"I never thought I'd see you again," is what she rasped when she saw her. Then a moment later, words failed her entirely as her aunt's scent washed over her, bringing with it memory upon memory of being allowed to help sort herbs, of being brought a little treat for 'all her hard work,' of her father's warm gaze as he regarded his littermate.
"I never really left you," Spottedleaf promised, and rested her muzzle on Sandstar's head. "Never really gone. I'm in StarClan now, but not gone."
Sandstar swallowed hard and nodded. She wished she had the unfaltering faith of a medicine cat.
"For this life," Spottedleaf began into Sandstar's fur, then pulled away and dipped her head to the new leader of ThunderClan. "For this life I give you the strength of kinship." She pressed her muzzle to Sandstar's, and Sandstar braced herself. "Remember that a Clan is a family, and that so long as you give everything to your Clan, they will give everything back. Find strength in them, in your family, and give your strength back to your family. Take care of every kit, of every elder, of every warrior that will look to you for guidance in hard times."
Spottedleaf's rage was something Sandstar had never beheld, not as a clumsy, herb-wrecking kit, nor a petulant apprentice, nor a warrior whose faith in their ancestors was rocked by Bluestar's own eroded beliefs. But now, as they stood in StarClan, Spottedleaf at peace and Sandstar's journey just beginning, Sandstar felt a kind of incandescence flood her. Sandpaw had been an abrasive cat, certainly, even rash or cross or at times, but never… This was a fury that Sandstar had never known, of a cat who had committed her life to saving those who the world was determined to drag into darkness, and of a cat who loved her family more than life.
She felt her body shake, forgot to breathe as the waves of the emotion crashed over her. The anger burned brighter, fuelled with love for her littermates, for her parents, for her kits, for her Clan, and for every cat that she had the chance to save, fuelled with grief for those she couldn't, and fuelled with the knowledge that when the world would try to tear them apart, she would have her kin and her Clan at her back. She finally took a gasping breath as it subsided, and stood, trembling, in front of this small unassuming she-cat.
Spottedleaf blinked at her, and dipped her head.
"Spottedleaf," Sandstar rasped.
She hushed her with a flick of her tail. "I know. And you know now. So, Sandstorm, your old life is no more. Now you have nine, and I hope you spend each in service to your Clan. Sandstar!"