The Bad Dream

The forest was filled with the sounds of greenleaf, with squirrels chattering high in the trees and birds chirping high in the deep blue sky. The trees were bursting with lush green leaves, their branches swaying in the warm breeze. Icecloud padded out of the camp with Foxleap behind her, purring at the soft feel of the grass underpaw. It was a gorgeous day for hunting.

"So where to first?" her brother asked, looking around.

"Good question." Icecloud narrowed her eyes. "It doesn't really matter to me. There should be plenty of prey out today."

The two siblings took a leisurely stroll through the shady forest. It wasn't long until Icecloud scented a squirrel, and began to stalk it. She almost had it when Foxleap jabbed his paw into her side, causing her to jump. The sound of her paws hitting the ground sent the squirrel sprinting up the nearest tree.

"What was that for?" she snapped. "I almost had that juicy thing!"

"Icepaw, get up!" he said. "It's time to go."

"But we haven't caught anything," she growled. There was no humor shining in his green eyes. Her littermate was serious. "And why are you calling me Icepaw?"

"WAKE UP!" Foxleap rammed his head into her flank, sending her stumbling backwards into a tree.

"You wake up, Foxpaw!" she snarled. "What's your problem? What did I ever do to you?"

"Foxpaw's gone." Foxleap blinked.

"Oh, trying to get metaphorical, are we?" It was all Icecloud could do to stop from clawing her annoying brother's fur off. "How, may I ask, am I acting like an apprentice?"

"You're being a lazy bump on a log!" the dark ginger tom replied, his voice irritable.

"What are you meowing about?" Icecloud demanded. "Really, Foxleap, this is getting old."

"Foxleap!" The tabby tom snorted in amusement. "That's sure a demeaning name! But please…GET UP!"

Suddenly, the forest around her, along with her stupid littermate, faded into blackness. "What's happening?" Icecloud yowled. She was falling, falling, falling…

The she-cat found herself in a thick moss nest, with the sheltering walls of the apprentices' den stretching up all around her. What am I doing in here? And why was Lionblaze sticking his head through the entrance looking like a badger had just bitten off his tail?

"Look who rose from the dead," he remarked snidely. "Ready to go on patrol with us?"

"Lionblaze, what am I doing in here?" she asked.

"You were sleeping." He sounded as if it were perfectly normal for a full warrior to take a nap in the apprentices' den. "Now that you're not, let's head out."

Trying to shake her utter confusion off, she padded out into the clearing. She gasped, her muscles tensing in shock. The forest outside the clearing was brown and barren, with no sign of life anywhere. There was a thin coating of snow on the ground, probably soggy. That's bizarre! Isn't it greenleaf?

Berrynose was sharing tongues with a golden-brown she-cat she didn't recognize. No, wait…she did recognize her! The tabby was a cat who had once shared the apprentices' den with her…Honeyfern! But how was she here?

"Icepaw, is everything all right?" Lionblaze must have noticed the way the white she-cat was staring at the golden-brown tabby in obvious terror. She wanted to wail like a kit, to ask why everything was so confusing.

Icepaw…he called me Icepaw…What did that mean? Why was she sleeping in the apprentices' den and going by her apprentice name? And Honeyfern was still alive…

Then, it hit her like a stone being thrown at her. Hard. It had all been a dream! Well…at least, some of it was. How much was real? When had she gone to sleep?

An idea popped into Icepaw's head in the form of a seemingly innocent question. "Lionblaze, how many days ago did Ashfur die?"

"Just about five." The golden tabby shrugged.

So all of that was a dream! Icepaw felt frivolous with relief. The dream had been mostly bad, and the thought of none of it being real was wonderful.

Icepaw struggled to keep herself from yowling with joy as she padded after Lionblaze to the entrance to the camp. There were Hollyleaf and Cinderheart! Icepaw pushed back an automatic wave of dislike as she looked at the gray she-cat. If the dream wasn't real, than Cinderheart had done nothing wrong.

"Hi, Icepaw!" Cinderheart greeted her cheerily. "How's it going?"

"Never been better!" Icepaw had to force a smile with the cat who had ruined her life in her dream, but what she said was true. Nothing felt better to be out of that horrid dream.

"All right, everyone, let's do some hunting!" Hollyleaf meowed in a sing-song voice. It was refreshing to see the black cat so cheerful.

