Exams…. Why?

Long ago, many seasons before the Blood War, a litter of kittens was born. The mother was Violetstar, named for her purple eye colour, and she was the first female leader to have kits in the history of the clans. Many judged her, not because she had kits, but because of whom she had them with.

Violetstar was known for her intellect and understanding, and she was considered one of the wisest and deepest cats in the clans. And she had taken a mate with a tom called Tunnelclaw. He was loud and funny, he never thought before he acted. This would lead to problems later in the lives of his kits. There were two of them, a tom and a she-kit. The tom was called Soulkit, named by his mother as she wanted to name him for something with meaning. Tunnelclaw then named the she-kit. He called her Ravenkit, after the first thing he saw when he stepped outside the cave.

There are a couple things you should know about MountainClan back then, first of all, it was called StoneClan, but I will call it MountainClan, as the story was always told to me that way. Second of all, there used to be a series of tunnels that MountanClan used to travel in. Some parts of our territory are too risky to get to without them. But we don't use them anymore, as they collapsed many, many seasons ago. And lastly, kits were traditionally raised by their parents. In our terms, kits were apprenticed to their parents. Obviously, you could train more than one apprentice at a time back then.

Violetstar knew that she and her mate would train them differently, so she spent many nights deciding which of her kits she wanted to grow up deep, and which she wanted to grow up physically strong. In the end, she chose Soulkit as her own, and gave Ravenkit to her mate. The values Soulpaw held dear to him, were his loyalty, his mercy, and most of all, his family. By family, I mean Violetstar and Ravenpaw. He hated his father, for the way he treated his sister.

Ravenpaw did not take naturally to being a MountainClan apprentice, proof that being born somewhere does not always mean you are suited to life there. For one thing, she hated the tunnels. She hated being in an enclosed space and not being able to see anything. For another, she loved birds. Not to eat, but to watch. She envied how free they were, and how they could just fly through empty sky for hours. She was a very distracted cat, and she often stepped over the StreamClan border by accident because she strayed too far while chasing the birds she loved so much. As punishment, her father forced her to go into the tunnels for nearly a full day.

Soulpaw confided in his mother, who realised her mistake and told Tunnelclaw that she would be taking over Ravenpaw's training. All was well for a while, until the day Tunnelclaw killed Ravenpaw, Ravenfeather, then. He died shortly after from his wounds. Soulpaw, we do not know his warrior name, realized that Tunnelclaw might try to kill his sister permanently. So he went to StarClan and told his sister to run away from StarClan and become a spirit. When the other cats asked where she was, he told them she had wandered away from StarClan by accident. Soulpaw had another value, not taught to him by his mother, but it naturally flowed through his blood: justice.

We do not know how the story ends, but legend says that Soulpaw became a spirit in the living world, searching for all of his father's descendants. Yes, Tunnelclaw was not a loyal mate, he had kits with many she-cats, from many different clans. When he finds them, he does not kill them, but he follows them throughout their lives, haunting them until the day that they die, so they know the fear that Tunnelclaw brought upon his daughter. Most cats say that this story is ludicrous, told first by a grieving mother. But some say that if you are lucky, you will see a black cat with purple eyes wandering the MountainClan territory, chasing the birds and guiding the lost.

"Stope filling their heads with nonsense!" A queen hissed. "Honestly, Bloodrose here probably thinks we're mad!"

But Bloodpaw did not think he was mad. Quite the opposite actually. The black cat she had seen today… could that have been Ravenfeather? And Soulpaw, she was pretty sure he had changed his name now. To Lost Soul. She shivered. How could a cat go from having such high values, to possessing innocent creatures and terrorizing innocent cats? Mad by grief… could grief really do that to a cat? She wanted to tell someone. No, she wanted to tell Burnheart of her discovery. But there was no way she could.

She stood at the entrance of the cave, staring out and wondering if he was thinking of her.

"You miss someone, don't you?" Amberdrop said gently.

"Yeah. My friend, Burnheart. Well, we're more than just friends. See, I'm too young to take a mate so… you know what I mean."

She purred. "That's adorable."

"Thanks. I just hope we actually get to be mates. If Greystar gives me over… I'll probably never see him again."

Amberdrop put a comforting tail over her shoulder. "Don't worry. Greystar is a very fair leader. I'm sure she'll return you to NightClan soon."

"I hope you're right."

"I'm sure this will make the bond between you and Burnheart stronger. If you're gone, he'll realize how much you mean to him."

"That's really comforting. Thank you."

"Don't mention it. I know from experience that if a tom loves you, he'll wait for you forever." Bloodrose was about to ask her who waited for her, but she had gone, replaced by Lighteningtail shortly after.

"Greystar told me that I can take you hunting in a patrol tomorrow. She wants you to do something useful while she decides."

"That sounds great."

"Do you believe that story with Ravenfeather and Soulpaw?"

Bloddrose smiled to herself. "Yeah. I think I do."

Sorry for the long wait. Been so busy with everything lately that I don't get to write stories much these days. I also discovered that I have a talent for writing depressing poetry. I think I'm going to publish them on here sometime! Have a good day, everyone!