Frostkit sat in the shade of the thorn bush that covered the nursery. The camp in front of her was covered in a glistening, white blanket of snow that glowed harshly in the morning light of dawn. Even though Frostkit was out of the snow and warm in the shelter of the nursery and her thick pelt, she still shivered. She remembered her trek through the forest, stumbling behind her mother, the aching of her cold paws, and the wind's horrid, icy bite. That thought brought back more memories, images of her brothers and the small, cold, cramped den where they spent the entirety of their short lives. But, those pictures were already fading from Frostkit's mind. She could barely recall Rain's grey pelt and Snow's bright white one. That memory of that walk, though, would be seared into her mind forever.

Frostkit looked over her shoulder and back into the nursery. She saw the sleeping forms of Autumnkit, Pinekit, and Poolkit curled up near the side of their mother, Redclaw, while Amberberry wrapped around the smaller forms of Mosskit and Murmurkit. Amberberry's and Redclaw's flanks brushed as they breathed, nestled together in the same large nest. Frostkit studied the shapes of the cats.

My new family..?

They weren't much of a family to her, though. Redclaw was caring enough and didn't treat Frostkit any differently than the other kits, but her kits often didn't bother to engage with Frostkit at all. Pinekit was the ringleader, and Poolkit followed her lead. Autumnkit was the only tolerable one. He would talk to her without wrinkling his nose up or calling her a rogue at least.

Besides Redclaw though, there were Larkfoot and Amberberry, who were kind to Frostkit too. But, Larkfoot was gone from the nursery now that her kits became apprentices, and Amberberry had her paws full with her two daughters- for just two moon-old kits, it was impressive how much trouble they got into. Well, Mosskit was always the one causing mischief, but Murmurkit followed her everywhere.

Frostkit sighed, turning away from the sleeping cats and looking back out into camp.

She wished her mother was here. She wanted the family she had known, even if it was only for a brief moment of her life. Frostkit shivered again, feeling terribly alone. She stared out into the clearing in front of her.

ShadowClan.

She had been here for almost two moons now, but still the Clan felt foreign to her. The warriors weren't cruel necessarily, but they did stare and whisper sometimes. Frostkit thought it might have to do with the strange coloring of her pelt. May looked like her, but no forest cat seemed to. Every time they saw Frostkit and her white fur and her grey face, they were reminded that she was a stranger.

The tom called Swoopstrike was the harshest on Frostkit. He would snap at her for being underfoot when she would bat around a piece of moss in front of the nursery. Sometimes he muttered about wasting food on rogues when she took a piece of fresh-kill from the pile. And, Frostkit could see him eyeing her sometimes from across the clearing, like he was just waiting for her to do something wrong.

Frostkit heaved in a deep breath. She didn't know why all these cats; Swoopstrike, Pinekit, Poolkit, and others seemed to hate her for just existing.

It's not like I really want to be here anyways... But, I have no where else to go! ShadowClan is the only place for me.

Frostkit glanced back at Redclaw's and Amberberry's sleeping forms again.

It wasn't all terrible here at least. Frostkit liked Redclaw and her firm, but caring demeanor, and she liked sweet and gentle Amberberry as well. They were not May, but they were still good cats.

Weaseltail was growing on her too. He paid attention to her along with his three kits when he came to visit the nursery, and the other day he showed her the hunter's crouch. And, Autumnkit too, she supposed was okay… Maybe she'd become closer to Mosskit and Murmurkit too, although up until this point, Frostkit had been much too shy to try to play with them.

Frostkit's ears pricked as she heard a large patrol entering the camp. It was the cats that went to the Gathering last night, returning home with the rising sun. The cats were talking to each other in hushed, but tension-filled voices, and they gathered in the center of camp to converse. Curiosity prickling through her, Frostkit listened into their conversation.

"Can you believe ThunderClan?" a black tom meowed in an incredulous voice.

Darkpelt, Frostkit thought, remembering his name. She had seen him in the nursery sometimes, before his kits became ShadowClan's newest apprentices, Damppaw and Dewpaw.

"They are just asking to get their pelts ripped off," Swoopstrike growled in agreement to Darkpelt. "What frog-brains. Did you see Fennelstar's eyes gleam when Morningstar admitted how weak ThunderClan is? And Rabbitstar looked so smug. SkyClan and WindClan are going to take all their territory for themselves before they can say 'mouse.'"