As Icepaw followed the two she-cats into the forest, she looked around at the fresh coat of snow on the ground. It glinted in the sunlight, the tiny sparkles looking silver against the white. Frost glittered on the bare branches of the trees, and the sky was pale blue with no clouds. The ground was cold underpaw, but Icepaw didn't care.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Don't you remember?" Cinderheart tipped her head to one side. "When we decided to go on this patrol yesterday, you wanted to hunt up by the edge of the territory. You said there'd be more prey there."

I did? Ugh, it's so hard to remember anything I said yesterday! At least the edge of the territory is a good ways away.

"Hey, guys!" she piped up. "I had the weirdest dream last night!"

"Really!" Hollyleaf looked interested. "What was it about?"

"It was so long!" the white she-cat breathed. "And there were so many parts! It was an icky dream, too. Although it seems kind of funny now."

"Do tell, do tell." Lionblaze looked at her with amusement in his bright amber eyes.

"We won't make fun, we promise," Cinderheart added sincerely.

"Well, it started right after Ashfur died," Icepaw began. "Everyone was freaking out, big time. Someone from Windclan told us Sol killed him, so we sent a patrol all the way to fricken' Twolegplace to fetch him and bring him back as a prisoner."

Hollyleaf snorted. "Well, that's stupid! Why risk the lives of several cats to avenge one?"

Icepaw shrugged. "It was a really weird dream. And it just gets funnier!"

All three warriors looked a her eagerly. The white apprentice straightened proudly. This would have them laughing until next greenleaf!

"Then, the patrol brought Sol back, but he kept saying he didn't kill Ashfur, so Firestar just let him sit around doing nothing. And then—you won't believe this part!—the kits were playing when a random snake appeared out of nowhere and was ready to kill Briarkit, but then Honeyfern pushed her out of the way and got bitten herself. Then, she had a spasm and died."

The three warriors exchanged puzzled glances. "What's a snake?" Hollyleaf asked.

"We had them in the old forest," Cinderheart explained. "Long, skinny lizard-type things with no legs. They just slide around on their bellies. They've got long fangs and a bite with enough venom to kill the healthiest cat."

Lionblaze narrowed his eyes. "How did you know that?"

The gray tabby looked instantly embarrassed. "Uh…my dad told me."

"So Honeyfern dies because an animal we've never seen kills her for absolutely no reason?" As Lionblaze put the pieces of the puzzle together, he looked like he was holding back a guffaw.

"That's right!" Icepaw mewed chipperly. "Bonkers, huh?"

All four cats burst out laughing. "I'm telling Honeyfern as soon as we get home! She'll get a kick out of this!"

"Oh, and you also might want to mention Berrynose was very upset when she died." The white she-cat flicked her tail.

The gray she-cat purred. "She'll like that part."

"Then Whitewing had kits, but that's not really important," the apprentice continued. "We were at a gathering, and Hollyleaf started blabbering on about how her real parents were Leafpool and Crowfeather. Then, of course, there was a huge lot of commotion and Brambleclaw dumped Squirrelflight, Crowfeather trash-talked Leafpool, Nightcloud and Breezepelt got all pissed…it was pretty chaotic."

"Wow." Lionblaze blinked, looking at his sister. "You're a badass, Hollyleaf!"

The she-cat shrunk away from him, fear dancing in her big green eyes. "I…I…"

Icepaw rolled her eyes. "Don't freak out! It was only a dream!"

Hollyleaf relaxed. "Y—yeah!" she laughed nervously. "Just a dream. None of it's real."

"Exactly. I know you'd never be stupid enough to do something like that." Cinderheart gave her friend's cheek a lick.

"I mean really, who announces that they're halfclan to all the clans?" Lionblaze snorted. "It's ridiculous!"

"No kidding!" the black warrior agreed. "Then what happened, Icepaw?"

"Well, when we got back to camp, you tried to feed Leafpool deathberries and then you ran into the tunnels between our territory and Windclan's. A bunch of rocks fell on you in there and you died."

"Wow." Hollyleaf let out a mrrow of laughter. "Sounds like I'm having some pretty bad luck, eh?"

Icepaw laughed. "Certainly. Then there was one of those timeskip things…the lake just about dried up, and there was this big drought. Foxpaw and I got our warrior names. I was Icecloud and he was Foxleap."

