broken stems

~~~

THE AIMLESS CHATTER CAME TO a close when a new scent flooded into the Gathering island heavily. ShadeClan had arrived.

Ivystar was in the lead as usual, her patrol fanning out behind her and spreading out to find any remaining open seats. However, what was unusual was the way the leader walked; despite the fact that she held her chin up high, the limp in each step was unmistakable.

"What happened?" Rosefrost whispered lowly, horrified. "Did she get injured? How-"

"Ivystar." LightningClan's leader Brightstar was on her paws with wide eyes; clearly, she was working through the same questions Rosefrost was. "Are you alright?"

Ivystar ruffled her fur in the tough, stoic way she always held herself. "I'm fine." She jumped at a branch in the leader's tree, but barely made it due to her injured paw. Yet she still didn't address it and simply flicked her tail. "Let the Gathering begin."

"You can't possibly expect us to just move on." Flightstar, leader of CloudClan, twitched his pelt. "How'd you get hurt?"

Ivystar's eyes flashed with annoyance. "That is ShadeClan's business, and ShadeClan's business only," she meowed shortly.

"If the injury came from a force outside the Clans," Reedstar of LakeClan meowed, his eyes dark, "it affects all of us."

ShadeClan's leader ruffled her pelt, but gave in. "There was a rogue attack."

As soon as she spoke those words, a collective gasp rang among the cats, and Rosefrost was instantly swept back to this afternoon, with Tigerblaze and Calypso and Fog. The sound of Fog's neck breaking, the way the light dimmed in his eyes. Half of her wanted to see Tigerblaze's reaction, but the other half that wished never to look his way again won out.

Flightstar yowled for everyone's attention, putting a stop to the murmurs. "How bad?"

"Nothing we couldn't handle," Ivystar replied curtly. "No deaths, two casualties. It simply caught us off guard, we'd never seen them before." Her nose wrinkled. "They approached us out of nowhere, demanding prey and a place to hunt."

Duskstar's face was full of worry when he spoke. "They're usually by our borders," he meowed. "If they've already approached you..." He trailed off, the rest of his sentence obvious: I wonder what they've done to us.

Brightstar cleared her throat, breaking the pregnant silence as she stepped forward to run through her report. The rest of the leaders followed in suit, each doing so rapidly with a unifying eagerness to return to camp and check up on the status there. By the time Reedstar finished with his report, everyone was antsy and jumped to their paws almost immediately, ready to head out.

Deputies started calling for their Clans, cats said goodbyes to their friends, and leaders gathered in a huddle to exchange some quick, brief words. But through all that chaos, a voice managed to rise above the rest.

"Wait!"

Duskstar jerked his head away from the leaders' huddle, looking thoroughly vexed that someone was trying to hold everything up. However, that annoyance quickly melted when he realized the cat who'd spoken was Tigerblaze, his own son.

Tigerblaze didn't wait for permission. Having gotten the entire island's attention, he sauntered up to the front and leaped onto a tall boulder, lashing his tail. Rosefrost watched this in complete bewilderment, and when she gave Dovepetal a questioning look, the calico could only shrug in reply.

"I'm sure most of you know me," the ginger tabby tom started out, "but for those who don't, I am Tigerblaze of BreezeClan. And I come here tonight to tell everyone that there's been treason committed in my Clan."

"What?" Dovepetal murmured, her beautiful features morphing into confusion. "What's he talking about?"

"Tigerblaze!" Duskstar's sharp voice sounded as the brown tom finally decided to intervene. "Get down from there immediately. This type of thing ought to be discussed in private."

The ginger tabby straightened. "I'm sorry, Father, but I need to announce this right now. It's the will of SpiritClan."

"Has he got fluff for brain?" Craneflight muttered angrily. "What's he doing? He's making BreezeClan look bad."

Dovepetal nodded along, but Rosefrost couldn't move. She'd been frozen, and her veins felt like they'd been pierced by ice, a weird, fearful feeling sitting heavy in her gut.

