#bb!heartstar

HEARTSTAR'S RISE! The book where Tigerheart becomes leader and resurrects ShadowClan.

I have a couple goals here for Heartstar's Rise, to keep in mind.

First is to show the "growing pains" for the newly arrived SkyClan, and conflict between them and the Kin refugees they're hosting. Why it doesn't work to just be one big Clan.

Show why certain characters want to go home (Blossomfall), why others want ShadowClan back, and also add a couple of characters who want to stay with SkyClan (Violetshine and her polycule of Tree and Dragonfly, as well as Olivenose of ShadowClan and one RiverClan cat, for later drafts).

IMPORTANT: Build out the Guardian Cats that Heartstar and Dovewing are going to encounter into a full culture, with their own idea of an afterlife, and "Leader Power" like the expansion I gave to the Tribe.

And here's a couple of key changes I want to point out;

AVoS was Kin-centric. Heartstar's Rise takes place right after the defeat of the Kin. BB!AVoS ends with the death of Darktail and fleeing of the Kin Remnants.

SkyClan was PRESENT for that final battle, helping to defeat the Kin and 'earning' their place at the Lake

A new code commandment was added out of solemn respect to the memory of ShadowClan; The Law of the Lake, that all Clans have a responsibility to the preservation of the others.

Several cats previously defected to the Kin, ones who felt excluded from the Clans after the Great Battle. Mainly young cats who wanted change, but also a fair amount of Dark Forest trainees, halfclan lovers, cats who will come to be called 'codebreakers.'

Blossomfall was one of them. Some of them stayed with SkyClan, others went home, lots followed Sleekwhisker into exile and became Kin Remnants.

Leaders can no longer give up their lives without losing them all, and they prevent the next leader from getting them as long as they're alive. EVEN IF they have only 1 life left. Rowanstar will call himself Rowanclaw, but he is still leader until he is dead.

Possible prophecy for Rowanstar: "Your heart will make ShadowClan rise"

Here's what I got so far;

Several cats had kittens during the Kin's reign; Ivytail (1), Yarrowleaf (2), and Blossomfall (still expecting)

I know I want to open up with Tigerheart in SkyClan, sorting through her thoughts.

First of all, she's thinking of how she spent time in ThunderClan as a refugee during the Kin Crisis, and got between 💕Dovewing💕 and bumblestripe.

She asked Dove to come with her when she left, but Dove felt that there was too much uncertainty. Tiger didn't even have her own Clan she was going back to.

Bitter, Tiger felt like she chose bumblestripe over her. The Drama.

But her Clanmates... well, what's left of ShadowClan, they need her.

Scenes of Tigerheart showing that she is friendly with lots of them, including Ivytail in particular who is suffering from lung damage from Yellowcough and the stress of the Kin Ordeal is just starting to catch up with her. Like she'd been hiding how badly the illness affected her so she'd stay useful.

Ivytail is the new mother of Gullswoop. Remember the Kit Rescue thing-- should Gullkit be taken from her right now and be possibly alive with the kin, and they don't know? May be nice to show her just wishing she knew what happened.

There's also been some tensions with SkyClan

SkyClan doesn't enjoy the bogland that was created during Blackstar's marsh project, and has set up camp in a patch of Pine Forest on the easternmost edge of ShadowClan's old territory, like they want to get away from it.

Leafstar is a fine leader and trying to integrate the big influx of new cats, but most of them are not trained to hunt well in exclusively pine forest.

Tiger's going to say it. Their food tastes like dirty butt. They overcook their prey so the meat is dry as hell, half of their favorite dishes have an unpleasant sloppy texture and the other half is ominously crunchy, and they don't even use juniper.

SkyClan, in response, is frustratingly polite about the cuisine differences. ShadowClan loves sharp, spicy tastes and will eat nearly anything, and the way SkyClan reacts to their palate feels condescending

The other Clans just go "YUCK" and ShadowClan cats revel in it. They're used to that, it's a point of pride.

