Chapter Ten

Moonlight illuminated the forest, coating the leaves in a distinct silvery glow.

Mapleshade sat at the edge of ThunderClan's camp, giving herself one final touch-up before the Gathering. She hadn't attended one since she was an apprentice when Birchface had invited her.

Mapleshade frowned. That was so long ago.

She cast a glance at Birchface, who sat opposite to her across the clearing. He didn't notice her stare. He was too busy talking to Graytuft. Not that Mapleshade minded. She didn't care if she never spoke to Birchface again, not after what he had done to her that day with Appledusk.

It had been a moon since that day, and Mapleshade still wasn't over it. Not only had he embarrassed her in front of their Clanmates, but to grab her by the scruff like a kit? And to make matters worse, he hadn't even bothered to apologize to her.

Mapleshade looked away from Birchface, feeling herself growing hot with anger. She gave her chest furs a couple of licks, hoping that would calm her down.

Oakstar appeared from the mouth of his den, limping forward. For a moment, Mapleshade found herself back on the night of the battle, when Oakstar had been injured. Although his injuries had healed, the ThunderClan leader now walked with a permanent limp.

"It's time," Oakstar called.

Mapleshade got to her paws and followed Oakstar towards the gorse tunnel. She nodded her head at Cherrypetal, Deerdapple, and Embershine as she passed. The three she-cats were laying outside of the nursery, finishing up their last meal for the night.

Cherrypetal was the first to finish. She stood to her paws and began to stretch. Her pregnant belly swayed slightly, a reminder of the kittens that would soon be born.

It had been a long time since kittens had been born in ThunderClan. Mapleshade and Dawnfeather had been the last kits to be born into the Clan, and that was well over a year ago. So it was refreshing to know that three litters of kits would be brought into the world soon, bringing new life into the Clan.

Mapleshade then frowned. She felt bad for the kittens, in a way. They would be born into a dangerous environment, with a multitude of expectations placed onto their shoulders the moment they are born. They would be trained to defend ThunderClan even at the cost of their own lives. And some of them would die doing exactly that.

Images of Dovesong's dead body flashed through Mapleshade's mind. She could still envision that day clearly in her mind, as though it was just yesterday. Dovesong had been a kit once, too, Mapleshade realized. She began to imagine Dovesong as a kit, playing in the nursery, innocent to the fate that would await her one day. Did her parents, whoever they may be, worry about her growing up?

"What's the point in becoming a warrior, if you can't even defend your Clan properly? How many cats have died throughout the Clans history, only for nothing to change? Their Clan mourns for them for a time, before going right back to fighting over prey and territory until the next unlucky soul shares the same fate. It's an endless cycle."

Birchface's words from so long ago came echoing back to haunt Mapleshade. She had scoffed at those words back then, thinking Birchface was exaggerating. But now, Mapleshade had to admit there was truth to those words. It was an endless cycle, one that didn't seem to have much payoff.

That wasn't to say Mapleshade didn't take pride in being a warrior, or that she hated her life in ThunderClan. Far from it. ThunderClan was her home, and she couldn't imagine living elsewhere. I just wish things were a little different, she thought with a sigh.

She glanced at Goldenmist, who was climbing the ravine alongside Mapleshade. It had been several moons since the fox attack, and Goldenmist was finally well enough to attend the Gathering.

Mapleshade then eyed the bald spots on Goldenmist's neck, where the fur had yet to return. Scars from the fox's teeth littered her skin, a permanent reminder of that day. As Mapleshade stared, she found herself wrapped up in the memory of that day all over again.

She could see the fox standing there, Goldenmist's neck in its jaws. Blood was gushing from Goldenmist's neck, running down her chest and legs, onto the snowy ground. Goldenmist's screams echoed in Mapleshade's memory, as she imagined more and more blood falling to the ground. She had never noticed how much there had truly been, until now. Mapleshade wondered how she hadn't been sick. Goldenmist was lucky to be alive. They both were. It was only due to the will of StarClan both of them had made it out alive.

"You're staring," Goldenmist's voice interrupted Mapleshade's thoughts.

"Sorry." Mapleshade looked away, embarrassed.

Goldenmist gave her a look. She picked up her pace so that she could walk with Birchface, leaving Mapleshade behind.

By the time ThunderClan reached Fourtrees, the rest of the Clans had already arrived. Cats from WindClan and ShadowClan mingled, while RiverClan's warriors stuck to themselves. They stood at the far edge of the clearing, giving disgusted looks at those who walked past.

Mapleshade rolled her eyes. She didn't understand why RiverClan even bothered to attend the Gathering if they were going to act the way they were. Besides, what had WindClan and ShadowClan done to deserve such behavior? They hadn't been involved in anything.

Clearly, Darkstar doesn't know to take responsibility for her actions, Mapleshade thought snidely.

Mapleshade gave the RiverClan cats one final look, before deciding to look for Dawnfeather. Pushing her way through the crowd, Mapleshade scanned the clearing for a sign of her sister's familiar pale orange-and-white pelt.

Finally, she spotted her sister sitting with Thrushtalon. They were laughing about something Mapleshade couldn't hear. Thrushtalon then leaned over, and whispered something into Dawnfeather's ear, causing her to laugh harder.

As Mapleshade watched, a pang of sadness washed over her. She knew she was being ridiculous. Her sister was allowed to have a life and friends outside of her. But for some reason, Mapleshade couldn't help but feel upset as she watched her sister together with Thrushtalon.

