A few days after Fireheart and Sandstorm's kits had been apprenticed, Bluestar was leading the dawn patrol towards Sunningrocks. Fireheart walked beside her, lifting his head occasionally to sniff the air. Brightheart and Squirrelpaw followed a few tail-lengths back along with Snowpaw and Ravenflight, who had taken on training duties for the deaf apprentice today. Every so often, Brightheart would stop and quiz Squirrelpaw on a landmark or give her a brief lesson on how to scent for enemy warriors. The dark ginger molly was a fast learner, although Bluestar noticed that she seemed more interested in talking with Snowpaw.

As they approached Sunningrocks, the silhouettes of several cats appeared at the top of the rock formation. Bluestar narrowed her eyes; she recognized the cat at the head, Leopardstar. Fireheart came to a halt as well, his fur bristling at the sight of the RiverClan patrol.

"What's going on?" Squirrelpaw asked, looking around in excitement. "Who are those cats up there? They smell like fish!"

"Squirrelpaw, hush!" Brightheart chided her apprentice. More softly, she added, "Those are RiverClan warriors, and that's RiverClan scent you're smelling. Be careful; there's always bound to be trouble when you see them at Sunningrocks."

Bluestar led her patrol to the top of Sunningrocks, standing across from Leopardstar. She knew why they were here, and while she was grateful for their aid during the fire, she wasn't about to give up ThunderClan's territory. Her heart twisted, however, when she saw Mistyfoot and Stonefur standing behind their leader. If it came down to a battle–which she could almost guarantee it would–how could she possibly fight her kits?

"Greetings, Bluestar," Leopardstar meowed, dipping her head to the ThunderClan leader. There was a strange glint in her eyes. "I have been waiting since moonset to see ThunderClan warriors."

"What are you doing here?" Bluestar demanded. "Sunningrocks belongs to ThunderClan."

Behind her, she heard Brightheart whisper to Squirrelpaw, "Go back and fetch reinforcements."

Squirrelpaw stared at her mentor. "But I want to see what happens! I want to fight!"

"Go, Squirrelpaw!" Brightheart hissed. "There will be other battles. But not today. Go, now!"

The ginger molly hesitated for a moment, then turned around and raced back in the direction of the camp. Leopardstar stared after her with narrowed eyes, clearly already having guessed as to why she had left. Whatever hope there had been of a peaceful resolution was gone now, not that there had been much, to begin with.

"I know what you want, Leopardstar," Bluestar told the spotted molly quietly. "And the answer is no. If you want to try to take Sunningrocks, then you're going to have to fight us for it. But rest assured that my warriors will take whatever means necessary to defend our territory."

The RiverClan leader glared at her. "So be it," she hissed, her claws sliding out. "RiverClan, attack!"

With an unholy screech, Leopardstar hurled herself down the rockface at Bluestar, who slipped to the side and slashed the RiverClan molly with her claws. She turned around sharply, but Bluestar was ready. Before Leopardstar could steady herself enough to attack, she leaped, pinning the RiverClan leader down and slashing her claws across her face. Spitting in fury, the spotted warrior struggled free and raced over to help Shadepelt, who had already been beaten by Brightheart.

Bluestar glanced around at the surrounding warriors, checking to see where each of her Clanmates were. Several tail-lengths away, Ravenflight and Snowpaw were battling side by side against Loudbelly and a RiverClan apprentice whose name Bluestar couldn't remember. The white-furred apprentice was holding his own despite his disadvantage and was able to deliver a vicious bite to the RiverClan cat's ear that sent her fleeing back across the river. Loudbelly let out a yowl of fury and launched himself at Snowpaw, but Ravenflight intercepted his attack and sent him crashing onto his side. As he struggled back to his paws, Ravenflight slashed him across the muzzle, and he took off after his Clanmate.

That's a few of them down, Bluestar noted. But there are still so many of them. Great StarClan, did Leopardstar bring her entire Clan?

Now, there was only one warrior left to account for. Scanning the battlefield, Bluestar spotted Fireheart locked in a fierce tussle with Stonefur a few fox-lengths away. Her heart twisted with pain. Of course, she knew it was inevitable that one of her warriors would have to fight her older children, but why did it have to be Fireheart?

But Fireheart showed no regret as he clawed repeatedly at Stonefur's ears, dodging blows from his older half-brother as he did so. His green eyes burned with battle rage and he fought with an aggression that would have made Tigerstar proud. Soon, Stonefur was overwhelmed and fled the battle. Although she was worried about him, Bluestar couldn't suppress a surge of pride for Fireheart. Her youngest son had turned into one of the best warriors she could have asked for.

A yowl sounded from behind Bluestar, and the blue-gray molly whirled around, instinctively sliding out her claws. When she saw who it was, however, she relaxed. Thornclaw, Brindleface, Ashpaw, Fernpaw, Mousefur, and Dustpelt were descending into the thick of the battle. Squirrelpaw's reinforcements had finally come.

Dustpelt hurled himself at Graystripe, biting down hard on the gray tabby's shoulder. Bluestar felt a twinge of surprise; she hadn't even noticed her son's former friend. Graystripe struggled against Dustpelt but was unable to form a proper counterattack, and he was soon sent fleeing back to his own territory.

With the tide of battle turning, Bluestar scanned the battlefield for Leopardstar. No matter what happened, the battle would not cease until the RiverClan leader had been beaten for good. There she was, locked in battle with Fireheart. As she watched, her youngest kit narrowly escaped a belly rake from Leopardstar, springing to his paws and delivering a blow to the side of her head. Leopardstar staggered but recovered almost immediately, striking Fireheart with a fierce blow to his ears. The ThunderClan deputy faltered momentarily, and that was all it took for her to pin him down and sink her teeth into his throat.

