Twistedtail woke up to the sound of Smallkit crying. A jolt of fear rang through her, and she sat up, looking over her shoulder. She exhaled in relief when she saw he didn't look to be hurt. He was just curled up, appearing even smaller than usual, whimpering.

"Smallkit, baby, what's wrong?" She nudged him with her snout. He looked up at her, with those bright, orange, sad eyes.

"Had a bad dream," He mewed. "I want my mama. I want Brightkit."

"It's okay, I'm here." Twistedtail rushed to curl around him. "Do you want to talk about your dream?"

"I want my mama!" He keened. "Why won't she see me?"

"Smallkit–"

"Is she gonna go away forever, like Brightkit? I don't want her to go away forever!" He wailed loud enough that Twistedtail worried he wake his clanmates. Her heart ached.

"Alright, come on." She picked Smallkit up by his scruff, and he relaxed. Again, she thought about how much she wanted to have kits of her own, someday. She made her way to Reedstar, sleeping some ways away, her grey-brown coat messy.

"Reedstar," Twistedtail whispered as she set Smallkit down. "Wake up."

Reedstar blinked awake in confusion, her oranges eyes looking first at Twistedtail, and then at Smallkit.

"What's wrong?" She said.

"Smallkit had a bad dream. He wanted to see you." Twistedtail noticed that Smallkit looked a little nervous at being face to face with Reedstar.

"Are you alright?" Reedstar sat up, the confusion fading from your face. "You aren't hurt or sick?" Smallkit shook his head.

"It was scary," He said. "I wanted to see you."

"Oh, Smallkit, I'm so sorry," Reedstar said, leaning forward to lick Smallkit's ears. "I haven't been a very good mother to you, have I? I'm sorry. I promise when we get where we're going I'll spend more time with you." Twistedtail felt like she was seeing something she shouldn't be. After a moment, Reedstar spoke again.

"Did you see any StarClan cats?" Reedstar asked.

"I don't know," Smallkit said. "He was...he had eyes like mine?" Reedstar eyes widened, her postured tensed.

"Did he...did he say anything to you?" Urgency showed in her voice.

"He said his name was Briar–" Smallkit didn't get the chance to finish before Reedstar pulled him close to her with one paw. This was the first time Twistedtail seen Reedstar look genuinely afraid, like in the way a kitten facing down a badger might be.

"Don't talk to him, if he appears in your dreams again, tell me," Reedstar said. "Oh StarClan, I'll have to talk to Shrewpelt about this..."

"What's going on?" Twistedtail asked. Smallkit looked just as confused as she was.

"You wouldn't understand," The gray leader replied. "You're a normal warrior. You don't see things from...other places. Go back to sleep."

"Fine," Twistedtail said, trying to keep the spite out of her voice. Reedstar could at least give the cat she handed her son off to a little respect! But she immediately felt guilt for that thought. Reedstar was trying her best. And she's my leader. It isn't my job to question her.

So Twistedtail meandered off among her clanmates, eventually flopping down to sleep near Bearheart. She kept expecting Smallkit to come back and sit beside her, but he never did.

"Would you believe," The StarClan cat said to Woodpaw, her green eyes twinkling with mirth. "That you are the only medicine cat we could get ahold of."

"What?" Woodpaw stepped back, and then realized he was on the edge of a great void. He stepped forward again.

"I'm Honeystar, by the way," The golden-brown she-cat introduced herself. Woodpaw knew who she was, although he'd never met her; she was the leader of ShadowClan before Shadestar. He always heard Lilypetal and his clanmates talking about how much better she was than Shadestar, how they couldn't see what had made Honeystar pick her as deputy. So Woodpaw felt a certain amount of resentment toward her. "In case you were wondering, kit."

"I'm an apprentice, Honeystar," Woodpaw said. He realized that maybe he should be more worried about the omen, and followed that up with: "What do you mean, I'm the only medicine cat you got to?"

"Did ShadowClan lose all its sense of humor when I died?" Honeystar purred, but then continued. "The rules are...stricter here, for some reason. You're the only living medicine cat who hasn't broken...something. " Woodpaw felt a brief burst of pride. She basically just said he was the best medicine cat in the clans, right?

"Don't get too proud, kit," Honeystar said. "I think it has a lot to do with Sandcloud being my niece, too. It's in the bloodlines." Woodpaw winced at the mention of his mother. He couldn't think about her, he couldn't afford to.

"What has Lilypetal done?" He asked, as much out desire to change the subject as out of curiosity. He knew his mentor wasn't perfect, but the idea of her breaking the warrior code unnerved him. Shrewpelt and Cloverheart didn't seem to be bad cats either, but he didn't know them like he knew Lilypetal; they weren't his clanmates, he didn't trust them.

"You'll find out," Honeystar said. "It's not my secret to tell. But we couldn't get to her, nor any of of the other medicine cats. Just you, Woodpaw."

"Why is this happening?" Woodpaw asked. "Is it because we're moving territories? But many, many moons ago, didn't the clans do that? And this didn't happen then."

"It's not just that we're moving." All of the humor went out of Honeystar's voice and posture; her green eyes that seemed bright and jovial now looked at him with rigid focus. "It's that where we're going...there's something else already here. And it wants to stop us."

"But what does this mean?"

"For you? It just means you're going to have to keep a careful eye out, little thorn. You're the only one who can see omens," Honeystar replied. She batted him on the head, the way a playful sibling might. "But i think you'll do a good job. You have a good head on your shoulders."

Woodpaw laughed a bitter laugh. Honeystar jolted in surprise, but then joined in.

"Yeah, I've been there," She said, and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Woodpaw said. She looked over her shoulder, and Woodpaw knew he had to speak quickly. "Do you know anything about...about helping cats who are...whose minds are hurt?" Honeystar purred, and then turned back to face him.

"I don't know much," Honeystar spoke carefully, placing weight on each of the words. She leaned closer to him, close enough that her breath stirred his whiskers. "But I think it's possible. And I think you asking gives me hope, little thorn."

Before Woodpaw could say anything else, she turned away again, and steadily made her way back into the field of stars.

...

Woodpaw woke up when the sun was setting, close enough to when the clans were to start walking that it wasn't worth it to try and get back to sleep. He glanced over at Lilypetal, sleeping a short distance away from him. She looked peaceful, her sides rising and falling evenly. Not the way a medicine cat would look when they were receiving an omen.

Lilypetal had never felt trustworthy to him, with her carefree attitude and her sardonic humor. How she wouldn't listen to Shadestar. How she never took his thoughts seriously. And here it was, confirmation that he was right all along. It was probably bad to feel smug about that, but it was one of the only positive feelings he'd had since the fire, so he allowed it.

He didn't even think of waking her and telling her his dream. If she was bad enough StarClan couldn't get to her, well, he didn't need her, either. He could manage this on his own. It was all he had.

A/N: This is a pretty short chapter, but hey, we're getting closer to the main plot, so at least there's that.