SkyClan cats just go "ohhh, maybe some other time. There's no need for there to be frog and pellitory in this soup, there's already so much flavor in it already. You can just keep that for yourself. More for you :)"

So ShadowClan and SkyClan cats are having tension when assigned to Kitchen Patrol, unable to come together to make meals that please everyone, and that's 'the indicator' of the same problem everywhere else. For example;

ShadowClan cats are forming cliques and having difficulty joining the Clan broadly

SkyClan's positions of power are occupied by SkyClan cats, meaning there's no one that ShadowClan cats feel like they bring their problems to. They go to Tigerheart but her paws are also tied because of this.

Patrols are awkward as ShadowClan isn't good at hunting the same land as their hosts, this is embarrassing. SkyClan didn't even live here but they adapted to the pine forest REAL quick.

Some ex-Shadow construction crew cats are concerned that Blackstar's old dam will degrade and they'll lose cultivated marshland, but Leafstar doesn't 'get' the value in sacrificing several cats for a dedicated patrol to maintain that structure

And all the while, Rowanclaw isn't doing anything.

He hasn't replaced his deputy since Crowfrost died of lung complications due to Yellowcough and the Kin took over ShadowClan.

He's tired. There were so few survivors. Everything happened under his watch and he can't do this anymore.

IMPORTANT: I want to frame this less as "Rowanstar was an incompetent leader and this is all his fault" like canon, and make it more like Rowanstar has lost faith in himself, and THAT is what's making everyone mad at him.

It was Onestar who didn't share the Mullein they needed for the Yellowcough outbreak. It was the other Clans who didn't step in. Rowanstar should have asked for help sooner, but that aside, there was very little he could have done.

Though he's positive there must have been something.

All the while, Tigerheart displays her characteristic cheekiness. I want to adapt this fun scene I wrote where she passes Reedclaw a crayfish soup in the hopes of unsettling him and it doesn't work

DOVEWING TIME

Now that we understand why Tigerheart cares so much about her Clanmates, what they mean to her, and why she was so desperate to get back to them, it's time to visit Dovewing!

DOVEWING IS VERY HARD OF HEARING.

The hearing loss has slowed down, but there is still the threat that she could lose the rest of it.

She wakes up next to Bumblestripe, trying to sneak out of the nest to not wake him too, happy to have a little bit of alone time

Unfortunately he shoots up right away. She wracks her brain trying to think of what did it-- and realizes the nest is dry and probably made a creek she didn't hear

Sneaking has become really hard lately.

Basically some action to show some of the difficulties she's now having with her hearing loss

We get to experience a ThunderClan contrasted to the Shadow Survivors living under SkyClan. How Dovewing feels resentful to how she can't get alone time, the fact that Ivypool was rude to Tigerheart when she was around and their relationship is sour again, Mom Cinderheart and Aunt Fallenleaf and Dad Lionblaze and Stepdad Toadstep

Everything frustrates her, even harmless things.

But what's testing her patience is how cats who were telling her what to do when she had her powers are STILL telling her what to do without them

She's losing her hearing, and several cats are encouraging her to stick to 'regiments' of training. Glyph reading and writing, lipreading, picking up the modified battle command tail signs that Whitewing uses, not letting her leave camp alone

Lionblaze in particular sets her off pretty badly, even when he's 'being nice.'

Contrast to Birchfall who always makes her feel better, her mentor.

After some time of buildup, she ends up snapping at someone innocent who wasn't even really doing anything wrong. Probably Poppyfrost

Poppyfrost: "...I know you've been through a lot lately, but... you have people here for you, Bumblestripe is a good mate, you shouldn't be so afraid of having kits-"

Dove: "???????????????????????????????????? WHAT"

Poppyfrost: *about to repeat her sentence but louder but realizes, ah, that's not how she meant that.*

Dove runs off and has a panic attack

She doesn't want to raise kits now

She doesn't want to raise kits here

She doesn't want to raise kits with Bumblestripe

She doesn't want to raise kits with a bunch of cats breathing down her neck all the time, treated like she's just as much of a child as her children will be

But where will she go??

