Hello Feline Friends

“What happened yesterday... was wrong.” Thornstep Mewed simply. “I may not have agreed with your father on a lot, but clan cats do not kill their own in the middle of the clearing for everyone to see.” The warrior seemed genuinely disgusted, the way he’d looked at Treewhisker after tackling the other tom down.

Hazelpaw didn't appear to believe him, cowering behind Graypaw.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Mewed Thornstep in a very deadpan voice, the tom seeming distant and edgy as he always had.

Hazelpaw blinked open her eyes, groggily opening her eyes, but all signs of sleepiness vanished when she saw Thornstep, and she flinched back.

Thornstep didn’t speak. The Tom’s face was neutral, but for some reason he didn’t give off the aura of being a threat. All the same, Graypaw stayed on his guard as the warrior padded further into the old nursery, settling himself in a disused nest across from the two apprentices.

Hazelpaw started to wake up from Graypaw's raised voice.

The warrior who was now peeking into the den was none other than Thornstep- the tom who had attacked Treewhisker after he brought Henry and the other kittypets into the camp for the first time.

“What are you doing here?” Growled Graypaw, trying his best to look and sound intimidating. “Stay away from me and my sister!”

Hazelpaw was somehow still asleep despite all this, though it was likely that she would wake up soon.

Expecting Nightstar or some other important cat to come in, Graypaw instead pinned his ears back when a warrior’s face poked through the lichen curtain instead.

Hazelpaw curled up into a tight ball, whimpering softly.

Graypaw saw a shadow from outside the den and hissed softly, moving between the entrance and his sister protectively as he waited for whoever was outside to come in.

Hazelpaw kept on sleeping.

Timidly, Graypaw shuffled over again so that he could be next to Hazelpaw, not touching her to avoid upsetting her again.

Hazelpaw relaxed once Graypaw was no longer holding onto her.

Graypaw quickly released his sister, pinning his ears back after hurting her without intending to.

Unfortunately, that just seemed to make it worse, with Hazelpaw letting out a panicked mewl and struggling in Graypaw’s grasp, still asleep.

Graypaw wrapped his forepaws around Hazelpaw’s body in an attempt to still her a bit, hoping to improve her sleep that way.

Hazelpaw’s rest was uneasy, the young she-cat often moving around or making noise in her sleep.

Graypaw was sitting awake, playing the things Nightstar and others had said about him through his head constantly. He couldn’t get over it. He really was worthless.

Hazelpaw has drifted off to sleep sometime earlier, now that she was able to relax.

Back in the clan camp, Graypaw was still curled up with his sister, silently comforting her.

Violetwing huffed, starting to groom herself.

“...Can’t lose hope...” Treewhisker vowed to himself quietly, in a voice barely audible to Violetwing, before he returned to scheming up ways to get his kits back.

Violetwing remained silent, not giving any soothing words to Treewhisker.

Treewhisker fretted in silence beside Violetwing.