Hello! Firstly I would like to say happy Blue Moon-aversary! Today marks three years since I started Untold Secrets! I will be writing a one-shot in celebration, but I've been rather starved of time today, so you can expect it at some point this week.

However, I do have a wonderful one-shot courtesy of the amazing KatieK101, my incredible beta reader! It focuses on the backstory of the character, Cloudysky. I can't remember if I've mentioned it before, but I can now confirm that we will be having a Cloudysky point of view in the next book, so here's your introduction to her! Cloudysky will probably talk a little about her past in the next chapter, but this is a lot more in depth. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I did. :)


Head in the Clouds

If you asked a cat from ThunderClan, ShadowClan, or WindClan what RiverClan cats were best known for, they would say their ability to swim and catch fish. It was the most obvious answer and would never start an argument.

But there was another answer, equally true but almost guaranteed to start a war. RiverClan cats were known for their vanity.

They were vain.

And that's not to say that they weren't as selfless or brave as the other clans. Some of the most noble, most brave warriors were born in RiverClan. But the fact still stood, no clan cared as much about their appearance as RiverClan. They liked for their pelts to be soft, their eyes to be bright, their whiskers to be neat and their paws to be clean.

Of course the same could be said for just about any other cat, especially if they were attending a Gathering or had an image to uphold. But RiverClan cats liked to look this way all the time. And the feathers and pretty pebbles they laced in their nests were too much, really.

So yes. While it was often thought rather than spoken aloud, everyone knew that RiverClan warriors prided themselves on their appearance, whether they be stunning or handsome. Everyone knew that they hated so much as a whisker out of place.

Maybe that's why she was so out of place.

Head in the Clouds

"Mama, mama!" A shrill voice cried, prompting Cloudykit to lift her head just in time to see Goldenkit streak across the camp, only to skid to a stop in front of Duskfur. The brown tabby queen looked surprised to see her foster daughter so worked up.

"What's the matter, little one?" she asked as she nosed the small she-kit's body.

Goldenkit whimpered as she lifted one of her paws for Duskfur to inspect. "Heronbeak pushed me into a puddle and got mud all over my paw!"

From where she stood by herself, Cloudykit wrinkled her nose. All that crying over a muddy paw?

Duskfur sighed lightly, relieved that it wasn't something more serious. "Silly girl, just clean it. Like this," Duskfur demonstrated the action by bending her head and cleaning the paw with swift, brisk strokes of her tongue. In a matter of heart-beats there wasn't a trace of mud left.

Goldenkit thanked her and rubbed her head against her foster mother's leg. "Am I beautiful?" she asked. Cloudykit stiffened as she awaited Duskfur's response. As if this time would be any different from the last.

Duskfur responded by purring and licking the top of her head. "Of course you are, Goldenkit. You're RiverClan, after all."

Cloudykit stood to her paws and left, unable to watch the scene unfold any further.

Head in the Clouds

It's not really true, the gray and white she-kit thought as she stared at her reflection in the puddle behind the nursery. Not really.

The thought continued to echo in her mind, although she wasn't quite sure which it referred to; the fact that she and Goldenkit had no actual RiverClan blood flowing through their veins, or the fact that not all RiverClan cats were pleasing to look upon.

Cloudykit's attention was drawn to her left eye, which she was blind in, and immediately cringed. Her thoughts definitely referred to the latter.

As if it wasn't bad enough that she was blind in her left eye, it was made worse by the fact that it didn't look like a normal eye; no, it was paler than her right eye, and was swirly and cloudy and hideous.

It was also the inspiration behind her name. When a RiverClan patrol had stumbled across two helpless, mewing kits they had taken them both in without a second thought, and gave them to Duskfur to nurse. The more vocal of the two crying kits was named Goldenkit, in honor of her beautiful pale ginger pelt, which seemed to turn golden in the sunlight.

The quieter, less demanding kit received her name a few days later when she finally opened her eyes. Cloudykit, in honor of her hideous, deformed blind eye.

Head in the Clouds

Maybe she wasn't ugly.

After all, it was just her eye that was deformed; the rest of her was perfectly fine, right?

Besides, Duskfur would always tell Goldenkit that she was beautiful because she was RiverClan. Well Goldenkit was her sister, and she was RiverClan too! Surely the same logic must apply to her as well.

