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Chapter Four: StarClan Speaks

"Can you believe this?" Longfang spat. "I never truly admired your brother, but I never imagined this..."

Snowstar was in his large, shadowy den, amber eyes troubled. The disturbing Clan meeting had been called to an end just minutes ago, and the shock was barely wearing off.

"I don't understand it either, Longfang. He had such potential... and there's lionesses here he could have chosen..." Snowstar sighed. He had shown a strong face in front of his Clan, but here, alone and before his deputy, he
knew he could be honest about how much this upset him.

"I honestly don't think they would have chosen him," Longfang put in, and Snowstar glanced at him, yet for once detected no harshness, just a genuine opinion.

"But that is no excuse. I mean... Littlecloud? She's the daughter of Torntail, the WaterClan deputy. Can you imagine how furious he will be?" Snowstar rumbled, flicking his tail uneasily. "Do you suppose they would declare war?"

Longfang stared straight at Snowstar. "Would you?" he shot back.

Snowstar narrowed his eyes thoughtfully at his deputy; Longfang was ambitious and perhaps too fierce at times, but he was very clever, the reason he had been an obvious choice for deputy. But so was Firerunner...
Snowstar tried not to think of the dead warrior, and instead focus on the present.

"Probably not war," Snowstar admitted, shaking his wet mane. "But I would be very angry. Enough to threaten war."

Longfang shrugged, scraping his claws along the rock of the den. "What are you doing to do about the cross-Clan cub?"

Snowstar's eyes hardened, and he slowly sat up, gazing out the rocky cave entrance, to where rain was quietly dripping down. Thunder softly rumbled in the distance, but the thick of the storm was over.

"It was the runt of the litter. I don't believe the cub will live very long," Snowstar rumbled.

Longfang flicked an ear, licking a large paw. "But suppose he lives to six moons?"

Snowstar sighed deeply, shaking his head. "I don't want a half-Clan cub in LightningClan; can you imagine the issues it will cause? And the poor cub..."

"It's his parent's fault," Longfang snapped. "If you ask me, I'd have taken Blackscar's tail off, and then made him eat it."

Snowstar frowned at him. "He lost the love of his life. That was his punishment; I don't believe in cold-blooded violence to solve the answer."

Longfang said nothing, and didn't meet his leader's gaze.

After a long, thoughtful silence, Snowstar broke away from his thoughts and turned to his deputy. "Go now, it is late. Assemble the morning patrol, too."

"Yes, Snowstar," Longfang meowed roughly as he stood up, muscles rippling, and padded heavily from the cave, disappearing into the foggy mist that the rain had left behind. Snowstar noticed the drizzling had finally let up, and the air was cool and damp.

Sighing, the great leader gently lay his shaggy head between his large paws, closing his amber eyes. StarClan, listen to me now. I need answers...

For a long while, Snowstar could not fall asleep. But at some point he must have, as day folded into dreams. He was nowhere, padding into foggy whiteness, when suddenly there were noises and scents.

Pricking his ears, Snowstar watched as the blank world around him began sprouting lush trees and exotic plants and wild bushes, and he began running quickly, heart racing, mane turned to flames under the blazing golden sun above his jungle.

At last he found himself nearing the camp. Quietly, he slipped through the wall of grass and brambles, and pushed his great form into the clearing of LightningClan.

He glanced around, muscles ripping with strength as he padded across the firm earth, a gentle wind whispering in his ear. Snowstar frowned as he noticed the camp felt different; more... He shook his head as sounds of birds singing and crickets rustling and other strange animals crying filled his ears.

Noticing lions and lionesses with gleaming pelts and bright eyes beginning to gather around the High Rock, a large, smooth boulder that overlooked all of his Clan and reached toward the bright blue sky, Snowstar padded towards them. None of them seemed to see or hear him as he brushed by, and as he glanced around to realize he knew none of these warriors, a great call came from the High Rock.

All the gathered warriors pricked their ears and their tails flicked with excitement. Snowstar followed their gazes, and frowned thoughtfully up at the High Rock.

The sun's brilliant rays washed the gray stone a golden white, and a muscular animal, perhaps one of the biggest cats Snowstar had ever seen, began making his way up the High Rock, graceful and powerful.

The sun's light turned this strange cat's fur to flame, glaring brightly at Snowstar's eyes and making the stranger a burning silhouette as he came to the tip of the High Rock, shoulders rippling with excitement. He let out a furious roar, and the warriors below him let out a cheer that began low, but mixed and murmured until the warriors were snarling and roaring towards the leader.

Eaten by curiosity and wondering what all this meant, Snowstar narrowed his eyes, and at last the strange leader began to come into focus. He had a small, shaggy neck, with bright orange eyes, and a flaming orange-brown pelt.

Snowstar's eyes widened.

The leader had stripes.

"Brightstar! Brightstar!" the warriors were crying.

Instantly, images of a pathetic, weak, and soaking wet cross-Clan cub with an orange-brown pelt and ink-black stripes flashed across Snowstar's mind. He stared in awe at the powerful leader. No... could this be... impossible!

Suddenly the bright, victorious world was gone, and Snowstar felt a gentle murmuring in his ear. "We have shown you a shadow of what may be; it is up to you to decide the future of your Clan, Snowstar."

His eyes flashed open, and Snowstar sat up, heart racing.

He glanced around. It was daylight; the sun was beginning to rise over the damp jungle. The early sounds of animals awakening echoed over the green trees, and he slowly padded from his den, StarClan's words ringing in his mind. We have shown you a shadow of what may be...