The wind hadn't rustled the heather, but unfortunately, she had a good idea of who did.

She prayed to SpiritClan it wasn't true, that Tigerblaze hadn't purposefully eavesdropped on her and Craneflight's conversation. But what else could he be talking about?

"As we all know," Tigerblaze meowed importantly, pacing back and forth on the rock, "it's a warrior's duty to help the Clan grow. This stems heavily from their responsibility to reproduce. However, someone in BreezeClan seems to think themselves free from this rule, free to do whatever they want."

Beside her, Rosefrost felt Craneflight stiffen. He'd figured it out as well. "No, way," he mumbled lowly. "He wouldn't."

But he would. And Rosefrost couldn't do anything to stop him as the ginger tabby cleared his throat and continued.

"And that cat is no other than-"

"Tigerblaze," Craneflight hissed angrily, leaping to his paws. "Don't you dare-"

"Rosefrost!" The ginger tabby smiled triumphantly as he let the news sink in. "Rosefrost's always been weird, but now she thinks herself so special that she fell in love with a she-cat! And not just any she-cat, but my sister, Dovepetal." His voice was bitter. "Congratulations to the two of them."

The island was in an uproar. Everyone was talking in rapid-fire to their friends, glancing this way and that to try and spot the brown tabby or calico.

Rosefrost was horrified. Humiliated. If she almost threw up during her Warriors Ceremony, imagine how she was feeling now. There weren't enough words to describe how cold with fear and anger she was, how dazed and unreal it all felt, how quick the bile was rising in her throat. But most importantly, she found herself pathetically unable to meet the pretty green eyes of Dovepetal that she adored.

Tigerblaze's taunting smile was infuriating. "Was that meant to be a secret?" he meowed, twitching his pelt. "Oops."

"Quiet," Duskstar snarled at the crowd, putting an end to the chatter and stalking forward. His eyes scanned the crowd furiously; they narrowed when he spotted Dovepetal and Rosefrost, sitting side by side. "Dovepetal, is this true?"

"I-" The calico's head snapped from Rosefrost to her father's furious gaze. "I'm not sure-"

"Dovepetal." Duskstar's voice was brimming on the edge of a low, threatening growl.

"I don't know," Dovepetal meowed helplessly. "Dad, please-"

The BreezeClan leader lashed his tail, silencing her. "Rosefrost," he meowed, voice stiff and rigid. "Come here."

If all eyes weren't on the brown tabby before, they certainly were now. Rosefrost felt like she'd stopped breathing, and she couldn't move until she felt a gentle nudge from Craneflight. Only the tiniest bit comforted, she started forwards to Duskstar, stopping short of Tigerblaze's rock and wishing she could claw that smirk off his face.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Duskstar hissed.

"I-" What did he want her to say? In Rosefrost's opinion, she hadn't done anything wrong, but an apology seemed to be the only right thing under her leader's seething eyes. "I'm sorry."

"A simple sorry won't save you," Duskstar spat. He eyed her up and down icily with an inhale shaken with fury. "Exiled."

At first, the word didn't register with the brown tabby's brain. She stood there, staring at Duskstar like a harebrained idiot, before it finally clicked. "Exiled?" she sputtered, fear gripping her so tightly it hurt. It was leafbare. She didn't know how to survive on her own. "You can't be serious."

The brown tom swept his tail. "Sunfrost, Blueblaze. Escort Rosefrost out of our territory, please."

Rosefrost whipped around, trying to find someone who'd protest this. But nobody spoke up. Her parents were in camp, and even Craneflight was guiltily avoiding her pleading eyes.

"Dad," Dovepetal started as Duskstar stalked towards her.

"Silence," the BreezeClan leader snapped. "I'll deal with you later."

And Dovepetal's confused, hurt green eyes were the last thing Rosefrost saw before she was herded away by Sunfrost and Blueblaze. Pushed out of her territory and home, forever.

~~~

see, we told you this chapter would be more exciting (at least, we hope it was)! we'd love to hear your thoughts! what do you think if tigerblaze now? duskstar? dovepetal? craneflight? what will happen to rosefrost? let us know!!

~ lily & effie