Gray Sky Before Dawn

"Maybe we can hunt in peace now."

— Gray in Outcast, page 289

Gray Sky Before Dawn
The pixel artwork is fanart based on the canon description; undefined traits are left to the artist's interpretation.
Affiliations
Last known:	The Tribe of Rushing Water
Names
Prey hunter:	Gray Sky Before Dawn
Book appearances
Living	Dawn, Outcast, Sign of the Moon
Living	Dawn, Outcast, Sign of the Moon

Gray Sky Before Dawn, more commonly known as Gray, is a pale gray tabby tom.

History

In the Power of Three arc

Outcast

Jaypaw: "Have you given the wound a good lick?"

Gray: "No..."

^{Outcast, page 267}

Gray is on the hunting patrol who first sees the returning Tribe cats, Night and Talon. The two cats have returned with a patrol of cats from the Clans and the exiled Stormfur and Brook. Gray is the first to greet them in a non-hostile manner when he carefully approaches Brambleclaw, beginning to recognize him. Gray is surprised when the ThunderClan deputy remembers his name, and he begins to question the Clan cats. Tawnypelt begins to answer his questions, but she is silenced.

Gray later eats an eagle with the rest of his hunting patrol. He brings the hungry to-bes and the Clan apprentices pieces of the prey for them to share. Screech comments it is the first decent meal they had seen in a long time.

Gray is part of the patrol that goes to explore borders for the Tribe to keep the intruders out. Gray points out that traveling in the mountains takes longer than it does to explore the Clan territories, and patrolling daily would be more difficult. When the patrol is ambushed by the trespassers, Gray is seen after the attack with a bleeding ear near Bird.

Another hunting patrol that Gray takes part in catches an eagle, but they are attacked by the intruders for it. They steal the eagle, injuring every member of the patrol. Gray is left with a deep wound along his flank. Stoneteller asks Jaypaw to treat Gray when the patrol returns to the Cave of Rushing Water. As Jaypaw chews up the tormentil root, he asks Gray if he had groomed the blood off his wound. Gray is bewildered by this suggestion, and Jaypaw snaps at him to start licking it, because the poultice will not do any good on dried blood and messy fur. Gray obeys him and starts to clean it.

Once, Gray hopefully suggests that the intruders will leave them alone once the borders are settled. When the Tribe votes on whether to stay and fight the intruders or to leave to find a new home, Gray chooses the latter with Bird, to Hollypaw's surprise.

In the final battle with the intruders, Lionpaw sees Gray struggling with a black-and-white she-cat; he is growing more and more exhausted, and his opponent is beginning to win. Lionpaw drags the she-cat off of Gray, allowing him to roll away to safety.

In the Omen of the Stars arc

Sign of the Moon

Gray appears on a hunting patrol led by Crag, alongside Stormfur, Splash, Dovewing, and Foxleap. When two eagles attack the patrol, all of the patrol except for Crag shelter under a rocky overhang. When Splash explains to Dovewing that the Tribe and eagles hunt similar prey, Gray says because of that, they are in competition for food.

When Dovewing spots a vole, Gray and Splash team up to catch it; Splash misses it, but as the vole runs further upstream, Gray catches and kills it. Foxleap congratulates them on their teamwork, and asks Gray if he is going to bury the vole while they finish the patrol, since that is what the Clans do. Gray shakes his head, explaining that it would freeze if they buried it. He bounds away to take his catch back to the Cave of Rushing Water.

Appearances

• Dawn (First appearance; allegiance only)
• Outcast
• Sign of the Moon

Quotes

Gray: "Did...did you find the home you were looking for?"

Brambleclaw: "We did, thanks. A good place, by a lake."

^{Outcast, page 210}

«Night joined Talon, but to Hollypaw's surprise Gray chose to flee and Bird, after a brief hesitation, chose that too.»

—Hollypaw's observations ^{Outcast, page 293}