Chapter Four: Into the Trees- Falconflight
The moon brushed its silvery rays along the tips of the leafy trees. The starry spirit of a leaping tiger soared through the night sky, leaving droplets of shining dew on the forest. The brown tortoiseshell she-cat climbed up the rungs of the thick, tall oak tree, placed her paws close to the trunk. She stopped and watched the tiger spirit fly through the stars.
Drops of water plopped onto her fur in round, wet orbs. Her bright green eyes were unblinking. The tail of the tiger lashed into the night and coated the rest of the Clan's territory in dew.
"Glidingwing," a voice growled impatiently. "What's the hold up?"
Gildingwing looked down at the queen who was climbing the tree with her. The rounding queen was lashing her tail and glaring at the medicine cat. Her amber eyes were glowing in the night.
"I'm sorry, Falconflight." Glidingwing meowed, nodding in understanding. "I just saw..." she trailed off, forgetting what she was going to say.
The she-cats clawed their way up on the bark to the next branch. They scrambled up the last slim twigs at the top of the oak. Falconflight swallowed her fear. The kits in her belly were making her heavier than usual.
The sticks were close to breaking under their weight and the earth was so far below them that if they fell, they would tumble down countless fox-lengths and slam into the ground with such force they would go to StarClan and beyond.
Glidingwing dug her claws into the bark and felt around for the oak's hollow. Suddenly, her paw was inside the tree. Silently, she pointed her tail to the dark space for the amber-eyed queen. She climbed into the hole and waited for her companion to follow.
Falconflight grunted as she pulled herself into the hollow. She growled at the medicine cat once more. "It's a tight fit." They were pressed together in the tight spaced hollow.
"I am sorry." The tortoiseshell meowed, her green eyes dim in the darkness of the oak hollow.
They blindly scooted up the hollow's walls until they came out to the top where the bark was jagged. Glidingwing clawed her way out. She was relieved to be outside of the tree and under the stars without a single leaf obscuring the sky. She heaved herself out and tumbled into the soft eagle nest. Falconflight came out after her.
They sat in the abandoned eagle nest to rest while they waited for the half moon to shoot a beam of light on the tree. The queen rolled up into a ball and stared at the hollow that jutted out in the middle of the nest. A twisted twig was growing from the trunk. At the end was five large oak leaves. Instead of the leaves being green they were silvery and sparkly.
She watched them waiting for them to glow. Glidingwing had her paws crossed as she stared up at the moon, twitching her whiskers as if she were quietly talking t the stars. The SkyClan medicine cat had always been a bit strange. It was rumored that she once fell out of a tree as a kit and hit her head along the way. Falconflight didn't know if she believed it. Glidinwing was weird, it a good medicine cat. Besides, if she fell out of a tree she wouldn't be in SkyClan anymore. Any cat who touches the earth is exiled. Or dead.
The queen sighed. In her belly, the little kits tumbled around like butterfly stones. Falconflight knew she was nervous about them and about StarClan. She rested her head on the thick wall of the soft nest of twigs and straw and looked at the distance. There was mountains beyond the Clans, beyond the Highstones. She could catch the faint shimmer of water between a mountain pass.
Finally, the half moon passed over the tree. The five oak leaves shimmered in ripples of silver. They glowed like the moon itself. That's why they are called the Moonleaves. Since SkyClan can't go to Highstones without touching the ground or being unnoticed by the other Clans, they use the Moonleaves to share tongues with StarClan.
"The Moonleaves are ready." Glidingwing said, flicking her tail for the queen to stand up. "Lick the dew and you will dream with our ancestors."
"Obviously." Falconflight muttered. She grunted as she rolled over onto her paws.
Glidingwing bent the twig down and poked a starry leaf with her small pink tongue. Falconflight did the same. Both she-cats slumped down onto the soft floor of the nest.
"Greetings, Falconflight." A gray she-cat meowed.
The black-red-brown queen looked around. She was standing on a big web of bramble that branched across the earth. SkyClan do not touch the ground even in StarClan.
"I see you are here for your kit's Star-Acceptance Ceremony?" The starry cat asked. With a flick of her tail, she led the queen across the bramble to a giant willow tree.
As they came upon the great willow, Falconflight cast an askance look to the Starclan cat. "I've never seen you before. I thought the Star-Acceptance for my kits would be some cat else."
