#i think it would be interesting to play with the idea of yellowfang going through with confiding in lizardstripe

[warriors-ideas]

An AU where Yellowfang confides in Lizardstripe about her pregnancy, who is in a similar situation of not wanting children. Despite never having a very good relationship before, the two end up forming a closer relationship and are able to raise their kits with the support of each other.

[oliveheart-worldbuilding]

Aster, Bee Balm, Daffodil, Dahlia, Laurel, Petunia, Rose, and Violet? I'd also add Gardenia but it's impossible to escape murder cats.

Hi there! Thank you so much for the ask! Once again, I’m sorry for taking so long to answer!

Adding a read more because this one is pretty long.

Aster- Who’s your least favorite character? Why?

This one is a bit difficult for me, I read many of the books a long time ago and I’m sure if I were to read them again my opinion on a lot of characters would be very different. Going only by memory I would say that Bluestar is one of my least favorite characters but then I would have to add many female characters that I now feel were completely mistreated by the authors and whose entire arcs where thrown under the bus in the name of forbidden love or man pain. I never liked Silverstream, but nowadays I know that whom I actually hate is Graystripe. I used to not like Leafpool or Squirrelflight at all, now I don’t. What I’m trying to say is that my opinion changes constantly and a lot. I read the books a long time ago and did so with a completely different mindset (I was 16 when I read Omen of the Stars and oh man was I edgy and stupid back then), most of my opinions nowadays are based on the potential the characters have rather than the actual character. So bearing that in mind:

-Bluestar: I know, I know, a lot of you love her a lot but even after reading people’s opinions on her I just… eh I don’t like her at all. She feels incredibly detached in the first books. To me she always treated Firepaw rather coldly. I know a lot of people talk about Bluestar as if she had become Firepaw’s adoptive mother but I just don’t see it. Reading about her losing her faith was very interesting, so was her crumping mind health but, I just gotta draw the line on how terrible she was to Brightpaw. In this house we love and respect Brightpaw and Bluestar was just very nasty to her. I really didn’t like her novella at all either. Based on her relationship with Whitestorm in The Prophecies Begin I always thought that she might have played an important role in his life after Snowfur died but, it doesn’t seem that way at all? The only moment we see them interact is when she tells Whitekit, in a very distressing way may I add, that her mother is dead and never coming back. To me, she also comes in as selfish and power-hungry, she spends a huge part of the book complaining about Thistleclaw (bear in mind, back then he was only overly ambitious, not a pedophile) and his relationship with her sister, even though she herself is spending time with Oakheart, a tom from another clan. When Goosefeather tells her about the prophecy he never specifies that she must be the one becoming leader, only that Thistleclaw is not meant to become one and yet she goes out of her way to become the leader so much so that she’s willing to risk her kittens’ safety (killing one in the process) just so she can be available for the position. She could have just uuuuhmmmm told Sunstar about the prophecy? Also I’m pretty sure Sunstar assures her that Thistleclaw would not have made a good leader multiple times so… he could have chosen literally anyone else? Rosetail? Thrustpelt? Don’t get me started on the whole Tigerkit dilemma! She chooses to believe Goosefeather prophecies when they strengthen her own personal bias but when she’s told about Tigerkit’s she just goes “aw man Goosefeather sure is crazy hahaha anyway back on me becoming leader”. I don’t know, there’s more to it but this is getting pretty long. Personally she’s just not my favorite.

-Graystripe: He’s a terrible friend, he treats Fireheart like absolute garbage, he chooses a molly he has known for exactly 2 days over his best friend and his entire clan, he leaves Thunderclan to spend more time with his kittens just to abandon them 5 seconds later, and yet the son of a bitch was somehow always meant to become deputy to Firestar??? Just because they are friends??? Dude went against the warrior code, endangered his clan by refusing to fight Riverclan, was incredible close to causing an all-out war with Riverclan, abandoned his clan, refused to see what was wrong about his behavior just because he was in love… How in the f is he a good warrior??? Erins I want answers; this man is garbage. When he gets captured by the humans and comes back to the lake he gets so SO mad at Firestar for not “waiting for him”, my dude you were gone for seasons, you were deputy, you really expect the entire clan to stop working so that you can keep your friendship bracelet position? Everybody thought you were dead Graystripe!! Was everyone supposed to keep vigil forever?? He’s also a terrible father to both his litters, his reaction to being told that Feathertail’s dead is “aw man… she was so beautiful… like her mom…” that’s terribleeee. At some point in Omen of the Stars, after Briarlight broke her spine, Millie complains about Graystripe not helping her at all and then they start fighting about it, Graystripe’s only answer is something along the lines of “yeah whatever dude”. I hate him so much. I stopped reading after The Last Hope, so I can’t talk about the rest but, I’ve seen some parts of Graystripe’s Vows and let me tell I want this man gone for good. He’s lived for too long.

