Leafpool’s Wish

“Brackenfur!” squeaked Berrykit. “Watch this fighting move that Thornclaw taught me!” He skidded to halt in front of the warrior. “I don’t need to wait another moon before I become an apprentice,” he chirped. “I can defend my Clan now!” He squatted on his haunches and glared at an ant scuttling across the ground, then sprang into the air with his front legs outstretched. He landed in a heap of creamy fur while the ant darted unscathed beneath a stone.

“You’re almost ready, little one,” Brackenfur meowed, picking up Berrykit by the scruff of his neck and setting him on his paws again. “Keep practicing!”

Daisy appeared at the entrance to the nursery, her cream fur ruffled. “Berrykit! Stop bothering Brackenfur! Come here so I can finish washing you!”

Berrykit’s littermates Hazelkit and Mousekit popped their heads out beside their mother. “Yes, Berrykit,” mewed Hazelkit. “You’re so naughty, Firestar is going to feed you to the badgers!”

Daisy looked horrified. “Firestar would never do such a thing! Go back inside, you two, it’s far too cold out here.” She ushered her kits back into the nursery.

“Daisy seems a bit overwhelmed,” Leafpool commented with an amused purr.

Brackenfur sent Berrykit on his way with a gentle nudge. “The nursery’s pretty crowded with Sorreltail’s kits as well. I don’t remember having this many kits at the start of leaf-bare before.”

Leafpool nodded. “At least Daisy’s kits will be able to help with hunting soon.”

Brackenfur tipped his head on one side. “Help—or hinder,” he purred. Then he straightened up. “But if StarClan has given us the gift of so many kits, our ancestors must know that we are able to take care of them. That is our duty, after all.” He strode away, calling to Ashfur that they would take their apprentices out as soon as Whitepaw returned.

There was a rustle of branches at the entrance to the nursery and four tiny bundles hopped out. “Can’t catch me!” squealed Molekit, charging across the clearing on his stumpy legs.

“Bet I can!” puffed his sister Honeykit as she raced after him.

Poppykit and Cinderkit followed more slowly, placing each paw delicately on the frosty grass. “Ooh, it’s cold!” mewed Poppykit, fluffing up her tortoiseshell fur.

Cinderkit looked around, and Leafpool felt the little cat’s pale blue gaze rest on her. “Look, it’s Leafpool!” Cinderkit chirped. She trotted over to the medicine cat, her short gray tail straight up in the air. “How’s Firestar?” she mewed. “We heard there was a terrible accident.”

“Yes, an accident,” Leafpool echoed. Wise Sorreltail was keeping the true horror of the events from her babies. “He’s doing well,” she purred. “He’ll stay in his nest for one day, then he’ll be up and about again.”

“Good,” mewed Cinderkit. “A Clan needs its leader.”

Leafpool stared at the tiny cat. What was it about her that seemed so different from other kits? Sometimes she sounded so much older than a moon, and Leafpool had watched her gaze at her Clanmates as if she was looking from far, far away, with the knowledge of a cat in StarClan. Also, there was something familiar about her scent, more than the milky comfort of the nursery and Sorreltail’s warm smell. Leafpool was about to bend down and sniff Cinderkit’s pelt again when Sorreltail squeezed out of the nursery, her belly still loose and swollen from the birth.

“Kits!” she called. “Don’t bother the warriors!”

“We’re not!” squeaked Honeykit. “Me and Molekit are practicing our running.”

“Yeah, and I’m still faster than you,” her brother insisted. He stretched out one front paw. “Look, my legs are longer!”

“But mine are quicker!” yowled Honeykit, hurtling away in a blur of light brown fur.

Sorreltail winced as her daughter almost knocked Whitepaw off her feet. The apprentice was half hidden behind a bundle of moss that she had dragged through the entrance.

“Oh Honeykit, watch where you’re going!” Sorreltail chided. She turned to Leafpool and rolled her eyes. “I don’t know how StarClan thought I could cope with four of them!” But her voice was warm and full of love.

Leafpool caught her breath as her belly tightened around a powerful squirming sensation. It was not the first time she had felt it, but it still made her flinch. She had figured out what the vision of three tiny stars meant half a moon ago. Bluestar, Yellowfang, Lionheart: They had all known the shadowed path that Leafpool was about to tread. And now it was as if the kits inside Leafpool were challenging her to stop lying to herself, to admit their existence and start preparing for the future.

My kits!

Not just Leafpool’s kits—Crowfeather’s too. And they would arrive within the next moon. Oh, what am I going to do?

“Are you all right?” Sorreltail was peering at her. “Do you feel ill?”