Ottersoul leaned against the edge of the den, her white mittens aquiver. It was vacant save for the cat she had intended to meet today, a blessing for which Ottersoul thanked the stars. She couldn't handle any more complications in the bramble patch that was her schedule.

"Swanfeather," she said, formally, her voice echoing into the den. Only one head rose to meet her greeting, but there were a pair of smaller shapes at the larger cat's side, resting blissfully. "and company."

She entered, keeping her step light, and looked down at the two newborns. One of them, a she-cat with familiar white paw markings, opened a glistening green eye. Ottersoul felt her breath catch in her throat, though she was rarely so sentimental. Her own eyes, the twins of the inquisitive kit's, watched the strange, new creature with a soft pride and a deep sorrow. With a yawn, the kit closed her eye and curled back against her mother, kneading her stomach.

"She's beautiful." Ottersoul whispered.

"I had two," Swanfeather said, tail slashing against the dry earth, "and yes, she is beautiful. I'd have asked you to come sooner, but you know." Swanfeather's gaze was dry and humorless as she surveyed her sister with a glare that seemed to pierce the other she-cat's soul.

Truthfully, Ottersoul retorted, "I've visited several times while you were resting, as not to disturb you or the kits."

"'Disturb' us? Couldn't even be bothered to speak with me, could you? Might get in the way of how busy you are." Swanfeather taunted.

"I've come now."

"Not for long, I'm guessing. You've snuck me in for a few squirreled away seconds, and then you'll disappear again?"

"How much do you think I can realistically say about your kits? How much time can I truly spend doting on them?"

"That's not what this is about and you know it."

"Then what's the issue?"
"Family, Ottersoul."

Ottersoul, with a twitch of her ears, turned to leave, ice in the marrow of her bones. "It was lovely to meet your kits but I really must go." When she received no answer from her sister, who was usually cawing and blathering like some obnoxious bird, she grit her teeth and disappeared into the morning light. She had other things to contend with.

As she left the camp, the leaves flickered at Ottersoul's approach, the morning dew brushing her face as she pressed through them and into the clearing just past the edge of camp and up the hill. Just as he had promised, Dewstar sat there with a pensive, nervous energy, tail twitching. He was staring past her and down over the river with a melancholy gaze that seemed to hold everything within them, like great blue pools too clear to be real. He didn't seem to notice Ottersoul until she finally sat down, tail tucked beneath her and a kind of apprehensive expression across her face. "Well?" he asked.

"You said you wanted me." said Ottersoul.

Dewstar briefly tilted his head and then it quickly jerked back up in a barely registrable nod. "I want a lot of things, Ottersoul."

"You can have them." she promised. "Just look at this clan. Look at the new apprentices. Look at our new warriors! This is the most battle-ready we've been since the time of Ryestar himself."

"That's what worries me." admitted Dewstar. His gaze did not move from the faraway shore. His whiskers twitched in the breeze slightly and Ottersoul stood in silence beside him, just an acorn's length from his side.

"You don't need to worry any longer. I'm more than ready to lead this clan." Ottersoul insisted. "I don't understand why you're being so cold about this. These could be the last few meetings we have together."

"Remember the first time I took you up here? Remember how large it all seemed?" he asked.

"I do. I was very young." she admitted. "It was a shame that I didn't take advantage of my youth more often. Now that I am older, well, now that I've been over there... it's really no larger than our own territory. Smaller, even. They don't go far, even though their territory could stretch all the way out to where the sun sets if they wanted it to."

"Yet they don't maintain it that far, at least not to our knowledge."
Ottersoul nodded vigorously. "Clearly. It's because they don't want to spread themselves too thin. We could move back into the woods as well but not only would it be a longer trip to get to the bend but we'd also be unable to practice our river hunting. In the same line of logic, they don't want to recede from the shore because it would allow us to encroach on their land. In theory, both clans could expand their reaches backwards if prey ran low, so we can keep that option open for later if times grow desperate. If aggression builds in either territory, we could also launch an attack in leafbare and keep them busy on the front while other, faster cats try skirting the edge of the territory to see if their scent lines are expanding backwards. If so, it may indicate that they're low on prey. I hope it will not come to that, but again, something we could keep in mind."

Dewstar's eyes widened slightly. He purred with amusement and appreciation both. "You have a keen mind."

"I learned from the best." she purred back, nudging him slightly.

The brightness in Dewstar's eyes left almost immediately. "No." he said, moving onto his paws. "No, you didn't."

Ottersoul knew the look well. Her ears dropped slightly and she muttered, "Something's the matter, isn't it."

"Are we truly going to come to war, Ottersoul? After all this time, all these treaties... surely we could've found some better way by now. The sheer heartbreak caused by these few battles has been enough to rock the clan to its core. If we had a full-out war, it's hard to say if either clan would survive."

Ottersoul looked out at the river, as Dewstar was doing, but she couldn't help but try to meet his gaze. It was like speaking to the stones on the bank of the river, cold and unyielding. His pelt was losing its luster with age, so that he was no more inspiring than those stones (although, like them, Ottersoul had full confidence he was unbreakable). As a final testament to his age, his once-dark muzzle was quickly graying. The stress of recent aggressions hadn't helped him at all. "It was one scent," Ottersoul insisted. "We don't know that RyeClan would go to war over so little. We know we won't."