Fury welled up inside of Bluestar. StarClan would freeze over before she let Leopardstar hurt her son. Letting out a screech of rage, she launched herself at her fellow leader, knocking her away from Fireheart. She could faintly sense Fireheart beside her, having recovered his senses, but most of her vision was a red haze. Her only concern now was protecting her kit. As Bluestar bit down hard on Leopardstar's shoulder, Fireheart delivered a belly rake, splattering all three of them with blood.

Leopardstar staggered back, glaring at both of them. But even she knew when she was beaten. Turning around, she raced back towards her own territory, yowling for her Clanmates to retreat. Bluestar and Fireheart watched as the remaining RiverClan warriors took off after their leader, diving into the river and swimming across to the other side.

"Thank StarClan we managed to fight off RiverClan," Dustpelt meowed, licking a wound on his chest.

Bluestar nodded, then stiffened when she saw the blood soaking Fireheart's fur. "Are you alright?" she asked anxiously.

Fireheart glanced down at his pelt. "It's not my blood." He paused for a moment, then added, "Most of it isn't my blood."

Bluestar let out a sigh of relief and gently licked her kit between his ears. Fireheart touched his nose to hers in response before going over to speak to Dustpelt.

"Thanks for coming so quickly," he meowed gratefully.

"Lucky Squirrelpaw's fast," the brown tabby meowed. "Otherwise, we might not have made it in time."

"Where is Squirrelpaw?" Fireheart asked, looking worried. "Is she back at the camp?"

Dustpelt nodded. "She wanted to come with us, but Brindleface told her to stay back. Sandstorm said she would take her out hunting instead."

Fireheart relaxed visibly. "Thank you," he meowed, dipping his head to his friend.

Bluestar led her exhausted but triumphant warriors back in the direction of the ThunderClan camp. When they entered the gorse tunnel, they were greeted by Squirrelpaw, Rainpaw, Spotpaw, and Redpaw, who bounded up to their father. She purred quietly as she watched Fireheart struggling to free himself from his kits' grasp.

"Are you okay? Did you win?" Squirrelpaw asked eagerly.

"Yes, we won," Fireheart meowed, gently licking his daughter's ears. Then he frowned. "I thought Sandstorm was going to take you hunting."

"She did. We just got back," the fluffy ginger apprentice explained. "Willowpelt asked her to help watch the kits. I think she's still in the nursery."

Fireheart nodded and started to head off to the nursery, but Bluestar stopped him. "Oh, no you don't," she meowed, looking at her son sternly. "You're going straight to the medicine den."

"Mother," Fireheart groaned. "I told you before, I'm fine. There are other cats who are hurt worse than I am; let them see Yellowfang first."

"And what do you think Sandstorm will do if she sees you covered in blood?" she asked. "If you won't listen to me, I can guarantee that she'll make you listen to her."

Fireheart's eyes widened something that did not go unnoticed by any of his kits. They exchanged a glance, smirking.

"Right, then," he meowed, backing towards the medicine den. "I'm just going to go see Yellowfang, then. I'll see Sandstorm later."

"Yeah, Dad, don't make Mom angry," Redpaw meowed jokingly. Fireheart rolled his eyes and gently cuffed his son over his ears playfully before turning and walking off towards the medicine den.

Bluestar followed him, hurrying up to walk alongside her kit. Aside from a bite on her shoulder–she assumed that came from Leopardstar, although she hadn't noticed anything at the time–she was mostly fine, but she wanted to make sure Fireheart really was alright. Fireheart purred softly as she drew up next to him, and she touched her nose to his ear.

When they reached the medicine den, Yellowfang was already tending to Snowpaw's injuries. His pelt was marred with fresh wounds and blood dripped from a tear in his ear. Despite the pain, however, his eyes were shining. Bluestar couldn't blame him. Finally, after moons of training, he had fought in his first battle and won.

Taking a seat just inside the medicine den, Bluestar began licking Fireheart's fur, washing the blood off of his pelt. The dried dark red liquid left a salty, almost bitter taste in her mouth, but she couldn't have cared less. She got to take care of her kit.

"I wish it wasn't Stonefur you fought," she found herself murmuring, keeping her voice low enough so that the others didn't overhear.

"I know," Fireheart replied quietly. "I didn't want to fight him either. But he's a RiverClan warrior, even if he is my brother. My loyalty will always be to my Clan first."

"As it should be," Bluestar meowed, giving his fur another lick.

As she continued washing her son's fur, Bluestar couldn't help wondering how Stonefur had felt battling Fireheart. In all likelihood, he had only seen it as another fight against an enemy warrior. Why should he think of it any differently? Neither he nor Mistyfoot knew the truth.

But what if he had known the truth? Would it have hurt him to battle against his little brother? Ever since she had given Mistyfoot and Stonefur over to RiverClan, she had longed to be able to tell them who she was. Even if they didn't want to come back to ThunderClan, at least they would know who their real mother was.

Now, however, Bluestar realized how impossible that would be. If she told them the truth, all it would accomplish was tearing her kits' loyalties between two Clans. And wasn't that the whole reason she'd been planning on lying and telling her Clanmates that Thrushpelt was their father before Thistleclaw ruined everything? Besides, Mistyfoot and Stonefur were warriors now. They didn't need her to be their mother; they had a mother in Graypool, and she had done a wonderful job of raising them.

Maybe it's for the best that they don't find out, Bluestar thought to herself. Or at least not until we've all joined StarClan.

If nothing else, at least she had the chance to have a bond with one of her kits. In the end, that was more than Bluestar could ask for.