“What?” Tawnypelt, Rowanclaw’s mate, sprang to her paws, her tortoiseshell fur fluffed up and her green eyes glittering with fury. “That’s an apprentice job. Rowanclaw is a former leader!”

“It’s not a slight on Rowanclaw,” Leafstar assured her. “It’s just that you both know your old camp really well.”

“I’m okay with it,” Rowanclaw added, resting his tail on Tawnypelt’s shoulder. “I’m not a leader anymore, and I want to pitch in and help, just like any cat.”

Violetshine noticed that even while he spoke to Tawnypelt, Rowanclaw was avoiding her gaze with a faint look of guilt. She wondered whether disappointing his mate was the worst part of his decision to disband ShadowClan.

“Thank you, Rowanclaw,” Leafstar mewed. “I’m grateful that you feel that way. Tawnypelt, you can go with him. And Violetshine, too,” she went on, turning toward her. “You know ShadowClan territory from the time you lived with them.”

“Sure, Leafstar,” Violetshine replied.

“May I go too?” Hawkwing asked.

Violetshine glanced at her father with narrowed eyes. I’m a warrior now! I can go on a patrol without any cat to watch over me.

But she said nothing, and after a brief hesitation Leafstar nodded. “Of course, Hawkwing. It’ll be good for you to learn every paw step of our new territory.”

Rowanclaw raised his tail to gather his patrol together, and all four cats headed out of the camp, leaving Leafstar to organize the other patrols.

As soon as they were out in the forest, Hawkwing slowed his pace a little, angling his ears at Violetshine to draw her to his side.

“Let Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt go on ahead,” he murmured.

“Don’t you want to patrol with them?” Violetshine asked, surprised that her father would show hostility toward his new Clanmates.

“No, it’s not that at all,” Hawkwing replied. “But they’re mates, so they might want to speak together privately.” He hesitated, then added, “You’ll understand when you’re older.”

Violetshine tensed. The last cat I want to talk about mates with is my father!

But Hawkwing said nothing more. Distracted by a scuffling sound in the debris underneath a beech tree, he sprang forward, then straightened up again with a mouse in his jaws.

“Good catch!” Violetshine exclaimed, glad to talk about something else.

Letting Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt draw ahead, Violetshine waited while Hawkwing buried the mouse to collect later. Afterward they picked up the pace, until the former ShadowClan cats were in sight again.

As they crossed into ShadowClan’s old territory, Violetshine drifted closer, several paces ahead of her father, wanting to hear what they were saying. She realized that she didn’t entirely trust them; she wouldn’t have been surprised to hear them complaining about Leafstar, or even plotting against her.