MoonClan's ambitious story/(1): The First Four Leaders/2/13

### Chapter 13: Sandleap, Flameeye & Tina

Redwater shivered. It was a moon ever since Flipsnow's kitting. Her son, Thymekit, was old enough to leave the nursery by himself now. She wondered if Fangstar would think twice about battling MoonClan.

Flameeye was out hunting. Being Redwater's brother and littermate, she trusted him with her kit. He took his nephew into the forest carefully. He wondered if it was time for a mate, since his sister already had a two-moon-old kit. He would have chosen Sealbranch as a mate if she weren't his cousin, since she was the strongest, hard-working and headstrong she-cat he knew in the Clan.

"What is that?" asked Thymekit, pointing to a mouse.

"It's a mouse," replied Flameeye, and pounced on it.

"Can you teach me to do that?" mewed Thymekit excitedly.

"When you're an apprentice," replied Flameeye calmly.

He hunted some more and told Thymekit interesting facts about the forest until he saw a small, black & white spotted cat.

It also had a Twoleg with it. The Twoleg only seemed to see the small cat it owned, which made Flameeye relieved, since he didn't want to deal with any Twolegs.

*Kittypet & a Twoleg,* thought Flameeye bitterly. Thymekit saw no problem with either of them whatsoever, but he looked like as if he thought the Twoleg was odd-looking. His uncle hadn't gotten to the part yet about these two groups.

The kittypet turned to Flameeye and did something he wasn't expecting at all from any kittypet. The cat bowed down to him, and purred, "Greetings, Clan-goers. I am Tina, a female cat. I'm owned by humans."

Flameeye knew "female" meant she-cat & "human" meant Twoleg, but he always wondered why kittypets have slightly different terms than Clan cats.

"I'm Flameeye," he started, "and this is my nephew, Thymekit. We come from MoonClan."

Tina nodded, but suddenly got startled by her Twoleg's call. Tina let out a "mrrow" for "I'm coming!"

"Oh, well. I was hoping you'd invite me into MoonClan, but can't do that now. Nice to meet you, Flameeye," meowed Tina, running off.

"Bye?" replied Flameeye bewildered. He was shocked by the first part of her sentence. She only knew his name, and now she wanted to enter MoonClan. He knew some kittypets had joined the Clans, like Flipsnow & Peonyclaw, but almost all of them he had heard of had some kind of friend, relative, some relationships with a Clan cat, making them want to join. Surely Tina didn't assume they didn't have a relationship at *all* together?

"Who was she, and what was that tall, two-legged thing?" asked Thymekit, probably grimacing at the Twoleg's appearance. Finally, Flameeye explained about kittypets & Twolegs. Thymekit seemed to understand, but Flameeye still wasn't sure about Tina.

*I'll get over it,* Flameeye told himself.

He went back to camp with only a mouse, but he managed to bring Thymekit back home safe, as he had promised Redwater.

Redwater thought something might be wrong with her brother, but she shrugged it off.

The next day, Sandleap said she felt dizzy. Lilypool & Rainpaw checked her out, and they said she was expecting, too. Redwater thought it weird for Petuniaheart & Snowstar to get elated all of a sudden because they were going to be grandparents, since she thought either one of the trio of sisters to be expecting kits sooner, so she was happy to have her cousin in the nursery.

Flameeye again went out hunting but by himself this time. He wondered if he would encounter Tina again, and apparently, he did.

"Flameeye! So good to see you again!" she exclaimed, running to him. "None of my humans are here to try to bother you, because I ran off!"

Flameeye did a double take. "Ran *off?!*" He was surprised with this cat's perseverance to join the Clan. He wasn't sure how to trust her at all. "Um... well, Thymekit isn't here either," he said, changing the subject a little. "But why are you here? I didn't invite you..."

Tina blinked a few times before understanding Flameeye's confusion. "Oh, let me tell you the reason why, my humans are staying in a summer house, which is in the Mountains, which is where we are! It is also my birthplace because they stole me from here from my mother six moons ago. After being here again I want to join a Clan!"

Flameeye took some time to process this information. Most of it made sense except for Tina's mother. "Why not be with your mother?" he asked. "I doubt she is in my Clan."

