MoonClan's ambitious story/(1): The First Four Leaders/2/30

### Chapter 30: Peaceful Aftermath

Birchpaw was in the apprentice's den thinking over what happened the day before. Peonyclaw and Whitestripe were still silently fuming at each other, but they weren't talking to each other in case another fight happened. To keep the peace that MoonClan was known for, they were completely avoiding even the topic of each other and Stonetooth. Other cats didn't want to bring up Stonetooth either, since it also brought up the bad memory of Begoniaclaw leaving with her. So it was like they never existed, almost. He wondered if SnowClan and AdderClan had a higher frequency of skirmishes like the one that happened yesterday, but he decided not to care about that since it was too sensitive of info, considering what happened yesterday.

He remembered Peonyclaw mentioning Stonetooth only once, though not by name, when she was regretting about Stonetooth and reminiscing the past. *"I thought my kits needed a little push because their older siblings, Violetrain and Fireclaw, were so outgoing, and they were playing with the other kits! So I wanted to advocate Sandleap and Nightnose to be their mentors, just as I had advocated for Maplestripe and Littleclaw to be Violetrain and Fireclaw's mentors, because Sandleap was my sister's apprentice, and I knew she would do so well because Flipsnow taught her a lot. And Nightnose was my younger friend, Rosepetal's apprentice and my mentor, Watereye's son! I knew I could trust her training and their parents' parenting, too, since both mentors and their parents were calm and intelligent. I knew Sandleap and Nightnose were both good kits and apprentices, too, and they worked so hard to become warriors! But-but I had no idea what in the Dark Forest would happen in the future!"* Most cats that were there (excluding Whitestripe, of course) were pretty surprised at her whole rant, especially Sandleap and Nightnose themselves. However, Nightnose had said that he forgave Peonyclaw since she didn't know what Stonetooth would act like. Sandleap also said that she still had a good time with Whitestripe, even if he was boisterous. Birchpaw was mostly just confused, because he didn't know that all this had happened behind the scenes, and he didn't think that Whitestripe was boisterous with Sandleap nearly at all.

He had silent worries about bad things happening for the entire depressive period, which began when Goldenlily died. And when MoonClan thought it was all over, it turned out Stonetooth left two nights ago. So the sadness morphed into a lot of tension, with a lot of cats worried about what would happen to MoonClan now, if AdderClan decided to raid after Stonetooth joining them. The only thing Birchpaw thought was good was Begoniaclaw being able to see her kits again, since she wasn't that much a good warrior anyways. But he still wondered if they would spill any important secrets, since they couldn't be trusted that much if they went back to AdderClan.

MoonClan seemed to be a bit worried about Birchpaw, especially Snowstar, Petuniaheart, Peonyclaw, Shadowclaw, Quailclaw, Whitestripe, Rainpaw, Swanpaw, Mountainpaw and Primrosepaw, since he wasn't talking as much as he used to as a kit and younger apprentice. Birchpaw still tried to be friendly with them, but the thoughts of him not being able to do anything about the situation was always irking for him. He didn't think it would help to tell everyone else what he was worrying about, since he thought it was obvious to them.

Birchpaw remembered what he asked his father after Birdkit's birth. *"Snowstar... do you... do you think... this is an ill omen?"*

*His father looked shocked at his question but at the same time uneasy. "Um... I am not sure. Do you think so?"*

*Birchpaw just shrugged in reply but said nothing else. So Snowstar continued, "I was going to ask you what you seemed to be worried about, but I guess* this *is what you were worried about."*

*"I am worried what will happen after this," Birchpaw finally replied in an anxious tone. "Will Birdkit be okay?"*

*"I hope so. Goldenlily's death was already shocking for us, so I wouldn't want anything else to happen," Snowstar replied. Birdkit was also the one who made him a grandfather for the first time, so he would definitely be extra worried about her.*

After all that had happened now, Birchpaw figured Birdkit's birth probably might have been an ill omen. Even if Birdkit didn't die (he thanked StarClan greatly for that), he thought it might have been a sign for Mousekit's death. And he wondered about Stonetooth leaving, too, if the entire situation happening in MoonClan was too much for her to handle. He was mostly neutral towards Stonetooth before, but now he thought she might be an ill omen, too. He wondered about Applefall's kits, since she was two moons pregnant now. But he hoped nothing would go wrong with *them.*

