Chapter 4
The sun was warm on Jadekit's pelt, the warmest it had ever felt. RiverClan warriors and apprentices streamed through the entrance, and a white she-cat approached her. "Do you know where Dewstorm is?" She asked. Jadekit immediately felt her eyes prick. "She's...She's... dead." Jadekit choked out. The she-cat stiffened, and her eyes clouded. "Oh... who are you?" The she-cat asked. "I'm Jadekit, Dewstorm's daughter." She said, trying to sound friendly. "Oh, Jadekit!" The she-cat cried, purring loudly.

"Oh, I'm Splashpelt. I was Dewstorm's friend." Splashpelt purred some more, then stopped. "I...I suppose that she died birthing..." well, this just turned awkward. "No, Starlight said she died from.... problems with her heart right after she had...us." Jadekit stuttered, she didn't know mush about this. "Oh. Oh! You have siblings?" She paused. "Sorry, you're just, like, my closest link to Dewstorm, and she was a great friend to me." Jadekit nodded. She understood. "Cloudkit! Uh... Deathkit!"

Splashpelt seemed to stiffen. Drizzlekit and Cloudkit hurried over, curious to meet a RiverClan cat. "You smell like fish." Cloudkit commented. "Who are you?" Drizzlekit asked. "I'm Drizzlekit." "And I'm Cloudkit." "I'm Splashpelt. Where's Deathkit?" Drizzlekit lowered his head. "I'm actually Deathkit, but, Dewstorm wanted to name me Drizzlekit. She just... didn't get the chance to." Splashpelt looked down at the ground. "Oh... I'm sorry, Drizzlekit." "You know what? I won't make your legs fall off," Drizzlekit said, and Splashpelt smiled.

"Warriors!" Ravenstar and Specklestar were both on Highrock, yowling to their Clanmates. Goldenkit, Jadekit, Drizzlekit, Sparkkit, Cloudkit, and Hawkkit hung back with Frostfang and the elders, listening nonetheless. "Twolegs have moved onto our territory, threatening us and polluting our prey! They have no reason to make our lives difficult, and today is the day we fight back!" Warriors yowled their support, roused to battle. The kits yowled, too, supporting their family. "Good luck Mudfur! We wish you luck, Starlight!"

The warriors paraded out of camp, letting out battle cries. "Get them, Splashpelt!" Jadekit cried to her back, and she could almost swear that she saw her tail wave back to her in thanks. Once they left, the Clan sat in silence, praying to StarClan for the best. "Twolegs are dangerous, Ravenstar shouldn't have dragged all of the Clans into this." Jadekit heard Riverrush grumble. "May I remind you that he dragged all of the Clans into this, and a few twolegs don't stand a chance against about fifty cats, maybe one hundred." As Pondnose reminded him of this, Jadekit felt comforted.

"And he'll come back with forty." Riverrush said darkly. Cold crept under Jadekit's fur, and she shivered. She knew that the battle would take place far from camp for the protection of the kits, but Jadekit sat listening at the entrance of camp, anyway. Sparkkit goined her at the entrance, her face betraying the worry she was obviously trying to hide from her littermates. "You know when cats ask you're okay, when you're obviously not okay?" Jadekit asked, striking up a conversation. "Yeah, like, right now, my mom asked me if I was okay. Like, uh.... my dad may be killed by twolegs and his body will be lost forever. Does that sound okay to you?" Sparkkit asked, and Jadekit shook her head.

"Or, when my mom died, and Frostfang sometimes checks up on me and asks if I'm okay. Would you be okay if your very own mother died and you had to deal with a foster mom? No!" Jadekit shook her fur out and said more quietly, "So we both feel the same way," Sparkkit nodded. Jadekit felt her heart beating in her throat, and her paws were shaking. She really hoped that she wouldn't need a foster dad, too. At least Sparkkit has a mom if anything goes wrong. I have nothing but my littermates. Jadekit knew she shouldn't be jealous, and that she should be comforted by the fact that somebody in StarClan was watching her.
                                                                                                    .  .  .

Jadekit must have fallen asleep, because she found herself waking up to a camp full of warriors, none seemed bloody. She had fallen asleep next to the entrance, and she woke up to Cloudkit shaking her awake. "Jadekit! Come listen to dad! He's talking about the battle!" Jadekit struggled up from her sleeping position and shook her fur out from habit. She hurried over to where Starlight was talking to a group of warriors, and they parted to let her through. "You should've seen them take off running! They didn't even try to stay and fight! They hopped into their monster and they were gone! Every twoleg camp we went to, they took off r-"

Starlight broke off as he noticed his kits watching, waiting to see how it ended. "And, end of story!" He said, and Jadekit knew that wasn't all that had happened. "Tell us more! Uh... please!" Drizzlekit begged, following Starlight as he trotted to the fresh-kill pile. "Well uh..." Jadekit didn't listen to what he had to say, she was too busy listening to Ravenstar speak to Specklestar, the RiverClan leader. "Your warriors can sleep in the apprentice den, we don't have any at the moment. And, the rest can squeeze into the warriors den." Ravenstar said, having everything arranged in his head seemed like a Clan leader's job.

Jadekit padded forward, straining her ears hard to hear the rest. "I should really get back to camp. The queens and elders were left all alone." "Your warriors are way too weary to travel. Just let them stay here-" "How do you know if my warriors are weary? They are perfectly fine!" Specklestar argued, obviously not wanting to stay in ThunderClan camp. Other cats were gathering around to see their leaders fight. "How do you know if your warriors are weary? Just because you live with them doesn't mean that you know how they feel!" Ravenstar glared at her, and Jadekit felt herself stiffen.

