"What?" Fireheart breathed.
"She's cold. She's not moving." Bluestorm choked out.
"Was there anything that may have killed her?"
"No. She wasn't sick and there were no wounds." Bluestorm replied. "I think it was just old age."
Fireheart felt a pang of grief as he moved up the slope to the elders' den and lifted the old, gray she-cat onto his back. He carried her down to the riverside, setting her in a space shaded by a large rock. For a moment, he thought he could see a glimmer of starlight around Thunderflower's family, who had gathered beside her.
"Cats closest to her will sit vigil tonight. For now, we have borders to defend and training to conduct. Thornpaw, may I ask that you join Brackenpaw and Sandstorm today?"
"Alright, Fireheart."
"Barley, do you wish to hunt with a patrol?"
"It's been ages since I've hunted. Sure; it's the least I can do."
"Thank you. Graystripe, please send out the patrols." The unspoken don't put Thunderflower's family on heavy work lingered in the air as he sorted them out.
"Snowfur and Bluestorm, do you want to take your apprentices to hunt?"
"We'll do that."
"Can Brightpaw and I go hunting? We need to practice a new technique."
"Of course. Take Barley and Whitestorm. Sandstorm, Mousefur, you were on the borders. You can each lead a border patrol sometime today."
"I can take dawn. Mousefur looks asleep on her paws."
"Thanks, Sandstorm." Mousefur blinked gratefully at her before heading up to the warriors' cave.
"In that case, find some cats who want to go on border patrol."
She approached Lionheart and Frostfur, speaking to them for a moment before moving over to Lavenderfur and talking to her. The patrol left quickly.
"Alright then, the rest of you are free to rest, hunt if you're warriors, or train." Graystripe leapt off the rock and nodded to Fernpaw, who was going out with Dustpelt.
"It feels like ages since I've hunted." Silverstream remarked as Fireheart placed a plump thrush by the queens' side.
"Why not go on one?" Speckletail asked.
"Who'd watch over this lot?" Silverstream replied, pointing at the five kits in her care.
"I wouldn't mind."
"Would you do that? Oh, thank you!" She smiled at Speckletail before racing towards Graystripe. They soon were heading up towards the slope.
"At this rate, we'll have a fresh-kill pile the size of the gorge." Speckletail told him.
"Yeah. StarClan, we could have enough to make a forest path!"
"What if we did make a forest path of prey?"
"For what?"
"The dogs, of course." She flicked her ears towards the kits, where Stormkit pretended to be a ferocious dog while the other three kits ganged up on them. Beside her, Sorrelkit, Rainkit and Sootkit, eyes having opened, were playing their own game of trying to pounce on her tail.
"Speckletail, you're a genius!"
"I do try."
"We could actually take out two prey with one pounce here. Lead the dogs to the rats, then they're both weakened."
"We'll need fast runners, though."
"We certainly have those."
He left her to the kits, paws brimming with new hope.
Once the patrols had returned, Speckletail started to talk about the plan to the other cats. It spread rapidly around the camp and soon cats were talking excitedly amongst themselves.
"What'd I miss?" Ravenflight limped out of the cave, an exasperated Cinderpaw trailing behind.
Mousefur quickly filled him in; he nodded.
"Ravenflight, you'll still need rest!"
"My duty is as a warrior!"
"Your duty is to rest. You were hurt by the-"
"I know. I won't overstretch myself. Can I please just gather moss or something?"
Cinderpaw sighed. "Fine. You can do light duties such as moss-gathering or tick-cracking. But any hint of hunting or fighting and I'll confine you to the nest, okay?"
Ravenflight nodded.
"Hey, you." Sandstorm said.
"Hey yourself. What's up?"
"These rats will attack again." She unsheathed her claws, scraping them against the dry rocks. "I can't stand the thought of not helping, you know?"
"Sandstorm, you're already doing so much. You're training Brackenpaw, you're leading patrols."
"I know, but I just need to do something!"
"We can go hunting, if you'd like."
"Yes please." They bounded up the slope quietly, nodding to Branchpaw as she kept watch.
"Let's try by the Twolegplace." She mewed. "There's not been a hunting patrol there in a good couple of days."
There was good hunting there; two squirrels and a nest of mice were buried near a larch tree. But as Fireheart tried to sniff out more prey, he heard a small keening coming from a Twoleg nest.
"Do you hear that?"
"I do." Sandstorm leapt onto the fence, surprised to see a young calico cat on the doorstep, sniffling.
"What's wrong?" She asked, jumping down while Fireheart scaled the fence.
"Mom's gone!"
"Oh dear, shall we help you find her?" Fireheart asked.
"No. She didn't lose us, she dropped us off here."
"Why would a cat do that?"
"She said the Twolegs would protect us. But I don't want to be a housecat!"
"Surely there's a mistake." Sandstorm said.
"She dropped my siblings off first."
"Oh."
"What's your name?"
"Mom said the Twolegs would name me."
"Not even-" Sandstorm spat in disgust.
"Would you like to come with us?" Fireheart interjected.
"Where do you live?" The tom asked.
"We live in a big gorge with lots of other cats."
"Is there anyone like me?"
"Kits? Yes. We have a fair few of them running about." Fireheart replied, causing the kit's head to turn towards him.
"Do you know any good stories? Ma sometimes told us the story of the Thunder-Warriors if she wasn't in one of her moods."
"I'd say so, wouldn't you, Fireheart? After all, we are the Thunder-warriors, aren't we?"
Fireheart purred as the kitten's eyes grew round. "Wow! Can you really attack like thunder? Do you turn into lions when you get angry? Do you slip through the undergrowth like shadows?"
"Oh, we can attack, alright, but we're just well-trained cats. We certainly don't turn into lions when we're angry, although we are quite good at undergrowth-hunting."
"Yep! We certainly proved that." Sandstorm said. "We have some good prey today."
"Cool!"
"Now, a cat like you needs a name. What would you like to be called?"
"How about... Sun?"
"Sunkit it is. Clans have ending suffixes that change through a cat's life. Don't worry, it gets better with time."
"Brilliant! Can we go back now?"
"Certainly." They headed to camp, prey and kit in tow. Within minutes of their return, Sunkit, who had told them that he was just weaned, was snuggled next to Mistlekit and Snowkit.