Graysplash held Duskelle's gaze for a moment before looking past her to the other apprentice, who was still hunched over Stormpaw.

   "Mosspaw," he called, and over the haze of tiredness, Duskelle was able to realize that this was the tom's name and he was the cat Seapaw had talked about the first time she'd met Duskelle.

   There was no response from Mosspaw. Graysplash sighed and made to gently push away Hawkkit to go over, but the other cat, Dapplerush, beat him to it. She padded over to Mosspaw and laid her tail over his shoulders, which were trembling. Duskelle felt a twinge of pity for the tom. Obviously, he was one of those who would've suffered the most if Stormpaw had-if Stormpaw had - no. She couldn't think about that. Not when the possibility was still there - no, she couldn't even think that the possibility existed. She had to put it behind her and push ahead.

   Dapplerush raised her sleek head, her sharp hazel eyes fixated on Duskelle. "I don't know what you did," she began, a streak of something Duskelle couldn't quite identify underlying her words, "but if you were - if anything you did was the cause-if this happened because of you-" the she-cat's gaze was harsh "-it'll be the last thing you'll regret-because you won't be there to regret anything else." Dapplerush's attention shifted back to Stormpaw as Graysplash joined them.

   Duskelle felt a sliver of fear slide into her mind. What if - what if Stormpaw didn't - didn't survive, and nobody was there to tell the other cats of what had really happened? What if they thought that - that Duskelle had done this to him? She shook her head, disguising it as an attempt to rid the water on her head-fur. No. They wouldn't do that. She was sure they wouldn't.

At least she thought she was sure.

   Something warm pressing against her foreleg made her look down. Hawkkit. Duskelle could feel the kit's shivering through her fur. How could she have been so stupid? She'd made the kit walk through the forest in the rain for who knew how long. Now all she needed was for Hawkkit to get sick. That'd make a perfect ending. Bitter thoughts filled her mind as she watched the three cats awkwardly raise Stormpaw onto their backs. She watched them pass in front of her and it took her a moment before she realized that she was getting left behind. She scampered to lift up Hawkkit onto her back and tell her to hold on before starting to drag herself after the others, her injured leg screaming in pain as she did so. It looked like they hadn't noticed that yet.

   Suddenly, the clearing brightened and Duskelle looked up to see that a cloud had just moved out of the rising sun's way. With a jolt, she realized that she'd spent the entire night out in the forest. River had told Duskelle that her mother always said 'Time flies by when you're having fun'. A half-bitter, half-wistful smile spread across her face. Apparently, it also flew by when you were trying to find a missing kit and bring an gravely injured cat to safety.

   She mentally pushed away the crazy laughter that bubbled up in her mind. To add to this mess, she was also losing her mind.

   A rock jolted her leg and a fresh wave of pain brought her back to reality. Duskelle winced and kept on going. The other cats in front of her didn't seem to care about her. They kept on going, Mosspaw occasionally whipping around from side to side to stop Stormpaw from slipping off and murmurs of conversation from Dapplerush and Graysplash came to Duskelle, though she was unable to actually make sense of their words. Something told her that they were talking about something to do with her.

   Duskelle noticed abruptly that the bushes around her were steadily thinning. They were getting closer to camp. She almost let out a cry of relief and managed to reel it in at the last second as she glimpsed the bramble-covered entrance.

   The other cats made it to the entrance. Duskelle heard a new cat's voice pipe up. "Graysplash? Dapplerush? What's going on? Oh my, what's happened to Stormpaw?"

   Duskelle heard Graysplash's deep voice reply. "That's something that still needs to be discussed. Right now, we've got to get Stormpaw to Lilacfeather."

   Duskelle felt claws dig into her skin and a moment later, the small weight that was Hawkkit lifted off of her back. The kit bounded forwards toward camp. Duskelle dragged herself after the kit.

   She was almost there when the exhaustion took over. She couldn't fight it back anymore. She felt herself slip away, slowly being overcome, her vision turning dark and everything around her blurring into one rush of sound.

   For a while, Duskelle's mind seemed to just float along on a stream of nothingness, floating to a place she didn't know with no memory of the place she'd come from. Suddenly, a flash of brightness filled her mind and she was able to feel solid ground under her paws. It took a moment for her to realize that she could open her eyes, and when she did, she was met by a glorious sight.

   She was standing in a meadow. The grass was lush underneath the pads of her paws and sunlight warmed her pelt. A cool breeze was playing through the meadow, making the grass sway lazily from side to side and the fur on her head shift. She heard the trickling of a stream somewhere off in the sun-filled forest surrounding the meadow. The scent of woodland and meadow combined filled her nose, smells of wood, water, and grass mixing together in a delightful combination. But the most amazing thing about this place was the colors. They were so bright, so...colorful. So rich. The blueness of the sky, the lushness of the grass's green, the richness of the trees' bark, it all overwhelmed her in ways she'd never experienced before.