He thought about his mentor. Peonyclaw had told him that the reason why she didn't tell him much about SnowClan because of Blackwater. She didn't want Birchpaw to stress out too much about Whitelight and Blackwater since she noticed that he was getting bothered by it a little bit during training. It was also because of Swiftclaw, in fact *mostly* him, because of the situation and the sheer direness of the mating, which is why he accidentally mentioned it. But Birchpaw didn't want to tell her that, of course, since it was secret information. He understood what Peonyclaw thought she should have done with her apprentice, but he always wondered why she told him about her secret sister in the first place. Flipsnow never told Sandleap, and probably not Robinpaw, either. *Maybe it's because I was the only one who encountered Whitelight with her,* he figured.

Flipsnow still knew that Birchpaw knew, though, but it seemed like she was resenting that Peonyclaw ever told him, since she was shocked when Peonyclaw told her that he knew. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do about it except keep it a secret. But he wasn't sure how it would benefit him in any way to know. *Maybe if I ever encounter Whitelight with Peonyclaw, I will understand why they don't like each other.* But he wasn't sure how *that* would help, either. He *was* pretty curious, but he also respected secrets. *Maybe I won't attack Whitelight so hard since I know who she is?* He found that unlikely, since Clan battles required Clan members to do their best in fighting, and going soft on one specific cat would be considered disloyalty.

Birchpaw then thought about Swiftclaw and Blackwater fully. From what the others told him, he got really alarmed by the information. Swiftclaw supporting Briarstar all the way with her rigidity and mating outside of the Clan? The only thing he could think of him now was *"hypocrite".* He was alarmed at the fact itself that Swiftclaw was Briarstar's sister. *That means... Briarstar's the aunt of MoonClan cats. My friends.* It was so peculiar to him that it took him a while to stomach. He knew Swiftclaw might have relatives in SnowClan, but he didn't think *Briarstar* of all cats, the second leader of SnowClan, was his sister, which he thought made it a lot worse than he thought it would be. Not to mention, Briarstar and Swiftclaw were the great-niece and nephew of SnowClan Snowstar (as he learned from what Peonyclaw told him afterwards) through Hailclaw, the first deputy and Snowstar's littermate. *So Shadowclaw, Icemoon, Swanpaw, Mousekit and Petalkit are basically closer in blood to important SnowClan leaders and deputies than to important MoonClan cats, like Moonstar and Sandpounce.* Thinking about Mousekit made him feel a little uncomfortable, though, because she was already dead. Birchpaw had worries and doubts about his friends' SnowClan father being good before he was told this information, but now it felt like Swiftclaw was now a terrible cat to him, and wondered *why* in StarClan Goldenlily would mate with him.

And although the revelation about Blackwater wasn't *that* terrible, he still thought it was bad because he supported Swiftclaw and Briarstar's rigid actions, for whatever reason he couldn't think of. Whitelight was his mate, but at the same time she opposed the leader's rule, which probably meant their relationship was steely. Birchpaw thought about the story that Peonyclaw told him and wondered if Whitelight regretted her decision to leave her sisters and join her mate. He still wondered about Whitelight and Blackwater's kits, Juniperpetal and Paleeye, however, and what *their* relationship was with them. Swiftclaw, Blackwater and Whitelight weren't even close in blood to him, yet at the same time they seemed to be so related to him, due to the secrets he held. Birchpaw was sure no one else knew about those secrets, and he was sure no one else knew that *he* knew, except for Whitelight, of course. And he figured Swiftclaw would hide his secret until he died, unless Birchpaw did something about it. But he didn't want to do anything about it either, as the secret would be too dire if it were to be leaked, even more than Whitelight being his mentor and Flipsnow's sister, since they both still hated each other.