"Foxleap?" Lionblaze stared at her. "What kind of a name is that? What does he do, leap everywhere?"

"I know!" the white apprentice snorted.

"How much longer does this go on?" Cinderheart yawned. "This dream is freaking lengthy!"

"Shut up, Cinderheart!" Lionblaze snapped. "I want to hear the rest!"

Cinderheart shut up and let Icepaw talk again.

"So Whitewing's kits, Ivykit and Dovekit, got apprenticed. Cinderheart got Ivypaw and Lionblaze got Dovepaw."

"Awww, I didn't get one?" Disappointment flashed in  Hollyleaf's green eyes.

Icepaw raised an eyebrow. "You're dead, remember?"

"Oh." She looked away, embarrassed. "Right."

"Then guess what? Poppyfrost got pregnant with Berrynose's kits!"

Cinderheart burst out laughing. "Poppyfrost? She hates him! What did you eat before you went to bed? Imagine what she'd do if I told her she had sex with Berrynose!"

"She'd run away screaming," Hollyleaf added.

"So anyway, cats kept getting stuck in mudholes and then Dovepaw said she knew about these big brown animal things jacking our water supply. A couple cats from each clan went upstream to get the water back, and Lionblaze went. When he came back, he said there were huge animals with tough, flat tails and gigantic front teeth who had been building a big barrier of dead trees to block the river."

Once again, the patrol cracked up.

"Icepaw, you've been eating too much catnip!" Cinderheart declared.

"Well, after that, Jayfeather came back to the camp all bloody because Breezepelt beat him up for being halfclan. Then Poppyfrost had her kits, and called them Cherrykit and Molekit. After that…well, Leopardstar died and Mistyfoot became the leader. Then, Dovepaw and Ivypaw went to visit WindClan for no reason, and after that…uh…a big tree fell in the camp and broke Briarpaw's spine when she got caught under it so her back legs didn't work."

"Well, that sucks," Lionblaze sighed.

"Better not tell Briarkit," Hollyleaf concluded.

"Especially about her warrior name," Icepaw added. "After she broke her back, see, she and her siblings got their warrior names anyway. Bumblepaw was Bumblestripe, Blossompaw was Blossomfall, and Briarpaw was…Briarlight."

"Briarlight?" Lionblaze sniggered. "What's it supposed to be, a bunch of magic glowing thorns? Really, what is with these names?"

Cinderheart shook her head in disbelief.

"Then there was this big battle with Shadowclan for the territory we gave them, and Russetfur died and Firestar lost a life."

"Bummer," Hollyleaf muttered.

"There was this weird fox who kept hanging around on our territory and attacking us, but Lionblaze drove him out all by himself. A whole patrol couldn't get rid of the lump of mouse dung!" Icepaw grinned at Lionblaze, who looked away bashfully.

"Not like he could ever do that in real life," Cinderheart scoffed. Lionblaze just glared at her. The white apprentice trembled with amusement as she recalled the next part. It had been horrifying in the dream, but it seemed funny now. Hopefully, they think so too!

"And then…well, Lionblaze and Cinderheart got together," she growled.

"WHAT?!" Lionblaze stared at her with owl-size eyes, shock glowing in their golden depths. "Me and…Cinderheart?"

He and the gray tabby exchanged alarmed glances. Cinderheart gagged, shuddering all over. Lionblaze looked her over and snickered.

"That would so not work," Cinderheart meowed uneasily, but her blue eyes were glowing with humor. "We barely ever talk!"

"Ditto!" Lionblaze rolled his eyes. "What a fail! How on earth did we end up hitting on each other?!"

"Plus, he's my best friend's brother," Cinderheart added, flicking her tail at Hollyleaf. "That would be a mess!"

"That's RIGHT!" Hollyleaf growled playfully. "You two better keep well away from each other, or I'll rip off both your pelts and use them for bedding!"

Although the black she-cat was just kidding, Icepaw knew that the message was clear; she was not pleased about the prospect of her brother mating with her friend. Icepaw let herself relax.

As long as she stays in the clan, I'll be all right.

"You've nothing to worry about, Hollyleaf." The golden tom stopped to scratch himself behind the ear with his hind paw. "There are other she-cats in the Thunderclan, anyways."