-Lionblaze: He’s the most flavorless character in the history of flavorless characters. What’s his arc? That’s right. He doesn’t have one. I literally have nothing to say about him. How is this character alive and in his way to become leader when Hollyleaf could have been in his place? Disgusting. Also, dreaming about killing your girlfriend and bathing in her blood? Bad. Not showing not even a bit of remorse about after waking up? Terrible. Badly hurting her mentor when you were trying harm her? Just straight up fucked up. He’s badly written, boring and kind of very misogynist at times.

I have many other opinions because I’m a very judgmental person but I’m gonna leave it at that because this is getting very long.

Bee Balm- What’s your favorite novella or super edition?

I’ve only read three! So Crockedstar’s promise I guess.

Daffodil- When did you first start reading the books?

In the summer of 6th grade, that’s when I was… 11-12 years old? I think? So in 2012-2013, I started reading them in Spanish but I read through them super-fast and the translations were super slow to come out so I just started reading the books in English. It actually helped my English level quite a bit! My first English book was The Forest of Secrets I think.

Dahlia- Has any death scene actually made you cry? What was it?

Snowfur’s (Reading about Whitekit screaming at her mother to wake up was super messed up), Yellowfang’s (I loved that old woman. I wish they hadn’t written about her in Starclan, she’s so out of character in later books) and Hollyleaf’s death (yes, first and second time, young me loved her to pieces. I still can’t believe they let her die a second time when Lionblaze’s flavorless ass was right there…).

Laurel- If you could write the books, what changes would you make?

I would contemplate the idea of just, moving forward in time? The warriors’ series feels very stagnant. Young characters die while having no personality at all and older characters from the first series are still alive and very much immortal at this point. We need new fresh blood.

I would just set up a completely new series: maybe the stories of Firestar and his family have been immortalized, maybe they are now revered as gods or something, I would create an actual religion system, one based in nature, the death and rebirth of all things and the need to remember those who have fallen. I would change their entire culture so that elders are more important; medicine cats are not regarded as useless (I’m looking at every character that forced in this position instead of choosing it themselves) and the warrior code actually makes sense.

The setting of this new series would be the lake territories but a long time has passed since the time of Firestar and things have changed a lot. A kittypet joins the clans and through their perspective we see how they work and act, what makes every single one of them different, their culture and laws, etc. It would be a nod to the first series while being completely new. It would also allow to add new characters from the start so they all have personalities and relationships with each other.

I would also contemplate creating one last series set up in the time of the original clans where everything just goes to hell. You guys remember rabies? I want that + Starclan going crazy. A full out massacre of old characters that ends in only a few surviving ones. I want blood, and I want it to be scary. If children can read about Tigerclaw’s horrible death, then they can read what in my opinion would be a zombie/ghost apocalypse. And then I would start anew with this completely new series set up in the future.

I mean, I would rewrite a looooooot of things, but that’s a talk for another day.

Petunia- Which arc is your favorite? Which is your last favorite?

My favorite is The Prophecies Begin when it comes to the plot and the Power of Three when it comes to characters. My least favorite is the New Prophecy.

Rose- Do you prefer traditional naming or creative naming?

Traditional all the way! I like when things have meaning and each name having its own really helps the feeling of there being a pre-established culture! Creative naming just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me in this context but that’s just my personal taste.

Violet- What do you think is the worst trope in the series?

Already answered!

Gardenia- Do you think you’ll ever leave the fandom?

Probs not, I’m in too deep, warriors is always at the back of my mind...

[maplewind-au]

Retrospective Author’s Notes

I just crossposted this note to the Wattpad and AO3 copies of Maplestar’s Light, but I’m going to post it here, too.

Hi there! My name is Razeru. First of all, thank you very much for reading my story!

I think, if you've read my story, you can surmise that I love Mapleshade. She's grown to be one of my favourite characters in Warrior Cats; her story, narratively, is written the best - in my opinion - out of most of the super editions and novellas.