She turned down Tigerheart's offer to join SkyClan with her, and now she's pregnant with Bumblestripe's litter and he will never leave her alone

Who would take her, if not Tigerheart?

There's no place to go besides twolegplaces

But she is panicking, overwhelmed, and can't handle the idea of being here for one more minute

IF IT SUCKS HIT DA BRICKS

She bolts east, beyond the territory, not caring where she goes as long as it's not here, leaving her entire family behind

TRAVEL TIME

Tigerheart catches wind that Dovewing left ThunderClan, they're probably surprised and alarmed that she didn't join SkyClan

Poppyfrost/Whoever the cat was that realized Dove was pregnant should speak to Tiger and tell her where Dove was last seen

Tiger, being the cat who knows her best, wracks her brain thinking about where she would have gone

Barn? No, Dovewing hates that Smoky guy

North? No, probably would have scented her on the territory, and besides if you go North enough you hit a twolegplace. She can't hear the cars anymore but she would still hate the smell.

East. Definitely east.

It pains Tigerheart to leave, though. Her friends are all here, she left ThunderClan and Dovewing because they needed her, and they still do... but Dovewing is alone in the wilderness!

So, she goes. She has to.

The chapters of Tigerheart traveling are much shorter, occasionally cutting between her and Dovewing.

We next see Dovewing already with the Guardians, developing a friendship with a big cat ironically named Ant

Cutting back to Tigerheart involves her trying to figure out WHERE Dovewing went. She has to work it out backwards-- eventually finding out from a strange, singing cat that Dovewing hopped aboard a train.

The language barrier is a problem. She is able to catch something about the cat going by... Scrimblesomething.

Seamew is an interesting language, she remarks, not realizing this cat is not speaking Seamew.

Either Rippletail/Buster or Spiderfoot is here, excited that they recognize Tigerheart, asking how everyone is and catching up on all they've missed since they've left ShadowClan

They translate for Tigerheart, cuddling to the cat with the strange language, and explains what trains they must take and how to get onto them.

At least a week or two later, she finds the old Church.

GUARDIAN TIME

(Want more details on Guardians? Go here)

It's a gorgeous ruin, surrounded by lush flora that she's only ever seen in Twoleg gardens. The church is one of the most beautiful dens she's ever seen, in spite of being half-human construction, the other half is well-grown vines and sod. Like a living structure.

It's half as beautiful as Dovewing, so surely she must be here.

BIG WIP TERRITORY

I know that I want the Guardian's thing to be that they are very good caretakers of their areas. This is because these cats are BREAKAWAYS from the ancient Lake culture, the fact that their home was lost to environmental destruction gave them this cultural value.

They are much better builders than any other group. Clan cats have a specialty for Combat, Tribe cats have a specialty for Hunting, Guardians are Construction.

They rely on managing prey-rich territory and their fighting ability is really just enough to defend themselves.

The same way that Clan cats have Stars and Tribe cats have a Stoneteller, Guardians have their own unique power. Their leader (the "Groundskeeper"; 'warriors' are Gardeners) has a supernatural ability to understand what's inside their 'sphere of influence,' and the needs of any plants that live there.

So in a roundabout way, the leader is all-seeing as long as their territory is verdant. Grass and moss can tell them exactly where an animal is stepping, and how large it is.

So it was known immediately that Tigerheart was just a single cat, not an invading group

Dovewing has been fitting in pretty well with these cats. They speak a completely different language, one that Dovewing couldn't understand even if she could hear it.

They have a couple chapters exploring how life could be different. Tigerheart aches thinking about the dam back home and how the simple lattices they use just to grow flowers puts Blackstar's ambitious project to shame.

They grow close with some of the Guardians' younger members, plus an older one who tries to meet Tigerheart's language halfway.

