Prologue Blazestar looked at the other clans. They were losing cats. Stormstar’s tail twitched. “Listen!” he yowled. “We have something to share!” Blazestar continued. “After losing a single elder, Darktuft, we have finally found the cure to redcough! We will share our herbs with all the clans!” “We thank you, Blazestar,” Treestar meowed, dipping his head. “In thanks, if you heal our cats, we will give you half of the prey we have to spare, but please understand - our cats come first.” “Are you ridiculous?” yowled another cat, a warrior from Fernstar’s clan. “We’re already shrinking, we can’t share anything! And neither can you!” “Cliffstone! This is not your place to talk!” Fernstar meowed. “Stormstar, Treestar, Dandelionstar, and myself haven’t spoken yet!” Blazestar could see Cliffstone subsiding grumpily. But he did bring up a good point. The other clans couldn’t waste their herbs or their prey, or territory or anything. Blazestar could see the other clan leaders’ ribs through their fur. The only cats that didn’t have their ribs showing were her own. “My turn,” Stormstar meowed. “Prey is managing in our territory, and we have almost recovered from redcough. We lost three kits to it, Flowerkit, Reedkit, and Barkkit. Also we lost a couple apprentices.” He bowed his head to Dandielionstar, inviting her to share. “My clan is small, but we are getting by. We lost a warrior, an apprentice, and two kits to redcough and kittencough, and more. We grieve for Gorgeclaw, who caught the worst of it, and Fastpaw, who would have been an excellent warrior. And also for Shrewkit and Volekit, whose mother is heartbroken. We would like the herbs to cure redcough, as it is still running in our clan. We have found the herbs for kittencough, but as it is witherleaf , the herbs are dying quickly.” She bowed her head to Fernstar. Fernstar stepped up. “We lost a wise elder to redcough, Toadmark, and we lost an apprentice, Fallenpaw, to kittencough. His mentor, Swiftripple, is recovering from her own bout of redcough. Our prey is running okay, but we have barely enough for the clan.” Treestar was next. “We lost our deputy to redcough, along with our youngest queen, Flowerpetal. Her kits were spared, as we found a new foster mother for them. Their father died of fever a few moons back.” Blazestar could see that Treestar was heartbroken. His deputy was his brother, Growlclaw, and Flowerpetal, the young queen, was his daughter. “Our new deputy is Longpelt.” “Longpelt! Longpelt! Longpelt!” cheered the crowd. Longpelt, sitting at the base of the tree, held his head up high. “I understand that this is not my place to talk,” meowed Blazestar’s deputy, Sunspirit, “but you four can’t go pretending that nothing is wrong. You say that you’re okay, but I can see your ribs through your fur. I can see the struggle you face after losing so many cats, up to at least five. Cliffstone may have spoken out of turn, but he is right - any paid debt would be a great sacrifice to the clan paying the debt.” “We can manage,” Treestar snapped. “No, you can’t,” meowed one of the apprentices from Fernstar’s clan. She looked nervous, but she truly believed in what she was about to say. “I know, I shouldn’t be speaking either, but everyone knows it; none of the clans are managing. None of the cats are managing, except for Blazestar’s.” Blazestar stepped up. “I have a suggestion, '' she meowed loudly to all five clans. Everyone stopped chatting and looked at her. “You should join clans! Treestar and Fernstar’s clans have already become close, the same with Dandelionstar and Stormstar. My clan is perfectly healthy, so we don’t need to join anyone.” The other leaders thought about this. “Who would be leader if we did?” asked Treestar. “You would be joint leaders, until one of you passed. Then one of you names a deputy, and we go on like normal.” “I think it’s a good idea,” meowed Fernstar. Stormstar nodded. “Our clans would be stronger.” Dandelionstar looked at Blazestar. “What about your clan?” “Mine will just change our clan name, we only lost one elder to redcough.” “I agree,” Dandelionstar meowed. “I’ll join clans with Stormstar.” “I’ll join clans with Fernstar,” declared Treestar. Blazestar looked at the cats gathered around the tree. “Dandielionstar’s cats will join clans with Stormstar and Treestar will join with Fernstar,” she said to them. “But as we are combining clans, we need new names.” “TreeClan or FernClan?” Fernstar asked. “FernClan, I think, might work better,” Treestar confirmed. “And DandelionClan just sounds wrong,” Stormstar said. “No offense.” “None taken, Stormstar,” Dandelionstar meowed. “And what about you, Blazestar?” she asked. “My cats already blaze through the forest like fire,” Blazestar told them. “They will be BlazeClan.”
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