"I shouldn't be here!" Hollystar yowled as Silverstar approached her, "I should be down there-with my clanmates!"
"And you'll be with them again soon enough," Silverstar meowed calmly, "you're losing a life. You need to give your body time to heal the wound that killed you."
"How long will that take?" she demanded.
"Not long now."
She looked around and saw a barely-visible tortoiseshell she-cat standing in the centre of the clearing, "Is that me?" she breathed.
"Yes-you won't be able to see or hear anything from StarClan, but every time you lose a life, you're spirit will get stronger here until you give up your last life and fully join us."
Then she found herself starting to wake up.
"Now it's time for you to get back to your clanmates," Silverstar meowed.
She dipped her head to the former WaterClan leader, then opened her eyes to see Snowstorm, Blackpelt and Nightfall staring at her. She staggered to her paws and Snowstorm and Blackpelt flanked her on either side.
"Bring her over here," Nightfall ordered as he walked to what looked like a medicine cat's den.
As they let Hollystar lie in the den, Snowstorm stayed but Blackpelt and Nightfall left, but Kittystar could hear what they were saying.
"Okay, you can live here," Nightfall sighed, "Hollystar can remain your leader-and mine-but... what clan name will we have?"
"We can take the clan name LightningClan. We came into your territory, and practically took over, the least we can do is use your clan name-if it's okay with you"
Nightfall murmured his approval.
"So what happened to your clanmates?" Blackpelt meowed.
"Foxes-yours?
"Badgers"
Kittystar blocked out the rest of the conversation as she drifted off to sleep again.
***
When she woke up in the middle of the night, she found that Nightfall was sleeping beside her. He woke up and jumped back, embarrassment flashing in his blue eyes.
"Sorry!" he squeaked, "When everyone fell asleep, I uh... thought I'd check on you and I guess I uh... fell asleep-"
"It's okay," she mewed, "I'd get lonely if no cat came to visit"
Nightfall let out a mrrow of laughter and changed the subject, "When did you become leader?"
"Two sunrises ago."
"Did you choose a deputy before the badgers attacked?"
"No."
"Well you better choose one of us at sundown."
"I will."
I'm going to choose Nightfall as deputy. She thought.
