Duskelle pushed herself upwards, and stood on wobbly paws. Her heart was pounding stronger and faster than it ever had before, and sweat beaded on her temples.

Something seemed to be wrong at her very core, and it shook her. The she-cat had done something to her — she had tried to take something from her, something that was intrinsic to her nature, but Duskelle's body had rebelled, had not allowed it. The effort had almost killed her — it had torn her form apart in the dream world, in StarClan.

She shuddered violently, and stumbled towards the entrance to the den. The sun had just begun to rise, and only one or two figures had emerged from their respective dens.

"Duskpaw?" came a voice behind her, and she turned to see Mosspaw lifting his head from his paws. He tried to speak, but a massive yawn emerged from his jaws. 

"Mosspaw," she said.

He shook his head as if trying to shake away the sleepiness. "Are you alright? I called your name a few times, but I don't think you even heard me."

"I-I'm sorry," she replied, tripping over her words. She felt as if her tongue had swollen comically with surprise. "I don't know. I don't know what's happening."

His ears flattened in concern. "Did you have a bad dream?" he asked. 

It was close enough to reality that she nodded. 

His expression softened. "That's too bad. I'm sorry about that, Duskpaw. But remember, it wasn't real."

Duskelle nodded again, unable to say anything, to speak and tell him that what she had seen was very real. It was just as real as this delicate world around her, dangling on the early morning.

Mosspaw rose to his paws and padded over to her, sitting down and curling his tail. He yawned again, fangs bright in the dim light, and asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Something happened," she began. Maybe she could tell him some part of what had happened. "I was just there—I was listening—and then there was this she-cat. Her coat was cream and gray, her eyes were this brilliant green-" Suddenly, she fell silent, cutting off her own words.

Cream and gray.

Bright green eyes.

Her memory flashed back to the incident in the nursery with Icebreeze, when her fur had tinged cream and the color of her eyes had begun to disperse into intense peridot. The same color as the eyes of the she-cat that had attacked her. The same color that Brookpaw's eyes had been yesterday, when she'd acted nothing like herself in the morning and retained no memory of it.

Something was happening to her, to her life — the she-cat had come to the StarClan camp for Duskelle. She was sure of it. And what Badgerstep told Lutes — she'd forgotten! She'd forgotten to even think about it. 

He had told Lutes that the Elder Ones instructed Lilacfeather to let Duskelle into the Clan. And he had said they'd been doing things to try and make her feel as if she were part of RiverClan, so that her spirit would become free...was that what they'd tried to take from her? What the she-cat had tried to rip out of her?

"Duskpaw!" Mosspaw's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, and she saw that he was now looking at her with real worry in his face. "Duskpaw, really, are you alright?"

Her eyes were wild as she stared at him "I-"

"Duskpaw!" another voice interrupted, and her eyes jumped to the two figures that stood in the den entrance. Graysplash and Nightstone. 

"Duskpaw, I see you're already awake! Are you ready to start training today?" the gray tom asked.

Nightstone addressed Mosspaw in her quiet, low voice. "Have you been practicing hunting as I told you to?"

Mosspaw winced. "Er, well..."

Graysplash stared at him disapprovingly. "Well, I think we know what you need to be working on today, Mosspaw."

Mosspaw rolled his eyes at Duskelle. "Yes, Graysplash."

Duskelle smiled distractedly at the exchange, but she couldn't take her mind off of the feeling that still beat in her, the unsettledness, as if whatever the Elder had tried to take was still settling back into its place after the scare.

———

The rest of the day continued in the same way — whatever the feeling was, she couldn't shake it off. Mosspaw and Seapaw attempted to talk to her, but her responses were noncommittal and short. Eventually, they returned from training to the camp, and Duskelle headed to the medicine cat den to find Lilacfeather, unable to keep what had happened to herself. 

The medicine cat was sorting herbs when Duskelle walked in. She didn't seem surprised to see her. "Seapaw came to see me earlier; she was concerned about you and said that you'd been acting oddly. I was going to come and find you myself once I'd completed my duties, but you're here now. What's been bothering you, Duskpaw?"

"I've been training with Hawkripple in my dreams," she began, and Lilacfeather shot a sharp glance at her.

"What? How long has this been going on for?"

"Since my training in the real world started."

"And you didn't tell me?"