It turns out that this person is called Spiresight. He's been the leader of the Guardians this whole time, but Tigerheart was only able to learn this after learning enough Guardmew to understand it.

He teaches her the word for "spire," the highest point on the church ruin. A vantage point from which you can see for miles and miles.

Dovewing has her kits-- Lightkit and Shadowkit.

(I've cut Pouncekit for now... but I've got half a mind to bring them back and have them contribute to Shadowkit's trauma. Unsure.)

Around the time that Dovewing gives birth, a family of badgers digs a sett riiiight on the border of the territory.

By the time the kittens are toddling around, the sett has shown itself to be a problem that must be dealt with.

Tigerheart is bold and egotistical, but she's a very good commander. Clan cats have a cultural specialty in combat and battle tactics.

So I want her to be able to help the Guardians out by dealing with this sett, while also keeping in mind to avoid the way canon frames Clan cats as "superior" for this.

(Tigerheart should have problems sharing her battle plans with the Guardian cats because of linguistic and cultural differences, until she draws plans in the dirt and, suddenly, The Groundskeeper seems to have it click.)

But, in the process, a cat dies during the attack. We get to see a Guardian funeral rite, where the cat is buried in its family grove to become part of the territory.

This event is one of Shadowsight's earliest memories. That this cat died for a "heroic cause," and that it's important and meaningful that its body now becomes part of the earth to serve its family forevermore.

Still, some of the Guardians are growling about Tigerheart's gambit for this. If they'd just poisoned the badgers like usual, this wouldn't have happened.

Some time later, after the kits fall asleep Dovewing asks Tigerheart; "What does a Clan mean to you?"

she continues before she can answer: "To me it means trees, the forest, it's something you work for. Everyone gives something to it and that makes it greater than the sum of its parts."

Tigerheart frowns at that, thinking of how she's going to share her response.

Especially now that Dovewing is so hard of hearing. She starts to wonder if she can demonstrate this visually.

So she draws Rowanstar, Strikestone, and Ivytail. A crayfish. A bowl around the crayfish like she was making it into soup. The grave of Flametail with the flowers around it. Frogs. Dawnpelt with three little kittens at her side.

She really gets into it, pouring her heart into the drawing, it gets bigger and bigger, she has to stand up and move around

And just when Dovewing thinks that either Tigerheart's lost her marbles or forgotten she's there, she starts drawing circles around the little doodles, and then lines that connect the circles all together

The last thing she draws is a final bubble, and connects that to a line in the web that binds all these things together.

In that empty bubble, she writes, "Clan."

Dovewing stares at that, unmoving, her expression serious and thoughtful.

It hits Dovewing, in that moment, that Tigerheart has a very different idea of what a Clan is. Dovewing believes it's about service, sacrifice, the things that Lionblaze taught her. That you're born as an asset, and your responsibility is to contribute to that collective as much as possible

But Tigerheart believes that a Clan is all the connections between the things associated with it. That it's a series of links between friends, family, land, and prey. That to be 'part' of a Clan is to be part of the fabric.

She thinks back to ThunderClan, even the people she loves like Birchfall, and the pressure they put on her to 'meet' her potential at all times

The contrast to what she likes about this life, with the Guardians, so much slower and more laidback. No expectations, no glory.

She thinks about her kittens, how Tigerheart fell in love with them immediately, her worries that she would have nowhere to go. That Tigerheart HAS somewhere to return to, where she wants to be.

I want to retool the line from the canon version, where Dovewing says "I will never make you choose between your Clan and me." Something about the line bugs me.

I want to retool it to either Tigerheart assuring her she'll stay with her no matter what and Dovewing deciding that's not right either, or the two of them having a synthesis where Dovewing decides that home is wherever Tigerheart is

Dunno, still thinking about it.

BUT IN ANY CASE--

Spire and some of the other cats Dovewing got close to come up. Spire is touched.

