Darkstripe travels alone in the world of shadows until he comes across Tigerstar. He is happy, fearing that he was alone in this dark world. He asks where StarClan is but Tigerstar tells him there is no StarClan here, only cats who walk alone. Darkstripe scents Brokenstar but Tigerstar tells him not to bother, the cats are not meant to find each other here. He tells Darkstripe of his plans to destroy Firestar through his sons Hawkfrost and Brambleclaw. Darkstripe offers to help but Tigerstar rejects his offer, saying he doesn't need anyone's help. He says Hawkfrost helped his sister become a medicine cat and will have no problem gaining power but Brambleclaw needs to lose his loyalty to Firestar. Tigerstar leaves Darkstripe wirb the vow not to rest until his sons have taken Firestar's remaining seven lives.
The ThunderClan cats start to clean up from the attack. Looking around at the devastation, Brambleclaw is determined to help Firestar rebuild their clan. Their friendship restored, Onestar offers to leave some warriors behind but Firestar declines the offer. Brambleclaw overhears Crowfeather break up with Leafpool for good. Overwhelmed, Leafpool asks Brightheart to help her with the wounded. Squirrelflight approaches Brambleclaw asking about Stormfur and Brook. Brambleclaw is abrupt in his answer then immediately regrets it, but Squirrelflight is not mad at him, their fight is over. Ashfur looks on at them and is not pleased - Squirrelflight does not notice. Firestar is shocked to see Stormfur and Brook, but instead of answering Firestar's questions Stormfur asks to be put to work. Daisy and Ferncloud return and Leafpool breaks the news of Cinderpelt's death.
The clan is devastated over Cinderpelt's death. Spiderleg and Whitepaw seek Brambleclaw out. They show him Sootfur, who they believe to be dead. Brambleclaw realizes they are looking to him to see what to do. He tells them to take Sootfur for vigil while he looks for Rainwhisker, his brother. He finds Rainwhisker and breaks the news to him. Rainwhisker insists on being the one to tell their sister, Sorreltail. Brambleclaw, Squirrelflight, and Rainwhisker head to the nursery. Rainwhisker breaks the news of their brothers death and Sorreltail shows off her new kits - Molekit, Honeykit, Poppykit, and Cinderkit named for Cinderpelt. Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw are shocked at how much Cinderkit resembles Cinderpelt. Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight take Cinderpelt's body from the nursery. Outside, Daisy is telling Cloudtail she is taking her kits and leaving. The kits don't want to leave and Cloudtail with Ferncloud convince her to stay. Midnight leaves, Stormfur and Brambleclaw start rebuilding the camp, Brook takes care of the elders, and Squirrelflight works on salvaging the food for everyone. When Squirrelflight brings him food Brambleclaw tries to apologize for everything but Squirrelflight feels everything is fine now. He asks her about Ashfur and she tells him not to worry. Leafpool tells Cinderpelt she is sorry she cannot sit vigil for her. She looks over Brambleclaw's wounds and he goes to sleep with the rest of the clan. Stormfur and Brook guard the camp.
Leafpool awakens next to Cinderpelt's body - upset that she fell asleep during the vigil, upset that she failed Cinderpelt, upset that she lost both Cinderpelt and Crowfeather. The elders take the cats away for burial. Leafpool watches Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw, close once again. She sees Ashfur is also watching them and is shaken by the look of fury in his eyes. She recalls her dream of Brambleclaw and Hawkfrost with Tigerstar and wonders if she should say anything to her sister. Brightheart and Whitepaw go to collect herbs for Leafpool and Leafpool goes back to tending to the wounded cats. Later, unable to sleep, Leafpool travels to the lake. As she stares at the surface she sees the stars turn into two paths. As she watches she realizes that the two paths are the paw prints of two cats. As they walk their paths merge together and Leafpool is unable to tell whose paw prints are whose. The cats are Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw, and Leafpool realizes that StarClan is telling her that the two cats paths are intertwined. Comforted, she falls asleep. As she sleeps Spottedleaf visits her. She asks how Spottedleaf could have let her leave her clan. Spottedleaf counters that Leafpool had to make her own choice. Leafpool grieves for Cinderpelt, and asks if she is angry with her and that it why she has not visited. Spottedleaf assures her that is not the case and tells her that Cinderpelt walks a different path for now. Leafpool wakes up and asks Cinderpelt to visit her one day and forgive her.
Brambleclaw wakes up and hears Squirrelflight and Ashfur arguing. Squirrelflight is saying that Ashfur is just a friend but Ashfur is insisting they should be together. He asks how Squirrelflight can trust Brambleclaw when Tigerstar is his father. Brambleclaw is upset, wondering when he will ever be judged for his own actions. Squirrelflight tells Ashfur that she will judge Brambleclaw by his own deeds, not his father's. Brambleclaw, Squirrelflight, Dustpelt, and Spiderleg head out on a dawn patrol. Spiderleg finds a fox trap that could seriously hurt an unsuspecting cat. Squirrelflight figures out how to spring it without any cat getting hurt and they decide Firestar must know about this immediately. As they walk back Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight talk about Hawkfrost without arguing. They are able to talk through things and resolve them. Squirrelflight says she still does not like Hawkfrost but she understands Brambleclaw wanting a relationship. Brambleclaw feels guilty about not telling Squirrelflight about his dreams. He insists that Hawkfrost will never mean as much to him as his clan - but privately he wonders if he ever had to choose just what he would do.
I feel bad for Darkstripe. Don't get me wrong, he was bad - but he was also deluded. He really thought he was going to get to hunt with StarClan. Now he is stuck in some shadowy purgatory realm alone for all of eternity. That is just sad. What is even more sad is that could have been Longtail and Dustpelt's fates too. Thank fully it wasn't.
I am glad that Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight actually talked. They were able to discuss Hawfrost, and Brambleclaw's relationship with Hawkfrost, rationally. I do feel bad for Ashfur. He and Squirrelflight grew close and he was the cat she turned to with her problems with Brambleclaw. And now he just got dumped for the ex-boyfriend Squirrelflight wouldn't stop complaining about. What is so ironic is all the arguments Squirrelflight used against Brambleclaw, Ashfur defended him against. Now he turned around and used those exact same arguments against Brambleclaw to Squirrelflight and she is now defending him. It is like they have completely switched stances on this. As for Brambleclaw worrying about choosing between Hawkfrost and his clan - I never see that as a possibility. I think that Brambleclaw will always choose his clan - especially once Hawkfrost is revealed to be evil.
I do feel bad for Leafpool. Even though Cinderpelt's death could not have been avoided she will have to carry that guilt for quite a while.
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