Pick A Flower

Chapter 9;A New Way

Dewspring and Hollowfrost sat in Dewspring's new den. Dewspring's blue eyes were glazed with question. "So what exactly is WispClan?"

"WispClan are cats who have been wronged by their death- Like Snowpaw and Icepaw- go. They're stuck in these territories to watch over us and sometimes appear to us," Hollowfrost explained.

Dewspring nodded. "Then where do leaders go to get nine lives?"

Hollowfrost tilted her head in thought. She thought back to long ago, when Snowpaw had led her to Dewspring- Dewkit then- and her siblings before they were attacked by a fox. "The place where I found you and your siblings about to be attacked by a fox."

Dewspring tilted her head. "Why there?" Her blue gaze was curious.

"It was the first place a WispClan cat led me to."

"What should we call it?"

Hollowfrost racked her brain. "My brother Snowpaw led me there and then disappeared into a wisp. Wispy Hollow might be a good name."

Dewspring nodded. "We should go and see if we can actually contact them."

Hollowfrost nodded, "but first you need to get someone to look over the Clan while we're gone."

"I'll ask Snowstep, he's been supportive and yet still firm with what he thinks is right since I became leader."

"That's a good choice." Hollowfrost mewed.

~~~

"What do I do now?" Dewspring questioned when they had reached the hollow. Hollowfrost shuddered at the memory. She found it ironic that the place the gray cat had almost died in would be the place she got nine lies.

"Lay in between the roots of the tree." There was no specification of which was "the tree" from Icepaw's instruction, but instinctively Hollowfrost knew it was the one they'd been hiding between the roots of.

"Lay between those roots," Hollowfrost nodded to the tree, and she could tell Dewspring was remembering as well, her blue eyes lit in the past terror from this place. She nudged the gray cat comfortingly.

Dewspring smiled at Hollowfrost before heading into the hole and curling up. Hollowfrost curled up in front of the hole, not sure why it just felt... right.

Everything was starlit. The grass beneath them was white, sparkling like frost in the sunlight. The sky above them was a baby blue color, no sun or moon visible, but stars that seemed to be dancing stood in their depths. The brown and white she-cat looked around, agape. The place they were in looked exactly like a frost-littered version of the Flowering Fields.

"Welcome, Hollowfrost, Dewspring." The voice was achingly familiar, almost making Hollowfrost burst into tears. 'Snowpaw.'

She faced the white tom, who stood next to another white tom.

"Icepaw!" Dewspring voiced Hollowfrost's thoughts.

"You have come to receive your nine lives from WispClan," Icepaw announced.

Snowpaw nodded. "You will meet nine cats here, each will give you a life."

Hollowfrost shivered. She looked to the sky to see seven more stars fall down towards them, forming into cats as they landed.

'Snowpaw, Icepaw, Fernflight, Wispednight, Iceberry, Nettleheart, Breezefeather, Graypaw, and a kit I don't know...' Hollowfrost named the cats in front of her.

The first one who headed up to Dewspring was Snowpaw. He placed his muzzle on the gray cat's head. "Dewspring. With this life, I give you judgment, to know when a death is necessary or when it's not."

Pain flashed over Dewspring's features, her blue eyes lit in it. Next up was Icepaw. Hollowfrost's heart ached for her adopted child, and she could see it reflect in Dewspring's eyes.

"With this life, I give you courage. Use it to do what needs to be done for your Clan without hesitation."

Dewspring's eyes lit with determination at the words. Next up was Fernflight. The silver tabby she-cat looked over at Hollowfrost, her green gaze burning into Hollowfrost's yellow. The brown she-cat bristled, scared the she-cat would give her a rueful comment, but she simply nodded and touched her nose to Dewspring's head.

"With this life, I give you knowledge. Use it to know the best option for a situation."

Next up was Wispednight. Another burst of fear of getting a rueful comment, but the tom didn't even look at her.

"With this life, I give you honesty, so that your Clan knows they can trust you."

Hollowfrost felt a pang, as if the tom was pointing it at her attack on him. "I'm sorry..." she mouthed as his green eyes met hers. He didn't respond, giving up his spot to Iceberry. The she-cat nodded to Hollowfrost, her mitch-matched eyes appreciative. She turned to her daughter. The daughter she never got to meet while living.

"You do not know me very well, but I am Iceberry, your mother. I died during birth, along with your sister, Granitekit," the she-cat mewed, placing her head on Dewspring's head. "With this life I give your love. Use it to love your Clan as if they were your kits, and protect them like it too."

Pain stretched across Dewspring's face, and she was obviously holding in a hiss. Next came Nettleheart, Hollowfrost's father. A small snarl formed in Hollowfrost's throat. 'He had no emotion when his son was killed!' The brown tabby looked at Dewspring with green eyes of no emotion.

"I do not belong here, but I am here to give you a life. I was Hollowfrost's father." Hollowfrost couldn't help but be pleased as Nettleheart said those words, and watched as he bestowed his life onto Dewspring. "With this life I give your forgiveness. Use it to forgive those who have done you wrong."

To Hollowfrost's surprise, his green gaze flashed over to her, his eyes pleading. 'Did he give her that life because he hopes I forgive him?' Next up was Breezefeather, the white she-cat with stripes of black, her yellow eyes so like Hollowfrost's own. Another cat she didn't think deserved to be here.

"I don't belong here as Nettleheart said earlier, but I am Hollowfrost's mother." The she-cat rested her muzzle on Dewspring's head. "With this life I give you emotional strength. Use it to lead your Clan well even through emotional struggle."

Next to come up was Graypaw. Hollowfrost barely remembered him, he had been in the flowering field only a moon before Bluepaw, and had gotten the orange flower. The gray tabby looked at Dewspring with amber eyes.

"I was an apprentice who picked the orange flower." The tom placed his muzzle on Dewspring's head. "With this life I give you dedication. Use it to stay strong to your Clan no matter the obstacles."

Last was the kit Hollowfrost didn't know. Its small white body had patches of gray on its back. Its ears were gray along with its tail tip, and it had yellow eyes.

"I'm Mistkit. You never got to know me, I died even before birth." Realization struck Hollowfrost, this was the kit that wouldn't come out and ended in its death and its mother's. "But I am your sister. With this life, I give you hope. Use it to lead your Clan to a light unseen by all others."

With that all the cats lifted their heads in yowls, and Hollowfrost found herself joining in: "Dewstar! Dewstar!"

Hollowfrost's eyes hardened. "Are we sure we want to carry that?"

Cats around her gave her a surprised look.

"It is the name that our ancestors used when they let the flowers lie to them. I propose a new name: Shine."

Snowpaw's eyes lit in curiosity. "Why shine?"

"Because with this we will shine a new era onto the dark past of VineClan."

The starry cats looked at each other and nodded. "Then that shall be, and know that your names will go down in VineClan history, Hollowfrost and Dewshine."