Chapter 4

Some time later when Twilight awoke, it was nearly the evening of the next day, and the first thing she noticed was a pile of fresh-kill beside her, consisting of five fat mice and a rabbit.

Twilight had not eaten on her journey there, and the rabbits that Sky had brought her seemed very far away. She barely registered from where they had came before she was eating them as fast as she could. Each was warm and juicy, as if it wasn't the cold season of leaf-bare.

When she had finished three mice, and was feeling full-fed for the first time in a while, she began to wash herself. But she froze as a friendly mew sounded from across and above her. "Glad you enjoyed them!"

One paw still held up to lick, Twilight watched as a young tom as black as her and about the same age jumped down from the hayloft, his emerald green eyes sparkling, and his tail flicking in friendly greeting.

"I saw you come in last night and you looked hungry, so I caught some prey for you. What's your name?" The black tom looked at her expectantly, and Twilight did a quick once-over. He seemed friendly enough, he wasn't going to hurt her.

"Twilight," she said, brushing a paw over her ears and twitching her tail self-consciously. The black tom smiled at her, and mewed, "It fits. You have a beautiful black pelt to go with it."

Twilight felt her skin flush hot under her pelt, and to escape embarrassment she asked, "What is yours?"

"Raven," he said proudly, straightening himself.

"Your fur does look like the glossy feathers of a raven," Twilight told him, hoping she didn't sound ridiculous. Raven looked delighted.

"I was named after my grandfather, Ravenpaw. He died before I was born."

"Who was he?" Twilight asked, feeling another of her magnetic pulls when she heard the name.

Before Raven could answer, a husky voice answered, "I could probably tell you that better than my son could." Twilight turned to see a rather large old dark gray tom coming down from the hayloft with two nice-looking white she-cats coming down after him.

"I'm Great Gray, Ravenpaw's son," he told her as he came up. "These are my two daughters, Snow and Cloud, and that's my son, Raven."

The massive tom sat down in the hay, and he gestured for his two daughters to sit down with him. Snow hung back, and mewed, "I can get some fresh-kill for us to share tomorrow, father."

Twilight had the words almost out of her mouth that that was against the law, but then she remembered. She had left BloodClan. They couldn't hurt her now.

"Well," Great Gray said thoughtfully, flicking his tail as Snow left. "I guess I should start out with the four Clans of the forest that once lived here."

Twilight gave an involuntary twitch; Clans? Had there been more cruel Clans like BloodClan who lived here?

"There was ThunderClan, RiverClan, WindClan, and, oh, yes, ShadowClan. There were different positions they all had, in order to do what was best for the Clan. There was a leader, who led and spoke for all the cats. A deputy, the second-in-command, who helped assign daily duties, and would follow the leader after he rested. A medicine cat, who interpreted signs from the warrior ancestors in StarClan, and healed cats with herbs. The warriors, and the warriors in training, who were known as apprentices. The queens were she-cats with kit, who dwelt in the nursery and returned to warrior duties when their kits were of age. And the elders, who were honored above all and cared for because of the past service to their Clan. The warriors made up the core, hunting for and defending their Clan from other Clans."

Twilight blinked. They sounded absolutely nothing like BloodClan.

"Now, my father, Ravenpaw, left ThunderClan from whence he was born at the time he was an apprentice, which is why his name ends in 'paw'. He fled because his mentor Tigerclaw wanted to kill him to keep him quiet about a deadly secret. Tigerclaw had murdered his own deputy, in attempts to become deputy himself. Ravenpaw's two friends, Firestar, then Firepaw, and Graystripe, then Graypaw, helped him escape to this very farm, where he lived with Barley."

"Barley?" Twilight asked, excitement sparking in her. "Was he a black and white tom?"

"Yes, in fact he was," Great Gray mewed, surprised. "He had died before I was born, but Ravenpaw said many things about him."

Cloud smiled at Twilight, saying, "I heard from father that Barley had done great things in his lifetime."

Twilight nodded. Great Gray hadn't been lying; Barley had done and accomplished many great things.

"Shall we get on with the story?" Great Gray asked her. Twilight nodded eagerly, wanting to hear more about these Clans who sounded more fair and organized than BloodClan was, and about this Ravenpaw.

"Where was I?" the dark gray tom asked himself. "Oh yes, my father went to live with Barley.

"Well, he never forgot about ThunderClan, and his friends Fireheart and Graystripe sometimes visited the farm for information about their traitorous deputy Tigerclaw, and to stay there after the Clan cats visited the Moonstone, where they consulted with StarClan."