Tina blinked again, but slowly. "Oh, right. Basically she is in hiding so she doesn't want me to join her Clan otherwise cats would get suspicious. For some reason Clan cats hate other Clan cats mating with outsiders!" Her eyes became wide.

Flameeye nodded and understood what she was saying. "I think she is abiding by the warrior code." Tina became surprised and puzzled, so he continued with his explanation. "Basically, the warrior code is designed to help the Clan as a whole go through hardships much easier without any issues that would be caused by breaking the code. One of the rules is not to mate with outsiders, including cats from other Clans, because it can cause issues with loyalty, priority and other things. Also, it could potentially ruin the kits' reputation because they might be prejudiced that they want to help their other parent's Clan. And other reasons, too." For a moment he thought about his sister, Redwater, because he had no idea who her kit's father was and neither did their father, Forestcreek. *I don't think it is that bad,* he thought reassuringly. He doubted his sister would have a relationship outside of the Clan. At the very most, she probably mated with a loner or kittypet.

Tina looked at him, confused. "Really? I didn't know it was like that. Is the warrior code strict?"

Flameeye shrugged and said reassuringly, "I suppose it depends on the cat. But it is supposed to be for the betterment of the Clan. Rogues might think it is strict, which is why they *are* rogues. And maybe loners or kittypets, too. In general, Clan cats don't really like kittypets because they are thought to not have skills to survive in the wild." He planned his next words carefully. "You are classified as a kittypet, because you know... you have Twolegs. Twolegs are what we call humans."

Tina was very shocked now. "Oh... I didn't know that. Does this mean I can't join?"

Flameeye shook his head quickly. "No, no, no, you still can. You just have to learn hunting and fighting skills and then you can join and be a good warrior. I can even offer to be your mentor," he said even in an quicker way than he had nodded. Then he paused for a bit. Would he like having a kittypet as an apprentice? It would be his first apprentice because he and Redwater recently became a warrior, a moon before his three cousin sisters. He was the first one to meet her and understand her, so he thought it was the best idea.

Tina looked very excited now. "Really? That is very good! Finally! I am so excited!" She beamed from ear to ear. Then Flameeye nodded. He thought it was perfectly fine, after all, MoonClan had a surplus of supplies and they could use another warrior. What was one more warrior to the Clan? *Only better things,* figured Flameeye, so he gestured towards Tina to follow him. She followed him with a bouncy type of walk. Flameeye wondered if he should tell her about AdderClan and SnowClan yet but he figured she already knew about them. He *was* worried, however, if she knew about hardships that kittypets would never face.

Then they went back to the MoonClan camp. The deputy and his cousin, Sealbranch, was the first one to see them and she was definitely surprised. But Flameeye quickly explained about Tina and how she would be a good asset to the Clan. Tina also said that she was seven moons old.

Sealbranch nodded but she wondered if Tina was a spy from somewhere, even if not a Clan. Even if Flameeye first saw her with a Twoleg. She was worried that Tina may do harm. But Tina showed no signs of distrust, so she told her father, Snowstar, about this. Snowstar thought of a good warrior name for her and noticed she had black and white spots.

Other cats in the Clan saw them, too, and they looked at Flameeye and Sealbranch questioningly.

Redwater looked at Tina carefully and wondered what Flameeye was doing. She remembered Falconblue and Fangstar and she knew that they were malefactors to MoonClan. She didn't want Tina to be one from inside the Clan, too, like Falconblue. Thymekit recognized Tina and told his mother, "I remember that cat! Flameeye told me about her and he said she was a kittypet and that they can join Clans."

Redwater became really surprised. *So Flameeye met Tina while he was bringing Thymekit with him?* she thought, surprised. She thought about it for a moment and wondered what Thymekit had to say about her. But Thymekit just told good things about her.

Flameeye thought that he could trust Tina though, because she showed no signs of distrust. She acted very differently from Falconblue, and much more innocently. He still remembered that fatal battle, and he was only one moon a warrior, which made him shiver. Moonstar had died from that battle, which made his uncle, Snowstar, the leader. But he awaited the ceremony as Snowstar climbed onto Highrock and said the usual words.

**This is a chapter subpage of MoonClan's ambitious story (1): The First Four Leaders.**

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