"Well, usually some cat else would do this for you, but I have more to discuss with you. My name is Silverleaf, and I once walked with ThunderClan." Silverleaf explained, giving a flick with her ear. She understood what the queen meant.
Falconflight had never known any cat outside of her own Clan before. Even when she visited the Moonleaves as an apprentice a SkyClan cat had greeted her. They nimbly leapt from branch to branch of the grand willow tree until they were at the top.
Falconflight looked out into the territory of StarClan. The edge of the world was rounding and the horizons glowed softly white as if they lived on the moon itself...
There was a stretching expanse of moorland thast looked windy even from all the way at the bramble garden. There was a woody forest with trees much shorter than could be used as SkyClan territory. There was also a muddy marsh and a big network of water. Hundreds of starry spirits raced through the wind, prowled between the trees, splashed through the marshes, and swam through the rivers.
"Let us begin?" Silverleaf asked, her green eyes glittering.
The SkyClan queen nodded and sat down. At the top of the willow was a big disc of bark that sloped into a pool of water. Falconflight had never been able to play in water as a kit. The only water you get to drink in SkyClan is dew off leaves or water collected in the DewPool. She let the water lap at her paws.
Silverleaf sat at the other end of the pool with her tail wrapped neatly around her paws. They both sat up straight as the starry she-cat spoke. Suddenly, hundreds of Clan cats appeared below the tree, looking up at Falconflight.
"Within presence of every spirit of our warrior ancestors, we summon forward Falconflight to present her kits for StarClan's acceptance." The gray she-cat meowed, her voice ringing through the stars. "Long ago the five Clans lived in peace on the earth until SkyClan was forced from the forest."
The round queen couldn't help but feel like this was going to be a long ceremony.
"The four Clans were wrong to not aid the dying Clan. SkyClan declared that StarClan was no longer their warrior ancestors. However, a band of former-SkyClan rogues climbed above ThunderClan territory, forged a new Clan, accepted StarClan once more, and now share tongues with us by the Moonleaves.
"How do we know the descendants of Falconflight will accept StarClan as she does?" Silverleaf asked to each of the starry cats who watched the ceremony from the bramble garden.
A chorus of mews and murmurs rang through StarClan asking if the kits would continue to live in the secrecy of SkyClan while still believing in StarClan. Falconflight's black-red-brown pelt burned. How dare they ask such questions?
"Do you, Falconflight, accept StarClan with your heart?"
The queen nodded, staring Silverleaf in the eye. "I do."
Silverleaf pointed to the pool with a forepaw. "Then step into the pool."
Falconflight was nervous about this. Water? On her? Ha! Only in the cool, chilly mornings! But she stepped into the pool slowly. It was warm. The round queen waded into the middle where it came up to her neck. She was staring up at Silverleaf who was looking down. She could still hear the whispers of the other StarClan cats.
Silverleaf flicked her tail into the water. It rippled. Falconflight looked down at her reflection. Two kits, both brown with slick fur, were staring up at her. They had stars in their pelts. But a third was brown with long fur. It had no stars.
The sitting cat was also looking at the reflections. One kit was never going to accept StarClan. Falconflight saw this, too.
"Two kits of SkyClan will be born under the stars!" Silverleaf announced, standing up and facing the spirits.
They cheered. Some chanted the queen's name. But Falconflight didn't know what that meant for the third kit. Silverleaf helped her out of the pool. Slowly the other cats began to fade. They jumped out of the willow back down to the thicket covered earth.
"I am about to tell you something, Falconflight." The gray she-cat whispered, drawing close to the queen. "It's a prophecy. You must never tell a single soul unless I show you who to tell. Promise?"
"Yes, of course." Falconflight perked her ears. Was this prophecy about her third kit. Would it destroy SkyClan as they know it?
"The givers of life, one of each Clan, shall brighten and lead the way out of darkness and to the stars."
"How was the ceremony?" A brown tortoiseshell asked the queen, gaming and standing up in the eagle nest. "Wait, you can't tell me!"
"Yeah, okay." Falconflight said, blinking.
This prophecy... what was it going to do to the Clans?
"Glidingwing," she looked at the medicine cat, amber eyes blinking. "Does StarClan live truly in the stars or on the moon."
The medicine cat purred. "When it is our time to live with StarClan you will know the answer."
Boom, twist right? I put SKYCLAN before WindClan!
I made up the Star-Acceptance thing exclusively for my version of SkyClan. Which apparently live above ThunderClan.
