Yeah, last week's test was brutal. Ever hear of a test where you have to give an answer to go to the next question and you can't go back to change it if you feel like you got it wrong later?

Anyway, I'm back. And I read the excerpt of A Light in the Mist on the Warriors website. I hope Bramblestar and Squirrelflight punt Ashfur's furry little behind back into Starclan so that the Starclan cats can finish him off. The first three chapters(Spoilers I guess?) confirmed a bit of things for me- I had a couple of theories and one of them was that Starclan is based off remembrance. Thankfully, I was partly right on that one. The thing I was missing is that without a connection to the living clans, Starclan loses all their power. It's that connection that makes it so that cats don't fade faster. Also it confirmed that there's only one viewing pool in Starclan? Or something like that. Sounds kinda dumb though.

Still hoping that Bramblestar survives past this next book.

For those of you that read my AU Dump, and enjoyed The Fairy Prophecy, Londonvetgirl25 wrote a one-shot based off it called "Of Stars and Ferns" which expands the lore of the fairy-cats and explores if Starclan gave Firestar a little extra during his nine lives ceremony. Please go check it out! It deserves so much more love than its currently getting right now!

Reviews are appreciated!

Firestar wished that he could curl up into an even tighter ball of scales right now. To other cats, his body was a hot spot that was perfect for curling up against during the cold of leaf-bare. To him, his heat didn't matter because his scales couldn't feel it. Beneath his scales, his skin was warm, but the surface of his scales could only feel the bitingly bitter cold of leaf-bare winds.

It was an odd paradox that made him want to retain any body heat he had left, and slip back into sleep.

And ignore the annoyance currently prodding at his side. Couldn't a dragon get some decent sleep around here?

"Rise and shine sleepyhead! You can't waste the day away by sleeping all the time!" someone chirped next to him. Definitely not one of his treasures. Firestar fought open heavy eyelids, or rather just one eyelid, as light assaulted his vision and he hastily closed one eye and buried half his face into his forelegs. His other eye quickly got used to the brightness and lazily trailed down until he was looking down at a grinning gray tom.

"Graystripe?" he murmured tiredly. Why was-?

"Hey," Graystripe greeted him, suddenly more subdued than usual. Intrigued, Firestar opened up his other eye, ignoring his tiredness, raising his head from his forelegs in order to get a better look at the gray tom. "So... how's being a giant fire-breathing lizard treating you?"

Firestar snorted, some fire leaving his nostrils. "I'm stuck above camp, it's freezing out here, and I'm tired," he replied dryly.

"Yeah, you like to sleep as much as I like my prey," Graystripe tried joking.

He had been around Graystripe long enough to know when the tom was being genuine and when he was being forced. When he had been sneaking out to see Silverstream, Graystripe had given plenty of excuses that sounded, looked, and even felt cobweb-thin. The only reason he hadn't been caught early on was because Firestar had been covering for him.

He could tell a forced joke from a genuine joke. Graystripe was clearly nervous about something, but he was trying to be strong, but whether for Firestar's sake or for his own, he couldn't tell.

"Graystripe," he began, the tom perking up. "You didn't come up here just to joke around with me did you?" There it was, the twitching of Graystripe's whiskers, the way his ears slightly drooped when he had been caught.

"Ha... you know, you're way too perceptive for your own good sometimes Firestar," Graystripe sighed. He paused, lifting up a paw, and then steadily made his way to Firestar's head. Firestar lowered his head so he could be face-to-face with the gray tom. "No, I didn't come up here just to joke around. I guess... you know, we haven't really seen much of each other lately," he fumbled, paws scratching at the ground. "I mean, we've seen each other a lot obviously, you're kind of hard to miss-" Firestar held in a snort at that one, "-but when was the last time we just... got together and you know, talk about life or something?"

Too long. Deep down, he really missed being a normal cat, doing normal cat things; talking with Graystripe and Sandstorm about how hunting was going and whatnot.

"I just thought, with you being alone up here all the time, that you could use someone to talk to that wasn't Sandstorm, Squirrelflight, or Bramblestar," Graystripe meowed sadly. "I just wanted some time to talk with my best friend."

