One moon later – in the forest
Leafstar dropped into an uneasy sleep in the Sunningrocks. They were relatively out of the way, but they appeared to be the safest place from the monsters. She pressed Firekit and Stormkit closer to her, trying to shield them from the winds with the patchy fur of her tail.
She woke in StarClan, in a clearing with Crookedstar, Blackstar and Tallstar. She tried to speak – perhaps to convince the nostalgic Crookedstar or proud Blackstar that they needed to leave – but her jaws appeared to have frozen shut. With no other place to look, she craned her gaze to the sky above. It was unusually starless – although what stars were in StarClan she had yet to know – apart from four brightly glowing stars. Although they cast light onto the clearing, Leafstar still needed to squint to make out the shapes of her fellow leaders, only time and practice having enabled her to distinguish each easily.
Then, the fifth star arrived. Although it was late, its brightness was no less potent than the others, and finally the clearing was illuminated as it usually was on a full moon.
She felt her jaw slacken and turned towards the other leaders, meeting their gazes.
"A fifth star. StarClan has something to say about waiting for a fifth star." She gasped.
"I was about to say the same." Crookedstar rasped.
For the brief moment of silence she was allowed, she scanned the clearing for any sign of Cloudkit or Frostpatch, but there was none. In the stillness before she landed back in her Sunningrocks nest, she met Crookedstar's eyes, and knew that he had been searching for Silverstream.
Leafstar almost clawed her own ear off when she realised when she had chosen to mull over the dream. Despite Brambleclaw's assertions that there was a fifth Clan with their missing cats from seasons ago, she couldn't believe it. She trusted him, she did, but the word of one and no proof gave her much to doubt.
She worked her paws furiously as she sprinted toward the ShadowClan nursery, popping her head in to see if any queens were inside. Finding a tortoiseshell, she helped her to her feet, taking a kit in her jaws.
"Come on!" She yowled, nudging her away. The queen staggered to her feet, thoroughly dazed by the acrid monster-smoke before she raced into the camp entrance. She realised that she did not take a kit in the fray, rushing back for them, but a monster inched closer and Leafstar knew that the queen was only going to be able to save one kit before the monster toppled the den – and she needed to watch the kit she had in camp, who was trying to stagger blindly about as it was dazed by monster-smoke, almost coming too close to the monsters' jaws.
Just as she braced herself, getting ready to act on the queen's cry, a dark ginger shape raced into the nursery, scooping up a kit. The queen blinked gratefully, taking the final remaining kit and allowing Leafstar to sprint out of camp with the kit she watched.
"Thanks." The queen panted, whipping around, but the ginger cat had gone back into the camp, followed swiftly by more cats, some of which looked eerily familiar. Nearby, an apprentice cowered under a tree which was being ripped to shreds before her eyes. Another, lighter ginger shape darted out, pushing the apprentice away from the tree-trunk heartbeats before it fell. The cat lay motionless, leaving the ShadowClan apprentice to gape in horror before fleeing.
Oh, StarClan, we can't lose more cats...
She paced up to him, the last cat in camp, before his fur twitched. His eyes snapped open and he shimmied out from under the branches before he yowled.
"Come on! We need to go!" Blindly, she obeyed. Only leaders got nine lives, yet this cat was not a leader she'd seen at Gatherings. Could Brambleclaw have been right?
They emerged near the silent Thunderpath, where cats of all Clans huddled. The queen from before furiously licked her kits, being watched nervously by Blackstar.
Quickly, the ginger cat who'd mysteriously come back to life was tackled by a lighter ginger cat, confirming all her suspicions.
They must have gone off. But why?
"Fireheart - although I presume you're Firestar now – is that you?"
"It is." Firestar turned to face her, meeting her eyes. He was lean and muscular, yet his pelt spoke of travel just as theirs spoke of starvation.
"And I am to guess that the others are here as well?"
"Yes. I am sorry that I had to leave you, but Yellowfang called me."
"That explains why she hasn't really been seen by Echofur." Firestar nodded, before whipping his head around to where Crookedstar had collapsed onto the ground. Beside him, Mothwing was quietly ministrating to him. Silverstream's eyes focused on him before she dashed toward him, beckoning Feathertail and Stormfur to her side.
"It's you." Crookedstar whispered, seeing her.
"It's me." She confirmed, eyes welling with tears. "Meet your grandkits, Feathertail and Stormfur."
"You're back!" With the energy of one much younger, Crookedstar sprung to his feet and started to cover her ears with licks. Feathertail and Stormfur cautiously approached, before getting caught up in their grandfather's embrace.
Brambleclaw hesitantly padded towards the cat that had rescued the kit before dropping all pretenses and racing to her. They met in the hubbub, just as Crowpaw of WindClan tackled Feathertail as she managed to free herself from Crookedstar.
"We'll tell you the full story later." Firestar promised.
"I think everyone would like to hear that." She said weakly, claiming her kits from Sharpclaw, who had watched over them.
"Poor mites." A gray she-cat with three rambunctious kits wandered up to her.
"Yeah. I lost their brother a quarter-moon ago; there was too little milk."
"I have some to spare. Hollykit, Larchkit and Birchkit are being weaned."
"Would you feed them? Thank you!" The gray cat pulled Firekit and Stormkit closer, watching as they eagerly latched on.
"I'm Leafstar."
"Yes, Firestar and Dustpelt mentioned you. I'm Ferncloud."
"Why exactly did Dustpelt stay in ThunderClan? He wasn't called away, I'm sure of that."
Ferncloud flushed. "Me."
Leafstar chuckled, seeing Ferncloud's eyes widen in embarrassment. "Ah, yes. I understand that feeling very well."
Beside them, Tallstar was talking with Firestar and Ravenpaw, the apprentice who was presumed dead all those moons ago. Only Firestar's word had confirmed that he was alive to her.
"That sounds perfect." Tallstar said.
Tallstar came over to them, beckoning Blackstar, Crookedstar and herself over to where Firestar and Ravenpaw sat.
"I lived in a barn." Ravenpaw said. "It'll have some good prey, perhaps even more so now that I've not been there to keep mouse numbers down!"
"We do need a meal." Blackstar said. In response to the others looking quizzically at him, he shrugged. "You just saw our camp destroyed. As much as I hate to admit it, now is not the time for pride."
"Agreed." Crookedstar pitched in. "I am not sure how long I'll be able to lead for." The implication was clear; Firestar winced.
"We should go to this barn." She said. She stood up. "SkyClan, to me!" The other four leaders echoed this call, and soon were padding to the barn on Ravenpaw's direction.
Leafstar: Case closed! I am the … average... detective.
Dustpelt: *Gets embarrassed along with Ferncloud when asked why he left*
Leafstar: Another case closed.