Reeds swished together beside the riverbeds, whispering in the light breeze. Squirrels chittered and ran between the thick silvery tree-trunks, their obscure noise a blissful rhapsody in the serene Starclan grove.

"There is something we can do for you, Crescentsky." Whiteleaf was very serious now. She stood rigid, pausing to stare at the warrior.

She just acknowledged my warrior name...! She knows! She saw the ceremony! Crescentsky's tail flipped with delight. Ears pricked, she regarded this with a purr.

All of sudden Whiteleaf flicked her tail in a beckoning gesture. The action suspended her words.

Is she beckoning me? But Crescentsky was already standing right in front of her.

"Starclan can give you a gift. But it is temporary." Whiteleaf went on while cats flitted from the foliage all around them.

Wait... what?

Cats lept from behind willow trees and crawled out of the scrubland. Cats swarmed over and around the waterfall, their paws kicking up a spray. Cats stomped out of hedgerows on one side of the clearing, shaking leaves from their pelts. A few mated couples and close kin even padded from shadowy shrubs, their pelts brushing and their starlight twice as bright together.

So many Starclan cats! Crescentsky breathed in amazement. She caught sight of Chaosclaw and Smallsparrow. Their heads were held high as they settled on the edge of the glade.

The other Starclan cats had hid themselves well. Or maybe they had just now arrived. A few of the ones in the front smirked, but Crescentsky didn't mind.

Naturally, her first thought was to look for her father Everfrost. Then she searched in vain for Eveningstar, Hillflower, or Cloverkit. But there were so many different pelts; dark and pale. Lithe and broad-shouldered. Long-furred and short pelted.

"Whiteleaf, pardon me." Crescentsky focused on Whiteleaf again, ignoring the approaching crowd to address the she-cat's earlier statement.

"By a gift, did you mean that you can give me my claws back? Please give Tinyflame hers too," she added with a beg.

"No, young warrior. We cannot return your claws." A tall tom stepped up from the crowd, his features more distinguishable as he drew apart from the others.

The warrior's pelt was dark tabby with white paws. His long tufted fur was edged with a soft starlit glow, and he was half-smiling in a bittersweet kind of way.

"Everfrost!" She meowed with delight. Crescentsky didn't stop herself from bounding forward. Grit flung up under her paws as she skidded into her father's chest.

Crescentsky felt her father lick the fur between her ears. She purred as she sat with him, almost touching flanks.

"I've missed you so much. I'm sorry you died." she began, emotion threatening to swell up her throat.

"And I've... not made the best choices." The Riverclan she-cat sighed.

"I got a cat killed because of my recklessness. Maybe even two... I should've left the journey around the lake to Lagoonstripe or someone else. A cat without claws is useless for defending the clan, and that's all I've wanted to do my whole life!" Crescentsky's voice shook toward the end. She took a breath. The regret was beginning to blur her vision.

"Tinyflame and Cheetah could die on the way back. So could I," she admitted. But her words were a whisper as she spoke in fear for her companions.

"I didn't really want them to come because I can't properly protect them, or anyone else. Not like you protected me," Crescentsky admitted. Stress strained her voice, and her tone grew stronger and more ashamed.

Everfrost was silent as she finished her rambling. And then he said "Yet you keep trying," his voice soft and sympathetic.

"Because I just-... I can't give up. I don't want to give up." Her voice was strained as she looked toward the sparkling grass in front of her paws.

"I don't wanna lose my clan." A few of the Starclan cats sitting close by pricked their ears, listening with a sympathetic gaze.

"I named myself a warrior despite my missing claws! A-and I know that's wrong." She flattened her ears as she glanced at them, her heart bleeding.

"Crescentsky, never stop being who you are. Claws or not, your spirit will get you there. As long as you don't give up you can prosper. You can grow and learn and adjust. You can accomplish what you want to. What you need to." He touched his nose to hers, but the Riverclan she-cat drew back.

"How?"

"I've seen your determination. You don't need claws to get you there. And we will help you." Everfrost had a twinkle in his eye as he sat beside her.

Crescentsky felt so many watchful eyes on her that she felt that her father's praise was growing awkward. She took a step away.

"If you aren't giving us our claws back then what did you mean, Whiteleaf?" Her tabby head swiveled as she looked for the she-cat.

"When you said a gift?" Crescentsky peered around a calico she-cat's haunches, finally catching sight of Whiteleaf's starlit pelt.

Whiteleaf blinked at her calmly. She was laying in the soft grass now, with a hindpaw stretched out so she could groom it.

Instead of answering her, Whiteleaf abandoned her grooming and strode across the crowded glade. A tiny black and-white she-kit ran up from beside the waterfall where she had been playing. They joined together with their tails lifted, heading straight for her.

