Chapter 7 Different Paths

One warm dawn in newleaf, everything was very still and quiet. The camp was calm, and nearly everyone felt relaxed and content.

Cherrykit and Mistkit grew more as a part of the Clan, with having little memory of what happened in the past before they had come. I guessed it was probably because they were half starved, back then. The Clan had to worry less about their whereabouts, and so the Clan was pretty much back to normal.

Well, the Clan was feeling quiet and peaceful until an unexpected cat visited the Nursery.

"Oh, that's right, Bluekit, Silverkit, and Longkit, you haven't met Stormwind." Willowflight explained.

An awkward moment of silence passed.

"May I ask, who in the Twoleg infested cat world is he?..." I asked.

"Well, my name is Stormwind, and you probably haven't met me because I haven't been in the camp for a long while." My mother's eyes filled with tears. "Its been so long Stormwind, how was your journey?"

Stormwind's only reply was, "Great! Well, I couldn't find you in the Warrior's Den, so I thought you might be just visiting the Nursery."

Willowflight looked embarrassed. Could he really not know about my sisters and I being her kits? "I'm not visiting. These are my kits, Longkit, Silverkit, and Bluekit."

Shock covered Stormwind's face. "You mean," He looked as if he were gasping for breath. "You mean, you had another litter?" He eventually stuttered.

"Well, my last litter. You know my first died in the fox invasion and you were my second. This is my third and final." Willowflight unwillingly spoke. There was another moment of silence in the Nursery, as all the kits were outside and the queens were on a stroll. You could hear a mouse scurry across the den. "...You kits go outside, I have something I need to say to Stormwind."

We left the reuniting cats at (hopefully) peace. We came out into the busy camp.

The first one to talk was Longkit's stomach.

"I haven't eaten yet,...I guess I'll have a mouse or two." Sadly, some may say Longkit is growing as fat as Lillypaw.

Next to leave was Silverkit. She went to visit the elders.

I decided to go to the Apprentice Den. Near the den, I saw Icepaw mumbling under his breath.

"Hey, Icepaw, what's wrong?" I walked up to him, but he moved his head in a different direction angrily.

After a little while, in which I just stood there, waiting for him to explain, he finally said, "Hmph…" he took a deep breath and added, "Frozenleaf hates me." He shook his head furiously.

"What?" I asked, slightly incredulous. "No mother hates her kits."

"You wouldn't understand."

"I really don't think that's the case," I continued, as if he hadn't said anything. "I think this is about how she's finally starting to remember Honeypaw." I spoke reassuringly.

"You really think so?" Icepaw sounded like he was forcing it out.

I nodded. "If you want to earn her respect, or something like that, maybe you could try to be a great apprentice and warrior."

I waited while Icepaw pondered this. Eventually, he said, "I'll try to remember that." As an afterthought, he admitted, "Thanks, anyways." With that he left the Apprentice Den.

That left me to ponder on my thoughts. Why is the camp so empty? And why have I not seen Pebblelight in my dreams since forever? Well, really it's more like a moon, but still, where could she be? Don't StarClan cats have a lot of time; can't they come and train me?

"I hear your thoughts, loud and clear." A voice spooked me from behind.

"AHHH! WHO'S THERE?" I turned around to see a black cat with blue eyes. Stars shimmered faintly around her.

"Hey, Pebblelight, how are you doing?" I acted as if we had just seen each other the previous dawn. But not being able to hold my anger in any longer, I started to twitch with annoyance.

"Shush, be quiet, and, um, sorry that I have not seen you in a while. I've been...busy...So how have you been coming along?"

I gave Pebblelight a very cold stare. A little dangerous to do with a StarClan cat, but it seemed to work on Pebblelight. "Ok, fine, fine. Bluekit, what do you want?"

I jumped happily. "Could you teach me some more water tricks?" I really wanted to ask Pebblelight about Sandstorm, but I was afraid of the answer. Focus on training. Focus on training.

Pebblelight disagreed. "There is no 'trick' about it." She waved her tail, gesturing for me to follow her. Soon, I realized we were getting farther and farther away from camp.

"Wait, we're not going out of camp, are we?"

"Where else? We're trying not be seen after all."

We walked through the breaks in between bushes and trees. Well, at least I did. Pebblelight evidently had decided to show off and go right through the undergrowth. We walked at a fast pace for a bit, with me hurrying to catch up to Pebblelight, short legs and all. We came across a small cave and padded in.

"This is where you will start helping the Clans. There is a drought going on so far throughout the Clans. The Clans are thriving, but they can't thrive forever."

After a moment, I figured out what I had to do. "Shouldn't I just be helping my Clan, and not the others? Why would I help the others?"

Pebblelight gazed at me. "The Clans are like roots on a tree." She guided me back out from inside the cave. "Though they are separate, they are also one and the same."

"But still, I belong to ThunderClan! Why would I help the other Clans?"

Pebblelight sighed.

"To destroy one Clan is to destroy all of them. Meaning, if you do not help the other Clans, they may not survive. The Clans need each other. Though they do not know it, they need each other. Excluding all of that," Pebblelight looked down at me. "You may be born a ThunderClan cat, but your loyalties belong to all of them. You are not just an ordinary cat. The Clans will not survive if you only help ThunderClan."

"Hmph." I muttered, still annoyed.

Pebblelight went back to instructing me.

"Focus your energy to your back and out into the sky. Imagine gathering all the clouds and then.."

I did what she said, and saw the clouds moving and arranging into storm clouds and released it. "Hmmm...you figured out the last part. Well done."

I nodded proudly. Suddenly, we heard a scream. "BLUEKIT! Bluekit, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"

"Lillypaw! It's not what you think, really!" I tried to calm her down. "Pebblelight, a little help here?"

Lillypaw stared at my mentor and then at me. "Bluekit, you are such a traitor." There was a moment of silence from all three of us.

"STOP! Lillypaw, you are the first to know about this, but to know this you will need to calm down." Pebblelight patiently waited, and Lillypaw settled down, though it took a while.

"Bluekit is a special cat, and is not a traitor. I am from StarClan and I'm here to train her. This our secret alone, understand? Go back to camp and never, and I mean never,mention this again to anyone." Pebblelight explained, ending with a menacing tone. I wondered how she knew what Lillypaw was so mad about, then wrote it off as some kind of StarClan power.

Lillypaw left as quickly as she could. Pebblelight, after a moment, said that the training we had today was enough, and sent me back to camp.

I snuck back to camp. I pretended to be asleep, but something felt wrong. The air had more tension in it. I think my life had just changed for the worse. I thought that over and over until the thought lulled me into a miserable sleep.