Thank you so much for reading the fanfiction that I've so lovingly written. The characters, ideas, and plot have been simmering in the back of my mind for literal years.
There will be sequels (scattered applause)
My goal when writing this was to create a story that could fit in to the universe of the original books. If I'm being honest, though, I stopped paying attention to the recently canon stuff after Dawn of the Clans, hence why there's no SkyClan. Also, I don't like SkyClan (lol)
Here are some fun facts about the original plot of the story:
-There was originally going to be a shared POV with both Badgerpaw and Thistlepaw, and when I first planned on removing one, it was going to be Badgerpaw.
-Raventail was originally going to be Badgerpaw's mentor, and they weren't going to get along. Featherleg wasn't going to be Thistlepaw's mentor, though. Blossomwhisker was my original pick, but I was having a hard time writing for her.
-Most things about the sisters, except for Badgerpaw being close to Birdpaw and their fundamental personalities, were switched.
-Cloudflower and Smokepad were going to be a lot closer to their kits, but I ended up not having enough time to include stuff like "family bonding".
-Smokepad's name was Gorsefeather, and then I changed it. Not sure why, but I'm glad I did. Smokepad is a lot better of a name, if you ask me.
-Berryspots and Hareclaw were going to get their warrior names before Quickstorm and Mottleheart. The two switched roles 1) because I love Berryspots and Hareclaw (they're a bit inspired by my friends in real life if I'm honest) and 2) because Featherleg needed to be free to mentor Badgerpaw (Thistlepaw at the time)
-There were going to be a lot more Breezekit dream sequences, but the story felt overly crowded with them and it got repetitive. Just assume that with the time skips, Badgerpaw has dreams with Breezekit's warnings.
Here are some fun facts about the none-POV characters:
-Willownose was going to be the kind, stereotypical female medicine cat (excluding Yellowfang) when I realized she would likely distrust Badgerpaw and Thistlepaw because of warnings from StarClan.
-Palepaw is jealous that Badgerpaw and Thistlepaw get to train together. She's proud of her sister, but wishes Birdpaw could be with her more.
-Thistlepaw had a few dreams from Breezekit, but dismissed them all as nonsense dreams.
-Ashstar's insecurities as an apprentice led to her training Flyfang that he had nothing to be insecure about. He grew overconfident and she did nothing to stop it, as it seemed to make him much stronger.
-Flyfang doesn't thank Ashstar for these lessons. It lead to many of his Clanmates being irritated by him.
-Despite his promise to Redstar, Muddyfoot was unable to convince Ashstar to punish her former apprentice for killing Featherleg because of her past rivalry with the Featherleg and Raventail as apprentices. She felt like this was a final victory over them.
-While dying, Featherleg was trying to say, "He told me about the sign, but I don't think you could do something like that." While he knew Badgerpaw was unaware of the sign at the time, he also knew that Redstar was having his growing suspicions about Thistlepaw and suspected the leader would, at some point, speak to Badgerpaw. He wanted her to know that he never doubted her loyalty to the Clans.
So yeah :)
Thanks so much if you got this far. The next book will be coming soon. Don't know when for sure, but soon.
