Bluefur paced back and forth in the middle of the camp, casting anxious glances at the dark clouds gathering in the sky. It had been several hours since Lilyspark had stormed out of the camp, and her sister still hadn't returned. A storm would be on its way soon, and if Lilyspark didn't come back in time, she would be stuck outside in the cold. She tried to reassure herself, telling herself that her little sister was a strong cat, but it didn't do much to comfort her. Anyone could see that Lilyspark wasn't in her right mind; Bluefur didn't want to think about what might happen to her if she ended up in danger now.
Unable to stop herself, she shot a glare over at Rosetail and Thistleclaw, who were sitting together outside the warriors' den. It was their fault that this was happening. Lilyspark was suffering because of their actions. Bluefur didn't know who she blamed more between the two of them. True, Thistleclaw had chosen to more or less stalk and harass Lilyspark, but Rosetail had been the one to start the rumors about her. While Bluefur thought Lilyspark had taken things a bit too far in telling Rosetail that she should have died instead of Sweetpaw, she would be lying if she said she didn't understand how her sister felt. Most of the time, Lilyspark would never say something so cruel to a friend, which just went to show how far over the edge the rumors had pushed her.
Thistleclaw's behavior was what confused her the most. She wasn't stupid; she knew all along that Lilyspark couldn't possibly be trying to make a move on him. Her sister had never shown any interest in having a mate before, and even if she had, Bluefur knew that she would never go for Thistleclaw. But why was he suddenly interested in her?
Bluefur shook her head to herself. Now wasn't the time to be worrying about Thistleclaw's inexplicable interest in her sister. Lilyspark was still missing; she needed to find her and bring her home. Shooting one last glare at Rosetail and Thistleclaw, she turned on her heel and marched over to Sunstar's den.
"Sunstar?" she called out softly. "May I come in?"
"Come in, Bluefur," Sunstar's voice called back.
She pushed her way through the curtain of lichen that draped over the entrance to the ThunderClan leader's den. Inside, she saw her parents sharing a juicy-looking vole. They glanced up when she entered the den, their expressions turning to concern when they saw the look on her face.
"Bluefur?" Moonflower meowed worriedly. "Is everything okay?"
"I want to go look for Lilyspark," Bluefur told her mother.
At that, the worried expression in Moonflower's eyes deepened. "She hasn't come back yet? I thought for sure..."
"No," Bluefur meowed, shaking her head. "And it's not looking good out there. The weather, I mean. I want to go find her before she gets herself into trouble."
"Of course." It was Sunstar who spoke this time, rising out of his nest and shaking a few scraps of moss out of his pelt. "Of course, you may go look for her. We'll come along with you as well."
"Thanks," she meowed, feeling a pang of relief.
"I should organize another search party as well," her father continued. "That way, we'll have a better chance of finding her."
"No!" Bluefur meowed forcefully. Sunstar looked at her, clearly startled. "No, you can't do that. If they find Lilyspark first, then everything will go wrong! She's furious with them; you heard her earlier. She might never come home if they go off and bother her. Besides, it's their fault that she's missing anyway. They don't deserve to be anywhere near her right now."
Sunstar blinked slowly for a few heartbeats, then nodded. "Very well. I can see your point, Bluefur. We will go on this mission alone."
Relief flooded through her. "Thank you, Sunstar."
He nodded again. "Let's go. We don't have much time to waste."
Bluefur didn't waste any time. Turning on her heel, she raced out of the den and headed straight for the gorse tunnel, too worried about her sister to consider the wisdom of racing out into the forest on her own with a storm approaching. Before she could get out of the camp, however, she came to a stop as Rosetail's voice sounded from behind her. The molly sounded desperate, and as Bluefur turned around to face her, there was a pleading look in her eyes.
"What do you want?" she growled.
Rosetail flinched. "I–I heard what you were saying to Sunstar and Moonflower," she meowed quietly.
"So?" Bluefur asked harshly.
"I–I wanted to help you look for Lilyspark," the gray tabby meowed, looking at her hopefully.
"You? Why would you want to help us find her? So you can make her feel worse than you already have?" Bluefur snarled, baring her teeth at her denmate. "How dare you? You have no right to pretend as if you're sorry now! She never did anything to deserve what you did to her!"
"But it didn't happen the way you think it did!" Rosetail protested. Bluefur snorted disbelievingly. "I'm telling the truth, I swear! It–it was partly my fault because I was talking to Dappletail and mentioned how weird it was that Thistleclaw seemed to be wanting to grow closer to Lilyspark. But I never accused her of trying to make a move on him–our conversation just ended up spreading around the camp and things ended up escalating from there, I guess. I'll swear it on anything you like, Bluefur. I never intended for her to get hurt like this."
