A full moon hung in the cloudless sky, casting thick shadows across the forest. Sitting between Firetail and Shellfur, Lilyfall felt as though the air was colder at moonhigh. She heard a grunt from Firetail. "You'd think we'd be warmer like this," she mewed.

"I know," Shellfur sighed, shifting from paw to paw in the cold. "This season gets colder and colder."

Lilyfall looked from the one-eyed cat and stared up at Icestar who was on the Great Tree. The branches were twirled together and the leaders sat upon them. Lilyfall could see Hollowjaw, who was glancing in BoulderClan's direction.

Awkwardness made her pelt feel hot. Ever since the meeting she saw between Hollowjaw and Ashenpelt a couple sunrises ago, she could barley talk to the queen.

Icestar rose to her paws on the branch where she had been sitting. "SnowClan is coping well with the cold. Unlike our neighbors. Recently, we suffered from an unjust attack," she growled, looking at Deerstar from the corner of her eye. "But we are doing fine." She meowed.

Deerstar's blue eyes glittered with annoyance at Icestar. While Rubblestar, who was BoulderClan's leader, only sat in silence with a calm expression. The cats of BoulderClan never took part in Clan affairs unless it concerned all of them.

"Prey is running well despite the snow. Recently, a fox was near our territory. Thanks to Raveneye and BoulderClan's strong warriors, the fox is gone." The gray tom meowed, his blue eyes bright with pride. His deputy, a black she-cat, with her chin held high.

"If you're quite finished..." Deerstar meowed with a grunt as he rose to his white paws, fixing Icestar with a hostile glare. "PeakClan has its report. Leaf-bare has fortunately been kind to us. However, it seems our neighbors have not."

"What is he doing?" Lilyfall sprang to her paws; her enraged yowl was lost in the clamor as more of her Clanmates leaped up to protest.

Deerstar stared the SnowClan cats down, teeth bared, making no effort to take back what he had said. Instinctively Lilyfall glanced upward, and the clouds moved toward the moon with dream like slowness, but Deerstar kept his head high and his gaze bright and angry.

"Your attack on us was unjust! As StarClan would never have let you have victory!" Icestar growled. Deerstar flexed his claws. "You have been trespassing on our borders!" He snarled.

"You better have a good bit of rethinking to do while you accuse us like that or I'll make sure you do." Icestar's voice was low as she glared threateningly at the PeakClan tom.

Lilyfall saw Sparkpaw let his claws slide out, but a small gray BoulderClan apprentice put her tail on his shoulder and he settled down. Rubblestar only stared at the two hostile leaders.

Raveneye merely casted a sideways glance at Smallclaw. Lilyfall blinked looking confused. What was that about?

Her dark green gaze came upon Hollowjaw, as the brown tabby she-cat kept her eyes longingly on Ashenpelt, who seemed to be looking at her as well as he sat beside a small light brown apprentice with darker flecks.

Barkpelt sat beside Bloomwhisker, who was Shimmerdapple of BoulderClan's fully realized medicine cat apprentice. As the cats of the Clans wandered to converse with one another, Lilyfall instantly noticed that only SnowClan and BoulderClan cats talked to one another. Not a PeakClan cat moved to the other two Clans. Other than the medicine cats and elders.

Hollowjaw was with Ashenpelt. Lilyfall watched the brown tabby she-cat and the gray tom. A scent filled her nose and suddenly Larkstripe was by her side, as Shellfur and Firetail left to go talk to a few BoulderClan senior warriors.

"Watching Hollowjaw?" She asked. Lilyfall curled her tail around her paws. "No." The white she-cat lied. The spiky furred brown tabby she-cat blinked slowly and leaned down to lick her chest fur for a moment.

The white she-cat's blood roared in her ears. She had avoided Hollowjaw, as she was unsure whether or not to tell the young queen that she saw her with a BoulderClan cat. But not just any BoulderClan cat, but Ashenpelt, who was Rubblestar's son.