Chapter 16
It was just past sunrise when Ravenpaw finally returned. He had with him one rabbit and two finches.
"Sorry I took so long," he meowed as he set his catches on the ground. "I wanted to find more than just mice this time."
"That's quite alright," Kite replied. "Barleykit's certainly glad to have you back." As she said this, Barleykit leapt off of the bale of hay, raced over to Ravenpaw, and nipped his tail with his tiny teeth.
Ravenpaw purred. "Are you hungry?"
"Yes," Kite replied, sliding off the haystack and biting into one of the finches. She spat out a mouthful of feathers to get to the meat, watching in amusement as Barleykit leapt at the stray feathers and ripped them to shreds. Ravenpaw nibbled lightly on the other finch in silence until it was gone. Then he sat back and groomed his fur.
After Kite finished her finch, she lay down on the ground and looked into Ravenpaw's eyes. "Ravenpaw," she meowed.
"Yes?" Ravenpaw replied.
"I've been thinking," Kite began. "Since you've been alone in this barn for a few moons, would you like it if, once he's been taught how to hunt and fight, if I left him here with you?"
"You mean you're just going to leave him behind?" Ravenpaw asked.
"I do need to go see my other kits," Kite replied.
"But you don't have to leave forever," Ravenpaw meowed, his tone edging on a desperate plead. "You could go get your kits and bring them here. I know a few cats who would gladly help you out."
"As do I," Kite replied. "I'm sure Odin would help me carry a few kits. And maybe Tabitha and Rain, if she hasn't gone to join a Clan yet…"
"So, it's set, then," Ravenpaw meowed. "We only need two more cats. I can bring one and you can bring one. We'll all meet outside of ThunderClan's territory at moonrise. Once the nursery is secured, we'll sneak in and take them."
"I've got a better idea," Kite meowed suddenly. "But you'll have to wait and find out what it is."
--X
It was sunset when Kite and Ravenpaw went their separate ways. Barleykit had been given a very large dose of poppy seeds to keep him from straying from the barn while they were gone. Kite darted along the Thunderpath, very eager to find Odin. She knew that he would help her do anything.
The Twolegplace wasn't far off at all. Once she reached Odin's fence, which was the first fence on the west side of the row of gardens, she leapt up and back down into his garden, which she had not visited for the longest time. She found Odin asleep under a new tree in the corner of the garden.
"Odin!" Kite hissed, prodding him with one paw. "Odin!"
Odin opened his eyes and gasped. "Kite!" he cried. "No, no, no, I must be dreaming still. You left us a long time ago. You died on the Thunderpath! You…"
"I'm very much alive," Kite replied. "I need you to help me. Recently, I had five kits with Glacier against my will, and they're in the ThunderClan camp. I need you to follow me so I can tell you exactly what my plan is."
It didn't take much persuasion to get Odin to agree to help, though he still seemed a bit undecided about the fact that Kite was not dead. The two of them plodded through ThunderClan's territory in silence until they came to the wall of ThunderClan's camp, where Ravenpaw and a strikingly beautiful she-cat stood in wait.
"Great!" Ravenpaw cried. "You're here! This is Mist. She's going to help you rescue your kits."
"Hello," Mist, a dainty gray tabby she-cat with dazzling icy blue eyes mewed. Odin purred, looking away shyly. "How many kits are in there?"
"Four," Kite replied. "My fifth kit is back at Ravenpaw's barn. Now, here's how the plan's going to work:
"First, I'm going to pad into the camp like everything's alright. Hopefully, someone will see me and shoo me into the nursery where my kits will be waiting. Now, you three are going to sneak around to the back wall of the nursery. I'm going to make a hole in the wall of gorse and pass the kits through to you. I'll exit through there, too, and then we'll leave as quickly as possible. Got it? Great. Now, let's go!"
