“We know that,” Sagenose muttered.
Echosong ignored the interruption. “But then he told me to look at the leaf.”
Hawkwing’s pads prickled with irritation at this incomprehensible message. Glancing around, he realized that his Clanmates were just as bewildered as he was. Confused murmuring arose from them as they exchanged puzzled glances. Hawkwing felt as though he was wandering in a fog, and that StarClan’s sign had made it even harder to decide what path they should take.
Then Hawkwing noticed that a look of understanding was spreading over Leafstar’s face, her amber eyes glowing with sudden excitement. “I see!” she exclaimed. “A leaf with five points—and including SkyClan, there are five Clans! We are on the right track.
StarClan wants us to find the other Clans.”
Cats turned to each other, eagerly discussing what they had just heard. Then Blossomheart spoke up. “That’s all very well, but that’s what we already thought they meant. And it doesn’t exactly tell us what to do.”
Echosong dipped her head. “True. StarClan never makes it easy for us. But I asked for a sign that we were on the right track—and we are! StarClan hasn’t forgotten us.”
Her Clanmates nodded in agreement. Hawkwing’s gaze fell on the tender new fern fronds uncurling in the midst of the dead brown growth of previous seasons. Beside them was a single yellow flower of coltsfoot, glowing like a tiny sun. Maybe new hope is coming after all. Maybe SkyClan will be rewarded for surviving this miserable leaf-bare.
All morning a stiff breeze had been blowing, driving gray clouds across the sky. Now rain fell in a sharp, freezing shower, sending the SkyClan cats diving for shelter in the bushes. Hawkwing crouched underneath some thickly growing holly branches, licking the icy drops from his fur and struggling to hold on to his earlier optimism.
StarClan has chosen to speak to us again. I must hold on to that.
When at last the rain had passed, Leafstar called the cats back into the middle of the camp.
“There is one more thing to do,” she announced, “and one of the most important duties of a Clan leader. Dewkit, Finkit, Reedkit, come here.”
Exchanging wondering glances, the three kits padded up to stand in front of Leafstar, while Plumwillow let out a soft wail.
“Just look at them! It’s as if they’d been pulled through the bushes backward! Why does Leafstar never give us any notice?”
“Today it is my task to make three new apprentices,” Leafstar went on. “And I can think of no better way to commit ourselves to the future under the guidance of StarClan.” Beckoning Dewkit with her tail, she continued, “From this day forward, this apprentice will be known as Dewpaw. M acgyver, you gave up your life as a kittypet to follow SkyClan. I trust you will pass on your commitment to Dewpaw as his mentor.”
A look of pleased surprise gathered on M acgyver’s face as Dewpaw trotted up to him and stretched up to touch his nose.
“Dewpaw! Dewpaw!”
Hawkwing joined in as his Clanmates chanted the new apprentice’s name, then watched proudly as Leafstar apprenticed Finkit to Blossomheart and Reedkit to Bellaleaf.
“Finpaw! Reedpaw! Finpaw! Reedpaw!” the Clan called out, while the new apprentices glowed with excitement.
Hawkwing felt a moment’s pang that he wasn’t to mentor one of his beloved kits, then reflected that if he had been the mentor for one of them, the other two would have felt left out, and discontented with their own mentors.
Leafstar has chosen well.
He thought back over all the moons of their journey, remembering the effort it had taken to keep the kits safe and together—not to mention keeping the rest of SkyClan safe, too, so that they would see this day. Dogs, Twolegs, sickness… we have survived them all. Now he felt that SkyClan was waking from a bad dream, and these eager young cats were its future.
He spotted Plumwillow casting him a grateful look, and dipped his head in acknowledgment. He could see in her eyes that she recognized how hard this was for him. Since Sandynose’s return, Hawkwing hadn’t tried to speak to her alone, not wanting to get into the middle of their happiness. But he felt a warm glow inside at the thought that Plumwillow remembered what he had done for her family.
All three apprentices were crowding around Plumwillow and Sandynose, eagerly discussing their ceremony. “Wasn’t it amazing when the whole Clan called out our names?” Reedpaw meowed.
“It felt great!” Dewpaw puffed out his chest. “I’m going to be the best apprentice ever.”
“No, you’re not! I am!” Finpaw insisted, swiping at his brother’s ear.
Sandynose separated the two young cats with a gentle paw before they could start tussling. “That’s enough of that,” he told them. “You have to behave yourselves and listen to your mentors.
Then you’ll all be great warriors one day.”
“We will!” the new apprentices promised him fervently.
Hawkwing could see that they were well on the way to accepting Sandynose, and he determinedly crushed down a small pang of regret.
Then the kits broke away from their parents and came scampering across to him.
“We’re apprentices now!” Finpaw announced. “Isn’t it great?”
“I’m very proud of all of you,” Hawkwing told them. “You’ve survived incredibly difficult times to become apprentices. And I truly believe that you will see SkyClan flourish again.”
“I believe that, too!” Dewpaw assured him.
At last the kits left, scurrying off excitedly to join their mentors.
“I want to catch a mouse!” Reedpaw squealed, flinging herself at Bellaleaf. “Show me how!”
“Stop squealing like that, for a start,” Bellaleaf responded, wryly amused. “Come on, I’ll teach you the hunter’s crouch.”
“Us too!” Finpaw demanded, bouncing up to Blossomheart, while Dewpaw skidded to a halt in front of M acgyver.
All three mentors led their apprentices to a flat grassy area at the side of the camp, where Blossomheart began demonstrating the hunter’s crouch.
As he watched them go, listening to their eager chatter, a familiar hollowness swelled inside Hawkwing. These are not my kits, he reminded himself. They will always have a place in my heart, but they can’t truly fill the hole Pebbleshine and our kits have left behind.
His paws led him to the top of a rocky bluff overlooking the camp. Wind ruffling his fur, Hawkwing raised his head to gaze at the sky, where the clouds were rapidly clearing.
What will fill my heart, then? Hawkwing asked himself. He didn’t feel the despair he had struggled with all leaf-bare, but he also didn’t have any answer to his question.
“M y brave warrior, with the wings of a hawk.” Echosong padded up beside him and settled down with her paws tucked under her. She met his gaze, curiosity in her green eyes. “What do you see when you look at the horizon?” she asked.
Hawkwing gazed out across the vista of rolling hills and trees, and considered the medicine cat’s words. There was only one honest answer. “The future,” he replied.
“That’s no small task,” Echosong responded, “after the tragedies we’ve all suffered. It takes a strong cat to see the future, instead of getting lost in the past.”
Hawkwing looked down at her. “Do you think we’ll find the other Clans?”
“I know we will, for StarClan has told me so,” Echosong replied. “And they’ve told me something else, too.”