A pair of voices near me slowly woke me, and as I cracked my right eye open I could see two cats speaking with their backs to me. One was tortoiseshell with a dappled coat, and the other was small with a dusky brown pelt and from their hushed voices they were both she-cats. It was then that I noticed I was in a den. The scent of flowers and herbs hit me after a moment and I realized I wasn't in a normal den, but a Medicine den.

Slowly and pulling as much strength as I could, I pulled myself to my paws and took a wobbly step forward, hissing quietly as my right paw touched the floor. Quickly I glanced down to see the wound was covered in cobwebs and some sort of herbs, before an irritated hiss sounded from one of the she-cats who was now staring straight at me shaking her head. "What do you think your doing." She said as she stepped towards me and nudged me back towards he nest I'd laid in until I got up.

I narrowed my eyes and winced as my right paw bumped the ground again before I fell sideways into the nest, stifling a gasp as pain shot through my body again before looking up at her, then to her companion who I recognized as the she-cat I'd saved from the Riverclan tom. 'What was her name..' I wondered before the tortoiseshell leaned down and sniffed at my leg, and padded to the far side of the den, leaving me with the other she-cat.

Cautiously I glanced up at her, unsure of her, while she stared down at me before shaking her head slightly. "Why did you help me?" She asked, her fur bristling slightly as she said it. I simply stared back for a moment before struggling to a sitting position and answering. "Do I have to have a reason to help someone?" I asked, tilting my head slightly to the right. She continued to glare at me. "I didn't need any help, especially from a rouge." She growled before turning and marched out of the den, muttering under her breath.

As I stared after her, a small pile of cobwebs landed next to me, and the tortoiseshell sat down next to me and carefully removed the cobwebs before replacing them with the new ones, muttering, "Don't take it personal. Mousefur doesn't like admitting she needs help from anyone." I nodded slowly, casting a glance around the den again. "What happened, how did I get here?" I asked.

"Well, Redtail dragged you in after everyone else returned from the battle at Sunning Rocks." I felt my eyes widen in surprise. The tortoiseshell smiled slightly. "He said you'd helped Mousefur during the battle and had followed the patrol when he called the retreat." I nodded slightly and winced. Her paw rubbed against the sore wound, and she tilted her head slightly and looked closer at it. "The skin has healed. That doesn't make any sense," she said in a slightly surprised tone.

I glanced up at her again. "What do you mean, isn't that a good thing?" I asked while she shook her head. "This wound is only a few hours old, but it looks like its almost healed entirely, it shouldn't be possible." She said before picking up the cobwebs and placing them off to the side. "Well, that's about all I can do, how are you feeling?" She asked. I slowly raised my right paw and drew my tongue over the nearly healed wound before lowering it again and looking at her.

"Well, I feel pretty good, all things considered. What about you, eh.." I asked. I stuttered for a moment before she giggled quietly and smiled again. "Spottedleaf, my name's Spottedleaf", she said before standing up and padding to a nest on the other side of the den and curling up in it, laying her head on the side of the soft mossy bed with her eyes on me. 'Uh.. gotta think of a name so I don't look like an idiot' I thought before glancing at the entrance of the den for a moment. "My names Oak." I said, glancing back at her.

"Hm.. So, why did you attack Loudbelly, or even get involved in the fight at all?" She asked, tilting her head slightly. Her amber eyes sparkled with curiosity. "Eh.. Its hard to explain, I never actually meant to get involved, but when Mousefur went down, I just couldn't sit there and watch. If I hadn't attacked when I did, that tom would have torn her throat out." I said, glancing slightly at the ground as I said it. She simply watched me for a moment, before I slowly pulled myself to my paws again, hissing as my leg touched the ground again but continued to put weight on it.

As I stumbled out of the nest Spottedleaf quickly appeared at my side, worry in her eyes. "You need to rest, you're still weak from the battle", she said as I shook my head. "I need to speak to Redtail," I muttered before looking over at her. "Please, I want to thank him for helping me." I said before she shook her head and padded over to my right side and leaned against me. "Alright, I can tell your about as stubborn as Mousefur." she said before laughing lightly and helping me to the entrance of the den and out into the camp.

As I gazed around the quiet camp, I felt the cool night air sweep across my muzzle. Spottedleaf guided me to a small bush and called quietly inside, and after a few moments a small dark tortoiseshell stepped out from under the bush and slowly approached me a slight grin across his muzzle. "So, what's so important that you had to wake me up?" he asked with a tinge of amusement, though his exhaustion from the battle showed in the many small cuts on his pelt. I dipped my head respectfully to him. "I wanted to thank you for helping me." I said as he shook his head. "No, it should be me thanking you, you saved Mousefur. I just returned the favor." He said, turning back to the bush and crawling back inside.

After a few moments, Spottedleaf slowly guided me back to the medicine den and helped me into my nest while she went over to hers and curled up, leaving me to think. 'Where was he, he should have been there but he wasn't.. Where could he be?' I thought to myself before laying my head on my paws, and sending a small prayer to Starclan. 'Please, protect him if you can, wherever he is.' And slowly let myself fall asleep.


Over the next few days Spottedleaf had me do a series of exercises to help keep my leg from getting stiff as it healed, and by the fourth day it had stopped hurting aside from the occasional little twinge of pain, but for the most part I was fine, so she allowed me to leave the den.

As I stepped into the main camp I felt several pairs of eyes immediately lock onto me. I glanced around the clearing, one of them, a pale silver tabby, started muttering to his companion who turned and muttered something back with an irritated look before getting up and padding across the clearing to me. "So your finally walking around?" she asked, and I nodded slightly. "Spottedleaf just let me out, so.. What was that about?" I asked as she tilted her head and I twitched my tail in the tabby's direction.

"Oh, Longtail. Ignore him, he's convinced your just here to cause problems." She muttered before looking back at him. "So, you hungry?" she asked, as she started towards a small pile off to one side of the camp, while I followed her. As we reached the pile she lowered her head and plucked a small vole off the top, while I grabbed a squirrel from the bottom as she led me back over to where Longtail was sitting.

As she laid down next to him and started eating her vole, Longtail watched me with disgust before turning to Mousefur and muttering something in her ear, to which she glared at him and shook her head while I took a bite out of the squirrel, savoring the musky taste before casting a glance at him. "So.." I started, not sure what to say as Longtail looking back at me. "So what, rouge." He spat, adding particular venom to the word. I glanced down at my squirrel as Mousefur glared at him.

Before she could say anything, the sound of several pawsteps near the entrance drew her attention. A large snowy white cat, a large golden cat, and a small flame colored cat came through the entrance, and without even looking at the collar on the small one, I knew who he was and frowned as a pale silver she-cat called everyone together. I quickly glanced back at Mousefur. "Hey, I need to go check on someone, mind telling Spottedleaf I'll be back?" I asked as she looked back at me.

"Uh, alright." She muttered before following after Longtail, while I turned and quickly padded through the thorn tunnel and out of the gorge, making my way towards Sunning Rocks..