Pigeonfeather licked her paw and proceeded to groom behind her ears. She barely focused on grooming however as she listened to the story that she's heard a thousand times and had experienced herself.

"After visiting Starclan and gaining nine lives, Night, now Nightstar, was ready to lay war with his fellow Starclan ambassadors upon the evil cat named King and his minions." Rosespots meowed in an adopted storyteller voice. She paused dramitcally and gazed around the den to make sure everyone was listening before continuing.

"What do you think Pigeonfeather, are you sure the kits are brave enough to hear the rest of the story?" She said, obviously trying to sound serious. Pigeonfeather and the older kits knew Rosepots always stopped at this part. They laughed every time the younger kits would whine and protest. This time the unfortunate victims where one Aspenshade's two moon old kits, Gingerkit, and her two kits, Stormykit and Wolfkit, who were a little less than a moon.

She would of never guessed that herself of all cats would have kits. This was, of course, because she was a medicine cat and never even planned on having kits. Despite diligently doing all of her medicine cat duties and following the warrior code to T, she still ended up showing all the signs of a pregnant queen. She didn't even know it was possible without having a mate. Heck, she couldn't even guess who the dad was until the kits were born. Well, she had been becoming closer friends with Stormclaw, but even he straightforwardly said that he didn't want to be mates. Yet it was quite obvious he was the dad because Stormykit looked almost exactly like him, hence the name. Except for a pinkish smudge on her chest and slightly pressed in muzzle, just like her mom's.

She just hoped that Starclan would be forgive her for having kits and allow her to still hold the medicine cat title. Yet, in the corner of her mind floated a small question she would wonder from time to time which was brought up by current events. Was it Starclan's idea all along for her to have kits, despite not even wanting to? Where her kit's part of a greater picture she couldn't even comprehend? Starclan's motivations needless to say were very confusing sometimes. They claimed they had very little control over things one minute, then send a life changing prophecy the next. Was Starclan ev-

"C'mon mamma, pretty please? With a mouse on stop?" Wolfkit squeaked, wiggling his little tail in excitement.

"Yeah auntie Pigeonfeather! Pearlkit said she heard even scarier stories when she was as old as Stormykit and Wolfkit!" Gingerkit whined

As if on cue, the warrior sized Savannah-cat kitten slipped into the former badger den which was now the nursery.

"What's this about scary stories?" The pretty, white she-cat purred through a nice fat squirrel she was carrying. She tossed it into the middle of the den and flopped onto her nest that was in between Pigeonfeather's and Rosespot's.

"Yay! Pearlkit's brought us food!" Stormykit squealed and bounded up to the huge squirrel that was bigger than herself. Before all of the kits could dig in, Pigeonfeather cleared her throat to get the kits' attentions.

"What do you kits' say to Pearlkit?" Pigeonfeather scolded.

"Thank you Pearlkit." They mewed in unison.

"That's better, now go eat."

The kittens instantly started tearing into squirrel along with Grasskit, Gingerkit's brother, who'd just wandered into the den a second ago. Pigeonfeather chuckled at how excited they were to eat their first squirrel. Now she knew why some she-cats liked retiring to the Nursery and tending to the kits. They could be so cute at times. She queitly watched the kits eating and noticed Stormykit was shuffling her paws looking conflicted if she should try some. This was her second time eating solid food and first eating a squirell. Before Pigeonfeather could move to get up, Wolfkit stumbled over and convinced her to try a bite. She reluctantly sniffed it and took a bite. She skipped around in delight at the taste and was soon wolfing down the squirrel along with the other kits. Pigeonfeather felt a warm feeling of happiness for her two kits looking out for each other. She would of liked to have her littermates back in Riverclan look out for her like that. But that was seasons ago, and they were probably resting in Starclan know anyways.

"-I told you that sneaking out of the camp is dangerous Pearlkit. What if you had gotten hurt?"

"I only went out for a couple of seconds…I was only hunting just outside of camp!" Pearlkit reasoned.

"You were WHAT?!" Rosespots shreiked.

Pigeonfeather and the other kits turned in confusion by the sudden outburst from Rosespots. Wolfkit almost looked like he were about to cry.

"Go on kits, go play outside." Pigeonfeather said, gently nudging the kits in the rumps to get them moving.

"Let's go play at the 'High' stump!" Gingerkit mewed, oblivious to the "discussion" that was about to occur.

"Whoever gets there first gets to be the leader!" Wolfkit exclaimed, already halfway out of the den. The four kittens raced out of the entrance within a heartbeat, bickering as they raced about how Wolfkit cheated.

"You too Rosespots, I need to talk with Pearlkit alone." Pigeonfeather added, sending Pearlkit a quick glance.

"Of course, I just hope you can talk some sense into that kit." Rosespots grumbled as she slipped through the entrance.