Peonyclaw calmed down enough to train Birchpaw today, since Birchpaw wasn't part of the problem, but she still seemed incensed at her belligerent son. However, during hunting training in the forest that led to the cliff of the creek, as if it was by StarClan destiny, Peonyclaw and Birchpaw encountered Whitelight again. Birchpaw knew that Peonyclaw encountered her a few other times, but this was the second time it happened while *he* was there.

*Whitelight saw Birchpaw and bit her lip. Birchpaw was confused why, but Peonyclaw shouted,* "WHY ARE YOU HERE, WHITELIGHT! DON'T YOU SEE I'M ANGRY!"

*Birchpaw looked worriedly at his mentor because of her volume, and Peonyclaw saw his expression and realized that she should probably be quieter when she was around her sister. Whitelight narrowed her eyes and said, "I can* see *that. But this is important!"*

*"Why don't I tell you what* happened?!" *Peonyclaw growled.* "My daughter, Stonetooth, left MoonClan to join that *abhorrent Clan!"*

*Whitelight knew which Clan she was talking about and looked utterly shocked. Birchpaw just looked down because he already knew. But Peonyclaw continued, "And don't tell your perfect, 'sweet' mate Blackwater about this, or* anyone! I'm not going to deal with SnowClan about that!"

*Whitelight blinked a few times before sighing, "Fine, it's not going to be of importance to SnowClan, anyways." But then she narrowed her eyes. "But seriously, why did you tell your apprentice about me?"*

*Now Birchpaw realized why.* Did Peonyclaw tell her that I knew? *he wondered with shock. He knew that Peonyclaw would have to tell Flipsnow since they were in the same Clan, but Whitelight? Peonyclaw bit her lip and only said, "Why* shouldn't *I?"*

*Whitelight narrowed her eyes even more, and Birchpaw thought the calm of his mentor and the brashness of Whitelight that Peonyclaw talked about would soon surface. "I remember asking you the next time we met what you told Birchpaw about me, since I thought I was sort of suspicious to him. And* that *is what you said? The* truth?" *She looked even more angry. "You* do *realize what could happen if it gets out! Briarstar is already acting* nuts!"

*Peonyclaw regained her angry expression and replied, "I'm not a* SnowClan *member." She said "SnowClan" as if it was dirt. "I'm* MoonClan. *And I'm going to tell the truth. Besides, what* else *could I have said? That we were secretly friendly and passing secrets? What if he told our leader that I was acting suspicious? And I'm not SnowClan or AdderClan to terrorize cats into forgetting what happened." Birchpaw was a bit confused that she said leader instead of Snowstar or his father, but then he realized SnowClan* probably *didn't know what happened in MoonClan all those moons ago. But he was* way *more surprised at her explanation, especially since he learned that Peonyclaw didn't trust him with* not *knowing the truth. But he thought that sort of made sense since someone could misinterpret a situation in many negative ways.*

*"What about terrorizing into* keeping secrets? *And who said* SnowClan *did that?" Whitelight growled back. Birchpaw was getting pretty anxious now, since he thought the two sisters would start fighting if they kept this up.* Not that MoonClan would probably care, though. They would think it's good. *But he was still worried of his* own *wellbeing.*

*Peonyclaw snorted. "Birchpaw consented, though, without me having to do that! And I wouldn't put it past SnowClan to do so! How else are important secrets not leaking?"*

*"If it results in important secrets not leaking, then that's good! Unlike MoonClan! But we don't terrorize, because we have trust in each other not to do so!"*

"Now, why don't you SHUT UP! Didn't you have something to say about stupid SnowClan? You're praising the very Clan you have complaints for? I bet Briarstar began this tradition of terrorizing!"

*Whitelight just blinked slowly as if she didn't agree with most of what her sister said, but Birchpaw was really anxious now. "Well, Briarstar and her kits* are *getting to be too much. Honeywhisker, Sparrowstem and Cloverheart can't seem to convince her otherwise! I'm trying to change the Clan for the better, too, but Blackwater doesn't want to do anything about it!"*

*Peonyclaw just sighed, but it seemed to be sarcastic. "Oh* really? *Is he* finally-"

"Um, Peonyclaw?" *Birchpaw decided to speak up.* "Maybe we should leave. What if *another* cat sees us talking to her?" Whitelight still looked angry, but she was a little surprised at her sister's apprentice.

