Hero awoke slowly, vaguely hearing the murmurs of the other cats. As he opened his eyes and yawned, he remembered his failure the day before. Whiteshadow was gone, with no trail to follow.

Hero stood and stretched, seeing some of the others talking in a circle a little farther down the alley in which they had all spent the night. He approached them slowly, defeat making his paw steps heavy.

"Hey, Hero," Jayflight said softly.

"Hey." Looking around, Hero realized that two of the cats were missing.

"Where are Lilypool and Smokewhisker?"

"Hunting. You slept for ages!" Swiftpaw informed him. "While you were busy being a useless lump of fur, we were trying to figure out where Whiteshadow could have gone."

Swiftpaw's comment hit home with Hero. He felt as if he had let them all down, and he still didn't have any sort of plan. Would he ever manage to rescue Whiteshadow, or had he finally encountered a task too great for him to complete?

"Swiftpaw, that's enough," Jayflight said sternly, which came as a surprise to many of the cats.

"Well, it's true, he-" Swiftpaw began, but Lilypool and Smokewhisker appeared with a couple of mice and a small bird, stopping the soon-to-be argument that was brewing between Jayflight and Swiftpaw.

"I see Hero's finally up," Smokewhisker teased. "Want to share a mouse?"

"No, thanks. I'm not hungry." How could Hero even dream of eating when he had so miserably failed in leading these cats to find Whiteshadow?

"Hero, can we talk for a moment?" Lilypool asked, setting down her mouse and resting her tail on Hero's shoulder.

"Sure," Hero responded, offering her a somewhat fake smile and following her a short distance away from the other cats. "What is it?"

"What happened with you yesterday?" Lilypool asked.

"What do you mean?" Hero asked, confused.

"When you stayed behind while the others met Mason. You had a moment where you seemed preoccupied with something. You... spaced out."

"No, I didn't. I just thought I saw something," Hero denied self-consciously.

"Really?" Lilypool asked shrewdly. "Come on, Hero, you can trust us. You can trust me."

Hero sighed, letting his tail sink down. "It's just that... I don't want any of you to be in danger. You're all so unfamiliar with the city, the Factions, and I don't want you to get hurt. Especially not when there are seemingly invisible threats all around us and we're trying to complete an impossible quest!" he stopped for a moment, realizing how overwhelming the concept truly was, and raising his head to look at her. He sighed shakily. "I think you and the others need to go back to the Clan and leave this to me. It'll be a lot easier to look after myself in the city than to have to look after five cats who don't know the dangers." Hero paused, and Lilypool took the opportunity to speak.

"Maybe it would be easier if you went off on your own," Lilypool began, draping her tail across Hero's shoulders. "But we're not going to let you."

"Lilypool, I-"

"No, Hero," she stopped him. "We're determined to help you. See?" With a sweep of her tail, Lilypool gestured behind them.

Turning, Hero saw all four of the others approaching him, each of them carrying one or more valuable trinkets. Swiftpaw, he noticed, was struggling to carry what appeared to be a wristwatch much like his own. One by one, they stepped forward, laying the objects at his paws.

"What-" Hero began, but he was cut off by Snowpaw.

"We want to help find Whiteshadow. We brought you these so that we can have things to trade with, for information."

"Let us help you," Smokewhisker added.

"We spent all morning collecting these," Lilypool explained. "It really is lucky that you slept so long. Swiftpaw almost got stuck inside a Twoleg building so that she could get that wristwatch. Could you really have gathered all this on your own?"

"No. No, I couldn't have. Thank you guys." Hero looked at them all with a new-found confidence. "Let's go find Whiteshadow."

After leaving the alleyway, Hero stopped the other cats, each of whom were helping to carry the various trinkets. "Now, remember, don't interrupt me when I'm bargaining, and don't look as if anything I'm saying is a surprise. Trading in the city takes a certain experience and skill, which none of you have. Understood?"

After the cats had all murmured their agreement, they continued on their way, keeping a sharp look out for other cats. Suddenly, Swiftpaw darted ahead.

"Excuse me! Excuse me, Miss!" Swiftpaw called to a white kittypet sitting on a fencepost. A look of alarm spread across her face when she saw the group of cats coming, but a different expression soon replaced it when she saw the various trinkets the cats had.

"Why, hello, young one!" she greeted, her large belly jiggling as she hopped down from her fencepost and landed next to the cats. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" she asked, purring.

"We're looking for a cat named Whiteshadow," Hero answered, stepping in front of Swiftpaw.

"Hmm... I think I might recall having heard that name somewhere before," she answered with feigned thoughtfulness. "But it's just so hard to focus with all of these lovely valuables you have." She blinked up at Hero coyly.

Hero slid a silver bracelet towards her, but he didn't lift take his paw off of it. "Would this make it easier to remember?" he asked, going along with the she-cat's game; he knew how these sort of cats operated.

"Well, that certainly does help a little bit..." the kittypet hedged. "But I think that one of those gold pieces might really help my memory."

Jayflight rolled her eyes, but Hero calmly slid a gold charm towards her. "Is your memory clear now, ma'am?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm, making it clear that he wasn't going to give anymore.

"Well, I suppose," the she-cat replied, obviously disappointed. "Your cat, with the white pelt, he passed this way a few hours ago. Said he was looking for a cat named Fluffy. I told him that I didn't know any Fluffy, and he went on his way." The kittypet made to grab for the bracelet and charm, but Hero yanked them back.

"Just one more question, then you can have your pay," Hero told her, narrowing his eyes. He already had a suspicion that the she-cat was lying, but this would prove it. "Did he have any trinkets on him? I woke up a few nights ago to find my favorite blue crystal charm gone, and he's my main suspect." If this cat were being truthful, she would say that Whiteshadow didn't have anything valuable on him, and Hero would thank her then pass over the trinkets. But Hero didn't think that she was being truthful.

"I think I do recall seeing something blue around his neck," the kittypet answered. When she made to grab for the trinkets once more, Hero tossed them back to Snowpaw.

"Come on," he said, ignoring the furious she-cat, "I don't trade with liars."

The cats had several more encounters with cats of this kind, as well as some who were completely clueless. Hero snorted softly as he remembered the stupidest response, told by a kittypet who was still convinced that the cats were looking for white shadows. Finally, just when Hero was beginning to become discouraged, it seemed as if a cat had genuine information.

"Hey! You over there!" Jayflight called out to a black tom.

He turned casually, licking his paw. "What?" he asked bluntly.

"We're looking for a cat called Whiteshadow," Hero announced, stepping forwards. "If you happened to have any information of his whereabouts, we might just let a trinket or two slip in your direction." Hero hooked a ring on his claw, flicking it halfway between them.

"See, this Whiteshadow took my favorite blue crystal charm a few days ago, or so I suspect. What's one or two of these boring gold and gemstone pieces compared to my beautiful blue crystal? So I'm willing to part with that ring if you could help me find my cat."

The tom appeared to consider the offer. "I want two of those rings."

Hero narrowed his eyes. "Fine. You can take that ring in the middle now, and after I have my information, you can have the second." The black tom hesitated before padding forward and taking the first ring.

"Yeah, I talked to this Whiteshadow fella. He said he was headin' for West District, asked if I knew anythin' useful about it. I said I didn't, and he went his way. Didn't recall seein' no blue charm, though," the black tom replied with an accent.

"West District, again," Hero muttered, tossing the tom another gemstone-covered ring. When he didn't say anything else, Swiftpaw stepped forwards.

"Well, then, let's go."

Written by le Amazing Annco. I hope you liked it!