Prologue
An old, bracken-coloured she-cat sat in the elders den, peering through the entrance. In the clearing, two kits, one, a brown tabby and the other, a grey, tussled with each other while their mother watched proudly. Apparently they were practicing some type of battle move, since the kits younger than them were cheering them on. She saw the younger kits start a game of moss ball, squeaking with amusement.
It's been a long time since anyone has visited me. She thought. Brackenwind's kits, Stormkit and Russetkit used to visit me all the time before they became apprentices. She was proud of them, as they were her kin. She understood why Stormkit and Oak-kit- No, Stormpaw and Oakpaw had duties to do and can't visit her any more. She sighed. She was the Clan's only elder, as the last elder, Squirrelbrook was her name, had died a moon ago, leaving her alone in the elders den.
A moss ball they were playing with flew through the entrance and hit her in the chest, interrupting her trail of thoughts. She let out a hiss of annoyance.
"Mouse-dung!" said the young brown tabby she-cat. "We lost it!"
"Can you find it for us please?" A pretty tortoiseshell she-cat said.
"Yes? Please?" A dark brown tom asked.
She heard a sigh, and then the brown tabby said, "Sure, Mosskit and Sipderkit. I'll do it for you."
"I think I saw it go into the elders den!" Said the grey tom.
She heard the scrabble of paws, and two kits, one she-cat and one tom crashed through the elders den.
"What do you think you are doing?'' She hissed, her gaze fierce and angry.
"Sorry!" The she-cat squeaked in terror. Her brown tabby pelt was fluffed up and her pale amber eyes were wide. Her brother, the tom, gazed at her with green eyes.
"Have you seen our moss ball? We are looking for it for our friends, Mosskit and Snakekit. " The amber-eyed tom asked.
Her gaze softened. "Yes, but this is all that is left." she nosed the remains of the moss ball towards them. Still looking at her, the little tom asked, "Who are you?"
"I could ask you the same thing." was her answer. "Now let me ask you who are you."
The little tabby she-cat shuffled her paws, and then chirped, "My name is Bramblekit, and this is my brother, Rainkit. We are two moons old, and our parents are Foxfrost and Adderheart!"
The old she-cat took a sharp breath. Foxfrost is my kit! She thought. These kits, Bramblekit and Rainkit, are my kin! But, before she could tell them that, Rainkit mewed, "Foxfrost told us that we should never ever visit the elders because they are old and mean, and that they so grumpy that no one should visit them."
She bristled with anger, and mewed to the kits, "Wait here." She continued to storm out of the den, and located a dark ginger she-cat with white paws, sharing tongues with a dark grey tom.
"Foxfrost!" She snarled, padding toward her. The she cat looked up expectantly. "You told your kits not visit the elders because they were mean and grumpy? You have no idea what I have been through! Every day, I'm alone in that den, wishing someone would come visit me other than then apprentices!" She spat at her daughter and her daughter's mate.
"I had no idea you were feeling this way, mother." Foxfrost meowed hastily. Her mother just hissed and went back to the Elders Den.
Bramblekit and Rainkit were still crouched in the Elders Den. They both looked bewildered, and scared.
"Don't worry kits." She mewed. "I am your mother's mother, and what she did was wrong."
Bramblekit and Rainkit just stared at her. Bramblekit looked at her. "What's your name?" she asked. "How are you my mother's mother?"
The she-cat sighed. "Get comfortable little kits. I am going to tell you a story, and it's long story." When the kits settled down, she said, "My name is Honeystar, and this is my story."
