It had been one moon since Clover's death. When Bird was nine

moons old, she came back to the den to find Clover curled up in a

ball, cold. She buried her best friend and had been roaming from

then on. She saw a rabbit that looked like it could keep her full for

two sunrises. She crouched down into the hunting position and was

about to pounce when a ginger blur flashed in front of her.

"Hey!" She hissed. "That was my rabbit!"

"Sorry," The cat replied. "I didn't know you were there, but its

first come first serve."

"Well I doubt you can eat all of that by yourself." Bird meowed.

"There's enough for both of us. Do you want to share?"

Bird stared at the cat for a few moments and noticed how pretty

she was. She hadn't been groomed for a while so she looked

scruffy, but underneath everything she was a lovely ginger and

white she-cat. "Yeah, that would be nice; it's been getting kind of

lonely lately. My name's Bird what's yours?"

"Luna." The she-cat grunted in between mouthfuls of rabbit. Bird

shrugged and dug in. They ate in silence for a while until Luna

spoke. "So where have you been to?" She asked for conversations

sake.

"Oh, here and there, nowhere in particular. Have you heard of the

wild cats in the forests?"

Luna nodded. "I know the clans. I know all the leaders and where

there territories are."

Bird looked at her enthusiastically. "Would you like me to explain

them to you?"

Luna shrugged. "Sure."

Bird thought excitedly about what to tell Luna first. "Well there are

the four clans, but in each clan there's a leader. The leaders each

get nine lives from Starclan. Starclan is the clan that all cats go to

when they die. When the leaders lose their ninth life, they're

replaced by their deputy. Each clan also has a medicine cat to heal

the warriors when they get ill or have injuries. Queens live in the

nursery den until their kits are six moons old, when the kits

become apprentices. The kits are given a mentor by the leader of t

he clan and when the mentor thinks the apprentice has enough

skills to become a warrior, they are given their warrior names."

Luna sat thoughtfully for a moment. "What are the different clans

like?"

"That's an easy one. Windclan are the swiftest and leanest, they eat

rabbits generally. Thunderclan are big and fierce fighters, they eat

basically anything in the forest, things like mice, voles, squirrels,

and birds. Shadowclan are lithe and clever warriors, you can't trust

them, they eat frogs, lizards, and whatever else they can find.

Finally, there's Riverclan, they're good swimmers and they're

slippery like fish, which they eat."

"Which clan would you be in?" Luna asked eagerly.

"Windclan, definitely Windclan."

"Well," Luna hesitated. "Thunderclan seems like a good clan to be

in. They eat all types of food and they sound like they are good at

protecting."

"Windclan would accept me because I'm full Windclan. My

mother gave me to a loner because Windclan couldn't care for

me." Bird explained.

"My mother said she joined Thunderclan for a few moons and had

a mate. One day her mate was killed in battle and the rest of the

clan blamed her because he was protecting her. She ran away and

found out that she was expecting me, but she couldn't go back."

Luna meowed sadly. Bird licked her ears comfortingly. "What

would you want your name to be?"

"That's funny, I've thought about that for a while now and I kind

of like Gooseberry." Luna chuckled.

"That's a good Thunderclan name." Bird complimented. "I like

Birdsong."

"That's pretty!"

"Thanks. Thinking about my mother makes me want to have kits."

Bird thought aloud.

"Me too," Luna agreed. "I want them to be clan cats though."

Bird and Luna sat in silence for a moment, both deep in thought.

"We should both have kits!" Bird yowled. Luna nodded happily

and was surprised at how much she liked this new she-cat.