Drawing all that on the ground communicated something deep to him. It was a beautiful way to demonstrate Tigerheart's connections. Re:Guardian Power; connection to their territory.

He asks them if they're going back home. Tigerheart confirms yes, and Spiresight is not surprised. He reveals that some cats want to join them.

Ant, Cinnamon, and Blaze all have their reason for why they want to come

Ant has became a good friend of theirs, especially to Dovewing. She's big and sturdy and wants to help them get home with the kittens; she'll go wherever Dove goes.

(she doesn't doubt Tigerheart's enthusiasm or love of the kits or anything, but she's SO small. Ant has a mental image of this weasel-woman trying to carry the absolute badger that is Shadowkit and decides she CANNOT let them go alone)

Cinnamon is bored, she wants to try new things and go to new lands. She's tired of growing roses, and has never seen a 'swamp' before.

Blaze is a young cat, mid to late apprentice-aged by Clan standards, who REALLY loved being part of that battle and looks up to Tigerheart. Decides he wants to be a Warrior more than he's ever wanted anything else.

In-canon, Spiresight comes along too but I'm not keeping that in BB. He's the adopted father of Blaze, but he needs to remain behind as the Groundskeeper.

Part of it is that Blaze wants to make a new legacy separate from his father, be his own person. Tigerheart promises to watch over him.

REFORMATION OF SHADOWCLAN TIME

They go home and I'm still working on this

I do not care much about the journey back honestly, in-canon the whole thing with the train and drawbridge was cool but I'm not interested in retelling it honestly.

It's not what's emotionally important

I think I want to do something here where Tigerheart returns and we BRING UP THAT KIT RESCUE THING

Instead of Tiger like, dying to a random owl, she dies in this raid. In hindsight Canon!Tigerheart's Shadow feels like it's full of quicktime events.

Anyway, I need to construct a situation where Leafstar refuses to attack the Kin Remnants and steal children.

So, Yarrowleaf breaks away from the Kin Remnants to re-join the Clans, without her children in tow. and begs them to go back and help her win her children because they aren't safe with Nettle.

Leafstar can't tell if Yarrowleaf is lying or not.

She was part of the Kin just as much as Nettle was. How can Leafstar be sure that YARROWLEAF wasn't the abusive one?

"Why were you exiled?"

"Because Sleekwhisker believed him when he lied about me! I'd never hurt my own kits, he did!"

Leafstar remembers another situation scarily similar to this. That time her traitor of a deputy, Sharpclaw, dragged SkyClan into a violent conflict on Stick's behalf, giving an abusive father the power to murder his pregnant daughter for choosing Harley as a mate.

Red's blood isn't on her claws, but it is on her paws. If she hadn't trusted Stick without getting the other side of the story first, or if she hadn't let herself get bullied by her own deputy, or maybe if she'd rightfully done something about him after that...

Maybe she could have avoided how The Kin recruited so much of SkyClan in the first place.

Ivytail's child is with the Kin Remnants, but Gullkit is still being cared for as far as they know, and at her age she's definitely become attached to a caretaker. Leafstar does not feel right about attacking them and stealing three children.

Like... something like that. She's not being unreasonable, she does actually have very good reasons for not immediately organizing a battle patrol, but the Shadow cats are understandably upset.

When she tries to offer some kind of reasonable diplomacy to speak with Sleekwhisker about this, the ex-ShadowClan cats immediately start yowling and jeering in frustration.

Waspwhisker, Leafstar's deputy (Hawkwing is still just a warrior), is gazing at the angry crowd with a dour expression. Forest Four cats really don't respect anything but violence, it seems.

I want to display that Tigerheart as a leader will make controversial, ShadowClan-centric choices, and has a very, "diplomacy is how I get what I want" mindset.

Leafstar: "Wow this is a complicated situation and I'm not sure what the right call is here, I think I'll play it safe and watch the situation evolve before making a choice I regret."

