Warriors: Shadowed Horizons - Ch. 3

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"I told you before, I'm fine."

"It's sometimes hard to adjust when it's your first time."

"Like you would know that." The light gray she-cat butted the darker cat playfully in the side.

"I swear to StarClan, Dovewing. Sometimes you have the sense of a newborn kit."

"Thank you, Cinderheart. And that that makes you…?" Dovewing teased, dodging out of the way of Cinderheart's paw.

The darker gray she-cat had moved into the nursery a moon ago, carrying her old mentor, Lionblaze's, kits. Cinderheart seemed completely content to spend her days in the warm nursery, without warrior duties to worry about. It wasn't the same for Dovewing. Sitting in the nursery all day was making her fur fall out. She had been expecting Bumblestripe's kits for barely half a moon, but it wasn't that noticeable.

"Besides." Dovewing said casually, licking her paw and drawing it nonchalantly over her face. Continuing with her warrior duties was the only thing that let her keep her sanity.  "It's not like I was doing anything wrong. The kits won't come for a while yet."

Cinderheart sighed. "A stubborn one, you are. The only thing worse would be having Ivypool in here as well." She chucked.

Dovewing laughed as well. She could just imagine her sister in the nursery; cranky, restless, and tearing down the walls and moss of the warm den. Ivypool was a strong warrior, no doubt about that.

"Well, if you're going to fidget until sunhigh, I suggest you take it outside. You could use the fresh air." Cinderheart said, jaws gaping in a huge yawn as she turned her back. Within a few minutes Dovewing heard her soft snoring.

Careful not to wake the gray she-cat, Dovewing tiptoed out of the nursery and shivered a little as she felt the cool leaf-bare wind. Though she was happy. This is what life should be like. No battles, no enemies, just peace.

But even so, that moment didn't last, and Dovewing was disappointed. She watched as the dawn patrol left, consisting of Lionblaze, Leafpool, Birchfall, Foxleap, and Ivypool. She would have called out to her sister, but she decided to leave her be. I'm glad that she's finally starting to get into Clan life.

Her paws naturally took her towards the fresh-kill pile, and her eyes skimmed it over, looking for any good prey that had escaped the leaf-bare cold. Picking out a small mouse, she dragged it over to Highledge. She was about to take a bite before Bumblestripe came bounding over.

"Hey, Dovewing!" he greeted her warmly, rubbing his muzzle against hers. "Mind if I sit with you?"

Dovewing took a small bite of the mouse and swallowed. "That's fine." She said, smiling to him.

Bumblestripe shivered as he settled down into the thin layer of snow under the Highledge, and flicked his paw to get rid of some of the dirt and snow stuck in between. "So. Did Cinderheart kick you out again?" he snickered. Dovewing pushed him lightly. "I guess I needed to get some fresh air. It gets pretty cramped in there. Even though Daisy isn't there anymore." She said. The cream-colored she-cat had decided to go back to the barn she had come from, not wanting to hold the Clan back having to feed an extra mouth during leaf-bare. All in all, it seemed that it was better that way.

"Maybe you should get out of camp for a little while." Bumblestripe suggested.

Dovewing twitched her ears in surprise. "Out of camp?" she echoed.

Bumblestripe shrugged. "Why not? You did it a few days ago." The gray tom chuckled as Dovewing scowled. "Besides. There's not much harm to it."

"But I didn't exactly get off easy for going outside camp the first time." She reminded him. He simply shrugged once more.

"It's fine. If you get caught, I'll tell Bramblestar it was my idea. If he doesn't believe me, I shall just sit on him until he does." He puffed out his chest as if to look dangerous. Dovewing laughed and stood up, shaking the snow from her pelt. "Thanks." She said, her tail flicking his ear as she padded carefully out of camp, looking around to make sure no one saw her.

Getting away from the camp was easy enough, though she didn't exactly know where to go. She thought she remembered seeing Lionblaze heading towards the WindClan border, so the ShadowClan border was probably where she wouldn't be seen.

Even in her determination to get away from camp, she couldn't help hunting when a mouse attempted to run for cover. She quickly buried it, and then cursed herself. Now my Clan mates will know I've been out here! she thought. Mousebrain!

Her argument with herself distracted her for a while before it became prominent that she was near ShadowClan territory. She could hear the sounds of the ShadowClan camp, the faint sound of Lionblaze's patrol near the WindClan border… and something else. The sound of a patrol. Was a ShadowClan patrol about to catch her trespassing?

A hard slam answered her question as she was knocked off her feet and into the dirt. She turned around to face her attacker as he climbed off of her. The tom's eyes were surprised, until he recognized her. "Dovewing!" he exclaimed.

"Tigerheart!" Dovewing tried to grasp for an explanation. "What are you—" It's his territory! she told herself. He had every right to be here. She didn't!

"Sorry about that." Tigerheart said, not looking at her in the eye.

"I was the one trespassing. You shouldn't be apologizing." After a few moments of silence that seemed to last for moons, she sighed. "I guess I'll be going. See you around sometime." She turned to leave without another thought, but Tigerheart laid his tail on her back. "Dovewing..." he murmured.

"What?" Dovewing turned around to him. "What, is something wrong?" she thought, suddenly panicked.

Tigerheart pulled his tail away.  "No... but..." he seemed lost. "…You're expecting kits." He said, as blunt as ever. He had always been that way, and Dovewing had thought she was used to it by now. She turned her head, now not looking him in the eye. "Yes, I am." She said, suddenly meeting her gaze once more.

"But Dovewing... what about us?" the ShadowClan tom seemed desperate as he shuffled his paws.

"Tigerheart, I already told you... we can't do this. You're ShadowClan, I'm ThunderClan. That's really all there is to it." Through her lie Dovewing told herself that it sounded convincing enough.

"But I love you!" he said, standing up and taking a few steps toward her.

"But this can't happen." She respond, pulling away from his warm fur. "I'm sorry." Not letting him get another word in, she dashed off in the direction of the ThunderClan camp, not letting herself be drawn back to the amber eyes that watched her as she left.