[ ♕ ]

Sablefire was the first to wake up yet again. She stared at the pale dawn sky and heaved a sigh. It was not what she had expected, being a warrior. Without Bearpaw, it was different. Bleak. Like the horizon was so far away and she would never see it even if she went to the very end of the earth.

She rose to her paws as the crackling of leaves and dried bracken reached her ears. Glancing back, she saw the blindingly white black-banded form of none other than . . . Cranewing.

"Good morning," Cranewing meowed as he passed her, twitching his whiskers slightly but keeping his eyes on the camp in front of him. Sablefire resisted the urge to bare her teeth at him and watched as he loped out of camp. She stayed where she was - sitting by a stump near the den entrance - until his resolute snowy pelt became nothing more than a smudge. Then it was gone.

Sablefire blinked. She was getting distracted by things that didn't need her concern. Cranewing was one of them. Just some cat who broke apart her family. She slid her claws out and tapped them lightly against the packed ground.

She could get revenge on him. She could kill him and nobody would ever find out. It was tempting. The cat certainly deserved it. Sablefire locked her claws into the ground and looked down in surprise. She hadn't even realized she had slid them out. She stared at them. Was that all she was? A murderer? Someone who didn't think about violence and just did it?

Sablefire shook her head as if to clear it.

"Let all cats old enough to climb Sunrise Lookout gather in the clearing!" Valleystar's call rang around the camp clearing and she looked up eagerly. This must've been about the gathering!

She bounded to the apprentices' den, where the younger cats were waking up with bleary eyes and ruffled pelts. Bearpaw's fluffy brown pelt rose and fell slightly as he snoozed.

Grasshopperpaw looked up at her as he groomed his pelt with deft licks. Pumpkinpaw and Eggpaw were already racing out of the den, but Bearpaw stirred only very slightly.

Sablefire stepped into the den. The tomcat smell was overpowering and she gagged softly. "Ever wash your pelts?" she muttered, flicking her ear irritatedly. When no cat answered, she pushed gently past the brown and white tabby pelt of Grasshopperpaw and nudged Bearpaw until his eyes flickered open.

She pushed him to his paws. "There's a Clan meeting!" she hissed as he barely responded. Bearpaw's round brown eyes gazed up at her for a moment before he groaned and started moving his paws.

Sablefire's pelt brushed his as they padded to the clearing where most of the cats where already settling. Her fur tingled pleasantly with the contact. She blew a puff of breath as she trotted to beside Eggpaw. Her breath clouded the air and she peered through it as she placed herself next to the mottled form of Eggpaw. It vanished in time for Bearpaw to plop down next to her and hurriedly turn his gaze to Valleystar as the Clan leader spoke.

"Tonight we go to our first gathering in the valley," he announced. Cheers ripples through the crowd before he lifted his tail for silence. Sablefire couldn't help but feel her own excitement rise in anticipation. "We will be meeting with FallowClan and SmokeClan under a truce at Sunrise Lookout, twilight. No fighting and definitely no sharing our secrets or battle tactics. Don't give away anything about our weaknesses. Have fun, most of all."

He nodded at Acornrustle and they put their heads together for a minute before Valleystar addressed the eager crowd, who were waiting nervously.

"The cats who will come will be: Bristleburn, Snailpaw, Sablefire, Lambskip, Bunnyear, Ravenstare, Fawnpath, Doetrail, Grasshopperpaw, Eggpaw, Pumpkinpaw, and Bearpaw."

Sablefire jumped to her paws, her heart thrumming with excitement. Bearpaw looked surprised though. He hovered near his sister and glanced around nervously as if wondering if someone would tell him there was a mistake. Sablefire knew immediately why, and her heart ached for him.

Acornrustle was standing stock-still in the bustling crowd, staring at Bearpaw and to Valleystar in hurt. He lashed his tail once before turning his back on them and hurrying away.

"I just want to hunt," Sablefire meowed, stifling a yawn.

Bearpaw's expression turned bitter. "I have to train," he mewed, his voice thick with suppressed rage.

Sablefire reached out her tail to put it on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off. Whisking it away, she let out an irritated growl and stalked off. If Bearpaw was going to get angry at her because he didn't pass the assessment, then so be it. He was always like that. She bounded towards the entrance to camp, where Acornrustle was standing and directing patrols.

"Can I hunt?" she asked him warily, shifting her paws as the resentment for her father filled her head.

"Sure!" Acornrustle answered cheerily, his eyes shining.

