"TWO SUNRISES?" DOVESONG could barely believe her ears. Two sunrises and they would be going back home! She didn't think that Flowerdawn would agree to going almost immediately. Usually a leader wouldn't take that risk with a formerly injured cat coming along. The journey could be too slow and they could get caught by threats. But the only injury that Dovesong had was a possible concussion and major headaches.

     "Is that fine with you, Aspenleaf?" the golden tabby asked, ignoring Dovesong's surprised exclamation.

     "Yes, fine. Thank you for telling me, Nectarstripe," Aspenleaf replied. Nectarstripe dipped his head and left the den quickly. Aspenleaf immediately turned around and began to gather up some herbs.

     Dovesong watched as he did, the bittersweet tang of herbs brought back her eagerness, and she nearly leaped out of her nest. "Can I help? I'm a medicine cat, too," she added quickly when Aspenleaf gave her a look.

     "I guess so," Aspenleaf decided with a sigh. "I'm organizing all these herbs so that we can carry them on our journey back. Think you can do that?"

     "Yep. My former mentor and I always organize bundles of herbs for the future," Dovesong explained, coming up beside Aspenleaf. She began to gather herbs and put them in a bundle to wrap.

     When she was done, Aspenleaf glanced over to check it. "I was putting each separate herb into a bundle with the others."

     "But then there would be too many leaf wraps to carry," Dovesong protested. "I would just keep the herbs in little bundles like this. So if a cat is injured, we have all the right herbs to treat them. If a queen is kitting, we have all the right herbs to treat them."

     "We have no expecting queens here," Aspenleaf informed her, looking thoroughly annoyed.

     "I was just making examples. Plus, we need to package these herbs as best as we can in as little leaf wraps as possible. This is the best way," Dovesong answered. "There's too many types of herbs to have one wrap for each. And there's not enough cats to carry all of them."

     "We'll find a way," Aspenleaf mewed.

     "You'll regret that choice," Dovesong muttered, turning back to her wraps so she could redo them. She made a bundle of raspberry leaves, borage leaves, chervil, and catmint. "How's this?" she asked.

     "That's fine. Can you do these next?" Aspenleaf responded, sliding a small pile of four more herbs over to Dovesong. Dovesong recognized the herbs as feverfew, lavender, chamomile, and burdock root.

     By the time they were done, all the leaf wraps were gone and there were too many wraps to count. We're going to lose at least half of the herbs before we return, Dovesong thought, looking at the bundles doubtfully. At least we have some back at home.

     Home.

***

     The two days before the third sunrise seemed to drag on endlessly. Dovesong helped Aspenleaf out as much as she could, but Aspenleaf was already extremely independent and unpleasant to work with. Dovesong either avoided helping him or asked and was turned down. It was starting to get difficult to hide her aggravation, but somehow she kept it in.

     Now, Dovesong shared a vole with Ivorystream. She was feeling some sort of emotion that she couldn't name. Excitement? She knew Ivorystream; she had played with her when they were young. When Ivorystream was still a kit and Dovesong was newly apprenticed. But she barely even remembered Ivorystream. It had been so long since they last saw each other. Dovesong had no doubt that Ivorystream was elated that Dovesong was here.

     "Dovesong," Ivorystream started, breaking the silence, "since you came here, we didn't really get to talk much. How has it been back in your new territory? I mean, I already know a bit, but what's your side of the story?"

     "Oh, it's fine. Uneventful," Dovesong lied. The truth was, she didn't want to get into detail.

     "That's not what I've heard," Ivorystream mewed, sounding a bit surprised. "I heard-"

     "I just don't really like to talk about it. It's not you, just . . . It's just sensitive stuff," Dovesong interrupted, then immediately realized she did. "Sorry."

     "It's all right. Then what about other cats? How's Mousepaw? I mean, I guess she has a different name now, but you know what I mean." Ivorystream tucked her paws under her chest and looked at Dovesong expectantly.

     "Well, she's Mousetail now, and she's mates with Skystorm-you do remember him, right?"

     "Of course! That's great. They were always good friends. Have they had kits yet?" Ivorystream asked excitedly, her eyes shining.

     "When we left, Mousetail was expecting, and last I checked, she was almost due, so she must have had them by now."

     "So you're a medicine cat or what? I think medicine cats do that . . . ," she muttered.

     "Yeah, I am. It wasn't my choice, but I'm actually pretty good at it. It's been stressful at times-most of the time, actually-but I don't regret anything that happened." Except for some things. But I don't have to tell her. Not yet.

     "That's good. I'm so excited to go back! Aren't you?"

