"Ugh. Tidepaw will get his warrior name before us now, since he's being trained by the leader and all of our mentors will die before she does."

Rowanpaw's targeted comment was jagged, and cut through the tense air like a claw-stab. Paying attention now, Crescentpaw pricked her ears and prepared to cut in.

"Ignore her," Tinypaw said. "We're all just afraid that appointing us warriors is the least of Eveningstar's concerns right now." She sighed, not hiding her misgivings but halting the confrontation.

Tidepaw nodded and agreed. He was tall for his age, with thin legs and a tiny black nose. The tom looked very similar to his mother Bristleberry, who had died from a wolf slaughter at night several moons ago. Tidepaw had just been a kit back then, the same as them.

"You're right." Crescentpaw noticed how he didn't even spare Rowanpaw a look, which caused her brown-furred sister to curl her lip. "The wolves have been coming more often, I think." He tilted his chin up in thought. "Do you think they're hunting the other clans to this extent as well? Or could they have camped close by to target Riverclan as a prey source?"

Tidepaw's tail bushed worriedly while he slid his claws out against the clovers. Swiveling her head towards the warriors den, Crescentpaw glanced towards its woven reed fronds. Through the opening she could see no cats inside. They must've all been in the medicine den, where Goldenheart had left them to go on her trip to the Moonpool.

"The other clans are probably still suffering as well, but there's no telling how badly." The tabby-and-white apprentice almost hoped it was true. That way it wasn't Riverclan alone that would find the situation dire enough to act.

"In order to find any news we'd have to get to a gathering or the other clan territories." She stretched out her long blazen tail to let the breeze catch and tug at it while she said so.

"And Drenchedleaf said that the gathering's were paused many moons ago. It was agreed to by all five clans to prevent wolf attacks along the lakeshore."

Rowanpaw wasn't arguing with that. They all knew that the wolf attacks were most prominent after nightfall, because it was when the wolves preferred to hunt.

Thinking of Drenchedleaf made Crescentpaw turn her face away. She still remembered how she had been yet again shielded by her parent's haunches. Now they weren't here to shield her anymore. One by choice, one by death. In the end, she had lost them both.

"I wish the wolves had never come at all," Tinypaw mewed quietly. She hardly ever spoke her opinion in groups, so all of the cats mewed in open agreement. "I miss Echofrost. He always made me feel better when-"

"You sound like a kit," Rowanpaw interrupted, straightening up and throwing a condescending glance down at her sleek black-pelted sister. Tinypaw was much smaller, and so the look was appropriate.

But it still made Crescentpaw's blood boil.

"He's our father!" She snapped, easily looking down at her just like Rowanpaw had done to Tinypaw.

"And we're going to be warriors in less than a moon! So start acting like one," the crescent-marked apprentice's voice held the hint of a snarl in it. Great Starclan! I don't hate her, but she really rubs my fur the wrong way sometimes!

"Me?" Rowanpaw sounded full of mock-pity now. "That's what I just told her! What are you, slow?"

Crescentpaw stood up and unsheathed her claws. It was just a warning, of course, but she lifted a brow with surprise when Rowanpaw did the same.

Clear-white clawtips glinted in the sun, bright against the trampled emerald grasses of the main path to the freshkill pile. The sisters huffed and lashed their tails, staring each other down with narrowed eyes.

"Oh, stop it, you lot! You're sisters and you can't even remotely get along? I'd kill to have any of my siblings alive," Tidepaw lectured, his sharp azure gaze pinpointed on them. The tom's criss-crossed face was set in a grimace as he condoned them.

The black-and-dark grey tabby fur across her spine was still bristling, but Tidepaw had cut off her swipe with that jolting comment. Then, he went ahead and made another one.

"It must be your kittypet mother. You have no sense of kin or clan."

Crescentpaw's eye began practically twitching at hearing that heinous insult.

"Say that word again," she smiled as she swiveled around on her back paws, stooping over Tidepaw on her tippy-toes as best she could. The apprentice was older than her, but even with a few scars, and clearly being of warrior age- he wasn't all that intimidating.

Tidepaw blinked calmly, as if he felt unthreatened. The lack of a reaction only fueled Crescentpaw's annoyance further, so she shoved into him with her shoulder roughly.

Tidepaw wasn't goated. Instead, he flicked his ears and opened his mouth to let out another stinging retort.

"I said you-"

Crescentpaw cut off his words with a hiss, shoving into his face with her tail lashing. She wondered if it would be worth it, attacking Tidepaw regardless of the consequences her mentor would bestow upon her. Being mere centimeters from those mocking blue eyes, she felt it might be worth it.

