For the tenth time that day, Stormpaw stumbled.

"Are you sure I'm not too heavy?" Lionpaw said, trying to shift her weight off of his shoulder and onto her injured paw. She swayed, and Stormpaw rushed to support her again.

"It's fine, really," Stormpaw said. Lionpaw was far more robust than him, but he could put up with a little extra strain to help her along her way.

Although Lionpaw's leg had mostly superficial burns, Cloverheart had wanted her to be careful with it, and although Lionpaw would never say anything,Stormpaw could tell by her sharp intake of breath that putting pressure on it hurt.

Stormpaw glanced up to his sister, farther up in the procession. She was still soothing Sleetpaw, a poor young apprentice whose ear had been burned away in the fire. Stormpaw noticed her brother, Acornpaw, sticking close behind her too, and he was glad she had someone to help her.

While he was distracted, Lionpaw stumbled again, nearly knocking Stormpaw over. He braced himself on all four paws, putting all his strength into supporting her, and managed to stop from falling over an eleventh time. This was only the first day of the journey; he was learning; he'd get used to it.

...

When the sun began to set, they all rested, in a little stony valley surrounded by vines, and the leaders talked together. It was decided that it would be best to journey at night, in order to follow the star's path. But they wouldn't leave this night; everyone agreed they should rest, to Stormpaw's relief. He was tired. They all were tired.

He watched carefully as the medicine cats gathered to watch the sky. Cloverheart, the two ShadowClan medicine cats, and Shrewpelt, who he knew little about. After a while, they dispersed, and most cats settled down to sleep. Stormpaw couldn't help but notice how many cats, even his own clanmates, were missing. Sleetpaw was crying out in her sleep, whether in pain or in despair, he didn't know.

A twinge of loneliness stuck in his chest and he turned to Lionpaw, but she was already sleeping. He watched the rise and fall of her golden pelt, illuminated in the dull light of the moon. He was going to lie down too, but he heard Cloverheart's familiar chirping meow behind him.

"Stormpaw! I found something!" Cloverheart said, her voice quiet but tinged with excitement.

"What is it?" Stormpaw said.

"Follow me!" She bounded off, and Stormpaw followed. The other cats didn't seem to notice, even the other medicine cats. Stormpaw saw Shrewpelt looking at the moon, and the two ShadowClan medicine cats were sitting close together, the younger one—Woodpaw, he remembered now—was curled up tightly, as if hiding from the world. They disappeared from sight as he and Cloverheart moved into a crag.

Cloverheart pulled out a strange, spiny plant that was a vibrant green.

"It's aloe," She said. "Raggedear taught me about it, but we never found much of it back home."

"And?" Stormpaw said.

"It's used to treat burns, Stormpaw," She replied. Stormpaw realized why she'd sounded so excited, and a smile lit his face. "I need you to help me carry it back and––and I need the other medicine cats not to notice."

"Why not?"

"...there's not enough to go around." Cloverheart looked at the ground. "I want to make sure there's enough to treat our clan first."

"But–"

"I know, it's bad. But we need it. Sleetpaw needs it."

"Lionpaw needs it." Stormpaw repeated. Cloverheart was silent for a heartbeat.

"Yes."

They walked back with the aloe leaves in their mouths, Stormpaw helping Cloverheart walk quietly. With hushed voices, they woke and rubbed the aloe's thick sap on the burns of their clanmates. Sleetpaw settled into a peaceful sleep, not crying out in pain like before, and Stormpaw understood why his sister wanted to be a medicine cat a little better. Still, he thought, as Lionpaw's breathing settled back into sleep, being a medicine cat isn't for me.

There was a little aloe left over, and Cloverheart promised to share it with the other medicine cats the next morning. And if Stormpaw saw a wisp of a cloud pass over the moon, well, he thought nothing of it.

Robinkit couldn't help but resent the lack of other kits. Sure, she had her brother, but she wanted new friends. She couldn't see any other kits when the clans were all walking, which was mostly what they did. Mama took turns carrying her and carrying Sedgekit, but she still got tired. And then when everyone rested, Mama made her sleep instead of letting her play! It was unfair, Robinkit decided.