     "'Course, it's just . . . I'm afraid it won't be the same when we get back." Suppressing a shudder, she remembered her vision from a few days ago. Maybe it wasn't a vision at all. Maybe she was just being paranoid. Maybe. Hopefully. If it was a vision, she didn't know what it meant. Stars falling from the sky? Could that mean StarClan being destroyed? No, it couldn't be. StarClan was all-powerful. What about the cats putting the stars back? What did that mean?

     Ivorystream's voice brought Dovesong back from her deep thoughts. "Dovesong, I've said your name five times now. What is actually going on? Did you have, like, a vision or something? I don't know, is that what medicine cats have? Visions from StarClan?"

     "We do. But . . . I'm thinking this was just a dream. I mean, I can't be sure that it was a vision until I'm told, really. But visions are always different. They always give you this ominous feeling like something's about to happen. The thing is, I just can't fit the pieces together. Either there's something missing, or this is just a confusing sign."

     "Oh, yeah? What was it about?" Ivorystream asked. "Maybe I can help," she added eagerly. "I promise I won't tell any other cat unless you want me to."

     "You do know I'm not allowed to share my visions with anyone except for other medicine cats and the Clan leader before anyone else, right?" Dovesong asked with a hint of suspicion in her voice. She narrowed her eyes at Ivorystream.

     "Yeah, but I believe it's healthy to break the rules every now and then," Ivorystream declared.

     "Don't you have kits of your own? You want to set a positive example for them, right? Asking me to do something I'm not supposed to is not what your kits should learn from," Dovesong pointed out.

     "Lilacpaw, Briarpaw, and Tinypaw are training right now. They won't hear. Besides, it's not like they would come over and listen. . . . Well, Tinypaw would," Ivorystream admitted. "She's the nosiest apprentice ever, but I guess she'll have to do. It's not like I can un-kit her." She let out a mrrow of laughter.

     "Right, she will. How are the other two?" Dovesong asked, hoping that she could change the subject.

     "Hang on! You haven't told me what the vision was!" Ivorystream exclaimed.

     Dovesong sighed. "Fine, fine. So, I woke up in a snowy field. Suddenly, the stars started shooting down from the sky, all around me. It was really scary, but when they were all done falling, I thought that was it. But instead of returning to the waking world, shadows of cats appeared on the skyline and began to put the stars back where they came from."

     Ivorystream looked quite bemused by this explanation. "That's an odd dream. And you think it's a vision? About what?"

     "That's where I'm confused. I was thinking the stars represented StarClan, and the cats . . . well, I don't know who or what the cats represent. There was no, you know, special symbol to help me understand. I don't even know if StarClan will talk to me about it, considering what I think the message means. . . ." A shiver ran down her spine. "StarClan may be disappearing, and we can't do anything about it."

     "Are you sure? I mean, isn't MoonClan our only problem here? How could they affect what StarClan does or is?" Ivorystream queried.

     "Not everything is because of MoonClan! Who knows, maybe another threat is coming and we haven't seen them or it yet."

     "Oh, remember those stories about this place called the Dark Forest? Maybe that's related to this. Maybe MoonClan found a way to communicate with them."

     "I doubt it."

     "It's possible!"

     "I guess." Dovesong heaved a sigh. "Can we talk about something else?"

     Ivorystream's eyes widened. "Oh, sure. Sorry if all that just stressed you out. I didn't mean any harm."

     "I know. It's okay."

***

     When Dovesong opened her eyes in the morning, she flinched back when bright sunlight shone right into her eyes. She looked around the den at her denmates. Most of them were gone already. It was mostly only Dovesong's companions that stayed. Ivorystream and her mate, Jaggedfrost, were the only other ones that stayed, curled around each other and sleeping peacefully.

     Then she remembered. Today they were going to leave to go to the lake territory. Excitement surged through Dovesong, and she immediately hurried outside to ask if she could help with anything that they needed. Most of the cats in the Clan were awake and moving around to prepare for the long journey back.

     Dovesong glanced over at the medicine den that was simply a bunch of rocks stacked into a small den, only enough for two cats and a bunch of herbs. I wonder how so many cats fit into there when I woke up there a few days ago. Dovesong looked closer at the den and saw that Aspenleaf was getting his herb wraps ready. Great StarClan. It won't be my fault if he ends up losing all his herbs. She averted her gaze and limped over to where she spotted Goldenheart sharing some fresh-kill with Applesong. Actually, the fresh-kill was gone now, and they were just talking. "Good morning," she greeted them. "Mind if I join you?"

     "Oh, no, not at all." Goldenheart exchanged glances with Applesong as Dovesong sat down beside Goldenheart. "So, are you two ready for today? I heard that Flowerdawn and Berrytuft plan on going all the way to the Twolegplace before moonhigh, but I doubt we'll be able to do that. We might be able to go as far as Thunderstorm's place."

     "Who's Thunderstorm?" both Dovesong and Applesong asked in unison.

