Prologue

Dawn woke up and stretched each of her legs in turn. She walked around her housefolks' nest, dodging her brothers and sisters and staying away from their glares. She scampered up to her mother. She, of all cats, would understand. Maybe also Tibsy, but she wasn't going to tell her. "Snowflake?" she asked.

The white she-cat looked up. "Yes, Dawn?"

"I-I want to look for my father."

Snowflake sighed and pulled Dawn next to her. "I know that you really want to know him," she said, "But Mintfur was loyal to his Clan. He had to leave with them, and I am pretty sure that the trail to somewhere safe was hard. It might not be right to follow him. You might be wounded, lost or… worse."

"Mintfur…" Dawn echoed.

Her mother purred and licked her kit's head. "He was a brave and noble cat. You should be proud to have a father like him."

"I would like to find Mintfur," Dawn declared, wriggling out of her mother's grip. "I would like to find my father."

"Dawn, it's too dangerous," Snowflake mewed urgently, starting to get up, but Dawn was already racing out of their housefolks' nest Nearby, a dusty gray tom kitten looked up and eagerly chased after her.

Dawn stopped and turned around once outside. "Storm, what are you doing?" she asked when the tom crashed into her.

"Where are you going?" Storm asked eagerly.

"I'm looking for Mintf- our father."

"Mintf?" Storm repeated. "What a funny name. Mintf! Mintf! Mintf!"

"His actual name was Mintfur. Don't make fun of him," Dawn scolded.

Storm suddenly looked sad. "So… you're leaving?"

"Yes," Dawn said. She walked up to her brother and reached up, licking the bottom of his chin. "I'll miss you. You take care of our siblings."

Storm sniffed. "I'll try to remember where the twolegs take them," he said.

"'Bye," Dawn said as her brother padded back into the twoleg nest. She turned and jumped onto the fence. Looking back, she wondered what it would be like to go back, but she thought, No. I have to find Mintfur. She took a deep breath, jumped down, and got ready to cross the thunderpath.

There was a jingling noise as another kittypet leaped down in front of her. "Gonna' try to catch a mouse, like good old Rusty? You know that he never came back," she mewed.

"The reason why he never came back was that he found a new way of living," Dawn retorted. "Princess told me that. He also became leader of a Clan, so his new name was Firestar. Well, first he was Firepaw, then Fireheart, then Firestar. Also, I was going to look for my father, Mintfur."

Tibsy snorted. "Princess? Who listens to that old cat anymore? Also, what's up with all of the changing names?"

"I listen to her." The silver tabby kit ignored the second question.

"Trust me, you've got fuzz in your brain," the white and ginger kit said, scrambling back onto the fence. "Just don't say I didn't warn you!"

"You could come with me!" Dawn called, but Tibsy had disappeared into her housefolks' nest.

She sighed and shook her head, trying to forget about her doubts of Rusty's fate. She turned and started to go to the park where she knew that there was a way out of the twolegplace, but stopped when she heard a kittypet door close. Looking around, she was surprised to see Tibsy walking over to her. There was a strange glimmer Dawn had never seen before in her friend's light green eyes. "Whatever," Tibsy said. "An adventure is an adventure. I'll go with you."

Dawn smiled and flicked the ginger and white cat's shoulder. "Thanks," she said. "It's too bad that we have to leave our families."

"Hey, we're looking for your family!" Tibsy said as they walked off. "I'll try to track. Mr. Fluffs has been teaching me how to track."

Dawn snorted. "Look who has fuzz in their brain."

"Hey, be quiet! Mr. Fluffs was once a good warrior!"

"Of nothing," Dawn muttered under her breath.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?" Tibsy roared.

"Nothing, nothing! You can track! But if we get lost it's your fault."

They padded off, Tibsy's mouth wide open, and Dawn looking at the ground for footprints. After they traveled for some while out of the twolegplace, Dawn called, "Look! Paw prints! Lots of them!"

Tibsy walked up and sniffed the dried-up prints. "They don't smell like Mr. Fluffs," she finally declared.

"Of course they don't, mouse-brain. Mr. Fluffs has stayed with his housefolk for moons."

"OK, fine. We'll follow them."

They walked for sundowns, starting to get hungry. They tried their best to catch prey, but they were only kits and didn't know any hunting techniques. They stayed in hollow logs. "Are you sure we should be doing this?" Tibsy whispered one night. "We should still be with our mothers."

Dawn sighed and shifted her weight. "I don't know, but I feel kind of like we're not going the right way."

Tibsy snorted. "Fine, be pessimistic."

"I didn't mean-!" Dawn began, but was cut off by a loud snore. Tibsy was asleep. She sighed and curled up. Think that you're going the right way, Dawn thought to herself as she started to drift off. Oh, great StarClan! What mess have I gotten Tibsy and myself into?