Warriors #3: Shifting Shadows

Chapter 11

Lilypetal's POV

I was lying just under the Highledge, basking in the warm sun, when I noticed that Brambleclaw was slowly walking over to me.

"Hi, Lilypetal," he meowed kindly, lashing his tail to me in greeting.

I lifted my head from where I was sunning on the ground. "Hello, Brambleclaw!" I meowed, trying to sound as cheerful as I could despite how down I was feeling at the moment.

In fact, I had been in a slump for quite a while now, about a half-moon to be exact. So much had happened, and I didn't know what to do about any of it; First off, Thornclaw and I hadn't spoken to each other at all since our awful quarrel. 

At first, I had only stayed away from the golden tabby in order to calm down and clear my head, but once I had, I found that I didn't even want to bother anymore; he didn't want to be mates any longer, anyway, so I suppose I was only doing him a favor. He hadn't made any advances since the argument, so I figured it was exactly what he wanted.

Of course, I was hurting. I mean, I was still in love with Thornclaw, and I felt like almost anything around me made me think of him and our time together - our hunting trips, our times with Goldenshine and Snowflight in the nursery, sharing meals, our late-night walks, and just talking together. I wanted it all back, and there had already been so many times where I was tempted to run over to the golden tabby and try to resolve the conflict. I missed him immensely. 

But through my grief, I tried to remind myself of how angry I had been as we yowled at each other, how disappointed I had been in Thornclaw's choice. I suppose I did believe him when he said he was only doing it to become a better warrior, but the way he had lashed out at me, to me, was unacceptable.

So that was one thing, another being that I had found out that my father was one of the most evil cats ever known to the Clans. And on top of that, Goldenshine was clearly keeping secrets from me. I still didn't know what she was up to, because she definitely was up to something. She had been very closed-off and quite irritable, to be honest. She was an obstinate and headstrong she-cat, but never rude. I was very worried about her, to say the least.

Trying to escape my adversities for just a moment, I shook my head quickly and then proceeded to tilt my head to Brambleclaw as he spoke. "A few more cats can go to the gathering tonight," the dark brown tabby tom began. "Would you like to come along?"

I sighed and and forced myself to stand up, trying not to let Brambleclaw see how I was truly feeling inside. "Sure!" I meowed kindly, nodding my head and pushing myself to look at things a little more positively. "A Gathering is just what I need right now!"

I watched as Brambleclaw then dipped his head. "Okay, great! I'll let Firestar know." He then began to walk away, but I stared in curiosity and he then paused and looked back at where I stood.

"Oh! I have been meaning to thank you again, Lilypetal," Brambleclaw meowed as he padded back up to me, "for helping Squirrelflight and I settle our... quarrel, you could say. We're finally happy again thanks to you. I really appreciate it so much."

My initial reaction was to let out a sigh of relief at Brambleclaw's words. I truly was very happy for him and Squirrelflight. When I had first found out that Squirrelflight had been hiding the fact that Lionblaze, Jayfeather, and Hollyleaf weren't her kits, and that Brambleclaw didn't know, I had felt terribly for him. It had been even more difficult to watch his reaction when Hollyleaf had spilled the news at the full-moon Gathering. He had ended things with Squirrelflight immediately, to my dismay.

Out of my desperation to help the situation, I had run up to the ThunderClan deputy and tried to give him Squirrelflight's side of the story. I had then led him over to his former mate to talk, and he had told Squirrelflight that he needed some time. And that, he did, taking several sunrises to process the situation before feeling comfortable around his mate again. But from what I had seen, it had all worked, and Brambleclaw was slowly understanding more and more the reason behind Squirrelflight's actions.