Cloudykit's mind was made up. She would ask Duskfur if she was just as beautiful as Goldenkit.

"Duskfur!" Cloudykit squaked, as she scampered towards her adoptive mother. The tabby queen was crouched down by the fresh-kill pile, enjoying a tasty minnow. As soon as she heard the kit's voice she looked up, and smiled fondly at her.

"Cloudykit," she greeted her foster daughter, and rasped her tongue over her back. Cloudykit purred softly and smiled brightly at Duskfur.

"Duskfur, am I beautiful?"

Cloudykit was too young to realize that the light in Duskfur's eyes had died just a little bit, but she did notice her smile start to slip. Duskfur was quick to meow, "Uh, of course you are, Cloudykit. You're very pretty."

She couldn't help it. She had to know. "Am I as beautiful as Goldenkit?"

Duskfur hesitated, and that was all the reassurance Cloudykit needed.

Head in the Clouds

"Goldenpaw!" Cloudypaw cried as her sister stumbled into the river, and sent the fish scattering in all directions.

Goldenpaw glanced up and rolled her eyes when she realized that Cloudypaw was glaring at her. "We live in RiverClan, Cloudypaw. Just go to a different stream, you'll find more fish!"

The gray and white she-cat's glare didn't waver. "This is the third river I've gone to because you keep scaring the fish away. Stop staring at your reflection and help me hunt!"

Goldenpaw snorted. "Well, exc-use me! Some of us actually care about how we look!"

The glare fell right off of Cloudypaw's features, and a wide-eyed look of hesitance replaced it. "Wh-... what's that supposed to mean?" She knew that her eye made her ugly; if there was ever a doubt in her mind than Rushtail and Sandytail certainly got rid of it. But, as low Goldenpaw was willing to stoop to win an argument, she'd never mentioned her appearance.

Goldenpaw shot Cloudypaw a glare of her own. "You know what it means." the pale ginger she-cat sniffed haughtily as she turned around, and marched back to the RiverClan camp. "Come find me when you get over yourself."

And she left Cloudypaw by the stream, dazed and hurt beyond repair.

Head in the Clouds

Three, two, one, strike!

Quick as lightning Cloudypaw struck the water with her paw, but not quick enough, it seemed. She groaned when she came up empty-pawed again. I'll never pass my warriors assessment at this rate! Maybe… maybe I should make up with Goldenpaw after all. But she dismissed that thought almost as soon as it appeared. Almost an entire moon had passed since the sisters had spoken to each other, and if Goldenpaw didn't care about saving their crumbling relationship, than neither did she. The guilt of cutting her sister off weighed heavily on her mind, but she was sure that eventually the guilt would dissolve.

Soon, preferably, because it was starting to affect her concentration.

Not that it would make a huge difference. Cloudypaw had never been a fantastic fisher anyways.

"Are you still down here?" a brash voice demanded, and dread immediately started to bubble in Cloudypaw's gut. StarClan, not them! She was already doing bad enough!

Rushtail and Sandytail descended down the slope that led to the stream, and paused just a fox-length behind Cloudypaw. Sandytail glanced at the two small minnows that Cloudypaw had to show for her efforts, and scoffed. "You mean you've been down here all day and that's all you've managed to catch?"

Just ignore them, Cloudypaw. Pretend they aren't there. Easier said than done.

"I guess that just proves our theory," Rushtail said with a too-casual shrug. "Clanborn cats really do make the better warriors."

"Well, maybe not all of them," Sandytail interjected thoughtfully. "Goldenpaw's a fine fisher."

Ouch. That one stung.

"Don't you two have anything better to do than bother me?" Cloudypaw snapped, and then instantly regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. They hated it when she defended herself! The gray and white she-cat mentally prepared herself for the onslaught of bullying that she was about to endure.

But much to her surprise, Rushtail simply scoffed. "Rude. We just came to tell you that we overheard Icewing talking about your warriors assessment - it's tomorrow."

Cloudypaw's eyes widened. "T-tomorrow?" she wasn't ready to take her assessment!

Rushtail noticed the horror in her eyes and smirked. "What, not feeling very confident?"

