𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑺 𝑰𝑺 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑹𝑻 𝑶𝑭 𝑷𝑨𝑹𝑻 𝑻𝑾𝑶

𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝟸 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚝 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝙾𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝟻2 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜. 𝙴𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚝𝚘 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚘𝚗.

🔻ᴛʜᴇ sᴛᴏʀʏ ɪs ᴄᴏɴᴛɪɴᴜᴇᴅ ʙᴇʟᴏᴡ 🔻

"You're Darkflower's kin." Nighthowl nodded.

"If you're Shadowclan, then how did you swim like a Riverclan cat?" She looked over at him suspiciously.

The broad-shouldered tom licked a paw and drew it across his ear. As he did, Crescentsky saw a jagged scar catch the moonlight. It was hidden beneath the thin layer of black fur close to one of his eyes.

"I don't live in the clans anymore. I've had to adapt to new types of terrain and use new hunting techniques." His yellow gaze was clear. "Including fishing and swimming in times of scarce prey."

"Then what are you doing out here?" Crescentsky scented the wind and looked around quickly. "There was just wolves on the other side of the stream. That's why we jumped in."

"We?" He looked confused.

"My sister and clanmate. They're somewhere around here."

I hope. Crescentsky tried to explain.

"We're Riverclan. We still live in our camp. I lost them when we jumped into the stream...

But last I heard Shadowclan's leader was gone and Darkflower, your deputy, had abandoned any hope she'd had left. So how did you get all the way out here?" she repeated.

"Oh. I was trying to visit Darkflower. But she's gone..." the tom blinked forlornly.

"She said she was going to look for you. I visited her in the Shadowclan camp just under a quarter moon ago." Her tail swished as she told him, but then Crescentsky paused.

"After she... when- IF..."

This is gonna be hard to explain. The Riverclan she-cat bit her tongue.

Darkflower was either dead alongside Plumetail, or out beyond the territories searching for her son.

"When I arrived at the Shadowclan camp there was no cat there," Nighthowl said. "Just old burial mounds outside the bramble barrier." His tail fell still as he elaborated. The tom looked disturbed.

"So now I'm just going back to the foot of the mountains. I'll try to find her again later."

"Why go there?" Crescentsky asked curiously, and the tom's eyes widened with matched interest.

"Thats where me, Wolfpaw and Velvetpaw live."

She stilled, crestfallen. I should've known there would only be a few cats left.

"Disappointed? Well, it's okay." He rolled his shoulders and spoke reassuringly.

"I've been looking for a she-cat around my age to join me. And you're a real pretty one." His eyes slid towards her. "Velvetpaw and Wolfpaw stay out of my fur, if that's what you're wondering. They're less like troublesome 'paws and more like withdrawn campmates, now that they've surpassed warrior age."

Crescentsky wrinkled her nose, taking a step back to where she had been before.

Was that his invitation to go off gallivanting with a stranger, without a care in the world for the clans?

Her fur was beginning to dry since she had not yet shaken the water out. She hadn't wanted to shake droplets all over the stranger, but now she wished that she had.

"Are you for real?" She asked, but the tom's anticipating expression didn't change.

"Uh, no thanks." Crescentsky looked away.

"I have to get back to Riverclan. In fact, I was wondering if you'd come to represent what's left of Shadowclan. We're trying to preserve and rebuild what's left of the clans under Starclan's guidance. I've just visited the Moonpool, as I said before." She made sure not to overshare on that last part. If the Shadowclan tom wanted to join them on their return travels, then Crescentsky might share more.

His reply was smooth, his damp fur unruffled.

"Aww, cute. But the clans are irredeemable, no matter what Starclan says." Nighthowl leaned forward, his eyes pitiful.

"You can't restore a dead dream. A few warriors and apprentices aren't going to be enough to restore the clans to what they once were. That's why I left." He lifted his tail, but even so, still sighed with disappointment. The shaggy tom threw a glance back at her as he retreated, tsking.

"Follow me if you want to. I won't mind, uh... what's your name?" he winked back at her.

Crescentsky cringed at his insolence, then shouted at his retreating hindquarters "It's Crescentsky! And no, how about you bring yourself and those apprentices back to Riverclan's territory? The more cats we have, the better we can defend ourselves while we rebuild our strength before leaf-bare! A true warrior would fight for their clan!" She added, feeling rebellious even more so now that she had named herself a warrior.

But the tomcat kept strutting along until his tail flicked out of sight. His dark pelt could be seen through the bulrush stems, and then was gone.

