Chapter 13

When Emberheart awoke in Starclan alone. She was glad, there was something she had to do.

Emberheart moved forward, going deeper into Starclan. She entered the part the old Thunderclan cats lived, she knew it was where cats from Stormclan went to now. There was some water nearby, with cats who'd died as kits playing at it.

Windkit was with them. Emberheart smiled, glad the kit seemed happy. Then Windkit saw her. "Emberheart!" She cried happily.

"Emberheart?" Another kit, Mosskit Emberheart believed, turned towards her. The other kits stopped playing and turned their attention over to her.

"Emberheart come play with us!" Windkit said.

She looked so hopeful for a moment Emberheart wanted to say yes, but she didn't have much time in Starclan. She shook her head. "I can't. I have something to do."

Windkit frowned. "Oh."

Milkkit and Hollykit looked at each other. "Go ahead." Hollykit urged. "And good luck."

Emberheart gave the kits a nod and took off again. She saw a few other cats from Thunderclan as she went, Squirrelflight was leading a hunting patrol.

Then Emberheart smelled the cat she was looking for. She paused, then stepped forward. Lavapaw was sitting by the river, staring into it. Emberheart swallowed and stepped forward. "Lavapaw," She stated simply.

"Emberheart." Lavapaw addressed in the same tone. "Nice warrior name, it fits you."

Emberheart bristled. "Strange," She growled. "I thought you liked things like Emberhead. Or maybe Burnface."

To her surprise Lavapaw didn't get back. "Sorry." He mumbled. He dropped lower, so he was more lying next to the water than sitting by it.

Emberheart blinked and shook her head. "No, no don't be sorry. That's why I'm here. I'm here to say, I'm sorry."

Lavapaw just grunted. Emberheart looked at him closely, without getting any closer. He didn't seem like Lavapaw, he just seemed . . . tired. Emberheart shuffled her paws, not sure what to say. "I'm sorry." She turned around.

"You said that already." Lavapaw muttered.

Emberheart turned around a smiled slightly. "I'm sorry."

Lavapaw leapt up. "Would you stop that!? You have nothing to be sorry for! I hate being in Starclan but I let myself give up!"

Emberheart tilted her head slightly and glared. "You're speaking in past tense." Lavapaw turned towards her questioningly. "The way I see it, you've still given up."

Lavapaw bristled. "I have not!"

"You're sitting by yourself staring at the water. And you've just apologized to me." She raised her eyebrows. "Now that's definitely giving up."

"Yeah and you don't deserve it." Lavapaw muttered. Strangely it almost made Emberheart happy to hear him say that, it sounded more like him. He spoke louder again. "I'm in Starclan. What else can I do?"

"Watch the clans, visit some of the other cats in Starclan, I don't know." She shook her head violently. "You can't be the only cat who died as an apprentice."

"No, he's not."

Both of them turned around. "Swiftpaw." They chorused.

Swiftpaw gave a nod. "Congratulations on your name Emberheart." He said to Emberheart as he walked past her. "Now go back, I can handle Lavapaw."

"Where are we going?" Lavapaw asked skeptically as Swiftpaw led him away.

"To see some other cats. Come on, let's see my mentor first."


Sliverstripes woke up in Starclan. She had to look around for a little before seeing the Starclan cat. "Leafpool?" She asked in confusion. Leafpool was a Thunderclan cat, Sliverstripes was always visited by Shadowclan cats, since they'd formed Fallenclan. And from the look she had, the reason she was here couldn't be good. Sliverstripes shuffled her feet nervously. "What are you doing here?"

Leafpool looked at her sadly. "Starclan thought I should be the one to tell you, having kits is breaking the rules. . ."

"I knew that." Sliverstripes said. It was sort of interrupting, but she had paused there.

"And that's the problem." Leafpool replied. "There's going to be some sort of punishment."

Sliverstripes gulped. "What punishment?"

Leafpool looked away a little. "I don't know yet. But I have a hunch."

"What? What is it?!"

Leafpool looked around and moved a little closer towards Sliverstripes. Obviously she wasn't supposed to say whatever she was about to. "Sliverstripes, Starclan isn't going to punish you. But your kits might be in danger."

Sliverstripes gasped. "No." She breathed. She grew louder. "You can't-!" She didn't get to finish her sentence. She woke up next to moonstone at that moment. Luckily she was the first one to wake up, so no one would question her about the shouting.

Sliverstripes sighed and looked down at the ground. 'Your kits might be in danger.' They wouldn't hurt kits who couldn't control who they were born to, right? I've got to get back and make sure they're okay. She thought.

(You know, sometimes it feels like I'm getting worse at making canon characters act. . . in character.)