Robinear felt a dull ache in her heart as Eaglepaw walked right past her without saying a word.

She felt the usual crumble in her chest at his ignorance of her, but choked back the sob of loneliness that stole through her. She sat down heavily, though she was seated outside of the den, and wrapped her tail around her paws tightly.

I'm an idiot, she hissed at herself angrily. How, how didn't I notice how Thrushnose was feeling? And now I've lost her...

As if on cue, she saw Thrushnose walk across the clearing, glancing up her way. The white she-cat looked away for a moment, looked back, the sighed and approached Robinear.

"Are you alright?" Thrushnose asked, wrapping her tail around the silver tabby.

Robinear looked up at her companion in surprise. "Thrushnose? What– I mean, I thought you hated me." Her head dipped to the ground in shame, and she began counting the stripes on her tail quietly.

Thrushnose exhaled. "You looked so...broken, sitting here. I couldn't help myself." She paused, and Robinear let the sensation of Thrushnose's warm tail around her fill her thoughts for a moment. "It's Eaglepaw, isn't it? He's still ignoring you?"

Robinear just nodded, her eyes on her tightly wrapped tail.

Thrushnose dipped her head in sympathy. "I'm sorry, Robinear," she mewed, sounding truly sincere. "I don't mean to offend you, but...do you really want to stay here? I don't think he's ever going to talk to you, Robinear, and maybe some distance will make you feel better..."

Robinear shook her head sharply. "No! I can't leave him, no matter how much he hates me!" She turned to Thrushnose, nostrils flared slightly. "I thought you, of all people, would understand. You defended my decision against Frost, after all!"

The white she-cat sighed. "I didn't really know why, though, Robinear! I loved you, and that meant I couldn't just let you be put down by that jerk."

Robinear sighed, noting the use of the past tense. "I'm sorry, Thrushnose," she murmured. "I'm an idiot for being so self-absorbed."

Thrushnose's tail swished slowly, but she said nothing for a while, instead merely staring at the ground at her paws. "Foxdung, Robinear, you're making it really hard for me to stay mad at you," she sighed.

Robinear didn't know whether to purr or wince, so she didn't react at all. "Do...do you want to go hunting with me?" She blinked up at Thrushnose hopefully, despite the trickle of guilt filling her slowly at trying to speak to Thrushnose in her moment of weakness.

Thrushnose stared at Robinear for a long moment before finally nodding. "I guess," she mewed. She hesitated, then added, "Can we have someone else come too?"

Robinear nodded, even though at Thrushnose's words she felt a stab of sadness in her chest. She shouldn't be surprised, right now Thrushnose was mad at her, and she certainly didn't want to be alone anywhere with the silver she-cat. "Who?"

Thrushnose flicked her tail. "I don't know. Quailwhisker?"

Robinear shook her head. "She's hunting with Owltalon right now."

Thrushnose nodded. "I see..." She glanced around the camp curiously, as it searching for anyone she knew. However, the camp was mostly deserted, with mostly Servants and a couple of Fighters sitting down, and even they were few and far between. "Bearclaw?" she suggested, gesturing with her tail toward the russet tom who looked utterly bored, his tail resting nonchalantly on his paws.

Robinear nodded in agreement. "Sounds good." She padded over to Bearclaw, who looked up in pleasant surprise as she approached. "Hey, Bearclaw. Would you like to hunt with Thrushnose and I?"

Bearclaw blinked, his gaze darting between the two she-cat as if confused as to why they wanted them there. Then he flicked his tail and shook his head apologetically. "Oh. Uh, I'm sorry, but I have guard duty today." He gestured to the den he was seated before, which Robinear suddenly noticed was the Den of Female Leaders.

Robinear tried not to show how relieved she was at his answer– she really wanted to talk to Thrushnose alone– and nodded toward the exit from camp. "It's getting kind of late, Thrushnose...shall we just go?" she mewed. Her gaze met with Thrushnose's, and she was struck by the beauty and depth of her yellow eyes. They were almost amber near the top, she noted, and there were flecks of something brighter and more vibrant through out her eyes. And they seemed to burn with a fire that flared brighter when Thrushnose's eyes narrowed, as if warning her to break off the stare.