*Peonyclaw blinked at her apprentice's audacity, but she looked like she thought that was a good idea. However, both sisters still glared at each other as the mentor and apprentice were leaving.*

Birchpaw sighed, as he thought the entire encounter with his mentor's sister was peculiar and tense, especially since Peonyclaw quit training because of it and retired to the warriors' den. He didn't know what he was supposed to do about it, because the secret was best kept as a secret anyways, as it involved Clan loyalties. He didn't want the secret to accidentally leak because of him, even if they were just *discussing* how he knew about it, since Peonyclaw *was* still incensed at Stonetooth leaving and Whitestripe fighting with her, and Whitelight coming exacerbated her emotions.

Then Shadowclaw, Icemoon, Swanpaw, Mountainpaw, Dandelionpaw and Rainpaw all entered the apprentice's den. He was confused why the first two and latter last were entering since they were either warriors or a medicine cat apprentice, until they all spotted him.

"Hey, *Birchpaw!"* Shadowclaw greeted, although with a little worry, which confused Birchpaw.

Then Mountainpaw asked anxiously, "Birchpaw, did Peonyclaw *do...* anything?"

"You came back *so early,* and she looked pretty angry, too!" Rainpaw exclaimed in confusion.

Birchpaw sighed. *What should I tell them?* He was a *little* glad he could blame it on Whitestripe since he didn't have any other good reason why Peonyclaw would get angry. He didn't want to mention Whitelight in case that started issues with *SnowClan.* Issues with Windwing, Begoniaclaw, Stonetooth and AdderClan in general were enough to handle, perhaps too much now.

"I *am* pretty worried what happened! Did something else happen?" Dandelionpaw added uneasily. Icemoon and Swanpaw nodded worriedly, too.

"Peonyclaw decided that we should go back since she was having trouble focusing on the prey," Birchpaw replied nonchalantly. He had no idea if that made much sense to them, but it was the best he could think of, which still had to do with yesterday's events.

Luckily, everyone understood and didn't question him as they nodded empathetically.

"I wonder why that happened, though," Mountainpaw said fretfully.

Swanpaw raised her paw to communicate, and everyone looked at her. Then she pretended to look angry and claw someone up, then she made her front leg slither like a snake. The cats understood that she meant, *Because she wants to claw up Stonetooth in AdderClan,* even without mentioning Stonetooth's name.

Birchpaw shrugged because he had no idea what else to say in response. Icemoon sighed, "I would claw up Stonetooth, too, if I got the chance. I wouldn't blame her." Birchpaw knew she still hated Stonetooth, but he didn't know if that would make any difference now.

"What about Whitestripe?" Rainpaw asked distressfully.

Icemoon seemed like she had completely forgotten about Whitestripe's part in Peonyclaw's anger and was surprised to listen to his name. But she just shrugged in reply.

"Maybe he was stressed," Shadowclaw tried to reason, but it seemed like he was grasping at pebbles. Swanpaw looked skeptical, though.

"Maybe, but he seemed to be defending Stonetooth to the point he wanted to claw his mother up!" Dandelionpaw said with utter puzzlement.

Shadowclaw shrugged, too, as it also looked like he had nothing else to say about that. But Rainpaw replied, "Maybe he thought Stonetooth could have changed before she went on this dark path?" She looked sadly at the three older children of Goldenlily, the cats who partially caused Stonetooth to leave. Birchpaw was thinking that, too, but unlike Whitestripe, he didn't think it was necessarily *anyone's* fault, since they didn't have good understanding in the first place, and Stonetooth probably didn't want to build understanding, either.

"What could *we* have done, though?" Mountainpaw asked sadly. "By the time we realized there was something wrong with her, it was too late! And we were only kits, too!" Shadowclaw, Icemoon and Swanpaw's expressions looked uneasy in response to that, and Rainpaw and Dandelionpaw just looked gloomily at each other.

