Dovewing paced back and forth across the clearing. Rainpaw had attacked Lionblaze and then ran off. Flypaw was cowering in the shade of a tree, while the other apprentices and mentors were muttering to themselves.

Finally, Dovewing became sick of the uneasy silence. “That’s it! We need to go and find Rainpaw. What if she got stuck in brambles and scratched her flank? What if she got lost? What if she ended up in another Clan’s territory?” The last option was the most worrying, and filled her voice with concern.

This seemed to snap everyone out of their unsure silence. Lionblaze nodded. “I may not like her right now, but I don’t want her blood on my paws. Spiderleg, Whitewing, Bumblestripe and Brightheart, take your apprentices and check the inner part of the territory. Dovewing and Lightpaw, come with me. We’ll check the borders.”

Nobody wanted to argue with the still agitated golden tabby, so the eight cats exited the clearing, leaving only Lionblaze, Dovewing and Lightpaw. The three cats quickly left in the opposite direction.

The trio soon arrived at the ShadowClan border, to the sounds of screeching and tearing. Further down the scent line, they saw Rainpaw, wings outstretched, mane bloodied and flank torn, pinning a ShadowClan tom to the ground. Her paw was raised, ready to deal the final blow. Without warning, Lightpaw ran at full pelt towards Rainpaw.

“Rainbow, no!” She screamed, leaping at her friend. The two cats collided in mid-air, and began rolling around on the grass. Lionblaze quickly followed, helping Lightpaw hold Rainpaw down, while Dovewing padded over to the ShadowClan cat. “Are you okay?” She asked nervously, stopping beside the fallen cat. There was something familiar about this cat.

The cat rose to their paws, staggering slightly, and turned to Dovewing. “I was, until that… that thing appeared! Is that one of your cats?” The cat licked a forepaw and wiped away some of the blood from their face.

“Yes, she’s one of our apprentices.” The cats name suddenly hit Dovewing: Bladepaw. “I’m really sorry, Bladepaw.”

The cat seemed momentarily confused as to why she knew his name, but continued anyway. “Well, I’d thank you to keep her away from ShadowClan. She almost killed me!” Bladepaw paused. “What even is she?”

Dovewing sighed. “All we know is that she came from somewhere without many cats. Bramblestar, Squirrelflight, Jayfeather and Spottedpaw seem to know more, though.”

Bladepaw’s attention was diverted from the blood on his pelt to Dovewing in less than a second when Spottedpaw was mentioned. “Wait, so you mean to say that you’ve been letting that thing sleep in your camp? Aren’t you afraid she’ll kill everyone?”

“Well… When she transforms, she tires within a few minutes and then passes out.” Dovewing risked a glance over to Rainpaw. Lionblaze was pinning down a writhing Rainpaw, whose wings and mane were glowing slightly, whilst Lightpaw tried to talk some sense into the crazed apprentice.

“Good!” Bladepaw hissed. “Look, I’m going to have to tell Blackstar about this, regardless the outcome. There’s no way this can go unsorted! If our Clans have another battle, she’ll kill all of us!”

Dovewing sighed and shook her head. “We know, we know. We’ll try to keep her under control from now on.”

“Good. Now, I’m going to clean up and head back to the Clan. Expect some conflict, foxdung!” Bladepaw stood and limped away. He scowled angrily as he passed Rainpaw, who was now lying limp beneath Lionblaze’s paws.

Dovewing padded over to her companions and gently pushed Lionblaze off of Rainpaw. She carefully lowered her head and clamped her jaws in Rainpaw’s scruff, lifting the smaller cat off the ground. Lionblaze and Lightpaw in tow, she set off back to the camp as Rainpaw’s wings and mane glowed brightly, sparked, and disappeared.

Dovewing pushed through the bracken and into the camp. Upon entering the hollow, a crowd of cats almost instantly gathered around her. One cat forced her way to the front of the group. Spottedpaw.

“Bring her through to the medicine cat den.” She meowed calmly. The wounded apprentice limped through the crowd with enviable authority; cats parted to make a path for her.

