Disclaimer: I don't own the world of the warrior cats. I do, however own most of the characters in this story.

Chapter Three: Joining Dream

The Healer treated cats all day, but his mind never returned far from Dreamsong. He didn't see her until around midday, when she came back to camp with a falcon and a mouse. She set them in the caught-prey pile and went out again for only a free moments, to return with a small eagle, likely very young. Deep tried not to stare at her, but she was so lovely and he had no cats to work with right now. He wandered over to her, seeing her about to head out again.

"You need someone to watch the sky. Perhaps we could hunt together?" he asked. His mother had been very adept at hunting, and he had inherited some of Shard Torn From Clear Ice's skills as well as his father's gift with herbs and other plants. Dreamsong smiled and nodded, then turned and lead the way up out of the pile of boulders by way of a path worn into the rock.

Through the hunt Deep Water Where Shadows Swim watched the younger cat. She was agile, and seemed more suited to twisting in the air and catching birds than to guarding the home the Tribe shared. Her mother was to, the healer remembered. Rainbow Shadow Over Lone Star was currently a kit-mother, retired to the nursery until Dreamsong's younger siblings were born. Glint of Fire in Fierce Eyes stayed there for most of the day, and Eclipse was better at guarding than hunting. Fleet had wandered off as a young to-be, and had been taken by and eagle.

True to his word, Deep had to call Dreamsong back from catching a rabbit when he saw an eagle beginning its' dive for her. He yowled, and the muddy golden cat froze for a split second before dashing back with him under a bush. The she-cat's pelt was fluffed, and the dried mud was only on the tips of her fur, making it seep very spiky. Deep hesitated, then slid over to her and groomed her neck fur, calming Dreamsong.

The younger cat calmed as the healer continued to run his tongue over her pelt. It smoothed slowly. Deep tried to ignore his racing heart and quickened breath, but being near the golden cat was almost intoxicating. At last she pulled away gently.

"Thank you, Deep." she said. Her eyes were filled with gratitude and sad memories of her brother Fleet's death at the claws of an eagle.

He shrugged, and turned out of the bush. "Let's go collect that rabbit and your mice. I think it would be best if we returned home," he said, using his tail to point out the oncoming darkness. "And I want to give you something that will help you sleep tonight. A dose of bad memories often causes sleepless nights."

When they deposited the caught-prey in the pile he turned to his overhand and she followed. He gave her some herbs, then told her to go sleep and to tell him if she had any more dreams.

Deep stayed awake in his moss-, grass- and feather-lined bed-hollow for a long time. Like the Tribal Leaders, who needed to be agile and unattached by blood to each member of their tribe, healers were forbidden from having kits, before or after they were elected. But was that what he wanted with Dreamsong? Though Deep did not fully know why he was attracted to the young golden cat, he knew that she was important to him in a way that no she-cat had ever been.

Each shift of the sun on her pelt was like magic to him, and she seemed so graceful.

Finally, when the moon had risen high and the stars were all out, Deep curled up, tucked his tail over his nose and fell asleep.

000

Dreamsong wondered why Deep had wanted to stay with her, why he had shown such friendship for her today. It took her long to get to sleep, and when she did it was to dream of something that was as confusing in it's own way as Deep's behavior today.

The waterfall that roared beside her sent up a spray that coated her fur, making it heavy to her. The she-cat watched as cats, each one streaked by mud so that very few of their pelt's colors could be made out beneath, filed beside the rushing water, and disappeared. There were elderly cats, kit-mothers with their clean-furred children walking with them, carried by the she-cats of carried by others depending on size and age.

She felt a sense of pride- why? she wondered. Why would she? What had these strangers to do with her? Then she saw Deep Waters Where Shadows Swim walking behind a cat whose pelt was gold with streaks of mud. "You've done it, love. We are split no more," he whispered in the cats' ear. Dreamsong wondered why he had addressed the cat as 'love', and felt strangely jealous.

Then the she-cat turned, looking almost right at Dreamsong. Her eyes were puzzled, and then she smiled, shaking her head.

"Yes," the she-cat mewed to Deep. "We are one Tribe."

Dreamsong started. The golden she-cat was so familiar it frightened her awake, and she lay that way for some time, wondering what it meant, this dream.

She shivered, and not just with the cold, and wriggled her way farther down into her bedding. The stars had started to fade by the time she fell asleep again, and she knew she would remember the dream for a long time to come.

Because the she-cat she had seen had been herself.