The abandoned skydens — they really exist! So this odd tom was actually telling the truth back then.

Without bothering to be quiet, Larkwing dashed through the forest, her tail swaying behind her. Her paws stirred up the crackling, dead foliage with every step.

Out of sheer carelessness, she almost ran right past their makeshift sleeping place. Just in time, she came to an abrupt halt.

Cloverdapple poked his head out from under the bush, a half-surprised, half-amused expression glittering in his reed-green eyes. "What's happened? Did you come across something?" he enquired.

The branches trembled and then Splashfur appeared beside him. His ears twitched attentively as he eyed Larkwing.

Gasping with exertion, Larkwing put down her captured vole. On shaky paws, she slid under the bush and dropped to the ground like a wet leaf. "I... I think I saw them," she mumbled.

"Saw what?" Cloverdapple asked. His voice resonated with interest.

"The skydens." Overcome by tiredness, Larkwing dropped her chin to her front paws. Her eyelids began to flutter, but she forced herself to stay awake.

Cloverdapple twitched his ears. "Is that so? How are you so sure?" he meowed without appearing suspicious.

Larkwing paused. Right, what if I've got it wrong? The truth is that none of us have any idea what such a skyden even looks like. Thoughtfully, she unsheathed and retracted her claws repeatedly. Nevertheless, she had a feeling that told her she had indeed seen the skydens. They were tall and looked unnatural. If they weren't the skydens, what else were they?

"Let's better wait until the others are back," Splashfur interjected, "then maybe Larkwing can tell us more."

Grateful for the light ginger tabby warrior's suggestion, Larkwing finally allowed herself to close her eyes. The constant walking and hunting today had really sapped her strength.

Just as she was about to drift off into a deep slumber, pattering pawsteps pulled her back into the waking world. It was Leafwind returning, with another vole in his mouth.

"I don't understand how you forest cats can catch anything at all with all these trees and roots," he complained. "This one literally ran in front of my paws. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have managed to catch anything here."

Sneering, Larkwing twitched her whiskers. "Right, you meadow cats—"

A warning glance from Cloverdapple silenced her. Almost a little offended, she pressed her lips together tightly. You meadow cats aren't used to hunting in the forest. That was actually what she wanted to say. Did Cloverdapple think she wanted to make fun of MoonClan? She wasn't even going to do that. At least she had no intention of saying anything nasty.

Yet at the same time, it was nothing but the truth. RoseClan, SnowClan and LaurelClan all had their territory in a forest. Only MoonClan hunted on open terrain. So it was only natural that Leafwind couldn't cope so easily with such a sudden change of environment.

After Leafwind's return, it didn't take long for Redleaf and finally Crowshadow to return as well. Both of them seemed to have each caught a squirrel, with the former SnowClan warrior also having a rather scruffy-looking blackbird tucked under her chin.

"At last something to eat," she groaned after dropping her prey. Her gaze shifted to Splashfur and she wrinkled her muzzle. "Have you been here the entire time we were out hunting?"

"That thorn was in deeper than I thought at first," Cloverdapple replied in Splashfur's place. "Took a while to get it out. And it would have taken even longer if you hadn't kept pulling your paw away!"

At Cloverdapple's reproachful tone, Splashfur hunched his shoulders in embarrassment. "Once you've got a thorn in your paw yourself, you'll know how unpleasant it is," he grumbled.

How dare he speak in such an impertinent tone to a cat who is not only older than him, but also has a much higher rank, Larkwing thought angrily.

To her surprise and astonishment alike, Cloverdapple didn't seem angry at all, whereupon Larkwing's initial anger vanished like mist. In fact, she was guilty in this aspect too, as she had so often been ranting about other cats and thinking bad things about them in her thoughts.

Redleaf lifted his tail. "Enough of this," he declared. "We'd better make sure we split the prey."

"Yay," Crowshadow whispered so softly that Larkwing was sure that only she had heard it.

Without responding to the black she-cat — which meant that he really hadn't noticed — Redleaf turned to Cloverdapple. "Would you mind if we split the one squirrel? If it had been possible, we might have been able to find more, but well..."

Cloverdapple shook his head. "Never mind, that will do," he said indifferently.

Oh right, they're from the same litter. For some reason, Larkwing kept forgetting that fact. Maybe it was because Redleaf and Cloverdapple didn't give off any real sibling vibes, like it was with Lakepelt and his sister, for example, or with Bramblepaw and her kin.

Larkwing settled down with her paws folded under. She could worry about family relationships another time. All that mattered now was that she finally had time to relax.

