Epilogue
A trickling sound reached Branchstar's ears and he lifted his head and glanced briefly at Tangleburr, who was sleeping beside him as she had since Hawkkit died. As Branchstar thought of his son, he felt the familiar pain that had plagued him for two and a half moons, for that was how long it had been since he had died.
Curiosity got the better of Branchstar. Being careful not to wake his mate, he padded to the entrance of the den where he was assaulted by sunshine. Squinting, he stepped out into the sunlight.
Looking around the clearing. He saw that the dripping sounding was snow melting from the pine trees. The leaf-bare was coming to an end. From the joyous faces of his emerging clanmates, Branchstar tell that they had come to the same conclusion.
Relishing the feeling of warmth from the sun on his pelt, he reminisced all that had happened in the past two and a half moons.
Featherpaw and Thornpaw were made apprentices together because of how close in age they were. Soon after, Branchstar's own kits were made apprentices, taking the names of Falconpaw, Blazepaw, Emberpaw, and Willowpaw. Branchstar was proud of all the progress the young cats had made and knew that they would be fine warriors. He couldn't help be a little sad, whoever. Hawkkit should have been with them.
Stormstripe was due any day now with Whitethroat's kits. The day she had announced to her parents she was expecting, she declared that the first kit she had, whether it be a tom or a she-kit, would be named Hawkkit. Tangleburr nearly sobbed at this.
Tallstar kept his word, and not a single Windclan cat crossed the boarder. Branchstar also kept his own cats on their side of the border and the two clans had been in peace.
But there had been tragedies also. Snowleap and Newtspeck had joined Starclan only a few days apart succumbing to their shared illness. Thankfully, no other cats had gotten sick.
There was a rustle behind him. Branchstar glanced back to see Tangleburr emerging from his den, her eyes lit up with delight. She purred upon seeing him that Branchstar reciprocated.
Branchstar looked back towards the center of the clearing. In the distance a bird sang. Tangleburr stood beside him and Branchstar gazed upon her lovingly. He had led his clan through the first challenge of his reign, and he knew that he would have the strength to endure whatever came at him next.
(Thank you to everyone who stuck with me and this story til the very end. Keep a lookout for my next story, which will be coming soon!)
