This chapter's pretty short. :( Sorry about that! I wanted to get a chapter out as I haven't updated in a little while. I've been working hard trying to memorize lines for my drama camp and the play was this afternoon. It went okay, but I missed one of my cues which I'm mad about.

QLKwriter: You're really trying to puzzle things out but I don't want to give any spoilers. I feel like it would be better if everyone found out what was going on at the end. :)

ShadowHawk540: I've heard of odyssey of the mind, but I've never done it myself. I think it's a little like Destination Imagination which I did earlier this year? (do you know what that is?) The ant thing sounded really hilarious. :)

BRUH: Hopefully! :)

Leopardstar2002: The Dark Forest would be a good source for all this trouble... it is what happened in the canon books, so it would definitely be plausible.

Willowdream of ForestClan: Yeah, but what if they did that specifically to let the other Clans think they hadn't stolen the food? ;) I'm not saying that's what happened, I am trying to heighten the mystery though.

EradrinSkyleaf: Do you do any acting of your own? I've never been in any plays or anything but I do Destination Imagination (do you know what that is?) and I do some acting with that. I hope your Student Conference goes amazingly well! :D

Shadows Of Weeping Wolves: It's okay! :) Malamutes are so cute! I especially like the puppies... I'm glad I inspired you to keep writing Abandoned! :) I hope that inspiration continues for a long time to come!

Cinderstar's POV

When I fell asleep that night, I didn't expect to dream. But dream I did.

I stood on a translucent cloud of mist and stars, gazing down at the lake. Around me grew several large, thick trees, each stretching up into transparent oblivion. It was night, the black sky stretching overhead, starless. Maybe I couldn't see the stars because tonight I moved amongst them.

The gray figure of Ashthorn appeared, padding toward me out of the darkness. His face broke into a smile. "Cinderstar, my favorite daughter," he purred, pressing his nose against my forehead. "How are you doing?"

I blinked, taken aback. "What are you doing?" I asked, taking a few steps backward.

Ashthorn's eyebrows drew together. "What, am I not allowed to visit my daughter in her dreams?" he asked.

"No, no, it's just… well…" I hesitated. "It's so random. Like, why now? Why not yesterday or tomorrow or something? What's so special about tonight?"

Ashthorn's eyes widened. "Nothing at all," he assured me. "I just thought maybe I could spend some time with my daughter, is all."

I glared suspiciously at him. He sighed. "Did I not help you in the final battle against Nightstar?"

I paused. What did he want from me? But he quite obviously was waiting for an answer, so I gave a tense, quick nod.

Ashthorn looked away. "You still don't trust me," he murmured sadly. "Sootstar's really convinced you I'm evil, hasn't he? But, Cinderstar, you have to understand, I saw him following the same path I went down. He… he would have become like me. He would have put duty above his mate, his kits. His kits would have gone through much what I put you through when you first came to the lake. The whole Are You Worthy To Be My Kits thing."

I didn't reply. I didn't even know what to think, much less say.

"You began trusting me again when I helped you," Ashthorn meowed. "Let me help you again."

"We don't need any help," I snapped, turning on him with narrowed eyes. "We're at peace! We're surviving!"

"Are you really?" Ashthorn asked quietly. He glanced around, then leaned closer, so close I could feel his warm breath on my ear fur. "There's a group of cats stealing your Clan's prey—all the Clans' prey. Watch out for them." He nodded once and faded. I blinked and the misted forest vanished.

I sat up quickly in my den, breathing hard like I'd just had a nightmare. For a moment, I gazed wildly around, looking for Ashthorn. What had he meant, a group of cats? Stealing our prey? Stealing all the prey?

"Cinderstar?" Sparrowtalon poked his head into the den. "It's almost time for the dawn patrol."

"W-what?" I stammered.

"The dawn patrol?" Sparrowtalon prompted. "You said yesterday you'd like to lead it. Get to know the boundaries a little better, you know."

I shook my head. "I need to see Stormtuft."

Sparrowtalon looked confused. "What?"

"Stormtuft," I insisted. "I need to see him. Now."

Worry flashed in Sparrowtalon's eyes. "Are you sick?"

"No, no," I meowed, sitting up and twitching my fur to get rid of the larger clumps of moss. "No, I'm fine. I had a dream from StarClan last night. I need to talk to him about it."

Sparrowtalon dipped his head. "Very well." He hesitated, then added, "Would you mind if I came along? Or is this a matter that stays between the two of you?"

"No, you can come. In fact, it would probably be best that you do." I hurried out of the den, glancing around for the medicine cat. "Where is he?" I muttered.

"I believe he's in the nursery checking up on Brightkit," Sparrowtalon said, coming up beside me. "How about I find a new cat to lead the patrol and you get Stormtuft? We can meet in the medicine den."

" 'Kay," I meowed, bounding across the snowy clearing. Thank StarClan it hadn't snowed overnight, and the snow was packed into the ground, easy to cross. I reached the nursery, sticking my head in and glancing around inside.

Stormtuft sat beside Dewcloud's nest, watching Brightkit as she tumbled around from nest to deserted nest. I felt a pang when I realized just how small the Clan was getting. We don't have any kits other than Brightkit, and she's technically RiverClan. We really need more kits if we're going to grow anytime soon.

I pushed my way into the den, making sure I didn't put my paws in Brightkit's path. Nonetheless, she paused her play to stare up at me, awed that the Clan leader had just walked into the nursery.

