[ ♕ ]

The sky was weeping by noon, and there was a flurry of activity in the ValleyClan camp as rain pelted down from the heavy skies. Clouds blossomed over the dull grey of a sky before a storm, and there were puddles strewn over the camp floor.

With a snort of disgust as her delicately marked paw splashed through a puddle, Sablefire paused to shake her it. As droplets flew out in all directions, she gave a soft sigh.

"Keep on raining like this and we'll turn into fish," purred a voice to her side. Acornrustle's bengal pelt was a reflection of his daughter's and his green eyes were bright and warm as he gazed at her. He moved closer, eyes darting towards where she was going. The glow in his remarkably shining eyes dimmed as his eyes landed on the nursery.

Sablefire opened her jaws to respond, dread hollowing her belly so she felt empty inside, but her father had already swept off, lashing his tail and making more droplets shoot into the air.

I hate it when he does that! Sablefire thought furiously as she plowed on across the wet camp. She slid out her claws - which proved to be a bad decision because of the mud clogging them - and stomped on towards the nursery, mutinously shredding any tussocks of grass that had started to grow in the muddy clearing. Cats had retreated into their dens to wait out the storm but she plowed on.

She felt pain clench her chest as she reached the warm nursery. She dipped her head slightly as she padded through the entrance and into the den. As soon as she was inside, she breathed in deeply.

The comforting scent of milk and her mother made Sablefire forget her troubles with Acornrustle. With a small sigh of content, she looked around and found Ashenpoppy farthest away from the entrance, Luckykit and Milkkit's pale pelts sticking out from her smoky grey pelt.

There was also a new nest beside her. It held a curly white she-cat and two other kits. One was a dusty brown and one was black and white. Both she-cats, and both orphans.

Sablefire blinked sympathetically at their sleeping forms. Lambstep's eyes flickered open, and the soft coneflower-blue hue of her eyes was clear and gentle.

"I've come to see Ashenpoppy," Sablefire whispered, glancing down at the two kits.

"Everyone's just waking up," Lambstep mewed quietly as the two kits in her nest stirred. The queen was small and first mistrustful as Acornrustle said when his patrol first found her, but eventually agreed to join because of wanting her kits - she was expecting - to be safe.

Ashenpoppy's sharp grey eyes blinked up at them and a moment later, Luckykit and Milkkit were fluttering open their eyes. "Sablefire!" Ashenpoppy meowed, her expression torn between exasperation and amusement. "You just had to come in when they were sleeping so peacefully! The first break I've had in moons." As her kits bounced out of her nest and bounded over to Sablefire, yowling, she smiled as if she couldn't help it.

"Hi!" Milkkit exclaimed, rushing over and kneading her leg. He was already near her shoulder. Sablefire tilted her head and brushed her nose against his head.

Luckykit shot Milkkit a look of deep loathing and dashed outside. "Come back!" Ashenpoppy called after the pale golden-brown she-kit, but Luckykit didn't reappear at the entrance of the nursery.

"I'll get her," Sablefire meowed to Ashenpoppy. The queen's eyes were wide with worry and sadness.

"She never listens. . . ." Ashenpoppy murmured.

Sablefire padded out of the nursery and peered around the camp. It had stopped raining. Cats were still huddled in their dens, and the ones brave enough to go out were already drenched and similar in appearance to wet rats.

With a pang of worry, Sablefire opened her jaws and scented the air. There was nothing but the scent of rain. She glared at the ground as if daring it to show her a single StarClan-forsaken scent!

As she stared at the camp floor, there was a trail of small paw prints indented in the mud. They matched Luckykit's paw-size . . . and leading towards the camp entrance. Sablefire bounded across the camp clearing, hastily dodging puddles. Everything blurred as she burst out of the camp.

She kept running, following the paw prints Luckykit had made. How could Luckykit be able to outpace her so quickly?!

Sablefire halted and gulped in clean air. She glanced around at the gleaming foliage around her. The trail she was following was sunken and littered with debris, yet Luckykit's prints still lay there.

A sudden high-pitched yowl made Sablefire stiffen, and a moment later, a small figure had thumped against her side. Sablefire whipped around and saw a flash of pale brown fur as Luckykit hooked her claws into her fur.

Sablefire grunted is pain as the needle-sharp claws dug into her flank. A chill swept through her. Luckykit wasn't just playing. . . . She shook the kit off and spun around, pinning her to the ground. "What in StarClan are you thinking?!" Sablefire spat as Luckykit writhed in her grip, hissing and thrashing her limbs.

Luckykit's brown eyes were blazing with fury but she went limp as Sablefire tightened her paws. "Let me go!" Luckykit snarled.

"I'm taking you back to camp," Sablefire hissed. She released Luckykit momentarily, but before the naughty kit could run off, she reached down and grasped her scruff in her jaws.

Luckykit twisted her head to glare up at her older sister with a menace that shouldn't be present in a kit. A small shudder ran through Sablefire that wasn't at all because of the mud that splattered her legs. She heaved Luckykit from the ground and marveled at how much the kit had grown in four moons.

It was a tedious job dragging Luckykit back to camp. The golden-brown kit seemed to be taking it to heart that she should make an effort to weigh herself down as much as possible and make it harder for Sablefire to get her the camp.

Sablefire shivered as rain started to fall in gales on the frozen forest. Frowning slightly, the bengal warrior felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as the obvious signs of Leaf-bare showed on every drooping fern and crackling leaf.