Bluefur searched her friend's gaze, trying to see if she was lying, but she saw nothing but sincerity. Relaxing, she nodded curtly as Rosetail let out a breath of relief.
"Fine," she meowed, still not fully forgiving her friend. Regardless of her intentions, she was still responsible for the rumors that had been spread about her sister. "But when we find her, don't expect her to be so forgiving. You might not have meant for it to happen, Rosetail, but it doesn't change the fact that you're still directly responsible for this."
"I understand," Rosetail murmured, lowering her gaze.
A few moments later, Moonflower and Sunstar emerged from the ThunderClan leader's den and padded over to join them. Their eyes flickered in surprise when they saw Rosetail, but they made no move to question her. Bluefur assumed that since she was there, her parents must have decided that she had cleared the air with the ginger-tailed molly beforehand.
"Right," the bright ginger tom meowed. "We'll have better luck if we split up into two parties. I'll search with Moonflower. Bluefur and Rosetail, you two will work together. If you find her, make sure she isn't hurt but do not force her to come back if she doesn't want to."
"I understand," Bluefur meowed, feeling a twinge of worry. Would her sister really refuse to come home? She knew the rumors had upset her, but she had never considered the possibility that they might have driven Lilyspark away from ThunderClan forever.
Don't think like that! she scolded herself. Lilyspark might be upset, but she won't leave for good just because of a few rumors. She's not the type of cat to do that.
She padded out of the camp with Rosetail at her side, pausing to sniff the air for any trace of Lilyspark. To her relief, although the scent was stale, there was a fairly clear trail. But as she turned to start following it, a thundering clap sounded and heavy rain began to fall.
Fox dung!
"No!" Rosetail exclaimed, staring up at the sky in horror. "What are we going to do now? We still don't have any idea of where she might have gone, and in this rain, the trail will be gone before you can blink!"
"That doesn't matter," Bluefur meowed determinedly. "We're going to keep searching no matter what. She has to be around here somewhere; there's nowhere else for her to go except ThunderClan territory. We'll find her eventually."
Moonflower nodded in agreement. "Sunstar and I will head towards Fourtrees and make our way to Sunningrocks from there. You two head toward the ShadowClan border first, then go over to Snakerocks. If you don't find her there, try Twolegplace next."
Bluefur nodded and raced off in the direction her mother had suggested, forcing Rosetail to sprint to keep up with her. As she ran, she sent a silent prayer to StarClan that Lilyspark hadn't gone in the direction of the Thunderpath. She remembered all too well what happened the last time a cat had run onto it, and she didn't think she could handle losing another sister in the same way.
To her relief, however, when they reached the gray path, there was no sign of her sister anywhere. Unfortunately, that still left Bluefur with the problem of figuring out where she had gone. Just as she was about to head over toward Snakerocks, a sharp gasp from Rosetail stopped her. Turning around to see what was wrong, Bluefur saw her friend staring at something on the Thunderpath.
"Rosetail, what are you–?" she started to ask, then stopped abruptly when she saw it. Staining the Thunderpath were several droplets of dried blood.
"It has Lilyspark's scent," Rosetail meowed shakily. "Bluefur, you don't think...?"
"No, she's not," Bluefur meowed firmly, though she wasn't sure if she was trying to convince herself or Rosetail. "Look at it. There's not very much there, and definitely not enough for her to be seriously injured. Besides, if she had been killed on the Thunderpath, we would have seen her body by now...or smelled it."
"Yeah, you're right," the gray tabby molly agreed, looking relieved.
They turned and headed in the direction of Snakerocks. As they ran, Bluefur could feel her pelt becoming drenched from the rain. She ignored it, however, and kept running. If Lilyspark was still out here, they needed to get her back to the camp before she caught a cold–or worse, whitecough or greencough.
A sharp exclamation from Rosetail caught her attention. "Bluefur, look! Over there by that tree!"
Bluefur came to a halt and glanced in the direction her companion had pointed in. A surge of relief shot through her as she spotted a familiar figure hunched over underneath a tree, clearly shivering and dripping wet. Without thinking, she rushed toward her sister as Lilyspark looked up, her amber eyes dull. Bluefur pressed her muzzle against the younger warrior's forehead, feeling herself relax as she confirmed that Lilyspark was indeed solid and real.
"Bluefur?" Lilyspark meowed softly.
Bluefur's shoulders shook. "Lilyspark, do you have any idea how worried we've been about you?" she demanded.
