"Give me one reason, Silverpool, why you still deserve to be called a warrior— a RiverClan one at that. For one moon you abandoned your Clanmates, to be pampered at the ThunderClan camp. You told no one where you were going, and will not tell me why you broke the warrior code and your leader's trust!"

Silverpool took a deep breath and bowed her head to Minnowstar. She had been prepared for her leader's disapproval, but hearing it from the angry orange she-cat was much worse than imagining it in her own head. Because it was real.

"I had a reason," she began. Almost as soon as Silverpool began speaking her mouth ran dry. Beside her, Aspencloud glared. Get on with it, Silverpool! Her mind forced herself to keep speaking. "I was going to keep catmint for Aspencloud."I just lied to my leader! Minnowstar's confused face swam and rippled in Silverpool's uneasy, blurry vision.

"Catmint?" The RiverClan leader shifted in her mossy nest. "Aspencloud, did you send her?"

"Yes, Minnowstar. I knew that there would be greencough— there always is. And unfortunately, my supply has run low on account of the poor harvest this green-leaf. ThunderClan has a patch, I sent Dawnstrike to go get it."

Although the two she-cats had never gotten along, Aspencloud had been the one to fetch Silverpool from the ThunderClan camp. Whiteflower informed her about the stay RiverClan warrior at the last Gathering, and once the information had reached her leader, Aspencloud was off to the other Clan. Silverpool, the medicine cat had know, was off doing something with the prophecy.

Because I always am, Silverpool realized. I've never been free from the wondering of my destiny, and from that trouble has always plagued me.

"Why did you not tell me sooner?" Minnowstar was perplexed, and Silverpool instantly felt bad. The faith in one's medicine cat meant so much... to lie meant breaking that sacred vow forever. "You knew that we needed our warrior, yet you never brought this to my attention."

Prophecies always seem to get in the way of cat's lives. Suddenly, taking care of the Clan evolves into fighting for all four. There really is no way to live peacefully after knowing that is what your destiny means of you.

But I don't even have the foggiest glimpse of my future.

"I never saw Silverpool leave for ThunderClan territory, and after a quarter-moon of waiting, I thought, along with the rest of the Clan, that she had run away in the coming of the cold moons."

What? To Minnowstar Silverpool asked, "My Clanmates believed that I would desert RiverClan?"

"Yes," she was told bluntly," everyone except for Bramblefang. He was very persistent on the speculation that you were taken by ShadowClan, and later, WindClan."

Bramblefang. Silverpool hadn't thought about the tom in days. So he hasn't fallen for any other she-cat in the Clan yet. What a shame. A small purr of laughter escaped the silver cat's throat. Aspencloud was unaware of that, she was gazing at the ground, almost as if messages from StarClan were carved into it.

Minnowstar, however, looked like a cat who was utterly lost. She had hoped to get a sincere explanation and apology from her warrior, with a proper punishment laid out. But with the entanglement of the Clan medicine cat... the questions swarmed in the RiverClan leader's mind, multiplying like beetles.

Aspencloud jerked her head up, and upon noticing her leader's confusion, took matters into her own paws.

"I need to take Silverpool to my den," she informed the leader," There's no telling of what nasty diseases she could have caught at the ThunderClan camp."

Turning around, Aspencloud wrapped her long black and orange tail around Silverpool's shoulders.

"I have received no sign from StarClan to do this," she hissed softly," but you are becoming to frog-brained about this prophecy, I supposed I have to, before you get yourself or anyone of your Clanmates killed."

Silverpool nearly blacked out. Luckily, as the medicine cat secretly smuggled her across the clearing, she didn't. Most of the warriors were out of patrol, and no Clan cat was even aware the warrior had returned. As they entered the twisted juniper bush that made the medicine den, Aspencloud sat with her back to the entrance.

"Okay, listen up, Silverpool. On the night you and your sister were born, four ancient StarClan cats came to me. Jayfeather, Mistystar, Tallstar, and Tawnypelt." She took a deep breath. "The prophecy." Silverpool leaned closer until she saw faint bits of leaves in the medicine cat's pelt.

"The shadows are lengthening, and the final storm approaches. The one hope that the clans have is the forgotten lineage of the mist."

The only sound was a hideous fit of coughing from some cat in the clearing. Aspencloud winced at the noise, but wouldn't tear her gaze away from Silverpool, whose eyes had a cloudy, dreamy look as she ingested the words of StarClan. Finally her eyes focused on the medicine cat once more.

"Is that seriously it?"

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Thank you for reading, and please vote or comment on this chapter. Hope you enjoyed, and keep reading for the rest of Shadows Unveiled!