The sky had been painted with light blues, pinks, and oranges from the rising sun by the time SunClan had reached their camp. Aurorastar stood at the entrance of the camp with Nightsun, watching each of her clanmates file in.
Grief struck Aurorastar as she watched Nightheart and Mistpaw carry Skypaw's body into camp. Nightheart's once bright amber eyes were now clouded with sorrow for the loss of her apprentice. Skypaw was too young to die, Aurorastar thought sadly.
They were closely followed by Leapordsun and Bluefire, carrying Fireleaf's body. Aurorastar watched as his soft orange tail dragged limply in the dust behind them.
When everyone had settled into the camp, Aurorastar and Nightsun slowly padded in.
Wolfsong sat by the nursery, her tail twined with her mate's, Tigerfang. The two watched their Clanmates amble in until Tigerfang's dark green eyes settled on his brother's body, Fireleaf.
"No!" he cried out, rushing towards him. Both Skypaw and Fireleaf's bodies had been placed in the center of the camp for vigil.
Most cats began to move out of the way, leaving room for Skypaw and Fireleaf's kin to sit with the bodies of their lost clanmates.
"What happened?" Tigerpaw asked. She, along with Viperfire, Berrypaw, Tigerfang, the queens, and Starwhisper and Birchpaw, had stayed at camp.
Aurorastar, ignoring the protests of her aching muscles, leaped on top of the Brightledge. "DarkClan has been defeated!" Yowls of triumph followed her words, though not as loud as they typically were. "Darkstar was killed, and Foxclaw and very few of her followers left Clan territory. ShadowClan has picked Tawnyclaw as their new leader." Murmurs of approval followed. "SunClan, along with the other Clans, paid a great price in battle today. We lost Skypaw and Fireleaf. Skypaw was young, and was becoming an excellent warrior SunClan would be proud of. Fireleaf had already made SunClan proud many times over. We will miss his bravery, cheerfulness, and courage to always make the right choice. May they walk among the stars in happiness." Aurorastar and the rest of the Clan remained silent for a moment. "Tonight, we will remain with our fallen clanmates in vigil."
Aurorastar stepped down off Brightledge, joining Eclipsewing, Nightsun, and Searose. Though StarClan had healed her killing wound, Aurorastar's body still stung from scratches, and a tiny stream of blood oozed from a wound on her shoulder Foxclaw had inflicted.
"You should really get your wounds checked," Nightsun said, a worrying tone in his voice.
"There are cats with much more fatal wounds in need of more medical assistance than me," Aurorastar replied, her eyes landing on Dapplecloud. The she cat's belly had been practically sliced open, and was now receiving full medical attention from Starwhisper and Birchpaw.
"Do you think Dapplecloud will recover?" Searose asked.
"Dapplecloud is a strong warrior. She will recover in no time," Aurorastar replied, "just like SunClan."
"Petalblossom is kitting!"
Aurorastar had only just settled down to sleep after the vigil for Skypaw and Fireleaf when the call had rang through the late night air.
"Petalblossom is kitting!" Crystalclaw called again, anxiety in her mew. Aurorastar could taste the scent of fear in the air, and she immediately knew it wasn't from just Crystalclaw.
Trying not to wake Nightsun, who was sleeping next to her, Aurorastar quickly scrambled out of her den. Starwhisper and Birchpaw were rushing towards the nursery, bundles of herbs in their mouths. Crystalclaw herded her kits and Redkit out of the nursery, along with her denmate, Waterfall, who was with her kits, Lightningkit, Stormkit, Thunderkit, and Rainkit. Flower and her litter followed a little ways behind.
The nursery will be packed soon, Aurorastar realized, glancing at Wolfsong and Honeysplash's plump bellies. We should begin expanding the nursery for future kits and queens.
"Do you wish to watch?" Starwhisper asked Honeysplash and Wolfsong. The two queens had also woken up at Crystalclaw's call. "You will be kitting soon."
"Yes, please," Honeysplash answered, and the two queens squeezed inside.
Aurorastar went to join Waterfall, Crystalclaw, Flower, and Silverblaze, who was now pacing outside the entrance to the nursery. As Clan leader, she somehow felt that she should remain awake during Petalblossom's kitting.
"Aurorastar!" Rainkit squealed, her soft light gray fur bristling in excitement. "Will you play a game with us?"
"Rainkit, Aurorastar isn't here to play games," said Waterfall sternly. She turned to Aurorastar. "I'm sorry, the kits are just excited."
"It's okay." Aurorastar flicked an ear. "I'd love to play a game with them."
Immediately all eleven kits rushed over to her, mewing excitedly.
"Okay, kits, we are going to play Hunt the Mouse, but the rule is that you have to be as quiet as possible, otherwise the mouse will hear you. Do you think you can do that?"
"Yes!" they all whispered. So Aurorastar placed a leaf at the far edge of the camp as the 'mouse'. She watched as the kits quietly snuck up on it, their tails sticking straight up in the air.
Aurorastar stifled a yawn, feeling her eyes droop. She felt a soft tail on her shoulder, and Waterfall sat next to her.
"I know you feel like it is a responsibility to remain here, but even Clan leaders must sleep. Go to your nest; Petalblossom will be fine."
Aurorastar blinked her thanks to the queen and padded back to her nest.
Nightsun lifted his head, blinking sleep from his eyes. "Everything alright?"
"Everything is fine." Aurorastar licked his ear before curling into her nest and letting sleep take over her.
I hope this chapter brought most pleasant feelings to you ^.^ I'm sorry if anyone is bothered with so many fillers in this story so far. Because I have so much content to add in, there will be more. I don't want this story to drag on for so long that it gets boring. Anyway, hope you are enjoying it!