He padded around the edge of the clearing, feeling a ripple of pride at the work the Clan had done so far. The camp was already regaining some of its former shape. The trunk of the elders’ oak was blackened but still in one piece, although its maze of branches had burned away to nothing. The bramble nursery, which had been stripped of its protective leaves down to a tangle of stems, had been carefully patched with leafy twigs fetched from less damaged parts of the forest. And the camp wall had been shored up with the strongest branches the cats could find, although there was little they could do to replace the thick barrier of ferns that used to surround the camp. For that they would have to wait for the forest to grow again.
Fireheart heard a scratching behind the nursery. Through the patchy walls, he saw a familiar pelt of white fur. “Cloudpaw!” he called.
The apprentice emerged from behind the bramble bush, his jaws crammed with twigs that he’d been weaving through the nursery walls. Fireheart blinked in welcome. He hadn’t been the only cat to notice how hard Cloudpaw had worked these past few days to fix the camp. There had been no more questions about the white apprentice’s commitment to the Clan. Fireheart wondered if it had taken something as severe as a fire for Cloudpaw to discover the true meaning of loyalty. The young cat stood in front of him now without speaking, his fur flattened and blotchy with soot and mud, his eyes strained and exhausted.
“Go and rest,” Fireheart ordered gently. “You’ve earned it.”
Cloudpaw dropped his bundle of twigs. “Let me finish these first.”
“You can finish them later.”
“But I’ve only got a few left to do,” Cloudpaw argued.
“You look dead on your paws,” Fireheart insisted. “Go on.”
“Yes, Fireheart.” He turned to leave and glanced forlornly at the fallen oak where Smallear sat with Dappletail and One-Eye. “The elders’ den seems so empty,” he mewed.
“Patchpelt and Halftail are with StarClan now,” Fireheart reminded him. “They’ll be watching you tonight from Silverpelt.” A wave of regret tugged at his belly as he remembered that Bluestar had refused to conduct the proper ceremony for her dead Clanmates.
“I will not place them in the paws of StarClan,” she had told him bitterly. “Our warrior ancestors do not deserve the company of ThunderClan cats.” And so Whitestorm had soothed the anxious Clan by speaking the words that would send Yellowfang and Halftail safely to their old friends in Silverpelt, just as he had done for Patchpelt at the RiverClan camp.
Cloudpaw nodded, but he looked unconvinced. Fireheart knew that the apprentice still found it hard to believe that the lights of Silverpelt were the spirits of their warrior ancestors, watching over their old hunting grounds. “Go and rest,” he repeated.
The young cat dragged his paws toward the charred stump where the apprentices gathered to eat and share tongues. Brightpaw hurried across the clearing to greet her friend, and Cloudpaw met her with a friendly nuzzle. But the white apprentice’s eyelids were already drooping, and his greeting was interrupted by a huge yawn. He lay down where he was, resting his head on the ground and closing his sore eyes. Brightpaw crouched at his side and gently began to wash Cloudpaw’s grubby pelt. Watching them, Fireheart felt a pang of loneliness as he remembered the same companionship he had once shared with Graystripe.
He turned his paws once more toward Bluestar’s den. Longtail was sitting outside, and he nodded as Fireheart passed. Fireheart paused at the entrance. The lichen had been burned away and the stone was black with soot. He mewed a quiet greeting and stepped inside. Without the lichen, the wind as well as daylight flooded in, and Bluestar had dragged her bedding into the shadows at the back of the drafty cave.
Cinderpelt sat beside the huddled shape of the leader, pushing a pile of herbs toward her. “They’ll make you feel better,” she urged.
“I feel fine,” snapped Bluestar, keeping her eyes fixed on the sandy floor.
“I’ll leave them here, then. Perhaps you’ll manage them later.” Cinderpelt stood and walked unevenly toward the den entrance.
“How is she?” Fireheart whispered.
“Stubborn,” replied Cinderpelt, brushing past him out of the den.
Fireheart cautiously approached the old leader. Bluestar was even more of a stranger to him now, locked in a world of fear and suspicion directed not just against Tigerclaw, but at all their warrior ancestors in StarClan. “Bluestar,” he began tentatively, dipping his head. “The Gathering is tonight. Have you decided who will go?”
“The Gathering?” Bluestar spat with disgust. “You decide who to take. I won’t be going. There is no longer any reason for me to honor StarClan.” As she spoke, a cloud of ash blew through the open doorway, cutting off her words with a bout of coughing.