"Rosepaw, from this moment on, you will be known as Rosetail. StarClan honors your bravery and your kindness and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan."

Pinestar padded forward and touched his muzzle to Rosetail's head. The gray tabby licked his shoulder respectfully and stepped back, her eyes shining with pride. A few tail-lengths behind her, Thistleclaw had his head raised proudly, his yellow eyes flashing with arrogance. Bluefur stifled a sigh as she caught the admiring look on Snowfur's face as she gazed at the spiky-furred warrior. The two had repaired their friendship that had been damaged after Lilypaw was injured, and now it looked as though they were going to become mates. Moonflower had encouraged her to be supportive of her sister, but as much as Bluefur wanted to be happy for Snowfur, it was impossible to be pleased about the fact that Thistleclaw was the cat she had chosen. She felt a little better, however, when she noticed that Lilypaw appeared to be trying not to gag. At least she had one cat on her side in all of this.

"Rosetail! Thistleclaw!" the Clan began yowling. Poppydawn's voice raised above the rest, filled with pride for her two surviving kits and raw grief for Sweetpaw, who would never experience her own warrior ceremony.

"Rosetail!" Bluefur called out. She didn't add Thistleclaw's name, however; she wasn't going to cheer for him of all cats.

As the chants began to die down, Bluefur was puzzled when Pinestar didn't dismiss the Clan to return to their normal duties. Instead, the ThunderClan leader remained where he was, surveying the Clan with a grim expression on his face. A strange chill ran down her spine; somehow, she could tell that Pinestar had some extremely serious news to share with his Clan.

"There is one more thing I wish to say," Pinestar announced. He paused for a brief moment, then continued, "After careful consideration, I have decided that I will leave ThunderClan to become a kittypet."

His words were met with utter silence. Bluefur could only stare at her Clan leader in disbelief. She had known for some time now that Pinestar had been sneaking into Twolegplace, but never in her life would she have imagined that he wanted to stay there.

Finally, Adderfang broke the silence. "You're leaving us to live in Twolegplace? As a kittypet?"

"Do you have no warrior pride at all?" Stormtail burst out, glaring up at Pinestar. "Kittypets are weak and puny. Do you really want to be known as one of them?"

"Imagine what the other Clans will say about us," Thistleclaw spat, lashing his tail. "Our Clan leader, going off and living a soft, overfed life with Twolegs! They'll think we're weak, mark my words. We'll be overrun by our neighbors by next moon."

"I understand your concerns, believe me," Pinestar meowed. "But I feel that this is what is best for ThunderClan. I have grown too old and weary to lead anymore. I have given eight lives to ThunderClan, but I want to spend my last one in peace without having to worry about when the next battle will take place or if we'll have enough food to eat."

"And you don't think the rest of us wish that too?" To Bluefur's surprise, it was Lilypaw who spoke this time. The white-furred apprentice was glaring at Pinestar, an indignant gleam in her eyes. "You don't think we'd all like to have peace? You don't think we want to go every day without worrying if we're going to go hungry? What kind of a leader are you? You're supposed to be considering the good of the Clan, but you're only thinking about yourself!"

Lionpaw stood up. "Do we really want a leader who no longer wishes to lead us?"

Bluefur considered the golden-furred tom's words for a few heartbeats. Perhaps he had a point. Now that she knew Pinestar was unhappy in his role as their leader if he were to stay, would she be as willing to follow him? She knew she would do so–the warrior code demanded it, after all–but somehow, she also knew that her heart wouldn't be in it. It was difficult to feel loyal to a cat who had no loyalty towards her–or, indeed, anyone except for themselves.

Lilypaw seemed to relent a little. "I guess not," she agreed. "But it's still selfish."

She's not wrong, Bluefur thought to herself. But then again, neither is Lionpaw. I don't want to serve a reluctant leader, but on the other hand, Pinestar shouldn't be so self-centered. It's his duty to stick it out when things get hard, isn't it? But now that I know the truth...

She shook her head. Everything was so confusing and she didn't know how she was supposed to feel anymore. All around her, the rest of the Clan was whispering amongst themselves and shooting rapid-fire glances at Pinestar, as though they no longer recognized him.

Pinestar bounded down from the Highrock and padded his way toward the gorse tunnel. As he passed by, several warriors drew back as though he were infected with greencough. Bluefur felt a pang of irritation. Did they think that wanting to be a kittypet was something contagious? To her credit, Lilypaw didn't flinch away, although she refused to meet the now-former ThunderClan leader's eyes as he walked past her.

