It was difficult, watching your father die.
Dovekit knew that she could do nothing to stop it. She knew that he would be lauded as a hero by his Clan. She knew that his pain and fear would only last as long as it took for the water to numb his mind and put him to sleep.
It was still incredibly painful to watch as Falconstorm struggled in vain against his foe's far greater strength.
She knew that he wasn't gifted like Heronflight, and that even as she got as close to him as she could in her spiritual state, he wouldn't feel her. Wouldn't hear her coos of comfort. Wouldn't smell her scent.
She wanted to hold him like he held her when she had died. It had been so cold, but his warmth had been everything to her in that final moment.
He had nothing now, and the pain of that made Dovekit want to scream.
It didn't take long for the cold to take him. He died as peacefully as one could as they drowned in freezing water. As the last stream of bubbles escaped his mouth, Dovekit felt a presence appear beside her.
She looked up and saw her father, strong and healthy, standing beside her. He watched his body sink out of sight. His gray eyes were solemn, and he didn't seem to notice her standing there.
Dovekit let him have a moment. She knew how strange it was to find oneself dead. She only spoke after his body had vanished completely.
"You showed them you loved them in the end."
Falconstorm flinched and turned, his eyes wide. As his eyes met hers, she could feel his pain blossom in his chest. Her heart ached for him.
"Dovekit." he rasped. He made to move toward her, but hesitated. He shrank with shame, pulling in on himself and making himself small.
"I don't deserve your praise." He said in a shaking voice. "I was a terrible father to you all."
Dovekit padded up to him and put one of her tiny paws on his. He was trembling.
"I loved you so much." His voice had fallen to a bare whisper. "And you just…"
"Died." Dovekit finished for him.
He finally looked at her. His wide eyes were full of anguish.
Dovekit reached up with her muzzle as far as she could go. It wasn't very far. Falconstorm blinked and bent down to meet her nose to nose. He closed his eyes and breathed in time with her.
After a moment Dovekit drew away. She turned and began walking away across the ice. Falconstorm got up and followed her. His larger strides easily brought him level with her.
"You made mistakes." Dovekit chose her words carefully. "They'll have conflicted feelings about you for a long time."
Falconstorm was quiet. He understood.
"But they also won't forget what you did for them." Dovekit added. The ground around them had started to change into warm dirt and scattered moss-covered stones. The frozen lake was fading behind them, and the air was beginning to warm.
Falconstorm didn't ask any questions. He followed Dovekit's lead obediently, quiet and introspective.
After a while of silence during which the pair crossed fully over into StarClan territory, Falconstorm spoke.
"Crowfrost will live?"
Dovekit debated telling him the truth; that she didn't know, but she couldn't bring herself to.
"Yes." she said. She ducked under a tiny fern frond.
"Ferntail, she'll…"
"She is strong. She will understand what you had to do."
He was quiet for a while after that, too. Dovekit let him take his time. She watched the little swirling motes of pale violet light spin around in the air while she waited for him. No one in StarClan had ever given her a satisfactory explanation for them. They just existed in this world. She liked them.
"Dovekit, what was that thing we fought?"
Dovekit slowed her already tiny pace. She let out a deep breath before answering. "Something very old. And very angry."
Falconstorm flicked an ear. "StarClan knows about it then. They must know, because they sent those spirit warriors to fight." he was speaking quickly, as if he was trying to convince himself as well as her.
Dovekit opened her mouth to retort, but she was interrupted by the sound of excited voices. They had arrived.
Falconstorm peered through the misty trees. "Who…?" his eyes widened as he took in the scent of the cats just beyond the curtain of obscuring fog. He picked up speed and passed Dovekit without a word.
Dovekit didn't mind. This part was for him.
She watched him pass the treeline and enter a clearing filled with cats. Stars glittered on each of their pelts. Some were like Falconstorm, bright-eyed and as solid as life. Others were much longer dead, and had started to fade. Dovekit could even see a clear outline of the trees through one particularly old spirit's pelt.
