"Spiderpaw, you've had me worried sick!"
Spiderpaw's head leaped from his body and his eyes opened in a flash. The area around him was cold. First Heronkit - and now Spiderpaw to be caught sneaking out of camp. Spiderpaw didn't want to know what Honeyflower would make of this.
"Thank goodness you're okay."
Spiderpaw let his eyes adjust before moving. The space was familiar - but not in the unwelcoming way the rockpile was. He glanced around, suddenly shocked when he realised he must have collapsed on Briartail the night before in the warrior's den. The silver she-cat must have woken too, for her eyes were wide open and her ears were flicked back as if she had been shocked.
"Sorry he scared you, Honeyflower," Briartail meowed. Spiderpaw breathed out a sigh of relief when he noticed that Briartail was putting on a light to her voice. "I couldn't stop sneezing last night," she meowed. "I ended up asking Spiderpaw for some herbs. I must have made him so tired he fell right asleep."
Honeyflower narrowed her eyes, the golden fur on her face flowing with her movements. "Very well," she meowed. "Not so well that Spiderpaw could have caught something. I don't want him missing another Gathering."
Briartail dipped her head, apologising with a rasp in her voice.
"You must have been exhausted," Honeyflower meowed. "I suppose I can't blame you. You've had a very eventful time."
Spiderpaw yawned. "I'm not too tired," he mumbled. He noticed that his voice was still shaken from the night before. He turned to Briartail and released an anxious breath. "You aren't on a patrol," he spoke, almost struggling for the words to say to have a chance to speak to his sister in private. "Want to come looking for herbs with me?"
Briartail dipped her head, pulling her tail around herself as she got up. She seemed to sense Spidepaw was nervous, but didn't seem to be worried at all herself. In fact, she seemed so calm towards Spiderpaw that he felt more concerned than before.
His legs shook as he lead Briartail out of the medicine cat den, swishing the lichen over his pelt and stepping forward onto the cold grass. His pace quickened part way, and he sunk his head towards the grass. He and his sister had not spoken much since the way back from the rockpile. Briartail had tried to speak to him, but Spiderpaw was far too shocked from seeing Redshade's kit in a place so dark. What confused him the most was the fact that the small cat didn't seem to mind being in such a horrible place - so long as he was as far away from the 'other' StarClan cats as he possibly could be. So many questions chased each other in his mind, was the place where he was really StarClan? Why were there so few cats? Why did the place look like so depressing?
Spiderpaw looked backwards at his sister before he pressed on, wondering just how she could be so chilled out about the whole situation - especially considering she had been there many times before Spiderpaw.
Once they were out of the camp, Spiderpaw lead Briartail at least a dozen fox-lengths away from the camp. He dipped his head.
"Well?" Briartail questioned. "What did I tell you?"
Spiderpaw shook his head. "I don't understand, Briartail," he began. "There isn't one thing about this I do understand. I need to discuss this with the medicine cats - immediately. Especially if Ashpaw has found his way there."
Briartail rolled her eyes. "What are they going to do? There's got to be a reason they're divided. You can't just trust your little medicine buddies to sort out a problem that's not theirs."
"Not theirs?!" Spiderpaw repeated. "Give me one reason that this is our problem!"
Briartail clenched her teeth. "Spiderpaw, are you deluded?" she hissed. "If StarClan is divided, we can't just sit on the sidelines and watch!"
Spiderpaw launched his ears back. He opened his mouth to speak, but paused as no words came out. "All I'm saying - is..."
Spiderpaw trailed off. His head sunk.
"You're a medicine cat," Briartail meowed. "StarClan is meant to be your main priority."
"No," Spiderpaw replied coldly. "My Clan is always going to be my main priority."
Ashamed he had acted in such a way to make his sister act so coldly towards him, he turned around and began to make his way through the grasses and back to the camp, entwining around the trees. He left Briartail alone, and didn't stop walking until he had made his way back, not making a sound other than sniffs of sadness.