Predatory Hearts/Windclan Arc

Prologue
Prologue

“Aspenclaw, I give you a life for mentoring,” boomed Ferntail. Aspenclaw braced himself for the jolt, which turned out to be not a jolt, but a feeling of wisdom and care. And then a searing sensation. Was this how Ferntail felt when she received him as her first apprentice?

Ferntail stepped back and a small dark brown shape appeared. “Hi, daddy!” it chirped.

Daddy? “My kit?” he meowed quietly. My kits have just been born! “B-but how?”

“I was born sleeping. Apparently, they’re burying me now. But I arrived just in time to give you a life for… do I get to choose or is there a script?” he whispered to the throng of Starclan cats.

Aspenclaw purred with amusement. His kit so much cooler and smarter than the other Windclan kits.

“You decide,” the white mass chorused.

“I give you a life for having fun, because even though you’re a leader, you shouldn’t weigh yourself down with so much responsibility that you get sad!”

Aspenclaw had to crouch down to meet his kit’s tiny nose. This life came with the feeling of pure ecstasy.

“By the way, Mama named me Hawkkit, and my sister Swankit, because she has the same beautiful long fur as you.”

''So wise! And a daughter… my daughter…''

“Oh,” Hawkkit continued. “You’re cool. You can turn into an eagle!”

And he knows about Lovacs already; what a sweetheart.

Hawkkit stepped back and vanished into the crowd.

“Aspenclaw. You have received all of your nine lives. We hail you by your new name, Aspenstar. Your old life is no more. You have now received the nine lives of a leader, and StarClan grants you the guardianship of Windclan. Defend it well; care for young and old; honor your ancestors and the traditions of the warrior code; live each life with pride and dignity.”

“Wait!” he called out before the starry cats began to vanish. “Give a Lovac to my daughter.”

Ferntail stepped forwards. “We have a fox Lovac available.” “Give it to her. I want her to be the best cat the clans has ever seen. She will save us from the badger Darkfang!” he insisted.

Ferntail studied him. “So be it. But you must promise me this, Aspenstar: you must let her have her own destiny, and let her tread her own path. You will not intervene in her life choices, or steer her paws in the direction you want for her.”

“I accept.” Aspenstar replied hastily.

After a moment’s hesitation, Ferntail brushed past him and vanished.

Starclan faded and Aspenstar woke up alone, as his medicine cat Puddlestep was assisting his wife and his newborn kit.

“I will make you the finest cat the clans have ever seen, Swankit,” he spoke aloud to the empty clearing of the Moonpool. “I will make you into the perfect warrior!”