Prologue
Lilystripe gazed down at her single remaining kit and listened to her soft mewls. She drew her closer with her paw and the mewling ceased as the kit began to suckle. Lilystripe laid her head down, tired after the kitting.
"Are you okay on your own now?" Brightleaf asked. The medicine cat's eyes shone with concern. It had been her first kitting by herself since her mentor, Pinewhisker, had been killed by a monster. Lilystripe could also see guilt hiding behind her concern. She thought that it was her fault that her other two kits had died, but it hadn't been. They had were too small and had been born so early.
"It's not your fault," Liliystripe said. "There was nothing you could've done." Brightleaf didn't answer, she merely turned and padded out of the nursery. A few moments after she left, a starry, transparent figure came sliding noiselessly through the nursery entrance.
"Sparrowflight?" Lilystripe gazed in surprise at her deceased mother. "What are you doing here?"
Sparrowflight didn't answer. She began to speak in a dark, monotonous voice that was very unlike the soft, kind voice that she usually used when speaking to her daughter. A great darkness is coming. She said. A darkness that could mean the end of the Clans as we know them. But there is hope. Hope that lies in the paws in the paws of a cat that is more powerful than even StarClan. But these paws need someone to guide them, or they will stumble and fall, and there will be no one to save the Clans. Before Lilystripe could say anything, Sparrowflight disappeared.
Lilystripe's still unnamed kit began mewling again. Lilystripe turned to her mate, Reedtail. "Did you see that?" She asked.
"Mmm? See what?" Reedtail asked.
"Nothing," Lilystripe sighed. Those words that Sparrowflight had said had been meant for her and her kit only, but she didn't know why. Is our kit the one that is stronger than StarClan? Do I need to guide her? Guide her in what? Somehow she believed that she wasn't the one meant to guide her. But she was still her mother, and she would always protect her no matter what.
"Shouldn't we name her?" Reedtail's mew interrupted Lilywhisker's thoughts. She hadn't even thought of a name for the kit yet. "What about Bobkit, since she has a bobbed tail?" Lilystripe hadn't thought about that either. Instead of a normal, long tail like other cats had, this kit only had a stump for her tail. But somehow 'Bobkit' just didn't suit her.
"No," Lilystripe said. "I want us to name her from what our hearts see, not our eyes."
"Of course," Reedtail said. Then he thought for a moment. "How about Petalkit?" He said.
"Petalkit," Lilystripe whispered. She stared down at her kit, analyzing every tiny detail of her brown and black fur. "It's perfect."
"Petalkit it is then," Reedtail purred. They both curled around Petalkit, closing their eyes. Whatever complicated destiny Petalkit had didn't matter now. Right now Petalkit was just Petalkit, and her only job was to play and have fun and be curious. Liliystripe would make sure of that. As she closed her eyes she nuzzled up closer to her kit and whispered in her ear, "I love you."