It was as if Robinear could see the battle happening just by staring at the eyes. She knew that Thrushnose was angry at her, and rightly so, but she could also tell that some part of Thrushnose still cared for her. She could tell by the way Thrushnose's fur stood slightly on end as she held Robinear's gaze and the way her tail twitched, as if fighting the urge to wrap itself around Robinear's own.

Then Thrushnose looked down, and the connection was broken.

But Robinear had seen it, and it gave her a surge of hope, a belief that perhaps all was not lost. She'd rededicate herself to Thrushnose, and make sure that she never hurt her again, because she knew that she loved Thrushnose, and she couldn't live without her.

"Let's go," mewed Thrushnose loudly, and immediately began padding towards the entrance. Bearclaw gave Robinear a strange look, and she realized that the staring contest that she and Thrushnose had had only lasted a couple heartbeats, though it had felt to her like an entire lifetime.

By the Sun and Moon...I love her, she thought, her heart swelling at the words and her body filling with warmth. She quickly hurried after the long-furred white she-cat, whose tail was swishing back and forth in a steady rhythm that somehow matched the beating of Robinear's heart.

When the quiet chatter of the camp faded into the chirps of birds and the rustling of leaves, Robinear suddenly stopped, fur standing on end. Thrushnose turned to her, annoyed, before freezing as well when the scent hit her nose.

An black and white head with floppy ears popped out from above a bush and Robinear screamed. "Dog!" Though she'd only scented one before in her life, and it had merely been some fur she's been shown in hunting training, the scent was unmistakable.

She certainly wasn't in any mood to fight it off, and Thrushnose seemed of the same opinion. The two she-cat darted, side by side, through the woods, hearing and smelling the dog right on their tails.

Twice, Robinear nearly tripped on a root that jutted out from the soil at a sudden angle, but spotted them each just in time and leapt over them. Her blood pounded hard in her ears as her paws hit the ground in a steady rhythm of fear and adrenaline, prompted by the hard breathing of the dog just on their tail

"Tree," gasped out Thrushnose, suddenly darting to the side and scrambling up a young birch. It shuddered slightly under her weight but held, simply shaking down a couple of leaves on their pursuer. At the same moment, Robinear sank her claws into an oak and scaled it faster than she ever had in her life, ignoring the slight pain of her paw pads against the rough bark. The barking of the dog below her grew angry, and Robinear shivered in terror and made eye contact with Thrushnose. The she-cat nodded, and Robinear felt a shiver of relief wash through her. Her gaze returned to the dog, and she noted that its white fur was nearly brown with dirt and mud and its coat was full of sticks and leaves.

"Don't dogs ever groom?" she called out to Thrushnose, trying to lighten the mood slightly and distract both her and her Clanmate from the terror below them. Robinear saw her fur vibrate slightly in a purr she couldn't hear over the barking and felt a surge of relief that she'd gotten her to smile, though that was probably the least important thing at the moment.

Finally, after many tense moments of waiting, the dog seemed to give up and head back to whatever hole it had crawled out of.

Thrushnose darted down the tree instantly, and Robinear wasn't far behind. She suddenly felt an urge to wrap her tail around Thrushnose's tail so she did so, in a rare moment of instinct. And in that same moment she murmured into her ear, "I love you, Thrushnose."

Thrushnose hissed quietly, but didn't move her tail away. "This is not fair," she complained. "I'm still mad at you...but I guess I love you too, Robinear."

Robinear gazed at Thrushnose with a surge of pride, trust and happiness. "I love you," she repeated, even quieter. "And I don't ever want to drive you away again."

Awwwww!

So, what do you think of the chapter? Opinions on the dynamic between these two? Do you still ship it? And do you think Robinear should leave FloraClan for good?

Chapter six should come out soon! I've got about half a page of it, and chapter seven is completely done :)

~strangely productive Ember