The sun had begun to rise, chasing away the stars of Silverpelt as it did so. It was still early enough that the forest was still quiet and still, but it wouldn't last for long.

A quarter moon had passed since the ceremonies.

"Ready?" Aspenwood asked, shaking a bit of moss from his long, tabby fur. He was taking his duty of leading the dawn patrol very highly, seeing as he'd never been honored with such a task before.

Russetflame nodded, yawning. At her side sat an older warrior, Graycloud. The silver tom had always seemed to favor Russetflame, which had initially confused her. Then Strongwind had explained to her that Graycloud was her mother's littermate, making him her uncle. After that, she had been quick to return his fond words.

Graycloud stood, flicking his tail to show Aspenwood to take the lead. The young warrior nodded in response and dashed forward. Graycloud and Russetflame quickly fell in behind him.

The patrol began rather uneventful. They started out by heading down their boarder with StreamClan, pausing now and again to renew scent markers, but otherwise keeping a swift pace. When they reached the Ravine, where the four Clans gathered every full-moon, they stopped to rest and catch a few mice.

"So far so good," Aspenwood purred smiling. He was sitting on a small boulder next to the stream that ran past there from StreamClan's territory. He'd just finished his water vole.

Russetflame was beginning to get annoyed with Aspenwood's sudden pride, but she held her tongue. As she leaned down to lick her chest, an odd scent came to her. Her ears perked up and she lifted her head to take another deep breath. There it was again.

"Do you smell that?" she asked, getting to her feet and taking a few steps in the direction it was coming from.

Graycloud and Aspenwood were instantly on their feet. Russetflame had the best nose of the three, but soon the other two could scent it as well.

"This way," Graycloud said quietly, taking the lead before Aspenwood could protest. Luckily, the young warrior had enough sense to keep his mouth shut. Excitement danced in his eyes. Russetflame continued breathing in the scent as Graycloud led them towards it. Finally, she managed to recognize it.

"FernClan!" she spat, nudging the older warrior faster. Soon, they were almost sprinting.

Suddenly, Graycloud flicked his tail, telling them to stop. Russetflame obeyed instantly, dropping into a crouch, but Aspenwood took another few steps forward, shuffling his paws. Graycloud shot him a warning look and Aspenwood fell still.

Not far in front of them, Russetflame could hear someone crashing through the undergrowth with such noise there was no way it could have been a LeafClanner. In their first days of apprenticeship, LeafClan apprentices learned how to move silently through the dense brambles and bushes. Rowantree's three kits would probably still be working on that, as they had begun their training several days prior.

Graycloud flicked his tail again and the three leapt forward. But the intruder wasn't at all what they expected. Graycloud himself blinked in surprise and landed clumsily, nearly falling on his face. Aspenwood let his snarl die away and just stood there, confused. Only Russetflame kept her cautious crouch, though her eyes were just as bewildered as the others.

Before them was a round FernClan queen, only days from kitting. She had a pretty, pale brown pelt and lovely green eyes that were wide in terror. She was crouched as close to the ground as she could get, her belly bulging to the sides.

"P-please! D-don't hurt me..." she whimpered and shook as she spoke, not taking her eyes off Graycloud, who was doing his best to regain his composure.

"What are you doing in our territory, FernClanner?" Russetflame demanded, the angry look returning to her eyes. Graycloud flicked his tail at the young she-warrior, telling her to be quiet.

"Please, I'm so close to kitting... I-I didn't have anywhere else to go... Surely he'd..." Her voice died away as she began whimpering again.

Graycloud sighed and shook his head. "Alright, come on. You can come tell your story to Roanstar once you've calmed down." When the queen didn't move, he poked her with a sheathed paw. "Come on, get up. It's a long ways. At your pace, we'll be lucky to get to camp before evening mealtime."

The silver warrior took the lead. Aspenwood, obviously taking pity on the frightened queen, walked beside her and spoke softly to her until she stopped shaking. Russetflame took up the rear, eyes wide in case this was a trap. It apparently wasn't.

Though they had to pause many times for the queen to rest, the patrol finally reached the camp entrance with their prisoner. Russetflame couldn't help but suppress a laugh as the queen uttered a soft 'oof!' as the trees' bark caught her fur.

Much of the Clan was laying about camp, sharing tongues in the fading light of sunset. Nudging the strange queen in the direction of Roanstar's den amongst the roots of the Highbranch's tree, Russetflame notice Soloflight out with her kits. As soon as the LeafClan queen noticed the stranger, she hurried to usher her little ones away, but stopped when she realized it was only another queen the patrol was guarding. A look of curiosity came to the silver she-cat's face. Russetflame merely nodded in response to Soloflight's reaction. Others were quickly looking up from their doings and beginning to come over towards the Highbranch.

Strongwind slipped from the leader's den, followed by Roanstar himself. Both looked as curious as the rest of the Clan, though the deputy tried to hide it behind a fierce face.

"What's going on, Graycloud? Who is this queen?" Strongwind asked.

"We found her wondering through our territory not far from our boarder with FernClan. She was too frightened to answer any of our questions," Graycloud answered, nodding respectfully to both the deputy and the leader.

"She can't be more than a few days from kitting," Aspenwood put in, putting on a surprised look.

Roanstar nodded to the patrol and flicked his tail to the queen. "What is your name?"

"Appleblossom?" It wasn't the queen who answered, but Birdwing. He pushed his way through the gathered cats.

"Birdwing!" The queen tried to rush towards him, but Graycloud stepped in the way and she retreated back to the center of the circle that had formed around her.