Keep in mind, these words are coming from someone who grew up with these books, and also gets big mad about the things the Erins have pulled on other characters, like Squirrelflight (specifically Squilf, actually. They keep doing my girl dirty, and I'm so angry).

I took a read through my story again recently, and passed through the comments both on this Wattpad copy of the story, and the AO3 mirror. I really and truly appreciate all the love, but some people did seem to misunderstand the intention behind some things in my story, so I feel like I owe a bit of an explanation to you, my readers.

I offer this explanation because I've chosen to abandon the MapleWind AU entirely. There's too much in retrospect that I'm unhappy with, too many story ideas that don't connect narratively - it just makes a poor story. So, this is basically a big spoiler chapter for what would have happened, if I continued.

The remainder of this letter is just going to be me giving a word vomit about this story, so feel free to skip down to the bottom if you're only curious about closing remarks or projects surrounding other upcoming warriors works.

Alright. First and foremost, I want to address something specific. Mapleshade's story, as it was in canon, is a multidimensional story that a lot of people see as black-and-white. I, personally, see it as a fantastic narrative where not a single character is in the right, at least not in the context of the Clans - or morally, in some cases. This being said, a lot of the arguments about Mapleshade are usually "she's absolutely terrible and deserved what she got" / "she did absolutely nothing wrong and everyone else should be suffering" - both of which are... Very, very dangerous views to take on any person or character. When I wrote Maplestar's Light, my intention was to explore the idea where a few cats stepped out of the norm that seemed to affect this specific generation of the Clans and offered sanctuary.

WindClan has always felt like the most lax Clan out of the four, to me. With their history of welcoming in strangers and making kindly bargains with the other Clans in their times of need, it made sense to me that if a wandering cat passed out on their territory, they would reach out and help them. I chose Heatherstar specifically for this story because she was such a revolutionary, and wasn't afraid to shoot down any cat's words if she felt someone was going to get hurt.

Moreover, this AU explores the idea that instead of sleeping in Myler's barn and then going on her rampage, Mapleshade simply collapsed into grief - so Ravenwing, Frecklewish, and Appledusk all survive. Temporarily.

While Mapleshade is taken into WindClan, Mapleshade's kits are restless, and it's their turn to be angry - assuming StarClan spirits know everything (and it's heavily implied, in the first series, that they do), they pull strings just like the canonical iteration of their mother would. Ravenwing, Frecklewish, Appledusk, and - moreover - Oakstar, all suffer painful deaths as a result of the angry StarClan kits. To add insult to injury, all four lose their lives to the river while patrolling it - or are tricked into falling in. The kits drag them down until they drown.

Ravenwing and Oakstar are the only two who are able to make it to StarClan themselves, if only because of the good acts they've done to balance out the karma. The kits, however, are able to swing judgement on Frecklewish, who attacked their mother, insulted them, and was fine to watch them die, and Appledusk, who was willing to have them to begin with, who failed to save them.

This is unhealthy point of view, but they died as kits. All they know is the anger and betrayal.

On to the future.

Maplestar and Palebird have the three kits; Finchkit, Larkkit, and Firekit. Some people didn't seem to get it, and I thought I wrote it to be obvious, but Firekit is supposed to be THE Firestar in the future. With Maplestar at the helm of WindClan, ShadowClan is unable to drive them out. ThunderClan, however, is much weaker after their constant battles with RiverClan and the loss of not only Redtail, but many other great warriors. ThunderClan is driven out instead; WindClan, in their graciousness, would allow them to share the territory until something can be done about ShadowClan's terrible leader, and three Clans would unite against the one to protect their way of life.

During their time in WindClan's camp, Firepaw would grow close to the ThunderClan apprentices Ravenpaw, Graypaw and Sandpaw. Following the battle against Brokenstar, not only do Firepaw and his siblings get their warrior names, but so do the ThunderClan apprentices who participated (Sandstorm and Dustpelt included). Fireheart realizes during the night of his vigil that he doesn't want to lose his ThunderClan friends, and while meeting his family on the battlefield would be painful, he would feel worse fighting Graystripe or Ravenflight - the latter tom being the only cat Fireheart has met that makes his heart flutter.

The following day, as ThunderClan returns home, Fireheart goes with them. Yellowfang, in turn, has joined ThunderClan, having been a crucial asset to getting them in and out of ShadowClan. In return for the WindClan warrior, Spottedleaf stays; Spottedleaf had been attacked by a ShadowClan warrior the day before the battle, but Hawkheart protected her with his life. Feeling indebted, she swore to finish training Barkwing and serve WindClan just as she did ThunderClan.