Unfortunately, nothing seemed to come of it. "Larkwing." Cloverdapple searched her gaze. "You need to tell us what you saw."

The skydens! Cold with fear, Larkwing remembered. Was it even the skydens or had she made something up after all?

"I may have been mistaken," she interjected, struggling to keep her voice from becoming squeaky. All of a sudden she felt terribly small and cramped. Usually she was always so self-assured, so quick-witted.

Lakepelt poked her lightly in the flank. Before he had the chance to say anything, to probably persuade her to tell him about her discovery after all, Larkwing moved away a little and shook her head violently.

But it seemed that everyone was eager to hear what she had to say. Above all Crowshadow, who seemed to pierce her with her bright, green-yellow eyes. Crushed by the expectations that crashed over her like a storm wave, the pressure increased.

There's no point in resisting any further. Larkwing had to swallow hard. She timidly began to tell what she had seen, trying to describe this strangeness as best she could.

When she finished, there was silence for a while. Larkwing shifted restlessly back and forth. Say something at last!, she pleaded in her thoughts.

"That's..." Leafwind began.

"That must be the skydens!" Splashfur interrupted him. The tip of his tail twitched with excitement. "I knew we were on the right track."

Cloverdapple, on the other paw, seemed to have his doubts, even though he didn't voice them. At least he had his ears pressed tightly to his head and his neck fur was barely noticeably ruffled.

At least I know that Splashfur believes me. Now that she had told them about her discovery, Larkwing felt strangely light, like a feather being blown through the air by a breeze.

She waited expectantly to hear what Redleaf would say. He was the one who had suggested the formation of the reconnaissance patrol and made it a reality, and he also held the highest rank of all the cats present. So he should now be the one to decide how they should proceed.

"We still can't say for sure that those structures are actually the skydens, but what choice do we have?" Redleaf meowed slowly. "How far away do you think they seemed to be, Larkwing?"

Larkwing strained to remember. She hadn't really paid attention to the distance. "I guess about half a day's journey from here, if we hurry," she answered on the off chance.

"Then we should set off first thing in the morning," Redleaf decided. "It's already too late today. But we're slowly running out of time. Every day that passes increases the chance of another attack by the Shadowless."

Larkwing shuddered. The Clans had no idea where the Shadowless were at the moment, but one thing was as clear as water in a mountain lake: another fight would inevitably lead to more deaths, and that only on the Clan side.

***

After a short dawn hunt, the seven cats had immediately moved on towards the rising sun. They had left the small forest behind them relatively quickly. Now there was another wide meadow in front of them, mostly flat, with a few scattered, withered gorse bushes. The grass was tall and scratched Larkwing's legs. On the horizon, the sunrise was veiled by a thick fog, and a wide river flowed a few tree-lengths beside them.

Every now and then, Larkwing tried to make out something in the mist, but to no avail. Restlessness made her fur prickle. It doesn't mean anything, she told herself. Yesterday the view was simply clearer. Clinging to this thought, she shuffled along at the end of the patrol.

Her first night outside the Clan territories. It was an extremely strange and above all frightening experience not to have all her Clanmates around her. She had felt almost defenceless. And then it had been so strangely quiet. She was used to the constant splashing of the waterfall in the RoseClan camp, so the absence of the sound made her even more uneasy.

Crowshadow, who had been walking further ahead, dropped back and fell in beside Larkwing.

What's that supposed to mean now? Larkwing kept her head turned forwards, her body rigid. Sometimes she moved her eyes suspiciously to the side to sneak a glance at Crowshadow, noticing that the black she-cat's whiskers were a little kinked, which unintentionally elicited a purr from her.

Immediately afterwards, however, she fell silent as Crowshadow's eyes narrowed slightly. She wasn't necessarily keen to mess things up with the older one.

She was all the more surprised when Crowshadow whispered, "Aren't you Larchwing?"

Larkwing wrinkled her muzzle. "No, Larkwing. Lark. Like the bird," she corrected.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Crowshadow ducked her head in shame. "Some names I just can't remember." She moved closer to Larkwing. "Would you like to have a chat with me for a while?"

Larkwing tilted her head in disbelief. "You're pretty loquacious for a SnowClan cat," she commented rashly. You mouse-brain! You can't even hold your tongue when it matters!

To her relief, Crowshadow didn't make a face that said she was irritated. "Specklestar banished me, don't you remember? I'm not a SnowClan warrior anymore," she said between clenched teeth. Bitterness resonated in her voice. "It's like an insult to be an exile, a Clanless, but what other choice do I have? As long as Specklestar doesn't come to her senses, I'll avoid SnowClan like crowfood. Not that they'll ever accept me again..."

