Starlight/Chapter 17

==Chapter description==
:Leafpaw is desperate to find a sign from StarClan, and she looks anywhere. She tries to look everywhere for a place for medicine cats to share tongues with StarClan. Leafpaw finds, two days before the half-moon, many new places for healing herbs.
:She finds Sorreltail, who agreed to go hunting with Brackenfur later. Leafpaw teases Sorreltail about how Brackenfur likes her, and Sorreltail also thinks Brackenfur is great. Cinderpelt approaches Leafpaw and tells her how Rainwhisker and Sootfur shifted some thick brambles away and she guides Leafpaw through the brambly curtain and shows her a place that could be the newest medicine den. Cinderpelt states how its a perfect den for them, and Leafpaw whole-heartedly agrees. 
:Cinderpelt tells Firestar about the new den, and he orders for Cloudtail and Brightheart to clean out for the den for later use. Leafpaw helps move out the rocks, and by the end, she is very tired. She goes for a walk in the starlight by the lake. She notices Crowfeather in the darkness. He is murmuring to the lake about Feathertail. Leafpaw walks up to Crowfeather, and he tells how unfair it was that Feathertail had to die. Leafpaw tells Crowfeather that she is always in the stars, when she smells the familiar scent of Spottedleaf.
:Spottedleaf greets Leafpaw and Leafpaw asks why StarClan has been silent to her. She also tells how she's looked everywhere for a new Moonstone. Spottedleaf says that StarClan are accompanying to the new place in the stars as well. She tells Leafpaw how starlight on water will help find the new Moonstone. Spottedleaf disappears and Leafpaw tries to find her, but she fails.
:Leafpaw wakes up gasping in her nest. She lets out a frustrated hiss, knowing she had to follow Spottedleaf in order to know what the medicine cat wanted to show her. Her heart pounds with the urge to keep running until she got to the sparkling stream. She can see Cinderpelt was sleeping, and Leafpaw slips out of the brambles. The walls sparkle with raindrops, and the night sky was dotted with stars and the moon glowed near the trees. Leafpaw hears Spottedleaf's voice telling her to come to her, and Leafpaw pads toward the camp entrance. 
:Sorreltail intercepts her, concerned about her, and offers to come. Leafpaw hesitates, but thinks of how warriors and apprentices would go to the Moonstone at least once, and accepts the offer. She leads the way to the thorn tunnel, and Brackenfur asks where they were going. Leafpaw tells him that she needed to go find the new Moonstone, and that StarClan had sent her a sign. Brackenfur is concerned about their safety, but gives in when Sorreltail promises she would go and come back unharmed with Leafpaw. 
:Leafpaw races through the forest until she came to the border. She bounds up a slope and follows the border line out of the trees into the hills. Leafpaw informs Sorreltail she had met Spottedleaf, and that starlight on water would be the sign. The next moment she had been running uphill beside a stream, and it had been filled with stars. She adds that she didn't recognize anything. Leafpaw thinks about the stream Spottedleaf had shown her. 
:As they walk it seems as though the stream gets louder and louder. They come to a downslope, where it gets steeper and steeper. Sorreltail tired, pads determinedly forward, but Leafpaw in contrast feels as though she could run forever. A sound similar to the waterfall in the mountains echo in her head, and she realizes she could hear it too in the waking world. She launches herself forward, slipping on the damp rock. She begs the stars to wait for her. She tells Sorreltail to hurry since the starlight would start fading soon.
:Leafpaw finds Spottedleaf patiently standing a few tail lengths above her. Leafpaw leaps up to join former ThunderClan medicine cat. She sees a steam pouring down on a deep channel, and starlight glitters on the surface. Spottedleaf urges her to follow her, and Leafpaw beckons the tortoiseshell warrior, informing her about the starry cat's presence. Sorreltail says she can't see her, asking if it was a problem. Leafpaw replies it was not, and tells her friend that Spottedleaf could see her, and that was all that mattered. 
:Spottedleaf begins to follow the stream upward, and Leafpaw eagerly follows the she-cat. The stream vanishes among a barrier of thornbushes, and Spottedleaf passes through the thorns. Leafpaw stops, wondering how to go through. She finally spots a tiny gap and squeezes through it. Sorreltail follows, struggling to catch her breath. Leafpaw emerges on the edge of a steep hollow. On the far side, the ground rose to a sheer cliff, and water bubbled out of a clef and splashed into a pool. The surface of the pool ripples from the impact and reflects starlight. Leafpaw had never seen such a beautiful place. 
:The tortoiseshell-and-white medicine cat beckons Leafpaw to join her. A narrow path curves around the hollow, spiraling steadily toward the pool. She hears Sorreltail push her way out of the thorn barrier, and asks if this was the place. Leafpaw replies it probably was, and tells her friend she would go alone down to the pool. Leaving Sorreltail behind, she pads down the path. The she-cat tells her to look down at the water.
:Instead of stars, Leafpaw sees reflections of many cats, countless eyes gleaming expectantly at her, as though they knew she would come. All around her, the cats of StarClan surround her, and Leafpaw is conscious of the warmth in the gazes fixed on her. Leafpaw finds Dappletail, Hollykit, Larchkit and Shrewpaw. Leafpaw thinks how she must tell Ferncloud that her three kits were safe. Leafpaw doesn't see Graystripe among them, and she thinks that Graystripe might not be dead.
:A blue-gray she-cat, the exact image of Mistyfoot pads forward. She greets her, and tells her this was where medicine cats must come to communicate with them, and where leaders would receive their lives. Leafpaw thanks Bluestar for sending Spottedleaf to show her the way. Bluestar tells her she must inform the other Clans, but that there was a friend that wanted to speak to her.
:Feathertail steps out of the ranks of cats, and they touch noses. Leafpaw mistakenly assumes Feathertail walked only in the Tribe of Endless Hunting, but Feathertail tells her she walked in both skies now. Feathertail says she missed Crowfeather a lot, and tells Leafpaw she is proud of him, and that he would make a great warrior. The silver-gray she-cat bends down, and tells her to let Crowfeather not to grieve, and that she would always love him, although it would be a long time until they met again. She also adds to tell him that he must live in their new home, and to not be blind to his Clanmates for all that time. Leafpaw promises she would, and the warriors fade away until there was no trace of them left.
:Leafpaw runs up the path and asks if Sorreltail had seen StarClan. Sorreltail hesitantly replies that there was a bright mist rising from the pool. Leafpaw tells her friend it must've been StarClan, and says it was the place. Rays of the moon catches the surface of the water and light fills the hollow. Leafpaw meows she was sure, and that now they had the Moonpool. She turns to Sorreltail, fur glittering with starlight, and says that they had found it, and this was where the Clans were meant to be.
==Characters==
===Major===
===Minor===
===Mentioned===
==Notes and references==
fr:Nuit étoilée/Chapitre 17
Category:The New Prophecy arc
Category:Chapter subpages
Category:Starlight