Skypaw trekked single file through WindClan territory. Skypaw disliked the one tail length from shore rule, it made her and her Clanmates feel cramped.

Shadepaw ahead of her and Rainpaw behind her, she continued their conversation.

"So, you really trained with all three of them?" Shadepaw sounded astonished.

"Yes," Skypaw replied. "But it's not like I beat all of them."

"I'm surprised," Rainpaw said. "Three warriors don't usually train one apprentice."

"You were on patrol," Skypaw explained. "It's not like they left you out in the dust."

"We're not complaining," Rainpaw replied. "It's just unusual."

"ThunderClan!" A familiar deep howl sounded from above. Skypaw perked her ears and stretched her neck to try to see above Jaysoul, but the senior warrior was just too tall. "We're now crossing the bridge!"

Stepping to the side just a bit, she could see WindClan looking irritable as Sunstar jumped onto the fallen tree, Russetsky on his tail. Following the ThunderClan deputy, Bramblefrost leaped up, followed by Bumblefoot, Jaysoul, and eventually Shadepaw.

Leaping onto the all too familiar bark, she slowly followed her Clanmates to the Gathering island. The pace was much slower than the night before when Skypaw was traveling alone. She could have bolted across this trunk thirty times by now.

Keeping her tail held high like the rest of the ThunderClan cats, she, as always, felt relief under her paws as she landed on the cool grass. As her Clan started to seperate, Sunstar and Russetsky headed to the Leader's tree and the warriors started to scatter. Skypaw turned to her littermates.

"I'm going to go see Lilypaw of RiverClan," Shadepaw announced. Skypaw nodded.

"Mine as well go chat with Runningpaw of WindClan," Rainpaw sighed. "I'm not going over near Lilypaw when Mistpaw is over there."

"That was one time," Shadepaw replied. "Mistpaw apologized,"

Skypaw didn't wait to hear Rainpaw's reply. Instead, she had found a familiar pelt. Her paws reluctantly taking her over there, his blue eyes lit up when he saw her.

"Skypaw!" Hawkspirit called out a greeting.

"Hawkspirit!" She replied, quickly calling out greetings to the other medicine cats when they seemed to be confused. "Nightflare, Sageleaf, Aquamist, Silverpaw," Skypaw dipped her head with respect.

"Skypaw," Sageleaf, medicine cat of WindClan, spoke first. "Nightflare told us about Willowleaf. What a shame! Sunstar's out of his fur!"

"He's a fool," Aquamist, medicine cat of RiverClan added. "There's got to be something we can do. ThunderClan can't be absent of a healer for long!"

"Maybe we could train another apprentice to be a medicine cat for Willowleaf?" Silverpaw, Aquamist's apprentice, suggested.

"That's not a bad idea, Silverpaw," Nightflare meowed. "But it's out of our paws whether Sunstar would allow it or not."

"Skypaw!" Skypaw whipped around in confusion as an urgent whisper sounded from the bushes. The medicine cats quieted, hearing it also.

Two amber eyes poked through the leaves, them belonging to a well hidden tortoiseshell pelt. All the medicine cats, plus Skypaw, called out a greeting. "Willowleaf!"

"Shh!" Willowleaf snapped. "Sunstar can't know I'm here. Nor can any ThunderClan cats, but Skypaw," she explained, then turned back to the ThunderClan apprentice. "I need to talk to the medicine cats, and quickly." Skypaw nodded and fell silent.

As Willowleaf started to speak, Sageleaf stared at Skypaw. Something in the WindClan cat's green eyes clicked, and she nudged Aquamist. Before long, medicine cats from all the Clans were staring at her. Growing uncomfortable, she shuffled on her paws.

"Willowleaf," Sageleaf whispered. "So, this is the Sky?"

Skypaw looked at Sageleaf with shock. The brown she-cat still had one eye on her as she listened to Willowleaf intently as the tortoiseshell former medicine cat whispered to her. Aquamist and Nightflare, plus Hawkspirit, soon began to listen. However, Silverpaw seemed to make conversation with the ThunderClan apprentice before her.

"So, you're Skypaw?" She meowed brightly.

