Stories

WARRIORS ~ AFTER SUNSET:WE NEED TO TALK





Cast list


ThunderClan
Leafpool: light brown tabby she-cat (medicine cat)
Brambleclaw: dark brown tabby tom (deputy of ThunderClan)
Cloudtail: long-haired white tom
Berrypaw: cream-colored tom (Brambleclaw’s apprentice)


WindClan
Crowfeather: dark gray tom
Onestar: brown tabby tom (leader of WindClan)
Tornear: tabby tom
Harepaw: light brown tom (Tornear’s apprentice)



Location
The narrow, overgrown stream that runs through the woods at the edge of the moor, which marks the border between ThunderClan and WindClan.


Time
Early leaf-fall, two moons after the death of Hawkfrost on ThunderClan territory in mysterious circumstances.

Leafpool is waiting for Crowfeather in the shelter of a holly bush. As he walks along the border on the other side of the stream, she pops out. He has no idea she’s there.


LEAFPOOL: Crowfeather, wait!
CROWFEATHER: What?! Leafpool, what are you doing here?
LEAFPOOL: I…I wanted to see you.
CROWFEATHER (wary, glancing around him to check no one’s watching): Why?
LEAFPOOL (surprised): Because it’s moons since I spoke to you! And…and there’s something I think you should know.
CROWFEATHER (bitter): No, there isn’t, Leafpool. You don’t have to tell me anything any more. We belong to different Clans, remember?
LEAFPOOL: Why are you being like this? It was hard for me too, you know. But ThunderClan needs me to be their medicine cat. I don’t have any choice.
CROWFEATHER: You did have a choice, and you chose to stay with them! Look, I shouldn’t even be talking to you. What if someone sees us? My Clanmates have only just begun to trust me again, and that’s mostly thanks to Nightcloud.
LEAFPOOL: Nightcloud? Why?
CROWFEATHER (looking uncomfortable): She…she had my kits last moon. Onestar’s
going to announce it at the next Gathering.
LEAFPOOL (stunned, in a small voice): Oh. I didn’t know.
CROWFEATHER: Well, what did you think I’d do? Let my Clanmates go on thinking I
was more loyal to ThunderClan? Nightcloud’s a great cat, and a good mother.
LEAFPOOL (cutting him off): You were right, Crowfeather. We don’t have anything to say
to each other now. Goodbye.


Before Leafpool can leave, three ThunderClan cats appear: Brambleclaw, Cloudtail, and
Berrypaw.


BRAMBLECLAW: Leafpool! Are you okay?
LEAFPOOL: Yes, I’m fine.
CLOUDTAIL (to Crowfeather): What are you doing here? Doesn’t WindClan have enough
warriors to send out proper patrols?
CROWFEATHER: Of course we do.
BERRYPAW (curious): What are you doing out here on your own?
CROWFEATHER: Onestar doesn’t keep us prisoner in the camp!
LEAFPOOL (wearily): Just go, Crowfeather.
CLOUDTAIL (looking suspiciously from Leafpool to Crowfeather): So you two just
happened to meet here, did you?
CROWFEATHER: That’s right.
BERRYPAW: I remember you! You went away with Leafpool just before the badger
attack. But then you came back…
BRAMBLECLAW: That was a long time ago, Berrypaw. We don’t need to talk about it
now.
LEAFPOOL (quietly): No. We don’t need to talk about anything.
CLOUDTAIL (protectively): Has Crowfeather been bothering you?
LEAFPOOL: No, it’s nothing like that.
CROWFEATHER: At least your Clanmates trust you.


Three WindClan cats appear: Onestar, the leader; Tornear, one of his senior warriors, and
Tornear’s apprentice Harepaw.


