Moonkit lay in the middle of the nursery, hooking rotting leaves onto her claws and tearing them up in frustration. She gazed up at the den roof and studied the way the sunlight filtered through the woven branches as she listened to her mother and Darkstar talking outside.
Lately Moonkit's parents had been having lots of these private conversations with Darkstar and Thunderclan's medicine cat, Hollycloud. She got up, arched her back in a luxurious stretch, padded over to the den wall and pressed her ear up against it. She could just make out her mother's fretful mew.
"Darkstar, you can't send her away! She's an innocent kit! What harm could she do?"
"It's all right, Sundapple. She doesn't need to leave." Darkstar soothed. "You're right. She couldn't do much damage."
"So you won't send her away?" Sundapple sobbed.
"Not yet. However, I-" "Oh, thank you, thank you!" Sundapple cried. "Thank you Darkstar!"
"Calm down. I was saying that as soon as she is nine moons old, she will have to leave."
Moonkit had already figured out they were talking about her. She strained to catch her mother's reply.
"Okay," whispered Sundapple.
Moonkit gasped. Her own mother, agreeing for her to be exiled from her beautiful clan. She shook her head and half ran, half padded outside. Her father was nowhere to be seen, but she needed to ask him about the prophecy.
After checking the warrior's and medicine cat's den, she ran up to Thornfur, her father's closest friend. Trying to sound calm, she asked, "Hi Thornfur! Have you seen Alderbranch?"
"Uh, I think he's out on patrol. Why?"
"N-no reason!" she replied shakily.
"Okay then. Bye," he said skeptically and turned away.
Moonkit dashed off but ran into Darkstar. "Sorry!" she squeaked, and kept running. She ran through the entrance tunnel and out into the forest. Of course, she knew kits weren't allowed into the forest until they were six moons old, but that didn't stop her sprinting all the way to the training hollow.
She stopped in the middle and wailed to the sky, "Why did this stupid prophecy have to be about me?" The prophecy was given, when Moonkit was born, to Darkstar. It was a warning, telling him to beware one of the cats in the clan. The prophecy told him to, 'Beware the cat who is not what they seem, beware the cat who cries in their dreams. Beware the one whose gaze is icy, for the powers of darkness and shadow are rising.' It referred to her in many ways.
First of all, her eyes were a piercing blue in colour, and some cats stated her gaze was icy. Her fur was sleek and jet-black, hence the 'darkness and shadow'. But the main reason she was regarded as the cat in the prophecy was her power. She could walk in other cat's dreams, on command.
A cat who died many seasons ago, Jayfeather, had a similar gift, and he ended up as a blind medicine cat. Moonkit didn't want to be a boring old medicine cat, she wantd to be a fierce warrior and hunt for her clan.
The fact that the prophecy said to beware this certain cat made Darkstar extremely cautious around her. She didn't blame him. If she would grow up to be a cruel murderer, it would be best to remove her from the clan as soon as she could survive alone.
Her powers meant she didn't have to be alone, though. She could access any cat's dreams, as long as they were dreaming at the time and she had seen them in person at least once. She felt tears welling up inside her, and instinctively she brought a paw up to her eyes. Then Moonkit remembered her unique fur marks. They made up the 'crying' bit of the prophecy.
She had silver fur marks around her eyes, making her look like she was always crying, but they also added a beautiful touch to her otherwise plain black pelt. She also had one on her forehead, in a sort of oval-shape, which was where her mother derived her name from.
She crept back to camp, keeping an eye out for patrols, sticking to the shadows, wondering how she would survive, out in the wild, alone...