Birchpaw looked at Shadowclaw and Icemoon and wondered about what their relationship was with the two littermates as kits, since he wouldn't know the full truth. Since they and Quailclaw were the only five kits in the nursery at the time Whitestripe and Stonetooth were born, he thought Shadowclaw, Icemoon and his older brother must have known them well. Birchpaw never asked them about it since he thought it was pretty obvious. Whitestripe and Stonepaw *were* very shy in kithood, while Shadowclaw and Icemoon were very outgoing. Quailclaw was also sort of quiet, but he still made friends with the cats who were the same age as him and the cats who were younger than him.

"What happened when you were kits anyways, Shadowclaw and Icemoon?" Birchpaw decided to ask, since he wanted to know the truth. The cats younger than them looked like they wanted to know, too.

The two littermates were slightly surprised at his question, but they regained their composure. However, they were frowning.

"Well, when Icemoon and I were born, we were the first and only kits in the nursery, because the cats born before us, Violetrain and Fireclaw, are a tail-shaking seven moons older than us!" Shadowclaw started explaining solemnly. "We played with each other for a while, but we were getting pretty bored, since there were no other kits than us, until Quailclaw was born a few days later. We were very disappointed at his littermate being stillborn, but we were glad *he* was alive. Then all three of us played together for a moon, but of course, we were getting bored again. I mean, some cats who were still apprentices when we were born, Heronwing, Applefall, the trio of sisters, the two brothers, Nightnose and Nutclaw, and Violetrain and Fireclaw played with us, too, but we wanted someone our own age or younger than us to play with!" He smiled. The younger cats, including Birchpaw, thought it was a little weird that Shadowclaw, Icemoon and Quailclaw remembered all those cats as apprentices, but it still made sense because they were older than them.

Icemoon added, "I can agree with everything he said."

"Wait, how do you remember everything when you were born?" Rainpaw exclaimed in confusion.

"Well..." Shadowclaw started miserably. The other cats knew why. "The other queens that were there told us, especially Goldenlily." Icemoon, Rainpaw and Swanpaw also looked gloomy when he mentioned Goldenlily. Mountainpaw and Dandelionpaw exchanged sad looks, too.

"Okay, well, maybe you can continue?" Birchpaw suggested. He didn't want to be insensitive or anything, but he didn't want to dwell on bad memories of the past, either, since he already had worries of his own about it. And he still wanted to focus on the point.

"Well, okay," Shadowclaw replied, turning back to normal. "Anyways, we were anticipating Peonyclaw's kits to be born so that we could have more kit friends. When they were finally born, we were very excited and tried to play with them, but they didn't trust us and weren't even a tad bit receptive of us!" His eyes widened as he was saying this. "Peonyclaw wasn't the only one disappointed with them! I wonder if they inherently disliked us because they thought we were strangers!" Icemoon nodded, frowning and flicking her tail.

The younger cats, including Birchpaw, seemed to think it was peculiar to think about Whitestripe being shy as a kit, especially because he was good friends with them now. Stonetooth, however, never even tried to become friends with them.

"So imagine our relief when *you* were born two moons later, Rainpaw and Birchpaw!" Shadowclaw exclaimed, looking happy and grateful. "Since you both were outgoing and warmed up to us immediately, we finally had someone to include in our games! And luckily, Swanpaw, Mountainpaw and Berrypaw were born a quarter-moon later! Berrypaw was pretty shy, but Swanpaw and Mountainpaw wanted to play with us, too! Well, Mountainpaw *was* shy, too, but he eventually warmed up to us, too!" He warmly smiled at the four of them and so did Icemoon. Rainpaw, Swanpaw and Mountainpaw smiled back, but Birchpaw just nodded.

Icemoon added exuberantly, "I can agree with what he said, too!"

Birchpaw was thinking about what Shadowclaw said. It confirmed what he was already thinking, pretty much. He wondered if the part about inherent dislike was true, though, because Whitestripe still warmed up to them, even if the original confrontation was intense. He thought the part about not trusting them made more sense, though. *Maybe they were naturally like that. They* did *turn out to be the loudest apprentices and warriors, however.*

"Well, I'm glad you had all four of them! Even if Primrosepaw and I weren't born yet, since we have the same age gap that you do with Violetrain and Fireclaw!" Dandelionpaw said cheerfully.