This was why, one day, while Mama was sleeping, Robinkit decided she was going to sneak around and find the other kits.

"C'mon, Sedgekit!" She mewed, poking her brother in the side.

"B–but...we'll get in t–t–trouble," Sedgekit replied.

"We won't! Everyone's asleep," Robinkit bounded away, and when she looked over her shoulder, Sedgekit was following her.

Sneaking around the sleeping cats was the most fun Robinkit'd had since the fire. She felt like a brave warrior on a secret mission. Even Sedgekit had his ear perked. Finally, she saw a little silver kit, curled up near to a cat with a twisted tail, who Robinkit assumed was his Mama. She reached out a careful paw, and tapped him on the head.

"Wh–" He said, opening his eyes, which were a brilliant orange.

"Shhhhhh! I don't wanna wake up the big cats!" Robinkit hissed. The orange-eyed kit blinked several more times, but didn't say anything more. Robinkit sat down. "I'm Robinkit. Do you wanna be friends?"

"A-and I-I-I–I'm Sedgekit," Her brother squeaked.

"I'm Smallkit," The kit said. "And we're supposed to be resting."

"What, are you gonna listen to everything your mama tells you?" Robinkit flicked an ear toward the sleeping cat. "Boring!"

"Twistedtail isn't my mother." Smallkit said. He looked up at Robinkit. "Reedstar's my mom, and you'd listen to her too. She's a clan leader."

"Why isn't she with you?" Robinkit said.

"She's busy," He said "And she misses my sister." His voice got quieter. "I miss her too."

"Where's your sist–"

"R-r-r-robinkit, I don't think he wants to talk about that," Sedgekit interjected.

"Oh," Robinkit said. "Well...if you miss having someone to play with, you've got us!"

Smallkit was quiet for so long, Robinkit thought he wasn't going to say anything, but then he stood up (and he really was small, she noticed; he only came up to her shoulder).

"Sure," Smallkit said, and then he reached out a paw to bat at her head. Robinkit laughed.

They played together for a while, pretending to be warriors on a secret mission (and this game was Robinkit's idea. She was so smart!) and for once, Sedgekit could keep up. And then Robinkit tripped over a sleeping cat's tail and tumbled a long way. Sedgekit and Smallkit started to laugh, and at first she was mad, but then she realized this was the first time she'd heard her brother laugh since the fire, and that made her so happy that she laughed too.

And then, the ShadowClan warrior woke up.

"My kits?" She said, her voice wavering. "Is that you? Cloudkit, Blossomkit, Gingerkit, are you there!?"

Robinkit backed away from her. The ShadowClan cat's blue eyes were muddied, confused, and her steps unsteady. Smallkit was already running, and Robinkit wanted to follow, but Sedgekit was frozen.

But before the golden furred warrior could get to them, there was another voice.

"Goldendapple! Goldendapple, calm down!" A large ginger tom came up behind her. He glanced at Robinkit with contempt in his yellow eyes, and Robinkit let out a squeak of fear.

"I….I thought they were here." Goldendapple seemed calmer now, as the ginger tom curled around her. "I thought they were our kits, Foxclaw."

"I know." Foxclaw's voice was deep and low.

"They should be here. They should be here," Goldendapple sunk to the ground. Robinkit wondered what was wrong with her. She didn't look like she was injured or sick. "Oh StarClan, where are they?"

Sedgekit stepped closer to her, and Foxclaw, still curled around Goldendapple, slid his gaze back to them.

"You should go home," He said. "Your mothers will be very worried about you."

The noise had woken up some other cats, Mama included. Robinkit expected Mama to yell at her and Sedgekit, but instead she just curled around them, shaking slightly (she was always shaking, lately), and told them they needed to rest.

It took a while for Robinkit to finally get back to sleep. She kept wondering about where Goldendapple's kits went, where Smallkit's sister went.