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

### Chapter 2: Moonstar

A half-moon later, Birchkit felt especially light & joyous that day, as he was looking forward to new things. He and Rainkit were three moons old now. Wisdomheart had told him more stories by this time, especially about MoonClan's history, of which there was a lot because it was nearly sixty-nine moons since its founding. Rainkit was also fascinated by the stories. He saw a quintet of kits playing Clan, and Rainkit & Quailkit were two of them. He asked if he could join in, and Shadowkit, a tom-kit, who was playing as leader said yes.

Birchkit was supposed to be an apprentice and his mentor was Quailkit. The medicine cat was Rainkit, and she pretended to put some cobwebs on Shadowkit's invisible wound. Swankit, a she-kit, was pretending to watch over the borders, which was the entrance to the nursery. Icekit, another she-kit, who was playing as Clan deputy, said to Shadowkit, "I saw a fox! It was huge!"

"Oh no!" he exclaimed in mock shock. "Quailkit, Icekit, Swankit and Birchkit, you have to go fight it!"

Shadowkit & Icekit were littermates, and were as old as Quailkit. Swankit was their younger sister, about as old as him & Rainkit.

Their mothers, Petuniaheart & Goldenlily, were watching them, and they looked really happy. The other queens such as Rosepetal, who was one moon in, and Heronwing, who just joined, were also watching, too. And so was Orchidmoon, another queen who already gave birth, and his cousins' mother, Blazesky's mate, whom he didn't actually know who it was, since she was usually a sharp-tongued cat. *There are a lot of kits in the nursery,* Birchkit thought wondrously.

The four of them ran off in one direction somewhere else in the nursery, towards where the fox was supposed to be. "Who should be the fox?" asked Icekit curiously, since all kits already had roles. The other kits looked like they had the same question, too.

Birchkit spotted a kit in the corner, just watching them sadly. His mother, Flipsnow, was nudging him towards them, but he shrank back to his mother. The kit was smaller than him, probably younger than him. *Was he shy?* Birchkit wondered, but he decided to try and talk to him.

Birchkit walked up to the kit, and asked, "What's your name? I'm Birchkit!"

"Mountainkit," he replied rather weakly. Somehow to Birchkit, Mountainkit looked pretty scared of the other kits.

"Well, Mountainkit, do you want to play with us? We're playing Clan, and we need someone to play as a fox," Birchkit asked politely.

"Go on," urged Flipsnow softly. "You shouldn't be very shy, since you're eventually going to be a warrior." Mountainkit looked between his mother & Birchkit, then finally walked up to them, although grudgingly.

Then Birchkit went back and said, "I got someone to play as the fox," to the rest of the group. They were surprised, but in a good way.

"Well, he's not huge, but I guess he can do it," said Icekit quietly. Quailkit and Swankit nodded.

Mountainkit looked confused about what to do, but Birchkit said, "Okay, so you just need to act tough and strong and walk haughtily like this." He demonstrated. "And when we find you, say, 'You cats can't stop me!'" Shadowkit and Rainkit also nodded from the corner of the nursery.

Mountainkit just nodded, and obeyed. Birchkit thought he was starting to warm up to them, and it made him smile. He always wanted to be friendly to his Clanmates, no matter what.

"There's the fox!" Icekit pointed to Mountainkit with her big toe. He acted as Birchkit told him to do, tough and strong, and walking haughtily.

"We need to scare him off!" exclaimed Quailkit, going into a fighting stance.

Then the four of them started to surround Mountainkit, and he said silently, "You cats can't stop me..."

"No, louder, like you're tough," rectified Birchkit.

Mountainkit repeated, "You cats can't stop me!" He tried to look even more tough.

"Oh yeah?" Icekit mewed humorously. "Don't worry, we *will!"* She went into a pouncing stance.

Quailkit added in a strong tone, "Because we're strong warriors!" Swankit nodded fiercely. Then they started playfighting.

When they stopped, they were laughing very much. Birchkit was laughing, too. *At least Mountainkit is finally being friends with us!* he thought happily. He had noticed Mountainkit before, but he usually just stayed with his mother, Flipsnow, all the time. But he occasionally talked to Birchkit's cousin, Zebrakit.

"Can I be a regular cat now?" asked Mountainkit joyfully.