ONESTAR: Greetings, Brambleclaw. Is there a problem?
BRAMBLECLAW: One of your warriors has been trying to talk to Leafpool.
CROWFEATHER: Oh for StarClan’s sake!
TORNEAR (hostile): I see one of our warriors and two of yours, plus an apprentice. Do you call that a fair fight?
CLOUDTAIL: There was no talk of fighting until you turned up, Tornear, but if that’s what you want…
BERRYPAW (eagerly): Yeah! I may only be an apprentice but I can fight as well as any ThunderClan warrior.
HAREPAW (scornfully): Well, if you only fight as well as a ThunderClan cat, you’re nothing to be scared of.
BERRYPAW: Come here and say that! I’ll scratch your ears off, you piece of fox-dung!
BRAMBLECLAW (sharply): There’s no need to fight, Berrypaw. Can’t you see they’re just mocking you?
BRAMBLECLAW: One of your warriors has been trying to talk to Leafpool.
CROWFEATHER: Oh for StarClan’s sake!
TORNEAR (hostile): I see one of our warriors and two of yours, plus an apprentice. Do you call that a fair fight?
CLOUDTAIL: There was no talk of fighting until you turned up, Tornear, but if that’s what you want…
BERRYPAW (eagerly): Yeah! I may only be an apprentice but I can fight as well as any ThunderClan warrior.
HAREPAW (scornfully): Well, if you only fight as well as a ThunderClan cat, you’re nothing to be scared of.
BERRYPAW: Come here and say that! I’ll scratch your ears off, you piece of fox-dung!
BRAMBLECLAW (sharply): There’s no need to fight, Berrypaw. Can’t you see they’re just mocking you?
TORNEAR: What’s the matter, Brambleclaw? Worried my apprentice would shred the fur off yours? Or do you think we wouldn’t actually fight? WindClan aren’t your cosy allies any more, not now Tallstar is dead. We’re as strong as any of the Clans now, and I think it’s time you found that out for yourselves.
CLOUDTAIL: Every cat knows that the only reason WindClan cats run so fast is because they keep running away!
ONESTAR: Brambleclaw, it looks as if your Clanmates are desperate for a fight. Aren’t you going to control them?
BRAMBLECLAW: I don’t see why I should, if you let your warriors insult them.
HAREPAW: I’d easily beat that dumb apprentice over there. Every cat knows he’s half-kittypet!
BERRYPAW: My mother came from the horseplace. That doesn’t make her a kittypet! We’re loyal to ThunderClan now. I’m glad she didn’t come to you for help first!
TORNEAR: ThunderClan has quite a history of taking in stray kittypets, doesn’t it? Not quite so welcoming to other Clan cats, though. Like Hawkfrost.
CLOUDTAIL (growling): He came onto our territory to kill Firestar! What did you think we’d do? Take him to our camp and let him have first pick of the fresh-kill pile?
TORNEAR: You didn’t get a chance to do that, did you? Seeing as he managed to stab himself with a piece of wood and rolled into the lake to die?
BRAMBLECLAW: Hawkfrost’s death has nothing to do with you. He was a traitor to the warrior code and RiverClan are well rid of him.
CROWFEATHER (looking at Leafpool): Oh yes, ThunderClan cats always do what the warrior code tells them to.
LEAFPOOL: That’s not fair, Crowfeather.
ONESTAR: Come on. ThunderClan cats might be able to waste time, but we have a patrol to finish. Brambleclaw, I suggest you tell your Clanmates to stay away from WindClan’s territory – and their warriors. There is only peace at the full moon, remember, and my cats will fight to protect what’s theirs.
BRAMBLECLAW: Your cats have nothing that ThunderClan wants! Come on, Cloudtail, Berrypaw. And you, Leafpool.
LEAFPOOL (icily): Thank you, Brambleclaw, but I can make my own way back.
HAREPAW: Bye, kittypet! I’ll be ready for you next time!
BERRYPAW: Ready to be beaten, do you mean? Because that’s what’ll happen.
LEAFPOOL (quietly, to herself): Goodbye, Crowfeather. I hope we don’t regret that we didn’t speak today.




