I was out hunting one day, just like normal, when I heard an ear-splitting screech. I abandoned my newly-caught vole and ran back to our den. I was horrified at what I found. Badgers. 2 of them. Moon and Rose were desperately trying to fight them off.
"Well don't just stand there, help us!" Rose cried. Snapping out of my shock, I jumped on the back of one of the badgers and wrapped my paws around its eyes so it couldn't see. The infuriated badger, however, threw me off. Moon, fueled with anger, rapidly threw herself at the badger, ripping its flank. And that was her downfall. Moon, not thinking, was only attacking, not defending herself, which allowed the badger to claw her throat and fling her against a tree stump. Moon slumped to the ground, barely moving.
"Moon!" Rose cried. Before we could go over to help her, the badgers blocked the way.
"We're crow-food," I moaned. And then it happened. I saw a flash of red-brown fur, and both badgers were shoved against a pile of rocks. A red-brown cat with flashing green eyes had done the job.
"Help me," the cat growled. We leapt forward and attacked with the she-cat. The cat and Rose battered one badger, while I clamped my jaws around the throat of the other. The two badgers whimpered and backed away. The she-cat backed up for the final blow. "And don't- come- BACK!" She flung herself at both badgers and shoved them away. The badgers ran off.
"Thanks for helping us," I said.
"No problem," the cat said. "My name's Ivy. Glad I could help."
"Moon!" Rose cried. We looked over, reminded of the injured cat. "She's unconscious! She- oh, please tell me she's not dead!" Ivy and I ran over.
"Do you know any herbs?" Ivy asked.
"She was the one who knew all that stuff," I replied.
"I thought she taught you some herbs! Don't you know anything?" Rose asked, panicked.
"I- I can't!" My panicked brain strained to recall the herbs Moon used. She always used something whenever someone was bleeding. Something, something…
"Cobwebs!" I cried. "They stop the bleeding!"
"Cobwebs? Are you sure?" Rose asked.
"YES! There's some in her den. HURRY!" I cried. Rose came back with a mouthful of cobwebs. We placed the mound on the wound, and the webs began to soak up the blood. "Get some marigold too," I instructed. "In case it gets infected." Rose came back, and we made a poultice to apply. We watched her for any sign of movement until we were almost certain she was dead. Rose looked ready to wail.
"Should we start digging a grave?" Ivy asked quietly. Suddenly, Moon's eyes opened. She looked at our poultice.
"Well done," she said. "Looks like you did pay attention to my boring plant talk after all."
"It was Sun who knew the herbs," Rose said. Moon looked at Ivy.
"Who's this?" she asked.
"This is Ivy," I explained. "She helped save us from the badgers."
"I think you'll have to teach us some more of your herbs," Ivy said.
"Wait- us?" Rose asked.
"Yeah! I think you guys could really use in your group," offered Ivy.
"Well, there is strength in numbers," Moon managed to say. And from then on, we decided that we would let any cat that wanted to join us could join. We wanted to have the biggest group, since cats that lived together and helped each other lived a better life.
Only a few days later, Ivy and I went hunting. Prey was abundant, and we were catching a lot.
"I think that's enough for one day," Ivy said. "If we keep hunting, we won't be able to carry it all back home!" Suddenly, Rose and Moon came running towards us.
"Sun! Sun!" Rose cried. "I think someone's spying on us!"
"Spying?" Ivy questioned.
"We noticed some cat was watching us in a tree. She doesn't seem to realize we saw her, though," Moon explained. "We figured it was too risky to investigate on our own, so we wanted to find you guys."
"Alright, we'll sneak up on her and attack her before she even realizes what hit her!" I said. Rushing back to our den, Rose found the tree the spy was in. "Alright Moon, climb up on that side. Rose, climb on that side. Ivy, you'll climb in front of the spy, and I'll sneak up close behind her," I instructed. "We need to surround the spy." Climbing up the tree, we silently got closer, until we were only a whisker away from her. The spy wore a collar, and she was staring at our den, obviously waiting for us to come into view so she could watch us.
"Dumb kittypet," I thought. "She actually thinks she can spy on us." The other cats waited for me to give the signal. I wanted to strike at just the right moment. When the cat started to look impatient, I flicked my tail. We leapt straight at her.
"GOT YOU!" I cried. We had planned to attack, but the kittypet was so startled she shrieked, and fell out of the tree. We jumped off the branch and surrounded her.
