Graythorn sat at the bottom of the hill pleased with Ratstar's choice albeit it was a little late. Surely StarClan wouldn't count it against them though.

Dustfeather was disappointed he was overlooked again, not that he expected Ratstar to pick him. Perhaps he wasn't going to follow in his grandfather's paw steps after all. He was getting older and it wouldn't be too long now before he would join his father in the elders den. He looked over at Dawnmemories and sighed. She was clearly a better choice then he was and he was happy for her.

Ratstar smiled as he dipped his head to the she-cat, feeling a rush of relief when she wholeheartedly accepted the position. "I trust that ya will, Dawnmemories," he replied, though he wasn't sure if she could hear him as the apprentices and younger warriors began cheering for her. Letting out a purr of amusement as he dismissed the clan meeting, the leader jumped down into the clearing, side-stepping the crowd of clanmates that were gathering around to congratulate the new Deputy. Instead, the tabby weaved his way over to where Graythorn was, taking a seat beside the Medicine Cat to watching the clan from afar. "Ya think I picked a good one?" He asked after a moment, genuinely curious as to what the other tom thought.

Mudthistle trotted up to her clanmate, occasionally glancing over her shoulder towards the nursery to keep an eye on Redkit and Grasskit as they bounced around excitedly by the entrance - no doubt organizing a brand new game of leader and deputy. "Congrats Dawnmemories," the young queen purred with a bright grin, as she recalled how the new Deputy had only been a few moons ahead of her as an apprentice. "Honestly I had been hoping to grab you as a member of the Red Guard," she laughed. "But I suppose Ratstar beat me to it. I can't blame him though, you're going to be great."

"Yes, I do," Graythorn replied, his eyes going over to Dustfeather. "My uncle has had aspirations for leadership for a long time. I'm pleased he doesn't seem too upset he wasn't chosen. He even looked alright as I watched him cheer Dawnmemories name." He paused as if thinking about saying something more, then he sighed. "There's something you should know but please don't let Dustfeather know I told you this. For years he had dreams of following in his grandfather Hawkstar's footsteps. A night or two before I had the message from StarClan about you, he had come to me wanting me to confer with StarClan about making him leader. But before I could, they sent me their message. I think that's why he wanted to be on the patrol to find you. Perhaps that might explain his," he paused to search for the proper word he wanted to use, "reluctance to accept you at first. But since then he told me StarClan was right not to chose him but he didn't give me any explanation and I asked for none."

Redkit looked at the destroyed nest, their shared nest with Mudthistle, then back at Grasskit. "Um, maybe we shouldn't have wrestled so hard." Just then she heard their mother call their names. "OH NO!" she squealed. "Help me put this back together before she gets here!" She began to scratch together the moss that was now scattered around the nursery.

"Dustfeather has put great store in our shared heritage," Graythorn meowed. "To me it's nice to have such a revered ancestry but it doesn't make me who I am. But to him," he looked back over at the gray tabby, "it seems it's all that matters. And he thinks he has a special connection too because he was given Hawkstar's warrior name, 'feather', at his warrior ceremony."

At that moment, Dustfeather looked their way. Was is because he sensed he was being talked about? Who could tell? He rose to his feet and gave a nod in their direction, turned and walked toward the camp entrance.

"It was your fault for pushing me too hard!" Grasskit argued to his sister, still picking up clumps of moss anyway in spite of his protests. The lean tabby tom bounded back and forth across the hollow, grabbing whatever he could and attempting to shove the moss, grass, and feathers back together, only to immediately freeze at the sound of his mother's voice, guiltily turning around to face the nursery entrance where Mudthistle and Dawnmemories were staring at them. "Heh heh, hi momma..."

Mudthistle looked between her kits, and the large bundle of moss shoved into the approximate shape of a nest, and held back a sigh. Glancing briefly over to the new Deputy, she felt a tiny smirk cross her face as Dawnmemories was clearly trying to hold back laughter. It almost made her want to laugh to, but right now it was parenting time. "What have I told you both about roughhousing in the nursery?" Mudthistle meowed evenly, noticing Grasskit and Redkit stare down at their paws in shame. "You're both getting too big to do that in the hollow; you're lucky you collided with a nest instead of a rock or the den wall. Now, I'm going to show you both how to properly build a nest, then you both have to move your game outside, understand?" The young Queen couldn't hold back her smile anymore as her son and daughter's face brightened.

"Huh. Good t' know, I suppose," Ratstar remarked, returning Dustfeather's nod of greeting. "Not sure what any cat can do about that, seems more like a 'him' problem. I don't particularly care if we never end up friends, ya can't please everybody, but I hope one day the two o' us will at least be able to stand on even ground and treat each other as equals, ya know?" There was a moment of quiet as the leader's words hung in the air, before the tabby tom suddenly stood up. "Well Graythorn, how about we go congratulate our new Deputy?"