The dawn sun slowly peeked over the horizon, spilling milky light over the land. Bluestar opened her eyes as she felt her pelt grow warm with sunshine. She silently stood up, not wanting to wake Spottedleaf, and stretched her stiff limbs, yawning. She scoured the camp for any signs that the missing patrol had returned, but there were none. With a sigh, she padded up to the fresh-kill pile. Prey was becoming scarce as the seasons had begun to change. Slowly food was retreating into the undergrowth to stay put during leafbare. Her jaws closed around the scrawniest, oldest mouse she could find. Bluestar figured the queens and elders should be getting the fresher food instead of her.
The blue-grey she-cat lifted her head as white fur emerged from the warriors' den. It was her nephew, Whitestorm. He grabbed a shrew for himself and trotted over to join her.
"You should really eat more, Bluestar," he commented, concern clear in his voice.
"Please, Whitestorm. The rest of the clan needs the food more than I do," Bluestar retorted, flicking her tail in dismissal.
"The clan needs a strong leader if it is to survive. Especially with what's going as of late," he argued, flattening his ears.
"Whitestorm, it's time you stop trying to take care of me. I think it would be a good idea to start looking for a mate," Bluestar suggested. "Do you have someone in mind?"
"Maybe," Whitestorm teased. "You'll know soon enough so I won't bother telling."
"Oh dear, Whitestorm, did you already get her pregnant?" Bluestar replied, covering her face with a paw in mock shame.
"For StarClan's sake, no Bluestar!" Whitestorm growled, blushing furiously.
Bluestar laughed at his flustered behavior. Both she and Whitestorm then lifted their heads as a gloriously maned golden figure emerged from the warriors' den. His fur glimmered in the dawn light, a clear indication he had just groomed. Whitestorm rolled his yellow eyes in annoyance.
"Seriously, Lionheart? Who are you out trying to impress?" Whitestorm remarked with a flick of his tail.
"No one. I just wanted to look nice today," Lionheart responded in his deep rumbling voice, lifting his chin with pride.
Bluestar smiled. "Well I'm sorry to say this Lionheart but all that grooming is going to waste. I want you to lead the dawn patrol today," she informed.
Lionheart's ears dropped for a few seconds, but he tried his best not to look too disappointed.
"Who do you want me to take Bluestar?" he inquired, looking at her expectantly.
"I would like you to take Graypaw with you, as well as Darkstripe, Longtail, and Willowpelt," she quickly decided.
Whitestorm frowned. "We're a little short on warriors, don't you think Bluestar?"
Bluestar nodded solemnly. "The older apprentices can have their assessments today," she suggested, looking to Whitestorm and Lionheart for approval. Both nodded. "I mean, they're a little young to be warriors, but you two have been training them quite well."
"What I'm worried about is the kit situation," a new voice piped in.
Spottedleaf strode up to the group, settling down between Whitestorm and Bluestar.
"There are none in the nursery. Goldenflower's quite far along in her pregnancy but according to my evaluation, she's only expecting one or two in her litter. Even still they'll need to stay in the nursery for another six moons."
Lionheart nodded his head in understanding. "So when these apprentices become warriors we'll have no kits to take their places."
"Well, there's nothing we can do about that, now can we? For now we'll just have to wait. This is a difficult time for ThunderClan but I promise we'll make it through," Bluestar reassured. "Now, how about you get that patrol going Lionheart."
"Yes, of course, Bluestar," Lionheart dipped his head, leaving the group to wake the others up.
Bluestar sighed, using her claws to scrape dirt over the remains of her finished meal. A paw gently nudged her shoulder, grabbing her attention.
"Bluestar, I need to speak to you, privately," Spottedleaf whispered, a hint of urgency in her voice.
Bluestar tilted her head in confusion but nodded. She waved her tail farewell to Whitestorm before leading Spottedleaf into her den.
"What's wrong? Did you have another vision last night?" Bluestar asked, shuffling her paws in apprehension.
"No… But I feel like something's off… Don't you think it's weird that just three cats didn't return from Sunningrocks? All the others did, but just Tigerclaw, Redtail, and Ravenpaw are missing. Something happened, I can feel it," Spottedleaf stammered.
Bluestar opened her mouth to reply but was quickly interrupted as a yowl echoed through the camp. She bolted out of her den, Spottedleaf quietly following.
A scrawny black apprentice was shaking in the middle of camp. Scarlet blood flowed heavily from his shoulder, the liquid red pattering in drops to the ground.
"Redtail is dead!"
Author's Note: Thank you to my small amount of supporters! Your reviews really do motivate me so thanks :) Also I apologize for the short chapters, I am nowhere near an experienced writer, so making content meatier proves to be a little bit of a challenge for me heh