Firestar’s Quest

Yes, I’m a leader, Firestar thought with a sudden stab of panic. But I’m not their leader. He was a stranger to the gorge, and the cats here were unlikely to listen to him with the same respect they were beginning to show Sky. They were murmuring among themselves again, and so far none of the newcomers had committed themselves to joining SkyClan.

Firestar realized that the meeting could be about to break up in failure.

“We’re going to join the Clan!” Cherry sprang excitedly to her paws. “Come on; it’s going to be great!”

“Count me in too.” Scratch turned to Firestar and spoke directly to him. “It makes sense that cats are stronger when they’re together.”

Instantly Firestar felt more confident. He had hoped Scratch would make this decision; he was a powerful cat, and while he still needed to learn to live by the warrior code, there wasn’t much any cat could teach him about hunting and fighting. But had Scratch decided to join because he wanted to become a nine-lived leader?

“Thank you,” Firestar meowed, pushing away his concerns.

“SkyClan welcomes you.”

“Well, I won’t join.” It was Lichen who spoke, politely but with no hesitation in her voice. “I’m sorry, but I don’t feel comfortable around so many cats. I like my privacy too much.”

“That’s your decision.” Firestar was disappointed; he liked what he had seen of the mottled she-cat. “And if you change your mind, you know where we are.”

“Thanks, but I won’t. I wish you well, though.” With a dip of her head she turned and padded away down the riverbank.

Rainfur watched her go, then rose to his paws. “I haven’t heard anything that makes me want to join,” he growled. “All I can see is, other cats will be telling me what to do all the time.”

“That’s not how it works—” Firestar protested. But part of him could understand why the gray tom felt like that. Firestar had no right to tell these cats how to live their lives; why should they listen when so far they had gotten on perfectly well without him?

“I’d sooner hunt for myself,” Rainfur went on. “I don’t need SkyClan.”

“I’m sorry,” Firestar mewed. “SkyClan could use you.”

Rainfur’s pelt bristled. “I don’t want to be used, thanks,” he spat. Whirling around, he bounded downstream after Lichen.

Firestar stared after him, angry that he had spoken so clumsily. Then he noticed that Leaf was gazing up at him with sympathy in her eyes.

“Don’t mind Rainfur,” she meowed. “He always was a bit touchy. Maybe we can persuade him later, when he sees how the Clan works.”

Firestar’s ears twitched. “We?”

“Yes, I’ll join,” Leaf assured him. “If the Clan really works how you say it will, then cats will have a purpose. We’ll be more than just rogues, just living to stay alive.”

Firestar was impressed. Her words might have come from a true Clan cat. He felt a purr rising in his chest.

“Thank you,” he mewed. Glancing at the cats who so far had not decided—Patch, Hutch, and Oscar—he added, “All I can tell you is that SkyClan lived here once and could live here again, following the warrior code for the benefit of every cat. Do you want to be part of it?”

Patch rasped his tongue over his chest fur. “Okay, I’ll give it a go.”

Cherry gave Hutch a nudge with her shoulder. “Come on, Hutch. What about it?”

Hutch looked up at Firestar, embarrassment in his amber eyes. “I’d like to, I really would, but I’m afraid I won’t be good enough at all this hunting and fighting. I’ve always been a kittypet.”

“We’re kittypets too,” Boris pointed out. “Firestar can teach you all that stuff.”

“If you join us, you’ll be very welcome,” Firestar told him.

The tabby tom nodded. “Okay, then. I’d miss Cherry and Boris if they went off without me.”

Firestar flicked his ears toward the one cat who so far had not spoken. “What about you, Oscar?”

The black kittypet rose slowly from the ledge where he had been crouching. “You don’t think I came here to join, do you? Why would I leave a couple of perfectly good housefolk who give me everything I want? I didn’t spend moons training them for nothing.”

“Why are you here, then?” Boris demanded.

Oscar’s jaws stretched in an insolent yawn. “I just wanted to find out what stupid ideas you’d come up with. And they are stupid. You’re all mouse-brained.” With a flick of his tail he set off up the trail, back toward the cliff top.

“Mouse-brained yourself!” Cherry yowled after him.

Sky padded forward to the edge of the Rockpile and looked down at the remaining cats. “SkyClan lives again!” he announced. Raising his head to the misty half-moon, he yowled, “SkyClan! SkyClan!”

“SkyClan! SkyClan!” the cats down in the gorge replied.

Firestar shivered from ears to tail tip. What had once seemed so impossible, so far off, was now real. The cats who stood around the Rockpile, yowling to the stars, were the beginnings of a new Clan to replace the one lost so long ago.