"What does she have to be confident about?" Sandytail asked, before Cloudypaw could think of a reply. Slowly, her gaze drifted from Rushtail to his friend, and her heart dropped into the pits of her stomach when she saw the cruel gleam in his eyes. "She's not clanborn, she can't hunt, she's clumsy." The she-cat squeezed her eyes shut.

If Rapidstream or Rainsplash had been present they would have protested, and said that clanblood didn't matter these days, every cat had an off-day, and she wasn't that clumsy. But they weren't there, and Cloudypaw didn't have enough confidence to say it herself.

"Look at her eye - she doesn't even look like she belongs in RiverClan!" Sandytail growled. "She's hideous, deformed!" he snorted and shook his head. "If by some miracle you do pass your warrior assessment, it's not like your warrior ceremony is going to be exciting. We all know what your warrior name is going to be."

I-I think I'm going to be sick, Cloudypaw thought, as she opened her eyes again. The two toms still stood in front of her, but if it weren't for the fact that tears had started to cloud her one good eye's vision, she would have noticed that Rushtail had started to look hesitant.

"Come on Rushtail," Sandytail meowed, as he started back up the slope. "Let's leave Cloudyeye to practice her fishing in peace. StarClan knows she needs to practice."

"Uh, right." Rushtail gave a quick shake of his head before shooting Cloudypaw another smirk. "See ya' later, Cloudyeye."

Head in the Clouds

Cloudypaw was already nervous enough when Icewing explained the requirements to pass her assessment. It didn't help that Goldenpaw hadn't said a word of good-luck to her sister that morning; she'd simply looked distastefully at her, as if she were a piece of crowfood, before spitting, "You missed a spot on your back."

But when Icewing announced that a second cat would help herself and Pebblefoot judge their apprentices, and Minnowtail and Rushtil stepped out, she wished that StarClan would just have mercy on her this one time and strike her dead.

"Is Minnowtail helping us?" Cloudypaw asked, almost begged.

Icewing shook her head. "Not us, Pebblefoot and Goldenpaw. Rushtail is our second cat."

Rushtail shot Cloudypaw a smirk. "Looking forward to it."

Why does StarClan despise me so much?

Head in the Clouds

Her assessment had gone better than she expected it to.

She had swam easily from one point to another, bested Goldenpaw during the battle portion of the test, and now all that was left was fishing.

And now she was doing terrible.

Part of her requirements to pass the assessment was that she had to catch three fish from two different streams of her choice. Two pike and then another fish. She already had one pike and another smaller fish, but her luck had ran out. She'd scented Rushtail in the area and now her nerves were getting the best of her. At least Goldenpaw isn't fishing in the same streams as me. I don't think I could handle anymore of her glares.

The gray and white she-cat inhaled softly. Focus, don't think about Rushtail or Goldenpaw. Just focus on passing your assessment.

Three, two, one, strike! Her eyes widened hopefully when she felt scales brush against her paw, but when she pulled it out of the water her heart dropped. Nothing.

A soft, annoyed groan escaped her lips. I hate pike!

"Okay, this is pathetic," a voice growled, and Cloudypaw spun around. Rushtail was crawling out from underneath a hawthorn bush, pale green eyes narrowed. "What have you been doing these past six moons, sleeping?"

"I'm nervous, okay!" Cloudypaw shot back. "Weren't you nervous during your assessment?"

"Not really," Rushtail replied dryly. Cloudypaw glared at him for a moment, but it melted and confusion replaced it when the light brown tom sat down beside her. "What're you-"

"Watching you struggle is killing me," Rushtail interrupted her. "I mean… seriously. You're doing terrible!"

"Thanks," Cloudypaw mumbled. And then it sank in, just what Rushtail was doing. Her blue eyes widened. "W-wait, you're helping me? You can't do that, Icewing will fail me for sure!"

"Icewing's already at the other stream waiting for you," Rushtail meowed, cooly. His gaze had yet to shift from the surface of the stream. "And I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it because-"

"Because watching me is torture," Cloudypaw said, bitterly. "I heard you the first time."

