Snowfur watched sadly as Bluestar curled up in her nest, her eyes dull with grief as Fireheart once again refused to speak to her. Beside her, Moonflower and Mosskit watched the ThunderClan leader, their eyes reflecting the pity Snowfur felt. Slowly but surely, Bluestar was beginning to lose hope. With Tigerclaw out loose in the forest, ThunderClan needed its leadership to be united, but that couldn't happen until they worked through their issues–something the deputy didn't seem interested in doing.

How long would it be until Fireheart learned to forgive his mother?

"Poor Bluestar," Snowfur murmured quietly.

"She'll be okay, Snowfur," Moonflower meowed gently, but her gaze was filled with sadness.

The white queen nodded but didn't feel reassured. Bluestar had already been forced to endure so much, and now her son didn't want anything to do with her. Well, he did, but he was too stubborn and proud to do anything about it. She was a strong cat, Snowfur knew, but how much more would she be able to handle? Everyone had a breaking point.

Part of her wanted to be angry with Fireheart for hurting her sister, but she knew it wasn't entirely his fault. He didn't know about the Dark Forest or anything about the history between Bluestar and Thistleclaw; he had no reason to believe that Snowfur's former mate had lied to him. No, the only cat to blame in this situation was Thistleclaw. Snowfur couldn't believe that even he would stoop so low. She had known for a long time that Thistleclaw hated Bluestar, but she had never imagined that, even after all these moons, he still hadn't let go of his grudge.

"Why can't we just tell Fireheart the truth?" Mosskit piped up. "He would listen to us, wouldn't he? We can just visit him in a dream and tell him that Thistleclaw lied to him, and everything would be fine."

"Fireheart needs to work through his feelings on his own, dear. It's not our place to interfere," Moonflower reminded the young kit gently.

"But what if he never forgives Bluestar?" Mosskit asked, looking worried and sad. Snowfur felt a pang of sorrow. Ever since Fireheart had been born, Mosskit had been eagerly looking forward to meeting him and bonding over being half-siblings. The thought that he would forever reject Bluestar as his mother, and therefore her as well, broke the little molly's heart.

"He will," Moonflower reassured her. "Bluestar loves Fireheart very much and she's always done everything she could to make sure he was safe and happy. Sooner or later, he'll realize that himself."

Snowfur hoped that her mother was right. If Bluestar lost her son's affection for good on top of being forced to give up her first litter, she didn't want to think about what the consequences would be.

"How could Thistleclaw do this?" she hissed, unable to stop herself. "Wasn't it enough that he separated Fireheart from her once? What's in it for him to continue his stupid vendetta against her? Why can't he just let it go already?"

"We may never know, dear," Moonflower meowed soothingly. "There are some answers that even we can't figure out. But rest assured that no matter what happens, everything will turn out just fine in the end. It might take a few days, or it might take several moons, but things will work out between Fireheart and Bluestar. We need only to have patience."

Snowfur nodded almost absentmindedly, turning her attention back towards the pool. As much as she wanted to believe that Moonflower was right, seeing how upset Fireheart was with Bluestar made it difficult to have much faith. He was so angry, so hurt. At this point, it looked as though it would take a miracle for him to be willing to speak to her about Clan matters, let alone bond with her as his mother.

As she watched, the image in the pool changed to that of Fireheart and Sandstorm's kits playing happily while their parents looked on. There was an expression of pure love in Fireheart's eyes as he watched his children, and he even allowed Spotkit to bat at his ears with tiny paws. Squirrelkit squealed with joy and pounced on her father, immediately rolling off his back and on top of a ball of moss. Redkit and Rainkit, the less rambunctious of Fireheart and Sandstorm's litter, settled themselves at their mother's paws while they watched their siblings attack their father.

Seeing how much Fireheart adored his family, Snowfur couldn't help wondering why it was so difficult for him to forgive Bluestar. He knew that Bluestar cared about him and he knew what it was to love as a father, so why couldn't he see that she would never abandon him as he believed she had? Anyone with eyes could see that Thistleclaw had been lying.

On the other hand, she had known everything Thistleclaw had done from the start, so she wouldn't have believed it anyway. Fireheart, however, was completely ignorant. Besides, Snowfur admitted begrudgingly, perhaps she shouldn't be so quick to judge Fireheart for falling for her former mate's lies. After all, she had once thought that Thistleclaw hung the stars and sent the rain that made the flowers bloom in newleaf.

Moonflower touched the tip of her tail to her daughter's shoulder. "Let's go," she meowed softly. "We'll only make ourselves worry more if we stay at this pool any longer. Thrushpelt is waiting for us; we can go hunting with him."

Snowfur nodded silently, allowing her mother to lead her away from the viewing pool. At the last second, however, she turned around and glanced back in its direction one more time. But she was too far away to see into its depths now, and the pool was nothing more than a shimmering puddle of water that refused to dry up even though the air was as warm as the sun itself.

While Snowfur and her family were mourning over Bluestar's pain in StarClan, in the depths of the Dark Forest, another cat was experiencing a vastly different set of emotions.

Thistleclaw was overjoyed at the way things had turned out. At long last, he had gotten what he wanted. Well, that wasn't entirely accurate–he still hadn't achieved his dream of becoming a Clan leader, nor would he ever be able to do so now. But he had succeeded in his other mission; he had torn Fireheart and Bluestar apart for good. Now, Bluestar would be forced to endure life as ThunderClan leader without a family, which was less than she deserved.

Thank the Dark Forest that Fireheart is a stupid, gullible fool, the spiky-furred warrior thought with a sneer. It had been only too easy to convince Fireheart that Bluestar had abandoned him. Not that Thistleclaw was about to complain, of course. Fireheart's utter lack of common sense, or a functioning brain for that matter, made his job a lot easier.

Bluestar may have beaten him in earning the rank of Clan leader, but she had lost her entire family, and Thistleclaw knew that it would break her sooner or later. Finally, the face she had put on for her Clanmates would crumble, and they would see her for the weakling she really was. They would realize that Sunstar had made a mistake all those seasons ago and abandon her, just as she deserved. And when she died, Thistleclaw would be waiting for her–to kill her a tenth time as a final form of repayment for everything she had done to him.

Well, assuming she goes to the Dark Forest, the one remaining logical part of his mind reasoned. He brushed it off immediately, however. Of course. It's the only place she could go. She out of all cats deserves this place more than anyone.

That was all a long way in the future, though. For now, Thistleclaw was content to live his afterlife in the Dark Forest, training with the other disgraced warriors, with the full knowledge that everything had gone according to plan.

And that's a wrap for arc three! I've got a chapter in the works for the beginning of Echoing Flames: Rising Storm, so expect that to come out soon.

Thanks for reading!

-TheShadowedWarrior