"It's okay, I can understand that," Larkwing interrupted her. She had experienced herself several times that Specklestar wasn't really a competent leader. With a dark heart, she remembered how she had been held captive by SnowClan as a young apprentice. How SnowClan had pushed its border into the interior of RoseClan territory because of an unnecessary show of power. This had caused a fight to break out, in which Reddapple had been critically wounded. And one day, Specklestar had simply decided that she didn't want to take the danger posed by the Shadowless seriously.

Blinking, Crowshadow curled her fluffy tail upwards. "Thank you", she purred. "We she-cats have to stick together, am I right? After all, we're the only two she-cats here."

Absent-minded, Larkwing nodded briefly.

Chirpily, Crowshadow continued babbling, still keeping her voice at a very low volume. "Hey, by the way, Larkwing, you and that tom there from your Clan - well, you seem to get along pretty well."

"Yes."

"How am I to understand that?" Crowshadow whispered, her eyes gleaming mischievously.

Larkwing's fur bristled. How audacious of Crowshadow to ask me something like that when we don't even really know each other! "Our relationship is purely platonic," she replied coolly. "And I don't want anyone spreading rumours about us either. It has to be possible to be connected on a deeper emotional level and still not be mates."

"It's okay, I didn't really want to upset you with that question," Crowshadow replied placatingly. "It's still interesting to see that there are cats who aren't desperate if they aren't in a relationship within a very short time."

There are certainly quite a few of them. "What about you? How do you feel about romantic relationships?" Larkwing inquired out of curiosity.

Thereupon Crowshadow's expression tensed as if she was reliving a painful memory. Did I say something wrong? Ashamed, Larkwing flattened her ears. "Listen-"

"Well, I'm the complete opposite of you, so to speak," Crowshadow finally explained. "In all the moons I've been through, I've fallen in love so many times. Each time it started suddenly, without any signs, and so strong, so... breathtaking, that I was no longer myself in the presence of these cats. Toms, she-cats, whatever, I felt this affection for all of them."

"She-cats? But... but aren't you a she-cat yourself?" Larkwing stuttered, confused.

Crowshadow snorted in amusement. "Yes, why not? Even though I seem like I'm the only one in the world who feels this way, why do we have to limit ourselves so much in relationships? After all, it's nothing more than a particularly special, intimate bond between two cats. All romances I know of are exclusively between a she-cat and a tom. Why shouldn't there be love between she-cats? Or between toms, for that matter."

The longer Larkwing listened, the more sense Crowshadow's words made to her. It was true, all the mate pairs she knew were of opposite genders. She had grown up with this knowledge and had never questioned it. Although she had only just learnt that it was also possible to be different.

"What did your Clan... I mean, your former Clanmates thought about the fact that you were attracted to she-cats as well?" Larkwing wanted to know. "If it really happens so rarely, it must have been hard to explain it to them."

A dark shadow passed over Crowshadow's eyes and she lowered her head. "I've never told anyone about it," she admitted huskily, "nor have I ever confessed my love. After a few moons or even days, the attraction fades. It fluctuates at first, sometimes it feels like more, sometimes like less. But after a certain point, there's nothing left. Just a void, as if I had never felt a thing."

Pain seeped into her voice, which gradually died away. Helplessly, Larkwing didn't know how to respond. She had no idea about love. She wasn't even sure if she could recognise it herself, should she fall in love one day after all. Nevertheless, what she had just heard sounded awfully complex, even to her ears.

She licked her chest fur nervously as she searched for the right words to say back. But were there even any? Maybe one day you'll find a cat for whom your feelings will never dwindle. No, she probably gave up that hope long ago. In frustration, Larkwing let her slightly bushy tail swish through the air. Crowshadow had confided in her, a she-cat from another clan, and she practically had burrs on her tongue!

Gratitude flooded through her like a wave as Redleaf swivelled his head to face them, muzzle curled in disapproval. "Maybe you should pay more attention to your surroundings and make sure you don't fall too far behind instead of chirping around incessantly like heedless apprentices."

Apologetically, Larkwing lowered her head before she dashed off and fell back into line beside Lakepelt again, as usual. She was infinitely glad about Redleaf's interruption.

The rest of the way, Larkwing and Crowshadow didn't exchange a single word. Even their eyes didn't meet. Neither did the other cats say anything.

At least until Leafwind suddenly stopped without warning. All the hairs in his sleek, auburn tabby fur rose up like the spines of a hedgehog. In his wide-opened, central heterochromatic golden-green eyes lay an expression of pure dread.