Softpetal breathed in shakily. Tonight she was supposed to go to the Dark Forest to speak with Cloudspot. "Let's go to sleep now." She meowed to her kits. After what seemed like moons of complaining, the kits finally curled up beside their mother's belly. Softpetal sighed with relief and shut her eyes.
"Softpetal?" Came a small mew. "Where did we come from?"
"Starclan." Softpetal growled quietly. "Go to sleep Honeykit."
"Birdpaw said I was part mouse." Smallkit complained.
"You are." Softpetal replied.
"Birdpaw said she ate deathberries and lived." Lionkit yowled.
"They were poppyseeds." Softpetal grumbled.
"I have to make dirt." Smallkit whined.
"I'm thirsty." Honeykit wailed.
"If you guys don't stop talking I'm going to take away your eating privileges for a moon." Softpetal snapped.
"Honeykit's on my tail." Lionkit whispered. Softpetal slapped his nose with her tail and her kits finally fell asleep. She felt darkness overcoming her and drifted off to sleep. She felt a cool breeze and opened her eyes. She saw a white tom padding towards her with a huge squirrel in his mouth. He dipped his head as he passed and padded over to a pretty black she-cat. They touched each other's noses gently and Softpetal's heart twisted sadly. Her mother bounded towards her from behind the two while they were sharing the squirrel.
"Hi." Softpaw muttered her eyes trained on her former mate and the new she-cat.
"Don't Whitefoot and Darkcloud look lovely togethere?" Luna meowed. "Darkcloud hasn't gotten close to any cat except him, and she's been here since before you were born."
"Oh yes. I love the fact that my mate is with another cat." Softpetal murmured sarcastically.
"Oh get over it." Luna snapped. "You won't be here for many more seasons. He needs someone."
Softpetal dragged her eyes off of the couple and realized that Luna was padding away from her. She raced after the ginger she-cat and they walked farther and farther away from the hunting grounds of Starclan. Softpetal shivered as the trees began to curve like claws. The moon looked cold and unforgiving and it was freezing.
"We can come here, but they can't go to Starclan." Luna meowed. "This is not a place you want to be sent."
Softpetal felt eyes watching her and looked around worriedly.
"There are many cats here, some ancient, some new, most forgotten. They may wish to speak with us, but we are here for one reason." Luna whispered. They continued on until Softpetal smelled the soft scent of her son. She spotted a set of eyes glimmering in a holly bush. "Cloudspot?" She mewed hopefully. The eyes blinked once and disappeared.
"We may not even find him tonight." Luna sighed. Softpetal growled angrily to herself and gasped as a nearly invisible she-cat stepped out of the holly bush where the eyes had just been.
"Greetings." She meowed, her voice hoarse as if it hadn't been used for many moons.
"Who are you?" Softpetal asked.
"Leafwhisper." The she-cat whispered. "You shouldn't be here."
Luna blinked calmly. "We have come with the permission of Starclan. What did you do to belong here?"
Leafwhisper took a deep breath and replied. "Thunderstar is my grandfather. He was the leader of Thunderclan when I was born and when he died there was a fight over the leadership. You see, we had no rule in the code that said the deputy was the next leader. One cat and I had a battle and I killed him, but I didn't become leader. He would have been a bad leader anyway, but I know I shouldn't have killed him."
"What happened next?" Softpetal probed curiously.
"Another cat proved to our clan that she could lead, so I let her. I died in battle a couple moons later and Starclan banished me here."
Leafwhisper finished.
"You poor thing." Softpetal comforted. "You don't belong with these other cats. Luna, can't we do something about this?"
"Oh no, I killed my clanmate, I belong here." Leafwhisper protested. Luna shook her head in disagreement. "You did it for your clan. It wasn't out of spite. I will consult the other cats in Starclan and you might be able to join us."
Leafwhisper's eyes opened up wide and she opened and shut her mouth silently. Finally she seemed to find her voice. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"
Softpetal's jaw dropped in shock. "Your coloring is back! Wow, you look a lot like me. Why were you so faded?"
"My fear made me blend into the background." She chuckled. "Perhaps we're related somehow. My daughter lived, but son is here. He walks with me sometimes."
"What's it like here?" Softpetal asked with morbid curiosity. Leafwhisper closed her eyes and breathed deeply. "You can smell prey, but there is none that you can find. The sun never shines and all hope you have about anything dies."
"That's awful." Softpetal meowed. "Why is your son here?"
"So many questions." Leafwhisper complained jokingly. Her voice had gained almost all of its strength back. "He's here because he is my son and his coloring was supposedly an omen of great destruction, so Starclan didn't welcome him, even though he was only an apprentice when he died."
"What's his name?" Softpetal asked.
"Cloudpaw." Leafwhisper replied. Softpetal felt a cold shiver go down her spine. "My son's name is Cloudspot."
"Oh you're so young!" Leafwhisper scolded, ignoring the fact that their sons had the same name. "How do you have a warrior for a son?"
Softpetal sighed. She hated explaining herself. "I had him and his sister as an apprentice."
"And her other three kits." Luna interrupted.
"Thanks." Softpetal groaned.
"You could probably find them together you know." Leafwhisper meowed helpfully. "Younger cats tend to find one another here, but not for long. We are destined to walk our paths alone."
"We need to go now." Luna whispered. Softpetal nodded in disappointment and turned to walk back to Starclan. She blinked and saw her son with a black tom with a white tail and paws. "Cloudspot?"
"Cloudpaw?" Leafwhisper echoed happily. Softpetal glanced at Luan and when the she-cat nodded, she touched noses with her son in greetings. "Hello. I came here to ask you something."
Cloudspot dipped his head. "You came to ask if I killed Whitefoot."
"Yes."
"I did." Cloudspot explained. "Silvertail told me that if I killed Whitefoot, I would have proven myself as his son. I wish I hadn't done it, but I deserve what I'm getting now."
"Wow." Luna shook her head in disbelief. "I guess I could put in a good word for all of you. You could probably all come to Starclan."
Softpetal licked her happily and woke up to reality.
"Softpetal! Honeykit won't leave me alone!"