"I am their leader, and, weary or not, if I order them somewhere, they will follow me without question!" Specklestar spat, her fur bristled. Her warriors were obviously tired from chasing twolegs around all day, and she caught Splashpelt laying on the ground, along with several other cats, her head resting on her paws. Specklestar looked around at her Clanmates and let out a long sigh. They stood up, ready to leave. With a whisk of her tail, Specklestar led the RiverClan warriors out of camp, casting a glare at Ravenstar on her way out. The whole Clan let out one huge breath they seemed to be holding in forever.

Jadekit squeezed closer to Frostfang-she was scared of Ravenstar at times like these. Ravenstar huffed a heavy breath and began organizing a border patrol. "Yellowstone, Fireclaw, Lightningstrike, and, um, Frostfang. Go to the WindClan border." Frostfang shifted beside Jadekit. That's allowed? Mudfur spoke up. "Frostfang is a queen.... she can't leave her kits." Frostfang stayed put. "Oh, um, sorry Frostfang, errr... Flipnose. You go instead." Flipnose stood up slowly, as if waiting for Ravenstar to realize that he just battled twolegs and he went on the morning patrol.

Jadekit couldn't wait to be a warrior so she could help with this stuff, and meet twolegs. "When an I be an apprentice?" Jadekit asked Frostfang quietly. "Oh, soon." Frostfang breathed, snatching two mice from the fresh-kill pile. She carried them to the outside of the nursery. "Come, kits!" She meowed. Her kits, Cloudkit, Drizzlekit, and Jadekit hurried over to her, and Jadekit felt her fur prick with excitement when Frostfang let her try one of the mice. Goldenkit let out a grunt. "Mom, do you love me, or" she sighed. "Them." Frostfang seemed to cast a glare at her kit.

"I don't pick favorites." "Oh, mom, yes you do! Everyone know you got to love your own kit more!" Goldenkit made Jadekit's eyes prick, threatening to draw tears. Drizzlekit and Cloudkit squirmed uncomfortably next to her. "Well?" Hawkkit joined in. "Well, you're being a little hard to like." Frostfang grumbled. Jadekit felt her pelt warm, embarrassed that she didn't have a mother of her own. "Whhhhaaaaaaat!?" Goldenkit screeched, and she picked up the mouse and carried it inside of the nursery, grumbling "Mouse-brain" and "Fox-heart".

Jadekit just wanted to shrink into her pelt when Hawkkit glared at her, his eyes bleary. Clearkit and Sparkkit didn't seem to mind, though. After they had all ate their fair share of the mouse, Clearkit padded over to her. "You know, I'm actually glad that Goldenkit got a piece of her own mind. She's always being rude to others." Jadekit paused, before she decided to ask a question she really wanted to ask. "Is it even possible for Goldenkit to have yellow eyes and a yellow pelt? I mean, does any of your kin have yellow pelts?" Clearkit just laughed and said he didn't know.

Starlight was in the den, now, and he picked up a clump of moss from the nest. "Who wants to play moss-ball?" He called, and Jadekit scrambled to grab it as the moss flew through the air.
. . .
"It's not that it's boring in StarClan," Dewstorm explained to Pebbleleg. "Just, when I was alive, it was so much more exciting." She gazed into the pool, where she had been spending most of her time. Starlight was playing with the kits now, and Jadekit leaped into the air to catch the moss. "Did you know that Creamcall's pregnant?" Dewstorm asked suddenly. "Or that Lightningstrike ate prey before the rest of the Clan got any?" "Or that Goldenkit has been being rude to my kits?" Dewstorm glared at her through the pool. "You're spending way too much time here," Pebbleleg said, sweeping his tail gently on top of the green grass.

Dewstorm let out a sigh. "I know, but I just have this feeling that if I watch them, nothing bad will happen to them." Pebbleleg gave her a look of sympathy. "Dewstorm, Twilightpelt is worried about you." Dewstorm grunted and dug her claws into the grass. "She should be worried about Starlight. He's her son." Pebbleleg sighed. He looked a lot younger in StarClan than in life, his light gray pelt shimmering. Dewstorm reluctantly stepped away from the pool, and she immediately wanted to go back to it.

Weedtail approached her, Stormclaw following him. "Hey," Dewstorm said, secretly peeking over the edge of the pool. "Dewstorm, you have a problem. You haven't even explored a fraction of StarClan." Stormclaw said. Dewstorm scowled at him and paused, watching with an open mouth as Goldenkit pushed over Drizzlekit. "Get out of here, Deathkit! You're depressing me!" Dewstorm turned to Weedtail. His mouth was hanging open. "Get him out of there!" Dewstorm cried. "That world is nothing but sadness and hateful hearts."

Stromclaw's brow was furrowed. He didn't remember how bad cats could be, since he had been in StarClan forever. Dewstorm watched, her heart aching, as Drizzlekit and Jadekit ran out of the den, only to circle behind it. Drizzlekit began sobbing, and Dewstorm did, too. Her heart caught in her throat when Starlight and Cloudkit found them, and he whispered comforting words to them, his tail stroking Drizzlekit's pelt. I miss you all. And don't worry, it'll be over before you know it.