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

Chapter Four: Farewell to a Leader's Dignity

The next day, Deep spent all of the morning and a portion of the afternoon with a kit-mother, helping the young orange and white tabby deliver her first litter, four gray kittens, two male and two female, of varying shades.

When the proud, exhausted new mother fell asleep with her tail curled around her litter, Deep went outside and stretched. He saw that Snowwind was returning with another middle-aged cat; each of them toted a large bird, and the heavy-set, black-and-white-patched she-cat also had a mouse.

He went to assist them get the hawk down the steep slope, then the small falcon. When the tribe's Leader nodded to her friend turned to Deep, who had not moved from her side, the healer twitched his tail, inviting her into his overhang.

Snowwind followed. When they were settled, Deep told her of his thoughts that Dreamsong was the Golden One. "I am certain of it," he concluded. "Her dream of the golden sunset came to pass, and she seemed almost in a trance when she spoke of her second dream."

"It is possible. Definitely she is golden, though not all see it." The leader herself had coated her black pelt in mud, carefully caking it on the silver streak that was blotched just between her eyes; it was very visible, reflecting even the scantest light. Snowwind stared off into the distance for a moment, then blinked, twitched her tail and looked at the healer. "She will come to you if she has another dream?"

Deep nodded.

"Then tell me when she does, if she does. We will know, if she has one more dream, that she is the Golden One." The black cat blinked softly, then confided in her healer. "I have not wished to see cats so alike so segregated. It shall be a blessing to know that we travel safe through the mountains, that no other cat will attack."

He nodded again, bowing his head to her as she returned the salute. Snowwind paused at the cave's entrance. "And I think it is time you take a to-be to teach, Deep. You have been our healer for many years and it is time for you to pass the responsibility on."

Deep was speechless, and he could only nod deeply to his leader. She must have seen that he wished that as a healer he could take a lover, and had given him the perfect opportunity to! There was a short, two-part cry of pain and statement; he raced to the front of the cave, and stopped, trying not to laugh.

In a tangle of dazed fur lay Dreamsong, her muddy gold pelt shimmering against the black-with-mud fur of Snowwind. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" cried the younger cat, struggling to her paws and helping her leader up with her shoulder. She must have raced full-tilt into the other she-cat, and knocked them both to the ground.

Shaking his head, Deep sighed and helped the disgruntled black cat stand. "So what is so important that you had to bowl me over to say?" asked the thankfully uninjured leader, but she smiled to take the edge out of her words.

"I-" Dreamsong's green-brown eyes flicked to Snowwind, the Deep and back again, clearly uncomfortable.

"Actually, I see that this is a healer-tribesmate occasion, so I excuse myself to go salve my wounded pride at being knocked over like a frozen rabbit by my own fighter." She smiled and looked carefully out of the cave entrance before leaving with comical caution, and called over her shoulder. "I'll se if there are any older kits who would want to train with you, Deep."

As soon as she was out of ear shot, Dreamsong burst, telling him about her dream of the strange cats disappearing behind the waterfall and that she had seen a golden cat and a grey-and-black cat. She told him what they had said.

"He seemed to love her, and was proud of her," the muddy golden cat concluded. "I thought it seemed that she loved him as well."

"Do think this is another of your future-visions?" he asked after a pause.

"Yes." She said firmly, then hesitated. "But- Deep? This isn't just the third I've had. Over the years I've had at least one a week, but sometimes closer together and sometimes farther apart. Most of them happen soon after a Pool Reading." She confessed. "And they always come true eventually, unless some one, me or anyone else, tries to influence the outcome."

"Really?" he asked, startled. She had to be the Golden Cat! "What are some of them?"

"There have been small ones that no one really would make sense of; I've had dreams that just tell me when a kit-mother will birth, and if any of the kits will be special. Sometimes There I they tell me about who is successful at bringing down hawks, and things like that."

As she spoke, Deep recalled that several times she had warned cats to be careful, or to remember to look up, or suggested hunting spots. "I only told you about the one two nights ago because it seemed too important to keep to myself. And I've already told you of the one just last night."

The gray-and-black cat looked at her, then got up and licked her cheek. "Don't worry about the dreams," he whispered in her ear, and she purred in gratitude. He felt happy just being able to be near her. "They will come to pass without your help. One thing I've learned, being healer: never rush a vision or hurry a sign."