Believe in the Stars
"Psst…Sparrowkit! Sparrowkit, wake up!"
Sparrowkit felt her mother, Hollyleaf, prod her awake. She heaved her shoulders up, but fell backwards clumsily. The older kits in the nursery snored softly as Hollyleaf picked her only kit up in her jaws and set her upright.
"Sparrowkit, look at the stars! StarClan are those stars flashing on and off. Did you know that they are watching down on you?" Sparrowkit rolled her large dusty brown eyes. Please! She didn't believe in that pile of mouse dung.
"Hollyleaf, I don't believe in StarClan! That's just a bunch of superstitious junk and you know it!"
"StarClan are real, just like you. You must believe in them. They will protect you and watch over you. When you die, I will be waiting for you up in the clouds, and we can stay together forever."
"What about my father?" Sparrowkit asked, getting the least bit interested in her mother's story. "Oh, Mousewhisker? When he dies, he will be with us, too. All the good Clan cats will go to StarClan when they die. And Tigerstar was not a good cat," Hollyleaf said, answering Lovekit's unsaid question. "He is somewhere up there, but we know he's not in StarClan. He tried to kill Firestar, the leader before Bramblestar. That was when Bramblestar was called Brambleclaw."
"Isn't he my grandfather?"
"No. Honestly, you shouldn't know who my father was. If you told anyone, then-"
"I won't tell! I promise! I swear on StarClan I won't tell!"
"Well…"
"Tell me, Mother!"
"Alright, alright! Sheesh. Kits," she muttered half to herself. "Okay…well, he was from another Clan."
Sparrowkit was bouncing up and down.
"It was Crowstar."
"Wow!" Sparrowkit quit bouncing. She was too excited to act excited! "And your mother was…"
"Leafpool."
"Wait. Leafpool's a medicine cat. How did she and Crowstar…"
"I'll explain later. But I woke you to tell you that Bramblestar wants to make you and the other kits apprentices tomorrow. I think he wants Birchfall to be your mentor."
"I have a question. Why do you believe in StarClan? They're just dead cats; there's nothing special about them, really."
"If you believe in the stars, Sparrowkit, nothing can go wrong. Remember that."
The next day, before her apprenticing ceremony, Sparrowkit prayed that StarClan would watch over her as an apprentice. She looked to the sky and said, "StarClan, if you really exist, show me a sign. Please. I want to believe. But if I don't have proof, it doesn't make sense. Show me you're there. Show me you're watching over me."
Finally the ceremony began, and Sparrowkit was made Sparrowpaw. When she and Birchfall went hunting that day, Sparrowpaw tracked down a squirrel by herself and dispatched it by nipping its thin spine. Then she heard a voice, and a wispy spirit started to form in front of her, stars glimmering in his long fiery fur. Sparrowpaw dropped her prey and let her jaw hang. She couldn't speak. But the cat spoke first, so Sparrowpaw didn't have to.
"Greetings, Sparrowpaw," he said.
Sparrowpaw gathered herself together and managed to say, "I-Are you…Firestar?"
Firestar nodded.
"You were leader of my Clan. Wow. You're great! Well, from the nursery stories, anyway….StarClan is real, isn't it?"
"Yes. I expected you of all cats to believe that already. You are my kin, after all. My great-great-grandchild. But I must leave now. Remember, Sparrowpaw, believe in us. Everything will be taken care of."
"Thank you, Firestar," she said, dipping her head low to the former leader of ThunderClan. "I will always believe in StarClan," she added before racing off to meet Birchfall.
When she got back to the camp and found Hollyleaf.
"How was hunting, Sparrowpaw?" she asked her kit.
"Wonderful! I caught a squirrel on my first try!"
"Congratulations."
Sparrow took a deep breath and said, "Hollyleaf?"
"Yes," she said.
"I believe in StarClan."