Lilyspark flinched. "I-I'm sorry," she stammered. "I just couldn't handle–"
"Look at you! You're soaked through to the bone! What were you thinking, sitting out here in weather like this? You could have gotten sick–or worse!" Bluefur's voice cracked as she pressed her nose against her sister's cheek. More softly, she added, "Don't ever do something like that again. I couldn't take it if I lost you too."
"I won't," the white warrior murmured. "I promise."
"Lilyspark," Rosetail meowed, padding forward hesitantly. Bluefur suppressed a flinch at the sudden blaze of fury in her sister's eyes.
"You! What are you doing here?" Lilyspark demanded before rounding on Bluefur. "Why did you bring her here? You know what she did to me!"
"Lilyspark, please. Rosetail can explain everything. Just give her a chance," Bluefur pleaded. "She told me what happened before we came here, and the real story isn't what you think it is."
At that, Lilyspark looked a little surprised, but the anger in her eyes didn't fade completely. "Fine. But it had better be good."
Quickly, Rosetail repeated the story she had told to Bluefur earlier about how she had only mentioned Thistleclaw's sudden interest in Lilyspark to Dappletail, but the conversation had been spread around the camp and the rumors had started from there as the story got twisted. As she finished, Bluefur was relieved to see that the anger in Lilyspark's eyes had disappeared to be replaced with understanding. She gave Rosetail a nod, her fur lying flat.
"Okay," she meowed finally. "I believe you."
Rosetail let out a breath. "Thank you, Lilyspark," she meowed sincerely. "I really am sorry–I never meant for it to happen, I promise you. But you know how everyone else can get sometimes."
"Yeah, I know," Lilyspark chuckled. She hesitated, then added, "I'm sorry too, you know, for all those things I said about you. Especially about Sweetpaw. That was..."
"Don't worry about it," Rosetail answered, flicking her tail dismissively. "If I were in your position, I'd have felt the same way."
"Now, come on. We should get back home," Bluefur meowed. "Moonflower and Sunstar are out looking for you too, and we need to let them know that you're okay, Lilyspark. And you should probably see Featherwhisker too, just in case you've caught a cold."
However, when she moved to head back to the camp, Lilyspark hesitated. "No, wait! I–I don't want to go back."
"Why not?" Bluefur asked, frowning. "You have to go back eventually. You're not just going to stay out here forever because of a few mouse-brains, are you? Lilyspark, I know the rumors hurt, but they'll die down eventually. They always do."
"I know, I know," her sister meowed, shaking her head. "But that's not it. Well, that's not only it. I just...I mean, I can't..."
Lilyspark trailed off and turned her head to the side, gazing off into the distance. A sad look came over her face that sent a pang through Bluefur's heart. She didn't push her, however, she just waited for her younger sister to collect her thoughts. Rosetail murmured something about going to find Moonflower and Sunstar before padding away. After a few heartbeats, Lilyspark finally turned to look at her again, the same pained expression still in her eyes.
"I miss her," Lilyspark whispered.
Of course, she's just missing Snowfur, Bluefur thought as she finally realized what was upsetting her sister so much. She should have known. Silently, she draped her tail around Lilyspark's shoulders.
"I'm so stupid," the white-furred molly meowed, laughing mirthlessly. "After Snowfur died, I thought the best solution was to throw myself into my warrior duties. I thought if I did that, I could make myself forget about everything–or at least make it so that I wouldn't have to deal with it. But look at where that got me. I've done nothing but make an absolute mess out of my life."
"You are not stupid," Bluefur meowed firmly. "It would be hypocritical of me to say that, especially considering how I acted after Snowfur died. There's nothing wrong with you, Lilyspark. Losing anyone is hard, and we all have to process it in different ways. Granted, I think you did it a lot better than I did, but that's not the point."
"I wouldn't say I did it better," Lilyspark meowed, self-disgust clear in her voice. "If I had, I wouldn't be in this position right now. Look at me. I'm pathetic. I can't handle anything without running away."
"That's not true. Lilyspark, if you're pathetic, then I'm twice as pathetic as you are," Bluefur meowed. "But that's okay. There's not much that can be done...so we'll just have to be pathetic together. Everything will be alright, Lilyspark, I promise. As long as we have each other, right?"
Lilyspark was silent for a few heartbeats, then nodded slowly. "Okay," she meowed softly.
Purring softly, Bluefur curled her tail protectively around her baby sister and pressed her muzzle against her forehead again. She knew that she had made a mistake by moping over Snowfur's death for so long, but she was determined to make up for it now. No matter what it took, she would see to it that she never lost Lilyspark the same way she had lost Snowfur.