Graysplash's face seemed to transform in front of Duskelle's eyes. His expression went from anxious and slightly curious to shocked to extremely worried.

His voice was low and urgent. "What? What are you saying, Shadowflight? Missing? Missing? How could she be missing? How is Icebreeze? And the other kits? They are being watched, right?"

Shadowflight's expression was as troubled as Graysplash's.

   "I just returned from hunting when Icebreeze found out that she was missing. She's not doing very well, Graysplash. After all, it is her first litter. It appears Hawkkit wandered off this morning at the time of the Clan meeting, when everybody was listening to Minnowstar."

Duskelle was confused for a moment. Clan meeting? When had there been a Clan meeting? And then she realized that Shadowflight meant the gathering of the cats that had taken place at the time of her apprenticeship. Of course. The cat - which Duskelle could make out was a kitten - would've easily been able to sneak off when Minnowstar was making her an apprentice. All the other cats would've been engrossed in the ceremony, what with it being very different from normal.

Of course, a kitten wandering out into the forest all by itself would be very dangerous, but really, there wasn't much of a threat to it. Even if it wandered onto another Clan's territory, they would probably return it to the camp. Duskelle had made out from Seapaw's rambling the first day that part of the warrior code, the set of rules that these cats lived by, was to never let a kit get hurt, no mater which Clan it was from. So why were they so worried?

"Come on, hurry up, Duskpaw!" Duskelle looked up to see that Shadowflight had disappeared into the camp and that Graysplash was just short of doing so. She snapped out of her thoughts and scurried after them.

The camp was in an uproar. Cats were running around here and there, Frostmist was trying to give unheard orders, and Duskelle could make out some cat calling out, "Where has she gone? Find her, find her, we have to find her!"

"RiverClan!" A commanding voice rang out in the air and the cats froze. Slowly, they all turned to face the middle of the camp.

Minnowstar was standing on the rock that she apparently used for addressing all of the Clan.

"Stop behaving like this! What do you think you are? Weak WindClan cats, running around like rabbits? Well, you're not, so stop! You are RiverClan." Her furious blue gaze spent the clearing.

   "We are RiverClan! All that has happened is that one of our kits is missing. And she will be found soon, so it is nothing to worry about!"

"But it is something to worry about!" a cat wailed from the group of cats that the Clan had formed.

  "There's a fox out there! In RiverClan territory! There are never foxes in RiverClan! And the one time there is one, a foolish little kit picks that time to sneak out of camp before she's apprenticed!"

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the cats. Duskelle was curious. What exactly was a fox and why was it so dangerous? There was no time so consider the question though, since Minnowstar had spoken again.

"I trust you, Dapplerush, to leave the said worrying to me while you let Frostmist organize patrols to actually get around to finding the kit," Minnowstar replied, quite frostily, as the speaker surfaced from among the crowd. It was a dappled - as her name suggested - golden and brown she-cat with a sharp honey-colored gaze. Duskelle guessed that Dapplerush, as she was called, had been in a few incidents including disrespect to the leader before.

Minnowstar leapt off of the rock and headed towards where Seapaw had told her the nursery was. Duskelle stared after her as the cats around her split up into groups as ordered by Frostmist. Why was the leader going to the nursery of all places? She noticed Graysplash's gray head trailing after and decided that she had to follow.

As Duskelle followed them, she reasoned with herself that it wouldn't exactly be eavesdropping, It wasn't as if she was going to listen in on another cat's conversation without them knowing, was it?

That would've been a good argument, except for the fact that that was precisely what she was going to do.

Duskelle shook her head to clear the little voices telling her she was doing something wrong and continued on. She stopped several tail-lengths behind Graysplash, who was only a few paw-steps behind Minnowstar. They disappeared together into the nursery. Duskelle looked to her sides and convinced that no cat was watching her, slipped inside, careful to stay within the shadow of the thicket that was entrance and not go any farther.

