Jayfeather heads back to camp and goes about his duties. Brightheart and Bumblestripe bring him cobwebs and then go work on bedding for him. Briarlight does her exercises. Birchfall digs a prey hole. As he goes to check on Firestar, Dovepaw way lays him. She knows about Ivypaw and wants to talk. He tells her not here, not now, and for the moment maybe it is just best to watch Ivypaw. Dovepaw argues that Ivypaw is not the enemy but Jayfeather dismisses her to her chores. Cherrykit and Molekit bring in a squirrel for the prey hole that they found outside. They assume that a warrior dropped it but no warrior admits to killing it. Jayfeather checks on Firestar and hesitates, wondering if he should admit to the truth about Ivypaw. But the moment passes and Jayfeather remains silent, feeling the three can deal with it. Back outside Brambleclaw's patrol has returned with the news that ShadowClan refuses to acknowledge or mark the new border. Discussion breaks out and Lionblaze killing Russetfur comes up. Silence falls and Ivypaw returns to camp, asking what is going on. Jayfeather has a vision of the Dark Forest attacking their camp. Everyone falls to the shadowy warriors and blood is everywhere. Only Ivypaw remains unharmed. Spottedleaf appears and tells Jayfeather she is so sorry, but she cannot stop it.
Flametail races back to his camp, brimming with anger at Lionblaze and ThunderClan. In the camp everyone is saying goodbye to Russetfur before she is buried. Rowanclaw, Flametail's father, has been named deputy now. Blackstar calls a clan meeting to discuss the defeat and ways to win next time. They have no intention of letting ThunderClan keep the land so while they heal they plan their next battle moves. After they toss ideas around Blackstar calls a meeting with Littlecloud and Flametail. Upset that StarClan did not warn them of the battle, he wants Littlecloud to go share dreams with StarClan. Flametail offers to go in his place since Littlecloud is turning into an elder. He leaves for the Moonpool, asking Ivytail to please help Littlecloud while he is gone.
Ivypaw gets back to camp. She feels as if Jayfeather cam actually see her. She pushes aside concerns for Jayfeather, arguing that he will understand why she was visiting the Dark Forest once she becomes the greatest warrior. Cinderheart finds her, asking where she has been since Dovepaw has been back for a while. Unable to tell her mentor that she was sitting by the lake fuming she lies and says she was practicing her hunting moves. Cinderheart tells her to go work on the den with Dovepaw, but Ivypaw asks her for a different job instead. Sensing that the sisters are fighting again, Cinderheart tells her not to be so jealous of her sister, that she is just as good. She also tells her that she is proud of how she fought in the battle. Ivypaw thinks back to how Hawkfrost didn't waste time praising her, instead he worked with her on how to be even better. Ivypaw eats then helps with the den. As they work she tries to talk to Blossomfall about the fight, but she is uninterested. When Ivypaw asks her why no one wants to talk about it Blossomfall responds that they won and life moves on. Ivypaw feels as if they should still be practicing fighting moves because next time they might not win, and she states that is probably what ShadowClan is doing right now. Blossomfall responds that they are ThunderClan, not ShadowClan, and there is more to worry about then fighting. Ivypaw thinks to herself that it is no wonder Hawkfrost does not visit Blossomfall's dreams. In the den Ivypaw ignores Dovepaw and pretends to sleep. When she opens her eyes she is in the Dark Forest. She meets Antpelt then Tigerheart. Tigerheart seems tired and distracted, and asks if Dovepaw accompanied her. Annoyed, Ivypaw angrily informs Tigerheart that she was chosen, not Dovepaw, and races away upset that she can't escape her sister's shadow even here. She crashes into Mapleshade, who attacks her, but Hawkfrost puts a stop to it. He takes her to some other cats and Thistleclaw tells them what their training exercise will be. He has one cat, Shredtail get on top of a rock, then tells the others to knock him down. At first Ivypaw has fun but as they train it gets more vicious. Thistleclaw attacks Antpelt when he knocks Ivypaw aside, since they are supposed to he working together. Ivypaw can smell Antpelt's blood but she deliberately does not look at him to see what his punishment was. And Shredtail almost blinds her when he swipes at her with his claws unsheathed. Sparrowfeather tries to pull Shredtail down with her teeth but Thistleclaw attacks her, accusing her of cheating. Ivypaw is shocked when Sparrowfeather does not move at first. When she finally gets up Thistleclaw makes her get on the rock instead.