The rest of the story would have gone similarly to canon, with a few minor changes; for one, WindClan and ThunderClan would forever have a close bond, not only through the blood of their Clanmates, but also through Bluestar and Maplestar, who exchanged each other's stories and bonded over how similar they were. Cinderpelt would have still gotten disabled, but through saving the ShadowClan apprentice Littlepaw from a monster; while she picks up healing from Yellowfang, she remains a warrior in spite of her leg. Swiftpaw narrowly survives, and Brightpaw lives with her scarring still, taking inspiration from Cinderpelt. Fireheart and Ravenflight become mates and have kits - Squirrelflight and Gingerpool.

I had further plans for TNP and PO3, but they're sort of lost to time at this point. The general ideas surrounded Brambleclaw - renamed Brambleflower - taking after his mother instead of his father, and being close friends with Squilf, but not mates. Gingerpool and Crowfeather do have kits, and Squilf does take them, but claims they were loner kits that she chose to raise. Bramble was their nursery parent, having chosen to be a queen instead of a warrior, and took care of them while Squilf went about being a warrior, only tuning in to feed them and sleep with them. Jay would have become a warrior named Jayclaw and Holly, an albino in this AU, would go on to be Gingerpool's apprentice and become Hollysnow. Jay is blind, and Holly is a selective mute. Lion would still have his powers of strength, but use them unwisely, and he would be the one to wind up having a crisis and revealing the secrets of his origin before disappearing into the caves.

The general idea for the OOTS arc of this AU was to give Ivy powers and still have her train in the Dark Forest, under Lionblaze - who is very much still alive, but misaligned. Dovewing would be given the opportunity as well, and only take it when she learns Tigerheart is also training there. Their struggles would surround a constant sibling rivalry, one that would deepen once Jay and Holly figure out Ivy is the third cat. I also threw around the idea of a deaf Ivypool, either from birth or caused by something much later - just to complete the "See/Speak/Hear No Evil".

The underlying, long plot to the AU was that Petalkit, Larchkit, and Patchkit effectively replaced Canon Mapleshade. Maplestar recovered, then seemingly forgot about her previous kits and replaced them with Fire, Finch and Lark. Petal, Larch and Patch want stupid, special Firestar and his bloodline to suffer for being their replacements. Technically, they were still spirits of StarClan, but pulled the strings in the Dark Forest.

Oh, boy. Those sure were a lot of words, huh.

I hope I'm not disappointing anyone by discontinuing this story. Again, looking back on it, I'm very unhappy with the way I was handling certain subjects and aspects of the story - and I'd rather kill it before I get carried away again. I've always held the belief that taking time and writing a more consise and well-placed narrative is much better than writing it quickly and breaking characters and morals. Mapleshade is a character I do want to do justice by, and Warrior Cats is a great sandbox to play in!

All that being said, I am still writing Warriors works. On AO3, I've published a couple smaller one-off stories that explore the idea of Tigerclaw not getting twisted up by Thistleclaw, and getting Scourge to join ThunderClan instead. You're welcome to read them if you haven't yet!

And I'm not done with Mapleshade, either. I'm currently working on a new, seperate Warriors rewrite based on the same time (with better allegiances); the working title for it, right now, is Falling Petals. I don't want to give too much away, but if there's enough interest, I might post a teaser excerpt to this story! There's no telling when I'll be finished with it, but I would much rather publish a finished work in full than post it by chapter and run the risk of losing interest or being unhappy with what I've put out.

A final project I'm working on is a personal Warrior Cats story called Rising Storm - it'll surround some OC Clans and Characters instead of rewriting canon material, and I'm looking for a main platform to post it on when I crack into it! If you're interested, I could use some beta readers when I start working on it, so please get in touch if you want to help out! If you know any non-Wattpad or AO3 websites I could publish the story on, please do let me know. I'll likely crosspost here, but I don't actively post on here too often, so I'd rather it not be the primary host.

I think that's everything I wanted to say! Again, thank you so much for your continued interest in my work. If you'd like to see more of what I do, look for the user 'ghastimafrix' on Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, deviantART, AO3, and toyhou.se! I do a lot more than just write Warriors, and I'm always happy to chat.

Stay frosty, y'all!!