"SPY!" Ivy hissed. "Get out of our territory!"
"I'm terribly sorry," the cat said. "But I've been watching your group for a few days now.
"Why have you been spying on us?" asked a calm Moon, the only cat whose spine wasn't arched.
"Because I've been called to," the cat answered.
"Called to? By who?" I asked.
"The starry cats," the cat answered. I froze. Starry cats? Ivy and Rose looked confused, but Moon stiffened.
"What do you mean by 'starry cats?'" she questioned.
"Starry cats come into my dreams every night. They told me to come here and watch your ways," the cat replied.
"Ha! You came here and spied on us because of a few weird dreams-" Rose was cut off by Moon.
"What did these cats look like?" she asked.
"Well, there was really only one cat. He had stars in his fur, and he was very tall. He was all black, except for his white tail, which I guess is where he got his name: Whitetail."
Whitetail. Why did what name sound familiar? Then I realized I knew exactly where I heard that name before. Because long ago, that cat had visited me, too.
"Whitetail- that cat has been visiting my dreams too," Moon admitted. I turned my head to her.
"What?!" I asked.
"Yes, Moon went on. "Every night, he comes into my dream and says 'look to the clouds.' The he disappears," she explained. My head swirled. So that dream did mean something. I wasn't the only one who got them! "What is your name?" Moon asked.
"My name's Clover," the cat said.
"Well Clover, I think you should join us and tell me more about these dreams," Moon declared.
"What?!" Rose cried. "Do you have bees in your brain? We can't trust her! You're basing this all on a bunch of dreams!"
"This is my destiny," Clover stated flatly.
"But you're a kittypet!" Ivy pointed out. Clover ripped off her collar, threw it on the ground, and buried it.
"Not anymore," she exclaimed.
"Won't your Twolegs be worried about you?" Ivy asked.
"They'll be sad, but they can get a new cat," Clover said. But when we turned back to our den, we realized there was no room for five cats to live in it. So we agreed to move. As we traveled, Rose gave Clover many suspicious looks, but she didn't appear to be violent. Leaving behind our home, we traveled for a few days along rivers, valleys, and fields, until we found it. The perfect camp to house all five of us, and many more. It had multiple dens, and we quickly began claimed our own. There were streams, prey, and lots of herbs. It was perfect.
"Yeah, perfect- until Twolegs came and destroyed it!" Lotuspaw snapped.
"Yes it was lovely, but this camp is a fine home too, isn't it?" Silverstar asked.
"Well, it's just that we had some good memories there," Goldenpaw sighed.
"But now we'll have even more memories here," Shadowpaw said.
"May I return to the story once more?" Silverstar questioned.
"Yes, Silverstar," the apprentices chanted.
"Good. And no more interruptions. Now, where was I? Oh, now I remember-"
The night arrived, we all gathered outside, celebrating. And then I saw them.
"Oh my- LOOK!" I gasped. There were starry cats surrounding the camp.
"Wha- what's going on?" Rose cried. Suddenly I saw a familiar face.
"Cleo!"
Cleo's spirit bounded over to me. "I- I can't believe it's you!" I cried. But I wasn't the only cat seeing past loved ones.
"Cinnamon!" Moon ran over to his spirit.
"It looks like you found you long-lost sister," Cinnamon said, pointing to Rose.
"Sister?" Rose questioned. "I thought maybe we were kin, but she's my sister?"
"You both were separated after we were attacked by other cats. I thought they had taken you, Rose, but after I died I found you were still alive and you were fending for yourself. I'm so sorry you were kept apart," Cinnamon explained. Moon and Rose stared at each-other, accepting their newly-discovered kinship. The other cats were rejoicing in finding their dead kin, when another sprit appeared.
"Whitetail!" I cried. Whitetail looked at us.
"I see you are enjoying being reunited with your kin," he stated.
"I can't believe this is real," Ivy exclaimed. "I thought you were all gone for good!"
"Nothing is lost forever," Whitetail said. "Which is precisely why you are here."
"What do you mean?" Clover asked.
"Let me explain," began Whitetail. "Long ago, I knew groups of wild cats that ruled the forest. But I have since left that place. Here, the only cats are kittypets and loners. These cats have no honor, and no respect for their ancestors."
"This is why you are here," he continued. "Fate has driven you five together because you must bring honor to this forest. You must continue the ways of the ancient cats. Under the name of us, Starclan, you will become a clan."