"Wh- wha?" Fernstalk jumped up.

A brown Tom with a white belly curled his lip. "Hailfall wants to see you," Falconprowl sneered.

Fernstalk froze, and then ran as fast as her short legs could take her. She hid behind the Two Trees, and took a quick breath. A white she-cat slid out from behind her.

"So I'm guessing that now you know your way in and out of camp?" Hailfall joked, purring.

Fernstalk kept her jaw shut, her heart still racing.

"Sorry, Fernstalk. But someone wants to see you..."

Fernstalk's heart skipped a beat. No cat would ever want to see her, and she keeps most things to herself! How could any cat know her? Unless...

A completely white she-cat with light gray belly, chest, paws, tail tip padded out. She had a smile on her face. Fernstalk took a step back, and hissed.

"What do you want, Dove? Being a loner/Rouge is too hard for you?" Fernstalk growled.

Hailfall's eyes widened as she realized that she didn't want to be here. She ran away.

Dove's glittering blue eyes shone brightly. "Huh, looks like my little sister has changed!" She licked her paw.

Fernstalk squinted. "I have changed. You aren't welcome here."

Dove pouted. "You won't even let your big sister, Dovey wovey, say 'hello'?"

Fernstalk tried not to smile. Dove always had it her way, but Fernstalk tried not to give in. "No."

The white and gray she-cat rolled her big blue eyes, and started padding away. "I'll be back, little sister." And then she bounded away.

Fernstalk let go of all the breath that she was holding. She knew that Dove wanted something or needed something.

What does she need...?

She bumped into the tree that she had bumped into the previous day.

"Treeshade?" she thought aloud. Welp, I named him...

"Could I call you Treeshade?" she sat down underneath the tree's shade. "That's a good name for you..."

Fernstalk watched a mouse crawl under a leaf and was trying to hide from her. She swiped at it and killed it. She picked it up gently between her teeth and carried it back to camp. "Bye, Treehshade," she mumbled.

When she got back to camp, the sky was a beautiful shade of orange, pink, and purple. Fernstalk sighed as she dropped the mouse inside the tree.

"Fernstalk! FERNSTALK!" yowled a familiar voice.

"Barktwist?" Fernstalk questioned.

"Come quick!" Barktwist yowled.

Fernstalk ran as fast as possible to see a familiar white and gray she-cat by the name of Dove.

"Why do you want me here?" Fernstalk snapped.

Dove smiled. "Hello again, little sister."

Fernstalk rolled her eyes. "Why did you call me?" she addressed Barktwist.

"She's kitting."

Fernstalk blinked in disbelief, and then looked at Dove, whose belly was huge and round.

So this is what she needed... somewhere to kit

"And how come you didn't tell me this?" Fernstalk groaned. "And how did you hide it from me when we saw each other?"

Dove closed one eye. "Easy. I fluffed out my fur."

Dove grimaced in pain, and Fernstalk looked around wildly.

"Don't just stand there!" Fernstalk meowed.

Driftrain ushered Fernstalk out of the bushes and she sat her down in the clearing.

"Sorry I can't bring you farther, but I had never helped in some cat kitting! Bye!" And then Driftrain scurried back to the bushes in which the medicine den was.

Cats crowded around Fernstalk and asked her who that cat was. She blushed, and then broke and collapsed.

Too many cats

Too many words

The darkness that rises will startle the predator stalking through the ferns, taking it's last breathe with the falcon that prowls

What does it mean?

And then Fernstalk passed out.

She heard nothing.

But she saw something.

Lilacwishes.

"So, you're desperate to know what the prophecy means, eh?" Lilacwishes purred.

The gray she-cat licked her younger one's ear. "Well you'll understand someday, my Fern..."

Fernstalk blinked. The Fern! It was her?

"Who's the Falcon?" Fernstalk questioned.

Lilacwishes winked. "All in good time, my fern-stalker. All in good time.."