"Cloverkit!" Crescentsky gasped. Everfrost stepped back into the crowd, his gaze proud.

"It's Cloverpaw now." The black-and-white Skyclan kit was gazing at Crescentsky with big, endearing green eyes. They were the color of a dappled alder leaf.

She got her apprentice name in Starclan. Remorse swelled in Crescentsky's heart.

"I'm so sorry, Cloverpaw. It was my fault. I know I should've stayed with you. I should've escorted you to the maple tree myself. If I had-"

"Save it." Cloverpaw shook her head. Her open face displayed no grudge as she looked up at Crescentsky.

"You and I both know it isn't your fault. What could have happened and what should have happened doesn't matter now. So don't hold it against yourself. Just do what you can to save the clans. Save my brother and my mom, if you're able to." Her eyes gleamed as she looked up at Crescentsky with eyes full of hope.

She still looks at me with admiration. After everything.

The Riverclan warrior dipped her head. "Thank you. I'll do all I can. And I hope you find your Starclan apprentice training fun." Crescentsky's eyes brimmed with compersion as she straightened.

She saw a pale brown-tabby she-cat prance closer from the edge of the glowing glade. She was pretty sure it was Hillflower, but she couldn't make sure because Cloverpaw spoke up again, distracting her.

"I do. But you must save them with this gift." Crescentsky's gaze turned incredulous, and she did a double take. Cloverpaw's tone had just flipped faster than a live fish on dry land.

Behind her, Whiteleaf watched intently. The other Starclan cats all paused in their mingling and turned their heads, ears pricked. As if they were expecting something to happen.

Whiteleaf spoke up, her gaze booming so that all cats in the river-copse could hear. Cats crouched under bramble-thickets and fern fronds leaned forward, their eyes on Crescentsky and Cloverpaw.

"Listen to these words and heed them. All of Starclan's spirits now hear and approve of this choice."

"Though Starclan cannot restore your lost claws, we give you the power to use teeth against itself." Cloverpaw's gaze grew so narrow and intense that Crescentsky almost took a pace back.

"Use the jaws that took my life," the black-and-white apprentice said.

Cloverpaw strode forward while an orange tabby  nudged Crescentsky's haunches from behind. Confused, she stumbled.

"Is that a prophecy? And uh, what am I supposed to do?"

Most of the Starclan cats had settled in a ring around them, quiet and watchful. None of them answered.

"Nose-touch with me," Cloverpaw whispered.

"Wait, but- isn't that how cats become a leader?"

I can't become a leader! Not yet! What is happening!?

"Starclan can't return your claws. But they can give you the wolves claws." Hillflower's soft voice insisted from the watching crowd.

"Hillflower, you too? What does that even mean?!" Crescentsky was growing
frustrated. She couldn't even catch sight of Hillflower from the mix of standing and sitting cats in the crowded glade. Just then the stranger tabby behind her nudged her haunches again.

"Hurry. Time is running out."

"...Okay," she breathed, finally admitting defeat. Starclan cats are super weird. Their obscurity was disarming.

Crescentsky leaned forward to touch her nose with Cloverpaw's. She braced herself, expecting pain. But instead a heightened sense of adrenaline filled her. She felt as if her paws were flying across the earth, faster than they had ever taken her before. Wind was rushing through her pelt. Her senses were heightened, like she was seeing every reed and stone more clearly, something she hadn't known was possible.

She stepped back quickly, overwhelmed by the feeling.

The effect was already gone, though. Some kind of brilliant white light had flashed in front of Crescentsky's closed eyes, causing her to open them and flutter her lids. The light dimmed and then died on the edge of her nose, where Cloverpaw had touched it.

What was that?

"It is done." Cloverpaw stepped back, looking all wise and intelligent and like she already knew everything.

"What did that even do? What 'gift' did you give me?" Crescentsky meowed as the world began lightening around her. She watched the cat's outlines start to blend with the background. The grass was turning white-washed and misty alongside their pelts.

"No, wait!" She snapped before the light englufed her.

Did they just give me an extra life? Different claws than I had before? Or some kind of extra strength? I have way more questions!

But Crescentsky could feel herself waking up. Her paws were being pulled towards something even though she wasn't moving.

The last thing the Riverclan warrior saw was Cloverpaw's viridescent gaze, as she turned in a frantic circle from the spot she was in.

"Don't forget to watch for the medicine cat sign." The black-and-white she-cat said, her green eyes floating there ghostily.

"Travel safely, Crescentsky." Whiteleaf's voice was warm as she cut in to speak the parting words. At this point Crescentsky couldn't see anything but her own paws and chest-fur.

"Our blessings go with you."

Fun fact: Cloverpaw is being trained in Starclan by the previous Skyclan leader