♕

Darkness was approaching faster than she had anticipated as it began covering the camp, the air slowly brushing past.

Whitepaw had brought her and Goldenpaw to the Apprentices den where she saw Rainpaw silently asleep, though, she dared not wake him from what she was told by Whitepaw and Leappaw.

Goldenpaw was snoring sleepily next to her in her own moss bed. Whitepaw was near the back of the den, his tail curled around him, his white fur barely visible.

What am I still doing awake, she snarled to herself. She needed to get the best sleep possible, though, she wasn't tired.

Her stomach growled with hunger, I wish I ate that water shrew.

She sat up silently and padded over toward the den entrance, ducking to slip through the tight hole. She was greeted by a slight chill as the wind whooshed past. She looked at the camp, dead silent. She'd never seen it like this, it was always busy, cats going to and fro.

She walked over to the fresh-kill pile, not very fresh now because it had sat near the edge of the camp since sunrise.

She sniffed out a mouse and slowly nibbled on it until her ears pricked up as she twisted her head around, it felt as if she wasn't the only one not asleep.

Keeping in the shadows, she moved toward the quiet voices as she realized two bodies on top of Moss Rock, she couldn't make out who they were, but by the sounds of it, it seemed as it was Stripestar and... Brightshine?

What is Brightshine doing there with the leader, she thought, listening closer.

"It's about Honeypaw and Goldenpaw," Stripestar said. "If I'm not mistaken, they're in a prophecy."

Brightshine hesitated. "A—are you positive? What was the prophecy?"

Stripestar took a deep long sigh. "It went something like, "as soon as the hatred and anger becomes too strong, two sisters will cause the destruction of the forest."

What, I'm part of a prophecy?

"It couldn't possibly be Honeypaw and Goldenpaw, they love each other!" Brightshine fretted.

Stripestar let out a yawn. "I'm sorry, but I already talked to the other leaders and they said it's most likely your two kits," he confirmed.

Brightshine let out a quiet anguished whine. "What do we do?!"

"I'm not sure there's anything we can do, but we can start watching them closer. Maybe they can prove that the prophecy has nothing to do with them, we must wait," Stripestar responded.

Honeypaw didn't want to listen anymore, she couldn't believe that they thought it was her and her sister. Yeah, Goldenpaw and her got into fights sometimes, but besides the point, those were rare. She had to prove to them that she wasn't part of the prophecy.

Should I tell Goldenpaw? she wondered.

Right now she was too overwhelmed, perhaps another time.

She walked through the shadows toward the Apprentices den, fear swelling through her body. Could two cats really cause the destruction of a single forest?

That's impossible...

She quickened her pace before neither Brightshine nor Stripestar could see her as she slipped into the Apprentices den once again. She walked over to her moss bed, curling up as she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep...

♕

Songs of sweet birds awoke her from her slumber, her eyes gently widening awake from her sleep. She hadn't slept very well, all she could think of was what Stripestar had said.

She looked around the Apprentices den and noticed that Whitepaw and Rainpaw were gone, only her and Goldenpaw remained. Before she could talk to Goldenpaw she heard a quiet voice call her name. She looked at the entrance to see Leopardfur stick his head inside the den.

"Rise and shine!" he whispered, twirking his head for her to follow.

Honeypaw sat up and followed as pain struck her body from laying on an uncomfortable moss bed the whole night. When she was a kit she slept on a bed full of feathers and moss beside Brightshine and Goldenpaw, no wonder it seemed so different.

As she walked out she glanced above, the sky casting vivid streaks of color from the brightening sun. Cats were already waking from their sleep, meeting in the middle of the camp to be chosen on patrol.

"What are we doing today," she asked her mentor.

Leopardfur looked back at her, rolling his eyes. "I'm not sure, I think I'm going to show you the borders today."

Excitement began filled her body, the fear slowly faded away, she was going to learn the borders! "Are we leaving now?"

Leopardfur stopped and turned around. "Yes, but we must go now if we want to see all the borders before sunset," he said, keeping pace beside her.

As she exited camp warm air pushed past her, tree leaves swayed vigorously. The forest weather seemed to be changing, days were randomly becoming a bit colder and soon, it would be leaf-fall and then leaf-bare. Brightshine told her and her sister that they were born right after leaf-bare, but apparently leaf-bare was miserable and cold and there was never any prey.

Somehow, a lot of the mud had dried up, possibly because of how hot it had been the last couple sunrises.

"Welcome to the forest," Leopardfur purred as the wind ruffled their fur. "As you look back the camp looks much bigger then you would expect. That's so predators think larger animals than them are living in there and they'll be too scared to look, pretty neat, huh."

Honeypaw nodded with impatience, her tail twitching impatiently. She wanted to see the forest!

Leopardfur continued walking as she followed, staring at the scenery. They were walking across a nice grassy path, a river bed ending almost a fox-length away from them, the blue water swirling away toward a waterfall which pounded the Earth. Tupelo trees were spotted all around, creating shade from the beating sun. Small alkali buttercup flowers sprouted to and fro, bringing a slight color to the dull, green and brown colored forest.

"I didn't know the forest was this beautiful," she murmured in shock, watching a toad race by, leaping into a pond ahead, the water rippling by its small splash.

Leopardfur gave out a small purr. "Yes it is, but come look at this."

She rushed to her mentors side and stared. Her eyes followed the grassy path leading to a large body of water and in the middle sat a large island with four trees located on it; a tupelo tree, solitaire tree, oak tree, and a lodgepole pine tree. She knew all the names from vigorous stories about the island told by both elders, Lightningspot and Violetfern

"That's the gathering island, where every full moon all the Clans meet there for a large meeting. All the trees represent each Clan, MossClan is the tupelo tree, TreeClan is the oak tree, and FlowerClan is the solitaire tree," he finished, though, there was still one mystery remaining, there was still one more tree.

Honeypaw's thoughts bubbled. "Wait, there's still another tree."

Leopardfur shrugged, shaking his pelt from the dirt. "Some say that once there were four Clans, but the fourth Clan caused so much destruction that they banished it from this forest."

Honeypaw gasped in hatred. "They can't do that to a Clan!" she fretted. "What did the Clan do that was so bad?"

"From what the elders told me when I was a kit, cats from the Clan, I think it was called HedgeClan, would go around poisoning other cats from the other three Clans. Some say that some cats even tried bribing HedgeClan to stop, but it would only make the matter worse. It was until that all the leaders decided to get rid of HedgeClan and ever since then the Clans have been at peace," he finished, staring ahead as the sound of the waterfall covered the silence.

Fear overwhelmed her body, how could a whole Clan cause that much destruction? How did any cat even survive? Were cats from HedgeClan still alive? Even more anxious thoughts bubbled in her head, if only there was any way to find out...