   A sound from behind her made her jump. She whirled around to see a tom watching her, a serene expression covering his face and amusement evident in the depths of his light amber eyes. A split second later, she realized that this cat looked very different from any that she'd ever seen before. His fur was astonishingly long. The fur made his tail appear even thicker than his face. And his size. He was the biggest cat that she'd ever seen - bigger than she'd thought was possible. He was double - maybe triple - the size of Seapaw.

"Er-hello," the tom said, a slight expression of unease covering his face.

   Duskelle realized that her mouth had been hanging open as she stared at the cat. She hastily closed it. "Oh, uh, hello," she responded.

The tom smiled. "I suppose you're surprised at what I look like."

   Duskelle nodded mutely, still shocked by the tom and the place she was in.

"I - well - I used to be a kittypet," the tom said, appearing uncomfortable at sharing the fact. "I was, uh, specially bred - I mean, created, to hunt mice for Twolegs. In the cold. They call cats like me Maine Coons. That's why my body is, uh, built for hunting in the winter." The tom shook his head abruptly. "Sorry. That doesn't matter. Anyways, my name is Hawkripple."

   Duskelle's head jerked up in surprise. Hawkripple? Wasn't this - wasn't this the tom that was Hawkkit's father?

"And yes," Hawkripple said, as if he was reading her mind. "I am Hawkkit's father."

   But that wasn't what was really bothering Duskelle. She looked into the brown tabby's amber eyes, looking for any hint that this cat was different, that there was something which made him not normal.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

   Duskelle cringed at the crudeness of her own question. How could she ask something like that so outright?

   The tom let out a chuckle. "Yes, indeed, actually." He paused for a second as if remembering old memories. "My life upon your land has past. Now, I hunt with StarClan."

   StarClan...it sounded familiar...Duskelle remembered Lilacfeather telling her of it. It was a clan of their ancestors and cats that had passed away. She'd thought it was just symbolic, for how could dead cats speak and, well, live?

   "Yes, we of StarClan are real," Hawkripple said, reading her mind again. But this time, there was something different about his words. It sounded as if someone older than Hawkripple was speaking, a slight hollowness evident in his tone. As he spoke, a rustle seem to shift the grass and Duskelle glanced around to see that a huge crowd of cats had appeared, all gathered around the meadow. She couldn't make out a single pelt. All of them were melded into one silver, shining mass. Her heart beat faster as Hawkripple's yellow gaze bore into hers.

   "You, Twoleg, are not like us. You cannot see the stars that shimmer among our fur and the glow that radiates from our pelts. We are not your ancestors, as we are of any cat that believes in us. But there is something inside of you. Something that speaks of cats. Of StarClan. Of the freedom and wildness that resides in a true Clan cat's soul." Hawkripple's tone was changing once more. It sounded as if hundreds of cats were speaking with him, as if they were all using him as a vessel to speak through. The voices all melded into one. "For that reason, we have allowed you to look upon our ranks. We have told the medicine cat and leader of the clan that took you in to treat you as one of them. We have decided to watch you, to see and to determine if you are worthy matching the form of your body to your mind."

   A strange feeling rose in Duskelle, spreading out throughout her. She couldn't understand what these cats were saying. A thrum rose in the ground, as if all the cats around them were stomping upon the ground, though to her eyes they all appeared motionless. It reverberated in the air, making her heart thump with every beat and her bones shiver inside of her. She felt something happening to her body, something changing inside of her, and she looked down to see something extraordinary happening. The sparse fur on her paws was thickening, growing, covering her bare pelt, was turning dark gray, laced with a silvery sheen. It covered her paws and spread upwards, spreading across her entire body. She felt her bones shrinking, her front legs becoming shorter, her paws being compacted, her nose elongating into a muzzle, her teeth turning into fangs, her senses sharpening, something that she realized as a tail pushing itself out of her skin. The Twoleg pelts fell away and she stood before Hawkripple, in full glory.

As a cat.

As she'd always wanted to be.

   But before she could revel in her new form for more than a moment, a flash of brightness lit up the entire scene before her, blinding her and forcing her eyes shut. She felt a strange twinge in her body, as if an invisible line tied to her heart was pulling her forward.

   Duskelle opened her eyes to see that once again, she was in a different spot. And she was back to her human form. A pang shot through her. To be a cat. It was her greatest wish. To be able to fit into the world she'd always had two paws in, to be able to put in the other two paws and to be able to be fully accepted in one world.

   Duskelle shook away her thoughts and looked around. She was beside a creek, apparently the one that she'd heard from the clearing earlier. This place was different from the meadow before. The colors were not as brightly rich; they were more of a soft texture. The low burbling of the creek was a soothing sound. The caress of a breeze against her cheek felt wonderfully cool. She hadn't realized it, but her pelt had grown feverishly hot.

