Broken Clans-Ch3+Ch4

Chapter 2
         The moon was full and bright, shining down upon the gathered cats at four trees. Everyone was huddled together for a ceremony. "I, Squirrelstar, hereby give you your apprentice names and wish you luck. Featherpaw, I will mentor you. Graypaw, your father Dustnose will mentor you. And Mousepaw, Frogfoot has offered to mentor you. Congratulations my dears!"
          All the cats cheered for the newly appointed apprentices. Squirrelstar and Dustnose just hoped that their kits chose to stay in the clans once they were through their training.
          It had been two moons since the mysterious tail incident, and Squirrelstar had tried to forget about it and began acting like normal. And now her kits were apprentices so she would be busy training her daughter.
         "Mom when do we start training? I want to hunt! Come on mom," meowed Featherpaw.
         "Well why don't we go out tomorrow, you can join me on the dawn patrol. Then afterwards we can learn some hunting skills. Sound good?" explained Squirrelstar.
         "Yeah, definitely."
         "Rise and shine little one, were heading out on dawn patrol" Squirrelstar softly into Featherpaw's ear.
         "Alright I'm ready," yawned Featherpaw.
         "Swampstar has now been assigned to our dawn patrol so he'll be going with us instead of Swifttail." The patrol left the safety of four trees and began to make their rounds through the territories. The air was getting colder for soon it would be leaf-bare. They could see their breath in the cool air. There were few leaves left on the trees which left the forest looking ghostly and empty.
         The groups had finished their patrol and were in Riverclan territory. "Hey Swampstar, I'm going to teach Featherpaw here so if you want to head back that's fine."
         "Ok, see you back at four trees." Swampstar's slick dark brown fur glistened in the sun as he turned around and headed for four trees, while Squirrelstar lead Featherpaw to a grassy patch.
         First she planned on teaching her the hunter's crouch, then maybe moving onto finding some prey. Featherpaw watched her mother go through the motions of catching something. She took it all in and then tried for herself.
         "Get your belly closer to the ground,” explained Squirrelstar. “There you go. Now pounce on that leaf over there as though it were a mouse.”
         Just as Featherpaw landed on the leaf another cat bounded into sight. She ran and his behind her mother, fore she didn’t recognize the new cat. The cat’s coat was pure white and neatly kept.
         “It’s alright,” Squirrelstar whispered to Featherpaw. The she turned towards the other cat, “Sky, is that you? It’s been so long I hardly recognize you.”
         “Dear sister you are still just as forgetful as ever. How could you not remember how white my fur is?” joked Sky. “How have you been? I’ve seen you here and there over the past few moons. But until now I haven’t come out of hiding.”
         “Oh my goodness it is you! I’ve missed you,” exclaimed Squirrelstar running to meet her sister. All the while Featherpaw just looked at the two in a puzzled way. “Yes, I’ve been well. Dustnose and I have three kits now and they just became apprentices a sun ago. How have you been?”
         “Well I left the territories for a few seasons but came to realize that I have known nothing but the territories so I came back to where I feel like I belong. I’ve made a few friends around here, they’re rogues too. Let’s just say I went on quite an adventure and am well.” explained Sky.
         “I’ve missed you so much. I even thought I saw you two moons ago; I was so hysterical. Why haven’t you bothered to talk to me before now? You said you’ve seen me around.”
         “I didn’t know if I should. I mean we haven’t seen each other in a while. And yeah that was me two moons ago, sorry. I just wasn’t ready to meet again.”
         It all came together for Squirrelstar. She knew she had seen a tail go through those bushes, and her hunches of it being more than it seemed and the possibility of it being her sister were right.          
         “Wow, I thought I was going crazy and just seeing things. It’s so nice to see you again, but why did you choose to come out today? Oh and this is my daughter Featherpaw.” Featherpaw had by then slowly crept up next to her mother.
         “Hello” she meowed.
         “It’s nice to meet you little one,” replied Sky. She then continued to talk to Squirrelstar, “well I saw you with this young cat here and figured you were mentoring her, and I thought of this brilliant plan. I was hoping we could make plans to hang out here, often. I know the clans wouldn’t want a rogue hanging out at four trees, but I want to be able to see you once in a while.”
         “Why don’t you go practice that hunter’s crouch I showed you dear,” meowed Squirrelstar. Featherpaw leaped over to the other side of the clearing while her mother and Sky continued. “I don’t know, I mean it sounds great, but…oh ok. Featherpaw will be in training so we can meet when I train her. She won’t mind seeing how you are her aunt.”
         “Ok, well how about tomorrow around the same time. You still do the dawn patrol or the hunting patrol every morning right?”
         “Yeah sounds good, see you tomorrow then. You should go now so I can finish instructing my daughter.” Sky left the two to continue their lesson and anticipated the next day’s meeting.
         Squirrelstar padded along to her daughter not wanting to watch Sky go off into the distance. “Think you got that crouch down yet?”
         “Yeah, but wait a minute. That was your sister? How come you’ve never told me about her?” questioned Featherpaw.
         “Well I didn’t think I’d ever see her again so why bother to tell you, that’s how I pictured it. So it won’t bother you to meet her here sometimes, will it?”
         “No it’s fine, mom. I mean I would never be able to be apart from my siblings. How long ago did she leave?”
         “About oh I don’t know, like five seasons or so. We had just gotten our warrior names. Oh and I would appreciate it if you didn’t mention anything about this to anyone, not even you brother and sister. Ok?”
         “I guess. But why?”
         “I don’t want others to know because they might think I’m going against the warrior code for being with a rogue.” Squirrelstar knew that meeting up with her sister probably wasn’t the best idea and would be a challenge to keep a secret, but she was willing to do it anyways.