Ravenpaw nodded and led the rest of the group to the other side of the camp wall. Kite sucked in a breath to calm her racing heart, and ducked through the entrance. She emerged into the clearing a moment later, and was immediately spotted by none other then Sootfur himself.
"Kite!" Sootfur cried, darting forward and licking Kite's ear, waves of relief washing off of him. "Oh, I'm so glad you're OK! Come on, your kits are worried about you!" The tom immediately led Kite into the nursery and put her back into her nest where her four once-abandoned kits snuggled up against her instantly.
"Go to sleep now, Sootfur," Kite whispered. "I'm sorry to have disturbed you."
"OK then," Sootfur replied. "I'll come in to check on you at dawn." After that, he was gone, leaving Kite all alone. She waited until it was completely silent. Then, she stuck her paw through the gorse wall, digging a small hole in it, and stuck her head out into a small, secluded area, where Odin, Mist, and Ravenpaw crouched in wait.
"Nightkit's coming through," she hissed, sliding back into the hole, grabbing Nightkit by the scruff, and depositing him on the other side of the barrier. Odin grabbed him, pulling the tiny black kit under his belly and wrapping his tail around him protectively.
"Now Gingerkit," Kite mewed. She picked up the she-kit and dropped her in front of Ravenpaw, who copied Odin's protective stance around the kit. "Snowkit." Snowkit was dropped in front of Mist, who licked the she-kit between the ears comfortingly. "I'll bring Talonkit through now." Kite picked up Talonkit gently, so that he wouldn't make a sound, then squeezed herself through the hole in the gorse. As soon as she was all the way through, Odin and Ravenpaw went to work patching up the hole the queen had left behind.
After they had finished, the four of them started off in a steady trot toward Ravenpaw's barn once more. Each of them carried a kit by its scruff, and each kit was mewling and squealing in protest. It was a constant struggle to keep the kits silent. Kite and Mist would try to entertain them by pointing out objects on the other side of the forest or pointing to silly-looking clouds in the night sky.
It worked, but only for a short while. Luckily, though, by the time the kits started up their chorusing wails, they were almost to the barn.
Kite tried hard not to snap at her kits as they mewled angrily. She was too tired to deal with them at the moment, though, so she took a deep breath through her nose and plodded on.
It seemed like an eternity had passed before Ravenpaw muttered the words, "We're back."
Kite was overjoyed. It took all her strength not to dart back into the barn and fall asleep next to Barleykit. Instead, she padded on alongside Mist, who looked exhausted. Kite was about to offer to take the kit off her paws, when she remembered she was carrying Talonkit already.
Before long, they were all safe inside the barn. Barleykit was still asleep on the haystack where they had left him before. The four older cats dropped the kits on the ground, and they all darted over to Barleykit's resting place.
"Barleykit!" Snowkit squealed.
"Come down!" Gingerkit called.
"Brother!" Talonkit cried, bouncing up and down excitedly.
"They certainly look happy," Mist sighed, licking a paw and drawing it over her ears. "Tell me, Kite, how do you keep it together with five kits to look after?"
Kite shrugged. She honestly had no idea what it was that held her together.
"Would you mind if I stayed the night, Ravenpaw?" Mist asked, turning to the loner.
"Me, too," Odin piped up. "I haven't the strength to return home tonight."
"There's plenty of room for all of you," Ravenpaw replied. "Come on, you two. I'll show you the loft."
Kite turned back to her kits as the three cats padded off toward the hay loft. Talonkit had managed to clamber up onto the top of the bale of hay, and was leaning down, the now awake Barleykit putting all his weight on his brother's hind paws, trying to help their siblings up. Kite purred in amusement as Talonkit grabbed Nightkit by the scruff and tried to pull him up. The two of them, followed by Barleykit, promptly fell back to the ground.
Kite padded over to her kits and placed them onto the bale of hay, one at a time.
"Play?" Barleykit begged as Kite set Snowkit on top of the bale of hay.