Rushtail shot her a glare before returning his focus to the stream. His focus actually took Cloudypaw by surprise - the only times she really ever saw Rushtail was when he was with Sandytail or some of his other friends, and he never came across as the serious type. Cocky and a show-off definitely, but not serious. And yet here he was, staring at the surface of the stream with unwavering pale green eyes, and all the confidence and expertise as a senior warrior. Heck, at this angle he even looked attractive, and she-

Whoa, wait, what?! But as she calmed her horror she realized that her inner conscious wasn't wrong. As much as Cloudypaw hated to admit it, Rushtail was actually quite handsome.

Because he's RiverClan, born and raised. Of course he's handsome. The thought only reminded her of her eye, and she sighed.

"Shh!" The light brown tom hissed. "You'll scare away the fish!" Cloudypaw huffed quietly but after that, remained silent and still.

A few moments passed, and just when Cloudypaw was about to ask him what he was waiting for, quicker than lightning he struck the surface of the water. Her blue eyes widened when he pulled a pike onto the shore. "There," he said proudly. "That's how it's done."

"It's huge," Cloudypaw breathed.

Rushtail shrugged. "Eh, for a pike. You should see the fish I caught yesterday. Mallownose nearly passed out when I pulled it onto shore, I-" he stopped abruptly when he realized just who he was talking to. His proud grin faded, and a frown that seemed almost forced replaced it. "Icewing said to go ahead to the other stream; I'll bring your prey back to camp."

"Thanks," Cloudypaw murmured, almost dazed. Helping her on her assessment was one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for her, but the fact that it was Rushtail who helped her… she wasn't quite sure what to think about that.

He nodded once and picked up the prey, and then turned around and disappeared through a cluster of shrubs. Cloudypaw watched him leave for a few heart-beats, her paws rooted to the ground like a great oak tree. I wonder… why did he really help me? He's never done anything nice for me before. And cheating on your warrior assessment was no small thing, especially after he and Sandytail had mocked her the day before.

Maybe I'm thinking too hard about it. After all, my fishing skills aren't the best. Maybe he really hated how pathetic I looked… it wasn't a happy thought, but it was an idea. With a sigh Cloudypaw picked herself up and started towards the second stream.

Head in the Clouds

"I, Mistystar, leader of RiverClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn."

Cloudypaw sat straight up as her clanmates gazed at Goldenpaw - now Goldenlight - and herself. Out in the crowd of cats she easily spid Duskfur, who watched her foster daughters with pride shining in her eyes. Rapidstream and Rainsplash were also present, both wearing wide grins.

"Cloudypaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

This was it. Her final moments as an apprentice, and then she would be a full fledged warrior of RiverClan. No more picking ticks and fleas out of the elders' pelts, no more cleaning out the nursery.

Her mew was much calmer than she was. "I do."

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name." The gray and white she-cat inhaled softly; finally, finally she was going to receive a warrior name! Please StarClan, don't let her say 'Cloudyeye'! "Cloudypaw, from this moment you will be known as Cloudysky. StarClan honors your dedication and integrity, and we welcome you as a full warrior of RiverClan."

"Goldenlight! Cloudysky! Goldenlight! Cloudysky!"

Her chest swelled with pride and her tail twitched excitedly. Her clanmates rushed over to congratulate RiverClan's two newest warriors, nearly knocking Cloudysky over, but she really didn't mind. Cloudysky… Cloudysky… she grinned brightly.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that Sandytail and Rushtail were hanging back from the crowd. Sandytail didn't look very happy, but after a few moments he stood up to congratulate Goldenlight. Rushtail stayed where he was.

Maybe it was the thrill of finally becoming a warrior that gave her the sudden burst of confidence, but Cloudysky found herself brushing past her clanmates and making her way towards the light brown tabby tom. He eyed her wearily as she approached him. "What?" he asked, bluntly.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. "I just… wanted to thank you for helping me yesterday," Cloudysky meowed heasiantly.

Rushtail snorted. "Don't. I already told you, I only helped you because you looked so pathetic. It doesn't make us friends." Before the new warrior could even think of a response Rushtail was already making his way towards Goldenlight.

It shouldn't have upset her. It really shouldn't have. Sandytail and Rushtail had always been cruel to her; ever since she was young, they bullied her because of her ugly, blind blue eye. It was his idea to start calling her 'Cloudyeye' when she was only a kit. Rushtail was the last cat she should have wanted to be friends with.

Then why did his words still hurt her?