Moonlight tucked a vine into the den wall and began to draw it through, tugging at it with her paws. “Why would she miss her mate?”
“Doesn’t she love him?” Squirrelflight pressed a vine through a gap.
“I don’t know,” Moonlight told her. “We prefer to live without toms. Tempest could have stayed with him if she’d wanted to, but she chose to travel with us and raise her kits among her sisters.”
Squirrelflight couldn’t imagine raising kits without Bramblestar. And how could she think of living without him? Even though she hadn’t been gone long, she missed him. Would he forgive her for coming here? Suddenly her heart quickened. She wanted to see him, to explain why she’d crossed the border. He’d understand when he realized how important it was to her.
“Here.” Moonlight pushed a stray tendril toward her. “Pull this one through.”
Squirrelflight tugged at it while Moonlight fastened the other end into the wall. “If you prefer not to have toms around, what will happen to Grass and Stone? They’re your kin. Can they stay?”
“No.” Moonlight sat back on her haunches and inspected her work. “They’re old enough to leave us. We’ve been waiting until the stars are in place.”
Squirrelflight wondered for a moment if the Sisters had their own StarClan. She glanced at Moonlight. “What do you mean?”
“Wait until tonight,” Moonlight told her. “You’ll see.”
“Do they want to leave?” Squirrelflight wondered how the Sisters could send their young away.
“Of course they want to leave. They’re toms. They have a deep connection with the land. They must travel it as they wish, not be tied to our path.”
Squirrelflight couldn’t imagine being separated from her kits no matter how old they were. “Won’t Tempest miss them?”
“At first,” Moonlight told her. “But there will be new litters to take care of.” She glanced at her belly. “And we are each mother to all the young.”
“Where will Stone and Grass go?”
“Wherever they choose.” Moonlight reached for the end of Squirrelflight’s vine and began to tuck it between the branches. “They might travel together, or become loners or join rogues, or live with Twopaws. Their ancestors will guide them.”
“Twopaws?” Squirrelflight asked.
Moonlight tipped her head. “The furless animals that build big stone dens to live in.”
“Our ancestors were
Squirrelflight let go of the vine and Moonlight pulled it. She suddenly understood why the Sisters looked so similar. Their large frames and thick, long fur marked them as different from most of the warriors and rogues Squirrelflight had met. It made sense that they were descended from a single family. She was eager to know more. “Flurry said that you all have medicine-cat skills.”
Moonlight glanced at her. “What’s a medicine cat?”
“In the Clans, we have cats who have special knowledge about healing herbs,” she explained.
“Surely it is safer to share such knowledge?”
“There’s more to being a medicine cat than knowing about herbs. They have a special gift. They can communicate with our dead ancestors.”
“They speak with the dead?” Moonlight looked suddenly interested. She rested her forepaws on the ground. “Is their gift passed from mother to kit?”
“Medicine cats don’t have kits.”
Moonlight blinked. “Why not?”
“It’s forbidden. They devote their lives to caring for their Clan.”
Moonlight frowned. “That must be hard. I couldn’t imagine life without kits.”
“Nor could I.” Squirrelflight thought of Leafpool. How hard it must have been for her sister to watch Squirrelflight raise Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf, to pretend all the time that she wasn’t their mother. How much simpler it was here. Kits were born and the Sisters raised them together. They could take mates where they liked. There were no rules about falling in love with cats from other Clans. Or about who could have kits and who couldn’t. And yet they had to send their sons away. She glanced at Moonlight’s belly. “Aren’t you frightened you might have sons who’ll have to leave you?”
“We can’t hold on to those we love forever,” Moonlight told her.
“What about their father?” Squirrelflight hesitated. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but did you love him?”
Moonlight purred, as though she thought the question was funny. “I liked him. But Jack’s an everkit—a den-bound cat. He was fun to be around, and handsome. And I was ready to have another litter. But my life is with my Sisters.”
Squirrelflight’s heart suddenly ached for the litter she dreamed of. “Will you see him again?”
“I’ll visit the barn where he lives and show him his kits when they’re old enough to travel,” Moonlight told her. “They may want to know him, and they might even choose to live near him when they’re old enough to leave our group. We let our young decide how they want to live. Not every cat wants a life like ours..”