   "Sorry about that," said a male voice she recognized. Duskelle turned around to see Hawkripple, his pale eyes fixed on some point in the distance over the creek, clouded over with thoughts - or maybe past memories. The tom was sitting on his hind legs, his bushy tail elegantly curled over his front paws.

   He turned his gaze to her. "It's just - well, not many beings who are not cats have seen StarClan. We were surprised that you were able to make your way into our world. I just wanted to have a moment with you, but a lot of cats showed up - and then, well they came."

   "They?" Duskelle asked. Who were this 'they' and why had Hawkripple felt the need to put such an emphasis on the word?

   "Yes. They - well, they are what we call the ancient spirits. They are some of the first cats to have ever settled here - and that's not just the warriors. Or the Tribe cats. Before - before even that."

   Duskelle frowned. The first cats to have settled? The Tribe cats? Before the Tribe cats? Whatever was Hawkripple talking about?

   Hawkripple noticed Duskelle's expression and continued abruptly. "Never mind that. Anyways, the ancient spirits seemed to have felt a need to speak with you." He stared across the creek, once again lost in thought. Duskelle saw his mouth move and caught a few muttered words. "That's why...Salmonstar...thought...crazy ...told Lilacfeather...Twoleg in the Clans..."

   At the last bit, Duskelle's face contorted. Of course. Even if Hawkripple was a StarClan cat, there was no reason to think that he'd view her as one of his own. That he'd understand. And anyways, what if this wasn't real? What if this was just some strange dream she was having?

   "No! Stop that!" She looked up at Hawkripple's agitated voice and saw that something strange and disorienting was happening. Hawkripple's form was halfway faded, flickering in and out of existence, and as she watched, she felt it began to happen to the entire place around her, pure darkness all that was showing beyond the place. 

   "What - what's going on?" Duskelle cried, stumbling backwards.

   "It's-it's-" Hawkripple seemed to be struggling to get out the words and his voice seemed to come from far away. "Just-stop thinking that it's just a dream! I'm real! Believe in me! Believe!" 

   The last word seemed to snap Duskelle out of her shock. Believe. This was happening because of her doubt that Hawkripple wasn't real? As if replying to the thought, the world around her flickered again. But no. Hawkripple was real. He had to be. Otherwise, how would she herself been able to come up with the notion of Caine Moons or whatever and that weirdness back there?

   As the thoughts raced through her brain, the world slowly came to a still. Hawkripple solidified once more. The expression on his face was not a pleased one.

   "Don't ever do that again. This is why it's so hard to communicate with non-believers..." Hawkripple trailed off, looking furious. Duskelle quailed under his gaze, the light amber eyes filled with irritation and anger.

   Hawkripple sighed and looked away. "Guess I can't blame you for that one. You couldn't have known."

   Duskelle straightened back to her full height from the crouched position she had gotten into. She watched Hawkripple, her intensely blue eyes wide and wary.

   "Anyways," Hawkripple began, sitting down again. "What I really wanted to call you here for was to...well, I just wanted to..." The tom looked away for a moment, and then slowly brought his gaze back up to meet Duskelle's. "I wanted to thank you. For finding Hawkkit. And helping Stormpaw. He's my kin, you know. His father was Graysplash's mate's brother. And Graysplash is my brother."

   Duskelle frowned, a thought dawning on her. "Graysplash was a kittypet?"

   "What? No. Why would Graysplash be a - oh. Right. You don't know. Well, what happened is that I was found. As a kit. With a collar. In the woods, near the lake. He paused for a second before continuing. "Graysplash's mother took me in. I was raised alongside him. The brother he was born along with had been born dead. His mother viewed me as him, her lost son."

   "Oh," Duskelle said, all the new information taking her a while to process. "But then how do you know about the - the you being a - a - Caine Moon?"

   Hawkripple chuckled, a warm, friendly sound. "It's Maine Coon. And, well, I talked with a kittypet that told me about it." He cast her a sidelong look. "Why do you want to know so much about my family anyways?"

   "Oh - well, no reason. I mean - I was just curious," Duskelle replied, realizing that she'd been probing. "Sorry about that."

   "No, no problem," Hawkripple said, breaking into what seemed to be his signature smile. "And anyways, it looks like our time has run out." He glanced up at the sky, though how it told him the time of day, she was not sure. "Farewell, then, Duskpaw. Until we meet again," the tom abruptly said.

   "Oh - well, uh, bye then, uh, Hawkripple."

   The world started to ripple around her, disorganizing her vision. "Oh, and Duskpaw?"

   "Yes?"

   "Thank you for saving my kit."

   The tom smiled at her again, and his grin was the last thing she saw as her vision swirled into darkness once more.

---

Hullo. Small explanation here: I imagined StarClan wouldn't seem as close to Duskelle as it would to other cats because she doesn't have any relatives there and I was going more with the "StarClan is the powerful force that governs the heavens and smites infidels" feel, if you know what I mean.