Same thing applies to Whitepaw here - I know her warrior name is Whitewing, but I like Whitecloud better. This is the name I gave her, anyway.
Hope you enjoy the nex chapter! Please leave a review (thanks to everyone who already has!).
"You seemed very happy at the Gathering, Birchclaw," Whitecloud remarked.
"I should have been," Birchclaw grinned. "It was my first as a warrior."
Whitecloud flicked her tail. "I was talking about your ShadowClan friend."
Birchclaw stared at her in surprise. "Who, Appleheart?"
"Yes, Appleheart," the white she-cat sighed. "You got on with her well enough." Her green eyes sparkled with worry. "You do remember these names? Greystripe. Leafpool. Stormfur. Bluestar. Rainwhisker."
"What about them?" Birchclaw asked, growing uneasy.
"They all took mates in other Clans," Whitecloud explained. "Greystripe's mate Silverstream ended up dead, Leafpool and Rainwhisker were left heart-broken, Stormfur left RiverClan to join Brook, Bluestar and Greystripe gave up their own kits… It's a bad path to take, Birchclaw."
Birchclaw paused for a moment before he understood what she was saying. "Are you saying that I'm falling in love with Appleheart?"
"It's possible," the she-cat shrugged her snowy shoulders.
"But we're just friends…" Birchclaw's voice trailed off. He thought of the way she had licked him when Firestar said his name, thought about her sweet earthy smell of apples. She really was one of a kind.
Whitecloud spun around and looked straight into his eyes. "Just be careful, okay?"
"Of course I'll be careful," Birchclaw agreed, but he lowered his gaze as he said it. Whitecloud gave him one last stare before running over to Spiderleg. Birchclaw let out a sigh of guilty relief that she had not pestered him further.
A shape suddenly caught his eye. Standing behind all the Clan cats, Rainwhisker was still gazing after the retreating RiverClan cats. The dark grey tom's blue eyes were clouded in pain and sadness as they connected with that of a dark tabby she-cat's. Birchclaw felt a tug at his heart as he remembered what had happened to them.
Rainwhisker had met Swallowtail when the Clans had had to move to new territory. They started out as friends, but as their feelings grew deeper for each other they changed within their Clans. Birchclaw could remember how Rainwhisker, usually bright and helpful, became reclusive, always running off to meet Swallowtail on the marshes near RiverClan. This went on until Rainwhisker and Swallowtail were finally discovered. Both cats chose to go on living in their respective Clans, but it broke Rainwhisker's heart.
Now that Birchclaw remembered Rainwhisker's story, others sprang to his mind. He had only experienced Rainwhisker's and Leafpool's, but the others had been told to him by the elders.
Bluestar was the first. She was the leader before Firestar, and had fallen in love with a RiverClan tom named Oakheart when she was still a young warrior. Unfortunately, while she was expecting his kits, the old deputy retired. The only other cat for the post was a cat who cared only for fighting. With this in mind, Bluestar took her kits to RiverClan, where they were raised by a queen named Greypool. Bluestar became deputy, and then leader. Her two kits grew up thinking that they were pure RiverClan. One of the kits was Stonefur, who was once RiverClan deputy; the other was Mistystar, the current leader of RiverClan.
Then there was Greystripe. Greystripe had fallen in love with RiverClan she-cat Silverstream after she saved him from drowning. They kept their relationship secret until Silverstream had their kits. She died after giving birth, and Greystripe took his kits back to ThunderClan. There was a huge argument about whether ThunderClan or RiverClan should keep them. Greystripe settled the matter by joining RiverClan himself. He later rejoined ThunderClan because he felt too homesick. His kits became Feathertail and Stormfur, mentored by Bluestar's own children.
Feathertail had been one of StarClan's chosen to deliver the Clans to their new home. She had never seen it; she died on the way back. Stormfur had fallen in love with a she-cat named Brook Where Small Fish Swim, and moved in with the Tribe of Rushing Water.
The story about Leafpool and Crowfeather was complicated, because no one really knew about it until they left.
Leafpool couldn't be found one day. Sending out search parties, Cinderpelt revealed to Firestar that she had caught her with Crowfeather on the border of their territory. Not only was Crowfeather a WindClan cat, the fact that Leafpool was a medicine cat made it forbidden for her to have a mate. WindClan confirmed that Crowfeather was also missing. The two cats were gone for around a week. When they turned up, ThunderClan was in the midst of a terrible battle against a group of badgers, in which Cinderpelt died. Leafpool took up the position of medicine cat, while Crowfeather returned to WindClan. Although they never talked to each other now, everyone knew that both cats were still very much in love.
Checking the details in his head, Birchclaw realised that there were three River-Thunder relationships, one WindClan-Thunder and one River-Tribe. ShadowClan was the only Clan which had never been involved in the game of forbidden love. Could Birchclaw and Appleheart be about to change that?
No, Birchclaw decided. We're just friends.
But that night, his dreams were interrupted by a she-cat with a pale, red-tinged coat and beautiful emerald eyes.