"Stop that at once! Crescentpaw, back away from Tidepaw. And Tidepaw, don't you ebb us on like that. She left the clan after we were born; she wasn't a kittypet before. That makes us clan-born." Tinypaw lectured them crossly.

"You know very well that our mother's morals aren't our own. And deep down, what did she do- besides be too scared to save her clan?"

"She left," Tidepaw said it so fast, before Tinypaw had even finished- that Crescentpaw figured he must've had that response saved up for awhile now.

"She left her kin and clan to die, she left against her leader's word, she didn't give a rat's back-end for the warrior code. Your mother was a coward!" He practically barked, snapping his teeth.

"At least my family didn't leave. They..." Tidepaw didn't finish. His chest was heaving with anger and sadness and confusion all at the same time. And Crescentpaw knew what he had meant to say next.

She scooted a bit closer to the tom, intending to sympathize. I understand where the anger and accusations are coming from now. But Rowanpaw reacted first.

"A lot of cats left," The reddish-brown she-cat growled as the ferns swished behind her, the wind picking up and stirring the sparse debris among the clearing. As a stray piece of moss slid across the ground between her and Tidepaw, she reluctantly stepped back. At least for now, she felt that he would only respond to her comfort with more defensiveness.

"Including your oldest littermate. Shywish, wasn't it?"

Ouch. Especially when Rowanpaw talks to him like that! Although a tiny part of her knew that she hadn't been any better just a few minutes ago.

The silence was heavy after that, and Tidepaw's tail-tip began twitching as he fought to control his reply. Then, seemingly thinking better of it, the black and white tom flung open his jowels once again. His blue eyes were glaring as he spoke to the three sisters.

"Yeah, but she didn't leave her kits behind! Her kits died, before she even had the choice to take them with her!" He spat.

Crescentpaw just stifled a sigh, exchanging a stressed glance with Tinypaw. Her sister's mild violet gaze said Just don't say anything. We all know he's grasping at strings.

"My mother was a coward, I'll admit it," Rowanpaw sighed and gazed over at Tidepaw forlornly. As if she wanted him to in turn, somewhat agree with her.

Oh, brother. Why can't Rowanpaw ever keep her mouth shut? The topic was tense already, barely teetering on the top of a mountaintop before it fell crashing down one slope or the other.

"Any cat who fled the clans is a traitor. I hope they never come back. My mother included," she said conversationally, swishing her long copper tail over the gritty earth beneath their paws.

Before Tidepaw could answer they heard pawsteps beyond the tattered camp wall. Crescentpaw saw their mentors returning from the dawn patrol through the thorny gaps.

"Since you're all awake, I hope you guys are ready to go back out for hunting. We found some prey on the way back, but it wasn't much." Tidepaw rose and was the first to greet the mentors as they padded through, then halted beside the freshkill pile.

"I am," Rowanpaw interjected, taking a mouse from Alpinefog before he had even dropped it. Crescentpaw exhaled, grateful that the argument was over for now. She didn't want to accidentally scratch any cat's ears.

Aquasplash approached her with a large carp, and Crescentpaw shook her head.

"I've already eaten, but thanks. Just put it on the prey-pile." The apprentice's swirly tabby pelt fluttered in the wind as she lifted her tail.

"Well, alright. We can get a head start on land-prey hunting while the others finish. You need to touch up on that. Come along," Aquasplash said as she turned and headed back out of camp, expecting Crescentpaw to follow.

Before she fully exited, she tossed a look over at the empty Medicine Cat and Elder's den.

I hope Goldenheart comes back soon with good news. Not having anymore elders isn't a good sign. And Chaosclaw was the last senior warrior we had left.

Over the course of her life Crescentpaw had seen her father and other clanmates slain by the wolves. And now there were only four apprentices in Riverclan-  with only a few meek paw-fulls of warriors left.

The clan won't survive like this, and we can't even discuss what to do about it because the Gatherings are still put on hold.

The Clan cats couldn't access the island because at night was when the wolves attacked most prominently. Most of the time they hunted in small groups or throngs. There was, of course, evenings when none of the predators came at all. But Crescentpaw could only assume that's because they were raiding out the other camps.

They kill us for food. And it's strange, because.. I don't think warriors have ever been prey. Not for this long, at least. Not to the brink of extinction.

With her heart clenched with anxiety for her clan, Crescentpaw followed her mentor out of camp.

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Rowanpaw