Dovewing woke to the strange sound of one of the farm birds. A rooster Barley had called it. It cried out every morning, telling the cats it was sunrise.

Dovewing blinked tiredly. Barley and Crane's Wing were wide awake while Lionblaze and Jayfeather seemed to be having a hard time waking up. Dovewing's jaw opened into a wide yawn. Sun trickled in through the openings in the walls of the barn, blinding her for a few moments.

Dovewing winced as she sat up in her nest. Her muscles still hurt from the dead sprint she took away from the crows two days prior. As per Barley's suggestion, the cats put off exploring the clans' old territory to rest after their encounter with the crows. Not a very good experience.

"I'm going to go hunt," Crane's Wing announced. Dovewing nodded and got to her paws. The cats had silently agreed to stick to hunting the mice in the barn rather than searching for prey in this desolate place.

The nests were located high off the ground on a platform connected to the ground by a ladder. At first the wild cats had a hard time navigating it but now they all could travel up and down with no problems. A wave of satisfaction in her abilities spread through Dovewing as she followed Crane's Wing down the ladder. Lionblaze and Jayfeather followed them once her paws hit the smooth floor of the barn.

Dovewing caught the scent trail of a mouse almost at once. She was about to follow it when she saw Crane's Wing stalking. Deciding to let him have the catch, she crossed to the other side of the barn so she wouldn't get under another cat's paws. There are enough mice here anyway to feed an entire clan.

The number of mice in the barn amazed her. There was so much prey, it practically jumped into her jaws. And the mice were fat too. Nice and juicy. She wasn't surprised that Ravenpaw and Barley were so happy here. The stories she'd heard as a kit made a bit more sense now.

Dovewing quickly found another scent trail. She followed it to a bale of hay where a fat brown mouse was nibbling on a piece of straw. She dropped into a hunter's crouch and silently stalked towards it. She mouse never saw her coming. With a flying leap, she jumped up on the bale and landed on the mouse with claws out. The mouse didn't even have time to squeal before she bit its neck. She picked it up by the tail and hopped back down to head back to the nest with her fresh kill.

Dovewing heard a hiss of annoyance. She turned and saw Jayfeather clawing the ground in frustration and a wounded mouse disappearing through a hole in the barn wall.

"You want some help?" Dovewing offered. Her voice was unclear, she still had the mouse in her teeth.

To her surprise, Jayfeather shot her an angry glare. "No, I'm fine."

"I don't mind. You're my medicine cat, I-"

"Stop. Just stop," Jayfeather said. Dovewing tipped her head in confusion. Jayfeather sighed. "I can actually hunt. I'm just having bad luck, alright?"

Dovewing didn't say anything. Jayfeather can hunt? He's blind and he's not even a warrior!

Her silence seemed to annoy Jayfeather even further. "I'm not useless. Leafpool never gave me hunting lessons like medicine cat apprentices usually get but I always catch prey if I hear it run by. And I lived on my own for a moon. And I used to be a sharpclaw."

Dovewing didn't say anything. She just dipped her head and walked away, stunned. I never knew Jayfeather hunted. Then she paused. He said he used to be a sharpclaw. Does he think of himself as Jay's Wing?

Dovewing settled down and took a bite of her mouse. She chewed thoughtfully. She never thought of herself as Dove's Wing. She didn't know anything about her other than that she was Jay's Wing's sister and she certainly didn't see Jayfeather as a brother. Did he see her as a sister? That was a strange thought.

Should she feel like Dove's Wing? She glanced over at Lionblaze. He was chatting excitedly with Crane's Wing about something but they were too far for her to hear. Did he feel a connection to Lion's Roar? She doubted it. Cinderheart was reborn too, he probably had a better understanding of this than her anyway. He never acted like another cat.

She took another bite of mouse and eyed Crane's Wing. He seemed fully accepting of the idea of reincarnation but then again he came from a tribe, not a clan. He usually didn't call her Dove's Wing, maybe she didn't have as close of a connection to her past self as Jayfeather did. That made sense. Jayfeather was… different. And not just because of his blindness or the powers he used to have or even the fact that he was a medicine cat. Now that she thought of it, Dovewing realized that it was probably because he spent time among ancient cats. Himself, Jayfeather, not Jay's Wing. He loved an ancient cat.

Dovewing's thoughts shifted to Tigerheart. Their love wasn't possible either but it wasn't quite the same as what Jayfeather and Half Moon lived through. She briefly wondered what would happen if she or Tigerheart died then pushed the thought away. That could never happen. She wouldn't let it.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Barley speaking but she'd been too distracted to hear what he said. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I asked if you four want to look at the clans' old territory today," Barley said.

Jayfeather nodded. Dovewing noticed that he had a half eaten mouse. So he can hunt.

"We've wasted too much time resting anyway," Jayfeather said.

"Great," Barley said with a whisk of his tail. "We'll head out once your done eating."

Author's Note: In the notes I have to keep track of everything going on, the one for this chapter is literally just "Dovewing does some thinking." It probably wasn't clear, but a few chapters ago Jayfeather stopped having memory flashes and he feels disconnected from Jay's Wing which is interfering with his hunting ability.

Reviews-

Darth Jay- Thanks. Happy New Year to you too.

Wolfjem- *laughs nervously* I totally forgot they were related... Whoops.

Feathershade- I know right! Clan cats don't care at all about twoleg's feelings.