Omen of the Sun Book Three: Dusk

Chapter Twenty-Four

Cinderstorm

Sunpool had not been at the meeting. That had made Goldleaf annoyed and upset, and she extremely angry. If she had made such a big deal about wanting to go to the Starbrooke, why hadn't she simply showed up that night? Cinderstorm was getting pretty annoyed at her, because she was starting to act just stupid.

But Cinderstorm knew the plan. And she was going to bring Goldleaf back to life.

Apparently it was possible. Lilycloud had explained that if they used a life force to trade for his. It was hard, she said, to do that because a cat had to have a lot of light force to be revived. But, Lilycloud had reminded her, the prophecy specifically said "the gold would rise."

Goldleaf was coming back to her.

Meanwhile, Cinderstorm was sure something was happening. The air in the Clan felt tense. Applestar was making more demands than usual, and all the warriors and apprentices were constantly exhausted. Cinderstorm watched them come into camp day after day, expressions unguardedly wiped, and wished she could help, but she was stuck in the camp. Entertaining the kits and cleaning out the nests was becoming mind-numbingly boring. But it would all end soon, Cinderstorm reminded herself constantly. The end of their punishment was set to be the kits' apprentice dates, and that was in less than a day: it was happening in just a few heartbeats.

Sure enough, as Cinderstorm threw a mouse (there were plenty to go around now, as the snow had fully melted and they were well into greenleaf) to Rainkit, she heard Applestar from behind her: "All cats old enough to climb Sky Tree gather beneath the Rockpile for a Clan meeting!"

Rainkit gave a bounce. Her fur was glossy, groomed by Sunpool just before this, as was the rest of her sibling's. Fernkit, Rainkit, and Briarkit were all strong and fit, with bright, sparkling eyes, glossy fur, and strong muscles. Cinderstorm had to admit, the three of them had their mother's crystal eyes.

Emberkit could not have been more different. The she-cat refused to play with them and preferred to sit on the rocks surrounding the camp, eat, or sleep. She was plump, her muscles supple and undefined, and her eyes were dull. Cinderstorm couldn't imagine the unenthusiastic she-kit participating in many Clan activities, but she knew she would just have to wait and see.

She herded Rainkit over to the Rockpile and sat in the middle row with Sunpool, who had brought over the other three kits. Sunpool had cleaned them all so well, that even Emberkit looked decent.

"Cats of CloudClan," Applestar began, "today, my four kits have reached the age of six moons, and have reached the age to become an apprentice. Rainkit, Emberkit, Fernkit, and Briarkit, please step forward."

The four kits stepped forward in unison. "Rainkit, from this day forth until you earn your warrior name, you will be known as Rainpaw. Your mentor will be Frostcloud."

Frostcloud? Cinderstorm hadn't spoken with her sister in days, and they'd been growing apart. They hadn't been close since since Moonpaw had died. In fact, they hadn't been very close before that; Moonpaw had kept them together, but really, the were opposites. She was soft; Frostcloud was hard. She was gentle; Frostcloud was harsh. She showed her feelings; Frostcloud hid hers. Really, they were polar opposites.

Still, Frostcloud was her sister, and she was family. So she was happy for her as her sister walked, head held high, to her new apprentice. Frostcloud would be a good mentor for Rainpaw- she was stern and took no nonsense, which would be good for Rainpaw, whose bubbly personality and quick mind needed something to suppress them.

They touched noses, and Applestar continued with the ceremony. "Briarkit, step forward."

Briarkit stepped forward, eyes fixed on her sister. Rainpaw flashed her a grin.

"Briarkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and will become an apprentice. From this day forth, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Briarpaw. Your mentor will be Skypelt."

Skypelt and Briarpaw touched noses. Cinderstorm felt a small prick of worry for Skypelt: she had just been Sunpool's mentor less than seven moons ago. It was difficult for a she-cat, especially older she-cat like Skypelt, to take on two apprentices in the space of less than ten moons.

Oh well. Skypelt was strong, she could take on two apprentices.

"Fernkit, step forward." Fernkit, still slightly smaller than her sisters, stepped forward. "From this day onward until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Fernpaw. Your mentor will be Lightningfeather."

Lightningfeather was getting an apprentice?!

Cinderstorm watched as her mate made his way up to the front of the Clan and realized she couldn't have felt prouder. She loved him, and she was proud that he was going to get a chance to mentor an apprentice- something he had told her a long time ago that he wanted to do more than anything.

She only hoped that he would have time for her, and would be able to help with bringing Goldleaf back to life with her and possibly Sunpool, if she decided she cared enough to do it. She had told Lightningfeather right after she had found out and they were alone, and he had been so excited he had dropped the mice he was carrying in his mouth (it was right after a hunting trip).

Lightningfeather and Fernpaw touched noses and stepped aside. The only one left was Emberkit.

"Emberkit, step forward." Emberkit did.

"From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Emberpaw," Applestar meowed. "Your mentor will be Peonystorm."

Is that wise?

Peonystorm was still fragile after all of her kits but Pigeonpaw had died. Privately, Cinderstorm didn't think that Peonystorm should even be a warrior, because she was slowly growing weaker and weaker. Maybe this was Applestar's way of trying to revive her.

Or maybe Applestar was just a heartless monster who didn't care about anyone- not even her own kits.

Cinderstorm believed the second one much more.

Eyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy I updated YAY

This is probably going to be the last update for about two weeks, and I will tell you why: I'm going on a trip (in my favorite rocket ship) (no im sorry i hate when people do that ugh) (wow i am just doing away with punctuation okay then) to Europe! YAY! I'm not going to have any time to update (literally zero time) except for the plane (which is today and July 20 and we all know I probably won't update again today) and a ferry we're taking (MAYBE, PROBABLY NOT EVEN THEN.) The spare time i do have i will be using to facetime swiftie (but we'll be in different time zones so idek about that lol), keep in touch with the fam, and update Insta every now and then.

So, bye bye for about two weeks!!

~Rainfeather

(Also is it just me or is this chapter super bad with punctuation?! IDEC)