Chapter 1: Starry Sky

Raindrop walked slowly through the branches of the Jungle, glancing over her shoulder every so often to make sure she wasn't being followed. The bars of moonlight slid across her pelt, making it shimmer beneath the canopy of leaves whose top she was coming dangerously close to. She knew it was against the rules to be above the canopy, but her curiosity was too much for her; she had to see the sky.

As a member of the Tribe of Dappled Sunlight, she was a young to-be, and her liability to get in trouble was thus higher. But also, she was a branch-guard to-be, and so she could go more places than the prey-hunter to-be's, like Pounce, or Eddy; higher in the trees, and lower towards the forest floor. She was a beautiful deep auburn color, with thin stripes of darker red, and white markings. Her withdrawn disposition did not make friends, but she was of an independent spirit anyway.

Raindrop was about to clear the top of the trees. She looked around one last time, and then she jumped up to the last branch and thrust her head out of the tree.

And gasped.

The Tribe of Dappled Sunlight was a well-organized tribe of cats where the leader of their group was also a medicine cat, the Healer, and everyone was born into their position. There were many, many cats in the Tribe of Dappled Sunlight then; the tribe healer, Leafteller, was currently training the next healer, Windteller, and the kit-mothers had many kits that would begin training soon; it was a time of good fortune for the Tribe.

The Tribe's camp was a huge tangle of vines and leaves and branches in the middle of the jungle where they lived, and even here, their home, they were stalked day and night by leopards and snakes, all the while hanging in their huge, green hammock, thousands of tail-lengths above the forest floor, where they were also forbidden to go.

Being well-organized was how they put it, but any cat who had grown up outside of a tribe would have found it rather restricted; you didn't choose your fate as prey-hunter or branch guard, the rules of where you could go, like above the canopy or onto the forest floor, were strict and forcefully backed up, and no matter how great a leader a cat was, or could be, only the trainee of the Healer would ever lead them.

Nevertheless, Raindrop thrust her head out of the top layer of leaves. Her eyes grew wide as she stared up at the beautiful sky that she had never fully seen.

The deep blue sky was a dark and infinite dome above her, the edge of the horizon glowing with the light of the sun that had just set. The endless vault of glowing blue was sprinkled with stars that glittered and sparkled like dewdrops, and the moon, nearly full, glowed silvery and serene. All the light from the dark sky above gilded the canopy with white-blue moonlight, and the mountains that thrust their peaks into the open sky were bathed in glowing starlight. A few streaks of purple cloud arched above the Jungle, and huge black birds circled above their prey, wheeling and gliding in complete silence as the forest below echoed with the calls and chirps of nighttime.

Raindrop stared, stunned at the beauty of what she wasn't even supposed to see, wondering how they could refuse to let their cats see the splendor of the sky... it had been something like, oh... Raindrop struggled to remember why she wasn't allowed up here, and found herself wondering if she had never been given a reason at all. Then she remembered.

A bone-chilling shriek suddenly broke the serene quiet that had hung around Raindrop. The birds of prey! That was why she wasn't supposed to be up here! And those circling birds above her—

With a cry, a huge black raven broke away from his circling flock, and the rest of them followed, diving straight for Raindrop. She squeaked in terror, and plunged under the leaves of the canopy. The birds' claws slashed the leaves under which Raindrop crouched, shaking, as they dove at their prey. Raindrop tried to stay quiet as she began scrambled frantically down the branches of the towering tree. But in her panic, a crack rang through the night air as she stepped on dead branch, and it snapped beneath her.

With a screech of terror, she lost her footing, and she was dangling by her front paws over a drop that was so far down that the bottom was only blackness. The world seemed to spin around her, and the abyss of darkness seemed to be pulling Raindrop down into its depths. She gasped, terror enveloping her like a heavy cloud.

The birds burst through the top of the canopy, shrieking, feathers and leaves raining down on their prey. Raindrop squeezed her eyes shut, and tried to claw her way back onto solid branch; she lifted a hind paw and sank her sturdy claws into the bark of the tree, and scrabbled for a hold with her other foot. Gasping for breath, she clambered onto the branch, her heart pounding wildly in her ears. The flock of ravens was bobbing around the branches, cawing and shrieking, searching for their lost quarry.

Creeping slowly along a leafy branch, Raindrop tested each step before going on; it was a lesson that the branch-guards, mostly Mist, though, had been trying to teach her for a long time, and that she finally appreciated now. After what seemed like moons, the cries of the flock of ravens faded into the distance. Shaking, Raindrop looked around to see where she was.

A beam of moonlight fell through the branches of the canopy above her, and there were less leaves in the top layer of branches, so that she could see the sky from where she was. Raindrop gazed at the starry heavens as they rose above her, and wished that she too could soar above the Jungle, among the flocks of birds and with the stars around her. With a sigh, she turned and started walking towards the edge of the Jungle, from where she would be able to find her way back to camp.

Suddenly a scent caught her attention.

"Raindrop!" snarled a furious voice.

It was Mist.