[thunder-the-ranger-wolf]

Back to the Future: Resolved Among The Stars (StarClan)

There were many cats in StarClan, Bluestar mused as she padded around in search of her sister, Snowfur. Many had died after the Great Battle, including her successor, Firestar, but many more lived on.

"Hello, Bluestar!" Stonefur meowed from where he and Mosskit chatted happily on Warmrocks.

"Hello, you two. Having fun?"

"Yes!" The little grey and white she-cat flew toward her mother, but Bluestar stopped her from crashing just in time. "Stonefur was telling me about what RiverClan was like! It was fun!"

"I think you would have liked ThunderClan better." The blue-grey leader purred mischievously. "ThunderClan rules!" Bluestar snickered.

"ThunderClan rules!" Mosskit chirped after her mother.

"Hey!" A red-furred tom with bright green eyes padded over at the sight of his family. "I take offense to that!"

"Father!" Mosskit barreled into Oakheart, who received his daughter with open paws. "I bet it's true!" She grinned.

"Yeah, sure, kit. RiverClan cats can swim, but what can you stinky ThunderClan cats do?" He challenged playfully.

"We climb trees!" Mosskit yowled. "Look, Father! I can climb!"

Stonefur, Oakheart, and Bluestar watched as Mosskit scrabbled onto a low-hanging tree branch from a nearby rock.

"Very good!" Bluestar purred. "Now get down before you hurt yourself!"

________________________________________________________________

Firestar glared down at the pool to the living. He'd been in StarClan for more than a quarter moon, and he missed his Clan desperately. It wasn't fair! Why did he have to go when Sandstorm still needed him?

"You can wish all you want, but she won't join you before her time." A dark grey she-cat with a broad, flattened face and piercing orange glare loped over to where the great ginger leader sat. "None of them will."

"There's no use in complaining, but what's the point of StarClan when Sandstorm isn't here to make everything perfect?"

"StarClan is here to wait on those living and help them spend their lives the best they can, so that when they join us it is without regrets."

"What do you know about regrets, Yellowfang?" The ginger leader snapped. "Or Sandstorm and I, for that matter?"

"I know plenty about regrets, young tom." She reminded him. "Your hurts will be smoothed over time, but you cannot interfere with the living. There are plenty of cats in the same predicament as you, Firestar. You are not alone."

The grey medicine cat left her would-be son to his own devices. He would have to learn.

______________________________________________________________

Silverstream stared through a different pool with similar results. At least Greystripe seemed happy with the life he led. Who was she to get in the way of that?

"You shouldn't torture yourself." A gentle voice murmured from not too far away. The silver tabby whirled around at the presence of a new cat. He was ThunderClan by scent, a sandy grey tom with blue eyes.

"My name is Thrushpelt, and I once thought Bluestar hung the moon and scattered the stars." He chuckled softly.

"Her heart belonged to another, and I eventually figured out that she could never love me that way. Certainly, no one could force her to do anything she wasn't interested in."

"You make moving on sound so easy," Silverstream scoffed.

"Whoever thinks that has moss for brains, because moving on hurts. It takes time that you don't want to spend alone and patience that you don't want to have, but mostly it takes understanding. If he really has moved on, then you'll eventually have to do the same."

"Seeing her with him… at least I know he loved me once. But their poor kits… she's definitely no one's mother."

"She never did seem the type. Bluestar was all over the camp chasing after her kits. Always growling at anyone who dared to look at them wrong. Losing them, even the way she did, it broke her. I don't know this cat well enough, but she seems too… unattached."

"I feel terrible for being so selfish. She's done nothing to me. Has done more for me than I can say. But…"

"You love him. That might not go away." Thrushpelt offered, flicking his tail. "And it doesn't have to, because some part of him still loves you. I mean look at her."

"There are plenty of grey cats around." Silverstream snorted.

"Oh, it's more than that." Thrushpelt deadpanned. They snickered.

"I feel bad for her kits." The RiverClan she-cat admitted. "I know that my friends and family did right by Stormfur and Feathertail. They turned out wonderfully…" She purred thoughtfully.

"I don't think, had I been around to raise them, that I would have done as good a job. So I'm kind of glad that I wasn't. But I watch her with her kits and… I just want to scream every time she pushes poor Blossomfall away. And by the Stars, it's a wonder that Bumblestripe turned out the way he did. But then maybe Greystripe had more of a paw in things than he was willing to show."

"Well, the kid's no Ashfur."

"Ugh, do not dare mention that wretched tom! It's a wonder no one has tried chasing him across the border, that-."