"Sure," Icekit replied, brimming with happiness. "You can be my apprentice. By the way, I'm the Clan deputy!"

"Cool," said Mountainkit softly. Shadowkit walked up to them and added, "And the Clan name is after me, ShadowClan! Because I'm the leader. Like Moonstar and MoonClan!" He chuckled.

"And I'm the medicine cat! A more of a peaceful role! " Rainkit exclaimed gleefully, following Shadowkit. Swankit nodded, too.

"I'm a normal warrior, but I have an apprentice which is Birchpaw. I mean Birchkit," Quailkit said calmly. "But Birchpaw will be his apprentice name." He smiled at Birchkit. Birchkit smiled back and nodded.

"But having a deputy mentor is cool," added Birchkit. "I heard your father was Wisdomheart's first apprentice, Mountainkit. And then he got Applefall's mother, who is also my father, Snowpool's cousin, as an apprentice directly after your father became a warrior!"

Mountainkit looked very interested all of a sudden. "Really?" he exclaimed excitedly. Birchkit smirked. *He must be like me when it comes to lifestyle,* he thought jokingly.

Icekit quickly nodded. "Yep! But I also have deputy duties, too. Anyway, let's continue playing!" The other kits nodded happily. The queens smiled at them exuberantly, too.

So they played for a while, until it was time for lunch. As usual, the kits, queens & elders ate first, since they couldn't hunt for themselves.

Icekit flicked her tail when she got to the fresh-kill pile. "I'd like a hare," she said while picking it out.

"I want some water," said Rainkit, walking over to the wet mossball area. She took a mossball and squeezed it. Some water dripped into her mouth.

Swankit didn't speak while going to the fresh-kill pile. In fact, Birchkit didn't recall her ever speaking. *I wonder why,* he thought curiously but perplexedly, too.

So he decided to talk to her. "Hey, Swankit." She responded with a smile, but didn't say anything.

"So um... did you like playing Clan with me and the others?" Birchkit asked meekly. Swankit simply nodded.

Birchkit picked out a hare & Swankit picked out a squirrel. She sat next to Quailkit on a small grassy patch. Birchkit also sat next to her.

He remembered something was bothering Quailkit for a long time, for at least a half-moon. His troubled brother just touched his mouse again. Swankit didn't seem to notice, so Birchkit asked Quailkit something.

"What's bothering you so much, anyway? And are you going to eat that mouse?" he asked.

"Nothing for you to know, and yes," said Quailkit rather irritably. Swankit stared at Birchkit peculiarly, as if he was weird for asking the question.

"Why don't I need to know?" asked Birchkit a little angrily.

Quailkit turned his head away from Birchkit to Swankit. Then she nodded, and Quailkit sighed.

"Well, I don't see how you don't know this, the warriors were gossiping all this around, but maybe you were sleeping so much, but... well..." started Quailkit half-heartedly. Swankit nodded again.

Birchkit remembered he usually slept and stayed in the nursery a lot, but surely he must have heard some snippets of that gossip since he went to the fresh-kill pile and the elders' den, too.

"Moonstar, you know... Our grandmother? She's dying," his brother finished.

Birchkit was incredibly shocked and appalled. "Really? But how?" He remembered the silent worry he had for the half-moon, but he didn't think about it too much before. It was the first time someone had actually told him that Moonstar was dying. It opened up a new sense of worry and he had no idea what to think for the future of the Clan. He would be a warrior in the future. Even though he barely knew her that well, she was still his maternal grandmother, the founder of MoonClan, was an important part in the history of MoonClan, of what Wisdomheart told him, and one of the three cats in the Mountain Clan Prophecy. All of which he thought had a lot of significance to him and the rest of MoonClan. And he was also her youngest grandchild.

Swankit pretended to look ill, and cough a lot. That answered Birchkit's question.

"See? Moonstar's awfully sick," said Quailkit, looking really distressed. Now Birchkit fully realized why Quailkit was so irritated. He was even more worried than Birchkit or seemingly other warriors of the Clan were about this. It made sense since Moonstar was *his* grandmother, too, of course. And Quailkit probably couldn't do anything because he was only a kit, not even a medicine cat.