"Besides, it'd be just plain awkward if he liked me!" Cinderheart curled her lip. "I mean really."

"I know!" Icepaw purred. "I was horrified when you two hooked up in the dream! Good thing you broke up later on! Still more to come, though."

"Keep going, then," Lionblaze mewed, distancing himself from Cinderheart as much as he could, while she did likewise. “I’m…glad that little love affair didn’t last.” He shared an uncomfortable glance with the gray she-cat.

"After that, Shadowclan took Ivypaw prisoner until we gave them healing herbs, because Littlecloud was sick. Good for Shadowclan we gave them the herbs…some cats were playing on the frozen lake, and the ice cracked under Flametail, the Shadowclan medicine cat apprentice, and he drowned."

"Awwww!" Lionblaze's eyes grew sad. "Not Flamepaw! I like that apprentice."

"First Honeyfern, then Flamepaw…all young cats." Icepaw was slightly irked by the pity in Hollyleaf's green eyes. "You must've been scared out of your fur!"

"I wasn't." The apprentice stuck her chest out a bit. "This next part is really weird."

"Go for it." Cinderheart nodded encouragingly.

"Well, Ivypaw and Dovepaw had their assessments, except they were all…weird. Another warrior watched them along with their mentor, and they got partnered up with a younger warrior for partner hunting. It was…yeah, weird. Well, I got put with Dovepaw, when the ground kind of caved in underneath me randomly while I was stalking a mouse and I fell in this big old hole. Eventually, Dovepaw got me out, but the hole almost caved in in the process. I think I broke my shoulder. Then, Dovepaw and Ivypaw got named Dovewing and Ivypool."

"Partner hunting on an assessment and more than the mentor supervising?" Cinderheart raised her eyebrows. "Typical dream. Why didn't you wake up when you were falling, though?"

"I think I did for like…1 heartbeat, and then I went back to sleep. Then, Firestar sends a patrol of cats with Jayfeather into the mountains for no reason at all."

Lionblaze laughed. "No reason? Wow!"

"No reason at all!" she confirmed cheerfully. "It was kind of stupid, really."

"Then what?" Hollyleaf inquired.

“Well, the cats from the mountains came back, and life went on as if they had never left,” Icepaw explained with a shrug. “Cherrykit and Molekit—Berrynose and Poppyfrost’s kits—became apprenticed to Foxleap and Rosepetal.”

“Rosepetal?” Hollyleaf raised her eyebrows. “That’s a bit fancy for a warrior name, isn’t it?”

Icepaw nodded. “One of the many weird names my sleeping mind came up with. So anyway, then Sol comes striding into the camp because apparently he’d been creeping around on Thunderclan territory again.”

Lionblaze shook his head. “Well, that’s no good.”

“And then…” Icepaw turned to Cinderheart. “Your mom had another kitter of kits, Cinderheart!”

The gray tabby she-cat’s eyes flashed with sudden confusion. “Wait…what?!? She’s kinda middle-aged now…wouldn’t she be, like, really old by the time Berrynose and Poppyfrost would have had time to have a litter of kits and for them to be apprenticed?”

“Not really old, but probably too old to have another litter of healthy kits,” she agreed. “And hoestly it was beyond me why she wanted to have more kits. Because the clan was short on them, maybe? She could’ve just let Daisy have another litter with some tom!”

The whole patrol broke into laughter at the mention of the lazy ex-kittypet.

“So anyway, then Sol wanders off and who should come strutting into camp but Hollyleaf, who apparently rose from the dead!”

The black she-cat’s green eyes lit up. “Wow, I really am a badass! Rising from the dead and shit!”

“Yeah, not many cats can do that,” Lionblaze purred, flicking his sister’s shoulder with his tail.

“So anyway, then Hollyleaf tells everyone she was the one who killed Ashfur, but then Brambleclaw says he actually attacked her and she was just defending herself and accidentally killed him,” Icepaw went on.

“WHAT?!” Hollyleaf blinked in confusion. “That doesn’t even make sense!”

“Yeah, why would Ashfur attack Hollyleaf?” Cinderheart put in.

Icepaw snorted. “Dream logic! Then, all of the sudden, Cinderheart gains all this knowledge about herbs and she starts claiming she’s the reincarnation of Cinderpelt!”

“What’s a reincarnation?” Cinderheart asked.

