Chapter III

That night, Rosestar made her way to the Island alone. She could sense the other leaders as she got near the tree-bridge, the mingled scents reaching her nose. "Brightstar, Goldenstar." Rosestar dipped her head to the two leaders as she alighted the Island. Then she faced the other cats. "Ravenstar, Sleetstar, Stormstar."

"Hello, young Rosestar. Now tell us, why have you called a meeting today?" Goldenstar questioned, her eyes expressing curiosity. "Well," Rosestar started, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt, "Cats from EmberClan, LakeClan and DuskClan have been killed, as some of you may know." The ones that did nodded in grief, while the ones that didn't looked worried and sympathetic. "Two of our cats have also been killed." Sleetstar and Stormstar added, grief clouding their handsome looks.

"I feel that we should do something for our Clans and the families of those cats." Rosestar concluded. Ravenstar nodded slowly, as if running it through his mind. Goldenstar and Brightstar were also nodding in agreement, exchanging looks with each other. "But what can we do?" Brightstar frowned. The slightly older Stormstar nudged his companion. "Sleetstar, do you remember the tales of the Great Journey?"

"Yes, I do." Sleetstar replied, tilting his head to one side in confusion. "The cats in the olden days were trying to find a new place to live, and eventually settled here." Stormstar explained to the younger leaders. "Well, my idea is that we could do something like that - send our cats to find the killer, instead of finding new land." Stormstar suggested, settling back into his corner.

"That is a good idea." Brightstar agreed. "Wait." Rosestar stopped them. "Let's ask our ancestors, before doing this. After all we have promised to keep a connection between us and them." She explained to the faintly annoyed leaders. After saying so, she lay down with her nose to touch the rock in the middle.

The others followed and slowly drifted into a deep sleep, meeting their warrior ancestors in their dreams.

Brightstar followed what Rosestar was doing and touched her nose to the rock she would stand on at the next Gathering. She's right, we have to respect our ancestors by asking for their permission. She silently applauded DuskClan's leader for thinking like so.

Sleep came quicker than she thought and she was placed into a beautiful replica of the forest, except cats were mingling everywhere. "Brightstar." A voice like honey meowed. Brightstar turned around, seeing a silver-and-white she-cat who slightly resembled herself. "Ivypool." She greeted her ancestor, seeing the look of recognition in the StarClan cat's eyes.

Ivypool said nothing else except for a sentence that made the young leader extremely happy.

"I approve of your plan."

Ravenstar blinked as he arrived in StarClan. He still wasn't used to coming here, but he knew he would have to deal with it. "Ravenpaw." He greeted his ancestor, looking into the black tom's eyes.

"Ravenstar." The noble cat meowed, dipping his head. Poor Ravenpaw. Having to escape from his Clan at those times. Ravenstar thought, recalling his memories about his legendary ancestor.

"I am very happy to say that StarClan approves of your plan to send out cats." Ravenpaw meowed in a clear voice.

Goldenstar hesitantly touched the rock. She didn't completely agree with Sleetstar's idea. She thought it was a little overwhelming, sending cats out to find a killer, and they might get killed too in the process! Couldn't they just find a way to keep away the killer?

She reached StarClan with doubts. Lionblaze, her ancestor stood in front of her, his lion-like pelt glowing even more majestically with the presence of stars. "Hello." Goldenstar shyly dipped her head.

"I know you carry doubts about the others' decisions. But you have StarClan's support, and you may go forth with your plan." Lionblaze mewed smoothly, dipping his head. "Thank you." The golden leader dipped her head, too, now completely sure that this was the right thing to do.

The meeting was over. It was done. StarClan had voiced their approval.

A cat from DuskClan was going to find the killer - and no one could stop it. Rosestar leaped back to her camp at dawn, these thoughts running monotonically through her head. Who would it be? Who could she choose?

And suddenly, in the most strangest of all times, a thought popped into the ginger-furred leader's head. I need to give Cinderpaw and her siblings their assessments.

A/N: YAY! Another chapter! Review, favorite and follow my Aqua Dolphins! (dat name for my fans lol) Our review goal is 20… can we break it?

I hope so!

~Aqua (Katia)