"Okay," was all Birchkit said. He felt very uncomfortable listening to all this, so he quickly finished half his hare, and went to Wisdomheart, who was eating next to the medicine cat's den. Birchkit remembered that his daughter, Lilypool, was the medicine cat. He wondered how it would be like to be an apprentice of his uncle, like Sealpaw and Maplestripe, Wisdomheart's son, since Lilypool's mentor was definitely Calmpond, his other great-uncle.

Wisdomheart was eating a squirrel and sitting with his cousin, Pinetail. Pinetail also lived in the time of the Tribe, while he was apprentice age, twelve moons younger than his three cousins. Then Birchkit asked, "Is Moonstar really dying?"

They looked distressed for a moment, then they both sadly nodded. "She is. From a sickness, which I don't know what it is, exactly," said Wisdomheart gloomily. "Not greencough since it's green-leaf, and it isn't contagious either since no one else got it." Pinetail nodded in agreement.

Birchkit nodded, but he wondered if the sickness was very fatal. "I have more questions," he said before they could stop talking.

He asked why Swankit wasn't speaking. Pinetail told him that she was a mute, so she couldn't speak.

He also asked if Goldenlily was related to anyone. Pinetail said Goldenlily was his daughter.

He even asked about Mountainkit & Flipsnow. Wisdomheart said Flipsnow was his mate's brother's daughter. His mate's name was a kittypet named Queen who temporarily joined the Clan as Queenheart, and her brother's name was Earl.

Wisdomheart said that Flipsnow was originally named Felicia, but at six moons old, she and her sister ran to MoonClan, Wisdomheart's Clan and was renamed Flippaw by Moonstar.

He also mentioned her sister's name, which was Penelope, who was renamed Peonypaw by Moonstar, later Peonyclaw, after her sharp personality. And she fell in love with Blazesky as an apprentice and mated with him as a warrior. Right now, their first litter was almost as old as Sealpaw, Sandpaw and Hailpaw, and the second litter almost as old as Shadowkit, Icekit and Quailkit.

Birchkit thought this was really interesting, but it didn't matter to him very much right now, since he was only a kit.

Birchkit asked one more question: Who was going to be the new leader & deputy if Moonstar died?

He explained that Falconblue would be the new leader, but it is unknown who he would choose as deputy. Birchkit was a little confused, but he was okay with it.

After listening to everything, Birchkit went into the nursery, thinking about everything Wisdomheart, Pinetail, Quailkit & Swankit told him.

*Moonstar's dying? From a sickness? Swankit cannot speak at all? Goldenlily's related to Moonstar, and also me? Flipsnow's that cat Earl's daughter, and so is Peonyclaw? And Peonyclaw is the name of my uncle's mate?* He knew what she looked like, since she was his cousins' mother in the nursery, but he never knew her name.

And it turned out she was also the sister of Flipsnow. He thought about Mountainkit.

Zebrakit and Stonekit were both littermates, a couple of moons older than him & Rainkit, and were the younger kits of Blazesky & Peonyclaw. Violetpaw and Firepaw were also littermates, and eight moons older than Zebrakit and Stonekit, so nearly warriors. Their mentors were Maplestripe and Mountainkit's father, Littleclaw, respectively, which he wondered if it was coincidental or not. Blazesky was Petuniaheart's littermate & Moonstar & Orangehill's son. *They're all cousins, too,* he said silently, remembering Mountainkit only talking to Zebrakit.

He only asked his last question because he wondered if Falconblue was fit to be the leader of the Clan. He had never seen him before, oddly enough, even thought he was supposed to be deputy. The elders, especially the wise Wisdomheart, and queens, like Petuniaheart, had told him that Falconblue joined the Clan at ten moons old as Falconpaw, and later on became a warrior in a few moons since he already knew most of the skills. But no one told him where he came from, or if he could be trusted. It started hurting his brain when he tried to think more about it.

*I'm only a kit,* he reminded himself. *I don't need to know so much about this right now.*

He got so sleepy from thinking that he padded over to his moss bed, put some moss on his pelt (like he liked to do), and thought about chasing rabbits and following butterflies instead, which were two of his previous dreams. When he told Rainkit about them, she said she got the same dreams, and they were both surprised and fascinated at the same time. They figured it was just because they were littermates. Birchkit then fell into a deep sleep.

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

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