Chapter XVIII

Rosestar woke up the next day confused and tired. It was like she had never slept. "Rosestar, Brindlepaw's awake!" A happy voice called her from outside the den. Following the voice, Rosestar descended down the rocks and found Shadowpaw waiting.

Shadowpaw galloped towards the medicine den, as quick as any cat could be, Rosestar chuckling behind him. When she arrived at the medicine den, she expected to see Brindlepaw, awake but weak, but instead she was already standing up, leaning against the wall of the den.

"Hello, Brindlepaw! How are you?" Rosestar greeted the apprentice in a welcoming tone. "Oh, I'm much better than yesterday. I've broken my paw right here" She flicked her tail at an area on her left hind leg. "but otherwise I'm totally fine!" She meowed enthusiastically.

Rosestar laughed softly at the apprentice's enthusiasm. "I suggest you take a rest, young one." Goldenfern came up behind her and warned sternly. "Well, I'll leave you to it." Rosestar chuckled again, turning tail and heading back to her den.

"Rosestar?" Rosestar looked behind her after her name was called. Swallowpath stood right behind her, her expression businesslike. "We need an extra cat for our morning patrol, would you like to come along?"

"Sure!" Rosestar followed Swallowpath towards the camp entrance and with a small flick of Swallowpath's tail, they were off. As they walked around the DawnClan border, Rosestar spotted a fat squirrel with its back facing them. She crouched down, then stealthily crept across the short distance between it and herself.

Before she managed to catch it, though, a rustling noise came from her right. Rosestar froze; so did the squirrel. The hurried sound of pawsteps running away echoed from her right again.

"Who's there?" Rosestar called curiously, padding over to the small alcove that was on her right and forgetting the squirrel. A golden tail flicked across her vision, then disappeared. "Don't be scared, we won't hurt you." Rosestar poked her head through the fronds, craning her neck as far as it would go.

Tentatively, a small golden head peered out, its paws trembling. "Hello." Rosestar leaped over the bush and into the open space. "Who are you?" She asked, trying to sound friendly. "My name is Christabel, and I'm living here." The golden she-cat replied, stepping out of the corner she had been hiding in. Rosestar looked around the corner she had hid in and inside were four scared and shivering kits, bundled up in leaves.

"Poor kits!" She exclaimed before she could stop herself. Christabel hissed. "Who are you, then?" She stared at Rosestar. "I'm Rosestar, leader of DuskClan." Rosestar explained quickly to Christabel what a Clan was. Afterwards, the golden cat nodded. "Your Clan sounds great. I hate to ask this, but may I join?" She asked shyly.

"Of course!" Rosestar seemed surprised. "We'll get you and your kittens back to the camp immediately, before they catch a cold." Christabel nodded, seemingly relieved. "Thank you so much!" The loner gushed, hoisting two of the kits on top of her head.

"Mommy!" One squeaked in delight as she bobbed up and down. Rosestar grabbed the other two kits and gently carried them by the scruff and with a nod they started walking back to the camp.

#-#-#

That afternoon, it started raining again. In the midst of the rain, Rosestar leaped onto the Burnt Log. "All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Burnt Log!" She yowled.

"We brought a loner and her kits, in need of help, back to our Clan. I shall now make them a part of our Clan." The leader continued, turning to the golden cat and her kits. "Christabel, from now on you shall be known as Dawnbreeze. We hope you will make an excellent addition to DuskClan and serve us well."

"Thank you." Dawnbreeze dipped her head and went back to her position, ignoring the curious stares from the cats below. She wrapped her tail around her four kits as Rosestar went on. "Paisley, from now on you shall be known as Sorrelkit. Tulip, from now on you shall be known as Cloudkit. Viper, from now on you shall be known as Adderkit and Chaffinch, from now on you shall be known as Finchkit."

The kits, not yet old enough to understand her, mewled at their mother. "The Clan meeting is over and you are dismissed." Rosestar meowed with a hint of amusement in her voice.

It was still raining in the night, when Dawnbreeze and her kits were settling down in the nursery. Her kits fell asleep easily, but Dawnbreeze herself listened to the rain pattering uneasily and thought, This does not spell anything good.

A/N: Hello! Well… *puts on a creepy voice* The end is nigh for Divided! Yes, there will be a sequel. I'm planning to end it at Chapter 22 or 25 so I'm REALLY rushing it. Hope you don't mind if there's a really long chapter, then a really short one, then a medium length one, then a really long one and a normal length epilogue.

So review! We have 49 reviews and only about 30 until we reach 70! Hopefully this update will bump Divided up to the top of the list ^ı^

Katia signing out!