Tigerheart: "Wow this is a complicated situation. Good thing I'm always right and incapable of being wrong, ever 💕"

Rowanclaw is still refusing to lead, backing up Leafstar. He says there is no ShadowClan.

--Tigerheart has entered the group chat

"damn bitches youre living like this"

Big damn speech: "I've gone far in my travels, met strange cats and lived by their ways. I've become a refugee of ThunderClan, a warrior of SkyClan, a grower of the Guardians, and a traveler with no home at all. I became a lover, a mother, like a Star with each life I became something new and yet remained the same. We are ShadowClan cats, and it's time we made our own choices!"

YEEHOOO

The cats who want to re-join ShadowClan return to the south of their territory, to the old camp in the marshier parts of the bog.

There, they start making plans to get their kittens back.

THE RAID ON THE REMNANTS

This is a big change from canon, btw, where Sleek comes home to escape the Kin remnants with Yarrowleaf, but then she decides she likes some of the Kin remnants, so they steal children as revenge on Rowanstar for letting the Kin happen?? And torment Yarrowleaf by threatening to KILL those kids because she's evil or something idk what the hell the writers were getting at

In BB, I want it to remain ambiguous on if it was Yarrowleaf or Nettle who was lying.

You can guess based on how awful The Kin was, and Yarrowleaf's moral character, but it's always that. A guess. There won't be a confirmation of guilt one way or the other.

Nettle dies in this raid and the Kin Remnants are going to go very far away after this, so only Yarrowleaf's side of the story remains to be told.

INSERT A BIG BATTLE HERE.

It's a surprise ambush by ShadowClan on the Kin Remnant's camp. Fast, hard, chaotic.

The Kin Remnants are small but fight back FEROCIOUSLY. Sleekwhisker is just as good of a commander as her aunt is, quickly recovering from the element of surprise and organizing her clowder into a defensive stance.

Ivytail, who was willing to fight to the death to get her kitten back, was reunited with Gullkit for only a brief time. She successfully grabbed her daughter but died of blood loss and infection later.

It's bloody, lots of injuries. Rowanstar arrives in the last minutes to aid the fight, and gets killed... along Tigerheart.

But Rowanstar comes back to life and Tiger doesn't

Got killed in her first fight. GIRLBOSS

Rowanstar wakes up at what should be his daughter's funeral.

Shadowkit is staring at Tigerheart's body (ANOTHER formative moment unlocked)

Dovewing should be sad, but she looks furious. She's a hulking, angry beast, glaring down at Tigerheart's tiny body.

Mid-obituary, interrupting whatever Puddleshine was saying, she straightup snatches the corpse

Explains NOTHING, BYE

In another draft I may just explain the aftermath here, have Rowanstar wake up after Dovewing has already done some preemptive graverobbing and learn from Tawnypelt that she's run to the Moonpool

In any case, the next scene is the climax

ROWANSTAR'S DEATH

Seeing Tigerheart here, at Dovewing's feet, the reflection of the pool turning her starry-silver...

Rowanclaw's stomach is cold like ice

Tawnypelt tries to reason with Dovewing, ask what she thought was going to happen

Dovewing doesn't answer, if she can hear her at all. The rage is melting away into despair.

Hope is slipping away like raindrops through claws, like stars at the start of a cruel dawn

Like a son to icy cracks, a daughter to a pied piper, a deputy to another leader's selfish games

The thought of several MORE lives of losing everything is unbearable. His claws slide out. He had rejected his name, but he is a leader now.

"Tigerheart is my deputy!" He bellows at the stars, charges forth, and splashes into the water with her under his paws

He kicks furiously, swimming as deep as he can.

His vision blurs and fades, bursting into a starry field of colors and awestruck ancestors.

They say nothing. His gaze darts from cat to cat, until he spots Tigerheart there among them.

When he plunges back into life, he swims harder

His lungs are burning and his muscles ache, the pressure of the water crushing him, and there's no bottom in sight

Each time he dies, he sees Tigerheart there, next to Flametail and Dawnpelt, Newtspeck, Littlecloud

And each time he comes back he sees her face below his claws.

