Wolfheart was in the woods, stalking a mouse. She knew she was dreaming, but wished it was real. The mouse was so large it could probably feed an entire nursery of kits. Then, barking in the distance rumbled, and a yowl of terror arose.

Wolfheart awoke, panting. Just a dream...Just a dream... She convinced herself.

"Wake up, you fat furball!" Hissed Dustpelt. "Shadow...something and Firestar are back!"

Wolfheart shot out of the Warriors den, almost hitting Dustpelt on her way. She didn't even stop to pick the pieces of moss off of her pelt that were still clinging.

A large crowd of cats formed at the gorse tunnel.

"Excuse me!" "Pardon me!" She said as she squeezed her way to the center of the crowd. In the center, being questioned by many more cats, was Firestar, and whatever Shadowstar was now.

"What are you now?" She quickly asked Shadowstar. He smiled, happy to see Wolfheart, as her herself did the same. "Shadowheart. A loyal warrior of ThunderClan." He meowed sternly. "...Not Deputy?" Asked Wolfheart. "No." He sighed. "I'm not taking away Soundstep's position in the Clan."

Wolfheart understood this. Any cat could see how happy Soundstep was as the Clan deputy.

"Come." He yawned. "I need to rest."

Wolfheart followed Shadowheart back into the Warriors den. She clawed at the moss, making it softer. Then lay down next to Shadowheart and fell deep back into sleep.

Wolfheart awoke at Moonhigh. Shadowheart was still asleep, by the steady rising and falling of his breathing.

She silently got up, and padded out of the den.

She felt a need to hunt.

She silently stalked out of the gorse tunnel, and into ThunderClan territory.

That mouse is HUGE!  Thought Wolfheart as she stalked an oddly large mouse quietly through the forest.

Her mind was on nothing more than catching the mouse, she didn't care about anything else at the time.

She swiftly pounced on the mouse, and killed it with a bite to the neck.

"Yes!" She leaped for joy, but it didn't last long.

Barking broke out in the distance.

Horror struck her as her heart-stopping dream came true, and a wail of horror sounded.

She felt like running the opposite direction, but something was wrong, a cat was in trouble. She had to help them, ThunderClan or not. She ran towards the wailing cat.

She was about to fall over of tiredness until she came upon a motionless body in the distance.

The cat looked oddly farmiliar. She stepped closer. The barking was gone, so she was less tense now.

She took another step, and then she saw who the cat was.

It was her mother, Icepool.

"No...no, no no!" She wailed. What had happened?

It was clear that she had been injured. Her fur was torn, she was bleeding heavily and her eyes were still open with the light of fighting in them. Her lips were drawn back in a silent snarl.

"What's happened?" A  panting voice sounded behind Wolfheart. It was Rosefur, carrying a dead mouse in her jaws. "I decided to hunt, and all of a sudden I came upon this humungo mouse! It was already killed, but it didn't smell of crow-food, so I just picked it up, and-" She cut off as she spotted Icepool.

"A RiverClan cat!" She shrieked. "Not just a RiverClan cat." Whispered Wolfheart. "My mother."

Rosefur shot Wolfheart a look, and then Icepool a look. "You mean...You were born in RiverClan?!"

Rosefur had obviously never heard the story of her past, just like all of the other apprentices, kits, and younger warriors.

"Yes, I was. I had a sister, too. Grayheart- she was killed in the ShadowClan battle, on the day when Sourstorm was assigned an apprentice...I believe that you were, too. But, anyway, on my first day of apprenticeship, I was down by the river, and I spotted Hazelheart on the other side. We met there every day until I became a warrior. I was so tired from my vigil sit all night that I forgot to get rid of Hazelheart's scent from my pelt. Leopardstar smelt it when I got back into the entrance of the RiverClan camp, and sentanced the cats to chase me off. That's when I joined ThunderClan." Explained Wolfheart.

Rosefur looked as if she had just seen a bear rip a ThunderClan warrior in half. "Really?" Asked Rosefur, wide-eyed. "Yes, really." Purred Wolfheart, a hint of amusment in her eyes.

"For peets sake, what's all the noise?" Hazelheart, Sourstorm, Soundstep and Echobreeze stepped into the clearing.

"Great StarClan!!" Yowled Soundstep. "Which of you did this to this RiverClan Elder?"

"Neither of us!!" Explained Wolfheart. "A pack of dogs did this. Why would you think that we did it?!"