"Still, I'm thankful to Stormpath for the testimony. Did you hear the way he described those cats? Eyes like young hawks, glares even sharper than those of the avian predators... they are most certainly displeased with us." Dewstar shook his head. "And we've no clue which of our warriors was on their land."

Ottersoul's eyes darted furiously about, already thinking of several of her unsuspecting clanmates, moving about below like simple ants. "But we could. We could search more- do more- I'll set up a force this evening to be my eyes and ears in the clan. The senior warriors could have this all figured out in a matter of days."

"I doubt these issues will be so easily resolved... but I've never doubted your work ethic for a second. If any cat in the river or the lands beyond it could unravel such a conundrum, it might be you, Ottersoul."

"I just want the best for my clan," responded Ottersoul, burning up from ear to tail-tip.

"Oh, you'll do so well for them." Dewstar's purr was soft, and though she loved the sound, today it made Ottersoul oddly sad.

"If I could do half of what you'd done for me, it would be enough."

"No, it wouldn't." Dewstar responded, that same wistful melancholy in his voice. "As if there could ever be a 'enough' for the likes of you."

Ottersoul dipped her head, though she had no response. Her sister's furious gaze as they fought in the nursery still ate at her. Her anxieties fluttering like butterflies in her stomach, she said, "I suppose not." The tom did not answer, and so Ottersoul continued, "I've much to attend to. If anyone asks after you, should I tell them to come up here?"

Dewstar sighed. "Might as well."

Ottersoul shook her head, trying to approximate an expression of significantly more warmth than she felt. "I'll deal with it."

It was not long until someone asked after the old tom. In fact, she'd barely stepped paw in the camp when Bluepetal peeked around the corner of her den, took in a deep breath of the air and her ears and tail perked. "Oh! Ottersoul, have you seen Dewstar?"

"He's..." Ottersoul paused, chest swelling with authority, "Occupied at the second. Whatever you need to say, you can tell me first."

"I doubt that." Bluepetal said, meekly.

"And I, in return, doubt I couldn't handle it. I'll get it to him later. Now, what's so important that the deputy can't hear about it?" Ottersoul said, her meow harsh as it rolled over the word.

Bluepetal flinched, but with great pause, she finally mewed, "It's an omen."

"And you were about to hide that from me?" Ottersoul asked. Bluepetal looked shyly away, and Ottersoul continued, "Well, get on with it. I'd like to hear this."

"Last night, I heard a distant voice beneath the rumble of thunder..." Bluepetal says, "I was thrown awake due to some... complicated dreams. When I fell back asleep, I was walking across the territory... it was almost like drifting across it as I'd always imagined it, though I was sighted, which was how I knew I was dreaming. I reached a clearing where I could see the sky, and between the clouds was a single patch of open sky- where two stars stood- staring down each other like two warriors rounding off. There was a crack of lightning and the storm overtook the stars, and the moon, too, was devoured by clouds. I saw its light fade from the river below..."

Ottersoul nodded. "Are you sure it was an omen?"

"I wouldn't bother you with it if I wasn't certain, Ottersoul." insisted Bluepetal, her ears lowered.

Ottersoul realized with a jolt that she'd badly misconstrued what she'd meant to convey to the medicine cat. "I apologize. I'd only meant to suggest-" she sighed, "I'm sorry. If you really need him, Dewstar is up on the hill."

"Sorry?" Bluepetal asked.

"Yes."

"Are you alright?"

"Yes?"

"Not that I doubt that, but- oh, we're stuck in this loop again." Bluepetal forced a purr. "Now that's awkward."

Stumbling over her own words, Ottersoul managed "My apologies- oh yes, and your first dream? You're sure that wasn't an omen?"Oh, n-no. I'm certain." Bluepetal's sightless eyes widened. Ottersoul tilted her head- there was certainly something amiss there.

"Really."

From behind the she-cats, Drizzlemist approached with none of her usual confidence. In fact, the she-cat looked dogged and downright upset. With a heavy rasp to her voice, she asked, "Ottersoul?"

"Oh, what is it now?" asked the copper warrior, perturbed. In a kinder tone, she followed, "Is something the matter?"

Drizzlemist burst into hysterics, "Don't torture me like this! Of c-course something's the matter- how could it not be?"

"Calm down." Bluepetal suggested, moving her head to lift up the silver queen's. "Explain everything."

"Sleetpaw... he's g-gone! His mentor hasn't been able to find him a-and he and Birchpaw's scent has disappeared across the river..."

Dread struck Ottersoul's heart, a numb sensation that spread through her limbs and left a fizzing pain in its wake. Across the river, the grass shivered in a new wind, and Bluepetal stared ahead, tense with concern as Drizzlemist continued to sob into her shoulder. "Stars," muttered Ottersoul. "This is not good. Not good at all."

(A/N: I'm not the biggest fan of this chapter but writer's block irks me so much more.)