"Lead the Clan well, Sunfall," Pinestar murmured as he walked up to Bluefur's father. To the rest of the Clan, he meowed, "I hope one day, you will all understand why I have done this and forgive me."

"We'll forgive you if you're lucky, Pinestar," Adderfang growled. "But we will never, don't, understand."

"If you leave, you can never return," Sunfall meowed warningly.

"I understand," Pinestar replied, dipping his head. "I assure you, I have thought long and hard about whether to leave. This was not a decision I made lightly."

He kept walking, pausing only momentarily to meow a brief farewell to Leopardfoot and his kits. Tigerkit looked up at him and growled, but Mistkit and Nightkit didn't even appear to notice that their father was there. Bluefur felt her heart twist with sorrow at the sight of the two pathetic scraps of fur. Ever since their traumatic birth, the two mollies had only grown weaker as time passed. At this point, it was only a matter of time until they joined StarClan. The unfairness of it all hit her like a claw raking her belly. Why would StarClan allow them to be born if they weren't even going to be given a chance to live?

Silently, she turned around and padded over to sit next to Lilypaw, who was still staring down at her paws. Turning her head briefly, Bluefur caught a glimpse of Pinestar's tail as he disappeared through the gorse tunnel, never to be seen again.

"It's alright," she murmured to her little sister. "The Clan will be safe under Sunfall. He'll make a good leader."

"I know, Bluefur," Lilypaw insisted. "But it still doesn't feel right. Pinestar can say that he's doing this for the good of the Clan all he wants, but right now, it just looks like he wants an excuse to run away."

"You're right, it does look that way," Bluefur agreed. "I think most of the Clan feels the same way. But even if Pinestar doesn't have any Clan loyalty left, we have to make sure that ours never wavers. No matter what, our duty is to serve ThunderClan."

Lilypaw nodded. "That's all I've ever done."

After a few moments of tense, worried muttering and a brief announcement from Sunfall that he would travel to receive his nine lives from StarClan that afternoon, the Clan finally broke apart as the meeting came to an end. Bluefur was about to ask Snowfur if she wanted to share a meal only to spot her sitting beside Thistleclaw near the clump of nettles. Letting out a sigh of disappointment, she turned back to Lilypaw, who was rolling her eyes.

"Can they be any more obvious?" the white apprentice asked scornfully. "Bluefur, if I ever behave like that over any cat, you have my full permission to claw my fur off."

"I'll hold you to it," Bluefur replied, suddenly feeling much more cheerful.

"Hey, Bluefur, Lilypaw, come share this thrush with me!" Rosetail called over to them from the other side of the camp. "It looks nice and juicy and I'd hate to have to eat it by myself."

"Coming, Rosetail!" Bluefur called back. To Lilypaw, she added, "Come on, let's go join Rosetail. At least she'll be good company."

"But of course," Lilypaw replied in an overly respectful voice. "Lead the way, my dear sister, and allow us to embark on a journey into the mysterious world of satiation."

Bluefur shook her head and chuckled. "You have such a way with words sometimes."

"I know, aren't I amazing?"

"And so modest as well!"

"HEY! Was that sarcasm?" Lilypaw pouted, but her eyes were gleaming playfully.

Bluefur purred. "I'll let you figure that one out yourself."

"Bluefur, how could you? Using sarcasm to make a mockery of me. I didn't know you were like that. Now you've taken away my dignity and I must crawl into a deep pit far beneath the ground, never to be seen again."

Laughing, Bluefur flicked Lilypaw affectionately between her ears as the two cats continued on their way to join Rosetail for a late morning meal. No matter what went wrong, it was always nice to know that she had her baby sister to cheer her up.

Thistleclaw and Rosetail are warriors now, which means that he and Snowfur will be having Whitekit soon...that's about the only good thing that came out of their relationship. I know some of you wanted me to make Lilypaw a warrior before Thistleclaw, but unfortunately, that wouldn't really work seeing as he started his training when she had just been born. If they were a bit closer in age, it might work, but he had already been an apprentice for six moons by the time she started. That's a bit too much ground to make up.

So that's good news for Thistleclaw...for now, anyway, at least he'll be safe from getting kicked and yelled at by Lilypaw. Actually, probably not. She'll find a way to torture him somehow.

Thanks for reading!

-TheShadowedWarrior