Jaystar's Dream/Chapter 3

The bushes rustled and Darkstar padded back into the camp, followed by Mousepelt. Yesterday, Rowanstar had died, appointing Darkfrost as his successor. Darkstar leapt on top of the Tallrock.

"Cats of NightClan! I have received my nine lives! I saw Rowanstar in StarClan. He said to take care of you all. I want you all to know that whatever happens, I will be your leader until my time in NightClan ends. Now, I must appoint a new deputy. I hope that StarClan approves of my choice. Clearpelt, will you be our deputy?"

Jaywing watched as his father dipped his head in agreement. He rose to his paws and yowled, "Darkstar! Darkstar!" The rest of the Clan followed him.

Jaywing was walking through the woods inside NightClan territory. Suddenly, he heard a dog's bark. He turned and saw a brown male stray dog chasing a Twoleg kit around. Suddenly, a flash of silver streaked towards the brown beast. It was a cat. A she-cat. The size of an apprentice! And she was saving the Twoleg kit by attacking the dog. Jaywing joined her, and soon, the dog ran away.

"Who are you? You smell weird," the she-cat asked.

"My name is Jaywing. I'm a NightClan cat. Who are you?" Jaywing replied.

The she-cat cocked her head to one side. "My name is Cinderella. Did you say you were a Clan cat? I want to be a Clan cat. My brother, Mack, now Thunder, left us before I was born! He is from a clan of squirrels."

"Thunder is the deputy of SquirrelClan. And I'll ask my leader, Darkstar, if you can join," Jaywing replied.

"Thank you so much!" Cinderella bounced around him.

"There you are, Jaywing! I see you've brought back a kittypet," Clearpelt mewed, eying Cinderella disdainfully.

"I need to see Darkstar." Jaywing brushed past Clearpelt, ignoring his father's hostile comment towards the little cat.

Jaywing led Cinderella towards Darkstar, who was talking to Sandthistle. Sandthistle padded away just as Jaywing and Cinderella arrived.

"Yes?" Darkstar looked up at the two younger cats.

"This is Cinderella from the Twolegplace. She wants to join the Clan."

Darkstar looked thoughtful. "Cinderella, do you promise to be loyal to NightClan?"

"Yes, Duckstar!" Cinderella replied.

Jaywing leaned over and whispered in her ear. "He's called Darkstar, not Duckstar."

Cinderella looked confused. "Oh."

Darkstar looked at her in amusement, then turned to Jaywing. "Come on, we have an apprenticeship ceremony coming up."

"Let all cats gather under the Tallrock for a meeting of the Clan!" Darkstar yowled.

Cinderella, Amberkit, and Stormkit padded up.

"We have to make three new apprentices and two new warriors! Stormkit, from now until the day you become a warrior, you shall be known as Stormpaw. Your mentor will be Moletail," Darkstar announced. Moletail touched noses with Stormpaw.

"Amberkit, from now until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Amberpaw. You will be mentored by myself." The leader turned to Cinderella. "Cinderella, from now until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Cinderpaw. Your mentor will be Jaywing." Cinderpaw touched noses with her mentor.

"I, Darkstar, leader of NightClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look upon these apprentices. They have trained hard to learn your noble code, and in their turn I commend them to you as warriors. Snakepaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code even at the cost of your life?"

Snakepaw nodded at his father. "I do."

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name: Snakestrike. StarClan honours your speed." Darkstar looked at his daughter. "Ashpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code even at the cost of your life?"

"I do." Ashpaw looked as if she was going to burst.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name: Ashclaw. StarClan honours your skill in battle," Darkstar replied.

"Stormpaw! Amberpaw! Cinderpaw! Snakestrike! Ashclaw!" All of the cats yowled out the new names, and Jaywing moved forward to touch noses with his apprentice, and saw the enthusiasm in the tabby's eyes.

"What are we going to do?" Cinderpaw asked.

"Today we might take a tour of our territory," Jaywing replied.

"Will we be able to see Thunder?" she asked. "He's my oldest brother."

"I don't think so, NightClan doesn't share a border with SquirrelClan," Jaywing meowed. "And I'm sure Stormstar wouldn't appreciate me bringing an apprentice into his camp." Jaywing imagined the SquirrelClan leader scowling as Jaywing marched in with a former kittypet by his side.

"Who's Stormstar?" his apprentice asked.

"He's SquirrelClan's leader," Jaywing replied. "He is like Darkstar, he has nine lives and rules over a Clan."

"I wonder if I will ever become a leader?" Cinderpaw meowed.

"If you really want to be leader, you have to train hard, learn the warrior code, and earn the respect of the cats in your Clan." He stopped suddenly when he realized Cinderpaw was lagging. He turned. "What's wrong?"

"The Clan may never respect me. Clearpelt looked very disgusted when he saw me," she meowed sadly.

Jaywing touched his nose to her head. "It's okay. Soon, all of them will accept you. Clearpelt only looked disgusted when he saw you because you were a kittypet. We don't usually respect kittypets."

"But am I a kittypet anymore?" she asked.

"No," Jaywing replied. "You are a NightClan warrior apprentice."

Jaywing and Cinderpaw returned home when after visiting the BlazeClan and CloudClan border. They had met a BlazeClan patrol consisting of Chasestar, Whitepelt, Ravenstorm and Thornfoot.

Clearpelt padded up to them. There was no sign of disdain on his face when he saw Cinderpaw. "How did you go?"

"We visited the CloudClan and BlazeClan borders," Cinderpaw meowed. "And Thunder of SquirrelClan is my oldest brother."

"He is?" Clearpelt asked.

Cinderpaw nodded. "He left our home, before I was born, but he came to visit once."

Clearpelt nodded. "Stormstar would let him see his family. They are both close friends."

"Really?" Cinderpaw asked.

Clearpelt nodded. "Now both of you get something to eat."

The two padded away and shared a mouse.

"Where are we going to go tomorrow?" Cinderpaw asked.

"We'll be hunting tomorrow," he told her.

Cinderpaw looked at him eagerly. "I want to catch a mouse. Once I caught one in my old home. My housefolk stroke me."

Jaywing shivered, imagining the Twoleg's cold, furless hand reach down to stroke him on his back. "We might catch mice, and we could catch a bird."

"Cool!" Cinderpaw took another bite of the mouse. "I want to be the best hunter in this Clan."

"Then you'll have to train hard!" Jaywing meowed. After finishing his share of the mouse, he licked his paws, and padded towards the warriors' den to sleep.