Pigeonfeather sighed and padded over to Pearlkit after Rosespots had left. Pearlkit was looking at her paws with ears flat against head. Her pretty, light olive eyes were shiny with sadness Pigeonfeather assumed for being in trouble. Pearlkit was four moons now, going on five. Yet she was way bigger than most kits at her age She's recalled. It was probably because of her Savanah-cat blood that caused her to be bigger than usual. Pigeonfeather glanced over to the entrance of the burrow one last time to be sure Rosespots wasn't there.

"Look Pearlkit, I'm not mad at you." Pigeonfeather whispered, wrapping her feathery tail around her. Pearlkit sneaked a look up at Pigeonfeather and her sodden expressian lifted.

"You're not?"

Pigeonfeather nodded and patted Pearlkit on the back with her tail.

"How 'bout we go collect some dandelion stems near the entrance." Pigeonfeather meowed, "We can just say that's your punishment." Pearlkit's head bobbed violently up and down and jumped to her paws, ready to scramble out of the underground den. Pearlkit leapt out of the den with one impressive jump, her slightly visble muscles rippling underneath her almost fully grown-up fur. Pigeonfeather couldn't help but beam at her foster-daughter. She'd make a great warrior some day.

The camp was suprisingly empty for a little past sunhigh, which was when most of the cats congregated to share tongues or plan what patorls to go on next. The only cats she saw were Stormclaw and Brushstar, who were near the base of the tree next to the leader's den. They were probably discussing who should go on the next patorls or what scent markers to renew next. Stormclaw seemed to be explaining something to her and she was slowly nodding up and down. Pigeonfeather deteced a faint bit of sorrow in her eyes that was quickly removed by a firm nod and a parting from Brushstar. Stormclaw trotted over to Pigeonfeather, the tip of his tail bobbing with each step. She could slightly smell an odd scent coming from Stormclaw, similar to fear scent, yet, different. It was more of an anxious feeling than fear, like sweat.

"Pigeonfeather, we need to talk." he stated bluntly, his tail twitching only the slightest.

"What, is something wrong deputy?" she asked, her head slightly tilted in confusion.

"It's nothing, I just want to walk with you and, ya know, talk…" He replied, shuffling his paws.

Pigeonfeather nodded and dismissed Pearlpaw to her punishment. She couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding as she and Stormclaw padded towards the river South of camp, which was flowing extra strong lately due to the flooding of New-leaf. It was a lovely day in fact, but the feeling of worry was stuck to her fur as if it were blanket of fog. Was this because of her anxiety for what Stormclaw was about to say? Or was entirely it something else?

Stormclaw had sat a few fox-lengths away from the flooded river, and was staring at it trying to organize what he was about to say. Pigeonfeather slowly padded over and sat down, wrapping her tail gently around his flank in a comforting way. His brows were furrowed as he scanned the river and after a few heartbeats, he looked up slowly to Pigeonfeather.

"Uhm...I..." He stammered still at a lost of words. Pigeonfeather couldn't help but feel as if there was a rock in her stomach. Why was he being so hesitant? Pigeonfeather was starting to grow anxious and worried about his behavior.

"Look I'll just tell you straight forward," he sighed "I've decided to step down as deputy."

"But, why? I thought you've wanted to be deputy your whole life..." She trailed off, recalling back several moons ago, back the original clans. Back before the twolegs had destroyed everything. He was just like every other warrior. trying to prove himself to his leader, Emberstar; who was in turn his own father. He never bragged about his blood though like other Thunderclanners. Heck, he was humble compared to the rest of those bee-brains! Still, that was seasons ago. Had he changed? Or did he never really want to be leader?

"Why'd you tell me this, why not Brushstar?

Stormclaw's slightly pricked fur had flattened and was breathing more calmly now. His amber eyes were now refilled with their usual spark. He looked like he was more ready to talk now.

"Actually I did, I just wanted to let you know because I think I...want to become a medicine cat.

Pigeonfeather was absolutely stunned and had sworn her heart had skipped a beat.

"Are you...sure? Do you know how big a deal this is!? She exclaimed bluntly.

He chuckled. "What, think I'm not cut out for it? Think I should just leave it to the she-cats?" he lightly joked.

"I'm serious! you don't know how much training it takes just to..." Pigeonfeather trailed off, realizing Stormclaws head was drooped in a almost defeated look.

"Look I didn't mean to be ru-"

I had a dream.

"So everyone has dreams, it doesn't mean-"

"You don't understand." He said looking back up with his brows furrowed in frustration. "Starclan told me so"

Pigeonfeather pricked her ear in annoyance. Sometimes dreams are just... dreams.

"Dreams aren't necessarily real Stormclaw, sometimes your brain just plays tricks on you."

"You don't understand." He repeated. "It was so real I saw him... he was really there." He said in a quiet voice slightly getting choked up near the end. Pigeonfeather soon realized that she should probably just drop it. It hurt for her to see him like this so saying yes was her only option.

As soon as she opened her mouth a blood-chilling yowl that sounded almost alien-like pierced their ears making them recoil in shock. It had almost sounded as high-pitched as a rabbit screaming if attacked by an apprentice and was unnerving. They both turned to each other and realized that some cat was in trouble.

"If you want to be a medicine cat, now's your chance to prove it..."