*Let me know what you think of Mapledawn's name! And isn't Wrencatcher cute? I thought of naming him Wrensong for his diplomatic nature, but when he decided to kill a wren for his warrior assessment Yellowstar had to call him Wrencatcher. Acorntail got a simple suffix because he doesn't have much character. Frecklefang I wasn't too sure about-a fang with freckles doesn't make much sense, but neither did Frecklewish, and I needed to give her a suffix that eludes to her feisty, violent nature. Freckleclaw would have been too forgettable, and Frecklefang at least has a nice ring to it.*
Mapledawn trotted beside Wrencatcher, her fur fluffed up against the roaring moorland wind. Frecklefang trailed behind them, with Acorntail up front and Rabbitleap leading the patrol. Mapledawn panted slightly from the walk. Her throat hardly hurt anymore, though her meow had a raspy edge whenever she spoke now. Her neck still ached where Scratchstar had sliced it, but so long as she didn't stretch it too much, the wound didn't reopen.
"Almost there," said Rabbitleap.
"I can't wait to meet StarClan," said Acorntail, his eyes bright. "I wonder if we'll see Goosefur or the others."
"I'd manage your expectations," said Rabbitleap. "StarClan is usually silent. If they do speak to you," she said, flashing the young warrior a look, "keep it to yourself."
"Why?" meowed Frecklefang. "If I was leader, I'd want to know what StarClan said to my warriors."
"You're not leader," said Wrencatcher coolly. "So shut it."
They continued up the slope to Moonpool in silence. Mapledawn could feel Frecklefang's fuming gaze on her haunches. She was tempted to turn and snarl, to dare the hateful she-cat to make her move and attack already instead of sitting there glaring. But Mapledawn was a warrior now. She was on her way to meet StarClan-again. Maybe now that she'd had the warrior marks drawn in her fur, the Ageless Ones would see fit to come out and speak to her. Maybe she'd finally get some real answers instead of the desperate mewlings of a well-meaning dead kittypet.
Rabbitleap stopped just a tail length from the Moonpool's glittering edge.
"I expect all of you to be on your best behavior here." She fixed her daughter with a stern glare. "That includes you."
"Of course." Frecklefang seemed to be biting her lip to keep from spitting curses at her own mother. StarClan above, thought Mapledawn. I'd never narrow my eyes at Redpoppy like that.
Rabbitleap curled up next to the Moonpool, though she kept her nose out of it. This wasn't her new warrior ceremony. Acorntail touched his nose first; then Wrencatcher; then Frecklefang. Mapledawn was last. She felt the familiar chill as her nose touched the starry water.
She opened her eyes immediately to find herself between trees thick with green, glossy leaves. Plush grass rippled gently at her paws, and the scent of mouse drenched the air.
"Myler?" She strained her eyes to catch a glimpse of his black-and-white pelt.
Mapledawn fidgeted in the grass, waiting for the kittypet. But it wasn't Myler that approached this time. Five cats crested the rise, their scents unfamiliar but unmistakably FireClan. Mapledawn shivered as she caught the flash of amber eyes from the dark brown tom she'd seen before. The others didn't look half so angry to see her; there was a ragged ginger tom with nervous blue eyes, a small brown tabby she-cat with a white underbelly, a massive and light brown tom with a twisted jaw, and a ginger tom with white paws.
The nervous-looking tom spoke first. "Welcome, Mapledawn," he said. "I'm Nettlebreeze. Do you remember me?"
Mapledawn shook her head slightly. There was something about his nervous blue eyes that tugged at her memory, but she couldn't place it. "Sorry," she mewed.
"I thought you'd remember by now," growled the dark brown tom.
"Oakstar," said the she-cat, "wait your turn."
Nettlebreeze coughed and continued. "The others asked me to come. Because I saved your life when you… When you were her. I never regretted it."
"When I was who?" Mapledawn edged closer to the starry cats. "Who was I?"
The tom with the crooked jaw stepped forward. "You were Mapleshade. I only knew you after your death. You walked in my dreams. You tried to punish me for the sins of kin I'd never even met. You didn't succeed."
Mapleshade… Cats yowling her name around Highrock. Bloomheart's eyes dazzled with pride. Blood on her paws. A river taking them away.
"Why would I do that?" she whispered, shaking away the memories.
"I knew you in life," growled the dark brown tom. "You were once a decent cat. I would have been happy to name you my deputy one day. Until you betrayed us."
"She fell in love," said the she-cat, her eyes hard. "That isn't betrayal."
"Lying about the father of her kits was betrayal," hissed the big tom, Oakstar.
