Chapter One
Heatherkit squirmed while she slept and rolled onto her back to get more comfortable. She felt herself roll onto one of her brother, she hoped it was Swiftkit. She was still mad at him for getting her stuck in that tree a few days ago. He told her that a real ThunderClan warrior could climb the tree all the way to the top and climb back down with no problem. Heatherkit was determined to prove to her brother that she was a ThunderClan warrior so she started climbing the tree and took a short break on the first branch to gloat at Swiftkit. When she saw how high she was she froze and felt herself sway and start to slip off the branch. She would have fallen right off if it weren't for Rowanclaw who climbed up the tree to save her. She loved her father dearly and knew that he loved her just as much from every simple gesture he made, whether it was nuzzling her when she bounced up to him or when he saved her from falling from the tree.
Suddenly Heatherkit felt very restless and could no longer just lie down and sleep. Blinking open her eyes she found herself in the nursery of her home in a soft mossy nest curled up next to Dawnlight and her brothers. She slid off Swiftkit and tottered over to the edge of the nest to get a better view of her surroundings. She saw that there were other sleeping cats in the nursery, two she-cats, one a breathtakingly beautiful golden tabby and the other a tabby-and-white with a tortoiseshell she-kit asleep beside her. Heatherkit stared at the other kit, who was much bigger and older than her, and ducked when she opened her eyes and raised her head to look at Heatherkit.
"Who are you?" the tortoiseshell kit asked.
Heatherkit felt uneasy under the tortoiseshell's bright amber gaze but managed to answer her. "I'm Heatherkit. Who are you?"
"My names Dapplekit," she replied. "Where did you come from?"
"I came here last night with my parents and brothers last night," Heatherkit told her. "I was born outside the camp but I'm still a ThunderClan cat."
"Well welcome," Dapplekit said bouncing up to her paws. She flicked her ears to the tabby-and-white she-cat sleeping beside her and said, "This is my mother Duskfur next to me and I have a brother Mousekit but he must be outside playing." Waving her tail to the golden tabby in the other nest she said, "That's Yellowflower, she has a kit name Lightningkit but he's probably playing with Mousekit."
"This is my mother Dawnlight," Heatherkit said looking back at her mother still sleeping peacefully with Sparrowkit curled up next to her face. "And those are my brothers Sparrowkit and Swiftkit."
"Swiftkit looks like Rowanclaw," Dapplekit observed.
"That's cause Rowanclaw is our father," Heatherkit told her. "But he acts nothing like him, Sparrowkit acts more like Rowanclaw."
"That's great that your fathers the deputy of ThunderClan," Dapplekit said jumping out of her nest. "Do you want me to show you around camp?"
Heatherkit nodded and took a step forward to follow Dapplekit but a paw was placed firmly on her tail pinning her in place. Looking over her shoulder she saw that Dawnlight had woken up.
"Where do you think you're going?" Dawnlight asked her softly.
"Outside with Dapplekit," Heatherkit replied simply. "She's going to show me around camp."
"I don't want you going anywhere without your brothers," Dawnlight told her. Nosing Swiftkit and Sparrowkit gently she murmured, "Wake up you two, Heatherkit's going to explore the camp. Don't you want to go with her?"
Swiftkit opened his eyes immediately and jumped to his paws looking around the nursery until his eyes fell on Heatherkit. "I want to go too!" He meowed walking over to stand next to her.
Sparrowkit opened sleep blurred eyes and looked at Dawnlight before sitting up and yawning. "Why did you wake me?"
"Because it's nearly sunhigh and you can't sleep the whole day," Dawnlight said licking his ears. "You're going to go outside and Dapplekit is going to show you and your brother and sister around the camp."
"Is Rowanclaw out there?" Sparrowkit asked.
"Maybe, but you'll never know unless you go out and see for yourself," Dawnlight said. "Dapplekit make sure the don't get into trouble."
"Don't worry I'll make sure they won't," Dapplekit promised. Looking at Heatherkit and her brothers she mewed, "Come on let's go!"
