"Flamestar! You slept late again!" A voice jolted his dreams. His red pelt fluffed up, and he jumped out of his nest. He squinted at the shadow before him, the sunlight filtering through the ferns at the entrance.

Ashstorm looked at him disaprovingly. "I thought a leader was great and could do everything perfect. But you always wake up late. I told you a million times; sleep early, wake up early!" He snorted and flicked his ears.

Flamestar lashed his tail. "Look, Ashstorm, leaders are not perfect. We make mistakes. All of us, including you." He rose to his paws, stretching. He arched his back, and stretched out his claws. "Oh, by the way, thank you for waking me up."

He padded out of the den, and Ashstorm walked out beside him. Down, below their paws, was their clan. From the leader's rocks, he could see his whole clan alive and thriving. Flowerpelt was picking a blackbird from the fresh-kill pile, her rust- colored pelt shining in the sunlight, Smokefur was licking his mate Lightwish's bright white fur, Galefoot was looking down at the kits Stonekit and Marshkit, who were scrambling over his gray paws, and Whisperwind was talking with Ferntwirl. Staring at this lively clan he felt so happy, so high...

"Alright, time for patrols!" Ashstorm called. All of the cats hurried over.

"Branchleaf, is it a clan meeting?" Marshkit squeaked, bouncing on his tiny paws, his stumpy little tail waving wildly.

"I want to join!" Stonekit declared, spinning around. "But this time, I will lead the meeting! I am Stonestar! All shall listen to me!" Stonekit dashed towards the pile of leader stones.

The leader stones represented each fallen leader FireClan had. The rock at the top, the flat, big one, was where the current leader stood, and there was scratch marks on the rock, representing each fallen warrior. If there are a lot of scratches, the rock would crack, and the leader would fall off the top, which means that the clan was growing weaker, and had to rebuild. But the rock Flamestar was standing on was strong and stable. It would not crack until the next 24 seasons. 

"No, get off of there at once!" Branchleaf yelled, dashing over. She plucked Stonekit off from the stones, and the rock that represented Sunstar tumbled off the pile.

"No! Sunstar!" Orangeberry screeched. She dashed forward, her blue eyes flaring, and put the stone back in place.

Branchleaf scolded Stonekit, "You have to behave yourself, otherwise your name will be Stoneheart! Your heart will be as hard as stone!" Branchleaf carried Stonekit by the scruff and herded the two kits back into the nursery. 

Ashstorm snorted and said, "hunting patrols! Hmm, let's see... Nightshadow,  Sootfur, and Haredash. For the border patrol along that mouse-poop clan IceClan! Stormeye, Sharpjaw, Smokefur- We'll make sure we will not be in a fight with IceClan! For CloudClan, Mouseleap, Leaptail, Flowerpelt."

The cats bunched into their groups and set off to their destination. Flamestar sighed and scratched at the sand. He thought of seeing his family members Berrylight and Lilypetal.

Flamestar jumped into the medicine den. Berrylight looked up from her herbs.  

"Oh, welcome, Flamestar!" Berrylight exclaimed. "We will need to go out to pick some herbs soon, our stocks are getting low. Yarrowleaf has greencough, we will need catmint. But I have no catmint."

Flamestar nodded and purred, "Of course, Berrylight. How could I ever forget?" Flamestar nuzzled Berrylight and went to the nursery. His father, Hawkwing, and his mother, Ferntwirl was crouching over Lilypetal. Lilypetal was grumbling, "stop treating me like a kit!"

Ferntwirl purred as she licked Lilypetal. "You are always my kit, and you will have kits soon!"

Hawkwing turned and saw Flamestar. "Welcome!" He purred, making Flamestar smile. 

Cracklepaw leaped in and yelled, "woah! Look at her big belly! Her belly is more bigger than mine when I ate a full rabbit!" He mewed. 

Ferntwirl faced the little kit. "Look, her belly is big because inside there, there are kits. You were a kit once, Cracklepaw!"

Cracklepaw just huffed and went to find Treepaw. 

Flamestar looked at Lilypetal. Her belly was big and swollen, and it looked like she was going to give birth soon. He suddenly saw a flicker of light in the sky, and he went up to his den to seek it.

He would spend time with his family later.

StarClan was sending him a message.