Crescentsky turned around, searching the dingy skies. Dawn wasn't far off, and her paws stung. With a pelt as heavy as stones, she felt it in her best interest to stop and rest, and groom herself.

But she knew she couldn't. She had to find the others, and so she set off beside the mucky riverpath.

Her hind-legs were trembling with exhaustion. If a wolf came and she had to leap back into the river, she would surely drown. With despair wallowing in the pits of her belly, she padded on.

"Crescentskyyyyy!"

Crescentsky pricked her ears as she heard her companions calling. Relief loosened her shoulders, and she could step lighter. She broke into a flat-out run on lurching pawsteps.

They're alive!

She could see them up the riverbank. When she reached them, Cheetah pounced on her and bowled her over, so that Crescentsky had to push her off while laughing before she could greet Tinyflame.

"Thank Starclan you're okay. It seems we've thrown off their scent," Tinyflame was panting and out of breath.

"Cheetah pulled me out when we were swept into a shoreline. Lagoonstripe already taught her how to swim well. I don't know how she had the energy to do it." Tinyflame's ears were flat, but then she lifted them and began laughing hysterically.

"I was sure that one of us would die!" The she-cat curled her tail in thankful amusement, then bumped her hip against Cheetah's.

"Thanks again, Cheetah. If you ask me, you should've been named a Riverclan apprentice by now." Tinyflame sat down wearily, her amusement fading.

Cheetah looked no worse for wear. Clearly, she took it as a compliment.

"Maybe soon!" She grinned. "It would be great to become a full member of Riverclan."

The three she-cats looked at one another for a moment, then turned around to scent the wind and listen to their surroundings. Crescentsky was just thinking on whether to tell them about Nighthowl when Cheetah spoke up again.

"Oh, sorry Crescentsky. There's some grass stuck to your flanks from where I pounced on you." Cheetah moved to brush it off with her paw, but Crescentsky instead braced to shake herself off.

"We need to get going. I just needed a sit-down," Tinyflame sighed while a spray of grass flew off Crescentsky's flanks. The tabby she-cat closed her eyes to avoid it getting into her eyes.

Cheetah randomly gasped, while Crescentsky opened her eyes and looked around.

"Crescent-..." she didn't finish her sentence. She seemed too stunned to do so.

All of a sudden, it felt as if the ground was farther below her. She peered at Tinyflame, who was somehow a good cat-length shorter than her now.

Why does she look so much smaller? Beside the damp riverbank foliage, Crescentsky's perspective had somehow completely changed.

"So what did Starclan say about appointing new leaders for the other four clans?" Tinyflame asked while grooming an outstretched forepaw, her black pelt indistinguishable in the dim-light. She made a face at the muck stuck to her hind-legs and then stood up to leave.

Disoriented, Crescentsky lifted one foreleg. It somehow felt longer than before.

Cheetah's eyes were bigger than they had ever been. The she-cat studied her with her neck stretched out and hackles fluffed. Her friend's nostrils flared as she tried to catch the scent of something.

"Surely not..." Cheetah whispered, almost to herself.

Tinyflame was in turn studying Cheetah; who stood partway in front of her. The direction that Tinyflame still faced put her looking away from Crescentsky.

Then the lithe black she-cat glanced over her shoulder, following Cheetah's gaze. Her eyes lit up with astonishment upon seeing her kin. Her hiss was long and drawn-out. Tinyflame's fur fluffed, and she took a massive side-step to flank Cheetah.

The two she-cats stood there with a stunned stature, their legs flexed as if tensed to run.

"Crescentsky, where are you?" Tinyflame called timidly, her voice laden with fear.

What's going on? Why were they asking where she was, when she was standing right in front of them?

Then Crescentsky looked down at her chest-fur and forelegs.

She was larger, with longer limbs. And her fur had changed color.

Nothing looked the same under the scant covering of moonlight, blanched by thin wispy cloud. Nothing felt the same. The scents on the air were sharper and more odorous, her skull felt heavier, her eyesight more defined.

And there it was again, the heavy scent of canine filling her nostrils. Tinyflame choked back a mewl of fear, her flanks quavering.

Confused, she turned around, her paws feeling heavy and clumsy. But there was no one there. The moonlight showed a flat expanse of overgrown wildgrasses waving in the wind. The gently sloping land led over into the abundant greenery of Thunderclan territory.

"What happened?" Crescentsky said, but even her voice didn't sound the same. Tinyflame and Cheetah flinched when she'd said it.

Something is very wrong.