Spottedleaf's Honest Answer




       Hello? Hi, I’m Spottedleaf. Whitestorm said you were looking for me. Welcome to StarClan, and congratulations on finding your way here! I know it’s not easy. Don’t worry, you’ll be allowed to leave after we’ve talked. It is not your time to stay, little one. Let’s sit down on that patch of moss beneath the willow tree. The sun can grow quite hot here, enough to scorch a dark-colored pelt, but the moss will keep us cool. Are you comfortable? Good. We shouldn’t be disturbed here. Most of my Clanmates will have found their own sunning places by now. So, you’d like to know about Firestar and Sandstorm, would you? Well, Firestar is the leader of ThunderClan, and Sandstorm is his mate. Firestar was born a kittypet—when he came to the forest, he was called Rusty. Can you believe it? Honestly, Twolegs give their kittypets the most ridiculous names! Bluestar found this inquisitive kit wandering at the edge of our territory, and What? You know this already? So why? Ah. I get it. You want to know what I think of Firestar and Sandstorm, don’t you? Okay. I’m not going to pretend that I don’t know why you’re interested - every cat in StarClan knows how I feel about the ThunderClan leader, but they’re too polite to say anything. After all, I’m a medicine cat. We can’t have mates or kits; our role is to care for the whole Clan as if each and every cat were our kin. And of course, I’m in StarClan now, while Firestar is still very much alive, with a few lives yet to lose. He has a mate, too, who has given him kits and stayed by his side all through the Great Journey and never stopped loving him, not even when it looked as if the Clans would not survive in their new homes. Perhaps you think I should have gotten over him by now, that I should have given up long ago and accepted that we could only ever be friends? I can tell by the way your eyes have narrowed that this is exactly what you think. But like my Clanmates, you’re too kind to say anything. Do you think I don’t know how hopeless this is? Do you think I still hope that he’ll be mine one day, that somehow I’ll stop being a medicine cat and Sandstorm will vanish like the dew, and every cat will forget that we should never have been together? I’m sorry, you asked an honest question and it’s only fair I should give you an honest answer without clawing your fur off. The truth is, I love Firestar now as much as I ever did, and I’ll watch over him forever, knowing that he can never be mine. He belongs to Sandstorm and to ThunderClan. But my heart is his, and always will be. It wasn’t love at first sight, you know. When he first came to the forest, I had been a medicine cat for several seasons, and I loved every part of it, from knowing which herbs heal and soothe, to sharing tongues with our warrior ancestors and interpreting omens for the Clan. How ironic that one of the last prophecies StarClan sent to me—a shooting star that clearly meant Only fire can save the Clan—foretold Firestar’s arrival in the forest. He has saved the Clan many times over—and not just his own Clan, but all five of them. You know about SkyClan, yes? Those are my warrior ancestors, mine and Tigerstar’s, because we are descended from Cloudstar and his mate Birdflight, who stayed with ThunderClan when her Clanmates were driven out of the forest. The fate of the Clans was Firestar’s destiny—but I was never a part of it. At first he was just another apprentice to me—different in that he had been born a kittypet, but as curious, bold, and occasionally mouse-brained as the rest of them. I knew Bluestar felt a special connection with him, even if it took her a while to recognize that he was the fire that would save the Clan. It was only when Yellowfang came to ThunderClan that I began to see Firepaw differently. He refused to be intimidated by the cranky old she-cat, and yet he learned to respect her and care for her even when his Clanmates couldn’t see past the fact that she was born in ShadowClan. Perhaps it was because Firepaw knew what it was like to be the outsider, to have to earn a place in the Clan by proving his loyalty over and over. I soon stopped doubting him, that’s for sure. I started to watch him more closely listen to Bluestar’s reports of his training, and I talked to him whenever our paths crossed not just the gossip of Clan life, but about things that mattered to both of us, like the rising threat of ShadowClan, or what StarClan held in store for us. He was kind, brave, and stubbornly loyal to the Clan that had taken him in. I saw in him the cat that he was, and I knew how fortunate we were to have him, and also the cat that he would be: He was the fire that would save the Clan—and the cat I should never have fallen in love with. When ShadowClan invaded the ravine and sent me to StarClan much, much too soon, I lay in my den for a moon, wishing Firepaw could join me. I should not have died then! Even if I always had to be a medicine cat, cut off from Firepaw in the most meaningful ways, I could have walked beside him as he became a warrior, and then deputy and leader. Instead, I was condemned to watch him from far away, not always clearly, like gazing at fish flitting at the bottom of a pool. Sometimes ripples hid him from me, and I would pace StarClan’s forests night after night, searching for him. When I found him again, things would be different; he would have seen things, done things without me knowing, and it was like meeting a stranger for the first time. But I never stopped watching, never gave up trying to help him. I walked with him in his dreams, shared his fears, guided him with all the knowledge that being in StarClan gave me. I know how much he looked forward to seeing me, how glad he was to have my scent wreathe around him and linger on his pelt. Can you imagine how much that hurts, to be closer to him now that I am in StarClan than we were when I was alive? After one of those moonless nights, Sandstorm was his mate, and I knew that the invisible river between us had grown too wide to leap across. Did you know that he came looking for me in a dream, sought me out to explain that he had to move on and that he couldn’t be in love with a memory anymore? I am not a memory! I wanted to wail, like a kit abandoned by its mother. I am here, I still love you. I will walk beside you forever. But what is that compared with the warmth that Sandstorm can offer him, the solid presence of a mate to help him lead the Clan, to give him beautiful children and watch their kin grow up together? I will still be young when Firestar grows old, but Sandstorm will match him step for step, reflecting his graying fur and slowing paws like a pool of clear water. Does Firestar love Sandstorm? Oh yes, I have no doubt about that. Sandstorm is a good mate to him; any cat can see how much she loves him, how much she believes in him as leader of her Clan. Their daughters are wonderful cats, and I love them as if they were my own. Leafpool has a special destiny, just like her father did, and it is an honor to be able to walk in her dreams and guide her. But sometimes I can’t help wishing that I was her mother instead, standing side by side with Firestar to watch her grow. I will do everything I can to make sure that no harm comes to her, or to her sister, Squirrelflight, until the time is right for them to join me here. Look, the shadows are lengthening, it’s time for you to go. Cherrypaw will show you to the border. Cherrypaw, come here, please! Thank you for visiting. I hope I’ve told you what you wanted to hear—and if I haven’t, then perhaps it’s best to say nothing of our conversation. Especially not to Firestar! The truth is that he and Sandstorm are happy, which is all that matters. I could wish and wish for things to be different, but they aren’t, and never will be. I would not change a single heartbeat of my life, nor all the time since, if it meant losing a moment of Firestar’s friendship. Now, go well, and may StarClan walk your path always.