Shadowclaw looked a little surprised at the last part and grinned joyfully. "Oh right, I nearly forgot! We were *your* mentors, too! And we got to play with you the same way they did with us! Especially Quailclaw to Primrosepaw." He winked, and the other cats smiled at his subtext, including Birchpaw because he thought he should be a little bit more lighthearted now. *I wouldn't mind if they became mates, because they have good understanding, and mating is great. I would not at all be embarrassed to be an uncle again.* He recalled being supportive of Sandleap and Nightnose, even if they were displaying public affection which he thought was totally fine. He didn't want to tease them *that* much or be gossipy for that reason.

He also remembered that his mentor's first litter became warriors and the second became apprentices a few days before Primrosepaw and Dandelionpaw were born, which proved that they were fourteen moons apart from the first litter. He still wondered if they made any more effort, though.

"Did you try to talk to them after some time they were born?" Birchpaw asked curiously. The two littermates stared at him, frowning yet again.

Shadowclaw bit his lip. "Yes, but they *still* didn't talk to us or anyone! Even their older siblings and father and grandmother and aunts had a hard time!"

"They also ignored us and intimidated us with their looks when we persisted!" Icemoon added frightfully. "They didn't talk to *anyone* but each other and Peonyclaw!"

*Oh,* Birchpaw thought in surprise. *That's what Shadowclaw meant by inherent dislike.*

"I *sometimes* talked to Whitestripe. Only a few times, though," pointed out Mountainpaw.

"We know that," replied Shadowclaw. "But that still didn't help *us.* Even Berrypaw at least talked to *someone* as a kit!"

"Um, who was it again?" Dandelionpaw asked, a bit confused. "I only remember Mountainpaw talking to her as an apprentice, and later on Thymekit talked to her, too."

"She still sometimes talked to Mountainpaw as a kit, but after he became friends with us," Birchpaw explained to her. The other cats nodded in agreement.

Dandelionpaw nodded, too, and asked, "Okay, but Berrypaw was still shy, right? Even now."

"Yeah, but that was still okay," replied Shadowclaw. "She wasn't *as* shy as these two. Luckily Whitestripe grew out of it thanks to Birchpaw and Rainpaw and Berrypaw made two good friends"—he smiled at Birchpaw, Rainpaw and Mountainpaw again—"but Stonetooth seemed to get *worse!"* He looked extremely anxious. *"I can't believe she-"*

"Uh, maybe we should not talk about that," Birchpaw interrupted worriedly, since he knew it would be negative. He knew he was going to talk about Swanpaw's fall into the ditch. Swanpaw glanced at Birchpaw for one moment, but she just shrugged in response. *Did Swanpaw want to talk about it?* he wondered with confusion. Shadowclaw just shrugged in response, too.

*"I was genuinely scared that Whitestripe and Peonyclaw would injure each other!"* Icemoon said all of a sudden, extremely anxious. Swanpaw nodded in the same way, too.

Rainpaw frowned, too. "I wouldn't know what to do! I'm not that great at fighting, being a medicine cat apprentice! No knowledge of medicine would have helped!"

"I guess he wanted justice for Stonetooth," Birchpaw suggested. The three older children of Goldenlily looked especially uneasy at that, and Mountainpaw and Dandelionpaw looked worried. Rainpaw just shrugged, which made Birchpaw think that she had similar ideas as him. *Well, we* are *littermates after all.* Their older siblings had a similar attitude, too. He figured Quailclaw was the most like him, though, except generally more introverted.

"I am confused about that, though," said Shadowclaw almost silently. Icemoon and Swanpaw seemed to agree.

"Well, you *did* say they only talked to each other as kits, so..." Rainpaw pointed out, trailing off.

Mountainpaw shrugged. "I *guess* they had a good relationship from kithood?"

Swanpaw bit her lip and pointed to Rainpaw, Birchpaw, Mountainpaw and herself. Then she pretended to do a thumbs-up and smile.

"Oh yeah, we *are* good friends, too, from kithood!" Rainpaw grinned and looked at Birchpaw. "Especially *us* two."