"Yes," Skypaw replied, trying to return the enthusiasm. It was hard to, knowing the medicine cats were being explained the prophecy from Willowleaf and were talking about her. Skypaw wanted to snap at Willowleaf. Why did all the Clans need to know? The problem was in ThunderClan!

Every once in awhile, one of them would shoot Sunstar a glance as he chatted briefly with the other leaders, but glares soon began to creep into the medicine cat's gazes as they looked at the ThunderClan leader. "You're Silverpaw?" Skypaw added, trying to keep the conversation going.

"Yes," Silverpaw nodded. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," Skypaw dipped her head, Silverpaw doing the same. As Silverpaw shuffled on her paws, Skypaw decided the leaders would begin to speak soon. "I should get back to my littermates,"

"Very well," Silverpaw nodded. Padding off, it took all Skypaw had not to look back and call out a final goodbye to Hawkspirit. He was still talking to Willowleaf, as the other medicine cats were as well.

Just had Skypaw had thought, conversations died down and cats started to sit among their own Clans again by the time Skypaw reached her littermates. Just as she got comfortable, Sunstar's deep meow echoed throughout the clearing, "Let the Clans gather!"

The clearing fell silent. Casting a final glance at the medicine cats, Willowleaf's tortoiseshell pelt was no where to be seen, nor were her sparkling amber eyes. All attention was faced at the leaders, so Skypaw turned her head back.

"Prey has been running well," Kestrelstar, leader of WindClan, spoke first. Skypaw studied his appearance, as she did every moon. The brown tom's sleek body was thin, but muscles shone through his pelt. His fur was well groomed and his golden eyes were bright as he addressed all four Clans. "We have two new apprentices, Swiftpaw and Goldenpaw. Tinyfoot has decided to retire as an elder, and may StarClan grant him many moons of rest."

Swiftpaw and Goldenpaw stood up as the Clans cheered for the two littermates. "Swiftpaw! Goldenpaw! Swiftpaw! Goldenpaw!" Swiftpaw stood up as straight as he could and puffed out his chest, while his sister shyly muttered thank-yous to the closet cats around her.

"That is all." Kestrelstar concluded, nodding at Splashstar, the RiverClan leader. The lean silver leader stood and took her place at the end of her branch.

"Twolegs have settled in for greenleaf, but have not affected us." Skypaw could notice she made sure all cats could hear her last few words of her sentence. "Mothflight has given birth to two kits, Mallowkit and Wavekit." The RiverClan leader nodded to Dapplestar. Skypaw shivered.

She had not forgotten the way the dappled she-cat had tried to kill her mother as well as Skypaw herself. How vicious she had been, not to mention how she planned to take over ThunderClan's forest, and the rudeness and accusion that came from her mouth when Willowleaf and Skypaw had tried to warn her about the monsters.

We'll hear about the monsters now, I suppose, Skypaw thought to herself. Speaking of which, Skypaw still had not asked her mother why she had suddenly shown up alone at ShadowClan's camp. How had she known they were there?

"ShadowClan is strong!" Dapplestar yowled, a little too loudly. As she did so, yowls of approval rose from the ShadowClan cats. Glancing back, Nightflare and Hawkspirit had remained silent. Glares and lashed tails came from the other Clans, including Skypaw. "The prey is rich and we have enough territory to support us." The ThunderClan cats snorted.

"I wonder why you attacked ThunderClan and tried to take over our forest, then!" Bumblefoot yowled at the ShadowClan leader. More yowls and murmurs of agreements came from the rest of the ThunderClan cats.

Dapplestar and the other ShadowClan cats glared at Bumblefoot, but he seemed unaffected. WindClan and RiverClan cats looked surprised and started to mutter things to themselves, clearing not knowing there was any violence between ThunderClan and ShadowClan going on.

Sunstar had a smug expression on his face as Dapplestar looked back at him, wanting him to tell his warrior to be quiet. Being stubborn, Sunstar declined.

"Is this true, Dapplestar?" Kestrelstar questioned. His ears were perked with interest.

"That is none of WindClan's business!" Dapplestar snapped. Hisses came from the WindClan cats.