Duskelle was silent. It had never crossed her mind to do so.

The she-cat shook her head exasperatedly. "What do you mean by training?"

"In my dreams, I'm a cat," Duskelle said, meeting her pale blue eyes. "I don't know how. But Hawkripple trains me like a real Clan cat."

Lilacfeater nodded slowly, her expression thoughtful. "I suppose it makes sense...how else could you become a member of RiverClan? But I have never heard of StarClan interfering so openly..."

"Last night," Duskelle continued. "We were training when Hawkripple seemed to realize something and raced away. I followed after him and came to StarClan's camp. All of them were gathered, waiting for a tom who appeared from behind the clouds. His name was Lutes." She paused, searching Lilacfeather's face for recognition, which struck immediately.

"Lutes, you say?" she asked, leaning forwards. "Are you sure? Lutes?"

"Yes." Duskelle stared at the medicine cat. "Who is he? Graysplash and Icebreeze also talked about him. StarClan was very agitated to see him. Why does he matter so much?"

"Lutes is — was — a member of the Fluentum. He used to be a loner. He had kits — he never did tell anyone what happened to his mate, but he was struggling to take care of them on his own. He happened upon us and decided to stay here, for his kits, but eventually became as close to us as any other warrior."

"Where could he have come from?" Duskelle asked, intrigued.

"I don't know myself," Lilacfeather replied. I was quite young when he arrived to RiverClan. I believe that one of the older warriors would know what his past was, but they didn't tell the rest of us anything about it."

Duskelle gazed at the entrance thoughtfully for a while before speaking. "Who are his kits?" she finally asked.

"Jay and Faye," Lilacfeather said, smiling. "He said that he named them after his father and his mate's mother."

"Ah..." Duskelle had known immediately as she gazed at Lutes that Jay was his son; they had the same markings, and Icebreeze had mentioned that Jay had learned things from Lutes. And now that she thought about it, Faye was similar to him too, in her build and her coloring that matched his tan. "Lilacfeather?" she said, and the medicine cat looked up at her. "Why is Jay in the prior den? Why does he not hunt and fight like others of his age?"

"He has a...condition," Lilacfeather responded. "Something which makes him especially weak — he is easily tired — and his bones very brittle. He's broken a few before, and it took him an exceptionally long time to heal. He cannot live as the rest of us do, and was forced to retire to the elder's den at an early age."

"Oh..." Duskelle replied, thinking of the quiet, young tom in the elder's den. "That's unfortunate..."

"Indeed it is, but that is not the matter at hand — what happened to you? Why have you been so... shaken up? What happened in your dreams when Lutes arrived?"

"A tom stepped forward and spoke with him," Duskelle told her. "His name was Badgerstep. He told Lutes about how...about how the Elder Ones told you to tell the senior warriors to keep me in RiverClan, about how they wish to have my spirit. He said that they had been doing things, things to change how I perceived RiverClan, so that I felt as if I was one of you all."

Lilacfeather nodded slowly, taking in the information. She hid the surprise that had emerged on her face well. "Go on. What happened next?"

"Halfway through their conversation, a sort of...rift broke open in the sky, and a she-cat emerged. She was cream colored, with gray swashes, and she had dark green eyes. She looked straight at me, and tried to... take something from me. I don't know what, but it's shaken up my entire being... she did something to me, and I can't recover. I feel like she unsettled something inside of me."

Lilacfeather gazed at her thoughtfully. "Never have I heard of something like this...what do the Elder Ones wish to have? Why were StarClan telling Lutes about this?"

Duskelle met her pale gaze. "I do not know, but I'm afraid it's not good."

Lilacfeather nodded slowly and rose to her paws. "I will make contact with StarClan tonight. I will open the gateway between our worlds and wait until one of them finds me. Thank you for telling me this, Duskpaw — it sounds as if something grave indeed is happening, and I am worried about what will come to past."

Duskelle followed her movement, gratefulness shining in her eyes and relief stark in her voice. "Thank you, Lilacfeather. I think that settles my mind a little - maybe you'll be able to find out what's going on."

"Indeed. I will tell you of my findings in the morning, Duskpaw." Lilacfeather dipped her head, and walked out of the medicine cat den.

Duskelle watched her go silently. She'd finally found a way to do something, and the pace of her heart had calmed some, but still it beat on irregularly. Something big was happening...