Icekit awoke to the feeling of pain. It blossomed in her back, spreading to her paws and tail like poison  . She whimpered, edging her eyes open as she looked up, tilting her head to see a concerned face gazing at her. She quickly rested her head down again, pretending to be asleep as warm paws rubbed herbs on her back, keeping them there with cobwebs. She realised one of the cats was Greyfin, and the other was the medicine cat, but her mind was too clouded to remember the name. 

Finally, the medicine cat spoke. "Look, Greyfin, at this point she'll be lucky if she ever walks again. Even if she does, there's no way she can become a warrior!" 

Greyfin burst out, "No, no! You know she must become a warrior! You, of all cats. You know where she's from and you know we must prevent her destiny."

The medicine cat sighed. "Greyfin, I understand your concern, but you must let her choose. And you know she can never become a warrior. She has no chance of making it through apprenticeship!"

Greyfin snarled, stepping closer to the medicine cat. "I will not let her become a medicine cat. She will fulfill her destiny, and she will leave.." Her voice broke at the end.

The other replied, "She is not RiverClan anyways. We are not her family or clan, and she does not belong." 

Greyfin gasped, her voice choking as she said, "how could you say that? How could you say that?! Look at her, a tiny kit with a torn back and almost no chance of living, and that's what you say? You're sickening." 

The medicine cat sighed and responded softly. "I'm sorry. But it is the truth," with that, the warm paws left Icekit's back and padded out of the den.

Greyfin leaned down, looking broken and sounding desperate. "But I love her." She licked Icekit's side and left, her tail dragging in the dirt. The second she left, Icekit's eyes shot open. 

"I...I'm not RiverClan? What am I?" She whispered, staring questioningly at the wall until pain overtook her, sending her into the blackness of sleep.