Soundstep narrowed his eyes. "I was wondering where that dog-scent was coming from..." He growled. "Why do you think that Wolfheart would murder her own mother?" Asked Rosefur, obviously interested in telling the Dawn Patrol about Wolfheart's past. "Mother?" Squealed Sourstorm. "This is your mother?!"

"Now, now, leave her alone." Instructed Echobreeze. "We just need to figure out where the dog pack is coming from...And how to explain to RiverClan what happened to Icepool without them thinking that ThunderClan are murderers..." Echobreeze narrowed her eyes.

"Soundstep, Wolfheart and I could go and tell RiverClan if you would like." Meowed Hazelheart. "No, we need to just tell Firestar...He'll know what to do...." Sighed Soundstep. "Come, we must be getting back to the camp."

Firestar shook his head as Wolfheart watched from a distance as Soundstep told him the news.

Wolfheart sighed. Why did it have to be her mother? She had already lost her only sister...this was just what she needed....

"She walks with StarClan." Shadowheart had been trying to comfort her for quite some time now.

Firestar leaped onto the Highrock and started to yowl, signaling the Clan to gather around.

"We have some new apprentices." He explained.

"Cheetahkit, Pebblekit, Darkkit and Redkit will all be made apprentices today." he explained. "I thought that Cheetahkit and Redkit were the oldest?" yowled Dustpelt from the back. "True, Dustpelt, but Darkkit and Pebblekit are six moons old. For some reasons not to be told, Cheetahkit's and Redkit's apprenticing was held off for a while."

Wolfheart was a bit surprised that he wasn't telling the Clan about the dog pack, yet. Maybe he was just waiting for the right time.

"I have already chosen the mentors. Cheetahpaw shall be mentored by Echobreeze." He meowed as Cheetahpaw stepped back with her mentor.

"Pebblepaw shall be mentored by Hazelheart."

Hazelheart jumped to her paws, stepped forward and touched noses with Pebblebpaw. Wolfheart felt a bit dissapointed- she had had her eyes on Pebblepaw for a long time, but at the same time she felt happy for Hazelheart.

"Congradulations." She purred as Hazelheart stepped back. "Thanks." She mewed.

"Darkpaw shall be mentored by Wolfheart." Yowled Firestar.

Oh NO!  Thought Wolfheart. Darkpaw is the most fierce, fiesty cat in all of ThunderClan!!

Wolfheart staggered to her paws and touched noses with Darkpaw as he stepped back with her. Hazelheart must have noticed her worry, she licked Wolfheart's ear and whispered, "Don't worry, it won't be that bad...I hope..."

"And Redkit will be mentored by Dustpelt." Anounced Firestar.

Dustpelt did the ritual and Firestar lept off of the Highrock, showing that the meeting was over.

"When are we going to start training? Can we go hunting? I'm going to be the best!"

Darkpaw immediently started his blabering. "Not today." Groaned Wolfheart. "Just go and play with the other apprentices..."

Darkpaw grunted and bounded off to the apprentice's den.

Wolfheart finally decided that it was time to go and see an old RiverClan friend. She would need his guidance and patience to help her make it through mentoring Darkpaw.

She silently slipped through the gorse tunnel.

"Who's there?" Yowled a familiar voice. Badgerfur, the RiverClan medicine cat burst through the weeds into his favorite place to pick herbs. Wolfheart had decided to wait there for him, since the smell of herbs would probaby drown out her scent.

"Wolfpaw?" Asked Badgerfur, wide-eyed. "Wolfheart." Purred Wolfheart, correcting him.  "Of course." Purred Badgerfur. "Why are you here?" He asked.

Wolfheart blinked. "I needed to talk to you to get some stress off of my shoulders.  All of this drama... A feisty new apprentice, a dog pack in ThunderClan territory, my mother dying..."

Wolfheart knew that she had been giving away ThunderClan secrets, but she could trust Badgerfur to not tell anybody.

"You mean...Icepool is...dead? She went missing about a moon ago...we all thought that she had gone rouge, but..."

Wolfheart was a bit confused. "We found her body on ThunderClan territory two sunrises ago...Not a moon ago..."

Badgerfur now looked just as surprised as she did. Then he shook his head. "She was getting old...I guess that she had escaped from the camp somehow and gotten into trouble." He sighed. "You've got yourselves a good medicine cat and medicine cat apprentice, you know." He purred. "Ripplepool will make a wonderful medicine cat eventually."

Wolfheart knew that he was right. Ripplepool was very friendly and had a good mind about herbs. Bluewater was growing older and was soon going to have to go to the elders den probably. Bluewater had been found,