Soon Dovewing reached the small cave and padded inside. She laid Rainpaw down on a bed of moss before stepping away. Spottedpaw carefully examined the blue cat, eyeing her few injuries cautiously.

“Hmm… It seems that each time she transforms, her previous wounds reopen. This is going to get really repetitive really fast.”

Spottedpaw sighed, padding to the back of the cave and returning with some leaves and a wad of cobwebs in her paw.

“Is she going to be okay? I think Lionblaze cut off her air so she’d pass out quicker.” Dovewing asked as Spottedpaw began to chew up some of the leaves.

The pulp was spat back out and spread across Rainpaw’s scratches with practised accuracy. Spottedpaw glanced up at Dovewing. “Well, she’s breathing fine now, if a little quickly.”

Dovewing shifted from paw to paw anxiously. Spottedpaw sighed and stopped pressing the cobwebs to Rainpaw’s fur. “Why don’t you go and find Bramblestar? He’ll want to know what happened.”

Dovewing nodded and darted back out of the cave. She padded over to the rockfall leading to the Highledge and began climbing. Soon, she reached the small cave in the wall of the hollow and called through the crack. “Bramblestar? Are you there?”

“Come in.” Came the reply.

Inside the den, Bramblestar was lying in his bed of moss, Squirrelflight curled up beside him.

“Dovewing.” Bramblestar mewed happily. He stood up, and Squirrelflight rose into a sitting position.

“What’s wrong?” asked the ginger she-cat. She twitched a nervous ear.

Dovewing took a deep breath before repeating the scenes she had just viewed to her leader and deputy. “We were training, in the training hollow, and apparently Rainpaw and Lionblaze had a fight earlier, so Rainpaw got her hunting crouch perfect and leapt at Lionblaze. She had her claws sheathed, so she hadn’t meant to hurt him, but she surprised him and he reacted without thinking. He sent her flying against a tree. Then she got up and attacked him, but of course he can’t be hurt, so it didn’t do anything. Lightpaw pinned Rainpaw down and then Rainpaw said something about someone named Celestia. Lightpaw let her go and then she ran off! We found her at the ShadowClan border, fighting with Bladepaw, and he’d scratched her flank. Lionblaze had to cut off her air so that she’d pass out and transform back.”

Bramblestar stared at her, eyes wide. Squirrelflight rose to her paws and carefully pushed past Dovewing, out into the clearing. Bramblestar quickly followed, Dovewing in tow.

“Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting!”

Dovewing fidgeted nervously under the looming rock. Was Bramblestar going to tell the Clan the truth about the new cats? Was he going to tell them what had happened earlier? Was he going to send them away?

The Clan gathered around her, and she found herself sitting beside Cherrymask and Molefoot. Icecloud sat behind her, and she could see Cinderheart, Flamekit and Waterkit watching from the nursery. Bramblestar stood with an air of confidence above them, looking down on the cats below him.

“As many cats know, the Gathering is coming soon. It is time to decide which cats will be going.” The dark tabby called out.

Dovewing felt almost angry. He hadn’t even acknowledged the fact that Rainpaw not only transformed again, but attacked a ShadowClan cat!

“The cats going to the Gathering will be Spiderleg, Lionblaze, Whitewing, Dovewing, Ivypool, Blackpaw, Brownpaw, Rainpaw and Flypaw.”

The last two names caused instantaneous muttering among the Clan, especially the former. Dovewing gulped anxiously. Would Rainpaw have recovered in two days? Spottedpaw and Jayfeather had twice as many injuries to heal this time. And how would the other Clans react to Rainpaw and Flypaw? Especially Flypaw, whose every rib was showing. And what about ShadowClan? Why would Bramblestar take their latest assailant to the Gathering?

Dovewing bit her lip (bad idea for a creature with sharp canines) before rushing away from the uneasy crowd and back to her den. She needed time to think. Right now she didn’t know if she even wanted to go to the Gathering.

Author's Note

I'm so bad at this.