“Goodbye, Graystripe…I love you…take care of our kits.” — Silverstream to Graystripe before she dies.

The Beginning of the Relationship

While taking their apprentice’s hunting, Fireheart and Graystripe teach the two young apprentices how to hunt. Graystripe chases a vole on thin ice on RiverClan territory, causing the ice to break and him falling through. Fireheart yells Graystripe’s name and attempts to rescue him, but Graystripe is instead rescued by a slender, light silver-gray-and-black tabby she-cat named Silverstream. Silverstream asks what Graystripe is doing on her territory and he asks that he’s drowning. Silverstream teasingly asks him why he can’t drown on his own territory. Graystripe asks who would rescue him there. The two of them instantly fall in love with each other; however, this is against the warrior code. According to the code, warriors cannot fall in love with a cat, not from their own Clan.

Graystripe gets sick but uses this as an excuse to sneak out and see Silverstream. Eventually, both Silverstream’s father, Crookedstar, and Fireheart find out what the two are doing and both tell them to stop meeting each other. Graystripe tells Fireheart that he can’t because he loves Silverstream too much and Silverstream says about the same to Crookedstar.

When the fish in the river gets poisoned by Twolegs, Fireheart, and Graystripe offer if they could catch land prey for them and bring it back; although, they have to feed their own Clan first. Crookedstar lets the two hunt for RiverClan, but the deputy, Leopardfur, doesn’t like the offer that much. It is at this time that Silverstream tells Graystripe that she’s expecting his kits, and Graystripe is overjoyed.

Silverstream’s Death

Silverstream and Graystripe are meeting with each other again until the kits come early. Luckily, Cinderpaw—who had become a medicine cat apprentice due to a Thunderpath (road) accident—was there to help along with her former mentor Fireheart. Tigerclaw, the ThunderClan deputy, finds the four cats and accuses Graystripe of forbidden love. Cinderpaw gives Fireheart a silver tabby she-kit to lick so that the kit will be able to live. She then gives Tigerclaw a dark gray tom to lick, but Tigerclaw refuses. She tells him that it’s against the code to leave a kit to die, so he then starts licking the kit.

But Silverstream was bleeding badly from giving birth and tells Graystripe that she loves him and for him to take care of their kits. She then dies from the excessive blood loss and leaves Graystripe in grief. Cinderpaw says that it’s her fault Silverstream died, but Fireheart tries to reassure her that it wasn’t her fault. The ThunderClan cats take the kits back to their camp.

Graystripe’s Grief

When Leopardfur wanted to take the kits to their RiverClan, Bluestar declined her request, but Graystripe managed to sneak out in the middle of the night and brought the kits to RiverClan. He gives the two kits to Leopardfur and Mistyfoot and tells Crookedstar that he wishes to join RiverClan. Leopardfur doesn’t trust him, but Crookedstar lets him join.

Graystripe spends time with his kits, Featherkit and Stormkit, every day. Mistyfoot teaches him how to fish, but Graystripe isn’t good at swimming. He doesn’t stay long in RiverClan, because Leopardstar banished him after he refused to fight Fireheart in battle. Even though Graystripe wasn’t in RiverClan, he still remembered Silverstream and he was proud of his kits for becoming warriors with the names Feathertail and Stormfur.