The camp murmured with muted voices. Slowly, the clan gathered beneath Highrock. Tawnystar had just called a clan meeting.
"Why can't we go?" whined Sedgekit. He stared up at Sorrelflower, purposely looking more pitiful than usual.
"The meeting is only for cats who can catch their own prey. Does that sound like you?" Sorrelflower explained, her voice soft but allowing no argument.
Sedgekit didn't seem to understand. "I would be able to catch my own prey if you let me leave camp!" he cried.
Brightkit sighed along with her mother. "We're kits; we don't get to go to clan meetings. How about instead, we play mossball," she suggested.
"That's a wonderful idea," Sorrelflower mewed.
Sedgekit still went on. "I don't want to play mossball, I want to know what happened with Pinetail!"
"That is no business for kits!" Sorrelflower snapped. Sedgekit opened his mouth to argue, and then closed it. Sorrelflower blinked slowly. Quietly she meowed, "I will go and when I get back, I will tell you what Tawnystar said."
Sedgekit took that as a good offer. "Alright," he chirped, nodding his head.
Brightkit turned to look from Sedgekit to Sorrelflower. "The meeting is probably starting now. Go, and I'll keep an eye on Sedgekit."
Sorrelflower let out a purr and padded out of the nursery to join the clan.
"It's so stupid that we're not allowed to listen. We're part of ThunderClan, aren't we?"
Brightkit sighed again. "We are just kits and this is warrior business." Sedgekit only sees things his way, doesn't he?
"Then why do the apprentices get to go?"
Brightkit shrugged, tired of the conversation. She went over to the nest and started clawing some moss from it into a ball. Once she had finished, she slapped the ball with her paw, sending it to Sedgekit.
It landed off to his side, but he hardly noticed. His ears were perked. Brightkit could tell he was trying to listen in to the meeting.
"Hey, mousebrain, Sorrelflower said she would tell us about the meeting when it was over."
Sedgekit looked at her, frustrated. "You think I can wait that long? I want to know now." His face light up. "Let's sneak to the meeting!" He said it like it was the best plan any cat in all the clans had come up with.
Brightkit was taken aback. "We can't do that! What if we get caught?"
Sedgekit replied, "Then we're two kits who got into mischief. It's not like we haven't gotten into trouble before."
Brightkit found that hard to argue against. We have gotten into trouble and gotten away with just some stern words. Surely this time won't be any different. She shook her head. What am I thinking? Sorrelflower told us not to go! Before she had time to articulate this, Sedgekit was sticking his head out the nursery.
"Hey, don't!" Brightkit cried, but Sedgekit was already out in the camp. Brightkit caustiously stepped out to follow him.
The clan was gathered around the Highrock, completely quiet. Tawnystar stood atop the rock, his voice echoing around the camp.
"With the nature of the injury and the word of RiverClan, we have no reason to believe it was an attack," Tawnystar meowed.
So they finally were able to talk to RiverClan. Thank StarClan it wasn't an act of war.
But the rest of ThunderClan seemed to not share his certainty. Hushed whispered broke out of the previously silent crowd. One cat called out, "Can we trust RiverClan's word? How do we prove they aren't lying?"
Tawnystar spoke louder, his mew almost a shout. "RiverClan has no reason to attack our medicine cat then lie about it. All the evidence points to it being just an accident."
"When is the last time a cat fell on Sunningrocks? Pinetail wasn't clumsy; he knew that area as well as any ThunderClan cat."
Tawnystar closed his eyes for a moment. Opening them again he responded, "Sometimes accidents happen. We can't allow blind suspicion to cloud our judgement."
"Is this some sort of punishment from StarClan? Have we done something wrong?" a different voice shouted. "Smallfeather?"
The eyes of the clan turned to the young medicine cat. Brightkit could not see him, but she spotted Sedgekit bounding closer to the group. He's sure to get caught acting like that. Quickly, she raced after him.
Tawnystar's voice once again rang through the camp. "Enough of this! It was an accident, nothing more." He leaped down from the Highrock, signaling the end of the meeting.
Oh no. Sorrelflower will be heading back to the nursery now. Brightkit raced to Sedgekit. "Let's go now! Before anyone catches us out here."
"Too late." Brightkit spun around to see Smokefoot only a tail-length away. Oh no.
"What do you two think you are doing?" He watched them, his face unreadable.
Brightkit knew there was no good answer, but Sedgekit didn't. "We wanted to listen to Tawnystar," he meowed without a trace of guilt or fear.
Smokefoot flicked his ears. Brightkit thought she could see amusement in his eyes. "Yes, but were you supposed to?"
Sedgekit looked at his paws for a moment, before looking back and Smokefoot and saying, "No, but I really wanted know what was happening!"
Smokefoot gave a short, low purr. He shook his head. "While I may appreciate your boldness, Sorrelflower will not." Right as he said this, Sorrelflower came up behind him.
"Oh, kits, what did I tell you?" She looked at them, disapproving.
Brightkit's ears burned with shame. She began to apologize, but Sedgekit interrupted. "I didn't want to wait for the meeting to be over." Now under the gaze of Sorrelflower he dipped his head. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you."
Sorrelflower traced his spine with her tail. "Not only did you disobey me, but you dragged Brightkit into doing as well. I'm glad you apologized, but I must still come up with a punishment for you. Hmm, let's see. How about a moon cleaning the elder's den?"