"Fine, let me ask, then," Splashstar repeated the WindClan leader's question, "Is this true, Dapplestar?"

Dapplestar growled and stacked back to the end of her branch. Skypaw glanced at the ShadowClan cats next to her. They all looked humiliated at their leader's performance. Even Ratscar was staring at his paws, his ears flat against his head.

Clearing his throat, Sunstar took his time to stand and get to the end of his own branch. Answering the questions of the other two leaders, he meowed, "Yes, it is true. They even used their medicine cats to get into the heart of the battle to heal our warriors, and to get ours away from ca-"

"Nonsense!" Nightflare's loud hiss startled the cats of all the Clans. Even Sunstar was caught off guard. Nightflare's pelt was spiked, as was Hawkspirit's. Both ShadowClan medicine cats looked angry, and as Skypaw glanced around, she noticed even the medicine cats of RiverClan and WindClan were on their paws, tails lashing.

"We did no such thing!" Hawkspirit spat. "Medicine cats are beyond the warrior code!"

"Sunstar," Sageleaf cleared her throat. "Not to be rude, but you are a mousebrain for exiling your only medicine cat. Not only is she your healer, to keep cats strong, but she is your only open window to StarClan. How will your Clan receive warnings? How will your-"

"Sageleaf," Kestrelstar's voice came out as a warning.

"Kestrelstar," Sageleaf snapped.

"Sageleaf is right," Aquamist spoke up. "StarClan will punish you for this mistake if you do not fix it."

Splashstar decided to get involved. "This is nonsense! Sunstar, find your medicine cat or we will attack your Clan and make you learn what life is like without Willowleaf!"

Shocked murmurs came from all the Clan cats. Attacking a Clan when they have no healer? Skypaw thought to herself, astonished. Although, that is Splashstar's point.

Skypaw noticed the ThunderClan leader shifted on his paws. His green eyes no longer were lit with fire, but with worry. Now that a threat was thrown at him and he had no way to heal his warriors, ThunderClan was doomed.

The medicine cats started to chant, "Let Willowleaf back! Let Willowleaf back!"

Hawkspirit chanted the loudest, his eyes sparkling as they caught Skypaw's. Deciding to be brave, she took a deep breath and let her voice start to ring, the first of her Clan to do so. "Let Willowleaf back! Let Willowleaf back!" She yowled at the top of her lungs.

Rainpaw quickly joined in, followed by Shadepaw. Skypaw was surprised, because Shadepaw took part in the patrol that had exiled the tortoiseshell she-cat. She defended Sunstar's decision eating fresh kill one time, too.

Russetsky, sitting in between Moondust, the ShadowClan deputy and Bluefire, the RiverClan deputy, howled to get her medicine cat back. Before long, even Sparkfur, the WindClan deputy, was cheering. The Clans were repeating the words of the medicine cats, and Skypaw's throat started to hurt.

Sunstar just stared. He shot Splashstar and Kestrelstar a glare when they started to support the medicine cats' arguement, but that didn't stop them. Dapplestar, however, just stayed silent, her eyes unreadable.

"Fine!" Sunstar hissed. "Willowleaf is allowed back in ThunderClan!"

Sorry, late update!

However, this is almost 1,000 words longer than a normal chapter :o

Will Willowleaf get to stay? And was it wise to tell the other medicine cats about the prophecy?

Also, in case you guys forgot, but back when Skypaw first met Hawkspirit, it was right before the battle with ShadowClan. His name was Hawkpaw at the time, and his appearance was written as a shadowy tom. I decided to make his eyes dark blue, like Rainpaw's almost (whose look like the lake). Anways, I guess you could say he looks like Russetsky or Shadepaw, only I envision his pelt very dark gray, almost black, like a shadow. You can really only tell it's gray when he stands in the light, VS Russetsky and Shadepaw are a visable gray.

Thanks for reading. XD I see some of you are already suspecting something between Skypaw and the ShadowClan medicine cat. It entertained me to read them. Comment predictions :D

*Note* I didn't proof read the ending of this chapter so if you find any mistakes, I apologize!