It was a perfect day by the coast. Gulls wheeled about in a cloudless blue sky, shrieking between each other, their beady black eyes surveying the land below. Gentle waves lapped at the shoreline, echoing around the steep cliffs of a cove. Sunlight turned the sand to gold. And there, balancing on corals atop a reef, were three cats.

       "I swear by StarClan, these fish can see the future!" hissed out a cream-and-brown tom. The tortoiseshell beside him chuckled with a good-hearted smile.

       "That, or your reflexes are worse than a sea slug's!" She cackled, voice thick in the damp air, and with a flick of her paw she splashed his muzzle. Mudnose - the tom - flashed her a smirk then pounced straight into the water, soaking her. She retaliated by tackling him into the corals.

       Another tom, his fur the color of bleached seashells pointed with mud-brown, watched from nearby. His eyes were bright as his Clanmates wrestled. After a few moments, Fireflythroat emerged with a giggling trill, dragging Mudnose up with her.

       "Not fair!" The pointed tom coughed, dragging himself onto a brain coral, "You're practically a fish!"

       "Well, you did start it," Covestripe, the tom who'd been watching them, called out. Mudnose shot his brother a withering look then turned back to the she-cat.

       Fireflythroat cuffed his ear playfully, "Nonsense! All BrineClan cats are fish at heart. You've not seen a WoodClanner out here, swimming among the waves, have you?" When Mudnose grunted, she nosed his cheek then bounded over to Covestripe, grinning.

       "I think your brother's a bit better at fighting in the water than hunting in it!" Her cheeriness was infectious, and Covestripe soon found himself grinning back at her. "I suppose so," he chuffed, "Our parents weren't too great either, though, so I'd guess it runs in the family."

       A high-pitched wail broke their conversation.

       Spinning, they hurried to Mudnose, who was crouched over the edge of his coral. When they neared, he turned to them. The tom was visibly whining and, clipped to his snout, was a small red crab. Mudnose thrashed his paws in the water, eyes screwed shut with pain.

       Fireflythroat chuckled, eyes still alight with mischief. She slunk into the water in front of him and said, "You stay still, now, unless you wanna be called Nonose the rest of your days!" Covestripe sat back to watch as she nipped the crab's body.

       With a quick twist of her head, the crab was wrenched sideways; but instead of backing away, free, Mudnose shrieked again and scraped his claws along the corals. A thin trickle of blood ran down his muzzle and Covestripe winced. Fireflythroat grunted and dug her teeth in harder, eliciting a kick to face from one of the crab's legs. Once more, she yanked her head back, but this time the crab popped off with her.

       While she held the wriggling creature in her maw, Mudnose reared back, shaking his head vigorously. Blood stained his nostrils and he gingerly wiped his muzzle with a maw. Covestripe leaned to his brother and mumbled, "You alright?"

       "Yeah," Mudnose sneezed out a few specks of red, "Great waves, those things have tight grips!" He turned to the crab and spat, "Crush it, Fireflythroat! It'll feed the queens."

       The tortoiseshell nodded and carefully placed it down on a nearby rock. The crab scrambled for the water, but she swiftly smacked it with her paws. It stilled and she snatched up a stray bit of coral in her teeth, proceeding to smash it against the crab until its legs stopped wiggling. Fireflythroat then tossed the coral, grabbed the crustacean, and held it up, triumphant.

       Covestripe swished his tail, "You'd better bring that back to camp. And Mudnose, go see Raingorse, he can help you out." The two bid him farewell and began paddling back to shore.

       Covestripe himself remained there for a few moments, turning to look across the broad, blue sea. Water lapped at his toes as he watched a group of clownfish swim together in a clump of anemones, unaware of his presence - not like he'd swipe for them while in their shelter, that is. His blue gaze left the surrounding reef when a flash of color caught his eye.

      It was Owlettail and Onepaw, way on the beach, chasing seagulls as they spiraled about midair, cackling wildly at the cats. Covestripe leapt into the clear sea and began rapidly swimming in their direction. His paws slid professionally through the water, fur slick against his skin, tail straight out behind him - he reached the beach in a matter of minutes.

       As he clambered up onto the sand, shaking out his pale coat, he watched Onepaw stalk up to a seagull with gray-flecked feathers. At the last second her front left paw slipped and the bird's head shot up, its wings snapping open and soaring up in an instant; Onepaw spat out a curse, scrambled into a leap, and just barely managed to snag her claw on the seagull's wing. Luckily, it disoriented the bird just enough, and as she fell back to the beach it came with her. Onepaw crashed into the sand and immediately got up, pinned it by its wings, and sank her teeth into its neck - the seagull fell still and she gave a proud holler.

       Covestripe padded over to her, nodding to Owlettail when they passed. "Good job," he nudged her shoulder and Onepaw beamed up at him, the seagull dangling in her teeth. Owlettail came up beside him and showed her approval with a smile.

       "I bet the queens'll love that," the brown she-cat said, "Avocetcloud needs all the strength she can get, too. Let's go deliver it." As Owlettail started padding away, Onepaw scurried to catch up. Onestripe followed a few steps behind.

       The entrance to BrineClan's camp was a large, gaping cave in the side of a rocky sea cliff. The fur along Covestripe's back twitched as he entered. The inside of the cave was cooler than outside, with a smooth, sandy floor and dozens of ledges on the walls, empty now that the Clan was busy with their day.

       "Hey, Onepaw!" A deep voice directed Covestripe's attention. It was Stagpaw, a black tom with stubby legs. Onepaw slowed down and turned to look at him.

