Lionpaw laughed. Rain poured down, all of the clans gathered under as many tiny overhangings as they could find. Stormpaw's fur was drenched and his pawpads ached, but Lionpaw was next to him and she was laughing, and that was good enough for him.
"It's a surprise," She said. "That this didn't happen sooner."
"It's been less than a moon," Stormpaw replied. "I think that counts as soon."
"This'll be good," Cloverheart said. "Revitalize the herbs."
"This will delay us," Whiteflower growled. Stormpaw shivered a little at the intensity of the clan deputy.
"Lighten up, mom," Lionpaw purred. She was close enough that Stormpaw could feel the rumbling of her voice, and he shivered again, but for a different reason.
"We'll run out of food, Lionpaw," Whiteflower retorted.
"Whiteflower," Lightningstar, who was lounging on the ground, said. "As clan leader, I order you to take it easy."
Whiteflower let out a huff and lashed her tail, but said nothing else. Stormpaw smiled. Lightningstar was a young leader, younger than Whiteflower herself, and he'd maintained his sense of humor. His brother, Jayfur, was Stormpaw's mentor, although they hadn't talked in days.
Stormpaw glanced up at Jayfur, who seemed deep in conversation with his sister, Graycloud. The whole group of siblings were known as inseparable in ThunderClan...but one was gone now. Minnowfoot, one of their sisters, had died in the fire, trapped under a burning log. Thinking about it made Stormpaw's heart twist, and he inched closer to his own sister. Their parents had died a long time ago; Cloverheart was the only family he had left.
Jayfur seemed to have noticed Stormpaw glancing at him, and made his way over, nudging through packed crowd of cats.
"Hey, kid," Jayfur said. "How you doing?"
"I'm alright," Stormpaw said. "I wish I could say I missed training, but…" Jayfur chuckled in response.
"Listen–" Jayfur started, but before the gray warrior could finish his sentence, a yowl of rage came from farther away.
Two dark warriors tumbled out from under the overhang and rolled across the rain-soaked ground, clawing and biting at each other. It took Stormpaw a heartbeat to realize one of them was Shadestar.
"Coalnose! Coalnose, you idiot!" A cat screeched from nearby, but Stormpaw couldn't tell who it was. Shadestar was distracted by it, though, and Coalnose gained the upper hand. He slammed her to the ground and bit at her throat.
Stormpaw rushed out of the crowd without thinking, and grabbed Coalnose by the scruff. He wasn't strong enough to pull the muscular warrior away entirely, but Shadestar was able to scramble out from under him.
"Don't touch me!" Coalnose twisted around, and buried his claws in Stormpaw's ear. Stormpaw cried out in pain and kicked Coalnose away. Blood flowed over his vision, the rain making it even harder to see. He staggered back.
"Stormpaw!" Cloverheart came running up. "Why would you do that!?"
"He was gonna kill her," Stormpaw sat down. "And I'm fine. He just got my ear."
Cloverheart licked at the injury, and Stormpaw winced in pain, but he could see clearer. Shadestar was hissing still, with Woodpaw beside her trying to calm her down. A pale gray she-cat was yelling at Coalnose.
"What were you doing?" She yowled. Coalnose was crouched in front of her, still hissing as well. "You can't just–"
"That is one of MY warriors, Rainfrost," A calico she-cat Stormpaw recognized as Spottedstar stepped forward. The bulky leader dwarfed Rainfrost, even with the rain flattening her fur. "I will punish him myself."
"Ah, yes, of course," Rainfrost stepped back. Spottedstar swatted Coalnose and began hissing at him, but Stormpaw had stopped paying attention because Lionpaw had run up to him.
"That was awesome!" She said. Cloverheart rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you got your first battle-scar before me!"
Stormpaw felt his skin flush under his fur as she leaned in closer to inspect his torn ear.
"It could get infected, you know," Cloverheart said.
"What, with all this rain?" Lionpaw replied.
"That isn't how it works," Cloverheart sighed.
"Anyway," Lionpaw said, batting a paw at Stormpaw's shoulder. "That was pretty brave. Guess you don't need me fighting your battles anymore, eh Stormy?"
He chuckled. "I can't imagine ever not needing you, Lionpaw."
"Quit flirting, you two! Get back under here before you catch your death!" Jayfur shouted. Stormpaw startled, and lowered his ears in embarrassment. But Lionpaw just gave another purring laugh.
"Race you back!" She said, and sprung into motion, Stormpaw following behind her, watching how the drops of rain shimmered as they beat across her golden pelt.
The rain kept falling as the sun set, and eventually everyone settled down to sleep. Huddled under the overhang, Stormpaw was pressed tight against his clanmates, closer than sleeping in any den, but he liked it. It made him feel protected, and between that his exhaustion, he fell asleep almost immediately.
And he dreamt of stars.
...
He was following the silver path. The one in the sky, but he was on it, among the stars, walking on them. He looked around, but aside from the path there was nothing. Just empty space. Dread welled in his heart; where was StarClan? Where was the moon?
"I found you," A voice behind him said, and he turned around to stare into odd eyes; one green, one blue.
"Minnowfoot," Stormpaw said. The silver tabby smiled at him. "Why are you here? With me, I mean, I'm not a medicine cat, don't you want my sister?"
"Couldn't reach her," Minnowfoot stated simply. She looked awfully lighthearted for a dead cat. "Not after what she did."
