Path Of A Warrior

“Sorry, Juniperclaw,” Dovewing mewed easily from the entrance to the nursery. “But they’re only kits.”

Juniperclaw’s thin black tail whipped back and forth angrily as he stared at Dovewing. “Maybe that’s how kits act in ThunderClan,” he snarled. “But here we expect them to have some consideration for their Clanmates.”

Dovewing looked taken aback, but before she could say anything, Tawnypelt’s son, Tigerheart—no, Tigerstar, he’s leader now; what is wrong with me today?—stepped out of the leader’s den. “Kits, you need to be quieter,” he said sternly. “And Juniperclaw, you’ve got no right to talk to Dovewing that way. She’s as much a ShadowClan cat as you are.”

Juniperclaw dipped his head in acknowledgment, but his green eyes were stormy with resentment. “Whatever you say, Tigerstar,” he muttered.

As Juniperclaw headed back toward the warriors’ den, Tawnypelt tried to give him a sympathetic look, but the tom avoided her gaze. We’re all kin, she thought sadly, but it doesn’t feel like it these days. Juniperclaw was one of Dawnpelt’s kits. Maybe things would be different if Dawnpelt were still alive. Fairly or not, it felt like Juniperclaw still blamed Rowanclaw, and even Tawnypelt herself, for not doing a better job of holding ShadowClan together when the evil rogue Darktail had moved into their territory. He’d eventually convinced enough ShadowClan warriors to join his “Kin” that ShadowClan was nearly destroyed. For a brief period before Tigerstar became leader and revived the Clan, ShadowClan had ceased to exist altogether, folding into SkyClan.

“Hey, Tawnypelt, want to play with us?” Pouncekit, the gray she-kit, was peering up at her. “What are you doing, anyway?”

“Just thinking,” Tawnypelt said gently. The kits were still young enough that their eyes looked huge and round, surrounded by layers of fluff. It felt like it hadn’t been long since Tigerstar and Dawnpelt were that small.

“We’re sorry if we woke you up,” Pouncekit’s brother, Shadowkit, said, and both she-kits nodded earnestly.

“It’s fine,” Tawnypelt told them, feeling a surge of affection. They really were sweet kits.

“Come on,” Lightkit said cheerfully to her littermates. “We’ll be so quiet now, as quiet as when we used to hide from the Twolegs.”

Tawnypelt blinked in surprise as the three kits ran off. Kits that age shouldn’t even know about Twolegs, she thought, and then corrected herself. Of course these three did. They’d been born in a faraway place, surrounded by Twolegs and strange Clanless cats, after Tigerheart and Dovewing had run away together.

She loved them, of course. They were her kin, and they were good kits.

But they were so strange. Not like real ShadowClan cats at all, she thought, and immediately felt guilty. It shouldn’t matter that they had been born among strangers, and it shouldn’t matter that their mother was a ThunderClan cat. They were ShadowClan now, weren’t they?

Sort of.

“Sorry about that.” Tigerstar and Dovewing had come to stand alongside her. Tigerstar brushed his cheek against hers, and she touched noses with Dovewing.

“Would you like to share a vole?” Dovewing asked politely.

Tawnypelt’s dream was still fresh in her mind: the intense focus of the hunt, the exhilaration of the final leap, the satisfaction of feeding her Clan. “I think I’ll go hunting, actually,” she said. “Build up the fresh-kill pile a little.”

Tigerstar’s ears twitched. “I sent a patrol out with Strikestone last night,” he said. “They brought back so much prey, I don’t think we need any cat to hunt again before sundown.”

Tawnypelt’s ears flattened with annoyance. Tigerstar had named her his deputy. She’d never asked for the position. But since he’d chosen her, Tigerstar should let her be deputy. Organizing hunting patrols was the deputy’s job.

She took a slow breath and pricked up her ears again. Tigerstar is a new leader. And I owe him my support. He’ll grow into the role, just like Rowanstar did. But he has to find his own way.

“I’d like you to stay in camp and help strengthen the warriors’ den,” Tigerstar went on.

Tawnypelt sighed. “I think I’d be more use hunting,” she meowed, making sure to keep her voice pleasant. Her paws were itching to get out of camp, to be alone in the pine forest for a while. How desperately she had missed the forest while ShadowClan had been living with SkyClan!

Tigerstar exchanged a glance with Dovewing. “The more cats we have restoring the dens, the sooner ShadowClan’s camp will be back to the way it was,” he said firmly.