Twilight was entranced. In BloodClan, an afterlife was not believed in, and this was mystifying her. It sounded so real. Maybe there actually was a StarClan.

"Yes, there really is a StarClan," Great Gray mewed, as if he could read her thoughts. "Ravenpaw's friend Firestar – his name after he became leader – had dreams from them even when he was an apprentice.

"Continuing, when Twolegs came to build a new Thunderpath on Clan territory, the Clans had to move to find a new home. My father said he would miss them, but he really was more comfortable living with Barley at the farm.

"Some time after that a she-cat named Wild Ivy came around to the farm. She was a beautiful white she-cat with green eyes, a little younger than Ravenpaw at the time. Well, Barley didn't get on too well with her, but Ravenpaw and Wild Ivy immediately got in love. Barley could soon tolerate her presence, but it was always Ravenpaw and Wild Ivy with the close bond. About that time Graystripe and his new mate Millie arrived to get direction to where the Clans had gone. He'd been separated when he was captured by Twolegs during the forest's destruction. So they went on their way, and not long after that, Wild Ivy became pregnant and I was born."

Cloud cut in. "I bet you were so cute," she teased. Their father pretended to be offended and placed a paw on his chest while looking shocked. Raven and Cloud laughed, and even Twilight found some humor and smiled.

"Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," he shot a mock-glare at his daughter, "I was the only kit in the litter. Now about the time I was around six moons, Ravenpaw was very old, and eventually he died, along with Barley. Mother was heart-broken, and she passed away about four moons after her mate did. I was left to fend on my own. Luckily, Ravenpaw had taught me all about Clan tradition, so he asked Wild Ivy to teach me to hunt and fight as soon as I reached six moons. So I managed fairly well.

"After about two moons of being by myself on their farm, a stray cat who'd been abandoned by her humans almost at the age of a kit wandered by. A tortoiseshell, blue eyes, and pink nose. Name was Patch. Of course I told her all about what Ravenpaw had told me; of the lost Clans and the way they lived. Well, we started liking each other and soon she was pregnant. Then came three mewing furballs, always noisy, crying for milk all the time, a real pain in the – "

"Just get on with it," Raven mewed irritably, cuffing his father affectionately on the side of his head.

"All right. We were astounded to find that though both our she-kits were white, the one tom kit was black, he must have inherited it straight from Ravenpaw. And of course, after all she'd heard about him, Patch wanted to name him after my father. So we called him Raven, and the other two Cloud and Snow. He kind of looked like you here, young feller."

"Shut up," Raven snapped. Cloud giggled at her brother.

"Unfortunately my kits didn't know their mother long; Patch was always a wanderer and couldn't bear to be kept in one place. I didn't have the heart to beg with her to stay. As soon as our kits were weaned of her milk, she left us. We haven't seen her since."

Great Gray sighed softly; Cloud and Raven looked sad, but not resentful of their mother.

The pure black she-cat had found the whole story intriguing. Despite the tale of Patch, all she could think of was the Clans. She definitely had an urge to find out more about them. It sounded as if BloodClan could be a mere group of cats who lived for no reason compared to them. How she would love and how better it would be for the cats in the city, if BloodClan could be more like… what was it? ThunderClan? But she knew that was impossible.

Titan and his guard and any other cat who wanted war would have to be driven away or killed, and any cat who was sane knew that was like trying to be friends with a dog who wished to eat you.

And yet the idea stuck in her head. All the cats caring for each other, living together in harmony, hunting for each other, teaching young how to survive, sharing with friends, caring for elderly cats…

"It's not impossible," Twilight mewed to herself. But BloodClan was still too close, Sky's death too vivid still… Twilight would not go back. The cats there would have to fend for themselves until something happened to change the way things were.

When would it happen? Looking at the smiling face of Raven, she wished all cats could have what she had found; cats who lived together in mutual cooperation and love.

Great Gray rose to his paws. "Our nests are in the hayloft," he mewed, pointing with his tail. "You may join us there, or you may stay down here."

"I will stay down here until I am comfortable sleeping around other cats," Twilight answered. Memories of BloodClan surged like a cloud around her. She was too used to sleeping alone.

The giant gray tom-cat dipped his head in assent. "It is your choice." He shook himself and padded towards the hayloft, his daughter behind him, her snow-white pelt gleaming as the sun shone in from the doorway.

But Raven stayed behind, and snuggled down into the hay next to Twilight, not touching her, but not too far away either.

Twilight felt warmed with a curious feeling, and snuggled herself down into the hay, her stomach comfortably full, and soon she was asleep next to the glossy black tom.