When there's a hard problem that we have to face, how do we solve it? Depending on the person facing the task depends how fast or the way they solve it. If it's a really challenging problem that even older people can't solve, it starts to become a bother. It's always good to have people around you to help when you're facing a hard task, such as two opinions going against each other. 

There are times when we tend to take the people on our side's opinions and thoughts into consideration when we want to win. When it comes to the other side's views, we tend to ignore their views because we want to come out at the top. To increase our chances, we tend to spread out to people on our side and, sometimes, people who aren't involved or know your intentions. Talking to those kind of people, they'll sometimes tell you things you want to know, and they weren't aware that the information they told you could shift the tides of the argument. 

Whatever the case is, the people who don't know your intentions are can be a double-edged sword.

X X X

Four moons later...

"Mothpaw...?"

She stayed silent at the sound of her name, lowering herself further to the ground. The grass shuffled and sounds of an incoming cat loudened. Scents flooded around her, and even the one she was looking for was heavily cloaked in crisp grass and fresh rain. Underneath her target's paws, the grass crunched, perking her ears in the direction of the noise. Her eyes darted behind her, making sure she wasn't being stalked. As she waited longer, her paws began to shake, her nerves starting to take over.

Stop! Calm yourself! Calm yourself! Calm yourself... She breathed in, lungs expanding as she took in more of the misty air. Despite the pounding of her heart, she did find herself more secure.

As she calmed herself, a pelt flew out of the grass in front of her paws. Mothpaw let out a yowl as she was pinned to the ground, her back being pushed against wet grass. She struggled to break free, front paws scrambling to lock onto something. Peering her eyes open, she spotted her older brother standing above her with a prideful gleam in his eyes. He grinned and hopped off after he secured his victory.

"You were doing pretty good until you took in that breathe to calm yourself," he admitted. Mothpaw glanced around, the two of them were a little ways off from camp so if anything bad struck them, the Clan would know immediately. Beechpaw shuffled around on his paws, scouting out for the other hiding cats dotting the field.

"How did you hear me? I thought the kits—"

"Attack!"

The two of them whirled around to see three small, flying cats soar across the field with tiny strides. Mothpaw braced herself for one of them to tumble on her but wasn't expecting a second one to come crashing into her front paw with the force of a startled rabbit. She stumbled and let out a gasp, heart skipping a beat. Beechpaw snarled with a hint of laughter when the last one collided with him. Back on the ground, the two cats pounced, their tiny paws batting at her underbelly and sides weakly. Immediate giggling sprung from her opponents as they continued to hop and swipe.

Warmth flooded into her heart when one of the cats pulled back and stared at her curiously. When he realized that she wasn't defeated, he sprang once again, flopping himself on her head to prevent her from yowling. The second one tugged at her tail with sharp teeth. Twitching her tail, she heard a shocked growl. Tiny claws dug into the fur once again, rolling around on the ground. Mothpaw lifted a paw and attempted to brush the kit away.

He let out a series of giggles, laughter taking control of his body and making it easier for her to push him off. Firekit landed on the ground, still laughing, and it only increased when she rolled him on his back, exposing his underbelly. Mothpaw grinned at the enthusiasm and turned to drag her tail closer, pulling along a golden tom who had his teeth around her tail, his claws sinking into the ground to slow her down. Even when her tail was at her side, the kit refused to let go, blue eyes firmly pinned on his prey.

Beechpaw was standing on his paws with a feisty she-cat doing her best to scramble up his pelt. Each time she jumped, her claws would scrape against her brother's pelt, only to slide down. The spotted she-cat snarled, bunching up her muscles and landing halfway up his pelt, back legs kicking in the air to boost her. The kit mustered up any strength left in her body and heaved herself up a few inches. Her eyes sparked with accomplishment, but quickly dropped to dread when she fell back. 

"Alright, time's up," Beechpaw declared, shooing the she-kit away. Leopardkit whirled around, energy radiating from her amber eyes. Her brothers, continued to torment Mothpaw by throwing themselves on her. She found it amusing, and seeing the three siblings romp freely and fight with any given chance, though most of MeadowClan thought of them as a nuisance.

For the first time, Mothpaw had forgotten that leafbare was closer than before. The realization slapped her in the face when Icekit had sprung out of the nursery and screeched at the cold temperature.

"How did we do? We did amazing, right?" Leopardkit persisted, standing on her toes. She could see waves of thrill and jubilance dance around the kit like the cold wind.

