Hi everyone. :) Here is another chapter!
Ivypool walked into camp, a freshly caught mouse in her jaws. In front of her limped Mousewhisker who carried a squirrel, and behind her walked Toadstep, who carried a thrush and a vole.
Mousewhisker was limping from an injury from the Dark Forest attack that had messed up his paw badly. His paw would never heal, Jayfeather said, but Mousewhisker could still help on hunting patrols. Border patrols hurt him too much to join in on, though.
Ivypool paused right at the entrance of the camp. Almost every cat was gathered in the camp clearing, but Bramblestar was not on the Highledge. They seemed to be waiting for something.
She quickly spotted Dovewing and Bumblestripe sitting in a patch of sun together. Well, Bumblestripe was actually sleeping.
Ivypool felt the emptiness inside her again when she saw her sister, and tried to ignore it even though it never worked.
Ivypool headed over to Dovewing and Bumblestripe. She set the mouse at Dovewing's paused and asked, "What is happening? What is everyone waiting for?"
Dovewing looked up at Ivypool. "All the senior warriors left camp with Bramblestar and Jayfeather. No one knows what is happening."
"You don't know?" Ivypool asked. She knew that Dovewing could just use her powers to listen into the meeting. "Can't you just listen in?"
"I'd rather not." Dovewing meowed, licking a paw and bringing it over her ear, trying to smooth down a piece of fur that stuck up at an odd angle. "Besides, Bramblestar can't just hold a meeting with the senior warriors and not tell the clan what it was about."
Ivypool nodded in silent agreement, then pushed the mouse closer to the gray queen. "You must be hungry because of those kits. Eat."
Dovewing purred a thanks then bit into the mouse.
Ivypool sat down and after a minute her mind wandered off to the dark and empty thoughts again. She hoped that she would soon get something to focus on, these thoughts where always in her head and they where making her depressed.
She was suddenly jerked out of her thoughts as Dovewing used her tail to flick Ivypool on the nose.
Ivypool flinched and growled, glaring at her sister. "What was that for?"
"You where all distant again. Now, listen. Bramblestar has came back to camp." Dovewing curled her tail around Bumblestripe's, who was now awake again, and then turned to watch Bramblestar.
Ivypool followed her gaze to the Highledge, where Bramblestar stood, looking over his clan.
Bramblestar jumped right in, "Since the Dark Forest battle, Thunderclan has grown. We have more kits then ever before, and are much bigger then the other clans. But even though Thunderclan's growth in size is good, I have found a few problems."
A few cats started murmuring together, worried and confused.
Ivypool pricked her ears, curious to hear what those 'problems' where.
"There are two problems," Bramblestar meowed, "The first is easy to fix. It is that the dens in camp are too small. We are going to expand the elders den and nursery, and then make another warriors den. Making another warriors den will fix how crowded the den is now, and will give our new warriors a choice at where to sleep."
Yowls of approval rose in the clan. Ivypool watched silently, waiting for the next thing. Even if she tried hard to help with the work in camp, it was not something she could really be interested in.
Bramblestar continued, "The second problem is that as we grow, we are running out of hunting grounds. I have decided that we must expand our territory, if we wish to survive."
Before cats could talk, Bramblestar added, "I don't mean taking territory from other clans, that would break the peace. I mean taking the territory that doesn't belong to any of the clans, the territory behind the hollow that is unexplored."
At this the whole camp started talking to each other.
Bumblestripe said, "I hope I get picked to help explore the new territory."
"Me too." Ivypool whispered and turned back to Bramblestar. Her tail twitched excitedly and she leaned forward as her leader waited for silence.
Once everyone was silent, Bramblestar started talking again. "This will not be rushed, and will be taken vary seriously. We don't want anyone hurt or in danger while exploring the new territory. The first patrol into unknown territory will be lead by me. In the patrol will be Lionblaze, Foxleap, Cloudtail, Icecloud, and Ivypool. But don't worry, everyone will get a chance to explore when it is their turn."
Ivypool froze. She got to go?
"Congratulations." Dovewing nudged Ivypool, purring.
Ivypool smiled. Now this is something she would like to do.
"We will start tomorrow at sunrise." Bramblestar finished, then jumped off the Highledge.
Foxleap walked over to Ivypool. "Isn't this great?" He asked, eyes bright and excited. "We both get to go on the first patrol!"
Ivypool nodded and purred. She couldn't help but feel excited, this is the kind of thing she had been waiting for, for the past four moons! And inside her, she could feel that dark, empty feeling disappear just a little.
Sorry it is short, they should start getting longer soon.