Prologue
On a windy night, stars filled the sky, lighting up the plains. Long rustling blades of grass where bleached silver as the moon illuminated them. Everything was silent when a young cat pulled away from her mother's warm flank and pushed herself out of the bramble patch that was the nursery.
When she got out she gave her short white fur a lick and stray further from the nursery and deeper into the long grass until she reached a small hill that was home to a skinny and sickly tree.
The kit climes up the naked tree rested herself on a branch and looked up at Silverpelt. Her mind filled with awe as she looked up at the dazzling night sky, trying to count all of the stars. She wondered if some of the diseased elders were here. She remembered their tall tales about how Silverpelt was home to Starclan.
As the awestruck kit studied the sky, she whispered: "Oh, you're so beautiful tonight, Silverpelt!" She fluffed up her fur, wondering if they would notice her better if she did so. "I'm so lucky I'm in Windclan! No twisty trees or icky caves to cover you up!" she mewed a bit louder this time. She continued to gaze at the brilliant star-speckled sky until the dreamlike silence was broken once more.
"Steamkit!" Steamkit was so surprised that her claws slipped and she had fallen out of the skinny tree. She crashed on the soft grass and tumbled down the hill. "Who's there!" exclaimed, winded. She looked around trying to catch a glimpse of her intruder at the bottom of the hill. Another kit stepped into Steamkit's view with his black fur bleached silver and his amber eyes filled with irritation.
"Great Starclan!" Sighed the other kit. "It's me, Bumblekit, you've known me for your entire life!" Steamkit got up, gave herself a quick shake and bounded back up the hill. Bumblekit bounded after her. When they got to the top Steamkit mewed "How did you know I was here? I was using my best stealth crouch!" Bumblekit sighed and rolled his eyes. "If you call a stealth crouch lumbering around like a lopsided badger, then you certainly did it right!" He snorted.
Steamkit wasn't even listening. She clawed her way back up the tree and rested herself on a branch. The moment Bumblekit noticed her absence he claimed up the tree and sat on the same branch. "You do realise that we're going to be apprentices tomorrow, we need our rest and-" Steamkit hushed him. Steamkit looked at him seriously with her mismatched eyes and meowed:
"Bumblekit, this is the last night of our kit hood. And I want to spend it like this." Bumblekit sighed and smiled. "What am I going to do with you, Steamkit." He twined his tail around hers and licked her cheek affectionately and mewed "Maybe I do too." The two kits spent their last night keeping each other warm and sharing tongues under the stars.