"Yes," Beechpaw reassured, licking her forehead. "I still can't believe Tigerfrost and Lionfur let you guys roam outside camp to play with us."

"Because we're strong!" Firekit shouted, jumping over his younger brother's head. His front paw came down, squishing Icekit's face to the dirt and grass below. Mothpaw pushed the orange kit away so his brother could wiggle free. Once free, the other tom shook his head, dirt specks flying out from him.

"You are only two moons old, I don't want to see you hurt yourself too soon," Mothpaw reminded, trailing her tail around Leopardkit's paw. Next to her, Icekit poked his head out from behind, noticed that his sister was getting more attention than he was and promptly scrambled over to shove her out of the way.

"What are you doing?!" Leopardkit roared, shoving her brother back with equal strength. Firekit didn't want to be left behind, and raced over, throwing himself on top of his sister and brother, momentarily stopping the quarrel.

"Hey, stop fighting already," Beechpaw demanded, voice ignored by the kit's battle. "Stop this, and I'll tell you a story!"

At that, they all looked up at him, teeth still locked around one another. Then, Leopardkit broke free, her back leg knocking Icekit in the eye, who stumbled back and fell on Firekit. The she-kit raced forward eagerly until her youngest brother reached out with one paw and tripped her. Legs twisting under her, the spotted cat fell to the ground, only for her orange brother to slip out and beat both of them to the brown tabby, who watched the small disaster with amused eyes. 

Fidgeting, all of the kits jumped over one another in a line. Their faces dropped in a scowl when the learned that her brother had only said that for them to stop their fighting. Leopardkit unleashed her claws and lashed her tail, lunging toward the apprentice. Firekit and Icekit teamed up and tackled their older sister to the ground, their combined weight forcing the she-kit to the ground. Mothpaw stepped over, pulling off the two kits before they did anything else.

"You guys are hyper," she sighed through Firekit's pelt. Icekit nodded eagerly, wiggling out of her grasp.

"Yeah! I know! We should tell you a story!" exclaimed the tom. His brother and sister perked their ears up. She set down Firekit and he tumbled toward his siblings, whispering to each other with their backs turned. Occasionally, one of them would giggle and send the trio off-topic. 

Finally, Firekit whirled around and shouted, "We'll tell you about our mother's best friend!"

"Amberfeather!" Leopardkit answered. 

Amberfeather? That was Ashstar's sister. Mothpaw recalled a few stories were Echoflight would tell them about the feisty she-cat, and then telling her how she was struck down by monster on the thunderpath that was far away from either Clan. She wondered what the she-cat was doing so far away from camp, but in the end, it was her downfall. From the stories, the she-cat had only lived a basic life, nothing worth remembrance. The fear of her own life being like that haunted her.

"Yeah! Amberfeather! She was Ashstar's other sister!" Icekit twitched his tail. Both Beechpaw and Mothpaw stopped where they were, grabbing onto the attention. The tiny kit smiled innocently and continued with his story. "Tigerfrost says that she was the best warrior you could imagine!"

"But Tigerfrost and Lionfur are the best warriors we have now! They're super tough!" Leopardkit pointed out, lashing her tail and puffing her chest out to increase her size. "That's why I'm going to be the best warrior of MeadowClan to make them both proud!"

"No, I am!" Firekit snarled. "Lionfur told me privately that he was proud of me and my progress!"

"But Tigerfrost told me that she was proud of my hunting skills! She says as long as I keep it up, I'll be the most important cat in the Clan because I'll be the one hunting all the food!" Icekit protested, making Leopardkit flatten her ears at her brothers. The three were about to get in another fight when Mothpaw jumped in, snatching the golden tom away from the brawl between his sister and brother.

"Icekit, tell us more about Amberfeather," Beechpaw begged. "It'd make us very happy."

"Have you not heard of her before?" he questioned, tilting his head. His wide, blue eyes shimmered at the thought of telling two apprentices a story. Leopardkit and Firekit were too busy squabbling with one another to notice the attention their youngest sibling was receiving. 

"We have," Mothpaw admitted. "Amberfeather was a very brave she-cat---"

"The best thing about her!" Icekit interrupted. "Tigerfrost says that she was clever and witty, even going as far as spying on Daystar!" Mothpaw's face dropped, knowing the kit was spilling powerful information. Beechpaw had the same expression as well, leaving the orange tom oblivious to the two of them. He twirled his tail in the air, thinking.

