed two new warriors this past moon: Rushtail and Troutstream."

"Rushtail! Troutstream!" More cats from the other Clans joined in this time, as if they were beginning to relax. Fallenfrost figured that it was Mistystar's confident and friendly manner had begun to win them over from the frosty demeanor of the other leaders. "Also," Mistystar went on when the noise had died down, "a badger was seen in our territory, but Reedwhisker tracked it with Robinwing and Petalfur, until it went away."

"Which way?" Ashfoot, the WindClan deputy, called out. "Do we need to watch out for it?"

"I don't think so," Mistystar replied. "It went out past the horseplace, heading for the hills. If I'd thought there was danger," she added politely, "I would have sent a message." Mistystar finished her report with a nod to Firestar.

The flame-colored tom stood tall, his pelt glossy and his form well-fed. Fallenfrost flicked her tail in agitation. It must be all the prey that he's stolen from our clearing. She thought with a note of sharp bitterness.

"ThunderClan has good news, too," he meowed. "A few sunrises ago I named two new warriors: Dovewing and Ivypool."

The Clans cheered out for Dovewing until the noise died down.

"Hey, where's Ivypool?" Sedgewhisker of WindClan asked as the cats fell silent again.

"Yeah, she should be here for her first Gathering as a warrior," Mallownose of RiverClan added.

"Ivypool had an accident," Firestar mewed, before Dovewing could speak. "She had a quarrel with a

bramble thicket while she was out hunting. But our medicine cat has treated her scratches, and she'll

be back on patrol soon. She'll be here for the next Gathering."

There were a few murmurs of sympathy for Ivypool. Fallenfrost realized with sudden clarity that Ivypool was the cat that ShadowClan had kept in confinement for the herbs. So she's a warrior now, Fallenfrost thought mostly to herself.

While the other cats were beginning to mingle, the medicine cats were keeping strictly to their own Clans. Mothwing and Willowshine were talking quietly together, while Littlecloud was staying close to Blackstar, and Kestrelflight crouched under a thornbush, his eyes narrowed as if he was giving the whole Gathering a suspicious glare. Jayfeather sat near the roots of the Great Oak, his tail wrapped

around his paws.

The leaders looked between one another as Mistystar spoke up again. "The Clans are free to mingle before we leave."

"What else do you guys do in ShadowClan?" Hollowpaw piped up again.

She turned back to face him, trying not to pay attention to the swirl and crowd of chattering cats on all sides of her. Fallenfrost hoped that Flametail would recover soon so she wouldn't have to worry about Pinepaw's silly mooning or resigning herself to talking to another trainee of the Dark Forest.

"I mean, we're really like any other Clan." Fallenfrost defended.

"How did you earn your warrior name? You just joined the Clans a few moons ago."

Her pelt prickled with agitation. "Flametail slipped into the ice and I dove after him."

Hollowpaw's eyes flicked away in shame. "I don't think I'd have the courage to do something like that. You must really care for him, right?"

Fallenfrost's blood went still with the realization. A panic flooded her veins as she scrambled to her paws. No, it's just because of the prophecy that I saved him. ShadowClan needs him, that's all. She kept trying to tell herself on repeat. Her paws itched to run away from the conversation as quickly as she could, but found nothing, not even the strength to walk away.

"He's my Clanmate, of course I'd go to help him." Fallenfrost humbly responded. She cleared her throat awkwardly and turned around to skulk away. "I should get going. I think Rowanclaw will be calling for us to leave soon."

"I'll see you soon!" Hollowpaw promised naively. Fallenfrost flinched and picked up the pace.

She froze up when she heard Tigerheart's voice. She strained her ears to listen as she sunk into the shadows of the island's undergrowth. He sounded so cheery earlier, what was wrong now?

"We have nothing left to say to each other," hissed a feminine voice that reeked of ThunderClan's sour scent.

Fallenfrost barely peered in between the withered leaves of the holly bush. "Please!" Tigerheart's amber eyes were wide and distressed. "I didn't use you, I promise I didn't. Okay, I told Blackstar about Jayfeather's herbs, but that doesn't change how I felt about you." He paused and added in a lower voice, "How I still feel about you."

Her heart sunk to the snow in distress. Was her Clanmate in a relationship with a cat from another Clan? She narrowed her eyes and realized it was Dovewing of ThunderClan that he was speaking to. The gray she-cat worked her front claws into the ground. "We can't talk about this now," she replied defensively. "Not when any cat could hear us."

"Then meet me in the usual place," Tigerheart urged her.

"No. Tigerheart, I don't have any feelings left for you."

Anger glowed in the ShadowClan tom's eyes. "Has your sister been saying things about me?"

Dovewing's eyes flickered with confusion and concern. "Like what?"

Tigerheart paused before sighing. "Never mind. But maybe you don't know your sister as well as you think you do." Tigerheart drew closer to her, barely a pawstep away from their noses touching. "Ivypool isn't the cat you think she is," he murmured.

Another yowl cracked the air, this time from Brambleclaw. The ThunderClan deputy was once again making the call for ThunderClan to leave.

"I have to go," Dovewing mewed. "And I don't want to listen to another word from you." Tigerheart didn't protest, just dipped his head as she stalked away.

Fallenfrost skidded backwards and rushed to find Pinepaw and Redwillow. She wasn't sure if she betrayed or relieved that Tigerheart was with a cat from another Clan, or at least he was at some point. But the fear grew in her stomach that if he was willing to betray ThunderClan and his own partner, would he do the same to ShadowClan?