Featherstar's Destiny

Chapter 1

Featherkit woke up to find herself in the warmth of the nursery. Her mother and brother were still asleep. She opened her eyes with a yawn and blinked sleepily, trying to adjust her sight.  The kit let out a sudden squeak when she saw a dark gray she-cat sitting in front of her.  Was this cat watching her the whole time?  Scrambling to her paws, she looked up at the she-cat more clearly. The newcomer was lithe and powerful and had stars in her shiny furry pelt. 

  "Who are you?",  Featherkit asked with curiosity in her eyes. 

 "I am Whisperstar, the former leader of OakClan", the star furred gray cat meowed. 

  "Stormkit, wake up! Look who's here!", Featherkit mewed and pawed the sleeping form of her brother. 

Whisperstar let out a deep rumbling purr of amusement.  "He can't hear or see me", Whisperstar mewed with a twitch of her whiskers and a gleam of laughter in her amber eyes. Featherkit put her small head down with embarrassment.

   "You have a destiny that's powerful", Whisperstar meowed, her eyes were serious now. 

 "Do you  mean that I have powers?", Featherkit asked. She felt excitement with the possibility of powers. 

 "No, you will lead your Clan in a time of its greatest need", Whisperstar replied. 

 "Really?", Featherkit asked with shock. Being leader sounded better.

"Yes dear one, now go back to sleep", Whisperstar meowed. Her dark gray pelt dissolved like morning dew. 

Stormkit woke up and opened his amber eyes.  "You opened your eyes!", he yowled when he realized that his sister was awake. 

Silvercloud nudged Dawnmist.  "They both opened their eyes", the silver-gray she-cat meowed. 

 "Good", the ginger she-cat growled. "Now quit waking me up to tell me about your kits. You've been fretting worse than a mother hen. She rolled back over and fell asleep.

 Silvercloud looked at the pregnant queen with a sigh and turned to her kits with love in her blue eyes. Her mother was sleek and had a silvery-gray pelt that was tufted up now from sleep.

Featherkit looked up into her mother's beautiful blue eyes.  She turned to Stormkit with a curious gaze. "What color are my eyes?", she asked. 

 "Blue",  Stormkit mewed. 

"Good", Featherkit mewed and looked back up at Silvercloud. Her mother was eyeing her daughter's silver tabby pelt.  The tiny kit turned and licked her soft fur.

"Let's go explore", Stormkit mewed. The dark gray tom-kit waited patiently for his sister. Once the two kits were outside, Featherkit spotted Mintpaw and Willowpaw play fighting. A larger dark tabby cat was watching the two apprentices with a narrowed sharp gaze filled with interest.

  "That must be Darkclaw", Stormkit mewed with a look at the large tom. " He looks scary."

"Hey Berrypelt!", a voice yowled before Featherkit could speak up. A young red-brown tom trotted past the two kits and looked around for his mentor.

A cream-colored tom raced out from one of the many corners of the camp and headed towards the red-brown tom.  "What?", he asked with a flick of his tail. 

 The red-brown tom looked towards the two kits who were still peeking nervously out of the nursery.  "Stormkit and Featherkit have opened their eyes", the tom replied with bright green eyes. 

 "Don't tell me that my kits have already opened their eyes", a deep voice meowed from the camp entrance.  A broad-shouldered black tom made his way towards the two toms. 

  "Breezeclaw?", a soft voice asked from behind the kits. Featherkit looked back and saw her mother staring at the black tom.

"Yes?", he asked, tipping his head to the side curiously. His amber eyes suddenly lit up when he saw his kits.  

Silvercloud nudged the two siblings forwards.  "This is your father", she mewed. 

Breezeclaw padded slowly up to the two kits and looked them over with piercing amber eyes. He checked Stormkit's lean figure out and admired Featherkit's silver pelt. He looked back up at Silvercloud.  "They are perfect warrior material", he mewed. 

"Stormkit will have your compact build", their mother meowed.

"She'll have your lithe shape", he purred back.  

A gray tom yowled from across the clearing.  "Let's go Breezeclaw!"

"Ok Stonepelt", Breezeclaw meowed to the tom. "I have to go", he told his mate.  He padded up to the gray tom. Stonepelt  gestured with his tail for a black-and-gray tabby and a small gray she-cat to follow them and the group of cats left.

"That's Mistcloud and Willowpaw", Silvercloud meowed as she watched the cats pad out of the camp. 

"Is Stonepelt the deputy?", Stormkit asked.

"Yes" Silvercloud mewed in reply. She turned away from her kits and padded off into the clearing. 

"I'm going to go and try to talk to those two cats over there", Stormkit meowed and flicked his short tail towards to a couple of cats who were eating a squirrel by a pile of fresh kill.  One of them was Darkclaw and the other was a golden she-cat.  

Stormkit had padded nervously up to the two adult cats.  "Hello", his voice squeaked with what sounded like fear.  

"Well, hello, Stormkit", the golden she-cat mewed in a friendly tone. Darkclaw glared at the dark gray kit and stalked off with a hiss of annoyance.

"Don't worry about him. He's always grumpy", the she-cat meowed. Her eyes brightened and she mewed, "How about I take you and your sister to go meet the elders? They would love to meet you two." 

Featherkit looked up from washing her paws. She let out a little squeal of happiness and bounded up to the golden warrior and her brother.  "I'd love to go", she mewed.

The she-cat flicked her tail for the two kits to follow her. She stopped beside a bush that was set apart from the rest of the clearing.  An elderly ginger tabby was laying on her side with a happy sigh. When the cats padded up to her, she waved her tail in greeting.  

"Kits!", the she-cat mewed in excitement. Her green eyes shone as she padded over to a sleeping  ginger tom.  The tom rolled over to face away from the ginger tabby.  

"I'll wake him up for you",  a tortoiseshell mewed.  She padded up to the sleeping tom and yowled in his ears.  "Sunleap! Wake up you furball!" 

"I'm up!", the ginger elder grumbled and sat up.  He sniffed the air and meowed, "I smell prey."

"I brought fresh kill for us", the tortoiseshell meowed.  She looked up and saw the golden warrior and the two kits.  "Oh, hi Sunstrike!", she mewed. "I see you brought the kits."

A gray tom flicked his ears up and moved his head towards the cats.  "Hi, this must be Featherkit and Stormkit", he meowed with a look at the two kits.

"I'm Meadowlark", the tortoiseshell she-cat meowed with a warm look at the kits.  "If you ever need anything, you can come to me." 

"I'm Graypelt", the gray elder who was looking at the kits meowed. 

"I'm Petalfur", a yellow she-cat meowed. "This is Russetpelt", she mewed with a look at the ginger tabby elder. 

"You look like your father", Graypelt meowed to Stormkit. He did look like a tiny version of Breezeclaw.

"And you look like Silvercloud", Meadowlark meowed with a bright gaze towards Featherkit.

When Featherkit saw that Sunstrike was backing slowly away from the elders, she dipped her head and raced off after her. She didn't even look to see if Stormkit was following her.