Chapter 2

Chapter 2

           

     It was a bright, fresh, warm new-leaf evening when the kit was born.  Two kits, on that note.  The ginger tom and the silver she-cat named them Stormkit and Petalkit, the two perfect, healthy just born, tom and she-cat.  They squealed and mewed like regular kits, but their mother knew they were more than just two kits.  There was something about them, Ivymist would say, they share some bond that I just can't explain.  But the tom would just reply that every queen felt that way about their kit, but they would soon learn that they had given birth to a normal kit who's destiny was to be a warrior, nothing more, only perhaps a medicine cat apprentice.

                And as the days grew colder, the kits grew and grew, and soon the young queen moved back to the warrior's den, and the kits blossomed into apprentices.  They worked hard and were skilled fighters, bound to be great, hard-working warriors.  Every hunting patrol they would come back and supply a well-stocked fresh kill pile, and well-marked borders.

                The leaf-bare turned back to new-leaf, and the cycle repeated.  Nothing seemed special about those two cats, nothing pecular.  Yet the queen Ivymist still carried that feeling, and Flamestar still denied it.  Soon, their father recieved the privilage that most parents didn't have: the ability to name their own kin. 

                "Stormpaw and Petalpaw, do you promise to respect the warrior code and protect your clanmates, even at the cost of your life?" Flamestar asked them.

                "I do," they replied.  Flamestar nodded and gazed to the sky.  Sharpfang gave the aged tom his nod of approval.

                "Than by the power of StarClan, I give you your warrior names.   Petalpaw, you shall now be Petalblossom."  Petalblossom gazed at her father, her mother's silver fur shining in the sunlight.

                "And Stormpaw, you shall now be Stormspark.  May StarClan light your paths."  And as the young warrior shouted her kits' names, she then realized that it was only the ginger tom that would grow to be great, and the silver she-cat would be nothing more than a warrior.  This pained Ivymist, for the young she-cat would grow to be like the rest of the clan, while the tom would be like his father.  Like his father.  Ivymist hoped that he wouldn’t grow into a leader, to give another cat a chance.  The leader’s son, another leader.  It just didn’t seem right.

                Lots had changed since what the clans called the Rebellion.  For example, what were the young warriors had grown into senior warriors, and many new kits were welcomed into the nursery, along with new queens.  Darkfeather, Warsong, and Pebblestep all had kits of their own, and Fastclaw, Wolfstrike, and Thornclaw were now fathers.  Most of their kits were about five months old, Thornclaw and Pebblestep’s apprentices, along with Warsong and Wolfstrike’s.  Ashfeather had served her destiny and joined StarClan a few moons after the Rebellion, and Grayfur was the main medicine cat.  Pebblestep’s kit Cinderkit showed a major interest in herbs, and Grayfur invited her to share tongues with StarClan. 

                But the biggest change of all happened a few days after Stormspark and Petalblossom’s ceremony.  It was an event that left the entire clan shocked, especially Grayfur, Sharpfang, and Ivymist.  None of the clan had recovered from the shock of it, it was so unnatural.

                Without any warning, Flamestar had vanished.