       Stagpaw snorted, calling out, "That bird's as big as you! You should hand it over to Owlettail before it breaks your little neck!" With that, he ducked his head, chuckling, and started rummaging through the freshkill-pile.

       Covestripe's chest tightened. He bared his teeth, but Owlettail touched her nose to his shoulder. Muttering in his ear, she said, "Let him be. Lightningheart can deal with him." He grunted, but knew she was right, and looked away with a grumble. Onepaw flicked her ears back and glared at her denmate.

       And then she spun away from him and stormed away toward the queens' ledge. Owlettail shot Covestripe an apologetic look and hurried to catch up, tail waving.

       Covestripe twitched his whiskers and turned away, looking around the camp. A few cats were still inside - Thornsky sitting next to Albatrossgaze by the Overhang, Willowglare grooming himself on a smooth rock, Brackentail and Hopface talking in hushed voices together, Stagpaw stuffing his face with fish. And there, in a cleft behind the Overhang, he could see Fireflythroat's twitching tailtip.

       He trotted over, recalling Mudnose's incident with the crab, and leaned in. Sure enough, the tom was laying on his side in the den, eyes screwed shut as Raingorse dressed his snout. Stormwhisper was chattering behind him.

       "So then I saw this humongous clump'a kelp, all covered in slime and algae and gross stuff, and I thought, hey, that's super-duper weird to see out'a camp! So I took a look- hey, hah, that rhymed didn't it- so anyway, I batted it around in the sand for a while and it got all covered in grit and sand. So then I swatted it back in the sea and what happens, but I get a vision! Well, more like an omen, but whatever, so anyway this big seagull swoops down right by my ears! It nearly took off my head! So I watch it fly around for a'while and it was all super spotty and weird, like I've never seen any seagull like it in my whole entire life, and I'm almost seventeen moons now so that's a long long time, and I was watching it fly up in the air and suddenly I think, hey that looks like Albatrossgaze! And her name even matches because seagulls and albatrosses are super similar, like practically the same exact bird, so yeah now I think we should watch out for Albatrossgaze because she's totally hundred percent gonna try to take off some cat's ears or whole head. Yeah." She ended with a triumphant grin, like she'd just figured out every mystery known to catkind.

       Raingorse just nodded slowly, appearing completely uninterested in the whole tale. His paws worked nimbly as Fireflythroat listened to the other medicine cat, enthralled, ears up and eyes bright. She turned her head around as Covestripe approached.

       "Covestripe!" The tortoiseshell chirped, smiling at him, "Did you hear Stormwhisper? I think she's really onto something here." Covestripe sat down and watched as Fireflythroat wound around Raingorse and plopped down next to the off-black medicine cat, adding her own story of Albatrossgaze to the conversation. He couldn't help but grin. Fireflythroat had always had endless enthusiasm for the other she-cat.

       Covestripe turned his head to his brother. Mudnose grunted with sudden pain as Raingorse stuck some cobweb up his nostril, and the older tom glowered, ears back. For a while the Medicine Cave was in peaceful quiet, split only by the quiet chatter of Fireflythroat and Stormwhisper, who'd moved further back, against the wall, and Covestripe allowed his head to dip down calmly. He nearly leapt to the ceiling when a cat nosed his shoulder.

       However, when he whirled around in a blur of pale color, he was met with only the bewildered face of Sandyflight.

       "Thornsky ordered us on a patrol," she mumbled, taking a step back, "You, me, Hurricanesnout, Lightningheart, and, uh..." Glancing over her shoulder, she quickly added, "And Stagpaw."

       Covestripe sighed, shook out his fur, and nodded, following the smaller cat over to the cavern entrance. The other patrollers were awaiting them. As they walked out onto the open beach, Covestripe fell into step beside Hurricanesnout, and noticed deep gray clouds rolling in from further out to sea.

       For a while, the patrol moved in silence. They climbed out of the cove quickly, and entered a land of sparse pines and grass, where gentle hills rolled and sun shone on their backs. Covestripe resisted the urge to throw himself down and roll about in the warmth. After another while of walking, they reached a point where foliage grew denser and the pines became closer together. They all paused at the sharp smell of other cats.

       Before them stood a landscape of towering conifers, growing higher and higher to staggering heights. Covestripe nearly fell backwards trying to see their tops, and flattened himself to the ground, frightened. WoodClan's territory was never comfortable to him; how could any cat live there, among all those redwoods, without the constant fear of being crushed or snuck up on by a predator? He couldn't imagine being anywhere but the rolling sands of the beach or the grassy hills of the inlands.

       Covestripe watched as Hurricanesnout and Lightningheart went forward, marking against the ferns. At least it makes this job easier, he thought, creeping up against a small fir to spray.

       They continued on along the border after that, Lightningheart pausing to tell Stagpaw about different plants and the others stopping occasionally to mark where the scents were merging too much. Covestripe found himself slowly relaxing against the dancing shadows and filtering light, but then he'd glance over at the redwoods and shrink back, eyes widening fearfully. After that, he decided to watch the ground

       It was due to this that he yelped when he ran into a furry body.

       Shaking his head, he looked up, realizing they'd all frozen. Thornsky and Albatrossgaze were standing a few tail-lengths away, eyes grim, jaws set. Covestripe shivered.

       "Covestripe." Thornsky came forward with a quiet glance at the others, and they shuffled aside. Albatrossgaze watched from behind him. The deputy locked eyes with the pointed tom in front of him, striped forehead wrinkled nervously, ears back against his head - his next words made Covestripe's heart plummet to his toes.

       "Onepaw has gone missing."