Setting

The Clans aren't living by the Lakes anymore; there was a big flood which made the land unsuitable. Instead, they're in a forest again, and each Clan borders each. But something strange happened. It was as if the flood washed away the Clans most important traditions...

Chapter 1

It was a sunny day, light filtering through the trees and cool breezes brushing against the leaves. ThunderClan's camp rested in the middle of the forest, relatively unguarded and easily penetrable, but that was okay. A large, hollowed out tree made a spacey, cozy den for the Clan's families in camp. A nursery was not far away in an underground burrow, although queens and kits were hardly ever in there except to sleep. The elderly cats of the Clan could move to a hollowed out bramble bush that conveniently sat next to the medicine den, but with only one elder in ThunderClan, it remained unused. Last was the leader's den, which was just another burrow on the opposite side of the rest and beside it stood a smooth rock not very high off of the ground. It was supposed to be used for announcements.

But there weren't many announcements anymore. No other Clan was going to attack and ceremonies were informal and generally quiet. Warrior ceremonies were performed on that rock, but not much else.

And there were a lot of queens and kits this green-leaf. Four queens lay out in the sun, one of them swollen with kits, three watching theirs happily. A silver and white tabby mother sat upward when a small, long-haired golden she-cat came over and greeted her happily.

"They look about ready," meowed the golden tabby she-cat, referring the queen's two kits. The she-cat sat down. "Where is Grasstail?"

"I think he's out hunting," replied the silver tabby mother, looking over at her kits. They were much bigger than the other ones they were tumbling with and practically bursting with energy. One of them, the jet-black one, knocked over a much smaller kit, making it tumble into the mouth of the nursery. "Nightkit! Be gentler!"

The other queen got up, retrieved her kit from the nursery's mouth, and settled back down under the sun and began to groom the dust off of its fur.

"I'm sorry, Holly," the silver queen apologized. "Is Squirrel okay?"

"Yes," purred Holly, licking the brown tabby Kit. "Don't worry about it, Morningstripe."

"I'll go send out a cat to find Grasstail so we can get you and the kits out of the nursery," meowed the golden she-cat, padding over to a group of warriors. Moments later, a white tom padded leisurely out of camp and into the forest.

"Daykit, come here," Morningstripe called her other kit. The white she-kit with very pale brown dapples and stripes bounced over to her mother, tumbling into Nightkit. The golden she-cat had to move out of the way while they tussled. "Sorry, Goldenstar."

"Kits will be kits," purred Goldenstar, looking over at Holly. "How are you and the kits doing, Holly?"

"Great! Mouse is starting to put on some weight and Vole just loves to play," meowed the fluffy cream-colored Queen. "And Squirrel likes to play around with the older kits."

"That's wonderful," replied their leader happily. "Kits are the best gift to a Clan."

"They are," Morningstripe meowed, looking over at her kits. "Come here you two, you need to look good for when you become apprentices." Even though it wouldn't be a big ceremony, their mother rasped her tongue over them until the dust slowly left the kits' fur. As she was finishing up, the white tom padded back into camp with a black tom with bright green eyes. At the sight of them, the black tom bounded over to them, eyes bright with delight.

"Hello Morningstripe," he purred, nuzzling his mate. He licked each kit on the head. "And good morning, Goldenstar. Is today the day?"

"It is," Goldenstar replied. "Are you ready, Kits?"

"More than ever!" Daykit squeaked, getting to her paws. Nightkit followed, eyes bright with excitement.

"Okay kits. Now you will be Daypaw and Nightpaw. Train them well, Morningstripe and Grasstail."

"We will," Grasstail promised, looking over at his kits.

"Do you have a nest in the family den prepared yet?" Goldenstar inquired, getting to her paws.

"We can go expand my nest no problem," Grasstail told her. "We'll just need some more moss. Come on, kits! Let's go get some moss!"

"Okay!" they chorused, bouncing after their father out of camp. Morningstripe got to her paws, eyes aglow with pride.

"Watch out for ShadowClan!" Goldenstar joked as Morningstripe followed her family, making both the she-cats laugh. Of course, nowadays, none of the Clans were even remotely a threat. Just friends living in a different part of the forest. They visited often, and as a matter of fact, the father of Holly's kits was even from WindClan. No one seemed to mind though. No one ever did.

"Come this way," Grasstail beckoned as they headed deeper into the forest. Morningstripe took up the rear while the new apprentices padded in-between. They climbed over some gnarled tree roots to reach a thick patch of moss. "Okay, now scrape away as much as you can."

"Grasstail?" Nightpaw asked as he began scraping away the moss.

"Yes?"

"Why don't all of the Clans live together?" inquired the black tom. "Why are we all split up into territories?"

"Because that's the way it was long ago, even before the Great Flood," he answered simply.

"What was the Great Flood like?"Daypaw inquired.

"I was only a kit, I don't remember much," said their father. "But I do remember water, lots and lots of water. It rained for days straight and the lake flooded really bad, uprooting the sturdiest of trees. As our Clan evacuated, I remember seeing the muddy water came all the way up to camp. My mother held me by the scruff as we fled. My sister Leafkit had died a day before we got out. I remember she had slipped out of the nursery to go explore, but she never came back."

"Wow." They two apprentices murmured.

"Did cats die a lot back then?" Nightpaw asked, genuinely interested. With the soft life that the Clans now lived, it was uncommon for a cat to die. The only ways cats died were of sickness or if they were protecting the Clan from a fox or badger. But those predators were few, and the leaf-bares hadn't been harsh lately.

"Oh yes," Morningstripe broke in. "My mom would tell me stories. Clans fought each other over prey and territory and other things. Life was very different back then."

Daypaw wondered what it must have been like. She knew a few queens in ThunderClan had mates in other Clans- had that been allowed in the past? She didn't think so.

"Alright, that's enough moss," Grasstail decided. "Let's head back."

The family of four padded back to camp, their jaws stuffed with moss. Other cats were milling around, some leisurely sharing tongues, other eating some fresh-kill. The kits were playing outside by the nursery with the queens relaxing like usual and everything was peaceful.

"We'll teach you how to hunt tomorrow," Morningstripe told them as they made their nest in the family den. "Get some rest and relax, tomorrow you'll be sore."

She didn't have to tell Daypaw twice! After all of that walking and scraping, she was glad to curl up in their nest. Nightpaw curled up beside her, his black fur blending in with hers, and fell asleep almost instantly. Daypaw closed her eyes and fell asleep to Nightpaw's light snoring like she always had.