"What? Why?" Wave asked.
"Because I had a dream. Stream Group isn't doing well." Thin secretly hoped that by doing this she'd no longer be the enemy.
"But why give up part of our territory to Fade?"
"I just told you why," she hissed.
***
They arrived at Stream Group's home fairly quickly. They ran into a cat at the entrance. A cat Thin knew well...
"Dark-fur?" Thin asked.
"Thin-tail," he stared coldly at her. "I thought you'd recognize me earlier."
"I don't know how I didn't! But anyways we need to talk to your leader, Fade."
Dark hissed. "No. Fade has me under orders to not let anyone past." He paused. "Especially you."
"Come on, please?"
"No." He unsheathed his claws. "I will fight you."
"But I'm your sister!"
"I'm aware. But you aren't part of my group."
"But-"
"Now get lost!"
"You don't talk to my leader like that!" Wave stepped in.
"Wave, don't," Thin ordered.
"I'm not going to let him do that to you, Thin!" Wave growled. "Your brother or not."
"Wave, back off. If they don't want a portion of our territory then they don't want it."
"Wait!" Dark said as Thin was turning away. "Fine, I'll let you through."
"Thank you," Thin said.
Dark led the Thin, White and Wave to the area where Fade lay in the sun.
"What did I tell you, Dark?" Fade hissed.
"Listen to what they have to say," he said. "I promise it's worth it."
"It better be," Fade looked at Thin. "What is it?"
"We are giving you the right to hunt on our territory," Thin said. "But only part of it."
"How much?" Fade asked. She was intrested now.
"Half. Down to the pond," Thin told her. "But we will still hunt there too. We have to share it."
Fade nodded. "Ok." She paused. "And thank you."
Thin was startled by the kindness of which Fade was now treating her. "Uh, you're welcome?"
Wave laughed but tried to hide it.
Fade flicked her tail. "You can leave now."
Thin nodded and left Stream Group's home.
Wave padded close beside Thin on the way back, their fur almost brushing. Wave looked over at her once. But when Thin saw him he quickly looked down at his paws.
When they got back, Cloud greeted them.
"Welcome back, everyone!" he said. "How'd it go?"
"Pretty well surprisingly," Wave told him.
"That's great!" he meowed cheerfully.
"Why are you in such a good mood?" White asked.
"I don't see why I shouldn't be," he said before walking away.
"I'm going to take a nap," Thin said.
Wave dipped his head and followed her, stopping at the entrance to her hole. "I'll keep watch."
"Ok," Thin said. "I don't see why though. We're perfectly safe here."
"You never know." He shrugged.
Thin went inside her hole and laid down on her grass bed. She fell asleep pretty quickly.
She dreamt of her patents. Orangedream and Branchfall.
"Welcome, Thin-moon," Orangedream said.
"Did I make it better?" Thin asked. "I'm trying to be nice. I'm just still mad at White."
"I know," Orangedream said. "But you don't have to take it out on everyone around you."
"I know," Thin replied. "But did I do it? Did I make it better?"
"You did but giving up your territory to Fade is a big risk."
"I know that, too. But I had to help her."
"Your kindness could also be your weakness," Branchfall meowed.
"What do you mean?" Thin asked him.
Branchfall and Orangedream faded away.
And her dream changed. She was Dark-fur. Her brother.
Dark walked up to the Pine. He didn't like the idea of going into another group's territory. Let alone her own sister's. He took a deep breath and crossed the border.
He walked to the pond. He'd hoped there would be fish in it but he couldn't find any. He couldn't hunt well on land. He looked around to see if he could find anything but he couldn't. He smelled the air. He picked up the scent of a mouse nearby.
He crept in the direction he smelled the mouse. He waited until he could see it and pounced, catching air beneath his paws.
"Ugh," he growled.
"It heard you coming," a cat said.
Dark turned to see Cloud-feather walk up to him.
"What do you mean? I didn't step on anything!" Dark protested. His heart was racing. He didn't expect to have a run-in with a Thicket Group fighter.
"The rustling in the bushes? Anything could've heard you if it were a mile away!" Cloud teased.
"Well, then why don't you show me how I'm supposed to hunt here."
And Thin woke up.