The Elders' Concern

"Lie still, Halftail! Or is your nest full of fleas?"

"How can I lie still? Bluestar has made sure I wouldn't be comfortable on a nest of swan's feathers." Halftail stabbed a crackly leaf with his claw and flicked it onto the bare earth. How typical of Dappletail to be so untroubled by what had happened. Her only worry was when her next peice of fresh-kill would be delivered.

"Pah! As if an apprentice nowadays would be brave enough to fetch swan's feathers," muttered Smallear. Halftail looked at him indulgently. Smallear was the oldest of all the elders, and he always had the best stories. "I remember when I was an apprentice, we all dared each other to steal from the swan's nest on the edge of the river to line our nests."

"Boasting again, Smallear?" Dappletail grumbled. "I seem to remember you came back with feathers that looked awfully black to have come from a swan. Much more like a crow's, in fact."

"Are we going to get any sleep tonight?" A small black-and-white face popped up from a nest at the edge of the den.

"No, Patchpelt, we are not," Halftail informed him. "We need to talk about what Bluestar did today, and how we can best help our Clan though these terrible times."

"Eh? What's that?" came a voice from the narrowest part of the tree trunk that sheltered the elders.

"It's all right, One-eye," Dappletail meowed loudly. "Go back to sleep. We'll be here all night if we try to make her hear," she added in a whisper to the others.

Halftail waited until the other elders had shuffled closer. "So, what are we going to do about Fireheart?"

Patchpelt put his head to one side. "I'm not sure we can do anything. Bluestar's made him Clan deputy, and she won't change her mind because of us."

Smallear grunted as he eased his stiff back legs into a more comfortable position. "Well, she should. Does she have cobwebs in her head? The cat's a kittypet, for StarClan's sake! What does he know about leading a Clan?"

"And he's hardly been here for half a moon," Dappletail added. "This wouldn't have happened in our day. Oh, no."

Halftail looked at them in exasperation. "You don't get it, do you? Even if Fireheart had been born in ThunderClan, he shouldn't have been made deputy. Bluestar didn't appoint him before moonhigh!"

The other cats looked at one another, puffing out their top lips anxiously. "He's right," mewed Dappletail. "Lionheart died yesterday. The new deputy should have been named last night."

"The warrior code has been broken!" Smallear puffed. "We're all doomed!"

StarClan save me from my denmates, thought Halftail. "The warrior code has been broken before, and it will be broken again. This does not need to ruin ThunderClan, but we must prepare ourselves for worse things to come. Bluestar?"

"?doesn't know what she's doing!" Smallear burst out. "Just what does she see in this orange kittypet? Is he the best hunter? No. That young cat Sandstorm could track a beetle in a blizzard. The best fighter? Ha, I'd like to see him take on Tigerclaw. Now there's a real warrior. So what exactly makes him so special?"

"If Bluestar knows, then she's not telling us," Dappletail meowed. "But there must be something, if she thinks he could be her deputy."

"You could see he wasn't happy about it," Patchpelt commented. "Any cat would think he'd been asked to jump into the gorge, not share the leadership of his Clan."

"This isn't his Clan!" Smallear's tail twitched crossly. "I'm not even sure it should even be Bluestar's, after this."

"Maybe she appointed him deputy after moonhigh because she knew StarClan would object to him anyway?" Dappletail suggested.

Halftail pricked his ears. "If that's true, then it means she has stopped caring what our warrior ancestors think. Why would she do that? ThunderClan is healthy and safe - no less safe than it has been in the past, for sure."

Dappletail shuddered. "She can't turn her back on StarClan!"

"But she has," mewed Patchpelt in a small voice. "Fireheart is not a true deputy; he was appointed too late, and Lionheart's spirit would never have approved. What can we do? Look at us. We're old, deaf, toothless. We needed a warrior to lead our Clan, a light that would shine forever for all the moons to come. And Bluestar brought us a kittypet."

"I will never give up on my Clan!" Halftail argued. "StarClan is still watching us. If we treat Fireheart like our rightful deputy and give him a chance to learn and succeed, perhaps StarClan will accept him and forgive Bluestar."

Smallear turned away, his joints creaking. "I will never forgive Bluestar," he growled. "And Fireheart will never be our deputy. Not in my eyes."

"Nor mine," muttered Dappletail, and Patchpelt nodded in agreement.

Halftail stared at his denmates in dismay. He had gathered them together to find a solution, a way to rally the Clan in spite of Bluestar's strange choice for the new deputy and the warrior code being broken. But all they had done was uncover even greater depths of despair. Was Smallear right? Was ThunderClan doomed?