Birchpaw smiled back, even if he didn't remember much under two moons of age, but he still had a great relationship with Rainpaw, as he didn't know much about Swanpaw or Mountainpaw yet, and of course, the other five kits were much older (relative to kit moons) to be great friends with.

"Speaking of which, did Rainpaw ever consider you in anyway younger, Birchpaw?" Dandelionpaw asked curiously.

Birchpaw shook his head. "No, in fact, it always seemed like *she* was the younger littermate. Even I was a bit surprised to learn I was born after *her."*

Shadowclaw smiled with fascination. "That's *very* interesting. I always thought that I was the oldest, and Icemoon was younger, which is, of course, correct."

"Primrosepaw also usually acts more mature than me, which I guess proves her age, too," Dandelionpaw added.

"If *I* had a littermate, I would probably act like the younger one," Mountainpaw laughed.

Swanpaw smiled, but her eyes showed a little sadness, as she was probably thinking about Vinekit, her stillborn littermate.

"Does Whitestripe act older than Stonetooth?" Birchpaw wondered out loud. He wanted to know if maturity had anything to do with it.

Icemoon snorted in disgust, as she always did when she had something to speak her mind loud about Stonetooth. "Definitely, because Stonetooth's maturity is that of a *newborn kit.* No wonder she's so haughty."

Swanpaw tilted her head and squinted one eye which most likely talked about the "haughty" part, *Still on that?* Icemoon just groaned in response.

"I agree with Icemoon," Shadowclaw growled and groaned, too. "At least Whitestripe had a *good* reason to be outraged at other MoonClan cats, but *Stonetooth?* She was being *way too petty!* Stealing a mouse from Birchpaw just for being a *bit* annoying to Whitestripe? Pushing Swanpaw just out of jealousy?"

"I hope AdderClan killed her," Icemoon spat.

Swanpaw looked a little shocked and pointed to Shadowclaw, Icemoon, herself, Robinpaw and Soarpaw and in the direction of the nursery, then made comforting movements. The others were a bit confused until they realized she was talking about Begoniaclaw. Begoniaclaw *did* comfort everyone in the nursery while she was there.

"Oh... I hope nothing happened to her," Icemoon remedied, looking very forlorn now.

"I hope AdderClan was being nice for once," Mountainpaw added sorrowfully.

*"Would* AdderClan have recruited Begoniaclaw based on Stonetooth's skills, though?" Birchpaw wondered out loud sadly.

*"I hope so!"* Shadowclaw cried despairingly. "I care *nothing* about Stonetooth, but *Begoniaclaw SHOULD be okay! She* was *very nice!"*

"Okay, but you still had good times with these four, right?" Dandelionpaw inserted, probably not wanting to talk about them anymore and instead about good things. After all, the topic was getting pretty morbid.

"Yeah," Birchpaw added, going along with her. "I remember we played Clan a few times."

Mountainpaw smiled, looking relieved from the new topic. "I remember I was Icemoon's apprentice and she was the deputy."

"And I was the leader!" Shadowclaw exclaimed joyfully, also looking relieved. "And it was named ShadowClan after *me!"*

"And *I* was the *medicine cat!"* Rainpaw said and winked at Dandelionpaw.

"I suppose that was a precognition, right?" Dandelionpaw replied, smiling. "For what you wanted to be!"

"Quite so," Rainpaw responded approvingly.

"Quailclaw and I were also mentor and apprentice," Birchpaw added.

"And Swanpaw was a normal warrior, but still a great one, too," Icemoon said cheerfully. Swanpaw nodded brightly.

"That's great!" Dandelionpaw exclaimed joyfully. "I *do* wish I could have played Clan, too, but Robinpaw and Soarpaw were too shy. But at least there was Primrosepaw, Thymekit, Lilackit and Jumpkit to play with! But that wasn't really enough cats..."

"Well, don't worry, you have *us,* right? We can always play pretend Clan sometime!" Shadowclaw cheered up.

