With Treepaw breathing in his ear, Rockpaw crept up to the entrance of the medicine den, keeping low to the ground. The cave was bright and yellowish light glowed at the hole in the wall. Rockpaw ducked stiffly under the branches of yew and shuffled between the rocks of the apprentice den. Surprisingly enough, he had never been here before, between the medicine den and the apprentice den. The narrow gap was bordered by spiny branches on one side and boulders on the other.

Voices echoed to their right, as cats from inside the bush were talking. He heard a kit yowl from far behind them and he recognised Risingkit's hungry voice. A sudden sneeze made Rockpaw jump, and he swirled around to glare at Treepaw. She stared back at him, wrinkling her nose and ducking her head under an earthy root that hung overhead.

"Sorry," she whispered, glancing at the yew bush.

Rockpaw sighed and flicked his tailing, turning back around, "It's ok, but try to hold it in next time."

They scuttled farther into the gap and squirmed around to face the yew branches. When one poked Rockpaw in the eye, he almost squeaked in pain, but Treepaw nudged him sharply with her paw. He nodded at her and flattened himself to the ground, staring through the green shrub.

He shifted his body slightly, experimenting with the gaps in the branches, to see which one would give a better view. He finally settled into a half crouch, perching awkwardly on his toes, peering into the bush.

Inside, he could see two different shapes moving around, one light brown and one calico. He spotted his mother's distinctively bright eyes flashing and heard her voice meow angrily.

"... and how did you even get these kits?! They look nothing like you and Crystalwing told me that you're-"

"Sterile... yes... I know...!" Greyshard's voice interrupted. Rockpaw almost jumped out of his fur when he saw her blue-grey pelt moving from barely a tail-length in front of him.

Owlstar paused and stared at Greyshard, before continuing to pace and hiss disbelievingly, "Why didn't you tell me? It would have been so much easier if you just told me!"

"I- don't know..." Greyshard tucked her legs into her body.

Crystalwing spoke up, her voice unusually harsh, "You could have told me! We are sisters! And I could have helped you, well, help them! How did you feed them when they were new-born...s? Wait... You were taking the borage leaves , weren't you? Greyshard, I swear-"

"I had to! I couldn't let them die! Not after Whisperbreeze..." Greyshard stood up suddenly, causing the branches to rustle around Rockpaw and his sister.

"Whisperbreeze?!" You gave them a warrior name! And who even is that?" Owlstar demanded, the familiar tone of pure fury rising in her voice.

Greyshard winced and looked at Crystalwing, but the calico glanced away, shaking her head.

"She... she's their mother... she was a kittypet who ran away after her Twolegs tried to take the kits. They were barely a week old when I found her near the MoonRock hollow. She was exhausted and tired and half starved. As were the kits. I-I came back every day with prey for her, but it wasn't enough..." she choked on her words, "And when they were a moon old, she died. B-but before that, she told me to tell her about the Clans and the Warrior Code, because she- she said- t-that she wants to go to StarClan when she dies... Then I took care of them... I weaned them as soon as I could and told them about the dangers in the forest, and- and then- Patch died and I-" Greyshard broke off and stared down at her paws.

Crystalwing looked up, eyes wide and swirling with emotions. She padded up to Greyshard and layed her head on her shoulder.

Owlstar sighed deeply, closing her eyes.

Treepaw turn to look wide-eyed at Rockpaw. He felt the same way. How could all of that happened without any of the Clan knowing? As the Owlstar shuffled towards Greyshard, Rockpaw edged to the side, the better to see her.

He froze as Owlstar's gaze fixed on a place near Rockpaw and Treepaw, but it passed over their hiding spot and returned to Greyshard.

He heard her sigh, ready to speak, but a small voice interrupted her.

"So, Grey isn't our mum?"

Rockpaw thought he would faint of fright right there and then. A small, gingery-brown cat climbed out of a pile of moss on the other side of the branches, just in front of Rockpaw. He heard Treepaw scoff and he glared at her.

Another voice meowed and a strangely-patterned brown tabby scrabbled out of the nest as well, "Why didn't you tell us, Grey?"

Greyshard looked up bleakly and murmured, "You're kits... Why would I ruin your lives by telling you that...?"

"Still..." Owlstar muttered, her tail swishing, "You should have told somebody..."

"I know, I know! Just give it a rest... please..." Greyshard replied, bushing out her fur.

Crystalwing heaved a breath and suggested, "Why don't you take them to the nursery. they must be exhausted after all- that..."

Greyshard nodded and scooped up the two kits with her tail. she paused next to Owlstar and whispered something into the fawn she-cat's ear. Owlstar's eyes widened, and she stared at Greyshard, a mix of anger and shock glittering in her eyes. Slowly, she nodded and stepped back. Greyshard dipped her head and padded out of the den. The two kits followed her, glancing back curiously at Owlstar.

