The leader paced her den anxiously. What could she do to keep her clan strong? she queried inwardly. Froststar's eyes were clouded with sleepiness; she hadn't had a good night of sleep for sunrises.
A quiet mew interrupted the leader's thoughts. Maplebreeze stuck her head into the leader's den. "How are you doing Froststar?" the brown dappled she-cat asked.
Froststar looked up from her pacing. "I'm doing fine," she spat. She looked annoyed at being disturbed from her thinking. "You don't need to check up on me. It would be much more worth your time checking up on your clanmates. They're the ones who need help." The snowy cat exaggerated the word clanmates. She hoped Maplebreeze would take the hint.
Maplebreeze looked startled. Her green eyes glistened with horror. "Froststar!" she exclaimed. "What is the matter with you?" The warrior shook her head sadly. "I don't understand. The clan is doing well," she murmured.
"No!" Froststar disagreed. "Don't you see the way they treat each other?" she questioned, upset that even her daughter didn't see why she was so concerned. "Woodclan is not what it used to be," she muttered underneath her breath.
"It's better than what it was!" Maplebreeze declared. "Haven't you seen the huge pile of prey by sundown? Haven't you seen our battling techniques? We're stronger now," she asserted her leader. The warrior didn't understand why Froststar was so panicked. Maplebreeze thought Woodclan was thriving.
Froststar admitted, "Yes. I do see the catches and our battling techniques." She knew what Maplebreeze was saying was true; the warriors were improving their battle moves, and the prey was good. "Don't you see how the warriors talk to each other? They all have too much confidence in their self. I'm sure they all believe that they could survive as loners without their clanmates." She sighed. Does anyone see what I see? she wondered to herself.
Maplebreeze was now deeply concerned about her leader. She thought, She must be coming down with something. She's acting mouse-brained. Maplebreeze ran her tail over her mother's flank as to comfort her. "Everything is okay, Froststar," she soothed. "I think you just need some rest."
Froststar hissed at her daughter. "You're treating me like a kit now!" The white she-cat padded out of her den. She leaped onto the branch of the small tree beneath her den. "Let all cats of WoodClan gather beneath me for a clan meeting!" she yowled from her spot.
Froststar's clanmates began to gather in the center of the camp.
Maplebreeze, who had been in Froststar's den, jumped from the ledge down to her other clanmates. "Froststar! You're not feeling well. You should be resting!" she called up to her leader. She didn't want Froststar to worry Woodclan about their behavior. She felt the clan was already doing very well. The dappled warrior didn't want this to change.
"No," Froststar responded quickly. "I cannot wait around while my clan suffers."
Gasps sounded beneath Froststar. Froststar heard a few questioning meows. They had no idea what their leader was talking about.
"Woodclan is failing!" she announced to the surprise of her clanmates. "We do not act as one as we used to do. We do not have the connection to each other like our ancestors did. We do not treat our clanmates right." The she-cat saw the confused looks of her clanmates below. She scoffed at their surprise. "I will not let Woodclan fail. Not as long as I'm alive," she stated.
"That's all I have to say," she said after a few moments of silence. Froststar tried to leap up to her den from the branch. Her front paws barely landed on the edge of the rock overhanging before her den. She scrabbled to her feet sheepishly.
Froststar asked herself inwardly when she was back in her den, Why don't they understand?
