Chapter 17
Jaysong padded beside Squirrelflight and Sandstorm, the rising sun making the dawn patrol's pelts glow like fire. Up ahead, Ashpaw was showing her mentor how well she knew ThunderClan's territory, marking their borders and detecting unfamiliar scents. Ashpaw was rivaling Jaysong in size and it wouldn't be long before the white apprentice was made a warrior.
"What do you smell now?" Sandstorm called from beside Jaysong as more scents blew towards the patrol on newleaf winds. Jaysong sniffed the air and detected another group of ThunderClan cats heading their way. Jaysong wondered if Ashpaw could smell them as well.
"A couple loners passed through here, but they didn't linger," Sandstorm nodded and Jaysong too had smelled the unfamiliar scents of strange cats. "And the hunting patrol Brambleclaw sent out earlier is heading towards us."
"Very good," A warm voice praised and Birchfall pushed through a group of ferns, Lionblaze and Hollyleaf flanking him. Ashpaw scampered forward to meet Birchfall and the brown tabby gave his daughter a gentle lick on the ear. Jaysong padded up from behind Ashpaw and meowed, "How's the prey running, Birchfall?"
"Great," Birchfall mewed, his amber eyes shining with excitement, "I caught a squirrel and a couple mice by the abandoned twoleg nest and we decided to check out the prey by Sky Oak. I love newleaf." Birchfall added with a purr.
"How did you two hunt?" Squirrelflight asked her two kits, one of her ears twitching nervously as she waited their response. But Lionblaze and Hollyleaf pretended not to hear Squirrelflight and instead pushed past Jaysong and Ashpaw, padding deeper into the forest.
"Odd," Birchfall meowed, drawing a paw over one of his ears, "The two of them talk my ear off all morning and now they won't say a single word. Oh well. I'd better catch up with them before they get too far. Bye!" Birchfall gave Ashpaw another lick before racing away.
"Er," Sandstorm mewed quietly and Jaysong understood the ginger she-cat's discomfort. Both cats could feel the embarrassment hot on Squirrelflight's fur as her two kits ignored her. "Ashpaw, let's head up to the WindClan border and make sure no WindClan warriors have crossed onto our territory. Are you going to come Jaysong?"
"Actually I would like to speak to Jaysong alone," Squirrelflight meowed, her green eyes betraying no emotion. Sandstorm dipped her head and signaled to Ashpaw that they should leave the two cats alone. Squirrelflight watched them leave and then turned to Jaysong, "I have to tell you something."
"Squirrelflight? Jaysong?" Another mew sounded and Jaysong watch as the ferns rustled and Leafpool appeared, Applepaw behind her. "I thought I heard voices. Applepaw and I were here to collect celandine and nettle leaves."
Jaysong wondered if Squirrelflight was annoyed by this disturbance and was surprised when her old mentor meowed, "Actually Leafpool, I'm glad you're here. I want to talk to you and Jaysong. Alone." Squirrelflight added glancing quickly at Applepaw.
"Applepaw, Sandstorm took Ashpaw up to the WindClan border," Jaysong mewed, flicking her tail in the direction where the two cats had disappeared, "You can join their patrol and get celandine at the border." Jaysong recalled one time when Leafpool had taken her to the WindClan border in search for herbs when she had been a medicine cat apprentice for a couple moons.
Applepaw nodded and took off in the direction of Sandstorm and Ashpaw. Leafpool watched Applepaw leave before turning to Squirrelflight. "Now what's this all about?" Leafpool's voice was emotionless and Jaysong wondered if she already knew what Squirrelflight wanted to talk about.
Turning to Jaysong, Squirrelflight meowed, "Lionblaze and Hollyleaf are not my kits. They found this out a couple moons ago during a fire. Ashfur was another cat who knew, but he died soon after." Squirrelflight's green eyes darkened as she thought of Ashfur.
"You aren't their mother?!" Jaysong screeched with disbelief and suddenly realized how Lionblaze and Hollyleaf didn't look like their mother or their father, Brambleclaw. "Then who is? Did you steal them?" Jaysong spoke the last part in a whisper.
"Of course, she didn't," Leafpool spoke up, her amber eyes narrowing at the very thought of the suggestion, "They were my kits. Do you know the WindClan warrior, Crowfeather?" Jaysong nodded, too shocked to speak. Medicine cats weren't allowed to have kits! "Many moons before you were born, he and I were mates, but when our Clans found out, we were forced to stop seeing each other. I never intended to bear his kits, but StarClan had a greater destiny for me then I ever imagined."
"Do Lionblaze and Hollyleaf know?" Jaysong croaked out, her voice hoarse with shock, "That you are their mother?" Jaysong was still shocked about Squirrelflight admitting that they weren't her kits and she could barely wrap her mind around the fact that they were Leafpool's.
"No and neither does anyone else," Leafpool meowed; her shoulders slumped as she revealed her secret she had long kept from her Clan. "I asked Squirrelflight to take on the mother ship of my kits. I wanted to be close to them, but no cat could know I was their mother. Even Brambleclaw doesn't know the kits are not his. I haven't even told Crowfeather." Leafpool's amber eyes darkened with sadness as she mentioned Crowfeather's name.
"Can we trust you with this knowledge?" Squirrelflight asked and Jaysong met her pleading green gaze evenly. Jaysong dipped her head and mewed, "I will never tell another cat. Not even when I join the ranks of StarClan."
"Thank you," Leafpool and Squirrelflight meowed together and the three cats journeyed back to ThunderClan camp, their shoulders weighed down with the secret.
