Ghostface recognized the friendly HillsClan she-cat from the gathering. She stood up and looked at him for a moment. "Ghostface?"
"What in the world are you doing on GrassClan territory?"
"Whatever I want." She said, drawing her ears flat against her head and licking her blackish brown legs. Ghostface looked at her curiously. This wasn't the cat he had met before. But then again, that was the one night of peace, now they were just two warriors again from two different clans, fighting. He shouldn't feel any remorse for attacking her, it was his duty.
The she-cat looked up and sighed. "I'm hunting."
"But why here? Longstar said that you had plenty of prey."
Fawnshadow didn't answer. She looked down at the ground.
"What is it?"
"Why don't you just chase me out now? I'm on your territory, I'm hunting your prey!"
"I… I don't
know… I sorta thought that we were…"
"Friends? Ghostface,
cats of different clans can't be friends. Only at gatherings."
"I know that!"
"Then chase me out now!"
"I don't see you leaving! Why don't you just leave if you want me to chase you out so bad?"
The she-cat looked at him, then let out a small laugh.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing, you just look funny when you're angry, that's all." Fawnsahdow said, laughing again as she saw the indignant look on his face.
"Don't change the subject with me!"
Fawnshadow rolled over, stifled laughs coming from between her paws, which were swiping over her muzzle.
Ghostface sighed and sat down, waiting for her laughter to subside. Finally she said, "Sorry."
"I fail to see the humor in this situation. Let me analyze this for you; You are on GrassClan territory, HUNTING. I am a GrassClan warrior, PATROLLING. You can see how this can be awkward."
Fawnshadow sat up and said, "I told you to chase me out!"
Ghostface rolled his eyes. They were getting nowhere. Before he could say anything, though, she continued. "Fine, do you want to know the truth?" Ghostface nodded.
Fawnshadow looked at him for a long moment, then said, "First things first. I was ordered here by Longstar to hunt. The second part is that… When I saw you last night…" Fawnshadow looked off into the distance.
Ghostface blinked and said, "Well?"
"It reminded me of a dream that I had. A cat of StarClan came to me and said, 'Your heart is loyal, indeed. But your loyalties can be tied many places. And when a spirit-like warrior appears, you're heart will be torn.'"
Ghostface looked at her. "What in stars does that mean?"
"It probably means nothing. I just… you reminded me of it." She shrugged and looked at him. Ghostface thought about it, confused. What did it mean? And WHY in the world would Longstar tell his clan to hunt there?
Fawnshadow suddenly perked her ears. Ghostface perked his ears too, and he could hear a patrol coming. "Hide!" Fawnshadow said, her head low and ears back as she flicked her tail for him to follow.
Ghostface looked around then darted after her. She disappeared into a den reeking of fox. Wrinkling his nose, Ghostface slid into the rank hole. She was panting slightly and he could smell traces of her fear scent. 'Why wasn't she this scared when I came by?' Ghostface wondered, glancing at her.
The patrol paused at the rock, then just padded away. When they were sure they had left, Fawnshadow said, "That was close."
"Yes, it was. Now you have to leave!" Ghostface said, head butting her out of the hole.
Fawnshadow looked at him as he emerged out of the hole. Her face brightened up as she said, "Fine. Meet you here tomorrow around dawn? Great! Bye!" Before Ghostface could say anything, she was dashing off across the boulder.
Ghostface sat on the rock in confusion, trying to analyze what had happened. 'Okay.' He thought, 'Some cat from Hillsclan was hunting on our territory. She had a prophecy that she thought was about me. AND NOW, she wants to meet me again at dawn!'
Ghostface stood to leave, but then smelled his pelt. He smelled of HillsClan and fox. Sighing, Ghostface hurriedly began to groom, knowing that he would be in a lot of trouble if the clan suspected anything. When his pelt was clean and shining in the late afternoon sun, Ghostface leapt down from the boulder to hunt.
Ghostface returned to camp with two mice, a finch and a pigeon. Mossclaw was nowhere to be seen, but Prairieheart was eating a finch and a mouse alone. Ghostface dropped off his kill at the fresh-kill pile and selected a mouse for himself. He carried the mouse over to Prairieheart.
"Hey." She said, smiling warmly. "What took you so long?"
"Oh… Uh… I just decided to explore a little first."
"Oh. Where'd you go?"
"To the boulder rock place." Ghostface said, feeling a little nervous. He knew he shouldn't, he hadn't done anything wrong, Fawnshadow was the one who had started it.
"Did you scent Hillsclan there?" The golden cat asked, looking at Ghostface.
Ghostface looked at his mouse, then said, "Yeah. There was some scents but I didn't run into any."
Prairieheart stared at him for a moment, as if she was suspicious, then began to eat her mouse. Ghostface nibbled the plump prey in front of him, but he didn't feel that hungry.
Suddenly Mottledsong padded into camp with Thunderpaw by her side and Mossclaw. Ghostface stood up. "Thunderpaw! You look much better!" The blue-gray apprentice dashed over to him, smiling brightly.
"Thanks!" She touched Ghostface's shoulder politely with her nose.
Prairieheart smiled. "Yeah, you look fit enough to be a warrior!" Thunderpaw smiled under the praise.
"We just got back from a patrol." Mottledsong said. "Boulder rock place still has scents of HillsClan on it. I think we're going to have to start patrolling there more often."
"Yeah. Ghostface said he was there earlier." Prairieheart said. They all began to talk about HillsClan. Thunderpaw dashed off with the other two apprentices. Ghostface longed to run away too, uncomfortable as the cats heatedly talked.
"What's the matter Ghostface?" Mottledsong asked finally, looking at him.
Ghostface looked up, surprised that Mottledsong would be concerned about him. "My head just hurts. Nothing serious."
"You should go see Shrubfoot." Mossclaw suggested. Ghostface nodded and padded to the other side of camp, thoughts swirling about inside his head.