Soon I was padding alongside Seastorm, Icetail, and Redheart, sniffing through the forest. Redheart stalked off in one direction at one point, but he only came back with a mouse in his mouth, which he buried for later. We walked the RiverClan border back and forth, searching for signs.
Suddenly out of the bushes stepped a RiverClan warrior, who I recognized as the competitive tom named Cloudfoot, a black tom with big, white paws.
"What are you doing here?" he growled.
Another warrior, a pretty she-cat whose name I did not know but had seen at Gatherings, stepped out behind him, an apprentice at her side. Icetail stepped forward indignantly.
"We are on our territory. Why aren't you on yours? Shouldn't we be attacking you?"
"Icetail," Redheart warned.
The she-cat hissed, "It has been long since we have had alliances with ThunderClan, yet you are still in our debt since we gave you shelter. Surely you can let this pass?" Seastorm growled.
"To be sure, on a regular occasion. But we are going to be suspicious about this. My apprentice has gone missing, and we are looking for her. Then you turn up on our territory. How can we be certain you are not keeping her?"
"She's probably out hunting," Cloudfoot scoffed. "Is what I have heard true? That you need five cats out hunting at all times just to keep your clan from starving?" Redheart intervened Icetail's lunge at Cloudfoot.
"What you heard is not true, but we are getting off topic. Though I doubt I can trust your word—"
Both Cloudfoot and the she-cat growled, and the apprentice unsheathed his claws, but my old mentor continued:
"We will let you go. But escorted," he added, padding toward RiverClan territory.
The bush rustled. I saw Icetail draw her head up sharply. But a mouse scurried out at the last second, and Icetail caught it. I thought I smelled ThunderClan, and became suspicious.
But of course, a little voice in my brain told me. You're only surrounded by ThunderClan.
We all padded off toward RiverClan territory, stopping at the border. The three RiverClan cats hissed at us again, but stepped up to the riverbank and began swimming across. Only when they had disappeared into the brush on the other side did Redheart turn.
"Back to searching," grumbled Icetail, but she followed willingly. We had only gone a short way when we heard yowling—from over the RiverClan border.
"Probably just Tidestar angry at the other cats," Seastorm offered, but she sounded worried.
It wasn't an angry yowl—someone was calling for help.
Redheart cocked his ear. "Did you hear that?" I nodded. Icetail paced.
"Well, we can't do much about it now." Seastorm glared at her.
"What if it's Birchpaw?" Redheart shook his head.
"No, Icetail's right. If we have to fight for her, we aren't strong enough, and there aren't enough of us. Let's head back to camp. I'll mention it to Daystar and see if there's anything we can do. For now, let's just wait it out."
Back at camp, my mother was in Dawnflower's den, preparing to move into the queen's den. Icetail slipped off to the fresh-kill pile, Redheart trotted off to check on the elders, and Seastorm padded toward the warrior's den to see her mother, who had moved back in recently.
Smokepaw came bounding up. "Did you find Birchpaw?" she asked. I shook my head. Smokepaw rolled over, as if trying to get rid of a tick that she couldn't reach.
"I hope you find her. Elmpaw said that she'd never be found! But I didn't believe him, because Elmpaw was the one who told the scariest stories in the nursery," she reasoned.
"Seastorm's really worried," I said, padding off toward the sand pit where most apprentices practice fighting techniques. Smokepaw trudged along, uncharacteristically quiet and calm.
"So is Fernpaw. She moped all morning. Rockfur couldn't get her to come out of the den. I had to bring her food."
I was silent. Birchpaw had been Fernpaw's best friend. I could understand her grief, but the best thing to do was shake it off and try to forget about it. We would keep looking. I noticed Smokepaw looking at me and tried to look cheerful.
"C'mon. We've got to practice the leap-and-hold some more." I positioned myself in a crouch. Smokepaw copied my movement, facing me.
"All right, let's see what you can do."
I had pretty high expectations since a few days ago, and I pounced, claws unsheathed. Smokepaw sidestepped neatly, leaping to land on my back. I tried to shake her off, but she dug in her claws and hung on. I tried to roll over, and she leapt off for a moment, but she landed ready. When I got up again, she just pounced again, digging in with her back claws and scraping my back with her front paws.
I yowled in pain, and she immediately jumped off me. I collapsed onto the sand. Smokepaw padded over calmly, sitting next to me until I got up. On a normal day, she would have raced over, asking me if I was okay and if she should get Dawnflower. But today she felt calmer, and quieter. I felt an urge to ask her what was wrong, but if she had something to tell me, she would tell me.
"Great. I think you've mastered the leap-and-hold. Now, try the belly rake."
Smokepaw nodded and crouched. Then she leaped, long and low, twisting and flipping over, raking her claws across air. It would have been a successful belly-rake, but she landed flat on her back, vulnerable to numerous attacks and slightly stunned.
I gave an amused purr. "Well, the first bit was good, the second bit was great, and it ended in failure."
Smokepaw looked at me upside-down. "Was I that bad?"
"No, you just need to push off more at the beginning so that you have enough momentum behind you to twist over to land on your feet at the end. Like this, watch." I demonstrated, making sure to put emphasis on the big push-off at the beginning, twisting, raking, and landing on my feet. Smokepaw nodded, crouched, and tried again. She landed on her feet this time, but fell off them almost immediately.
She spat sand from her mouth and glared at me. "You know, I never thought I'd curse my own paws, but curse you, paws! I just can't get it right." She sighed.
"Keep trying. Session dismissed."