“It’s when a cat dies and is born again as another cat,” she mewed.

Lionblaze rolled his eyes. “I don’t even think that’s possible!”

“So then Sol comes back with Windclan and they attack us!” Icepaw exclaimed. “Right in the middle of these underground tunnels that run from our territory to Windclan, apparently. At least after we won the fight, we finally got rid of Sol and told him to get the hell out of the clans and never come back.”

“I wonder if he’ll listen?” Hollyleaf let out a purr of amusement.

“So then Brightheart had some more kits—yes, I know she’s kind of old to be having more kits too—and we started finding all of these weird scents on our territory. A little while later all of the clans were randomly attacked by the spirits of these evil dead cats and there was this huge battle!” Icepaw dragged out the word “huge” for emphasis. “A bunch of cats died, like Firestar, and Mousefur, and Ferncloud, and Hollyleaf…again.”

“I’m just having awful luck!” the black she-cat mewed sadly.

“That wasn’t even the worst part,” Icepaw sighed. “After the big fight, I realized Cinderheart and Lionblaze had gotten back together. Because of destiny or some crap like that.”

Lionblaze visibly gagged. “I thought we were done with that bit!” he hissed.

“Yeah, I was so relieved when you said we broke up,” Cinderheart added. “I wish you hadn’t even put that idea in our heads…now it’s going to haunt me for the rest of my days! Not to mention this nonsense about being a reincarnation!”

Icepaw winced at the tabby she-cat’s semi-aggressive tone. “Hey!” Lionblaze defended her. “It’s not Icepaw’s fault that her unconscious mind is apparently really screwed up!”

“Really though, lay off the catnip,” Hollyleaf teased, flicking the younger she-cat with her tail. “We might need that for another outbreak of greencough!”

Icepaw didn’t want to admit to the warriors that she had eaten a few juniper berries for a bellyache at dusk yesterday…maybe a tad too many, apparently.

“So what else happened?” Hollyleaf urged her on.

"I went out hunting with Foxleap, and all of the sudden he was calling me Icepaw and telling me to wake up. Then I woke up, and left on this patrol."

There was a long silence in which all three cats stared at her. "That's it, then!" Lionblaze exclaimed.

"Aren't you glad it wasn't real?" she prompted with a smile.

Hollyleaf and Cinderheart nodded. "Am I ever!" Lionblaze meowed forcefully. "That's some pretty crazy shit right there."

Feeling her pelt warm, Icepaw continued on beside her friends. The nightmare was over, and everything was all right now.

*******

The four cats padded into camp, their mouths bursting with prey. Despite it being leaf-bare, they had managed to catch quite a lot. Icepaw had even caught a colossal pheasant, which would probably feed all the nursing queens.

"Well done, Icepaw!" Whitewing nodded at the bird, her belly fat with kits. "Look at the size of that thing!"

Icepaw grinned at her mentor and dumped her catch beside the warriors'.

"Foxpaw caught a huge load of prey on his final assessment today," Whitewing added. "I couldn't have yours, obviously, but I don't think you're going to need it."

Icepaw narrowed her blue eyes in anger. Was Foxpaw going to become a warrior before her? "What do you mean?"

"Wait and see!" Whitewing purred in amusement and disappeared into the nursery.

Rolling her eyes, the white apprentice broke away from the young warriors and started grooming herself beside the apprentices' den. She was licking her tail clean when she noticed Foxpaw talking eagerly with Squirrelflight and Sorreltail over by the highledge. Feeling a pang of resentment, she stalked into the roomy cave. Why does my mentor have to be a freaking queen?

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the highledge for a clan meeting!"

Trying to stay positive, Icepaw kept her tail upright as she went to sit in the audience under the large ledge. Firestar was perched on top, looking as relaxed as ever. Several cats were stealing glances at her littermate, only adding to her jealousy. At least in my dream we became warriors together!

"I know this in unexpected, but I wish to name 2 new warriors today," the ginger leader mewed. "I feel the time is right for this, even if we still need apprentices. Icepaw and Foxpaw have proved themselves to be worthy members of the clan, and it's time they were given credit for it."

Icepaw felt red-hot excitement shoot through her pelt, after the initial surprise.

So that's what Whitewing was saying! That I don't need an assessment to become a warrior, not that I won't be becoming a warrior!