Heatherkit ran after Dapplekit with her brothers beside her. As the ran out of the nursery Heatherkit heard her mother call, "Be back before the sun goes down!"
As she emerged from the nursery she was awe struck from the size of the camp. Last night she was too tired to notice much of the camp draped in darkness but now in daylight, with the sun reflecting off the blanket of powdery snow that covered the ground, Heatherkit stared at her home for the first time. There was a small, but thick, oak in the very center of the camp covered with ivy and had a hole towards the base big enough for a cat to fit through. Just beyond the oak was a low spreading bush that was as wide as a tree was tall and was thick with orange, red, and golden leaves that looked ready to fall off the branches. Beside it was a sectioned off circle of hazel bushes. Over on the side of the camp that Heatherkit was currently at, a couple of yards away from the nursery was a bramble much like the nursery's only it was smaller and had a large flat rock beside it where an elderly ginger tabby she-cat was napping. On the other side of the nursery more than a couple of yards away was another hazel bush surrounded by a patch of ferns where two half grown she-cats were wrestling playfully.
"Wow the camp is huge!" Heatherkit said loudly.
"The forest outside of camp is a lot bigger," Dapplekit said. "I've only been out once to help Blackwhisker pick herbs nearby but I was amazed by how big it was out there."
"We already saw the forest while we were traveling," Swiftkit told Dapplekit while Sparrowkit tipped his head to the side and asked the tortoiseshell, "Who's Blackwhisker?"
Dapplekit narrowed her eyes at Swiftkit before turning to Sparrowkit to answer his question. "Blackwhisker is ThunderClan's medicine cat. It's his job to make sure that the Clan is always healthy and if a cat gets injured or sick then he uses herbs that he picks in the forest to help them get better. But that's not the most important job they have. Medicine cat's are a Clan's direct link to StarClan, whenever StarClan needs to tell the Clan something important they'll send a sign to the Clan's medicine cat and they'll interpret the sign."
"Wow medicine cat's are as important as Clan leaders aren't they?" Heatherkit asked.
"Yes they are," Dapplekit purred. Ducking her head shyly and scuffing the ground with her paw she murmured, "I actually hope to become a medicine cat, I already asked Blackwhisker to take me on as his apprentice and he said he would consult it with Brightstar and StarClan to see if I would be a good medicine cat."
"Can we see the medicine den?" Swiftkit asked.
Dapplekit shook her head. "No you can't, one of the warriors is sick and kits aren't allowed anywhere near the medicine den until that warrior gets better. I'll take you to meet the elders if you want."
Heatherkit and Sparrowkit nodded eagerly while Swiftkit lowered his head in disappointment. Dapplekit led the way over to the bramble bush beside the flat rock where the ginger tabby she-cat was sleeping and leaped onto the rock to wake the she-cat.
"Squirreltail wake up," Dapplekit whispered softly.
The ginger she-cat opened one green eye and growled, "Only you can get away with waking me Dapplekit. What do you want."
"I want you to meet Rowanclaw's and Dawnlight's kits," Dapplekit told the elder eagerly.
Squirreltail's other eye opened and both were filled with shock. "My son has kits? Why wasn't I told?"
"They were born outside of camp when Rowanclaw went away with Dawnlight," Dapplekit explained. "She had no idea she was expecting kits."
"Well where are my little kin?" Squirreltail demanded sitting up. Spotting Heatherkit and her brothers she asked, "Are you Rowanclaw's kits?"
"Yes," Heatherkit told the elderly she-cat.
"Well come up here all of you, let me get a good look at you," Squirreltail urged them.
Heatherkit and her brothers jumped onto the rock and sat side by side in front of their father's mother. "What are your names little ones?" she asked.
"I'm Heatherkit," she mewed shyly edging closer to Sparrowkit who was closer to her.
"I'm Sparrowkit and this is our brother Swiftkit," Sparrowkit told Squirreltail waving his tail in Swiftkit's direction.
