"I...I have a brother and sister?" I asked. "Then why are you hurting our mother?"

"She left us with you!" My sister growled. "Me and Mallowpaw had to live our kithood without a mother!"

"Hazelpaw's right." My brother added. "Rosebreeze, you'll never be our mother!"

"Good!" I gasped as my mom said that, getting up and looking at her other kits. "I wouldn't want rotten kits as my own anyway!"

"Mom..." I whispered. "They're still your kits..."

"Clearly not to them." Mom replied. "They obviously don't need me, and there's nothing I can do about that."

"Honestly Starlingpaw, you should start on learning about our wonderful Clan."

I turned around and noticed Gracecloud was still here in the midst of my terrible family reunion. She looked oblivious to everything that happened in the middle of camp, and instead looked overjoyed to brag about our Clan.

I looked to see my family split apart with my brother and sister going on a patrol and my mother bitterly walking to one of the dens.

"There's the warrior and apprentice dens, the former your mother just went in. And a den for medicine cats and our wonderful leader." Gracecloud rambled. "Now for the exciting part, our history."

"Since you've lived outside your Clan as a kit, we won't be touring the territory." Gracecloud added. "Now I'll tell you about our history. It started when Angel was a kittypet, she wanted more than to be treated. She wanted to rule."

"So she convinced kittypets and rogues to join her, especially ones seeking a life of adventure that Twolegplace could not give." Gracecloud explained. "She became Angelstar, leader of her own Clan with StarClan's blessing."

"Um, could you tell me about this curse that makes the sky dark?" I asked.

Gracecloud didn't respond right away, her eyes darkened as if she remembered I could be a cursed kit.

"Um, we don't like to talk about DarkClan." Gracecloud muttered. "They wanted half of our territory, and we righteously sent them on their way. Yet StarClan put this curse upon us."

"When did this happen?"

"Generations ago." Gracecloud answered. "What matters now is making sure the cat of the prophecy becomes a warrior so we can have normal daylight again."

Gracecloud began introducing me to all the cats of the Clan, including newly made warriors Jasminepetal and Deerflight. The two turned their noses up at me and left.

"And because of fear of the curse, the only other apprentice training to be a warrior besides you and your siblings is Briarpaw." Gracecloud concluded. "Patrol is back, that'll be all for now."

Briarpaw huh? I turned around and saw my siblings getting a rabbit that looked like it could feed several cats and taking it for myself. I sighed, why did they have to be nasty?

Then I saw him, a dark brown tom with amber eyes. He walked over to pick a dead sparrow from the pile and looked surprised to see me. Of course, I forgot that I was supposed to be cursed.

Yet he walked towards me and dropped the sparrow and sat, looking at me curiously.

"I'm not an upside-down tree so you can stop looking at me like that." I snapped.

"Oh, I didn't realize I was looking at you like that. I'm sorry." Briarpaw stammered. "I've just never seen a cat with a black pelt like yours."

"Like mine?" I repeated.

"It's nice, it looks nice." Briarpaw whispered. "Welcome, I hope you like it here...what's your name?"

"Starlingpaw."

"That's a nice name too." Briarpaw added.

I wondered what did I ever do to get this much positive attention from some cat besides my mom. I shrugged, not disagreeing with him. Then I noticed the two sisters that were disgusted by me earlier walking towards us.

"Hello, black-pelt." Deerflight growled. "Jasminepetal, why is your cru-I mean friend sitting with her?"

"Back off Deerflight." Briarpaw retorted. "Starlingpaw can do what she wants."

"She's nothing but trouble Briarpaw." Jasminepetal told him. "You've never seen daylight because of her, and you won't for your whole apprenticeship."

"It'll be worth it if it breaks the curse, Jasminepetal." Briarpaw reassured her. "You're not even giving Starlingpaw here a chance. So just leave it alone will you two?"

The two sisters looked like they wanted to tear the pelt that seemed to have to do with why I was cursed. But instead they growled with clear hostility and walked away.

"I wish there were kinder cats in this Clan to train with." I sighed. "Gracecloud is mediocre at best, and my siblings are very mean. The only apprentice I can have fun training with is...you."

"Thank you, I understand what you mean." Briarpaw meowed. "They always act full of themselves, like they're the best cats to walk the earth. But we're no better than any other cat, if anything, we're worse for having our heads in the clouds."

"You're my first friend." I admitted. "Thank you."

"You...you're my first true friend." Briarpaw confessed. "Jasminepetal and Deerflight are the closest cats to me here, but they're so negative. They're no better."

"So, we'll become warriors together right?" Then I noticed a den that was noticeably empty that Gracecloud did not tell me about. "Wait...what's that den for?"

"That's the Nursery, all newborn kits are raised by their mothers there till they become apprentices at the age of six moons." Then Briarpaw shuffled his paws awkwardly. "Except you I just realized."

"Can I live there again?" I asked.

"Well, only if you take a mate and have kits with him." Briarpaw answered. "And you can't do that till you're a warrior. And well..."

"I don't even know what will happen then." I sighed in agreement. "So most likely I won't."

"Don't think like that Starlingpaw." Briarpaw whispered. "More cats here will grow to care for you, and even if you don't bring the light back, they won't want you dead."

"The leader will definitely want that." I told him. "Maybe I should just enjoy the moons I have for now, but on the other paw I'm pretty tired."

"Same here, I should probably go with you..." Briarpaw's eyes widened and he corrected himself. "Y'know, to make sure your siblings don't bully you."

I nodded and the two of us went into the apprentice's den, having a little more faith in this Clan.