Warriors: The star lake fanfiction

Chapter 15

Smokepaw followed the small clan away from the sun-drown-place and into the few trees. She walked beside Meadow, wanting to see if she could talk to him.
She did have a question for him, she just wondered if he would answer.
"Hey, can I ask you something?"
Meadow glanced at her sideways, then gave her a small nod.
"Lite said that Albatross founded DuneClan while other rogues formed the other two clans. Everyone except Albatross and Lite look a lot younger than them, just a little older than me. So how did you guys get in the clan? Albatross seems like he really hates outsiders, how did you all get into DuneClan if Albatross doesn't like other cats?" She stared expectantly at Meadow, waiting for an answer from him.

"...DuneClan consisted of only Albatross and Lite for about twenty four seasons...There was a war that happened between our clans - I'm pretty sure it happened because everyone was struggling at the time. DuneClan was running out of prey, MoonClan was running out of water and FireClan refused to help either clan - there were three mothers that had newborn kits at that time; one mother was from FireClan and two from MoonClan. They knew it would slow them down if they had things they needed to protect from the war, so they gave the four kits to DuneClan; since they had basically no members. Those kits were us, except for Fox who was originally a loner but joined during green-leaf and was a strong warrior. The mother from FireClan was Tangle's mother, one of the MoonClan mothers was Spirit and my mother and the other one was Yellow's mother." He explained, dryly and quietly.

Wow, that was a lot.
So Meadow and Spirit were related. That made sense, they both looked quite similar. Only, Spirit had white feet and was a shorthair. Meadow was all-black and had long fur.
"Keep up, beetle-brains." Fox called from the front of the group. Yellow came up beside Smokepaw, completely ignoring her personal space.
"So where do you come from? The other clans right? Albatross refuses to tell us stories from there. What's it like?" She was suddenly bombarded with questions from the small blue tom.
This one reminded him of her brother: same energy, same size.

"Um, it's cool I guess. When we're born, we're given names like...Twigkit or Bluekit or Adderkit. When we turn six moons old we become apprentices and receive the suffix 'paw' like the one I have. You get assigned a mentor, which is a cat that has completed their time being an apprentice. You train for six more moons, then revive your warrior name which can vary in different suffixes." Yellow looked confused and excited at the same time.
They arrived at a thunderpath, seeming concerningly unbothered by the fact that monsters might crush them.
The thunderpath was quiet, but it was still dangerous.
Yellow continued asking questions about her and her home until they finally arrived at a large oak tree.

There were about twenty cats there already. A brown pelted she-cat and a gray tabby Tom sat on a small hill just in front of the tree. The other cats gathered below them. The Tom looked quite young to be a leader, this was definitely not Lizard or Rebel who had probably been full grown when they created the clans.
Albatross turned to Smokepaw.
"Do not cause trouble. Stay close to the others and don't talk to the other cats." His menacing gaze lingered for a moment, before turning and walking up to the hill with pride.

"Are you excited to revive your new name?" Tangle asked her. Smokepaw gave a light shrug in response.
She didn't want to give up her name, even if it was only for a few moons. Her name was a part of her heritage, having a clan name symbolized courage and bravery.
But, maybe having a rogue name wouldn't be that bad. It meant that she was tough and symbolized survival and perseverance. She hoped her new name would at least be as cool as her real name.

"Hey, why is that one leader so young?" Smokepaw whispered to Spirit after Yellow, Tangle and Lite went to socialize; leaving Fox, Meadow, Spirit and herself in a small group.
"He's FireClan's leader, Vox. He's the reason the war ended."
Smokepaw's confused expression pushed her to elaborate.
"The whole reason the war started was because FireClan's leader refused to share resources. Luckily, Rebel was getting old and Vox was able to beat him when he challenged Rebel for leadership; Vox had only been three moons old when he did. He's been leader for about nine moons now and he's been doing a great job despite his age."

The three leaders yowled, signalling that they were ready for announcements.
Vox spoke first.
"FireClan is doing well in the grasslands. There is plenty of prey and water as usual. If either of the clans are suffering from a food or water shortage, FireClan is more than happy to arrange something to ensure that all of our clans stay nourished." His voiced boomed, allowing all of the gathered cats to hear him clearly.
This cat, Vox, was a moon or two younger than Flamesnout and was already running a clan and seemed like quite a righteous leader.

"What about you, Swift?" Vox turned to the brown she-cat on the hill next to him. She looked around Albatross' age, maybe a smidge older.
"MoonClan is doing well. One of my warriors found the reason our stream dried up, it was because someone was blocking the flow of the stream with a dam. It was probably some dumb twolegs. But, we destroyed it. Now the stream is filling up again. We will no longer need to travel to your territory to drink, but thank you so much for sharing your water with us for so long." She dipped her head to Vox.
She then turned to Albatross, gesturing to him with her tail to talk.

"Everything is normal. We still request for access to the outskirts of your territory for prey, it is still scarce around the twolegs and on the sand." He started.
"Of course, Albatross. You can continue hunting on the outskirts."
Albatross nodded, then cleared his throat to continue.
"We have a new member in our clan. She told us that she will only be staying for a few moons, but I shall announce her arrival here."
Albatross looked over at her, his glare returning to his features. He beckoned her over with his tail.
She nervously walked over to the hill and sat beside Albatross. Sitting next to the leaders at fourtrees was considered extremely rude.

"This is the newest member of DuneClan, her name is Omni."