"Come on, Darkpaw!" Pebbletail called, "It's time to train!"

The black apprentice raced over to her. "Great," he purred. His blue eyes floated over to Rainfeather. "Hi Rainfeather!" Darkpaw announced cheerfully, "Are you coming with us?"

The blind elder nodded. "Sure am. It's been forever since I've watched you train."

Darkpaw knew better than to correct Rainfeather's use of the word "watch."

When the three arrived at the training area, Stormheart and Redstripe were already training their apprentices, Spottedpaw and Firepaw. Lizardfang, the Clan's newest warrior, watched them, his brown eyes carefully analyzing the apprentices' moves. The sandy tom was, if nothing else, a strategist.

"Careful," Pebbletail whispered into Rainfeather's ear, "Redstripe is here."

Rainfeather rolled his eyes. "Figures. I should have known that this perfect day wouldn't last forever."

"Hello, Redstripe," he meowed curtly when the dark ginger tom approached.

Redstripe broke into a wide, but by no means friendly, smile. "How'd you know?" he sneered, "You're blind, remember?"

Rainfeather flicked his ears dismissively. "You smell like dirt," he explained shortly. "And not this kind either," he added, rolling the moorland earth under his paw. Redstripe emitted a low growl.

Stormheart looked up from sparring with Spottedpaw. Her eyes widened as she saw Rainfeather. She whispered something to her apprentice, then trotted over to where the two toms were glaring at each other.

"Hi, Rainfeather," she meowed, fluttering her big blue eyes at him, despite the fact he couldn't see them, "What brings you here?"

Redstripe rolled his green eyes, muttering something under his breath, and stalked off. Pebbletail couldn't help but snort with contempt at Stormheart's hopeless flirting. Rainfeather gave her a sideways glance before replying to the other she-cat's question.

"I'm just here to watch- I mean listen to, Darkpaw's training. He was my apprentice not too long ago."

Stormheart nodded. "Well, it's good to have you here," she meowed, a dreamy expression on her face.

"Good to be here, Stormheart," Rainfeather meowed before padding away.

The blue-gray she-cat practically melted under her fur. Pebbletail purred in amusement.

"You really like him, huh?" she asked, not realizing what she had said until it slipped off of her tongue. Why would I ask that? she wondered, I can't stand Stormheart!

"Well, yes!" Stormheart yelped, "Is it that obvious?"

Pebbletail's lip curled. "Let's just say… it's good for you that he can't see this."

Before Stormheart got a chance to retort, Rainfeather called, "Pebbletail, are you going to train Darkpaw or not? Because if you don't, I'll have to, and you know what a mess that'd be!"

Pebbletail laughed, "Coming!"

Hollypelt bounded into camp, a rabbit held firmly in her jaws. She looked around, hoping to find Rainfeather and give it to him. Her heart sank to her paws when she realized that her brother wasn't in the camp. She dropped the rabbit on the ground in front of her. Ravenstorm and Dustclaw, the other two warriors on her hunting patrol, came up behind.

"What's wrong?" Ravenstorm asked.

"I can't see Rainfeather anywhere!"

Hollypelt began to panic. What if he was in trouble? What if he went for a walk and ran into a RiverClan patrol? What if they didn't realize he was blind, and they attacked him?

"Relax, Hollypelt," Dustclaw tried to soothe her, "Rainfeather's a smart cat. He wouldn't leave camp on his own."

She turned to face the pale brown tom, her green eyes wide. "Maybe you're right," she paused for a moment, "But I'm still going to tell Amberstar."

Without a second thought, she raced to the leader's den. Dustclaw and Ravenstorm exchanged a sideways glance. Dustclaw shrugged, then moved on to check on Treeshade and Maplekit.

Amberstar heard a rustling at the entrance of her den. She looked up to see Hollypelt standing in the entrance, her dark gray and white fur standing on end, and her green eyes troubled.

"Hollypelt, are you okay?" the small leader asked.

"Rainfeather's missing! I went on a hunting patrol with Ravenstorm and Dustclaw, and when I came back, he was gone."

Amberstar stood up abruptly. "Well, we need to find him then," she meowed, her voice urgent. The two she-cats shouldered their way out of the den.

Lionfrost was lying in the center of the camp, sharing tongues with Cloudfall.

"Lionfrost, have you seen Rainfeather?" Hollypelt asked.

"No. Why?"

"I can't find him."

Lionfrost's icy eyes snapped open. "That's not good," he meowed, "Do you want me to help you look?"

"Sure. That would be wonderful. Can you check by the RiverClan border?"

The golden tom nodded. "Absolutely."

Hollypelt purred, "Thank you."

"Anything to help you, Hollypelt," Lionfrost replied, stepping closer to her. Hollypelt felt her heart pick up speed as he looked deeply into her green eyes and she stared right back at his icy blue ones.

Amberstar brushed her tail against Hollypelt's shoulders. "Come on," she meowed, "We have no time to waste."

Lionfrost trotted towards the RiverClan border. As Hollypelt and Amberstar approached the entrance, they brushed past Lizardfang, who was just in from watching a training session.

"Lizardfang, have you seen Rainfeather?" Amberstar asked.

"Yeah," the young tom replied casually, "He was at the training clearing with Pebbletail and Darkpaw. Why do you ask?"

He got no response to his question; the two she-cats were already out of sight.