I open my blue-green eyes to the sound of Redstar's summons.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting."
I drag myself out of my nest. A yawn escapes my jaws as I look around the den. Fox dung! I'm the last one up, before Sagestream. They'll think I've swindled one of the younger warriors to go on patrols instead of me, and they won't think anything about her. I pad outside, heading towards the group of cats sitting there. Settling down beside my mate, Spiderfeather, I tilt my head up to Redstar. Sitting next to her are Floodwhisker, the deputy, and Bluebird, the medicine cat.
I notice other cats' gazes are turned to Hailflower, Longleaf, and Molefoot. They had recently been claimed by Bluebird and Shrewtail, as their kits. Preposterous! Bluebird had broken the code, and yet she remains our medicine cat. Vineflight is perfectly capable of taking over, but no, Bluebird was not retired.
Redstar is starting the meeting. Mouse dung! I forgot today was my kits' warrior ceremony! My kits are shaking with anticipation, as am I. Fernpaw, Cloudpaw, Rainpaw, and Ashpaw. They are called up one by one, making their oaths. Fernpaw is now Fernstorm, for her ferocity in battle. Cloudpaw becomes Cloudflower, for her gentle spirit. Rainpaw's name is Rainfeather, because of her long fur and sweet demeanor. And my only son, Sparrowpaw, becomes Sparrowfrost, for his white markings, so like mine.
Redstar continues the meeting with the news that ShadowClan has found out about Bluebird and Shrewtail's kits. Gasps fill the clearing that we call our home. Eventually, someone would find out, we knew, but we only found out less than a moon ago! How could word have leaked out so quickly?
Snowcloud pads up to the Highledge. Cats cock their heads, confused as to why one of the queens would request to speak at a Clan meeting. She leaps up and opens her mouth.
"I believe I know who let word leak to ShadowClan!" she yowls. "Someone in ThunderClan who is untrustworthy. I believe Seedclaw told Specklestar about Bluebird's kits!"
My jaw drops. How did she come to this conclusion? I haven't been on a ShadowClan border patrol in over a moon! But cats are already nodding their consent. They wouldn't believe me if I defended myself. My mate however, my sweet Spiderfeather, and my kits, so young, think otherwise.
"He would never do that!" Fernstorm snarls.
"He hasn't been on a patrol over there in more than a moon!" hisses Spiderfeather.
But it's useless. Redstar leaps down and lands in front of me.
"Seedclaw, the Clan, save your family, believes it was you who told our secret. What do you have to say for yourself?"
I hold my head up high. I cannot show her and the Clan that I am scared.
"I have not betrayed my Clan. I made an oath of honor when I became a warrior, and I will always keep that oath." I meow. "Anyone who thinks that I would give up our secrets is a stupid mouse brain and has no right to accuse me of such."
Redstar looks almost ready to believe me, but Snowcloud interjects.
"Seedclaw always gets the younger warriors to go on patrols for him. How do we know he doesn't sneak off to ShadowClan with secrets when he has free time?"
The Clan yells their agreement. Redstar looks at me, and tells me that she has no choice but to banish me. My heart sinks. My Clan, my life, is all here. And now I must leave? Snowcloud yowls in triumph and starts to chase me. Her supporters follow her footsteps. I run. Out of the camp, out of the forest. Their yowls chase me. Suddenly, I see flashes of color beside me. Black and white, black, white and gray, gray, and brown and white. My family. They are accepting banishment with me. We will never return, I promise myself now.
Once we are out of Clan territory, I stop. I turn to look at my family, and voice my vow.
"We will never return. They have rejected us, and we will remember them no longer." I say. "We won't keep our names. They are a remembrance of the Clan that forsake us. Drop the suffix. I am Seed, Spiderfeather, you are Spider, Fernstorm, Fern. Cloudflower, Cloud. Rainfeather, Rain. Sparrowfrost, you are now Sparrow."
My mate looks at me, sad.
"Seedclaw, why can't we keep our names, as a reminder of why we won't go back?"
"Mother makes a good point," mews Sparrow. My son. My daughters. Why would I think of stripping them of the one thing that connects them to home?
"Right. Clan names, it is, but they will be reminders of why we won't go back."
Even now, in my dreams, I am haunted by the yowls of the cats that drove my family and I away from ThunderClan, the place we called home. But we have a new home. After many moons of wandering, we came upon a new Clan. SkyClan. They accepted us as their own, making us warriors, and letting us keep the names. The names that reminded us why we were there. Reminded us why we left ThunderClan. Reminded us of the shadows in the sunlight, deceiving us.