"Swiftkit you look just like your father," Squirreltail said licking his cheek and then Heatherkit's and Sparrowkit's. "And Sparrowkit you look a bit like your mother, you're pelt is darker than hers but its almost the same." Looking at Heatherkit she was puzzled for a moment like she couldn't make out who she looked like. "Heatherkit you've got the prettiest blue eyes I've ever seen. It's like I'm looking at a clear blue sky. You know your father's younger sister has blue eyes too."
"She does? What's her name?" Heatherkit asked suddenly curious and not afraid of Squirreltail.
"Well her name is Poppyflower," Squirreltail told her. "She was the last kit I had and was the only one in her litter, and at the time the only kit in the nursery. She got under everyone's paws and bothered everyone but was spoiled rotten by Rowanclaw. He always looked after her and played with her whenever he had free time. One time she led a young fox right to the camp."
"She didn't get her did she?" Heatherkit asked.
"No she sneaked out of camp one day while I was napping and found a fox in the forest and when she ran away from it the wretched thing followed her here, right into camp. I remember waking up to the warriors and elders yowling in fear and couldn't find Poppyflower anywhere. When I poked my head out of the nursery I saw her hanging from the fox's jaws for only a moment before Rowanclaw leaped at it and clawed it until it let Poppyflower go. The fox ran away and Poppyflower's apprentice ceremony was delayed another moon. But then our deputy at the time retired and Rowanclaw took his place," Squirreltail finished.
"Wow that's amazing!" Sparrowkit said.
"I'm going to chase off a fox one day too," Swiftkit vowed. "I'll do it when I'm an apprentice and will be known as the only apprentice in all the Clan's to have chased off a fox single pawed."
"Of course you will little one," Squirreltail purred.
"Squirreltail what's all the racket out there?" called a voice from inside the bramble. "Are Lightningkit and Mousekit there?"
"No Treeleg just Rowanclaw and Dawnlight's kit and Dapplekit," Squirreltail replied.
"Rowanclaw and Dawnlight's kits?" a dark brown head poked out of the bramble and a pair of leaf green eyes stared at Heatherkit and her brother's in shock. "Well I had to see it to believe it."
The rest of Treeleg's body emerged and Heatherkit was shocked to see that he was the tallest cat she had ever seen. His legs were long and well muscled so it was no wonder his name was Treeleg. He jumped over to the flat rock and looked at Heatherkit and her brothers in turn.
"Only this one looks like either of the parents," Treeleg said pointing at Swiftkit with a single claw.
"Don't be silly Sparrowkit's pelt is like Dawnlight's," Squirreltail told him. "It's just a darker shade. And Heatherkit's pelt is the color of Dawnlight's stripes."
"Well they look like nice strong kits," Treeleg said. "More apprentices to change our bedding, fetch our prey, and get rid of our ticks."
"Treeleg apprentices do more than that and you know it," Squirreltail snapped.
"I don't care what else they do as long as my bedding is clean and dry, my belly is full, and my pelt is free of ticks!" Treeleg growled.
The two elders continued squabbling and Dapplekit nudged Heatherkit and her brother's off the rock. "They'll be like that for a while," Dapplekit told them leading them over to the hazel surrounded by ferns.
The two she-cats that Heatherkit saw wrestling earlier were now laying on the ground sharing tongues and didn't notice them approaching. One of the she-cat was a slender silver tabby with bright green eyes and the other had fur that was such a pale shade of gray it looked almost white. Her blue eyes just convinced Heatherkit more that she was a cat made of ice and snow. The silver tabby turned to look at the kits as they approached.
"Hello Dapplekit," she meowed cheerfully. The pale gray she-cat beside her meowed, "How are you today?"
"Hi Larkpaw, hi Willowpaw, I'm doing great what about you?" Dapplekit asked politely dipping her head to the two she-cats in the order she said their names.
"Nettleclaw and I did some battle training this morning," the silver tabby told Dapplekit.
"What about you Willowpaw?" Dapplekit asked the pale gray she-cat.
"Mudfoot took me out on a hunting patrol," Willowpaw said. "I brought back more prey than any cat on the patrol."
"Well I just came over to introduce Dawnlight and Rowanclaw's kits," Dapplekit told them.