The eyes of the spirit cats turned as one to settle on Falconstorm, who had come to a dead stop at the edge of the light mist.
A heavy-set gray tom with thick black tabby stripes pushed his way to the front of the crowd of murmuring StarClan warriors. His gray eyes sparkled as he took Falconstorm in.
"I always told your mother you would die a hero's death," the tom said.
Falconstorm's mouth gaped. "Ravenstripe." he said. "Father."
The rest of the crowd began to move in, yowling praise and welcome to the fallen warrior. Falconstorm's grief seemed to ease and swell like the waves on the lake as he took in the faces of cats long dead and cats he did not know had died that same day.
Dovekit watched, bittersweet, as he was welcomed into the ranks of StarClan as a hero.
Her ears twitched as the rustling sounds of an approaching cat drew near.
"You didn't tell him." the newcomer said. Her voice was not reproachful, mostly curious.
Dovekit turned to face Snowbreeze. The she-cat had no stars in her fur, and she looked distinctly uncomfortable to be here.
"He needs a moment." Dovekit said, turning back to see Falconstorm butting heads affectionately with Shadowgrove.
Snowbreeze nodded. They sat in silence for a few heartbeats.
"They're gathering." Snowbreeze said.
Dovekit sighed. She enjoyed watching her father be genuinely happy for this moment. Then she swished her stubby tail and turned away.
"Come on then." she said.
. . .
The former leaders of the four Clans had chosen a peculiar spot to laud their victory over a threat to the forest, Dovekit thought. Few of the residents of StarClan ever came this far into the misty parts of the territory. One could barely hear a tree-length in every direction, and the mist swallowed everything further than a cat could jump.
Dovekit watched alongside Snowbreeze as two cats sat stone still around a small pond. If Dovekit had not already known who they were, she would have guessed that they had only died recently. Their pelts were solid and full of the color of life. Their backs did not bow with age, and their eyes were vibrant with energy.
But Dovekit knew that these cats were old. Very, very old.
The two that had already arrived sat without speaking. A tall pale brown she-cat sat with her chin held high and her blue eyes fixed on a spot in the mist across the pond. The other was a smaller black tom with green eyes that burned with annoyance.
Dovekit shuffled in her hiding place just behind a large fallen tree that lay on the spine of the small hill that led down into the hollow with the pond. Snowbreeze shot her a look. Dovekit stilled.
A moment later another cat arrived. The white and brown she-cat emerged from the spot where the tall she-cat had been staring. The newcomer picked her way down the pebbly decline and took a dainty seat at the water's edge. She didn't acknowledge the other two.
No one spoke. There was still one more cat to come.
Dovekit was beginning to grow restless by the time he appeared. He pushed his way through some undergrowth and stalked casually into the hollow. He was the largest of the four, with a gleaming reddish tabby pelt and lively yellow eyes. Just behind him skulked a small pale tabby tom who clearly did not want to be there.
The tall she-cat narrowed her eyes at the sight of the extra.
"You couldn't leave your sycophant behind, Cedarstar?" she hissed.
Cedarstar sat down opposite the tall she-cat and gave her a placid look. "No one else cares if my trusted medicine cat joins us, do they?" he looked around at the other two. The black tom shrugged and the white she-cat just rolled her eyes.
The tall she-cat opened her mouth again but was interrupted by the white she-cat.
"He's just goading you, Willowstar. Let it go."
Willowstar narrowed her eyes but said nothing more. Cedarstar cast her a smug glance and gave a short bow to the white she-cat.
"You spoil my fun, Alderstar." he purred.
Alderstar wrapped her fluffy tail around her paws and said nothing.
"Can we get on with it?" the black tom snarled. It wasn't difficult for Dovekit to guess his name. This irritable little tom must be Pinestar.
Alderstar gave Pinestar a nod. "Yes. Let's."