Roanstar's eyes narrowed. "You know her, Birdwing?" When the young warrior nodded, the leader looked even more confused. "Appleblossom, explain to us why it is you were in our territory," he said in a commanding tone. Appleblossom looked nervous now.

"I... I was exiled from my Clan... I had nowhere else to go..." She was whimpering again.

Several cats made sounds of exclamation in response to her words. Birdwing's jaw dropped and he stood there, gaping at the former FernClan queen. Tabbyfur cried out in contempt. But others, like Rowantree, remained silent. Briskriver narrowed his eyes, almost unbelieving.

"And you came to us? Why?" Roanstar didn't even ask why the queen had been exiled. His expression hadn't change at her news.

Appleblossom hung her head; her whimpers had vanished. "I can here because..." She looked up, defiance suddenly flaring in her eyes, "Because the father of my kits is from your Clan."

Yowls of surprise and disbelief followed her words. Briskriver's eyes narrowed even further so it was hard to tell if his eyes were even open anymore. Crimsonfur gave a snarl of anger. Roanstar flicked his tail for silence and nodded to the queen, "Continue."

The same look of defiance remained in her eyes. "When my Clan found out that the father wasn't in FernClan, they would have nothing to do with me and cast me away."

"That's terrible!" Tabbyfur exclaimed.

"She lies! No LeafClanner would stoop to that!" Firespot growled and Crimsonfur yowled in agreement.

"Silence!" Roanstar yowled, looking angry. "What you say cannot be true. You will leave, now." He started to turn away.

"No!" Russetflame found herself crying out. Several cats looked to her. "Father, you can't! She's so near to kitting; neither she nor the kits would survive on their own! Please, let her stay at least until the kits are old enough to travel," she begged, moving closer to the Highbranch. All of the Clan was silent and watching her. Roanstar slowly turned back to her, his eyes sad.

"You always were so compassionate..." He sighed. "I'm sorry, Russetflame. She cannot stay here. If FernClan heard, they would be furious. We can't afford a battle so soon after the fire and the harsh winter..." Again, he started to turn away. The Clan started yowling and noisily shouting responses to the leader's words.

"They're my kits!" The entire Clan fell silent and Roanstar turned back to them for a second time. "Appleblossom will give birth to my kits. Please, Roanstar, don't send her away."

Russetflame felt her heart cry painfully out and hung her head in sorrow.

It was Birdwing who spoke.

For a long moment, LeafClan's camp was completely silent.

Birdwing stared straight at Roanstar, his eyes were sad, yet angry at the same time. Much of the Clan was staring at him in disbelief. He was the last cat they would have suspected. Birdwing had always been a good-natured, comical tom, always showing kindness to anyone. Even outside of his own Clan, he was well known, despite his young age. But he had always shown extreme loyalty to his Clan and the warrior code.

Roanstar finally broke the silence. "I-is this true, Birdwing?"

The young warrior nodded softly. "I may have broken the warrior code, but I would not lie to you." Another silence followed his words, but this one did not last near as long. Dustyfur let out a bemoaned wail. Firespot snarled angrily, while Crimsonfur shook his head, eyes wide. Rowantree and the other two queens looked sad and spoke quietly amongst themselves. Aspenwood and Graycloud stood like Crimsonfur, unbelieving.

Roanstar shook his head. "Alright, she can stay...for now."

"Roanstar, this outrage cannot go unpunished! Exile them both; we don't want such a traitor in our Clan!" Crimsonfur spat.

Russetflame winced, knowing what a powerful blow it would be to Birdwing to hear his own brother say that.

Roanstar looked angry again. "No, Crimsonfur. Birdwing knows what he has done is against the code." He sighed. "But I agree that this cannot go unpunished. Drypaw, come forward."

"Y-yes, Roanstar?" the little tabby asked, stepping from the crowd. Russetflame could tell he didn't completely understand what was going on.

"I'm sorry, Birdwing, but I can't allow you to continue Drypaw's training. He has scarcely begun his apprenticeship, but he will have to continue it under another mentor."

Birdwing gasped and took a step back. Russetflame couldn't even imagine what it must feel like to lose your apprentice after only several moonrises of training.

Roanstar ignored Birdwing's response. "Aspenwood, you are plenty ready for your first apprentice. You are a swift, sharp warrior and learned quickly from Cloudwhisker. I expect you to pass on all of your skills to this apprentice."

Both looking confused and subdued, the two touched noses and moved away. Birdwing had sat down and was staring at his paws. Appleblossom licked his shoulder comfortingly.

"Rowantree, you will show Appleblossom around and keep an eye on her," Roanstar said calmly, nodding to the queen. "This meeting is over." He leapt down from the branch and slipped into his den.

Spiderfoot and Snowdrop came over to Appleblossom and quickly ushered her off to their den to look her over. Rowantree followed more slowly. Much of the Clan completely ignored Birdwing or shot him dark looks. He looked so sad just sitting there that Russetflame sighed and moved over towards him.

But Swiftstrike reached the subdued warrior first. Russetflame grunted and shifted her course towards the fresh-kill pile which was positioned over near the warriors den. Snatching up a mouse, she noticed Mothpaw and Shardpaw over near the apprentices' den, trying to cheer Drypaw up. Something about that made Russetflame's heart whimper and she turned away to eat in the shadow of the Highbranch.

Growing up, Russetflame had been the sole survivor of her litter. She vaguely remembered her brother, though she remembered that he had looked quite a bit like she did, with the same pelt and eyes. No one ever spoke about him anymore, but Russetflame knew, ever since her brother's disappearance, her mother had almost completely lost her will to live.