"Ow!" Hawkkit meowed, wriggling away from her sister's tight grip. "That hurt!" A sharp pain shot through her body and Hawkit grinded her teeth to keep from squealing. She wasn't like all the others in the ThunderClan nursery, who enjoyed play fighting. Her sister Sparkit was bigger and rougher than most cats were at only five moons. She was a pretty tortoiseshell with a white muzzle and a thick coating of black fur. Most of the warriors had taken a liking to her for her good looks and because she was smart enough not to break the rules and go where she shouldn't.

"I wish you wouldn't play so rough,' Hawkit mumbled as she brushed the dirt off her sleek pelt.

"Oh, stop being such a kittypet!" Sparkit waved off her complaints with a casual flick of the paw. "If you want to be an apprentice soon, we have to practice like this. Do you want to stay a kit forever?" Hawkit didn't respond. Instead, she ignored her littermate's half-hearted apologies and stumbled towards the medicine cat den. Another bite on my leg, Hawkkit noted. If anyone else asked, she always told them it was a thorn in her bedding. It was an age old excuse that had worked for generations of cats her had injuries they didn't want to explain.

"What brings you here?" Rainpaw called out as he saw the young kit approaching his mentor's den. Hawkkit sighed and glanced up at her former friend. Rainpaw had been named a medicine cat apprentice two moons ago and since then he seemed to have forgotten all the fun they once had together and was completely focused on training. He also spoke very with a demeaning authority that made Hawkkit want to avoid him. The ginger she-cat sighed and decided that if she were going to talk to a stuck-up apprentice, it might as well be for a good reason. She rushed up to him and they rubbed their noses in a traditional greeting.

"I need energy if I want to keep fighting my sister," Hawkkit confessed, lifting her leg up and revealing the wound. "She's pretty rough. I wish my sister and I were best friends, just like other littermates are. I'm just not like her..." Rainpaw padded at the ground, considering something. "Go on," he prodded. "I'll make you a poultice." He reached for some poppy seeds and gestured the young cat to continue. Hawkkit paused for a second, as if considering if she were going to tell him anymore.

"It's like we're just too different to be any kind of friends. I'm a hunter, she's a fighter. I'm calmer, while she gets upset at the smallest things. She can't wait to go to battle while I'm terrified of the thought." Rainpaw appeared to be at a loss for words. He collected himself, pricking his ears in the air as if waiting for a loud noise. His body relaxed and he murmured,

"Like night, and like day." Then he casually rubbed the juice of a healing leaf into her fur.

"Are you all right?" Hawkkit creased her brow in concern. Rainpaw leaned forward with a renewed interest in the conversation.

"Hawkkit, there's something you should've learned about a long time ago. The dreams you have… they aren't normal. And they're only going to get worse as you get older. After you become an apprentice you'll never be able to escape from them, and Bramblestar should be holding your ceremony at the next moon high. Have you ever gone to Starclan in your dreams? Or to a barren forest, with cats a like Sparkkit?" Hawkkit's ears twitched with amusement.

"Rainpaw, I'm much too old for kit's tales. But it's been nice talking to you." Hawkkit stepped to the side, but Rainpaw thrust his front paw forward and blocked her escape.

"I don't see you walking around bleeding and in pain, except for now." He nodded towards Hawkkit's bleeding leg. Hawkkit sheepishly tried to cover her wounds with a patch of loose fur. "However, you made it sound like you and Sparkkit got into a lot of fights. You also make it sound as if she wins, am I wrong?" Hawkkit stepped backwards on to the freshly picked stem of yarrow leaf. She blinked her eyes rapidly and turned away.

"I don't really want to talk about my sister anymore." Despite their differences, Hawkkit wasn't going to discuss the faults of her own kin.

"Now's the perfect time. Now might be the only chance I get…" His eyes rolled off into the distance and fixed themselves on something far away.

"Well, if you're going to tell me something, go ahead and do it." Rainpaw cleared his throat.

They stood in a chilly silence.

"You don't want to tell me, do you? But now after all you've said I have to know, just so I can tell you you're wrong."

"You're mother… made a lot of mistakes. She's a value to the clan, with good looks and a lot of intelligence. Eventually she managed to make up for her many shortcomings, but as a medicine cat that communicates with StarClan I know the details of one of her biggest mishaps. It affected all the cats under Silverpelt, and the ones that live above it as well. You see, Ivypool formerly trained in the Place of No Stars, which is where cats go when they are not accepted into StarClan." Rainpaw glanced up at Hawkkit, wondering how she was taking all this. Hawkkit gave him a curt nod. The muscles in her neck were tightening and she forced herself to breath.

"She mated with a cat from the Dark Forest. Until that point, we didn't even know it could be done. The cat was named Hawkfrost and he was the son of the famous ThunderClan warrior, Tigerstar. Tigerstar is also one of the only leaders we have kept track of that doesn't reside in StarClan. The whole family, including Hawkfrost's mother Sasha, are a tribe of menacing villains that will stop at nothing to destroy ThunderClan. Hawkfrost seemed to genuinely care for your mother. It wasn't a trick, or a thoughtless seduction. But they were young, or at least your mother was, and they didn't think. Of course you can't have kits born to an evil Dark Forest clan member without having some sort of punishment. StarClan is taking revenge on her mistakes by traumatizing you and your sister. It hasn't even begun yet." Hawkkit's eyes blazed with furry.

"Are you saying I'm only half clan born?"

"I'm saying you're half dead."