"SkyClan and WindClan should leave them alone," Clearstream meowed, her blue eyes wide with worry. "In cold, harsh times like these StarClan doesn't want us to fight. We should be focusing our energy on hunting."

"I've known Robinsong for seasons while she's been deputy," Grovepelt meowed. "She is a reasonable cat, and she will stop Fennelstar from doing anything too rash."

"Rabbitstar on the other paw…" Flymask growled, his grizzled, white muzzle crumpling up in disdain. "Is a uppity young tom that thinks he's StarClan's gift to WindClan. If Morningstar really believed he could get WindClan to stop stealing prey by asking nicely he's got another thing coming."

"Did you see how frail Robinsong looked?" Elmclaw added, his deep voice rumbling. "She's clearly very sick. I'm surprised she even went to the Gathering, and I doubt she has much influence over Fennelstar in the condition she's in."

"Why didn't she stay back in camp?" Leafpaw pipped up in a curious voice.

Frostkit had been thinking the same thing.

"Leaders always take their deputies to Gatherings. I'm sure Fennelstar didn't want to appear weak by leaving her at home," her mentor, Snakeeyes answered, blinking her two-colored eyes down at her apprentice.

"No one wants to appear weak in the middle of leaf-bare," Emberflower agreed.

"Which, again, is why Morningstar is so frog-brained," Swoopstrike said.

"What happens if SkyClan and WindClan take all of ThunderClan's territory and prey, and they get really strong?" Beeclaw asked, a hint of trepidation in his voice.

Frostkit thought he looked small standing next to massive Darkpelt. Beeclaw, along with his brothers Hootflight and Thornheart, were ShadowClan's newest warriors.

"Yeah, what are we going to do, Sedgestar?" Dustleap, a ginger tom, meowed, turning to the leader, who had thus far just been standing in camp in a thoughtful silence.

"Let me call the rest of the Clan," Sedgestar meowed in an even voice, betraying none of his thoughts.

Sedgestar turned and bounded up the big, leaning boulder at the edge of the camp, dislodging puffs of powdery snow in the process.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather beneath Clanrock for a Clan meeting!" Sedgestar yowled, his voice ringing out loud and clear through the camp.

Frostkit turned to look behind her into the nursery, where the queens and kits were stirring. Redclaw raised her head from her nest, blinking her eyes sleepily.

"Was that Sedgestar?" Redclaw asked, turning towards Amberberry.

"I think so," Amberberry replied with a yawn. "Something must have happened at the Gathering."

"Do we get to go see?!" Mosskit meowed, stumbling over Murmurkit in her eagerness to get to her paws.

Her sister let out a soft mew of protest.

"Ow careful!" Murmurkit snarled, swiping a paw at Mosskit.

"You can watch from the nursery entrance if you're quiet," Amberberry scolded them, getting to her paws and brushing out of the thorny entrance of the den.

She greeted Frostkit with a purr as she walked past her, settling in the snow a few tail-lengths outside. Redclaw rose to her feet, and her green gaze flickered over her three sleepily-stirring kits before drifting up to meet Frostkit's.

"Frostkit, how long have you been out there? You're going to catch a chill," Redclaw said, furrowing her brow at her.

Frostkit turned and obediently padded into the nursery and over to Redclaw, her head bowed. Redclaw bent her head and gave Frostkit a brisk, affectionate lick across her forehead. Frostkit rumbled a quick purr in response.

"You four can also watch the meeting from the den entrance," Redclaw meowed as Pinekit, Poolkit, and Autumnkit stumbled to their paws. "But, I better not hear one sound out of you, or it's straight back into the den!"

Redclaw turned and left the den, Poolkit and Pinekit hot on her paws. Pinekit gave Frostkit a disdained sniff as she walked past her. Frostkit gave an annoyed tail twitch at the rude greeting.

"What's happening?" Autumnkit asked Frostkit in a quiet voice as he padded to her side.

Together, they walked towards the entrance of the den and sat down a bit behind Mosskit, Murmurkit, Poolkit and Pinekit.

"ThunderClan's leader Morningstar told everyone that they are really weak during the Gathering," Frostkit said quietly. "Some warriors think that means WindClan and SkyClan may attack ThunderClan."