"Not right now," Kite replied. "It's late, and your siblings just got here. Why don't you let them rest? You can all explore the barn in the morning."
"Barn!" Talonkit squealed, his tail flicking back and forth in excitement.
"We wanna play now!" Nightkit, clearly the most articulate of his brothers and sisters, meowed.
"No," Kite repeated firmly. "It's time for you to sleep."
Nightkit groaned, but they all cooperated, piling on top of each other and quickly falling asleep in a multi-colored bundle of fur.
As soon as she was sure her kits were asleep, Kite made a small nest for herself out of the hay on the ground. The hay was a bit old and dirty, but it would have to do for the time being. Kite lay down on the small pile and closed her eyes. She slowed her breathing to a regular pace and focused on the beat of her heart, a tactic she often used when she was unable to sleep. She lay there for what seemed like an eternity, breathing in and out, listening to her heart beat, and she just couldn't seem to fall asleep. She tried thinking of things that made her happy; something Tabitha had told her to do after awakening from a nightmare. This didn't put her to sleep, either.
By the time Kite decided to take a walk, the stars were just beginning to disappear, and the moon was slowly setting. Kite wondered silently if ThunderClan had noticed her absence yet, or if they would discover the truth in the morning time. Either way, Kite knew that Glacierpelt would most definitely lead a search part after her and the kits. It was inevitable. Glacierpelt was relentless, refused to give up, a quirk he had demonstrated when they both still lived in the Twolegplace.
What was it that had made Firestar accept Glacierpelt so easily? He didn't look like the kind of cat who knew how to hunt or fight, but he must have been good at those things if he had been offered a permanent place in the extended family of ThunderClan. And what did Glacierpelt find so appealing about Clan life? Was it the fact that everyone hunted for the warriors? Or maybe he wanted to take more than one mate? What else could he possibly want?
Kite couldn't imagine herself as being a ThunderClan cat. Being trapped under the trees all day stalking stupid mice and the occasional less-than-intelligent bird. Kite didn't want to be confined to the oh-so-strict rules of the warrior code. She wanted to be free to do what she pleased, rather than serve one cat who was supposedly better and higher up then all the rest. Kite didn't believe that that was the way the world should be run.
A sudden rustle in the bushes caught Kite's attention. She sniffed the air, hoping it was mouse. The scent that registered in her brain, though, made her stiffen with fear. It was ThunderClan! And there were several cats, too. Sootfur, followed by Firestar, Sandstorm, Leafpaw, Squirreltail, and finally Glacierpelt, stepped out of the swath of bushes before her.
"Firestar?" Kite mewed. "Sandstorm? Squirreltail, Leafpaw, Glacierpelt…Sootfur." She ran through all of their names. Normally she would have been happy to see any of them, but tonight, she would rather jump in front of a monster than face her family.
"We've come to rescue you," Squirreltail meowed, a hint of pride in her voice. "The others thought you were killed by a bear or a rogue or something, but I knew that you had been taken by those rogues. I saw them! They were taking your kits, too!"
"Where are they keeping you?" Glacierpelt demanded angrily. "I swear, if any one of them so much as touches you, I will rip their pelts off! All of them!"
"I don't need you to defend me, Glacier," Kite spat, using the warrior's kittypet name as a taunt. Glacierpelt's eyes narrowed, and he snarled. Sootfur promptly stepped in between the two cats, trying to keep a fight from breaking out.
"Kite, dear," Sandstorm meowed. "Your Clan needs you. They need you to raise your kits to become strong warriors, since there are no queens left."
"I'm not going to become a kit machine," Kite growled, whipping around to face her mother.
"Do not speak to Sandstorm like that!" Firestar meowed. "Now, I am your father, and you leader. I could force you to come home, but, as a father, I'm begging you, Kite, please come back to us."
"Yeah!" Glacierpelt meowed. "Sootfur and I talked, and we both agreed that you could take him as a mate if you wanted to."