"Wha–" Stormpaw thought it over. "The aloe."
Minnowfoot dipped her head.
"But that–she didn't break the code, did she? She was just helping her clan." Anger burned in his stomach. "That's no reason to cut her off entirely, she's our medicine cat!"
"Wasn't my decision," Minnowfoot replied. "StarClan didn't even want me to talk to you." She chuckled. Stormpaw's tail lashed, and all the humor dropped from Minnowfoot's face.
"Listen," She said. "It's getting harder for StarClan to talk with the living. Right now...you're moving away from us."
"Can't you follow us?"
"Yes! We are, but...there's something else here. And it's making us play by its rules. We all can feel it and–we're can barely even talk to the best medicine cats and leaders, let alone the ones who've made mistakes."
"How can you talk to me, then? I'm nothing special."
"Your blood was spilled today. And you're close with my brother. It's in the blood, we think." Minnowfoot's words were more urgent now. "They didn't want me to talk to you but Stormpaw. Something's coming, and we can't give prophecies to your sister anymore. You'll have to do."
Minnowfoot reached out and smacked him right on his injured ear. He hissed as blood began to flow down his face again. He watched in confusion as Minnowfoot bit her paw pad until blood welled. Stormpaw had never expected StarClan cats to bleed. It shone like the stars.
She placed her paw next to his ear; their blood mixed, and a jolt ran through him.
"What did you do to me?" His voice was a croak.
"We're bonded now. That's–how things work here," She said. "I can see you in your waking day. It's in the blood."
He took a step back, horrified. How could StarClan approve of this–this–he didn't have a word for what this was.
"StarClan doesn't like this. I'm going against direct orders but," Minnowfoot kept walking toward him, and he kept stepping back. The intensity in her odd eyes burned right through him, he could almost feel it. His heart raced. "It's the only way. Bad things are coming, Stormpaw. I have to keep my clan safe." They were almost touching now.
"Get away from me!" Stormpaw hissed, backing up further.
"I have to keep you from falling off the silver path." She leaned closer, and that is exactly what Stormpaw did. He plunged into the darkness around him, pitch black. He drowned in that wordless feeling, fell farther and farther into it. He knew he would never hit the bottom.
...
When Stormpaw woke up, it was night outside. His clanmates slept around him, easy, peaceful. He didn't see Minnowfoot anywhere. Blood ran from his injured ear, and he wiped it away with his paw. On his dusty fur, his blood glimmered bright in the starlight.
"Mama, what's StarClan?" Robinkit said, as the sun was rising. She could feel Mousestep jolt. Sedgekit looked at her like she'd just put a tick in his bedding
"W-why do you ask, Robinkit?" Mousestep said, the familiar shake in her voice returning. She stuttered like Sedgekit did, sometimes. It was dumb, but Robinkit sometimes wished she had more of her Mama's traits, like Sedgekit did. She wished she'd known her father. Mama never talked about him.
"Smallkit keeps talking about it," Robinkit said. "He says his sister's in StarClan. Goldendapple says her kits are in StarClan too. Where is it? I want to visit them, I think we'd be friends."
"Oh, honey," Mousestep said, her voice straining with sadness. She licked the top of Robinkit's head, and was quiet a long time.
"StarClan isn't a place you can visit, unless you're a leader or a medicine cat," She said. "It's where cats go when they–you know how we eat dead prey? Like rabbits and bird? Cat's can–that happens to us too. We die."
"Does the clan eat them too?!"
"No! No, of course not!"
"But then–"
"I just mean that, when a cat gets very old or very sick or very injured they...die, like that. And the part that makes them, well, them, that part goes to StarClan."
"Oh," Robinkit said. "But...but Smallkit's sister was a kit just like us, wasn't she? That isn't fair. And now he won't get to see her again." Her chest hurt. Why did it hurt? There wasn't anything wrong with her. "And Goldendapple too."
"Baby," Mousestep said, curling around Robinkit and Smallkit. "They stay in StarClan forever. So in...many moons, when Smallkit's old, he'll be able to see his sister again."
"But that's forever!" Robinkit buried her face in her mother's fur. What if that happened to Sedgekit? She couldn't imagine being separated from her brother for that long.
"I know," Mousestep said. "It's sad."
"Y-y-you said medicine cats, and leaders, they can visit StarClan?" Sedgekit mewed.
"Yes." Mousestep curled her thin tail around Sedgekit. "But I'm just a warrior, I don't know anything about that. I wish Flameleaf hadn't died. You deserve a medicine cat to talk to about this." She sighed.
"I-I-I can talk to Woodpaw, can't I?" Sedgekit said.
"I don't know," She said. "I don't trust those ShadowClan cats."
Robinkit felt Sedgekit lash his tail against the ground. He was angry, she realized. She didn't think her brother could be angry. But he didn't say anything, and settled down next to her. She was safe and warm with her family around her, but she still felt cold, imagining how lonely must be. She would be extra nice to him next time they played together.
"Mama?" She said, and her own voice sounded pitiful to her own ears. "You're not gonna die, are you?"
"Of course not, baby," Mousestep said. "You don't need to worry about me going to StarClan for a long, long time."
A/N: And now we're getting to the plot. Added the "book" thing in the title because well, I do intend to make this a multi-book series, if all goes well. Thanks for reading, y'all.
