Heartstorm chewed the rest of the thin vole. He stood up, his stomach grumbling for more food. He trotted to the medicine den to check on Sparkbelly, Ravenfall and the kits. The kits were nestled with Ravenfall who was sleeping gently. Heartstorm spotted Sparkbelly and his stomach leapt. Sparkbelly was propped up and his eyes were opened slightly. 

             "Sparkbelly!" exclaimed Heartstorm, the words choking in his throat. 

             "Hey Heartstorm," Sparkbelly said weakly with a forced smile. 

              "H-how are you?" stuttered Heartstorm stupidly. "I mean, where's Frogleap? Do you need Frogleap?"

                "I'm good," Sparkbelly replied. "How are things?" Heartstorm sat down in front of Sparkbelly. 

               "Camp was a mess, but, it's better now," Heartstorm told Sparkbelly. "You saved my life. Everybody knows you did." Sparkbelly shrugged. 

                "You're my Clanmate," he said simply. 

               "I know but...," Heartstorm trailed off, "thank you..." Sparkbelly gave a weak smile and shrugged. 

                 "So who are the WindClan cats?" he asked, nodding towards Ravenfall and the kits. 

                  "Ravenfall, Crowkit and Lilykit. They were hurt in the snowstorm and ended up in our territory. We took them in," explained Heartstorm. Sparkbelly nodded. 

                  "Bumblekit and Brightkit doing alright?" he asked.

                   "Yeah," smiled Heartstorm. 

                  "Silverdrop?" asked Sparkbelly. Heartstorm nodded once more. "Everybody else ok?" 

                   "Yeah, the whole Clan is waiting for you to get better," smiled Heartstorm gently. Sparkbelly snorted. 

                   "Ha...," he said, as if it was hard to believe. He yawned and slowly sunk back into his nest. 

                  "You should rest," Heartstorm said, feeling Sparkbelly's tiredness. 

                  "No it's ok," Sparkbelly said. 

                  "No, you need to rest," Heartstorm insisted. He wished Sparkbelly luck and hope that he would get better soon then slipped out. Stripedfur passed him. She motioned at the medicine den. 

                     "Sparkbelly doing better?" she asked. "He's a real hero, he is." Heartstorm smiled. Sparkbelly was a hero. Heartstorm would have never made it back into shelter without Sparkbelly's help. 

                  "Yeah, he seems better. He is a hero," agreed Heartstorm. Stripedfur smiled and tipped her tail at him. 

                   "You are too," she said and slipped off. Heartstorm didn't believe her and frowned at her words but shrugged it off. He padded towards Reedstar who was talking to Thornstar. 

                   "Thornstar, Reedstar," said Heartstorm. 

                    "Hey Heartstorm," Reedstar said distractedly. 

                   "Hello Heartstorm," Thornstar said, taking a step towards Heartstorm. "Good to see you up on your feet. The kits haven't visited me for some time." 

                      "Brightkit and Bumblekit have mostly been kept in the nursery by Silverdrop," chuckled Heartstorm. "I'll tell Brightkit you'd like to teach her new moves." 

                      "Ah yes, I'm very much looking forward to it," Thornstar said. Reedstar huffed. 

                      "Thornstar," he said sternly. "About the..." Thornstar nodded. 

                    "Ah yes, why don't you talk to Heartstorm about it?" Thornstar suggested, giving Heartstorm a meaningful look. Thornstar walked off. Reedstar sighed and looked around for Blacktail. 

                     "What is it?" asked Heartstorm curiously. Reedstar hesitated. 

                    "Y-you're not the deputy," he said obviously. 

                    "I know," nodded Heartstorm, feeling slightly hurt. He prepared to walk away but Reedstar shrugged. 

                     "I can't find Blacktaill...," he said, "so you'll have to do. Being former deputy and all... There's a Gathering tonight. And I am debating whether or not to go. WE all know there is a terrible snowstorm. And what if ShadowClan suddenly think it's a good idea to attack us." Heartstorm pondered about it for a moment. 

                     "We must go," he told Reedstar. "It'll make us look weak if we don't. Other Clans would not want to look weak either, so they would go. ShadowClan must have been hit just as badly as RiverClan. It was blowing their direction mostly. So they must not be in shape to attack. And at any hint that they might attack, we will head back for camp immediately." Reedstar frowned, deep in thought but finally nodded. 

                     "You're right," he said finally. "Thank you. And you will go, tonight, won't you?" 

                     "Yes," nodded Heartstorm. He didn't know why but he wanted to see ShadowClan. he wanted to look at his former Clanmates and see how much damage the snowstorm had done to them. He wanted to show them his Clan, he, wasn't scared. 

                       "Thanks," muttered Reedstar. "Hey can you gather a border patrol?" With that, Reedstar hurried off. Heartstorm knew how busy and hard it must be to be leader at this kind of time so Heartstorm gathered Eelfrost, Deerflame and Stripedfur and they headed on a border patrol. They padded past WindClan and towards ThunderClan. WindClan's moor had seemed deserted and the wind whistled loudly. As they neared ThunderClan, their fresh scent wafted to Heartstorm's nose. ThunderClan had just marked their border, their way to say, even after the storm, don't mess with us. Heartstorm marked the border of RiverClan to say the exact same thing and they padded back towards camp. Eelfrost trotted by Heartstorm's side, asking him about Ravenfall and the kits. 

                       "They were just there, frozen," Heartstorm explained for the millionth time. 

                      "I know but was there like ice stuck on their fur?" asked Eelfrost. 

                       "Yeah, there was," nodded Heartstorm. 

                       "And is Ravenfall nice? I mean, I went to visit Sparkbelly yesterday. He was sleeping. And I saw Ravenfall talking to Crowkit. I didn't say anything cos well..., they're WindClan!"

                        "Ravenfall is very nice." 

                         "And the kits?" 

                        "They're cute. " 

                        "But they're WindClan, you know? This might be like a ruse to infiltrate our camp. I better tell Reedstar."

                        "Eelfrost..., they were caught in the storm. I saw them, lying there, unmoving. I would know." 

                          "I know but they could have pretended."

                          "And risked the life of kits? I don't think so." 

                         "You never know." 

                         "Eelfrost..." 

                         "That's my name." 

                         "That's not what I meant-" Heartstorm sighed but couldn't help but laugh at the same time. Eelfrost grinned and twitched his tail. 

                           "Good to have you back," he told Heartstorm. "Pretty boring without you, you know. And without Sparkbelly. I mean, I know he's dumb and all, but he was sorta funny and like.., bright and yeah..."

                           "I know," nodded Heartstorm, understandingly. "I saw him today though, he's getting better." Eelfrost smiled.

                        "Well, hope he gets better soon," Eelfrost shrugged. "So, did you hear, there's supposed to be a Gathering this evening? I don't know if we're going though." 

                      "I know," Heartstorm told Eelfrost. "I'm going." 

                      "We're going?" exclaimed Eelfrost. "But what if ShadowClan attacks?"

                     "They'll be there," Heartstorm said knowingly. "Just you wait."