Sablefire eyed him in disbelief for a moment before turning away from him and padding out of camp. This was insane! He had such abrupt personality changes when around Bearpaw and all because of a stupid assessment.

Sablefire's paws led her unconsciously down the familiar trail beneath her, giving her time to stray with her thoughts alone.

Acornrustle was disappointed, yes, and so must have been Ashenpoppy. But Ashenpoppy didn't seem to turn on Bearpaw and go out of her way to make him feel bad about himself. Acornrustle was outrageous. He only cared for himself. His reputation as a deputy. His overly bloated ego wouldn't allow him to look past Bearpaw's mistakes. He was a cruel father that obviously favoured she more than Bearpaw. Had he forgotten Bearpaw was a cat? His own son? He might as well have disowned him. When Bearpaw became a warrior, Sablefire was sure that all would be forgotten. But what if he never made it to become a warrior? She shook her head softly. That was ridiculous, of course he would become a warrior.

Unless. . . .

Sablefire was startled back to reality as her paws hit hard rock. She looked around uneasily. This path was not familiar, yet her paws led her here for some reason. The river rushed past, sending wan reflections flitting across the rocks underpaw.

She gazed into the foaming depths of the river and the sun glinted in her eyes, making her squint. Something was wrong. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably as she looked around, blinking, but everything seemed normal.

Something nudged her towards the frothing water. It was an internal battle. She felt compelled to step forward and disappear into the river. She cringed away. But still, it appealed. She could go away forever. Never harm another cat. That would be safe. She could've killed those SmokeClan cats, but she had barely restrained herself. What if she couldn't hold herself back next time?

♕ - ♕ - ♕

The moon hung in the sky like a frozen silver sun. It's hue was free of yellow, and the pure white gleamed in the eyes of Sablefire's clanmates. The bengal she-cat shook out her pelt, feeling as though the feeling of uneasy feelings from the stream were clinging onto her like spiderwebs.

"Let's go!" Valleystar barked, looking over the heads of the cats coming to the gathering. He turned around and started bounding towards the mountain that Bearpaw had tumbled down on their first day.

Sablefire blinked tears out of her eyes. That was so long ago. When they thought everything was safe and perfect. But not now. . . . SmokeClan and FallowClan had to come and ruin everything. She pushed away the thought and concentrated on the thrumming of her paws on the forest floor and Bearpaw's panting breath beside her.

The group was quiet, drinking in the serene surroundings. Everything looked so different at night, as if the dark sky had fallen onto the earth and cloaked everything in darkness. Her vision was sharp and the help of natural night vision helped them out, but she saw some places - crooks in tree branches, holes in the ground, a gap between two ferns - that the darkness was so dense, it pressed into her eyes.

Sablefire lost herself in the peace of the moment. The sound of paws against the ground and a cool breeze brushing her ears were enough to make her sigh. Sigh in relief. Sigh in longing. Adventure always appealed to her but that was an idle thought, a kit's dream. She had a duty to her Clan.

Of course, nothing in the forest was quiet. Crickets chirped, foliage rustled, and the breaths of the group lingered in the air. Eventually, it fell deaf to Sablefire's ears. A background noise with no meaning.

Sablefire felt herself wonder. She hated wondering. Wondering how Bearpaw came back. Wondering how Battlewish knew. Wondering if Bearpaw was special, and she was some ordinary warrior. Wondering if she was a killer.

Fortunately, they had arrived at the base of the mountain. It was tall, taller yet than anything Sablefire had ever seen. Bearpaw has only fell down a quarter of it, and he didn't get hurt, but a cat falling from the top would surely perish.

A large slab of stone high above them stuck out of the mountain's top. The Sunrise Lookout was glinting with moonlight, as extraordinary as ever. The climb was not extremely taxing, but it did take an expert cat to lead them. Sablefire and Bearpaw had climbed multiple times in their apprenticeships, but with Fawnpath and Doetrail leading them along.

The moon lit up the top of the mountain, and there were resolute figures standing on the Sunrise Lookout. "It seems we are only the second to arrive," Valleystar predicted, his eyes narrowing as he tried to gain an estimate of how many cats there were. "Let's go." The Clan leader kinked his tail and started to pad swiftly up the well-trodden mountain trail.

Sablefire shivered as the sparse foliage edging the path brushed her pelt. Bearpaw pressed his flank to hers and she relaxed slightly, trying to lay her shoulder fur flat.

