Resting in the Night's Shade [C]

Icepaw

Icepaw had grown more distant from her friends since the Gathering. She had too much on her mind. She kept thinking about Loudnose’s death, as well as the deaths of so many other cats at the Gathering. It was hard not to think about it, with Morningstar’s army keeping things in check at the camp. She had no idea what they were supposed to do about their unwanted visitors, or how they were going to drive them out of the forest. Icepaw didn’t even know how to avoid speaking with any of the cats, especially as so many of them took such a great interest in the kits and apprentices. A lot of ShadowClan’s cats tried to keep the undead away from the kits, and Icepaw felt terrible that she didn’t do the same. She was older than the kits and had the ability to, but for the past few days, she simply did not have the drive to even think about opposing them. She was running in pure survival mode, and it left her mind feeling hazy.

She was even lost in that haze now. She had picked out a lizard to eat, but she’d barely nibbled on it. Now she rolled it under her paw while her mind was far away. Given her darker coat, when she tucked herself away in a corner of the camp like she was now, there were few cats that noticed her to bother her. Cats from the Dark Forest were used to the darkness, though, and such shielding mattered little to them.