"Tigerfrost says it's okay to let you guys know because Daystar and Amberfeather are gone. The stories about her spy missions are always the best! Not only was she great at combat, but she was able to spy on her leader at the time and go by unnoticed! I wanna be like that! I'll start spying on Ashstar when we get back! I bet that both of my parents will be super proud of my skills!"

I don't think super's the right word for this. Spying on Daystar does perk my interest. She's long gone though, Ashstar's a good successor - when he's paying attention to our Clan. Mothpaw turned toward the tom. "Icekit, do you know why Amberfeather wanted to spy?"

"No," he answered, frowning. "Tigerfrost didn't say anything because she said that was one of the few things she disapproved of her friend. She says that Amberfeather was all stiff about Daystar and her tactics. You should know that, right? Everycat here knows that Daystar was a rogue that rose to the leader position during the darker times."

"Looks like we'll be asking Tigerfrost a few questions," Beechpaw whispered into her ear. Mothpaw nodded, confirming their next action after they finished playing. A yowl from Leopardkit distracted her. The she-kit rolled around in the meadow, batting Firekit as he stood above her. Icekit heard it and peered behind her, only for her to stand in his way to keep the free-minded kit on topic. Luckily, he didn't push and went back to where he was sitting, curling his tail around his paws.

"About the second sister. You said Amberfeather was Ashstar's second sister?" questioned Beechpaw, and Icekit nodded in agreement. "Do you know who the other sister was? That's something Mothpaw and I have never heard about."

The excitement in the kit's eyes fluttered like a butterfly. However, it was slowly extinguished, his ears drooping. He lowered his head and said, "No, Tigerfrost won't tell us. Lionfur knows who the sister is too, but even he won't tell us. She did promise to tell us when we get older!" He bounced back with an abundant amount of energy. "So, I'll tell you who the other sister was when I do learn!"

"Did she ever say if the sister is still alive?" Mothpaw asked before the kit could scamper off. 

"Yep! She says the other sister is alive and well! At least, she thinks she's well. At least she's alive, right? Hey, I know! Maybe the sister will come to us for a visit! Tigerfrost makes her sound like she's a rogue, doesn't she?" Icekit giggled and ran off before either of them could ask any more questions to join his siblings. Yowls of annoyance erupted, telling them that the kits had started their brawl.

Beechpaw sighed, sitting down, energy drained from his body. Mothpaw sat next to him, leaning on him for support as they watched the three siblings tumble. Looking at them, she blinked away the memories of her, Beechpaw, Honeypaw, and Gorsekit. The very few memories she had with all four of them were scarce, but she held them close to her despite the fact two of them were gone from her life. She didn't know if her brother thought about them time to time; he didn't show it if he did. 

Ever since Honeypaw had left them, the bond between the two of them had strengthened drastically. The two of them decided they'd get stronger to solve the missing cat problem so they wouldn't lose the other cat. Mothpaw thought if she lost Beechpaw, she'd enter a cold world, one where it was silent without some cat in her family to pull her out of the water. However, neither of them expected they'd be snooping around the past to figure out present answers. When they put their heads together and came up with a plan to figure out the missing cat situation, they figured it was just one big story that needed to be heard. Figuring out the past seemed to lead them away from their goal.

Despite looking through cat's pasts, Mothpaw found that it gave her something else to do instead of worrying about leafbare. The first flakes of the winter snow had fallen for a day, causing MeadowClan to go into a panic state. Hunting for prey would become a priority, something she'd get pulled into since she was an apprentice. Beechpaw didn't seem to care about the upcoming change, the only thing she saw in him was the burning desire to see his sister again and figure out the missing cat problem to make Echoflight proud of them. Ripplestone was out of the question, no doubt. 

"Are we going to talk with Tigerfrost once we get back?" she asked, wanting to confirm their next action. 

"I guess so," he replied. "Maybe if we learn about Daystar's era, we'll get a small clue to go off of?"

"It's a good plan, but I wonder why no other cat in this Clan hasn't done anything about it," she admitted. "Or try to solve this case."

"I'm sure there are cats, maybe they're just being silent for the time being." Beechpaw shrugged, laying down and rested his chin on the ground. "I don't want to waste time learning about cat's pasts. That won't help us."

"Off to Tigerfrost we go," she murmured, laying beside him as the three kits broke apart to take a short break. They got back into their brawl, having fun during the dark time MeadowClan was facing. How she wished the invisible missing cat problem would disappear so the kits in front of her eyes wouldn't be forced into the same situation as the apprentices - forced to grow up too soon and seal their playful self away until they were safe.