All the Other Clans
"Tidepaw! Tidepaw!" Honeypaw called out, her yellow eyes sparkling. "Come here! Quickly!"
Tidepaw perked his ears and bounded toward his sister. "Just a minute," he mumbled through a mouthful of shrew. He turned to drop the rodent on the fresh-kill pile. He was right about to walk over to his sister when someone else called his name: his mentor, Blacktail.
"Tidepaw!" the smoky black tom said. "I've got a job for you."
Tidepaw twitched his muzzle and padded toward him. "What is it?" he asked obediently.
"Can you accompany Laceheart to gather some herbs?" Blacktail asked.
"Tidepaw! Come on!" Honeypaw shouted. "I'm waiting!"
"Well..." he said awkwardly, "I would, but Honeypaw's calling me..."
The smoky black tom rolled his amber eyes. "Hurry up and see what she wants, then run on back. Laceheart's waiting!"
"Thanks," Tidepaw told his mentor gratefully. "I'll be right back." He turned and raced toward the anxiously waiting Honeypaw, his blue-gray fur fluffed out in the cold. It was leaf-fall. No wonder Laceheart wanted to gather herbs now. There wasn't much time left to do so.
"Finally!" Honeypaw said crossly when he arrived. "I've been waiting for ages!" She turned and bounded away. "Follow me!"
"Wait!" Tidepaw called after her retreating figure. "Where are we going?"
"Redberry's telling the story of how Firestar and Sandstorm reformed SkyClan!" Honeypaw mewed excitedly. "Don't you want to listen?"
"No!" Tidepaw protested, narrowing his green eyes. "Blacktail wants me to help Laceheart gather herbs. I don't have time to listen to silly old elder's stories!"
Honeypaw frowned at him. "They're not silly, they're history!"
"Oh, come on, Honeypaw," Tidepaw said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "You really believe those kit tales?"
Honeypaw glared at him, her yellow gaze betraying hurt. "Of course! Why would Redberry lie?"
Tidepaw snorted. "He's telling a story. It's not true. I'm too busy for stories—I've got to go do serious stuff." He turned and walked away, shaking his head.
"Fine! I'll go listen by myself!" Honeypaw fumed. "Good riddance!"
Tidepaw ran back to where his mentor was waiting. "What did she want?" Blacktail asked.
He rolled his eyes and said with disgust, "She wanted me to listen to the elder's stories with her. I told her I was busy."
Blacktail grunted, not really listening. "Run on up to Laceheart's cave. She's waiting for you."
He dipped his head and ran over to the medicine den, where SkyClan's young medicine cat, Laceheart, slept and worked. She had originally been a daylight-warrior, but when her mentor died, the silvery-pelted she-cat had left her housefolk to help her Clan full-time.
"Laceheart?" he called out. "Laceheart, are you here?"
From the darkness, a slim, silvery she-cat with pale blue eyes appeared. "Tidepaw," she purred. "I'm glad you could help me. Come, follow me."
She walked past him and led the way out of the dry gorge that served as SkyClan's camp. Tidepaw followed her obediently.
"We're looking for poppy—to gather seeds—goldenrod, and catmint, if you see any," Laceheart said. "Poppy flowers are usually red. Goldenrod is tall, with little yellow flowers. Catmint—well, you'll recognize it if you see some."
"Okay," Tidepaw said awkwardly. He didn't know the medicine cat well—unlike Honeypaw, he hadn't hurt himself much as a kit—and he felt rather uncomfortable around her.
Laceheart smiled at him. "So, Tidepaw. What have you done today?"
"Well, um—" he stammered. "Well, I went on the dawn patrol, and then Blacktail took me hunting, and then I took a nap, and then I went hunting by myself. Then I came back to camp, and Honeypaw wanted me to listen to some stupid kit stories with her, but Blacktail had me come with you instead."
Lacewing blinked. "Stupid kit stories?"
"Yeah, Redberry was telling the tale of how Firestar and Sandstorm came and reformed SkyClan, apparently," Tidepaw said scornfully. "I can't believe she believes that junk. It's all so fake!"
"Tidepaw, that's an important part of SkyClan's history," Laceheart scolded him gently. "It's not just a story!"
He blinked at her in shock. "What? You believe Redberry's tales, too?"
Laceheart giggled slightly, evidently amused. "Of course! They're true." She looked at the ground. "Look—a poppy flower!" She picked the delicate flower with her teeth and set it at her feet. She sat down, curling her tail around her paws, and looked Tidepaw in the eyes with her pale blue ones.
"Tidepaw, Redberry's tales aren't just stories. They're history. They're truth. Oh, he might embellish them here or there," she said, "but they're mostly truth. Firestar and Sandstorm really did come from far-off ThunderClan and gather up the lost descendents of Cloudstar's SkyClan. I've met Cloudstar. I've met Firestar and Sandstorm. I've met our first new leader, Leafstar, and the other founders."