Dandelionpaw grinned in delight. *"Of course!"*

Birchpaw was still thinking about the situation, though, and what had happened in the last two and a half moons. *I wonder if we could still recover,* he thought. He hoped so, because he didn’t want any more hardships to happen. The situation was very depressing, but he hoped better things would happen. From what Shadowclaw and Icemoon told him, he thought that perhaps Whitestripe was indeed right about Stonetooth not getting any love or respect, even if she technically was the one who repelled most of the attention.

Then Birchpaw wondered why Shadowclaw, Icemoon and Rainpaw entered the apprentice's den anyways, since Rainpaw was supposed to be in the medicine cat's den. So he decided to ask, "Um, did you *only* want to ask me about Peonyclaw, or did you also have something else to do in here?"

The other cats looked a bit surprised at his question, and Shadowclaw, Rainpaw, Swanpaw and Mountainpaw started looking a little worried for him for some reason. *Maybe my question* does *seem like I'm being closed off,* he figured.

"Well, I almost forgot! We wanted to ask you if you wanted to come with us on patrol with us, since Peonyclaw cut it short," exclaimed Shadowclaw brightly, his worried demeanor gone.

"Yeah, since Shadowclaw and I obviously don't have mentors, and the others' mentors are pretty busy," Icemoon added.

"What are they doing?" Birchpaw inquired.

"Lilypool is out on a hunting-gathering patrol with Petuniaheart, Maplestripe and Snowstar, and Sealbranch, Nutclaw and Hailstream are playing with our nieces and nephew!" Rainpaw answered cheerfully, especially at the last part.

Birchpaw nodded and started to think about his older niece again, until he decided he should answer their question. "Well, I guess I can go if you want."

All of them smiled at his approval. Swanpaw pointed to Snowstar and Mountainpaw replied, "Yup, we *should* tell him. Then we can go!"

Birchpaw just nodded and smiled. He thought he *should* spend more time with them to keep his mind off of bad things, after all.

"And we can go to the forest that leads to the Rocky Passageway!" Dandelionpaw suggested gleefully.

"Yup, and that has more significance, too!" Rainpaw chuckled. "Because it leads to the sacred Pool of Enlightenment!"

Birchpaw started thinking about spiritual things when they said that, but he made sure to stay away from negative thoughts, as he was a bit worried about StarClan's actions throughout the entire depressive period.

"I wonder if we can go there?" Shadowclaw asked sarcastically.

"I wish I could go to the Pool of Enlightenment," Icemoon sighed. "But hey, at least we can always think about StarClan!"

"That's okay! Hunting in the forest near there might be spiritual enough!" Rainpaw replied cheerfully. "But I can tell you *all* about it, since my ceremony was there!"

"That's great, Rainpaw!" Mountainpaw exclaimed joyfully.

Birchpaw nodded and said, "I would also like to learn about it, too." He remembered the day Rainpaw came back from her ceremony, which was a good one. It was also the day he learned about Whitelight's relationship to his mentor, but he didn't think about that.

"Sure, but first, let's tell Snowstar that we're leaving!" Rainpaw told her littermate.

"Alright, let's go!" Shadowclaw said cheerfully. It seemed to Birchpaw that Shadowclaw was the self-proclaimed leader of the group, but that was fine with him, especially if he was the patrol leader. All the other cats nodded in agreement with Shadowclaw.

Birchpaw looked around the camp and saw Peonyclaw talking to Flipsnow with a defeated look on her face. *Probably about Whitelight.* Then he looked around for Whitestripe and saw him talking to Quailclaw and Primrosepaw joyfully. *Probably about Quailclaw mentoring Primrosepaw.* Then he looked in the direction of Rabbit Residence. *I hope Stonetooth and Begoniaclaw are okay, and nothing bad happens from them joining.* He decided to hope for the future, and that better things would come. *I hope we can recover,* he repeated spiritually and optimistically, this time, to StarClan themselves.

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

*← Previous Chapter: Chapter 29: Anger at Loss of a MoonClan WarriorNext Chapter: Chapter 31: The Creek of Blood →*

*← Previous Part: Part 1: Little Birchkit's LifeNext Part: Part 3: Birchcreek's Selflessness →*