Mapleshade then spotted Birchface and Goldenmist, sitting with a group of ShadowClan cats. They, too, were laughing about something. Nightshade, a beautiful black she-cat, said something to Birchface and then prodded him with her paw. Mapleshade cringed, fully expecting Birchface to recoil from her touch, or to even grow angry with her. But to Mapleshade's surprise, he let out an amused meow.

Mapleshade stared. What had just happened? Birchface would never act like that with her. Why did it feel as though every cat important to her, was slipping out of her grasp?

"You know, it's rude to eavesdrop."

Mapleshade spun around, the fur on the back of her neck standing up. Appledusk stood before her, his brown pelt groomed to perfection. It gleamed in the moonlight, giving him an ethereal look. "Why do I always seem to run into you everywhere I go?" she growled. "And I wasn't eavesdropping. I was looking for my sister."

"Really? Because you've been standing there staring at Birchface for the last few minutes."

Mapleshade narrowed her eyes. She wasn't in the mood for this. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to say hi," Appledusk replied smoothly.

"Why?"

"Well, tonight is the Gathering. And I know you don't attend many of these so perhaps you've forgotten, but this is the one night that cats from different Clans are allowed to talk to one another," Appledusk said.

Mapleshade dug her claws into the ground. "Maybe you should explain that to the rest of your Clanmates since they're the ones standing in the corner by themselves."

Appledusk's cool demeanor immediately crumbled. He looked over his shoulder to where his Clanmates stood. They still hadn't bothered to move since Mapleshade had arrived. "It's a long story. Ignore them."

"Why aren't you with them?" Mapleshade asked. She followed his gaze, and for a moment she wondered what RiverClan thought of Appledusk's behavior. Something was going on in RiverClan to make them shun the rest of the Clans. So why wasn't Appledusk following along?

"How are you?" Appledusk asked, ignoring Mapleshade.

"Answer my question."

"Answer mine," Appledusk said.

"I will if you tell me what's going on," Mapleshade retorted.

Appledusk looked over his shoulder again. His gaze locked on Reedshine, who was giving him a very unpleasant look. He then turned to look back at Mapleshade. "There's just a lot of things going on in RiverClan at the moment. I… I can't elaborate on it more than that. I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you, but it's better if you don't know."

Mapleshade frowned. She could tell Appledusk was being earnest. In a way, she felt bad for him.

Suddenly, Appledusk was shoved to the ground.

Mapleshade jumped, before her eyes locked onto Birchface. He stood over Appledusk, eyes blazing. "Why did you do that?" she snapped.

"Go back to the rest of your flea-bitten Clanmates," Birchface snarled, ignoring Mapleshade. He continued to stand over Appledusk, the fur along his spine bristling.

Mapleshade pushed Birchface away from Appledusk. She looked up at him, lost for words. Was he going to cause a scene here, in front of everyone? By now, a large crowd had gathered around the three of them. Mapleshade could feel their stares burning into her pelt, causing her to grow more uncomfortable than she already was.

"What are you doing?" Birchface hissed at her.

"I could ask you the same! Why did you push him?" Mapleshade shouted.

"You don't need to be hanging around with him," Birchface said. He tried to look Mapleshade in the eye as he spoke, but he looked away.

Mapleshade took a deep breath. She could feel the skin under her fur growing hot with anger. Who did Birchface think he was, telling her who she was allowed to speak to? "How dare you," she snapped. "I can talk to whoever I want."

"How dare I? I'm trying to protect you," Birchface growled. "He's a RiverClan cat. You know what they did to us! What they did to my parents..." He trailed off, his voice quivering. For a split second, Mapleshade felt sympathetic towards him. She grieved Dovesong's death. All of ThunderClan did. But that was no excuse for the way Birchface had been the last few moons.

"That's not an excuse to treat everyone around you like dung," Mapleshade replied.

"You don't know what it's like to lose a family member. You would react the same way," Birchface said.

Just like that, the little bit of sympathy Mapleshade felt towards Birchface evaporated like morning dew. "You don't know anything about me. You don't even talk to me unless it's to berate me in front of everyone." She raised her paw, ready to strike him across the face.

Goldenmist stepped in between Birchface and Mapleshade. "Birchface, go sit down," she urged. Her voice was shaking, and Mapleshade could tell she was growing nervous at the amount of attention this situation had attracted.

Mapleshade finally tore her gaze away from Birchface. She looked around for Appledusk, but he was nowhere to be found. She finally spotted him standing amongst his Clanmates. They still hadn't moved from their original spot at the edge of the clearing, but they were aware of what had just happened.

Reedshine stared across the clearing at Mapleshade, her eyes narrowed. Beside her, an unfamiliar tortoiseshell she-cat hissed. The sight of this caused Mapleshade to become even angrier than she already was.

I can't do this anymore, Mapleshade thought. She pushed her way through the crowd, ignoring Birchface's sudden cries as he begged for her to stay. As she walked, Mapleshade wondered whether or not Birchface would follow her, but he never did.

Thank you to everyone for reading/reviewing/favoriting and following. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

In reply to whales0ng: RiverClan is having quite the dilemma at the moment, aren't they? Unfortunately, there are things brewing in their Clan that we will see later on in the story. Perhaps one day I will write a spin-off told from Appledusk's point of view, although I don't know if I would ever have time to get around to that. Thanks for reading, and I'm glad you're enjoying things!

In reply to Beetlefur: I'm glad you're enjoying things! Birchface and Mapleshade have a lot going on, and there are still many good and bad moments for them to go through. It would certainly be interesting if things were different between them.