"How?" Tidepaw said blankly. "They're dead!"
"I met them in my dreams, silly," Laceheart purred. "I'm a medicine cat. Did you not believe in StarClan, either?"
Tidepaw frowned. "I don't know. I guess I did. I never really thought about it." He coughed. "So... the other Clans... ThunderClan, ShadowClan, WindClan, and what was the other one... WaterClan?"
"RiverClan," Laceheart corrected.
"Yeah, that one," Tidepaw said, nodding, "those aren't just...legends?"
"I should hope not," a deep voice said from behind him.
"Who are you?" Tidepaw exclaimed, leaping to his paws and staring at the newcomer.
It was a tom, a tom with a dark brown pelt and pale green eyes. He was big—very big, nearly two times the size of Tidepaw himself—with a long tail and wickedly sharp claws.
"I am Brownwhisker," the tom introduced himself. "I come from...a very far away place." He smiled, melancholy tinging his gaze. "I come from one of your 'legendary' Clans."
"Which one?" Laceheart asked eagerly, her blue eyes shining.
The tom smiled at her roguishly. "RiverClan, home of swimmers and clever hunters."
Tidepaw could hardly believe his ears. This tom was from...another Clan? But all the other Clans he had heard about were just...stories!
But here was Brownwhisker, a Riverclan tom, who was happily chatting with Laceheart. He was definitely real. Did that make the other Clans real, too?
Head spinning, Tidepaw followed Laceheart and Brownwhisker back to camp, all thoughts of herbs forgotten.
SkyClan was surprised and excited to meet the RiverClan tom. Tidepaw guiltily avoided Honeypaw for all the rest of the day, not wanting her to rub it in that she had been right.
That night, he could avoid her no longer. They denned together with the older apprentices, nests close together. Honeypaw was waiting for him when he crawled into his nest.
"So, just a kit story, uh?" she hissed at him through the darkness of the night.
Tidepaw scowled. "All right. You were right. Redberry's tales might be true after all."
Honeypaw laughed softly. "G'night, Tidepaw."
"G'night, Honeypaw," he muttered, curling up and drifting off to sleep.
The next morning, Brownwhisker announced that he intended to stay with SkyClan for a few days, exploring, before leaving to return to his Clan.
"Why did you leave RiverClan?" Tidepaw asked the visitor timidly.
Brownwhisker sighed. "I had a disagreement with a friend. I said some things I shouldn't have. I felt so embarrassed afterward, I asked my leader, Wavestar, if I could go on an adventure for a few moons to let things settle down. She let me, and... here I am."
"Do you want to go back?" Tidepaw asked curiously.
"Yes," the big brown tom said wistfully. "I miss my Clan. RiverClan the best of the four...well, five."
He went on to describe RiverClan's territory and cats, and Tidepaw found himself wanting to visit the other Clans. Maybe he could go on an adventure, like Brownwhisker had... And now that he knew the world was so big, with so many more cats and places in it than he could ever have imagined, maybe he could find somewhere else to live.
Tidepaw had always been loyal to SkyClan and his leader, Cliffstar, but why should he stay? Honeypaw was just smug and annoying now that she had been proven right. Cliffstar had never done anything for him. Why not leave?
Emboldened by this idea, Tidepaw spent the next several days daydreaming about the adventures he was sure to have in the future. He would escape Twolegs, explore new horizons, hunt strange prey. If he ever returned to SkyClan, he would be a hero—a legend!
Finally, on the last day Brownwhisker was to stay with SkyClan, Tidepaw worked up the courage to shyly ask if he could come along.
When the big RiverClan tom heard his request, he just laughed. "You?" he chuckled. "You're just an apprentice—barely six moons old!"
"Seven!" Tidepaw protested, crushed. "I could be useful!"
"You should stay loyal to your Clan," Brownwhisker said more seriously. "Don't leave just because you have a bad example in me."
"A bad example?" Tidepaw asked in confusion.
"I'm being a terrible warrior right now, Tidepaw," the big brown tom said. "I'm not being loyal to my Clan. I made a mistake, and now I've got to go home and face it. Don't make the same mistakes I did, Tidepaw. I've got to do this by myself."
"But..." he protested weakly.
"But nothing," Brownwhisker said gently. "Stay here, Tidepaw. Live your life. All the other Clans don't need you—SkyClan does. Be loyal."
Tidepaw sighed, crestfallen. "So I can't come with you?"
"No," Brownwhisker said softly.
Only a few minutes later, the RiverClan cat was gone.
That talk with the big brown tom made Tidepaw think. Loyalty to his Clan... that was important. His Clanmates were important. Something had happened to shake his loyalty, but now that he had pulled through, Tidepaw's loyalty was stronger.
Brownwhisker was right... the other Clans didn't need him.
SkyClan did.