"I don't love either of you!" Kite cried. "I love…" Images danced in her mind's eye: The day she traded her own little world for reality, her first meeting with Barley and Ravenpaw, Barley's heroic fight against the pack of dogs, Ravenpaw's cold, bitter expression the day Barley died, the way Ravenpaw had so openly welcomed Kite after she had deserted him…
"I love Ravenpaw," she hissed. "And…and he loves me! We're happy together, and I don't want to be a part of ThunderClan, or any clan for that matter! Can't you just accept that?"
"Well, Kite," Firestar meowed, pain and crushed hopes undisguised in his expression. "If you're…happy…I suppose we'll just leave you…" The leader's voice broke, and he trailed off. He flicked his tail sullenly, and he and the rest of Kite's family turned their backs on her and padded away.
"Kite!" A sudden hiss from behind the she-cat made her turn. Leafpaw bounded up to her. "Just remember, Kite," Leafpaw whispered. "I understand what you're going through. If you ever decide you need to talk to someone, I'll be here waiting."
"Thank you, Leafpaw," Kite mewed, licking her sister's ear. "You should go now, before they miss you."
"I'll be ready for you if you ever decide to come back," Leafpaw mewed before turning and darting back into the bushes.
Kite sighed, watching the bushes quiver from the friction her sister had caused between the leaves. Could she really admit her love for Ravenpaw to the tom himself? And if she did, would he accept her? All those moons ago, Barley had told Kite of Ravenpaw's love for her, but did he still feel the way he had once, all those moons ago?
"Only one way to find out," Kite murmured to herself. She turned her back on the bushes once more and padded back to the barn. The she-cat was apprehensive as she poked her head through the entrance. Her five kits were still asleep, though Barleykit had rolled off the top of the pile and was now on the edge of the bale of hay, and Snowkit and Talonkit were on the ground just below the haystack. Kite padded along silently and hopped up into the hay loft, landing with a soft thud at the top. Ravenpaw's eyes shot open. When their eyes locked, Kite's gut wrenched painfully, making her wince. She had never felt this way before, but she could immediately place a name to the feeling: Love.
She had known what to expect, but she had never known that it would be so painful. "Ravenpaw?" she whispered. "Ummm…Can I talk to you? You know, alone?"
"Sure thing, Kite," Ravenpaw whispered back. He stood, shaking the hay off of his pelt, and leapt down from the hay loft. Kite promptly followed.
The two of them walked in silence for a while, just staring at their paws. Kite would occasionally shoot a glance at Ravenpaw, and she often found him staring back, then the both of them would look away tensely.
"Ravenpaw," Kite said finally, seating herself beside a swath of heater. "There's…something I need to tell you."
"What is it?" Ravenpaw asked, his eyes filled with concern at the tone of Kite's voice.
"When Barley died," Kite began. "He told me that you…that you loved me. And I've been thinking since then, but it hasn't really occurred to me until now. I love you, Ravenpaw, I really, really do! And I want us to be together forever. Please, Ravenpaw, please! I do love you."
Ravenpaw looked down at his paws. "Well, Kite," he meowed. "To tell you the truth, when you stayed in ThunderClan, I thought you didn't love me, and I was devoted to waiting for you, but…You see, while you were in ThunderClan, I met Mist, and she and I fell madly in love with each other. She…She's carrying my kits, Kite, and they're due any day now."
"Oh." Kite's gut wrenched again. She felt like she had been stabbed, hit in the face by a raging monster. How could this have happened to her? It was clear that any tom who laid eyes upon Mist would fall in love with her, which Kite knew. But she had fallen in love with Ravenpaw, too?
"Are you…OK?" Ravenpaw asked, resting his tail on the she-cat's shoulder.
"Don't touch me!" Kite snarled, flinching away from him. She rose to her paws angrily. "And all this time, I thought you were my friend! I thought you'd wait for me, Ravenpaw! I knew you loved me, and you knew you loved me! You can't deny that much! How could you do this to me? You broke my heart, Ravenpaw! I hope Mist leaves you for another tom, and you die from heartbreak, like me! I hate you!"