     "Right. Thunderstorm is just a cranky old cat who was apparently living in the abandoned Twoleg den that we stopped at on our way here," Goldenheart explained.

     "You know, if you call Thunderstorm an 'old cranky cat' next time we see him, you'll get some scars to think about." Moonclaw approached them, glancing cautiously at Applesong before she sat down. "He's not the friendliest cat ever."

     "Thanks for the information I already knew," Goldenheart mewed, rolling her eyes. "Seriously, I can tell that he is just a cranky old cat. He's old, and he's cranky. So, cranky old cat."

     Moonclaw let out a mrrow of laughter. "Sure, yeah."

     "Anyway, I was saying that we couldn't possibly go as far as the Twolegplace like Flowerdawn wants to. We might have to stop at Thunderstorm's place," Goldenheart repeated, mostly for Moonclaw.

     "We'd have to make our own camp to sleep in instead of trying to convince him to let us stay. You know what happened last time."

     A slightly embarrassed look came to Goldenheart's face. "What happened last time?" Dovesong asked.

     Moonclaw shrugged. "Doesn't matter."

     Dovesong sighed inwardly. 'Doesn't matter'? The fact that she said that means that it does matter. The silence between the four she-cats was broken when Applesong changed the subject and asked Moonclaw, "Is it really true that you're the cat from all of those stories that we've been told? That's what everyone else is saying, but I was just a kit when we came here."

     "Oh." Moonclaw looked at Dovesong and Goldenheart as if to say, Help me. "Oh, uh, yeah, but I'm not evil like everyone thinks. I really hope they haven't convinced you that."

     Applesong looked and sounded a bit surprised. "Oh, no, they haven't. I was just curious. You can't always trust what everyone else is saying. Sorry if I-you know . . . I promise I don't think whatever they do. You don't seem evil."

     "It's fine. And thanks." Moonclaw looked at Goldenheart and Dovesong again, then averted her gaze to the ground.

     "So . . . Moonclaw, where's Wolfshadow? Still sleeping?" There was amusement in Goldenheart's voice.

     "Yep. Maybe I should go wake him up," Moonclaw thought aloud.

     Goldenheart gasped. "I'll watch! You should get some water and pour it on his head. Wait, no! You should tug the moss out from under him!"

     "Do you even know where water is?" Moonclaw asked.

     ". . . No. But that doesn't mean we can't check!"

     "I'll stick with your second idea, thanks." For what seemed like the first time, Moonclaw's eyes glistened with mischief. "Let's go!"

     "Yay! Dovesong and Applesong, do you two want to come? Just to watch." Goldenheart's eyes gleamed excitedly.

     Dovesong glanced at Applesong, who nodded quickly. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to cause a bit of chaos every once in a while." So all four she-cats headed to the warrior's den and snuck inside. Ivorystream and Jaggedfrost were awake now, taking turns grooming each other before they left the den.

     "What are you four up to?" Ivorystream asked.

     "We're going to wake Wolfshadow up! We were going to pour water on his head, but then we figured we would pull the moss in his nest out from under him," Moonclaw explained.

     "I know where to find some water. Would you prefer that?" Ivorystream asked quietly, careful not to wake Wolfshadow. Not that her voice would wake him up.

     "Yes!" Applesong exclaimed.

     "Great! I love to contribute to some mischief." Ivorystream touched her nose to Jaggedfrost's before she left.

     Jaggedfrost flattened his ears. "Aw, you made her leave," he complained good-humoredly.

     "You can survive without her for a few heartbeats," Applesong teased him lightly.

     Almost immediately, Ivorystream returned with some water sloshing in a large leaf. "We can dumpth thisth on him," she mumbled around the leaf.

     "All right, come on." They all scurried over to where Wolfshadow was sleeping peacefully. They all looked at Ivorystream, and the silver-and-white she-cat came over, and let the leaf wrap go over Wolfshadow's head, and water splashed everywhere. Dovesong flinched back as water shot into her face.

     Wolfshadow spluttered and scrambled to his paws, shaking his fur to get water out. "What was that for?" he demanded, his voice holding an amused tinge.

     "You sleep like a dormouse!" Goldenheart told him, her whiskers twitching. "And it was Moonclaw's idea."

     "Was not!" Moonclaw protested.

     "Was too! Anyway, you should be mad at her, not me," Goldenheart explained nonchalantly.

     Wolfshadow's eyes glimmered with light-heartedness as he crouched down and leaped at Moonclaw, causing them both to collapse on the ground, play-fighting and writhing and swiping. When Wolfshadow finally had Moonclaw pinned, she cried, "Okay, okay! I give up, I give up; it was me!"

     Goldenheart and Dovesong exchanged amused glances. "Let's give them some space," Dovesong mewed. "She's happy here," she added quietly. "I want to keep it that way."