Disclaimer: I do NOT own Fern or any of the other Warriors characters!

Prologue

I was lying down, thinking about my kin. I was desperate to find out who they were, but the most desperate thing I was hoping for was for them to still be alive. My stomach rumbled, intruding my thoughts. I noticed how hungry I was and sat up. I jumped out of the hollow that was my home, and stretched. All of a sudden, I saw a blur of grey fur flash before me.

'A cat!' My thoughts screamed. I started to chase the blur. I couldn't believe it was a cat! I hadn't seen one in weeks, but in the back of my head I was hoping, wishing, that it was one of my kin.

Chapter 1

The sunlight dashed across my tortoiseshell fur as I pursued the cat. I was finally a mouse length away from the grey tomcat. I leaped, and landed right square in the middle of his shoulders. 'Perfect!' I thought. He fell to the ground. I tried to see his face but before I could flip him over on his back, quick as a fish he squirmed out of my grip. He got to his paws and faced me. Disappointment surged through my body. It was only the gray tabby tomcat loner, Fern. I felt my fur lie flat.

"What, were you trying to eat me, mouse- brain?" Fern hissed.

"Sorry," I mumbled, "I thought you were someone else."

Fern spat back saying, "Were you going to eat him?"

I couldn't take anymore of his teasing. I walked away from his taunting gaze. Disappointment still seared my fur as I walked, not knowing where I was going. My head wouldn't stay up while I walked, looking down at the forest floor.

Bam!

Something hard, very hard hit me right in the forehead. I walked around in a couple of dizzy circles, and then collapsed. I thought about my kin and what I was going to do with my life. For a moment, it felt like another thought was prodding my own. Then blackness took over.

*Third Person*

Sunlight shone through the trees and dappled her tortoiseshell pelt. Ginger could tell it was sunhigh. The scent of poppy seeds filled her nose. She sat up and saw a few poppy seeds. Ginger's head still felt a bit dizzy so she lapped the seeds up. She didn't need to guess who gave her them. It was obviously Fern. He was definitely a grump but could be an angel at times. Ginger loved the way he silently cared for the forest and the cats. Then she felt the sudden despair of having no kin of her own. Ginger would never know who they are or where they are. The only cat she felt close with was Fern and Sparrow. Sparrow was so annoying she couldn't stand to have him as a close friend, nonetheless a mate. She felt bad for him at times, but that feeling soon went away after she started to talk with him. Fern on the other hand, was a bit too grumpy and was as hostile as Bloodclan.

Ginger would try to talk to the other loners, but none of them were friendly enough to talk with. Her stomach grumbled, interrupting once again, her thoughts. She needed to find some food. She started to walk to the big oak tree she had run into. Sure enough, among the roots of the tree was a mouse nibbling away at a nut. Ginger went into a hunter crouch, and with one swift swipe of her paw; the mouse was fresh-kill. She pricked her ears and heard a scuffling noise.

'Another mouse! Yes!' She thought. Ginger killed the other mouse quickly. Then with fresh-kill in jaws, the tortoiseshell started to walk to her nest.

She passed Fern, but was still too mad at him to talk to the gray tom. Ginger slowed down her pace trying to make him talk to her, but he didn't even notice her. She sighed and picked up her pace.

Ginger wanted a cat to be with her every single day and night. To care, to love, and to lean on. Oh so badly she wanted it. To not be lonely would be so wonderful. She found the big sycamore tree and climbed into the hollow in the tree, she so called her nest.

When she lied down she smelled the stale moss she had laid down for her nest a moon ago. It reminded her that she needed to change it. She devoured her mice quickly and headed out to find some moss. Ginger traveled hard and long looking for just the moss. While she was padding through the Great forest, she thought about her kin once again.

'What did they look like?' She thought, 'how would she know it was them if she did find them?' Ginger pondered these questions over and over and over again. It felt like she had been walking for only ten minutes. When really Ginger had been searching for four hours. It was almost moon-high and she was getting tired. The next thing she saw was one of the most disturbing things seen in her life. Fern skipping merrily along with a patch of fresh moss in his mouth. She couldn't believe her eyes. She blinked her eyes a couple of times to make sure she wasn't seeing things. She couldn't believe that someone so grumpy could skip so merrily.

"Hey," Ginger called out, "What piece of crow- food made you so mouse-brained?"

Fern replied with a love struck face. "I just met the most beautiful cat in the world."

"Who, Sparrow?" She retorted with a look of disgust on her face. Fern didn't reply. He just went on with merrily skipping.

"Just let him be." Ginger told herself, shaking her head. She sighed and then started her search again.

'I just need some fresh moss. Where did Fern get such fresh green moss? I mean he is so blind to things so great, how could he have found such wonderful moss?' Ginger laughed to herself, and then started to walk over to where Fern came from.

Ginger found his scent and followed his trail till it lead between two big stone walls. She pricked her ears. She heard a waterfall and rushing water. Ginger padded between the two stone walls. There lay a small pool that was fed by a trickling waterfall. As she padded down to the pool, her paws slipped into the many ancient paw prints form other cats. Ginger could feel the power in this area.

The pool reflected the moon and was a pure white color. The foreign scent of many different types of cats dominated the air. Ginger heard soft whispering all around her. Her pelt brushed against those of other cats. At firstGinger felt scared and frightened, as though something was preying on her. Then she felt calm and welcome, like this was her home. Ginger all of a sudden felt very thirsty and felt the urge to take a gulp from the sacred pool.

All the soft whispers seemed to tempt her to just take a simple sip form the pool. Ginger decided to just take one lick. She bent over and took one cool, refreshing lap from it. The lick that Ginger took rushed all through her body, making her sleepy. Ginger decided to lie down just for a moment, but before she knew it, she was in a deep sleep.