Firestar felt his throat restrict all of a sudden.

The stone pricked angrily at his chest. He ignored it, and for once he couldn't feel its sting over his current emotions. His claws dug angrily into the ground, and his head flopped onto the dirt he had dug up, his body shaking with repressed emotions.

"Firestar..."

"I miss being normal Graystripe. I miss us hunting and talking every once in a while, I miss being busy with leadership duties, I miss being around my clanmates, I miss-" He missed having faith in Starclan, back when he believed they could do no wrong, back when it seemed like they actually helped the clans, back when he needed something to rant to- because the stars always listened.

He missed Leafpool. Why hadn't she come to visit him in his dreams yet?

"Firestar," he looked back down at Graystripe, a sympathetic look gracing his face. Firestar felt agitation well up; he didn't want to be pitied.

But Graystripe only placed a paw onto his claws. "You're a cat who had his life suddenly turned upside down. You've had to go through so much these past few moons, including having your body change drastically. But even though you're physically different, you're still that same curious kittypet I met back in the old forest. You're just bigger, more scaly, and more tired these days. But you're still you," Graystripe said softly.

"You don't need to put up this front you've always had as a leader. You don't need to keep weakness buried inside you. Because we're all just cats."

"It's okay to cry," Graystripe purred.

Feeling even more tired than before, Firestar's sides heaved as he silently sobbed, eyes closed tight as all his repressed emotions crashed down onto him all at once. He expected the stone to chase away his sorrows, like the other times when he had been sad and angry about his situation, or when he panicked about a new feature. There was the usual pulse of warmth that wrapped around him, like the stone was trying to comfort him, but he found that his emotions weren't melting away like they usually did whenever the stone acted up.

The last time he had cried... was when Leafpool had died; when he had fully transformed into a dragon. Ever since that night, he had kept all his emotions locked up, pretending that everything was okay, trying to focus on his treasure's lives than his own.

He was half aware that their clanmates were watching them, him in concern. Graystripe pressed against his scales in a show of comfort. "You should see Jayfeather for that exhaustion though. That can't be healthy," he joked.

Firestar let out something that sounded like a cross between a laugh and a sob. "What, so he can give me poppy seeds and make me even more tired than usual?"

Graystripe laughed at him, and for once, it almost felt like he was a cat again, sitting with his best friend and his clanmates, joking around and eating fresh-kill after a day of hunting.

.

.

.

.

"I feel like this is a bad idea."

"Will this even work?"

"I don't even know what I'm doing..."

"Yes, yes, no one here has any idea if this will work or if we're doing this right! Didn't I tell everyone that this would be a learning experience?" Thunderstar yowled over the noise. The gathered Starclan cats quieted themselves at his yowl. Finally, Yellowfang strode forward.

"You didn't tell anyone that this would be a "learning experience" as you call it. You just told us that this was the only way to open up the connection between Starclan and Firestar," she grumbled. "And are we seriously doing what the stone wants?"

"Look, I don't like doing what it wants either. But it's this or we face the possibility of it turning Firestar against us even further," Thunderstar argued. "Now get back in position." Yellowfang did so with a scowl on her face.

They were in small clearing, deep within Thunderclan territory. By the night's end, they all hoped that it would be a little bit more than just small.

Thunderstar stood at the edge of the clearing, and Riverstar, Windstar, and Shadowstar stood at three other points; Windstar was directly across from him at the other side of the clearing, and Riverstar and Shadowstar stood in between them, also across from each other. The stars that speckled their pelts were glowing more fiercely than usual, their faces scrunched up in concentration.

Leafpool couldn't believe that Thunderstar had gotten the other three leaders to agree so fast. Of course, it probably had something to do with the gray tom with amber eyes that was with them in the clearing that made the four look towards him in respect and reverence.

The rest of the gathered Starclan cats stood at the edges of the clearing, filling in the gaps between the four leaders.