Did that mean Blackscar's little cross-Clan son was destined for a greatness that, until now, he had thought only belonged to pure-blood warriors? Was his birth not forbidden after all, but destiny?

Shaking his head, Snowstar padded quickly towards the nursery, where he had told Blackscar to put his young son until later. As far as he knew, they had built a small nest for it, but no queen was suckling it.

The early-morning sun's rays washed over his back, warming him, and he shivered from the sudden warmth, and trotted even faster across the awakening clearing towards the large mossy log that kept all LightningClan cubs and queens safe.

He gently ducked into the spacious, snug nursery, and blinked, eyes adjusting to the sudden darkness. His eyes brightened when he saw his own mate, Bluefur, sleeping gently on a pile of moss, grass, and leaves. The other two queens, Foxsong and Icetail, were sleeping as well.

As Snowstar quietly padded over to his mate, he rasped a tongue over her soft ear, and the lioness opened one eyes sleepily. She murmured, and yawned, flicking her tail-tip.

"I thought I recognized your scent," she meowed gently, touching noses with him.

Snowstar felt a rough purr rising in his chest as he gazed at his beautiful queen. Her fur was soft and glowing in the dark nursery light, her blue-tinted fur making her look like a ghost. His amber eyes flicked to her stomach, and finally the three little cubs suckling at her belly. His children.

"How are they, Bluefur?" he asked softly, eyes like stars as he gazed at them.

"They are strong," Bluefur chuckled. She winced as one cub, a golden-furred one, fiercely pawed her stomach. "Especially that little guy."

Snowstar felt a deep affection flowing over him as he blinked at his cubs. They were very young, only born a few days ago. It was still hard to imagine himself as a father. Suddenly thinking of another father in the Clan-
Blackscar- Snowstar remembered why he'd come, and all the excitement from his dream returned. "Bluefur," he said softly. "I have something to ask of you."

Bluefur blinked shrewdly up at her mate. "Does it have to do with Brightkit?"

Brightkit. Snowstar shivered as the name rang achingly close to the name of the great leader in his vision. "Who is that?" he asked, yet already knew the answer.

Bluefur lifted her pretty face and pointed towards the large nest a ways off from her, where a small orange-brown cub with black stripes lay, peacefully sleeping. "Blackscar's son," she murmured. Snowstar felt hope flare in
his chest; her voice contained no bitterness, unlike the other lion's, when speaking of Blackscar's son. Was it possible she would accept his offer then?

"It does have to do with him," Snowstar murmured. He noticed Foxsong, suckling her own two kits, blink open an eye sleepily, then close it quickly. "I- I need you to take him for me. To raise him as your own. I... I don't want him to die."

Bluefur frowned, whiskers twitching. "I thought you didn't want him as one of your warriors?"

Snowstar flicked an ear. "I had a change of heart."

His mate didn't looked convinced, and Snowstar was going to speak when she beat him to it. "I don't understand. He will never be a real warrior. Why tease him with the false hope?"

Snowstar sighed, and glanced across the nursery to where Blackscar's son... Brightkit... was still sleeping, his small sides rising and falling gently. He didn't feel like revealing the vision to anyone, even his mate, was right; but at the same time, he knew he had to present a good reason as to why the Queen of LightningClan should suckle a worthless half-Clan cub.

He finally dipped his furry face, his whiskers brushing her muzzle, and murmured, "StarClan have shown me something... amazing. Bluefur, you must trust me; I just... can't let that cub die."

Bluefur paused as she rasped a tongue over one of her children. "I don't think it's wise to raise a cross-Clan child, but... I do trust you." She reached up and gently touched her nose to Snowstar's. "Very well, Snowstar. I will take care of Blackscar's son; if he survives long enough, that is," she added ruefully. Snowstar felt a shiver in his heart as he realized Bluefur felt the same sad doubt about the runt even being strong enough to live to six moons, when he could be apprenticed.

Apprenticed.

The words struck sudden questions in Snowstar's mind as he quietly padded over and gently took the striped cub in his jaws. If Brightkit managed to survive to his sixth moon, would the Clan accept him as an apprentice?

And what about a mentor? What lion would want to train a cross-Clan child like Brightkit? As brave and loyal as each LightningClan warrior was, Snowstar knew none of them would want to take on an apprentice of mixed blood.

Sighing, he gently placed Brightkit close to Bluefur's swollen stomach, and the tiny scrap wiggled around for a moment, realizing it was close to milk and other little warm bodies, and it let out a little meow.
Snowstar's whiskers twitched with gentle amusement, and he couldn't help but notice the uncertainty in Bluefur's eyes melt as she tenderly rasped a pink tongue over his body, nudging him a little closer to his new adopted kin.

But they weren't adopted, Snowstar realized as he purred a low word of deep thanks to his mate, touched his tail to her flank, and slipped out of the nursery. Blackscar was Snowstar's brother, and that meant Brightkit was
Snowstar's nephew. So my children are his cousins, he murmured to himself; he felt a small prick of unease tingle in his paws. Would other warriors blame Brightkit's kin, or possibly Snowstar himself, when the other Clans discovered Blackscar's terrible affair?

They will have to, he thought sadly as he strode across the damp clearing, nodding to his warriors as they trotted by. Surely WaterClan has found the area where Blackscar buried his beloved and his dead daughters? And that meant they wouldn't keep it a secret at the next Gathering.

Wow- is little Brightkit destined for more than we think? Check back Saturday- reviews!! :3