Otterdawn yawned, stretching her paws. It was a beautiful day in DawnClan. Dawnstar, the leader, sat on the Dawn Rock in the middle of the camp, her glittery white fur shining like stars.

"Hey, sleepy-brain!" Otterdawn flicked her ear and hear a giggle and a laugh.

Lightningfire, a yellow she-cat with amber eyes, nudged her flank. "Come on!" The morning patrols- the dawn patrols- have already left camp." Lightningfire meowed.

"Well, you didn't need to wake me up to just tell me that!" Otterdawn swung her friend a death stare.

"You didn't tell me," Lightningfire mewed innocently, twitching her tail tip in amusement. 

"Oh, stop it," a gentle mew sounded behind them. Sunheart, Lightningfire's mate, padded in and curled his ginger fluffy tail around Lightningfire's shoulders.

Otterdawn sighed, and grumbled, "you know I hate to fight, but you two are like two annoying chervils rooted to the ground. So, as the position of deputy, I order you two to get out of the warrior's den and do your duties."

The two cats rolled their eyes and padded out of the den. Otterdawn ran past them to find Dawnstar.

"Hi. I sent the first patrols because I didn't want to wake you up," Dawnstar mewed, the pink star on her forehead flashing, her indigo eyes gentle and soft.

"Ugh. I just went on a walk with Stormleaf last night-" Otterdawn paled. Dawnstar smiled and nodded.

"Urg, fresh moss coming through!" A muffled voice sounded below them. They looked and saw Adderpaw, Windblossom's apprentice, drag some green moss through the gap between them.

"Well, I'm off to my duties, then," Dawnstar looked at her deputy, dipped her head, and padded into the leader's den. 

Otterdawn scanned the camp.

Duskrose was teaching her apprentice, Cricketpaw, some moves. Lilyriver was sharing tongues with Mistyclaw and Hazelfoot. The dawn patrol came in: Sunblossom, Coppersight, and Icesky had come back holding a rabbit, three shrews, and a mouse. The border patrol had not returned. 

"Hmm? Where's Silverheart, Moonwave, and Robinlight?" Dawnstar poked her head out of the fern wall. Then she called to Silverlight, "go fetch them!"

Silverlight dipped her silver-and-white head and ran out of camp. Otterdawn frowned. The patrol should've come back already. But where were they?

"I found them!" Silverlight's yowl reached her ears. Silverlight bounded into camp with the three warriors. 

All of them were wounded: Silverheart had a scratch on her shoulder and a ripped-off ear tip; Moonwave had a small wound tunning across her pelt, and Robinlight had a nick on his nose and a small gash on his flank.

"Why are you all wounded?" Dawnstar gasped, her pupils widening with shock.

"JungleClan- Mishap-" Moonwave panted.

Other cats gathered around.

"When we got to the JungleClan border, we saw Berrystripe, Fernfeather, and Jaycloud," Robinlight explained through wheezes.

"Berrystripe started to taunt DawnClan by saying that it was full of weaklings," Silverheart grumbled, and many cats bristled.

"Then we tried to stop him, but Jaycloud leaped onto our land... and nearly killed Moonwave," Robinlight gestured to Moonwave.

Moonwave shuddered. "We fought until Silverlight came."

Dawnstar bristled. "I will announce this all at the Gathering next sunrise," and then she stalked away. 

Otterdawn hissed. She was started to dislike JungleClan cats. Even though she hated fighting, she would do anything to defend the clan. 

Berrywhisker, the medicine cat, ran over. "I heard everything." she meowed quickly, getting to work, pasting herbs and cobwebs onto wounds. 

Otterdawn's mind drifted off. At the Gathering tomorrow, she would list out all of the bad things JungleClan did, but JungleClan would say that it was not true. Then the three injured cats would stand up and tell everyone. Hmm...

Lilyriver spat, "those mouse-brains!"

"Fox-hearts!" Grayfeather yowled.

"Frog-shaped-blobs of cat spit?" Cherryheart suggested.

"Okay, okay!" Dawnstar shoved her way into the crowd. "Everyone, stop. What would JungleClan feel if you called them cowards?"

"Hmph. They would feel nothing!" Nightclaw retorted.

"Well, what would you feel if they called us cowards?" Dawnstar pressed on.

"Oh..." The cats fell silent. 

"But we'll spring up and fight!" Windleap snarled, blowing a swipe at the air. "We'll show them that we're not cowards!"

"But if they called them cowards, they would do the same thing," Dawnstar reminded her.

"But we're stronger than JungleClan!" Rainflight yowled.

Soon there was a crowd of cats surrounding Dawnstar, bickering, and squabbling.

Otterdawn's ears felt as if they were going to explode. "Stop it, all of you!" She yelled. The cats stopped arguing and glared at her. "You will all die if we go on like this!"

"But you hate to fight," Moonfrost retorted.

"I know," Otterdawn replied. "But we are all warriors-"

"What warrior- no, even worse- deputy would you be if you hated fighting? You barely go to the training hollow!" Birchfur called.

Otterdawn bristled. "I go to it, mouse-brain! I train there when you're not looking, Birchfur!"

"Training by yourself, eh?" Foxtail teased.

Anger poured out of Otterdawn. "I go training with Stormleaf, every single day!"

Stormleaf tensed, but he nodded, proving that the statement was true.

"Never! Stormleaf is my cat!" Leopardstrike pounced on top of Otterdawn, pinning her to the ground. "You will never take him!"

"No! He loved me all along!" Otterdawn snarled, thrusting Leopardstrike off. Leopardstrike landed on the ground with a big 'oomph!'

Stormleaf raised an eyebrow. "Leopardstrike, you're my littermate. Littermates can't mate, remember?" 

Leopardstrike huffed, "but you're still my cat!"

"I'm sorry, sister," Stormleaf muttered, helping Otterdawn up.

Otterdawn could feel Leopardstrike's anger. "Die, traitor!" Leopardstrike yowled, slamming into Stormleaf and raising a claw to slit his throat.

Otterdawn rushed forward and shoved Leopardstrike away from Stormleaf. "You are his Littermate! You have more bonds than mates: Your blood, your minds, your hearts. You were born no the same day, mewing, clawing at your mother's belly. Your bond lasts forever, even if one of you dies!"

Leopardstrike's snarl lowered. "Oh... I'm sorry, Otterdawn, Stormleaf. My anger just took control of me... I didn't know what I was doing..."

"It's alright," Stormleaf wrapped his tail around Leopardstrike. "As long you learn about your mistake, we will forgive you."

"Exactly," Dawnstar mewed. "I was waiting to see if you two would stop the fight, but you two made it!"

Leopardstrike sighed and turned to Otterdawn. "I'm sorry, I nearly killed my own littermate. You are his true mate."

"Ugh, thank...you?" Otterdawn winced, her ears turning red.

At night, Stormleaf and Otterdawn curled up in a nest. Otterdawn breathed in the scent of Stormleaf and listened to his purrs. It felt so peaceful... 

Maybe the gathering would not be peaceful. But Stormleaf would always protect her.