The ginger tom stepped forward now, quieting the others with a flick of his tail. "She deserves answers," he said. "My name is Thunder. I was the first leader of ThunderClan, long before it became FireClan. I watched your life from StarClan. I don't judge." He swished his tail. "When you've been here as long as me, you don't judge anymore. You were a good kit, ambitious and strong, and a clever apprentice. You could have had a great destiny leading my Clan, but then you fell in love with a RiverClan tom. When you had his kits, you were scared for their future. Scared your Clan would break the warrior code and drive them out for their parentage. So when Frecklewish started claiming the kits belonged to her dead brother, you didn't tell her any different. You thought your kits would be safe if the Clan believed they were Birchface's kits."
"Kits…" Mapledawn felt a familiar twinge in her chest. An old, buried pain. "My kits?"
"Larchkit. Petalkit. Patchkit. When Oakstar found out the truth, he sentenced them to exile."
"To protect my Clan," Oakstar growled.
"You broke the code. You sent them out to die." The she-cat narrowed her amber eyes.
"Of course you'd defend her, Leafpool," hissed the brown tom. "You did the same thing-"
"Silence." At Thunder's voice, quiet and full of authority, the others immediately shut their muzzles. "You tried to take them to live with their father, Appledusk, in RiverClan. But they were not sympathetic to your innocent kits, either. As you tried to cross the river, they drowned. Appledusk did not mourn them, or even ask their names, and he blamed you, Mapleshade, for their death. They were buried in a spot you would never see them again, without a proper StarClan burial. Even I do not know if they ended up in StarClan." Thunder's eyes flickered with emotion. "After, you were sick, starving, cast out from your home. Driven mad from grief and sickness, you began plotting your revenge to kill everyone responsible for your kits' deaths. In some ways, you succeeded. You killed Ravenwing, the medicine cat who revealed your treachery with a false sign from StarClan. And you killed Frecklewish with the help of an adder.
"Appledusk already had another mate pregnant with his kits. You managed to kill him, but his apprentice wounded you fatally in revenge for his death. You swore to take out your revenge on Reedshine, Appledusk's new mate, from beyond death."
"Wait," Mapledawn said, her claws coming out of their sheaths, "what do you mean, beyond death-"
"Let me finish. You went to the Dark Forest. You walked in cats dreams from there, trying to haunt them for being Reedshine's kin."
"And you didn't succeed," said the crooked-jawed tom. "My name is Crookedstar."
Mapledawn almost gasped aloud. The founder of CrookedClan!
"Because of you," he continued, "I became leader. Because of you, I vowed loyalty to my Clan. I had a mate and kits I loved. You had nothing to do with Willowbreeze, Willowkit, or Minnowkit's deaths, although you delighted watching me suffer the same pain as you. At the end of my life, I almost thanked you, Mapleshade-Mapledawn, I mean. You helped make me the leader I became."
"I'm sorry," said Mapledawn, unable to look into the tom's eyes. "I'm sorry for whatever I did before." Her claws sank into the bright green grass, and for a moment she could picture them covered in blood. "Frecklewish." Her vision cleared instantly. "Is she-"
"Frecklefang?" Thunder's eyes were inscrutable. "Perhaps. We sent you back to the Clans, Mapledawn, but we are not in charge of every cat's soul. Some travel without our knowledge, after they've faded beyond these hunting grounds."
Oakstar's eyes narrowed. "Using 'we' rather liberally, Thunder. I voted against this. A lot of ThunderClan voted against this. But in the end, a few softhearted fools-" he fixed the brown she-cat with a snarl- "won."
"I'm not a soft-hearted fool," said the she-cat. "My name is Leafpool. I, too, fell in love with a tom from another Clan, and had kits, hiding their true identity from my Clanmates until they were warriors. It hurt my Clan to find out the truth. I stepped down as medicine cat for a time. But I was never exiled." She flicked her soft brown tail. "That would have been cruel. My Clan would never have driven out my kits, even if they'd known the truth. Never. I could never regret breaking the code, Mapledawn, because without them my kits would not have been born. But I had to answer for my crimes. As you did in your past life."
"She didn't answer for her crimes!" yowled Oakstar. "She lived on in the Dark Forest, plotting her revenge, working with Tigerstar and Brokenstar to bring down the Clans!"
"But she could never get to see her kits again, or even know if they were safe in StarClan." Leafpool's eyes clouded with sympathy. "That's punishment enough. Now she has a second chance. A chance to live differently. A chance to accept help, no matter where it's given."
"Good luck, Mapledawn," said Thunder.
"Good luck," said Crookedstar.
"Try to be a little nicer," chimed in Nettlebreeze nervously.
"Keep a close eye on your pelt, Mapleshade," snarled Oakstar. "ThunderClan will not suffer another traitor in their ranks."