"How can you say that, Darkflower?" It's pathetic how I'm more willing to fight for Shadowclan than Shadowclan's own deputy is! She nearly had the gall to say it out loud.

If only I was a warrior so my opinion could be valued like one. Her gaze burned into the larger she-cat's.

But saying so will only make it worse. She compelled herself and brought her paws together in a mature manner.

"You're Shadowclan's deputy. You can easily go to Starclan and get nine lives for your clan-"

"WHAT CLAN?" Darkflower yowled, her voice ringing throughout the pine forest. Their lush needles lifted with the breeze, gently brushing together in the silence that followed.

Crescentpaw was pleased to now be the one saying, "Look. If you're Shadowclan's last hope, why would you throw that away?" she kept her voice a lot more level and calm than the deputy's had been. Her gaze was questioning and genuine, while Darkflower's was defensive and ill-tempered. The dark she-cat glared over Plumetail's ears at her.

"Oh. Miss know it all, I see." She cocked her head in a mocking gesture as she sneered. Wow, I don't think many cats would've liked having her as a deputy. How did she even get appointed- did Gravelstar just have no other choices left? It was almost funny. The apprentice had never seen a warrior act so aggressively childish.

"If you'd use your brain to think for a second, you'd realize that Gravelstar took some of his lives with him. He lost five of them fighting against the wolves. But the snake-heart took his other four and fled," she narrowed her eyes at Crescentpaw against the sun. It had reappeared with a vengeance, plunging the clearing into a yellow radiance once again. Plumetail sighed contentedly while Crescentpaw wondered how she could stand the heat.

"What happened to your medicine cat?" She asked, thinking about a smaller tabby tom named Elmshade. She had seen the healer beside the roots of the Great Oak on her last gathering.

"Elmshade was killed a few moons ago, toward the end of leaf-bare." Darkflower lifted her head to further inspect Crescentpaw while she spoke.

"There were no new healer apprentices in Shadowclan before or after then?" Despite the bitter she-cat's previous retorts she wasn't afraid to ask more questions.

"We had one but they were killed as a kit. I'm sure you smelled the burial plots right outside camp when you approached them."

The apprentice shifted her paws, then looked up to meet her gaze. "Yeah. Why is it so close to camp though? That's not custom of Riverclan's burial sites," she pointed out.

"It's not custom of any clan!" Darkflower sounded increasingly impatient. She gnashed her teeth together as she said, "and it's because I'm only one cat, you know! I can't waste strength dragging them farther than that." Her voice grew ragged.

"The only reason Plumetail is in this state is—..." she took a deep breath. "-is because she couldn't make it up a pine fast enough. I managed to distract the wolf so she could get away; but it wasn't without consequence."

Crescentpaw's ears twitched. She's been here alone with Plumetail for a long time.

"My last kin- my son Nighthowl couldn't stand watching our clan die. He knew that there was no hope here. He got tired of burying the bodies. So he took his apprentice and left." She angrily swiped at the ground then turned her face away. Darkflower's shoulders were hunched as she went on. "And so did several other Shadowclan cats. So I'm going to do the same."

With her jaws facing the opposite direction of Plumetail's perked ears, she huskily dropped her voice. "If- When Plumetail dies, I'm going to leave this place. It's hard enough as it is. I have to hide in the trees at night, but leave her on the ground." She whispered urgently, and Crescentpaw leaned closer to catch her meows.

"I can't drag her up there with her injuries. I'm only one cat," the deputy repeated softly. The breeze settled as Plumetail baked on the earth. Her eyes were sticky and half-closed. Her lovely orange tail swished but then feebly twitched with pain. A meek moan of distress rattled from her chest, until the she-cat laid her head down on Crescentpaw's moss.

"You want moved out of the sun yet, Plumetail?"

The frail she-cat weakly muttered, "No." And opened her brilliant orange gaze wider to peer up at them. She was crouched with her paws tucked underneath her like a deer. Her white pelt was still unwashed and dusty in places, yet it shone in the dazzling sun.

"Okay." Crescentpaw nearly leaned forward to lick the elder's forehead, but then she realized how weird that was. She didn't even know her. Plus Darkflower might take it as an intruding display of overstepping boundaries.

"Well at least start eating your squirrel." The Shadowclan she-cat urged, rising to her paws and pushing it closer. After that she padded a few paw-steps away and right up to Crescentpaw's nose.

"Didn't you say you have somewhere else to be? Skyclan, right?" The tall deputy sounded scornful rather than interested.

"Yeah. But I have to know your full answer first. Are you sure you won't come with me to the other clans?" She corrected herself. "We can go back to Riverclan first, for Plumetail's sake."

The tabby-and-white apprentice inwardly cringed at the thought. I'd have to explain everything to everyone, and then just go off the blind hope that they'd allow me to continue my mission.

"We don't have a medicine cat, but I might find one on my trip around the lake." Crescentpaw explained. "And she might be able to make it there before sundown, with our help of course. We'll have to go slow, but Riverclan territory is at least a lot more open than...this..." Crescentpaw trailed off as she saw Darkflower's hardened expression.

"I already told you that Shadowclan is done for. I'm going to do what most of my other clanmates did and go off to be a loner after this." Her mew was grating and firm.

"At least I stayed until the last clan member was left. I was loyal to the very end."

It disturbed Crescentpaw how she let a bit of pride creep into her voice. As if she were somehow better than her clanmates. Maybe in a small way she is. Yet in a lot of ways she's not. The Riverclan apprentice stared at the she-cat's burning bright gaze. There's no point judging her any further. She knew she had to go. If she was going to make it to all the other clan territories within two sunfalls she needed to average at least two a day. And it was now clear that Darkflower was a lost case.

Crescentpaw nodded acceptance at the she-cat before getting to her paws. She padded closer to Plumetail, giving the leftover squirrel meat near her paws a wide girth. I'm sure Darkflower would pounce on me if I tried to even breathe anywhere near that. Not that I'm scared of her, she told herself, lifting her muzzle and tail confidently.

Crescentpaw leaned down to nose-touch the older she-cat gently.

"It was nice seeing you again, Plumetail. Your fur still looks just as lovely." Crescentpaw murmured the compliment kindly. Even if the comment wasn't all the way true, Plumetail's mostly-clean flanks still shone a blinding snowy white in the sun. Her belly and legs were dirty and thin, but her bright orange tail was still a splash of citrus against the earth.

Plumetail didn't answer, and Crescentpaw didn't want her to. She looked the old she-cat regretfully in the eye before turning away. The elder looked tired and defeated, which only flattened Crescentpaw's enthusiasm even more.

No hope left for Shadowclan, then. She gave Darkflower a respectful nod and headed for the entrance tunnel.

"Don't come back," the deputy warned. "Either no cat will be here or you'll find both of our rotting corpses lying in camp."

The Riverclan apprentice didn't need to be told twice. She padded past the near-black she-cat with her hackles down. Shuffling through the exit path and out into Shadowclan's thick pined forest, she looked up at the sun.

Crescentpaw had quite a few hours left before sundown. Despite feeling like it, their chat hadn't taken too long. She loped into a running bound, puffing as she adjusted to the faster gait.

Deep green pines flashed past. Their layered pelts of abundant needles swept by on the edge of her vision. I don't have time to travel down to the lakeshore and then back up into Skyclan land again. I'm heading straight there.

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Crescentpaw