"I met them last night," Larkpaw purred. "I carried that ginger tom to the nursery."
"My name is Swiftkit," he told her indignantly.
"I'm sorry Swiftkit but you fell asleep the moment I placed you in the nest," Larkpaw told him. "I never got a chance to get your or your littermates names."
"Well now you know I'm Swiftkit, and this is my brother Sparrowkit and my sister Heatherkit," Swiftkit told the silver tabby she-cat.
"Who's kits?" asked a new voice from within the hazel bush.
Heatherkit stared at the hazel and saw a large dark gray tom with amber eyes emerge with two kits bouncing out of the hazel after him. Heatherkit could tell just by looking that the two kits weren't the same age. One of them, a dusty brown tabby tom with a long skinny tail, was much bigger than the other kit, A golden tabby tom with bright blue eyes. The dusty brown tabby kit spotted Heatherkit and her brother's and Dapplekit and ran over, jumping on Dapplekit playfully. Heatherkit guessed that the dusty brown tabby kit was Dapplekit's brother Mousekit, so that meant that the golden tabby kit must be the only other kit in the nursery, Lightningkit. Lightningkit ran over to Heatherkit and her brother's and looked over them, he had to be at least four moons old.
"Are you Dawnlight's kits?" Lightningkit asked.
Swiftkit nodded, "Yes we are, I'm Swiftkit and this is my brother Sparrowkit and sister Heatherkit."
"and Rowanclaw's your father isn't he?" Lightning asked.
"That's right," Sparrowkit told the golden tabby.
"That's so cool," Lightningkit said. "I wish my father was deputy."
"Don't worry Lightningkit he might be deputy one day," the dark gray tom told the golden tabby. "Sharpclaw is a good warrior, and if Rowanclaw becomes leader one day he might make Sharpclaw his deputy." Looking at Heatherkit and her brother's he told them, "I'm Stonepaw by the way, Larkpaw and Willowpaw's brother, Lightningkit's father is my mentor so he thinks he can bother me all the time."
"Nice to meet you," Heatherkit said staring up at Stonepaw.
"Heatherkit, Sparrowkit, Swiftkit!" Dawnlight's voice called from the nursery. "Come back to the nursery it's starting to snow again!"
"Lightningkit you come back too!" called Yellowflower's voice.
"Dapplekit, Mousekit you too," called Duskfur.
Heatherkit and the rest of the kits said goodbye to the apprentices and ran to the nursery just as white flakes began to fall from the sky. Heatherkit was waiting her turn to go back into the nursery when she spotted her father emerging from the low spreading bush on the other side of camp. Excited to see her father, Heatherkit ran across the camp to greet him. Rowanclaw spotted her and purred loudly and licked her head when she reached him.
"Heatherkit you should be in the nursery," Rowanclaw told her.
"I wanted to see you first," Heatherkit explained. "I explored the camp today."
"Did you stay away from the nursery?" Rowanclaw asked. "Milkbelly is sick with greencough and we don't want anyone else to catch it."
"Yes we all stayed away, Dapplekit was watching us."
"Good Dapplekit is a very responsible kit, she will make an excellent medicine cat from what Blackwhisker has told me. What else did you do?"
"We met Squirreltail and she told us how you saved Poppyflower from a fox and met the apprentices," Heatherkit told him."When can I be an apprentice?"
"When you're six moons old," Rowanclaw told her. "You're only a moon old now so you still have five moons to play and be carefree like every other kit in the nursery."
"But I want to be an appprentice and explore the forest with you," Heatherkit wailed.
"Soon little one you'll be able to do that," Rowanclaw purred. "But for now let me take you back to the nursery so you don't get sick."
Rowanclaw led her to the nursery where Dawnlight had poked her head out to look for Heatherkit. Rowanclaw nosed her in front of Dawnlight and her mother picked Heatherkit up by her scruff and carried her to the nest, dropping her gently beside her brother's before curling up in the nest next to them. Soon Heatherkit was getting sleepy and curled up next to her brother's in the curve of their mother's warm belly.