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"That's not fair! Sharpclaw, you know that Darktail fought bravely for the Clan when the raccoons attacked. And you should have seen the grief on his face when his friend Toad fell out of that tree. He has lost friends, just like we have. He doesn't need us throwing accusations at him. "
Below contains in-depth information for chapter twelve of Hawkwing's Journey. If you are looking for a shorter summary of the entire book, please check the main article.
Hawkwing awakens from his nap in the warriors' den by Sharpclaw's voice calling a Clan meeting. Around him, his Clanmates leap to their paws to attend the meeting. Hawkwing staggers to his paws and shakes scraps of his bedding out of his pelt. He is exhausted from the journey to find Firestar's kin and the shock of learning of the attack by the raccoons. He feels as if he barely got any sleep, even though the sun is high above the trees. Hawkwing is the last to leave the warriors' den, and follows Rileypaw and Stormheart down the trail where Sharpclaw waits at the foot of the Rockpile.
There is no sign of Leafstar, and Hawkwing guesses she is still resting from losing one of her lives.He spots Darktail and Rain off to the side of the gathering crowd. Hawkwing joins the others and flops down beside Cloudmist, and he mutters into her ear, asking her what's happening. Cloudmist shakes her head, quietly telling him to just listen. Sharpclaw begins speaking as soon as all the cats settle, announcing that SkyClan has suffered a second attack.
He continues, saying that SkyClan should change their strategies and have larger patrols since if the raccoons think the Clan is weak or lacking cats, they will attack. Hawkwing murmurs to his sister, saying that it does make sense and she agrees but says that they will have to be on patrol more often. Some of his Clanmates give Darktail and Rain non-trusting looks, making Hawkwing remember he used to loathe Darktail. However, the gray tom's hate turned to sympathy after Toad's death.
Waspwhisker suddenly suggests the threat may be in the gorge, with a few cats meowing their agreement. Darktail tries to defend himself, but Waspwhisker waves off his claims. Sharpclaw agrees with the gray-and-white tom. Hawkwing, instead of protesting Darktail, defends the latter tom. He says he fought bravely when the raccoons attacked and was devastated when Toad died. Hawkwing feels torn at disagreeing with his father, but knows Sharpclaw was being unnecessarily cold. Sharpclaw faces his son, full of rage.
He demands why Hawkwing argues with him, and why he thinks Darktail is a replacement for Duskpaw. Cherrytail protests Sharpclaw's accusations. Hawkwing feels confused and embarrassed as he finds all his Clanmates looking at him. He pads away into his den, but comes out moments later to find Pebblepaw. The she-cat asks if he's okay, but Hawkwing snaps at her. However, he regrets it and apologizes. Pebblepaw accepts his apology and joins Parsleypaw. Hawkwing finds a patrol leaving, but he later goes back to his den.
Later, he is on another patrol, on alert for raccoons. Leafstar had called a meeting earlier, announcing SkyClan will wait for Echosong to receive a prophecy before continuing the quest. Bouncefire takes the patrol near Twolegplace, where Hawkwing's grief for Duskpaw returns. He avoids glancing at Pebblepaw, not wanting to be reminded of his brother's death. Just as Bouncefire gives his report, Hawkwing notices Darktail near the trees. The latter tom crouches down, and gets back up again. Hawkwing makes an excuse to get away from the patrol, and goes to investigate what Darktail is doing.
He finds scraps of uneaten Twoleg food on the ground, thinking Darktail picked it up but dropped it. Hawkwing continues to follow the white tom until he crosses a narrow Thunderpath. Hawkwing follows Darktail shortly after, hearing odd noises. Suddenly, the rogue appears and Hawkwing quickly crawls under a bush. He finds Twoleg food in Darktail's mouth and wonders why he needs it. Darktail heads the back the way he came, dropping the food halfway between Twolegplace and the location of the other food scraps. Hawkwing continues to wonder what Darktail is doing, not exactly sure if what he's doing is wrong. Hawkwing makes his way back to the gorge, and hopes he and SkyClan can really trust Darktail.