When he comes back the last time, her eyes burst open and she thrashes at the claws gently lodged in her chest fur with confusion

Rowanstar is fading away, but finds the last bit of strength in his body to flip them, lodge his paws onto her belly, and thrust her up

Beams of starlight dancing on his face, Rowanstar is embraced by the endless darkness at the bottom of the Moonpool.

Heartstar bursts from the pool, coughing, sputtering, fur clinging to her body and looking like a wet rat

Without hesitation, Dovewing leaps into the pool, teary eyed and calling her name

"dOVEWING you wont BELIEVE what I've been through"

The newly-named Heartstar is marveling about her death, her fetching, how she was looking at the patrons of Silverpelt before Rowanstar plucked her out

Dovewing hauls her out of the water and starts licking her dry, and Tawnypelt moves to join them but hesitates. She look back at the Moonpool.

The thick ripples lap at the rim for a moment, vanishing rapidly as if the water was smoothing itself out.

Soon, it's as still as the day it was discovered, liquid-black and reflecting starlight as if it were a fallen piece of the night sky.

Tawnypelt stares down into the darkness, seeing nothing but the sky above.

"Be starlight that lights my path, Rowanstar. I love you."

She goes to help Dovewing dry off Heartstar.

Epilogue

One week later, Heartstar is assessing her Clan.

The cats address her as Heartstar; confirmation that it is bad luck for cats to share a title.

That's a reason why the ancestors are consulted before warrior name ceremonies, and they gave Heartstar a new name when she rose

Translator's note: Though her suffix was -babun, "heartbeating," her new prefix is the future tense, Babi, "heart will beat." It's in reference to her resurrection.

The kittens that were won in the raid are acclimating.

Oatkit and Flaxkit are doing pretty well, all things considered. They are surrounded by family, after all.

(Yarrowleaf isn't Snowbird's daughter anymore, but she was her apprentice. Likely a niece-in-law, making her the cousin of Berryheart.)

Gullkit is still having a hard time. Her mother succumbed to her injuries days after the rescue, dying suddenly in the middle of telling Gullkit a story about her grand-uncle Blackstar.

As the oldest kitten, just a moon or two away from apprentice age, the younger kits tend to flock to her.

But she has behavior problems, telling lies and starting drama on purpose.

Solid mentorship will help her a lot, Heartstar's already thinking of options. She would take the little slug herself, if she hadn't chosen to give Blazepaw an official mentorship.

While making the rounds, Blossomfall approaches Heartstar.

"I've been thinking about what you said, about living a dozen lives but still having ShadowClan be part of you. I think I feel the same way... I want my kits to know their auncles"

Heartstar does the cat equivalent of clucking her tongue, "will they take you take you tho"

"Yes assholestar. They reached out to me, my family wants me to come home"

Heartstar sighs in lament. One adult warrior and three future ones is a lot to lose. But,

"Divided loyalties won't do anyone any good. Well, if ThunderClan wants you back, it's worth taking a crackle at!"

"Your puns suck" (Blossomeese for thank you)

Construction patrol comes back, caked with mud. Cinnamontail fits right in. She's got some great ideas about lattices, whatever that means

Antfur is with her, along with Happyface. Ironically, this is the first time she's ever seen the young cat look happy.

After all this, assuring that everything is running smoothly, Heartstar finally gets to loaf down next to her wife and a crayfish soup, perfectly spiced.

There are still problems; SkyClan takes territory to the east, and RiverClan got waay too comfy with having exclusive fishing rights in the dammed pond and marshland to the west. Knowing Mistystar, she'll start throwing her weight around in the next moon as the seasons change, and when that happens SkyClan will be an issue as Shadow needs that territory

But for now, ShadowClan is thriving, Lightkit and Shadowkit are growing well, and Juniperclaw is a fine deputy like his father Crowfrost.