In her sudden burst of rage, Kite raced away from Ravenpaw, back to the barn. She wanted so desperately to leave the warm, sweet-smelling building forever, but she couldn't leave her kits behind. She would take them all with her. Yes, that's what she would do! She would convince her kits that she was playing a game with them, and she would lead them all back to ThunderClan! She would apologize to her family, plead for their forgiveness, and mate with Sootfur like the good daughter she was supposed to be.
When she reached the barn, Mist and Odin were standing by the bale of hay, blocking the way to Kite's kits. Ravenpaw stood in front of them. Kite's eyes widened. How had he gotten back so quickly?
"Kite," Ravenpaw whispered. "I'm so, so sorry. Things happen, and I can't change that. Please, please stay. I don't want to lose a friend because of a little crush."
"A little crush?" Kite spat furiously. "You loved me! Being in love with someone and crushing on someone are two completely different things! Now, get away from my kits. We're going back to my real family, back to cats who really love me. Maybe I should have stayed with Sootfur in the first place, rather than run off to this stupid place!" Kite stalked forward, shoving the three protective cats to the side. She woke up each of her kits and beckoned for them to come.
"What's going on, Mommy?" Nightkit asked. "Where are we going?"
"We're going back to ThunderClan," Kite replied. Come on, then. Get your brothers and sisters, and we'll go."
"OK," Nightkit mewed. He proceeded to relay this bit of information to his siblings, and in a heartbeat, they were all down on the ground, padding over to their mother.
"If you really want to leave, then we won't stop you," Odin murmured.
"Good," Kite snapped. "Don't even try." With that, she turned, summoning her kits with her tail, and padded away from her three friends, who were now three of her worst enemies.
--X
By the time the sun had risen, all five kits were exhausted and begging for a break. Kite obediently lay down and let her kits drink her milk. They all suckled from her furiously, until, one by one, they filled their bellies with milk, and slumped back to the ground. Kite decided to teach her kits how to hunt. She caught a small rabbit, demonstrating how to snap its neck just the right way, and then dug in, because she, too, was ravenously hungry.
When she was done, and after her kits had licked scraps of the rabbit's meat off of its bones, they continued on their journey. Kite talked to her kits constantly, telling them about the things in the forest.
"See? Look! That's a monster, over there on the Thunderpath. Never, ever go on the Thunderpath if you can help it. The monsters will run you over in a heartbeat, and they never listen to us. That is probably the most dangerous place a cat can go. And look, over there! That's a finch. They live mostly in ThunderClan territory, so that means we must be getting close. Finches are nice to eat, but their feathers get stuck in your mouth sometimes, so you should always pluck off the feathers before you eat, unless you're starving."
"What's that smell?" Snowkit asked, wrinkling her nose.
"Oh!" Kite cried. "Well, that's the ThunderClan border. That means we're here! Come on; let's see if we can't find a patrol to help us get back home."
Before they could find a patrol, though, they found the camp itself. Gingerkit and Talonkit did not hesitate to dart through the entrance, followed by Nightkit, Snowkit, and Barleykit. Kite ducked in after them.
"Go on into the nursery, now," she instructed. "Tell Goldenflower I'm with Firestar."
As her kits bounded away, Kite padded into the leader's den. "Firestar?" she called. "It's me, Kite. I'd like to speak with you."
"Come on in, then," Firestar meowed. Kite nodded and ducked through the lichen that was draped over the entrance to the leader's den. "Are you back for good, Kite?"
"Yes, Father," Kite replied, settling herself onto the sandy ground of the den. She refused to meet her father's gaze, instead focusing on her paws, which were hard to see in the darkness of the den. "I would most certainly like to say that I am never going to leave again. I understand that you, Glacierpelt, and Sootfur have arranged plans for my life?"