Chapter 3
         It was now the middle of leaf-bare. Snow was everywhere and the winds were full of coldness. The cats blocked out the wind and cold by staying inside their makeshift dens and huddling as close to each other as possible.
         There were two new apprentices; Breezepaw and Pebbepaw. The two sisters were being mentored by their parents, Swifttail and Eagleclaw.
         Squirrelstar had met her sister almost every day since their reunion. They talked about the adventures Sky had been on since they’d seen each other, and of what it was like to be a mother.
         One particular adventure was when Sky came across a small farm of just sheep. Before then she had never seen sheep before. She watched how they tended to stick together in one group, and when one strayed from the group he was quick to return to the mutual safety in numbers. This got Sky thinking about the clans’ situation, and she had a plan to propose to Squirrelstar.
         “Where’s Featherpaw?” asked Sky she had come face to face with Squirrelstar at their latest meetings.
         “Oh she’s got a small cold. She’s under the careful watch of Swifttail so I know she’ll be fine. She says it’s just a little cold that should be gone in a few suns.”
         “I wish her the best.”
         “Thanks, I’ll tell her when I get back"
There was a few moments of silence as the sisters watched snow fall. “So I’ve been thinking. Do you think the clans would ever come back together?”
         “I don’t know, I think about it too sometimes. But I don’t think it’s possible with how few there is left of us.”
         “Well all this time I’ve always believed in Starclan, and recently they have been appearing in my dreams. They show me what the clans used to be like before the great battle.  Think it’s a sign to try and bring the clans back together.”
         “I don’t see how that’s possible though, but what the heck let’s give it a try.” So the two went over all the ways they could make the dream come true for Starclan. They thought of over what seemed like a hundred ways before Squirrelstar figured she should be going.
         “Ok so let’s make our final plans tomorrow.. Hopefully Featherpaw is better so she can come along too.” The two cats parted ways; Squirrelstar went back to four trees and Sky left to go hunting.
         “What have I gotten myself into?” thought Squirrelstar to herself, “there is no way of bringing the clans back together.”
         Several suns later Squirrelstar was finally able to meet up with Sky. Featherpaw’s condition had gotten worse and she didn’t dare leave her daughter’s side. Now she was back to full health and itching to hunt and stretch her legs after being sick.
         “And just how do you think we are going to accomplish this?” asked Featherpaw once her mother and aunt explained about their goal. Obviously she didn’t see the reality in it either.
         The wintery wind began to pick up again and the three had to huddle a little closer for warmth. “Well I don’t actually know yet. Your mother and I thought of many ways the other day but most were unrealistic.” Sky dipped her head in sorrow.
         “I’ve done some thinking since our last visit. We know we don’t have enough cats to make four clans. You’ve mentioned you’re friends, Sky, who are rogues. I bet they have ancestors who were once warriors.” Meowed Squirrelstar.
         “There are only three that I know well enough to call my friends and that wouldn’t make much of a difference,” sighed Sky.
         The three became quiet, each lost in their own thoughts. “Well what if we only have two or three clans?” mentioned Featherpaw.
         “But there were always four clans; wouldn’t it be against the warrior code or something? What if Starclan gets mad because we happen to leave out one or two clans?” exclaimed Sky with a worried look on her face.
         “That’s true. I guess we’ll just have to keep open for new ideas because I and Featherpaw have to head back now.”