The AirClan leader murmured something into Crystalwing's ear, and the calico exhaled disapprovingly.

"I thought you were the sensible one, Treepaw." Owlstar muttered.
Rockpaw caught his breath as Owlstar's yellow eyes fell on the branches that they were hiding behind. Treepaw glanced at him, fur bristling.

"Get out of here before Greyshard sees you and don't let me catch you eavesdropping again." Owlstar meowed, turning back to Crystalwing.

Treepaw tugged at Rockpaw's tail with her teeth and gestured to the main camp. He looked back at Owlstar and followed her swiftly. When they reached the clearing, Rockpaw stood up and picked a twig of yew out of hi shoulder fur.

"Can you believe that?!" Treepaw exclaimed, swishing her black-striped tail. "Greyshard- and- just- just everything that we heard!"

"I still don't..." Rockpaw muttered to his sister, feeling his heart thumping. "And how Owlstar reacted..." he added, "It was... sort of expected, but it was still weird seeing her angry like that."

"Brings back memories from our kithood I bet." Treepaw meowed, smirking slightly.

"Shush." Rockpaw swatted her with his paw.

She ducked and scampered off towards the apprentice den, Rockpaw chasing gleefully after her, but his heart and head still whirring. He spotted Blossompaw's tail whisking into the nursery and skidded to a stop.

Treepaw ran on a few more tail-lengths before stopping abruptly. "What is it?" she asked, padding up to him slowly.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing, it's just that..." Rockpaw rolled the words over in his head.

"Yes...?" Treepaw inquired, staring at him inquisitively.

"Do you think we should..." Rockpaw discarded the thought and finished quickly, "...go get some fresh-kill for the elders?"

Treepaw gaped at him, then started to nod slowly.

"What?" Rockpaw asked.

"Eh, nothing. It's just that I'm wondering when StarClan bestowed some consideration upon you." Treepaw shrugged innocently.

Rockpaw choked on a laugh and meowed, "The way you worded that is just..."

"Haha. I know!" Treepaw chuckled and lead him over to the fresh-kill-pile.

When they reached it, they grabbed a rabbit each and walked the few tail-lengths to the elder den. Rockpaw followed Treepaw through the tall tunnel and blinked to get his eyes used to the smoky darkness. The light behind him gave enough golden glow to illuminate an unnaturally square cave, with weird, broken-down, wooden structures scattered across the edges of the floor. The elders were laying in their nests, most of them sleeping. The structures were made of Twoleg-cut wood planks, stuck together with the hard, silver thorns; many of them had fallen into pieces, but those which were mostly whole were used as nests - filled with moss, ivy vines and wads of pine needles.

Fallenbranch looked up from where she was sharing tongues with Halfheart. Her brown ears perked up and she smiled at the two apprentices.

"Hey." She greeted them, then added playfully, her eyes gleaming, "I see Rockpaw finally got rid of the thistledown in his head. Or am I looking at Blossompaw?" she chuckled friendly and yawned.

Rockpaw knew she was joking, but his still ached whenever cats mocked him like that. I guess good first impressions do help. he thought bitterly, gripping the rabbit tighter in his jaws. He put it down in the middle of the cave, as did Treepaw.

Halfheart lifted her head and nudged Dapplewind with her back leg.

"Hmm?" he murmured drowsily, sniffing the air and opening his pink eyes as wide as he could, which wasn't much. The tangled scars across them held down his shredded eyelids. "Oh, hello Treepaw and Rockpaw. Thank you for the rabbits." He yawned widely and woke Blackeye, while Fallenbranch aroused Redsplodge. The elders shared the two pieces of prey among them and started to eat.

"Come here." Halfheart meowed, flicking her tail. "I think Redsplodge is in a good enough mood to tell a story. That is - if you ask politely."

Redsplodge scoffed at her denmate and sighed, trying and failing to look grumpy, "Fine. What do you want?"

Treepaw rushed up to them and gingerly took a rabbit leg from Halfheart, bringing it over to Rockpaw.

"Can it be about the Three, please?" he asked eagerly, laying down bedside Treepaw.

"Or about Darktail!" Treepaw added, pricking her ears enthusiastically.

Redsplodge glanced between them and smiled ruefully. "The Three it is."

"Yes!" Rockpaw exclaimed, feeling the gnawing dread about the kits crumble away, only to be replaced with excitement.

"Aw, ok!" Treepaw took a bite from the rabbit and waited for Redsplodge to continue.

"Ekhem- so, a long, long, long time ago, when the Clans were still in the old forest, the great Firestar was visited by a StarClan cat..." Redsplodge began, draping her tail across her back, while everyone in the cave listened in.

Word Count: 1724
Yes! My streak is being kept!
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Have a great day everyone and I hope you enjoyed this chapter <3