Cedarstar cast a gleeful glance at Willowstar. "Yet another threat to the forest is dealt with." he said with a dramatic sigh. "And with it comes more proof that the forest is better off now than it has ever been."
Dovekit and Snowbreeze exchanged a dark glance. Just as they had expected.
Willowstar stood up suddenly. Her eyes were blazing. "Better off?!" she said sharply. "My Clan is in ruins."
"Perhaps you should be more careful about who you give nine lives to." Pinestar grumbled.
Alderstar nodded. "Cougarstar was very young."
Cedarstar shook his head gravely. "She shunned the true guidance of StarClan in the end."
Willowstar showed her fangs. "Don't you dare try to blame this on my cats. You know full well who is behind this and why."
Dovekit had to stifle a noise of surprise. She felt Snowbreeze stiffen beside her.
The demeanor of the other three ancient leaders had changed on a claw's point. Cedarstar's jaunty air vanished, replaced with a dark anger. Alderstar and Pinestar both raised their hackles. Willowstar held her ground and stared back defiantly.
"She is done away with." Alderstar said. Her calm mew could not hide the fury that her smoldering eyes betrayed. "Not even her kind could have escaped the lake unscathed."
Willowstar snorted. "You have never been a fool, Alderstar. Don't start now."
"We have rebuffed her every attempt to harm the Clans, and we will continue to do so." Pinestar said in a low hiss.
"You went too far this time." Willowstar snapped. She rounded on Cedarstar. "What made you think that gifting re-breath was a good idea?"
Cedarstar's eyes widened. His medicine cat, who Dovekit had entirely forgotten was even there, flinched as if he had been struck.
"Why shouldn't I give my Clan the greatest gift of the forest? It is their right. It is their inheritance!" Cedarstar puffed out his chest as he spoke. Alderstar nodded in agreement.
"Inheritance!" Willowstar barked with mirth. "The inheritance of what? Thieves?"
The other three leaders were growing more agitated by the moment. Dovekit was half expecting Cedarstar to attack. Instead, when he next spoke, his voice was low and calm.
"What do you think would have happened if our Clans weren't gifted as they are? Cougarstar was out of control. She would have destroyed the whole forest before our Clans could have done anything to stop her."
Willowstar's eyes bulged with disbelief. "Cougarstar would never have gotten out of control if we hadn't provoked her."
Alderstar scoffed. "That thing has hated us from the start. She would have meddled regardless."
"Just admit you made the wrong choice, Willowstar. I know that's hard for you." Pinestar said coldly.
Cedarstar looked Willowstar in the eye. "You should feel lucky that WillowClan survived at all. If it came down to it, I would choose the betterment of the forest over having four Clans." The threat was a heavy one that hung thickly in the air.
Willowstar opened and closed her mouth a few times but nothing came out. Eventually she clamped her jaws shut and took to glaring at Cedarstar with unmasked contempt.
"Now then." Alderstar said briskly. "We should discuss matters of greater importance. Some of AlderClan's warriors were named without the guidance of StarClan due to the," she paused and glanced at Willowstar, "issue with trade."
Dovekit stopped listening. She had heard enough. Willowstar sat still, completely and fully cowed by her peers. The issue had been dropped.
With a swift motion to let Snowbreeze know they should leave, Dovekit turned and slipped silently into the undergrowth. They made sure to move a safe distance from the pond before speaking again. When Dovekit could no longer smell water on the air, she stopped and turned to Snowbreeze.
The white she-cat's eyes were shining with furious anguish. "How can they just ignore what's happening?" she burst out.
Dovekit shook her head. "I don't know." her mind was racing. What had Willowstar meant by 'thieves'? And what were the 'gifts' they kept mentioning? Was Heronflight's ability to sense and speak to the dead an ability he should not have?
Even more disturbing still, it sounded like the ancient leaders knew very well what was terrorizing the forest. They just didn't want to do anything about it.