Blazepaw's pov.
I didn't recognize the voice, but I knew I had to hide. I raced into the ferns to hide.
Big mistake. The movement caused so much noise, Blazepaw felt as though Wolfstar would hear it.
Blazepaw wouldn't be Blazekit again. He wouldn't control involuntarily. If this she-cat challenged that, then....
He fed the fire in him. If he had to fry the medicine cat, then so be it.
What are you doing?
Blazepaw spun around. Who had spoken?
Fawnflight is innocent. Hide, don't fight.
He turned around and started into the ferns. He looked back. If he lay here, he could torch the cat coming through, burnt beyond recognition...
And burn down the forest? Kill Crowpaw and Bluepaw in order to murder an innocent cat? the voice seemed angrier now.
He whispered, as lowly as he could." Who are you?"
Hide. Please.
He could see, for a moment, the yellow fur. The blue eyes that were so full of love.
He backed into the ferns. "Yes mother. I will."
***************
Fawnflight walked through the bush and spotted Bluepaw.
" What are you doing here?"
" Hunting. The noise you just heard was a rabbit disappearing into the brush." She may not have liked lying, but Blazepaw was at stake.
" You hate this ground."
" It's prey-rich."
" I hated coming here. Now Wolfstar has forced us to hunt here regularly." said the ginger she-cat with distaste.
" We need prey." said Bluepaw bluntly.
Fawnflight looked at her strangely.
" What?"
" I... barely know who you are anymore. You've changed. You're more grown up, and not at all kittish anymore. It's like you've aged 10 moons."
" We've all had to change. It was needed." she said, trying to sound like a warrior.
But inside she was afraid. What if the clan had noticed her rapid mental aging? One thing would lead to another, and they would wonder why she was sneaking out each night, then...
" I've got to talk to Shim...Wolfstar about you and your sisters' warrior ceremony."
" You know her. She'll want the minimum amount of warriors. "
" All the same, I'll ask."
" She probably won't even consider it."
**********
It turned out Wolfstar had considered it. She had decided that since they were old, she might as well.
" Ugh, I'd rather go to StarClan as a apprentice than to WolfClan as a warrior." said Mistypaw spitefully.
" If she includes loyal, I'm going to say, I do not, but keep the not low so I don't have to be loyal!" said Wetpaw.
" That isn't half the concern. What about our powers?"
They all fell silent at this, then realized that there was no way out. I was just part of Clan ceremony was starting, at the base of the leader's Hill.
" Bluepaw, Mistypaw, and Wetpaw. Do you promise to be loyal to WolfClan, and to keep your claws sharp in the fighting of our enemies?"
" I do. " They answered simultaneously. Then, quietly. " to RebelClan."
" Then I name you Mistyfur, Wetfoot, and Bluepelt."
The clan cheered, then fell silent. Bluepelt knew that they had to reveal their powers.
" Thank you Wolfstar." she said, then walked back down to the dens.
Wolfstar wasn't happy, for three warriors with unknown powers were three threats. But even she couldn't deny that it was Clan tradition, not Clan law, that required a warrior to announce their power at their ceremony.
The sisters walked back home, found three nests in the caves, and fell asleep.
***********
Blazepaw had never felt so alone. Even when he was a hostage, he still had Darktail, Sunkit, Grasskit, and Tigerkit for company. He now had nothing.
He caught a mouse, and drank from the stream that flowed through RebelClan territory.
He looked up at the night sky. He wasn't alone, he realized. There lay thousands upon thousands of cats, some from the recent creation of WolfClan, some who were killed by BloodClan before the cats had come to their new territories and gained powers.
No WolfClan warriors, he was certain. Not a cat had died since WolfClan had begun.
He sat down, and got ready to sleep.
Then he realized that he wasn't alone.
Across the clearing was Strongheart.
" Mom!" he yelled, and leaped across the clearing in big bounds. He buried his nose in her fur.
" Thank StarClan you're alive and free." she sighed.
Blazepaw paused. That seemed odd for a StarClan cat to say. Her eyes were their typical blue, not like StarClan moons, too.
" Mom, are you a StarClan cat?" he asked. She sighed.
" No. I'm a wandering spirit. When I left my dreams, I became an empty body. Without me dreaming, I couldn't get back in. I stay in StarClan mostly, but I could go to the Place of No Stars as well, or just stay down here."
" Is there a way to get you alive again?"
She seemed to consider this. "No." she said definitely, but Blazepaw could tell she was lying.
" Really? Couldn't you just enter somecat's dreams and stay there until dawn, then share the space?"
" Yes, but I refuse to."
" What if they were willing to do it? I could do without..." but then Strongheart glared at him.
" I became what I am to give you your power. I will not force you into giving up your body so that I might be alive again."
Blazepaw could tell, by the tone in her voice, that she was not going to be dissauded.
" But you'll visit me, won't you? In the night? I'm scared to sleep alone." he confessed.
She smiled. " Of course, Blazepaw, Of Course."
And that night he slept with a wandering sprit.
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