"Have faith in them," Tallstar whispered to her, his pelt almost brushing with her own. "And if this doesn't work, we can always try again elsewhere." She wondered why he was so invested in helping Firestar, even before he had started turning into a dragon. When she had asked, he had only purred, a wistful look in his eyes.

"Alright!" Thunderstar exclaimed, and Leafpool straightened up, ears pricked at his command. "Start pushing your energies into the ground and push outwards!"

She turned around to face the trees, as did the rest of the cats, and she pooled her energy down into her paws. She pushed her claws into the ground, and they sunk in, ripples forming like she had dipped her paws into water instead of earth. Then she forced her body to move forwards.

On her other side, Cinderpelt panted heavily in exertion. Tallstar groaned, but was in otherwise in better shape than the medicine cats. Leafpool hadn't expected to be met with so much resistance.

"The earth doesn't like to moved by outward forces, so this is normal! Keep pressing onwards as much as you can!" the gray tom yowled.

The ground cracked and creaked as the trees were pushed out, and the only indication that it was working were the cracks that were forming in front of Leafpool's eyes. Otherwise, she was too focused on the current task at paw.

Cats started falling to the ground in exhaustion, their energy spent. Leafpool's limbs shook with exhaustion as she tried to force herself to keep going. But even she couldn't last, as the last of her energy ran out, and the rippling effect stopped as soon as it did. Her claws met dirt, and subsequently a tree as she ran headfirst into one. She groaned in pain. "Did we do it?" she mewed in pain, her head throbbing.

"See for yourself," Tallstar purred tiredly.

She turned, and let out a relieved sigh. The small clearing was no longer small. This could definitely fit Firestar and still allow him some room to stretch his wings.

"Congratulations," the gray tom remarked as the four leaders met at the center. "I'll make sure you all don't get into trouble with the founders," he said warmly.

Thunderstar pressed his head onto the gray tom's. "We couldn't have done it without you, Gray Wing," he purred lightly.

"We wouldn't have done it at all without his say," Shadowstar rolled her eyes, Windstar and Riverstar purring in amusement.

"We're not done yet!" Thunderstar suddenly yowled, catching a few cats getting ready to leave. They groaned in protest, although Leafpool couldn't blame them; she herself was the most tired she had ever felt in her life.

"We have to get this place ready for new-leaf, if you all forgot," Riverstar meowed airily. He turned to Thunderstar. "But we can't possibly achieve such a thing tonight. We need to rest and recover our energies, and then maybe we can continue at a later time. Tomorrow night at the earliest."

Thunderstar looked ready to argue, but then thought better of it. "Fine. Some of us will stay behind to cloak this place from any prying eyes. The rest of you can go back to Starclan," he declared.

"Cloak?" Leafpool asked herself.

"They're going to veil this place so that cats will unknowingly avoid it," Tallstar explained. "It's what Starclan did with the Moonpool, because it wasn't ready yet."

Leafpool and Cinderpelt whipped their heads to face him. "Is that why it took us so long to find the Moonpool? I thought it was because no one had checked that area yet!" Cinderpelt exclaimed.

As they spoke, a light, silvery mist spread across the clearing, wrapping around the trees. Then it faded like the mist had never been there, and the clearing looked and felt no different than before it had arrived.

'Almost done. Almost done,' Leafpool reasoned with herself. Her limbs heavy with exhaustion, the only thing Leafpool cared about at the moment was finding a nice moss bed to curl up in once she got back to Starclan.

Heeyy look it's Graystripe! Wonder where he's been off to for the majority of this fic?

Cats can feel heat from Firestar's body, but his only half his scales can feel it(the parts laying on his skin). He can feel his heat more during summer months, when he isn't bombarded with cold.

A Light in the Mist really screwed over my perception of what Starclan can really do. They're actually a lot more useless in canon than they are in Ignite.

I kind of want to write something for TBC in which our favorite dragon turns Ashfur into dragon food. And gets very protective of his only two living hatchlings. Or at the least, Firestar would impede Ashfur's plans a lot. He knows how his hatchling acts, Ashfur. You're fooling nobody.

Tell me how I did.