"Stormtuft," I meowed, gazing across the den at him. "I need to speak with you."

Stormtuft stared hard at me for a heartbeat before nodding and standing up. "Brightkit looks to be in perfect health, Dewcloud," he meowed, flashing a quick smile. "I'm sure that cough was just a leaf caught in her throat or something."

Dewcloud dipped her head. "I'll call for you if anything else comes up."

Stormtuft followed me out of the nursery. "What's this about, Cinderstar?" he asked keenly. "Foxtooth is doing well, you know that. You've been in to see him at least once per day, if not more."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I know that. It isn't about Foxtooth. I… I had a dream last night."

Stormtuft looked at me with thrice the intensity of before. "Explain," he ordered.

"Ashthorn came to visit me. My fath—"

"I know he's your father. I'm not that forgetful."

"Right." I gave my paw a quick, embarrassed lick. "Um, well, he visited me in my dream last night. He said something really strange. He said that there was a group of cats stealing the Clans' prey."

Stormtuft blinked in shock. "What?"

I grimaced. "He didn't give me any specifics though."

"No, they never do," Stormtuft muttered distractedly. He began to pace back and forth, back and forth, treading a path through the already pounded-down snow. "We need to do something. Find out more." He looked up at me. "You need to send out a patrol to the far reaches of our new territory."

I hesitated. He wasn't a leader or a deputy, or even a warrior. Was he eligible to send out patrols?

As if reading my mind, Stormtuft meowed exasperatedly, "You can send out patrols. I'm giving you my advice. It's what medicine cats are meant to do."

I nodded hastily. "Yes, of course." Inwardly I cursed myself. Why couldn't I get the hang of this leader thing? It'd been moons and it seemed I still thought leadership was a solitary occupation.

Turning, I headed out of the den, pausing in a patch of weak morning sunlight to survey the camp. "Frozenwhisker!" I called. "Mistheart! Come with me on a border patrol."

The two warriors bounded over almost immediately, Frozenwhisker only pausing to give Brightkit a quick lick over her ear. I led them out of the camp and down the slope beyond, heading straight for the border. I'd decided to start with the ThunderClan border and head up into our more unfamiliar territory from there.

As we drew nearer to the border, I heard several cracks like snapping branches. Lifting my tail in a Halt signal, I crept forward on my own, surveying the territory. Could the thieving group be hiding out on ThunderClan territory?

I heard a muffled pawstep behind me. Realizing with a jolt I might need backup, I turned quickly to beckon Mistheart and Frozenwhisker forward. They're here for a reason, I reminded myself in annoyance.

A tail swept briefly into view. I stalked it, pressing my chest close to the ground, using my gray fur to hide in the shadows of trees and bushes. I scanned for more cats, eyes narrowed so as not to be seen.

A soft poke on the tail almost made me jump high enough to grab a tree branch. Turning my head quickly, I glared at Frozenwhisker. "What?" I hissed, barely loud enough to be heard.

The gray and white tom nodded ahead. "The border's right in front of you," he muttered. "I think we're stalking a ThunderClan patrol."

I sniffed the air suspiciously. Yes, it did seem like these cats had no foreign scent. Relaxing, I stood and meowed, "Hello."

The ThunderClan cats spun around, eyes wide. When they recognized me, they relaxed. I even saw one of the warriors sink into a sitting position. How uptight had they been?

"Good morning, Cinderstar," Rustpelt, the patrol leader I assumed, meowed politely, dipping his head respectfully. "How is the prey running in ShadowClan?"

"Okay," I replied, glancing over the cats. They all looked rather bone-thin. I wondered if what Ashthorn had said was true. Leafbare couldn't be this hard on the Clans, otherwise they'd have moved away from the lake a long time ago. "How about you?"

Rustpelt grimaced. Glancing around at his patrol, he leaned closer and said, "We have something to tell you. I'm sure Sootstar wouldn't mind us sharing this news with you." He took a deep breath. I wondered halfheartedly if he'd only done that to build up suspense for me. "We found something terrible on our territory yesterday."

"What?" I asked, doing my best to keep my impatience out of my voice. Spit it out, I wanted to growl. But that wasn't a leaderly thing to do, so I held my tongue and waited.

"It was a giant pile of fresh-kill."

My eyes grew huge. "What?" I swallowed against the rising tide of saliva in my mouth. "But why would that be terrible?"

"It was all crowfood."

I clenched my teeth in horror. "What?" I exclaimed yet again.

"I know," Rustpelt grimaced. "We don't know who did it. The pile stank too much to discern any scents other than rotting prey."

I turned to my own warriors. Mistheart looked faintly queasy. Frozenwhisker looked like he wanted to kill something. "We have to get back to camp," I meowed briefly. "Let the Clan know what has happened."

"But what about—" Mistheart began, but I cut her off.

"This patrol was to find something odd around our territory. Well, this might not be around our territory, but it certainly is odd." At her continued look of worry, I added, "We can go out again later to remark the borders."

Mistheart nodded tensely and started back along the path to camp. Frozenwhisker shuffled backward to give me room to pass and I nodded in thanks to him, bounding past Mistheart to lead the way.

It seemed Ashthorn might just be right. Maybe it was time to start trusting him again?

o_o Maybe...

AOTD: I like acting, not as much playwriting, and I hate memorizing lines because I'm kind of bad at it... But the camp was still really fun! We did some group improvisation, which was fun! ^^

QOTD: Do you think Cinderstar should start trusting Ashthorn again?