"What's that got to do with us?" Poolkit chimed in, wrinkling his nose and twisting to look at Frostkit from over his shoulder.

"Shh!" Pinekit hissed. "The meeting's starting!"

Frostkit leaned forward to peer out through the nursery entrance. She could just barely see Sedgestar perched on top of the big, snowy boulder through the intertwined tendrils of thorns.

"I have news from the Gathering," Sedgestar said commandingly, his head and tail held high. "ThunderClan is starving in their own territory. They asked for the other Clans to give them permission to hunt in the other territories."

Meows of protest rose from the gathered cats. Pinekit wrinkled up her nose.

"Letting ThunderClan hunt on our territory!" she hissed in a hushed voice. "No way!"

Redclaw shot a pointed look with narrowed eyes at Pinekit from over her shoulder, and Pinekit snapped her jaws shut.

"Don't worry; I explained that no such thing would happen," Sedgestar continued, silencing the voices with a wave of his tail. "Still, I think we need to be wary of the ThunderClan border. If they get desperate enough, they may start trespassing. And, we need to stay on the look out for SkyClan and WindClan cats coming from their territory too. Both Rabbitstar and Fennelstar seemed eager to exploit ThunderClan's weakness."

"If ThunderClan is too weak to defend their territory, why don't we also make some of their land our hunting grounds? If WindClan and SkyClan take all of their land, then they could become a threat to us, unless we are strong enough to fight back," Fogfur piped up, bushing up his grey fur.

The fur down Sedgestar's spine bristled slightly.

"ShadowClan is strong enough to stand alone. We don't need more territory to face SkyClan or WindClan," Sedgestar meowed in a firm voice. "We have enough fresh-kill in our woods, and so far, no illness has broken out in camp, although this leaf-bare has been long and harsh."

Fogfur bowed his head, relenting, although Frostkit saw some cats glance side to side, looking at each other, and she felt like not everyone agreed with Sedgestar's decision. Sedgestar's eyes flickered over the crowd, not missing the dissent among his cats.

Sedgestar nodded down at Clearstream.

"Clearstream, if you feel the time is right," Sedgestar said, his voice taking on a tone of fond respect that he reserved only for Clearstream, his medicine cat, and Emberflower, his mate. "You can share the words StarClan gave to you."

Clearstream rose to her dainty paws, her long, fluffy grey fur billowing around her like a cloud.

"A half moon ago, when I traveled to Moonstone, I was given a vision," Clearstream meowed.

Frostkit's ears pricked with interest as she listened. Redclaw had told her about StarClan, and Moonstone and how it was the medicine cats' job to communicate with StarClan. She still felt the whole thing was sort of bizarre though. May had never told her anything about StarClan. And, her family wasn't from the Clans, so why should Frostkit care about StarClan? It's not like anyone she knew would be there, watching over her. Frostkit's heart twinged.

May wouldn't be there. …Would she?

"I was walking through a forest covered in snow. I seemed to be alone; I could not hear or scent any other cat," Clearstream spoke. "But then a white owl flew over my head and I heard these words: 'ShadowClan does not need to fear the snow. From the cold, great strength soars.' Then my pelt was warmed, and suddenly our clan-mates were clustered around me, and we were keeping each other warm with the heat of our fur."

Sedgestar nodded approvingly at her words.

"StarClan tells us that we are strong. We have no need to fear this leaf-bare or any Clan," he said in his deep voice.

Frostkit looked around at the other cats. She was surprised to see how relaxed everyone suddenly was. A few heartbeats ago, their fur was prickling and they looked on edge, shooting nervous glances around like they half expected SkyClan or WindClan warriors to burst through the thorn thicket that surrounded the camp at any moment. But, now cats were purring faintly, sharing reassuring nods with eyes that shone with certainty and pride.

"We will still remain vigilant on the ThunderClan border," Sedgestar added. "But, we will successfully face whatever threat may come. This meeting is dismissed."

Sedgestar bounded down from Clanrock, and the rest of the cats rose to their paws, breaking into groups to talk to each other, or heading out of camp on patrols. Frostkit watched them vanish into the shadows as they walked through the thorn tunnel and under the dark trees that loomed overhead, hunched and ladened with frost and snow. She shivered, wondering if they really could face anything they came across there.