"He wouldn't survive there. And someone here knew it. His actions later in life were absolutely reproachable, but overall he was a good warrior. I have to believe that, or what does that make me?"

"Better than that fleabag, for sure." Silverstream scoffed. "I might not approve of what Millie does, but that doesn't mean I want her gone! He just… ugh, I don't get why."

"Ask him someday. He's of sound mind with plenty to reflect on. He might give you a straight answer."

________________________________________________________________

"Hello," Cinderpelt bristled before the sound of the familiar voice reached her ears. She hated when cats snuck up on her. Getting shocked out of your fur was not fun, no matter how many times Squirrelflight tried it as an apprentice.

"Whitestorm, Lionheart." She dipped her head to the white tom and the golden tabby in turn. "What can I do for you?"

"I say we start with a walk and go from there." Whitestorm offered. "There are some things that were never truly explained."

Yes, there were. Like why Lionheart wasn't their father even though they'd grown up with him. Or why one of her littermates was named after a golden ShadowClan tom that looked eerily similar to him. Or why she had a completely dark grey pelt when nobody else, not even her mother's parents, were anything remotely resembling her. The closest she could possibly fathom was Fuzzypelt, and he was pure black. 

If Lionheart was her father, she could get it from Smallear. Maybe something like a duller version of Fuzzypelt's… but that made no sense. Even now she had no clue who her father was. Her mother had never wanted to talk about it with any of them, but Cinderpelt knew she stood out. Like a fox in the leafbare snow, she stood out against her literally golden family! 

No one ever teased her for it, and she never felt that she was lacking as a kit. Lionheart was great, at first. But then he got Greystripe for an apprentice and he stopped seeing them that often. Then he became deputy and he couldn't play with them at all. She'd never asked Frostfur out of respect for her mother. Why bring in any unnecessary grief? Frostfur would tell Cinderpelt when she was ready.

"I suppose you're wondering about your true heritage." Her mother's uneasy voice drifted to her ears.

Apparently, Frostfur was ready.

"I fell for a ShadowClan tom in my youth. Brackenfoot."

"So my brother was named for his father?" Cinderpelt snorted. "Wasn't that a little risky?"

"It was a one-time thing. I'd just become a warrior and boy, was I reveling in it. Bluestar was so proud of me! I was perfect, just like my sister. We got away with everything until Willowpelt and the tortoiseshell twins became warriors. I fancied myself in love, but he never told me it was a onetime thing. He certainly never told me that he had a mate."

"Whoa… when did he get a mate?!"

"Well, he was a ShadowClan cat. Much older than I was. I was looking for some attention and I found it… oh, did I find it. I tracked down his mate not too long after you all were born, told her everything, all but broke down in front of her… she just stared at me. I had no idea what she was thinking, but eventually, she said that it wasn't entirely my fault. 

He made his decision, and even if it hadn't been me, he would have found some other young cat. It was a bad habit of his. She made me swear to never tell anyone who fathered my kits, and I was perfectly okay with that. Brindleface never told anyone who fathered Ashfur and Ferncloud either, so I was glad to know I wasn't the only one. Besides, we queens are allowed to have a few secrets."

"So we were, what, mistakes? And what about the part where I'm my mentor's younger sister?!"

"You are absolutely no one's mistake, sweet one. I need you to remember that, no matter what happens from here. I love you and your brothers with the heat of a million stars, and knowing who your father is won't make me stop."

___________________________________________________________

The last thing Bluestar remembers is playing with her youngest and feeling happier than she had in moons.

The last thing Thrushpelt recalled, he was talking to Silverstream about letting go of someone you couldn't have.

Firestar was wrapped up in the trauma every StarClan cat felt when they first arrived, and likely would remain so for half a moon. There were plenty of cats waiting and willing to help him through settling in. The ginger leader of ThunderClan would be fine.

Whitestorm padded easily beside Lionheart, hoping that Cinderpelt and her mother talked things out and Frostfur would, at the very least, no longer be an anxious wreck. Perhaps even pleasant.

Cinderpelt was shocked beyond belief. There was an old rule that queens didn't have to tell Clanmates who fathered their kits. This was definitely why, she realized.

A dark wave washed over all of StarClan and the voices of the First Ancestors could be heard for miles.

"TIME SHALL RECLAIM WHAT HAS BEEN LOST TO SOME, AND OTHERS SHALL HEAL REGARDLESS."