As Lilacwishes faded away, a new cat padded up to Fernstalk from behind. A white Tom kit.

"Fernstalk?" the kit squealed.

Fernstalk froze. A kit.

"Y- yes?" Fernstalk's voice cracked.

"I'm Dreamkit, your brother!"

Fernstalk stared at the kit. "I have no brother. My only sibling is Dove."

Dreamkit shook his head sadly. "I died when we were all born. That's why my name is Dreamkit. I always wanted to be a warrior, just like you!"

Fernstalk lowered her eyes, knowing that this was going somewhere.

"The next clue for the prophecy: Who is the only cat in the clan called Falcon?"

And with that, Dreamkit to was gone.

Fernstalk woke up and coughed. Water was everywhere, and her lovely gray-and-white pelt was soaked and she was chilled to the bone.

"What in the name of the Stars?" Fernstalk spluttered.

She turned her head to see Dove with three little kits. Gray. Blue. White. Small. Large. Medium.

Dove had her kits.

Three of them

Fernstalk didn't know if she should feel happy for her sister, or to feel afraid because of the kits.

"Fernstalk?" Dove's whisper came like a knife to Fernstalk.

"Dove?"

"I want you to take care of my kits, Skykit, Birdkit, and Cloudkit."

Fernstalk jumped up and walked backwards.

"No, Dove. I'm sorry, but I can't do that. Not now, and not ever."

Fernstalk turned around and bounded away.

She took a vole out of the tree, and nibbled on it slowly.

Dove's words echoed in her head.

Kits

Care

You

Want

Nothing added up.

And then she remembered her dream.

The only cat in the Clan with the name of Falcon?

Falconprowl.

Of course.

Fernstalk getting woken up by Falconprowl. It was all a setup! Falconprowl must have known about this all along.

Fernstalk wanted to ask Falconprowl so badly, but she was afraid of what he might do to her. What he would think of her.

And most importantly, what he would know about her.

She didn't want to take that risk, so she didn't move. She stayed right there, looking normal, eating a normal vole, and acting absoloutly normal. Yeah. Uh huh.

Falconprowl slumped down next to her.

"You had it too, didn't you."

Fernstalk bounced up. "Don't you EVER come near me again. You hear that?" she yowled, padding away. "Never!"

Falconprowl, the fiercest warrior in the Clan, actually looked upset. Why?

"Fernstalk, I can explain.." Falconprowl began.

"No! I don't want anything to do with you toms! Nothing!" Fernstalk howled.

"Fernstalk, I am your father!"

What?

Fernstalk looked at Falconprowl eye-to-eye. She could see her reflection in his big gray eyes. They were watering.

Cats stood outside the clearing to see what was going on. Fernstalk turned to see Ebonykit and Deerkit looking afraid, hiding in the fluffy black tail of their mother.

Fernstalk put one paw in front of her other, and slowly walked up to Falconprowl.

"What did you say?" she asked in disbelief and wonder.

Her face must have had a discombobulated look, because Falconprowl shook his head. "You never noticed, did you."

Fernstalk shook her head slowly. "That's why you're always the one to wake me up and to tell me to eat. It's always you."

Falconprowl nodded.

Fernstalk turned around, her back to Falconprowl. "No," she whispered. "Budstalk was my father. He cared about me."

"No no no, Fernstalk," Falconprowl pleaded. "Budstalk adopted you! I always cared about you!" His voice sounded upset and distressed.

Fernstalk's eyes watered. "I'm sorry, Falconprowl," she whispered. "But I can't call you my father."

Ebonykit drew in a breath, obviously upset. He leaped past the two trees and out into the river. Deerkit followed him.

Their mother, Leechfoot, cried. "Get them! Don't let them get hurt!"

Gorsesky, the deputy, followed after the two runaway kits. "They've crossed the stepping stones!"

Fernstalk slumped down. All of this because of her. Because of Falconprowl. Because of her life.

Fernstalk couldn't take it anymore, and she fell asleep, not going into the Stars this time...