"Ya need any help with that? You got a LOT of feathers right there." Scarletpaw asked with amusement as she watched Wolfpaw carry her bundle towards the elders den.

"Naw, Iff cool. I goff iff."

"Alright, if ya say so." Scarletpaw stretched out luxiouriously, and yawned. Great Starclan, I have been on Ice Repair duty all day... I am like, exahusted. Well see ya around, Wolfpaw."

Wolfpaw sympathized with her. She had never been on Ice Wall duty, where Warriors and apprentices spent all day patching up the Ice dens and Wall, but every Warrior she knew said it was a real pain, and she had seen her mother stretching out sleepily in the evenings after a long day on Ice Repair duty.

Squeezing between the two rocks that marked the Elder's den, Wolfpaw gently layed the bundle of feathers down besides Fallensnow, who was staring out the little window in their den, which could be covered by a circular rock.

"Um, hello Fallensnow." Wolfpaw said quietly, and the old she-cat turned at the sound of Wolfpaw's voice. Fallensnow smiled at her warmly, and patted the ground next to her.

"Hello, Wolfpaw! Nice to see you. No one ever comes to visit me anymore, quite a nice surprise to see you here." Wolfpaw shifted her paws.

"Well, actually, I was bringing you some feathers for your nest, but, I also had a question." Wolfpaw tried to keep her eyes anywhere but Fallensnow's stub of a leg, but she kept glancing at it with fascination. 

Fallensnow grinned, and waved it by Wolfpaw's face. "Don't feel bad. Everyone stares. I'm used to it. So, you wanted to ask me something?"

Wolfpaw began to lay out the feathers as she hesitantly began to speek. "Well, I was wondering if, well, you could tell me about--"

"The Ice Wolf?"

Wolfpaw stared at her. "Yes! How did you know?"

Fallensnow grinned. "I used to be the clan's medicine cat, remember. Before I got old and my paw fell off." Fallensnow chuckled.

Wolfpaw frowned. "But just because you were a medicine cat doesn't mean you know everything, does it?"

Fallensnow nodded solemnly.  "I do, in fact, happen to  be magical. And I know everything."

Wolfpaw stared at her with awe. "Wow..."

"So, you... you wanna know about the Ice Wolf, right? Well, I am gonna tell you everything I know, so you better listen up!"

Wolfpaw sat down next to the old she-cat, her eyes wide.

Fallensnow began in a soft, distant voice, her eyes clouding over with memories.

"Wolves aren't all that different from us, you know. They to, know of a world after ours, a place of rest after death... they call it Pascuis, or The Resting Place. There, they go, and after three days, they are reincarnated based on their achievments, based on what they did for their pack. Some become beautiful flowers, mighty oaks, or buzzing bees... but some, a lucky few who have done more then their share, get reincarnated back into larger creatures... sometimes, they even get reincarnated back into wolves..."

Wolfpaw gasped with awe.

"Anyways, you came to hear about the Ice Wolf though, did you not? Well, you see, wolves don't have Warrior Ancestors, or a Star Pack, but they do have spirits. Ice Wolf is a cold, beautiful white wolf, spirit of Ice, she-wolves, Winter and revenge. There is Sky Wolf, spirit of joy, songs,  Spring and new life. And there is Earth Wolf... spirit of all seasons, spirit of power, spirit of the very ground... and more importantly, reincarnation. He is the one who re-makes every wolf into their new forms. There are other spirits, of course... I couldn't possibly name them all though."

Wolfpaw shook her head, trying to take in all the information. "Wait, so does Ice Wolf really... well, does she really exist? Did she bite your paw off? Oh. Um. I mean..."

Fallensnow laughed, but there was a reserved silence about her when she responded "Oh, who could ever know... you would have to ask a wolf if they are real. Well, as for my paw... I think I will keep that secret to myself!"

"Aww, come on, tell me? Please?"

Fallensnow smiled, and shook her head. She looked like she was about to say something, but at that moment, Silversun called "Wolfpaw! Where are you? Battle training by the river."

Wolfpaw stood to leave, and mewed a reluctant goodbye to Fallensnow. "And thanks for telling me about the wolves."

But before she left, a thought crossed her mind, and she turned to Fallensnow, a strange look on her face. 

"Fallensnow?"

Fallensnow looked up distractedly. "Hhm?"

"How do you know so much about wolves?" Fallensnow's mouth moved, but she couldn't appear to find the words.

"Wolfpaw! Come on!"

"It-- it looks like you have to go. Nice seeing you... Wolfpaw." She narrowed her eyes as she said Wolfpaw's name, and Wolfpaw left the den with a strange feeling crawling up her spine that she was forgetting something.