              “Alright.” Squirrelstar took Featherpaw to Windclan to do some hunting.

              “Do you really think we can do anything to bring the clans back together?” asked Featherpaw, “I mean it’s gonna be extremely difficult.”

              “I know, I don’t really think we’re going to be able to, but I’ve decided to let her continue to try; with our help of course.” Squirrelstar replied. At that they split up and both hunted. They returned with two mice each to bring back to four trees.

              They brought their catches back and Featherpaw went to share tongues with her siblings. Not seeing Dustnose, Squirrelstar went to lay in the make shift Thunderclan den. She had been exhausted from the day’s work. Once she was comfortable, she fell instantly asleep. She opened her eyes to find out she was by the Riverclan and Thunderclan river border. A little confused, she looked around. Then she heard a rustle from a nearby bush and out stepped her mother, Snowheart. Her coat was pure as snow and she had deep blue eyes.

              “Hello dear,” meowed Snowheart.

              “Mom?” Squirrelstar was now even more confused. I must be dreaming.

              “You must help your sister. It’s important to the survival of the clans. She has been chosen by Starclan to help us.” Snowheart explained in a hurry.

              “So she really has shad dreams?” questioned Squirrelstar,” but there aren’t enough cats; they wouldn’t be able to defend themselves.”

              “I can’t help you. You and your sister must figure this out. Starclan just wants to see the clans back and for things to be like before, even if it’s not exactly the same, at least there would be renewed faith and balance once again.” Snowheart quickly leaped away out of sight and Squirrelstar awoke. What does she mean? I have to tell Sky.

[b}Chapter 4

              “The survival of the clans?” commented Sky when she heard about the dream the next sun.

              “It makes it all the more important. I guess Starclan truly thinks its doable.” meowed Featherpaw.

              “Yeah but they haven’t said a word about how. She said that we have to figure it out on our own.” Replied Squirrelstar, “I’m thinking we should maybe just make the two clans as previously suggested. Starclan just wants to see things back to normal, but of course they understand things can’t all be the way they were.”

              “True, but what two clans would we keep and what two would we leave out?” asked Sky.

              “I don’t know, we don’t want to discriminate against any of the clans.” Squirrelstar meowed.

              “Well maybe we can start two totally different clans…”offered Featherpaw.

              “That’s a great idea!!!Thanks Featherpaw. And we should probably leave the naming to the new clan members when the time comes.” Squirrelstar exclaimed.

              “Now all we need to do is find the cats to make these clans. Of course we’ll assume that everyone at four trees will be apart of them, but is that enough?” asked Sky.

              “Well, there is Dustnose, our three kits, Riverstar and his apprentice…maybe, but if we can gather more we would be better off.” Squirrelstar thought out loud.

              “I think I know some cats that I might be able to convince. I can’t guarantee anything though,” explained Sky. The sun was already beginning to rise and Squirrelstar and Featherpaw had to get going so they said their good-byes and planned on meeting in three suns.

              Squirrelstar now felt like their plan might actually work. Although she wasn’t quite sure wither or not everyone at four trees would actually accept the plan.