Chapter Six

Ravandawn turned over and yawned. It felt as though she'd slept for hours. Than she looked up. Otterstar sat in front of her quietly. She sat abruptly "H-how long were you watching me?" she asked. Otterstar chuckled "Not for long, I just came this morning." "Morning?" asked Ravandawn "You slept the night in the medicine den." said Otterstar "Those wounds must have been deep. But you must be hungry, here I brought you a mouse."

Ravandawn suddenly realized how hungry she was. She tore into the mouse hungry and devoured it in a couple of bites. "So I hear that you ran into the rouge." said the brown tom "Bearheart told me that he chased him off, but you fought him for awhile." "Oh yeah." said Ravandawn "He made fun of clan cats, and territory, and then we fought." "I see." said Otterstar "Most unusual. Did he stay, or do anything else?"

Ravandawn thought for a moment, before her head sprang up "Yes!" she said "He told me that his den was outside of our territory." Otterstar nodded "Good, but what's to stop him from coming back?" Ravandawn went on "He said that he just came here for the squirrels, so we know that he's not desperate for prey, and after Bearheart hurt him badly I don't think he'll want to risk a fight here."

"Good." said Otterstar, with a hint of pride in his voice "That's one less thing to worry about. You did well Ravandawn." Her pelt grew hot, and she looked at her feet.

"Just doing my job." she said

Otterstar turned to leave, but then stopped "Oh, by the way, Flintfleck says that you can leave the medicine den now." than trotted out.

Ravandawn heard his footsteps fade away, before standing up. She exited the den and blinked at the bright morning sun.

It seemed as though the leaf-fall breeze had gotten colder, and the ground had more leaves than the trees. Leaf-bare would be there soon, so PineClan was in full preparation. Flintfleck was bringing drying out the last of the herbs, and would start storing them soon. A group of warriors, led by Bearheart, were inspecting the dens, and patching an holes with moss. Meanwhile yet another hunting patrol left to find whatever prey they could. Leaf-bare was a serious thing to PineClan, and it seemed the snows piled higher every season.

As Ravandawn took all this in, she scanned the camp for a familiar blue coat. Finally she spotted her by the fresh-kill pile, alone for once.

She slunk up behind the she-cat, careful to stay quiet "Hey." she whispered. Brookdream leap a mouse-tail of the ground, and whipped to face her "Gahh!" she hissed, before her fear turned to anger "How many times to I have to tell you? Don't do that! I hate surprises, you've known since we were kits!"

"Than stop making such funny faces." giggled Ravandawn "And maybe I'll stop."
Brookdream smoothed down her neck fur, and looked at Ravandawn "Oh, okay shock wearing off. So anyway, where were you last night? I looked all over."

"Oh, uh in the medicine den." said Ravandawn. Brookdream looked intrigued "Oo, for what?" she asked "I, um fought with the rogue." She stammered

"Really!" said Brookdream "What did he look like? Was he handsome? Did you talk at all? Did he tell you anything?"

"Whoa, to many questions." said Ravandawn "Tell you what, let's go hunting, and I'll tell you everything." "Sounds good to me!" said Brookdream. Ravandawn led her sister towards the camp briefly making eye contact with the guard. Soon the camp was out of sight.

"So where do you want to go? To the squirrel clearing." suggested Brookdream "Umm, how about the pond instead?" said Ravandawn, unwilling to go to the same place she'd spotted the rouge, just in case he did come back. "Whatever you say." said Brookdream "Frostclaw told me that water-vole is his favorite."

"How are things with Frostclaw and you anyway?" questioned Ravandawn. A dreamy look entered Brook Dream's eyes "Well he's a good hunter, and kind, and not to bad looking." she smiled "Of course he does have these little quirks. He's horrible and climbing, and his fur is often pretty messy. But those are the things that I like the most. I guess that love is a funny thing." The looked into the distance before snapping her gaze back to Ravandawn "Hey! We're not here to talk about Frostclaw, we came here to hear about this rouge." she said "And to get some prey." remained Ravandawn "Fine that to." huffed Brookdream "But not more stalling, tell me everything."

"Okay." said Ravandawn "He was dark grey, and had green eyes and was about as large as Otterstar." "Was he handsome?" giggled Brookdream "I guess." saide Ravandawn, her pelt hot "I mean for a rouge. Oh, and his name was Astuto."

"How mysterious." said Brookdream "How did you end up fighting?" "I'll tell you after I land this vole." Ravandawn said, seeing the animal nibbling on a tree root. She careful pounced, and killed it with a quick bite. "Now where was I?" she said "Oh, yes. Me and Bearheart went hunting, and we saw him with some stolen prey. We chased after him, and meant to cut him off, but he ran took an unexpected turn, and I was the one who could fit through the thicket so I chased after him." She sighed. "It was all so sudden, Brookdream, I mean I thought that Bearheart would be the one to catch up with him, I probably should have waited for him. But it all happened so fast." "So how did you catch him, the first time you said that he was to quick?" asked Brookdream "I got lucky." responded Ravandawn "I was chasing him, but then he ran into a steep hill and I cornered him. And then things got… strange…" Brookdream turned her head to the side "How so?" she asked "He um… well started making fun of clan cats and laughing his head off." Brookdream's eye widened for a second, then she began to chuckle "Are you serious? Oh, StarClan this is to funny. What did he make fun of specifically?" Ravandawn's pelt grew hot "He jeered at how we have borders, and he said that we are too serious all the time." Brookdream finished off her laughter, and turned to Ravendawn "That sound interesting, but we're going to have to hunt now, or Otterstar will have our pelts!" "Right." said Ravandawn. Than the pair set off to track down some prey, as they walked Ravandawn couldn't help at how Brookdream made the encounter seem so light-heart. Truly she, and her sister where a great team