"Yes," Firestar replied. "Glacierpelt is very concerned about your well-being, and so he has come up with a plan for you: You will take Sootfur as a mate, raise your kits, whose mentors have already been decided, and you will have another litter of kits with Sootfur. Tonight, you will be given your warrior name, but your training shall not begin until after you have raised Sootfur's kits into apprenticeship. You will be trained by Rainwhisker and Squirreltail when the time comes."
"OK," Kite meowed, dipping her head respectfully, though the whole idea of having a completely planned out life seemed a bit foolish to her. "Would you mind, though, if, when you give me my official warrior name, you could change the prefix? I really don't want my name to be 'Kite-whatever'. The name Kite holds too many painful memories, and shedding that name, hopefully, will ease the pain of those memories."
"If that is what you wish," Firestar replied. "Now, then, you should go find Sootfur. You will mate with him immediately."
"If that is what you wish, Father," Kite replied.
"I'm going hunting," Firestar meowed. "So you can use my den to mate if you wish. But please, don't mess it up too much. Sandstorm likes to clean, but it will upset her if she has to clean more than is necessary."
"Yes, Father,"
Kite mewed, ducking out of the den. She padded less than eagerly over
to the warrior's den, where Sootfur lay in his nest, flicking his
tail sullenly. As soon as he saw Kite, though, his eyes lit up, and
he darted over to her. "Kite!" he cried. "You're finally back
for good!"
"I've been briefed on my position in this Clan,"
Kite meowed. "Firestar said we could use his den for mating."
"Great!" Sootfur meowed, twining his tail with hers. "Let's go!" The eager tom dragged Kite into the den, where he immediately sat her down on the ground. "Now," he meowed, walking around Kite in a slow circle. "I understand you've never willingly done this before, and you may be a bit uncertain of what to do, but trust me, I'll show you how it's done."
Kite squeezed her eyes shut as Sootfur positioned himself on top of her. She tried desperately to block out the searing pain she felt, not only physical, but emotional as well. She hurt all over from her journey, and her heart was bruised and torn from all the emotional pain she had undergone in the last day or so. She became numb to her surroundings, trying to focus on her kithood, when she hadn't a worry in the world. A sudden memory flashed in her head.
"Kite!" Glacier called, chucking the crisp-looking red apple at her. "Catch it by the stem!"
Kite leapt up in the air, feeling her teeth snag the flesh of the apple rather than the stem. It tasted sweet, almost too sweet. She promptly spat it onto the ground. The two-moon-old kit was used to many sweet things: The sweet flavor of the cream her housefolk gave her, the sweet scent of the air on a new leaf day, the sweet little tom kit that lived next door, the one she was now playing catch with, in fact, but the sweetness of the apple was just too much to handle.
"Now it's your turn!" Kite mewled, grabbing the apple by the stem and tossing it as far as she could. It landed a whisker-length away from her.
"Nice toss!" Glacier taunted jokingly.
Kite hissed. It was an airy, empty hiss, but it was enough to get Glacier to turn tail and run away. Kite purred with contentment. Hissing was just another thing she was better at than Glacier.
The bittersweet memory was over all too soon. Luckily, though, by the time she was done thinking about it, Sootfur was done mating with her.
"Did you enjoy that?" Sootfur asked.
"Very much so," Kite lied, faking a dreamy, content tone of voice.
"Great!" Sootfur mewed, bending down and licking Kite's ear. "I love you, my dear."
"I love you, too, Sootfur," Kite lied again, licking the tom's nose lovingly.
"Shall we go get something to eat?" Sootfur suggested. Kite, suddenly realizing how hungry she was, nodded and followed her new mate out to the fresh-kill pile.