"Icebreeze? Are you alright?" came Minnowstar's voice. Duskelle was astonished to hear such love and gentleness in her voice.

A female voice, foreign to Duskelle, spoke out in reply, weary with a hint of exasperation.

"Oh, I don't know Minnowstar. I can only think 'What would Hawkripple do in this situation? How would he search for Hawkkit?"

Graysplash's deep tone came next.

"Icebreeze, Hawkripple was a noble and good cat. We all know that. I more than others, him being my greatest friend and loving brother. But you must accept that he is-" Graysplash's voice hitched and he had to pause a second before continuing. "-gone now. He isn't coming back. Right now, it is you here, and you must think 'What should I do now, not what would Hawkripple do now." Duskelle contemplated his words. It seemed as if Graysplash's brother, and apparently Icebreeze's mate, had died, sometime recently.

A long sigh from the unseen she-cat followed his words.

"I do try. I do try to do things my way, but without him here, it's just so hard...and now with Hawkkit, the one I named after him, missing... and with a fox on the loose, too!" The pitch of her voice heightened a little at the end of her sentence and both Minnowstar and Graysplash were silent for a second.

Minnowstar spoke next, her words fierce.

   "Icebreeze, you have nothing to worry about. You know that I will do everything in my power as Clan leader to find and save Hawkkit. We will get her back!"

   "I know you will try, Minnowstar. I know you will try your best. But will it be enough? I do hope so."

   "It will be enough!" Graysplash exclaimed. Duskelle flinched, surprised at the outburst. "It will be enough," he repeated, softer this time.
  
   "It will be enough, so stop being so dismal; and also, you can stop trying to hide from us, Duskpaw, as all of us in here can scent you."

Duskelle inwardly groaned. How could she have forgotten? Scent! Of course the cats would've been able to smell her! She sighed as she shuffled forward and into the light.

   "I'm sorry," she said as she gazed at the ground in front of her, which was covered with feathers and leaves, presumably to keep the kits from getting hurt. "I just want to know what was going on."

"It's alright," Minnowstar said, a hint of amusement in her voice. "Behavior expectable of an apprentice. And, oh, you haven't met Icebreeze yet, have you? Well, Duskpaw, this is Icebreeze, my half-littermate and the mother of Hawkkit, who, as you must know by now, is missing."

Duskelle looked up at the cat in front of her. She, too, had some of the elegance that Minnowstar and Lilacfeather carried, though some of her features were different, as though she shared only one parent with the siblings, and Duskelle could understand what Minnowstar meant by 'half-littermate'. The she-cat had unusually dark brown eyes that appeared to be almost black. Her pelt ranged in shades of gray, and was spotted with with dark gray spots, and her build was extremely light, her limbs and tail oddly thin. Her gaze was serious and thoughtful as she looked at Duskelle. Upon a closer look, Duskelle noticed that there were two small bundles curled up against her body in the nest she was lying in. More kits. They appeared to be asleep at the moment, probably because of exhaustion brought on by all the activity and excitement that was going on.

Minnowstar continued the introductions.

   "Icebreeze, this is Duskpaw, the Twoleg that can understand and speak to cats." Her voice was smooth and even, as if she was reciting a list of facts.

Icebreeze gave Duskelle a tiny, almost imperceptible nod. "Hello, Duskpaw, and welcome to RiverClan."

Duskelle replied with a simple, "Thank you." Almost as an afterthought, she added, "I hope that Hawkkit will be found soon."

The she-cat allowed a small smile. "Thank you, Duskpaw. I hope so too."

"Your business here is finished, Duskpaw," Graysplash said. "You may leave now." Duskelle inwardly winced. Oh yes. She wasn't supposed to be here. She nodded to Graysplash and backed out of the nursery.

Oh well. At least she had been able to gather some information.

~~~

Okay, yes, I know, that was a horrible ending to the chapter. But don't worry, the next two chapters are going to be real good and you guys will finally understand how Duskelle will fit in and be helpful.