Shadowed Dawn - WARRIOR CATS

Epilogue

Epilogue

"Look what we managed to catch!"

Aspenpaw padded toward camp, tail held high in the air. Behind her, Ebonywing, Ravenfeather and Haze dragged a couple of limp rabbits. In the ginger she-cat's own jaws was a plump vole.

Fang glanced towards her, and purred, from where he was patching up the den walls with Thornstar, Frost and-

Lightsong.

They hadn't truly given ranks yet and formed and official clan, but everycat sort of saw Lightsong as the unofficial true leader of the clan. Even Thornstar, who StarClan had given nine lives too, had acknowledged that he wasn't truly ready to take on leadership.

A couple of the former Midnights, Blaze and Silvershadow, hurried forward to help Haze drag her catch into camp. Aspenpaw admired the two young cats for continuing to fight, after all they had experienced in CoalClan.

"Looks like an excellent haul!"

Aspenpaw glanced around to see Lightsong racing up to her. Instinctively, the two she-cats pressed close together, winding their tail, and purring. Aspenpaw relished her mother's scent. It still tasted faintly of sickness, though mostly of the remenants of the Dawn of the Claw, a harsh, tangy scent.

It still held traces of how Aspenpaw had remembered her mother's scent when she was a kit, but it wasn't the same. It would likely never be the same. Just like how, after all that they had faced, her and Lightsong were different cats.

And that's okay.

"We're going to call a clan meeting," Lightsong meowed in Aspenpaw's ear. "Now that we're finally settling down, it's time to make this clan official."

Lightsong didn't say that she was going to call the clan meeting. Like the scars on her ear and shoulder, Thistleheart's reign had forever changed the former DawnClan warrior. It had taken a lot of convincing from Thornstar and Brackenflight that Lightsong deserved to have power.

"Really?" Aspenpaw couldn't help excitement rise in her chest, nearly dropping her vole. "I can't wait!"

She gave one last happy glance at her mother, before taking the last few strides into her new home.

It rested at the base of the mountains, a few days' journey from the lake territories. The trees which surrounded the small clearing had large oak leaves, which offered a gentle sort of shade. The grassy ground underpaw was marked by the pawsteps of all her clanmates. The sky above was blue and bright.

The camp was set in a clearing. Countless little dens which housed four or five cats were in the process of being constructed. Aspenpaw watched as a couple of former Midnights wove a few blue and yellow flowers amidst the dens made of woven reeds and twigs.

"Nice den!" she called as she passed them.

One of the Midnights, a massive dark grey she-cat with heavy scarring on her back looked up sharply, fur on end.

"Oh-" they began. "Thanks! Aspenpaw."

"Not at all, Phantom. By the way, we're going to have a meeting." She flicked her tail at the centre of camp, where cats were already beginning to congregate."

She blinked warmly at the two cats as she hurried over to the other side of camp. The vole swung to and fro in her jaws as she headed over to the final den being constructed. A brown tabby poked her head out, and mewed to Fang, Frost and Thornstar.

"The interior is stable. That's the last den, now complete."

"Congratualations!"

All four cats practically jumped at Aspenpaw's remark. They were all still jumpy these days. Fang cringed as the sudden movement made him land on his left hind leg. Frost hurried over, to help him reposition himself.