"Squirrelflight, is Foxpaw ready for his warrior ceremony?" Firestar asked his daughter.

The dark ginger she-cat nodded. "Definitely. He'd fight to his last breath defending this clan."

"How about Icepaw, Whitewing?" Despite being pregnant, the white she-cat had left the nursery to give her approval for her apprentice becoming a warrior.

"She is. She's turning into an excellent hunter," the queen purred.

"I, Firestar, leader of Thunderclan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these 2 apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn." Icepaw relished the words as he spoke them, drinking in the fact that her true destiny was no more than a whiskerlength away.

"Foxpaw and Icepaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this clan, even at the cost of your lives?"

"I do!" Foxpaw's voice was eager, but he tried his hardest to keep it steady.
"I do." Icepaw closed her eyes, feeling anxiety claw at her mind.

Please don't call me Icecloud…

"Then by the powers of Starclan, I give you your warrior names. Foxpaw, from this moment on, you will be known as Foxclaw. Starclan honors your resilience and enthusiasm. Icepaw, from this moment on you will be known as Icefeather. Starclan honors your optimism and skill. We welcome you both as full warriors of Thunderclan."

As the chanting started, Firestar preformed the usual shoulder-licking task. "Icefeather! Foxclaw! Icefeather! Foxclaw! Icefeather! Foxclaw!" the clan yowled. Icefeather couldn't help noticing the hunting patrol she'd told about her dream were cheering the loudest of all. She smiled at her new friends, her disturbing dream far from her head.

Cats congratulated her, padding up to her and her brother and welcoming them to the warriors down. Once the commotion died down, she felt a light tail-touch on her shoulder. Lionblaze beckoned her with his head to follow him and padded skittishly to the back of the camp.

"Congratulations!" he purred. She wondered if she was imagining the affection in his eyes. "Icefeather's a great name. You're going to be a great warrior!"

"Thanks!" Icefeather couldn't help but blush. "But why'd you come over here to tell me that?"

"It's not that." The tabby tom hesitated. "It's your dream. I've been thinking about it." Fear glittered in his amber gaze as he made eye contact. "What if it's a message from Starclan, telling you the future? What if those ridiculous things actually happen?"

"I'm no medicine cat," she meowed, flicking his ears with her tail. "Sometimes a dream is just a dream. I mean, I've never received an omen of the stars!"

"It's not too late," Lionblaze mewed gravely. "If all that will come true…"

Icefeather wished she could comfort him, but he had a point. What if it was an omen of the stars? They were probably both being stupid, but you never knew.

Icefeather forced herself to stand up straight and gather back her confidence. "It won't, but even if it did, some of that you can control. You can choose not to be Cinderheart's mate, for starters."

Lionblaze flinched at the mention of his obligatory love interest. "I can't escape my destiny," he mumbled.

"Yes you can!" Icefeather snarled, her voice coming out stronger than she meant it to. "Everyone acts as if destiny's this invisible force we just have to accept, but that's the complete opposite of what it is. We all shape our own paths, by making decisions for ourselves. No one else can make them for us. Every cat creates his or her destiny every day, including you, me, and yes, Cinderheart. Why should we want to run from our futures if we create them? Destiny isn't some mystical path Starclan lays out for us, but the results that come from the choices we make. You control your future, and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise."

Lionblaze stared at her, his eyes wide with surprise that such wise words could come out of a newly-appointed warrior.

"I've seen Cinderheart show knowledge well beyond her age, but she's never said anything like that," he whispered.

Happiness burst inside the white she-cat, sending her trembling from nose to tail-tip. Lionblaze had said she was better than Cinderheart! That had to be a good sign, right?

"Well, no one's forcing you to mate with her," Icefeather pointed out with a shrug.

"That's right." Lionblaze blinked. "No one is. I'm the one who decides that for myself."

The she-cat nodded approvingly, feeling satisfied. The silence seemed to drag on for ages, with the two warriors avoiding meeting each other's gaze.

"Oh, and Lionblaze?" Icefeather finished. "My dream didn't mean anything. There will be no omen of the stars."

Lionblaze gave her such a warm look she thought she might melt into a puddle. The golden tabby tomcat took a step closer to her so that their fur touched ever so slightly. Icefeather closed her pretty blue eyes and breathed in his comforting scent.

Her and Lionblaze's futures already looked brighter.