The clearing was anything but empty. Whitepaw, whose injuries at the paws of the rogues were so horrible that she could not complete her warrior training, was limping happily toward the medicine den, a rather large bundle of herbs hanging from her battered and broken jaw. Squirreltail and Brambleclaw, who had just returned from a hunting patrol with Rainwhisker, Brightheart, Cloudtail, and Dustpelt, were padding off in the direction of the warrior's den, probably to take a nap. Graystripe and Brackenfur were chatting animatedly with Sorreltail, who had been made a warrior not too long ago. Shrewpaw and Spiderpaw were sitting by the fresh-kill pile, sharing a mouse and vole between themselves.
Kite sat down, feeling rather drained, beside Sootfur, who had already selected two rather plump mice.
"Might as well eat the plumpest mice you can find," Sootfur meowed, nudging one mouse toward Kite. "Since leafbare's going to be setting in pretty soon, and you don't want to get too thin."
Kite nodded absently and nibbled lightly at the mouse, deciding to take her time with the meal, though it was gone all too soon. As soon as she was done, she rose to her paws and excused herself to the nursery. Just outside the small den, she found Gingerkit and Talonkit in a play fight, while Snowkit and Nightkit were sunbathing. Barleykit was crouching by a fallen leaf, preparing to pounce on it. The kits took no notice of their mother as she padded wearily into the den and plopped into her nest.
Not long after, Cinderpelt entered the den with a few herbs in her mouth. The first thing Kite noticed about her was that she had gotten a lot larger since she had last visited the medicine cat, which was when Barley died.
"How are you doing today, Kite?" Cinderpelt asked.
"I'm doing very well, thanks for asking," Kite replied, resuming her dreamy, contented tone of voice.
"Well, that's lovely," Cinderpelt meowed. "Now, I need you to take some of these herbs to help you produce milk for your kits."
"Alright, then," Kite meowed, bending down and licking up the herbs obediently.
"Where in StarClan's name did you and all of your kits disappear to?" Cinderpelt asked curiously.
"I'd rather not discuss that right now," Kite muttered, dropping her I'm-so-happy façade. "And who did you mate with since the last time I saw you?"
Cinderpelt's jaw dropped. "Excuse me?" she meowed.
"Oh, come on," Kite mewed. "Your stomach's swelled up! It looks like you swallowed a cloud! How much longer do you think you can keep up this charade? The Clan's eventually going to find out that you're bearing some unnamed tom's kits."
"Do you promise not to tell anyone?" Cinderpelt mewed.
"As StarClan is my witness," Kite replied. "I would never do something like that, I assure you. I don't have time to go around ruining other cats' lives. I need to focus on what's important, rather than dwell on what I think I need."
"Well then," Cinderpelt mewed, sitting down beside Kite. Her voice lowered to a whisper, and she said, "I've always been in love with Cloudtail, and he mated with me the first time, but we were unable to have kits together, so we broke it off, and then I fell in love with Ashfur, and, well, now…"
"Ashfur?" Kite mewed. "Ashfur is the father of your kits?"
"Yes," Cinderpelt whispered. "You have to keep it a secret, though! Please, Kite, I'm begging here!"
Kite was about to reply, when the loud, familiar yowl of Firestar rang throughout the clearing.
"Cats of ThunderClan! Please gather beneath the Highrock for a very important Clan meeting!"
Kite and Cinderpelt hauled themselves to their paws and padded out into the clearing. Kite, knowing what was about to happen, padded to the front of the group of Clan cats that had already gathered.
"I call upon my warrior ancestors to look down upon this cat," Firestar began once his whole Clan had gathered. "Though she has not been so sure of her place in this Clan before, she has promised to give her all to us and to you, and therefore, we are gathered here today to give her a new name. By her request, her name shall be shed and changed completely. From this day forth, this cat shall be known by all of StarClan and ThunderClan as Emberclaw. StarClan honors your devotion and courage."
"Emberclaw! Emberclaw! Emberclaw!" The Clan cheered. Emberclaw simply looked down at her paws, ashamed, lost, and confused.