forest of secrets: part four

Longtail has mentor duty with Fireheart and Graystripe and mocks them. Fireheart visits Yellowfang who tells him that she suspects Cloudkit is not properly caring for the elders but when Fireheart visits the elders they won't hear a word against Cloudkit. As he leaves the elders den he sees Tigerclaw sharing tongues with Brokentail and is shocked and is left  wondering if Tigerclaw is showing compassion to the fallen warrior.

Bluestar takes the young warriors off of apprentice duty and asks Tigerclaw to take Fireheart with him to find a safe way across the river. The Gathering is soon and all clans must go. Tigerclaw takes Longtail with them. He makes Fireheart cross a branch stuck on some rocks in the water to see if it is safe. Fireheart can tell by looking at it that it isn't but feels he has no choice but to obey. The branch knocks loose, the current sweeps him away, and Fireheart almost drowns but Longtail saves him. 

Fireheart wonders if Tigerclaw knocked the branch loose to kill him. Back at camp Tigerclaw talks about how brave - and foolish - Fireheart had been to attempt to cross the branch. Fireheart knows that is not the truth but says nothing. Bluestar sends him to see Yellowfang who has Cinderpaw diagnosis him. Cinderpaw finds him fine, just on need of rest, and Yellowfang asks if Cinderpaw would like to be a medicine cat. Cinderpaw happily accepts being Yellowfang's apprentice and Fireheart is happy his friend found a place in the clan. Bluestar announces it to all the cats and at the half moon Cinderpaw must travel to  Mothermouth to speak to StarClan.

Bluestar assembles the cats to go to The Gathering. They must follow the river to the Thunderpath, then cross into ShadowClan territory. They do so and are caught by Nightstar who is clearly angry with them. He "escorts" them to Fourtrees where he angrily tells all the cats that ThunderClan is harboring Brokenstar.

I am willing to bet that Tigerclaw tried to kill Fireheart but nothing says he actually knocked the branch loose himself. He could have just let the current do the job for him. I was surprised that Longtail saved him, but then again Longtail - despite his faults - is loyal to the clan. Unfortunately he is also loyal to Tigerclaw. Hopefully his clan loyalty outweighs that.

As for Bluestar, sometimes I think that by always trying to do the right things she sometimes invites trouble on herself. Yes, there is honor in caring for a badly wounded enemy who can do no more real harm, but if he was abandoned near Twoleg place perhaps that would have done just as well.

Lastly, I do not for one moment believe that Tigerclaw was showing compassion for Brokentail. He is up to something between the rogues and Brokentail but I don't know what.