Flametail reaches the Moonpool. As he lays down flames shoot up around him. Panicked, he goes to leave but StarClan appears. But as he talks to them he realizes that it is only ShadowClan in his vision. His warrior ancestors tell him that StarClan is divided, a terrible danger is coming, and he must trust no cat outside of his clan. They won't tell him what the danger is, and Raggedstar and Sagewhisker argue over that, but Sagewhisker feels the truth will paralyze the whole clan. Instead they tell him that ShadowClan must stand alone - even the medicine cats must leave their friendships and allegiances behind. They tell him a time of war is coming and they will stand with ShadowClan, but no one else will.
Dovepaw wakes up to find Ivypaw whimpering in her sleep next to her. Worried her sister is being hurt, she wakes her up. Ivypaw tries to hide her swollen eye from Dovepaw but is unsuccessful, leading to another fight between the sisters. They leave the den and Lionblaze tells her to join Brackenfur's hunting patrol. The cats separate with Dovepaw going her own way. As she hunts she scents ShadowClan. She finds Tigerheart, who claims he didn't realize he was on ThunderClan land. Dovepaw relaxes and tells him she is glad she doesn't have to fight him since fighting him in the battle was bad enough. She tries to recover after that blunder but Tigerheart responds that borders are more trouble then they are worth. She is unsure how to respond and scents a patrol coming. She tells Tigerheart to leave. He asks her to meet him there again, tonight, and she agrees. Lionblaze and some cats come by, hunting a fox. Dovepaw didn't realize it until they said something, but the area stinks of fox. Lionblaze sends her back to camp. When she gets there she finds Jayfeather and Millie arguing over Briarlight. Millie feels Jayfeather is pushing her tok hard, Jayfeather is refusing to give up on her. Millie rages, asking what the point is, accusing Jayfeather of dragging out her daughter's suffering. Jayfeather retorts that there should be joy in being alive. Leafpool tries to side with Jayfeather but that just makes him angry. Graystripe calms Millie down and the arguement breaks up. Dovepaw feels both guilty and happy since she is seeing Tigerheart that night.
So I guess I was wrong. Tigerheart might actually have real feelings for Dovepaw after all. I cannot believe she is agreeing to meet with him, though. This is the oldest story ever and always ends in heartbreak. Bluestar. Graystripe and Silverstream. Crowfeather and Feathertail. Leafpool and Crowfeather. Lionblaze and Heathertail. And now Dovepaw is making the same mistake.
On a more important note, I cannot believe StarClan is divided. I understand the anger at Russetfur's death but now the Dark Forest has exactly what they want - the clans standing against each other. I cannot imagine ShadowClan alone broke away, especially now with the comment that there are now borders in StarClan. Each clan standing alone makes it easier for the Dark Forest to take over. I understand not knowing who to trust, but wouldn't it be better to find out who you can trust and work from there? I worried about Flametail, but he is so loyal to his clan I don't think he is involved in the Dark Forest - at least, not yet. Start with who you know is loyal - and unloyal - and work from there. I think Tigerheart is loyal, I think he is just as swayed by Tigerstar's lies as Ivypaw is. But eventually they are going to have to choose where their loyalities lie...
And speaking of Ivypaw, how could she be okay with the vicious training she is receiving?!? She couldn't bring herself to look at Antpelt, was worried Sparrowfeather was seriously injured, and was almost blinded! How can she keep justifying this?
Final note. It was nice to see a point of view outside of ThunderClan. I know we did when the cats traveled - I remember both Stonefur and Feathertail getting a POV. I cannot remember if anyone else did or not. But that was because they were all journeying together. It is nice to see a POV outside of ThunderClan in normal day to day life - even if it is just because (I suspect) the clans are divided. I wonder if we will see WindClan and RiverClan POVs as well? Maybe from Kestrelflight and Willowshine? To see how the other medicine cats are dealing with things as well? Since I am sure their revelations are not too far off...
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