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"But I Believe In Divinity "
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"Okay, Dawnclaw, so Aquiver has been talking to me about possible treatment options for Sablekit." Swiftear said nervously. He still looked anxious from her outburst, and Dawnclaw felt guilt deep inside her chest, like a spiderweb.

"Yes..." Dawnclaw said warily. Her emotions were still running high, she didn't trust herself to not burst again.

"Aquiver is very well educated on this subject." Swiftear said, admiration flowed from his mouth like honey, Dawnclaw felt it drip onto her fur, sweet but oh so sickly. Swiftear's dark green eyes shone with marvel, and Dawnclaw bared her teeth.

She looked up and met the intense gaze of the she-cat, her copper eyes were scintillating.

"After Kalor found these barn cats, he found out as much about the disorder as he could. It turns out, there are two types. Sablekit has the inhibited type, as did the young molly who had the disorder." Aquiver paused, letting Dawnclaw process what she had said.

"There are many treatment opinions, however the best opinions that Swiftear and I decided on are play therapy, family therapy, and special sessions for you, Dawnclaw, where you learn to do what's best for him. Individual psychological counselling would also be effective." The little cat said.

Dawnclaw cocked her head. What did all of those words mean?

Picking up on her stupefaction, Aquiver began to explain.

"Play therapy would be getting Sablekit to play games on his own, and eventually move him on to playing with other kits. It will help him become more comfortable around others, and teach him how to appropriately interact with others. This will help him learn the social skills he needs." Aquiver told Dawnclaw. Her expression was warm, but guarded.

"I understand that." Dawnclaw replied. "But who would be with him?" She asked, feeling quite stupid.

However, Aquiver looked brighter at the question, she seemed encouraged, as if Dawnclaw was finally beginning to understand, and engage in her son.

"I would, as I am knowledgeable about the treatment methods. You would be included in some, but not all. When you are there, for play therapy, the majority of the time you would be observing. I don't want you very involved in play therapy for a little while at first, simply because you were a major factor of why he developed he disorder." Aquiver spoke gently, but her last words hit a nerve in Dawnclaw, and she sunk her claws into the dirt, as her body broke in half, and slowly joined back together.

"Family therapy, however, is different, where it is necessary for Sablekit, you, and Pinetuft to autopilot in positive, rewarding activities to help him connect with you both. His siblings too, will come, but not to all of them. In fact, you and Pinetuft can alternate." Aquiver went on relentlessly, ignoring or was unaware of the emotional conflict going on inside Dawnclaw's head.

Dawnclaw was experiencing defeatism. Her body was on fire, a raging mess of anger and blame and self pity. But now she was living on emptiness, air and acceptance. Her body worked on auto-pilot, her mind floating in unpleasant thoughts of what she had been responsible of, and what the future would hold. Pinetuft had been accepting, but once he knew the full extent, how would he react?

"Dawnclaw, your sessions would be with me, Swiftear, and Pinetuft. You both need to learn about Sablekit's disorder together, and know how to support him in the future." Aquiver continued. Dawnclaw tried to clear her mind, and listen to the she-cat.

"And that leaves individual psychological counselling. This would be between Swiftear and Sablekit. The two would talk, try and form a connection. It would help us get inside Sablekit's head, learn what's going on inside him, and how to move forward. Swiftear would share what he learns of Sablekit with me, you, Pinetuft, and Snakestar. However, the session itself is strictly between the two. If there are other presences, he may feel anxious and become more withdrawn, and refuse to say anything. Also, I won't be around forever, and you and Pinetuft were directly involved with his upbringing, and contribute to why he developed this disorder."

Dawnclaw noticed that Aquiver had repeated herself. A mistake, or was she trying to drill a message into Dawnclaw's head?

"That's all we need to discuss for the moment, I'll leave you to process what you have learned. Our first session will be with Swiftear, you, Pinetuft, Sablekit and I, where we will give him a few tests, so we know for sure that this is what he has. If he definitely has the disorder, we will have our first session of family therapy, where we will inform and explain to Sablekit and his siblings what he has, and how to support him."

Aquiver then dropped her professional manner.

"Now, I'm needed on my first border patrol!" She gave a little skip of excitement, and bounded out of the den.

Swiftear watched her go, and turned back to Dawnclaw.

"She's a great cat, isn't she?" He mewed fondly. Dawnclaw distinguished an emotion in his eyes. It was love!

"Swiftear, do you love her?!" Dawnclaw burst out, her voice alarmed.

Swiftear stared at her, and then laughed.

"StarClan, no! She's only twenty moons, and my littermate is an elder, for StarClan's sake! That age gap is atrocious. I admit, I have become fond of her in the past few sunrises. She has been very helpful, and is full of personality. No, I love her, but not the way that you think. I see her as a daughter, almost."

Relief washed over Dawnclaw, smoothing down her horror. But at the mention of 'daughter', she flinched slightly.

"You'd better go, the moon has long risen. You don't want to worry your kits." Swiftear dismissed her.

"Of course." Dawnclaw said, and hurried out of the den, her grey paws landing heavily on the grass, flattening it.

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A/N

I found some interesting information about RAD that I didn't know, so that's great!

Fact Of The Chapter: Swiftear has crushed on two cats before, (Fernface [deceased] and Cherrystream.) However because he is a loyal medicine cat, (Wow, so rare) he didn't act on his feelings.