Into the River

Into the River Chapter 23

Leafpaw sat quietly in the apprentice's den, lost in thought.

Lavapaw, noticing Leafpaw's mood, nudged her with her paw. "Hey, you okay?" she asked.

Leafpaw sighed. "I don't know. It's just...the way Raincall left, it was so final. I can't help but wonder if it could come back to haunt us."

Clawpaw snorted. "How? It's not like she can go to SkyClan or something."

Leafpaw nodded, but she couldn't shake off the feeling of unease. She knew that Raincall's banishment would have far-reaching consequences for the Clan, and she couldn't help but feel that there was more to the story than what they had been told.

As the day went on, rumors began to circulate through the Clan. A warrior from another patrol had spotted Raincall sneaking around the SkyClan border. The news spread like wildfire, and soon every cat in the Clan was talking about it.

"Well, it looks like I was wrong," Clawpaw said, "She did go to SkyClan."

Leafpaw's unease grew stronger, and she knew that this was exactly the kind of thing she had been worried about. Leafpaw looked at Lavapaw, who had been quiet for a while. "What do you think about all of this?" Leafpaw asked her. Lavapaw blinked as if coming out of a daze. "I don't know. It's just so strange. I mean, what was Raincall doing at SkyClan's border? And now that she's out there, what's going to happen to her?"

Clawpaw snorted again. "Who cares? She made her choice. Let her deal with the consequences."

But Lavapaw didn't look convinced. "I don't know. I just have this feeling that there's more to this than we know. And...do you think she could become Clan leader?"

Leafpaw's ears perked up at the suggestion. It was a possibility that she hadn't considered before. "I don't know," she said slowly. "But if she does, it would be terrible."

Clawpaw rolled his eyes. "That's ridiculous. She's a traitor. No one would ever follow her."

But Lavapaw didn't look convinced. "I don't know," she repeated. "Has anyone told SkyClan that?"

The three apprentices sat in silence for a few moments, each lost in their thoughts. Finally, Leafpaw spoke up. "We need to find out more about what's going on. We can't just sit here and wait for things to happen."

Lavapaw and Clawpaw both nodded in agreement.

"But how?" Lavapaw asked. "We're just apprentices. We can't exactly go out and investigate."

Leafpaw thought for a moment. "We may not be able to investigate on our own, but we can still keep our ears open and gather information. We need to be careful, though. We don't want to get into any trouble."

Clawpaw rolled his eyes. "What kind of trouble could we possibly get into? As Lavapaw said, we're just apprentices."

Leafpaw shot him a warning look. "We can still get punished for spreading rumors or getting involved in things that don't concern us. We need to be smart about this."

Lavapaw nodded in agreement. "She's right. We need to be careful."

The three apprentices sat in silence for a few more moments.

Finally, Clawpaw spoke up. "So, what's our plan?"

Leafpaw looked at her two littermates. "We plan to keep our ears open, gather information, and stay out of trouble. We can't do anything too risky, but we need to be ready for whatever comes next."

Lavapaw and Clawpaw both nodded in agreement. "Okay," Clawpaw said. "I'm in."

"Me too," Lavapaw added.

"Good. We'll figure this out together," Leafpaw said, "This isn't over, not by a long shot."