Every crackling leaf and swishing branch made her flinch and look around. The rest of the group was just as jumpy. The trail twisted sharply around the mountain edge. This exact point was where an ambush would be perfect. It would make picking them off one-by-one an easy job. Sablefire hated the vulnerable position and gulped as the hairpin-bend neared. She shuffled along it, her toes coming close to the edge for just heartbeat before the trail widened and became less menacing.

Minutes passed in silence. Sablefire turned all her attention towards where she was placing her paws and gave a start as Valleystar's voice echoed around the empty space. She felt rather faint as she looked down and realized how high up they had gotten in such a short amount of time.

"We're here. And I'm sure SmokeClan will be very happy to see us," Valleystar announced grimly. He shook out his thick pelt and glanced around. He looked at something Sablefire could not see and hefted himself up, grunting.

Excited, Sablefire peered past the cats in front of her and saw the ledge that led to the Sunrise Lookout. To get to the flat rock, one would climb up the ledge, which was as high as she was standing, and then arrive at the rock.

The trail was wide as the length of three cats side-by-side - give or take and also depending on what path of the trail it was - and the ValleyClan cats were going in pairs to the ledge and disappearing amongst the rocky outcrop of the mountain.

Sablefire glanced at Bearpaw and he gazed back in a reassuring way. Forcing her muscles to relax, she got up to the ledge and leaped over in a graceful bound before Bearpaw followed.

FallowClan was already there - looking smug - but SmokeClan had yet to come.

"We will wait only a few minutes for SmokeClan," Valleystar announced, earning a brusque nod from Fallowstar.

The minutes creeped by and the clearing was quiet except for a few murmurs between cats. The Clans stayed separated. Sablefire gave a sniff of satisfaction at the bemused looks from the FallowClan cats. If they had been taken over by ValleyClan for awhile and forced to be servants, they wouldn't be so quick to trust.

Valleystar and Fallowstar were perched on a ledge in front of the wide expanse of the Sunrise Lookout. They gazed impatiently at the trail. Valleystar straightened. "It seems SmokeClan has decided not to come," he meowed matter-of-factly. "Let the gathering begin."

"Wait!" a sleek voice called out from the trail. Every cat turned to watch as Houndstar heaved himself up the small ledges to get to the Sunrise Lookout. "It took a little bit to find it, my apologies."

"It's about time you came," Fallowstar meowed, her voice hard as ice. Valleystar gave a curt nod. Sablefire gave a soft snort of amusement - it seemed the only thing the two leaders could agree on was bashing SmokeClan.

Houndstar rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. He padded to the other leaders and the rest of SmokeClan followed, looking nervously around. Most of them had anxious looks displayed across their faces, but others looked downright terrified.

"What's up with them?" Sablefire muttered out of the side of her mouth to Bearpaw. He shrugged and peered closer at the SmokeClan cats as they settled down away from the other Clans.

"I'll begin," Valleystar declared, clearing his throat and throwing a smug look at Lilystar, who returned it with a scowl. "We have a new warrior among us. Sablefire has shown herself to be worthy as a warrior of ValleyClan!"

As the Clans half-heartedly chanted her name, Sablefire swelled with pride. Bearpaw visibly wilted beside her, but she ignored him. He isn't going to bring me down on my big day! she told herself indignantly. She missed Valleystar announcing the new apprentices, but pricked her ears to listen as his voice grew somber.

"I would like to call out SmokeClan for attacking and almost killing a patrol going to Starfalls to clear out the tree so that we can commune with StarClan." His voice lowered dangerously. "Why have you done this?" The SmokeClan leader snapped his head around to look at Valleystar.

"I-I don't understand," he meowed, looking puzzled. "Softmint told me that you attacked them first. . . ." As realization sparked in his gaze, he turned to his deputy. The she-cat stared back unabashedly, a slight smirk on her features. It was all the confirmation he needed. Sablefire wondered faintly if this was all an act so that the SmokeClan leader could do something to make himself look better.

Houndstar straightened. "I apologize for the behavior of my Clan. It was wrong of them to organize this beneath my nose." He paused, and Sablefire realized what he was going to do if he was going to win the other leaders' approval. "Softmint, you're demoted from being a deputy. It was treason for you to do this. From now on, Drizzlestrike will be deputy."

Softmint's sly expression crumbled. She stared up at Houndstar disbelievingly as the new deputy went to sit with the other deputies. The Clans watched Softmint, but Sablefire only had eyes for the new deputy.

Something nagged at the back of her mind. All of a sudden it flooded back. Sablefire held in a barely-contained gasp. It was him.