It seemed they would be in for a harsh Leaf-bare. In only a few more paces, Sablefire was drenched. Her pelt was plastered to her skin and she narrowed her eyes against the downpour. It stung her slit-like eyes and whipped against her short pelt, but Luckykit was mostly blocked from the torrential rain.

Gritting her teeth and flattening her ears to her head as the wind roared louder yet above them, Sablefire trudged on.

"Hey!" Luckykit grunted as mud swirled beneath them and dampened her hind paws.

"You really are having the worst of this aren't you," Sablefire hissed, splashing across the puddles and shaking her pelt. Water sprayed everywhere, but she shielded Luckykit from most of it despite the kit's own outrageous attitude. Siblings always came first. No matter what.

The rain pelted down unrelentlessly. Mist hung over the forest and the surroundings that she had known so well became clouded and unfamiliar. Sablefire squinted through the gloom and saw the camp come into view.

Sablefire bushed up her slicked-back fur against the cold and hurried into the camp. Luckykit dangled limply from her jaws.

Yowls greeted Sablefire as she rushed into the shelter of the branches overhanging the nursery entrance and dropped Luckykit down at her paws. Ashenpoppy let out a small moan as she saw the sopping wet bundle of fur.

"You naughty kit!" the queen growled, pulling herself together and sharpening her glare. Luckykit glared back shamelessly, stretching her mouth into a sneer. Turning away from the kit, Ashenpoppy reached her muzzle out to brush Sablefire's. "I don't know what I'd do without you," she murmured, her shoulder fur bristling slightly. "You'll forever be appreciated for this. Only StarClan knows where she might have ended up."

Sablefire shifted uncomfortably as Luckykit turned her piercing stare onto her. She quickly forced herself to ignore the kit, dipping her head silently to Ashenpoppy before splashing through the camp to get to the warriors' den.

Wildfern peered anxiously at Sablefire as the sodden warrior collapsed into her nest and closed her eyes. "Is Luckykit alright?" she mewed. The scents of Whitebark and Cranewing wafted into the den before she could answer.

"What happened?" came Whitebark's voice.

"Is Luckykit hurt?" came Cranewing's voice.

"I'm sure she's fine," Wildfern hushed the tomcats. "Leave Sablefire alone. She must be exhausted."

Keeping her eyes shut tight, Sablefire grunted a short appreciation and said no more. Visions of Luckykit's furious leer swirled around her head. No kit should feel like that . . . no kit should even have the look on their face at all . . . then why did Luckykit?

The sounds surrounding her became muffled and distant as the clutches of sleep pulled her in. It wasn't possible to think anymore. A small sigh escaped her jaws as the darkness overcame her and she drifted into an uneasy sleep punctuated with deathly amber glares.

♕ - ♕ - ♕

After a while night of endless raindrops pattering on the roof of the warriors' den, the dawn had come with a serenity that pounding rain could not ensure. Even so, Sablefire woke earlier than any of the other warriors.

Sablefire felt overly warm. She squirmed restlessly in her nest for a few minutes before sighing defeat and pushing herself to her paws.

For a long while she sat besides the entrance into the den and watched the sun rise. Clammy and heated as she felt, it was frozen outside her nest. Dewdrops glistened icily on frosted blades of grass and reflected shimmering light onto the ground. The air was thick with cold, as if the very moisture in the surroundings had frozen solid.

She felt herself drifting . . . drifting. . . Sablefire looked up sharply as a rustle by the entrance and a whiff of FallowClan scent. She rose to her paws and narrowed her eyes. FallowClan? What are they doing here? Moving as silently as possible, she crept to the clearing and saw Lilystar's pale brown pelt with her deputy's dappled one. Dappleslip seemed to be the only warrior with Lilystar.

Seeing Lilystar made Sablefire's blood broil. She dug her claws into the ground and slid them out further, imagining the ground was Lilystar's neck. If Lilystar was to die finally, Sablefire resolved that she would be the one to do it.

Sablefire drank in a deep breath of clean air and tried to master herself. She forced her gaze back to Lilystar and Dappleslip. Valleystar's thick, ragged pelt emerged from his den, his eyes narrowed to slits.

Lilystar stepped forward. "I wish to negotiate with you. A gathering. SmokeClan may attend." The FallowClan leader spoke fast before Valleystar could interrupt. She glanced behind her rather nervously. "We will have a truce like every other gathering back at home. Let us. It will be good for us."

After a short pause, Valleystar closed his eyes and hissed through his teeth, "SmokeClan tried to claim the Starfalls. They injured Rootwhisker to the point of possible death. They offend us."

"We might be able to get them away. I don't care if it was StarClan's wish. For all we know, it could have been some Dark Forest cats stirring up trouble," Lilystar meowed, her face blank and emotionless, though her shoulder fur was bristling slightly.

"Very well then," Valleystar growled. "But you'll be the one to send a message to the slick-touched snake. If my warrior dies -"

Sablefire has padded forward unconsciously. A little defensive mechanism was triggered, but she had no idea why. "The tomcat I was fighting could have killed me. But he said that he was a warrior now, and warriors followed the warrior code."

Lilystar curled her lip slightly as she recognized the bengal molly. "Is this the little rebel, Sablepaw?"

"It's Sablefire now," Sablefire meowed evenly.

Valleystar's eyes flickered with pride at the warrior. He turned his emerald gaze to Lilystar. "It's a deal. When the full moon is high, the Sunrise Lookout, at twilight." He pulled himself to his full height as Lilystar nodded grimly. "Let's hope we'll get SmokeClan away once and for all."