I grew up with my brothers and sisters, in a combined clan. Well, for the first few weeks after I was born, it wasn't like that. It was just Skyclan. But then Skypaw and the others came along, and they changed the history of this clan forever.
Too bad I don't remember anything 'before'.
I stared at the tree, my quick amber gaze flicking from one spot to another. So. Today I was to find out if I were to be a medicine cat or not. I hope my sister would get the job, but she likely won't. I'll be the one stuck in camp all day, when my paws were itching to explore.
Lightningstar, her brilliant gold pelt shining in the chill sunny day, appeared on Skytree. It was a huge evergreen, with an almost staircase like trunk, with the branches just right apart. I loved it, wanted so much to sink my claws into it and climb as high as I could. But only the leaders could do that. The leader of Skyclan gets to have a nest up there too, where a perfect angle appears between two tree branches.
I wanted to be a leader.
My sister, Lightkit, popped out of the nursery den, two long slanted rocks leaning against a small tree. I narrowed my amber eyes at her. " Oh, relax Rainkit. " She said, her musical voice like velvet to my ears. I sighed.
" How many times have I told you, call me…" I leaned in close and whispered, " Rain, " Her light blue eyes widened, and then she smiled.
" Sure, sure, Rainkit, " She said.
I hissed. " What did I just say?" I said angrily. Lightkit knows just how to get on my nerves. But I loved her to death. However, at this moment, I was tempted to stomp away.
It was a good thing Lightningstar interrupted out conversation.
" Cats of Skyclan, gather all who can catch their own prey!" Lightningstar yowled, her golden coat bright against the tree.
I sighed. Why can't she have saved it till after we ate our prey? Like we had any, but still.
I suppose I should explain my 'family' history. My siblings and I grew up together, watch over by various members of the clan, since our parents died in a fire. Luckily we were old enough to eat meat when they died.
We grew up on stories, everyone around us telling stories of the past. So many and so often that we struggled to separate fact from fiction later on in life. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
There was this one story that I've always liked, the one about Dream. But it's so interconnected with all the other stories, including my own, that I'm just going to have to tell it along in bits and pieces.
And so it begins…
A couple of gerations back, when Lightningstar was still a young leader, there was a different clan, called Iceclan.
A young mother named Ashrock, terrified for her kits, ran away from Skyclan. That was back when there were these rats, you see, these smart clever rats.
" Rats? " I'd ask.
Yes rats. They were a lot bigger than you'd think, and ever-so-clever. That was why we were so scared of them, and the fact that they were about a hundred rats to one cat.
And so Ashrock fled from here, her mate by her side, searching for Iceclan.
" How did she know that it existed?" I'd say, nosy.
She just did. Now hush little one. She found Iceclan and was accepted. She lived there, gave birth to four kits. Their names were Skykit, Brownkit, Goldkit, and Darkkit.
Now, Ashrock quickly made a friend there, whose name was Honeyriver. Honeyriver was pregnant too, and so their kits were raised together. Honeyriver's kits were called Wildkit, Dreamkit, and Heartkit.
" That's a lot of kits, " I'll say.
Yes, we here don't give birth to nearly as much for a good reason. So, all seven of them grew up together, spent six moons in the nursery den.
" Just like I'm doing, "
Hm. And when it came time of them to be apprenticed, all seven of them rejoiced. Six of them got to be warriors, while Dreamkit got a be a medicine cat. Dreamkit wasn't happy about that at all, so she did a dangerous thing and started to flaunt the rules, hoping to be out back in the warrior position. And after a while, she got bolder and bolder.
At this point my amber eyes would be wide, far wider than needed.
Skypaw was a warrior-in-training. He trained, and when he was old enough, his mother reviled a great secret. He was really a kit of Skyclan! He learned about why his mother and to leave, and vowed that he would go back to Skyclan and help. Meanwhile, Dreampaw was still his best friend. He told her, and she vowed to help him on the journey.
And so they set off for Skyclan, Dreampaw and Skypaw, heading towards a journey of epic proportions.
The elder yawned, " And now, if you'll please excuse me, I'm off to bed. I'll tell you the rest of the story tomorrow. "
I would pout, and then scamper off to play games with my den mates.