Chapter 1: We are going to be okay...

I looked at my small little group of cats, this was my clan... There were not many of us, but it was a start... It was what I needed, I was lucky to be this far, all the clans were lucky. Things had gone great the past couple of moons, Summer had found her friend...

She was a bit hurt though, I knew that she wanted that cat to be her mate, but when I had offered him the role to lead Shadowclan, he had taken it without hesitation. I was happy with the cats that were leading the clans as well, I was very sure that I had made the right choice, even if Starclan had not come to visit me since I had met Graywing...

I looked down on my clan from the tall rock, I was proud to be the leader of this fine clan. I knew that Squirrelflight was a bit disappointed that I had not chosen Thunderclan, but I am sure that she would be okay with having Summer as the leader of her clan.

She was a good cat, and she had a good heart. I smiled at the few cats that were walking among the clearing, they did not see me smiling, but it did not matter to me, I just wanted to spread my good energy back to them. I knew that the clans were going to be okay, and I would make sure that it would not end up like last time like past generations.

I would make sure that the future generations would know, that starclan was real, and that we always needed to have faith in them, they would guide us through the tough spouts, and I knew that tough spouts were just about upon us, it was getting colder in the moor lands day by day.

When the cold season got upon us, it would end up a lot worse than it was before. I looked at my friend, Owl, he was one of the best friends I could have asked for, I was surprised to see him that day with my mate, I knew he was a bit embarrassed when he had found out that Mint was my mate.

I knew that he liked her quite a bit, the moment that we all had first met, but he knew that I was the leader, he hardly ever questioned my decisions, but when he did, a lot of the times he was right, and I was happy to have this cat as my deputy.

I looked at Youngtail and nodded, it seemed a bit weird for the deputy to be cleaning off tics, much less tics of a windclan cat... I knew that Youngtail was teaching the other clans about how to lead, and what to do and not to do, so I did not blame him for it.

Usually he would bring one of my warriors with him, not because he was afraid of getting attacked, but he was so old, any day he might fall over, and it might be too hard for him to get back up, I did not blame him for it at all.

I looked over, and could slightly see my mate Mint, as she was taking care of Rabbit and her kits, and hissing at Flame, the mate of Rabbit every time he said something to her. I knew that Flame was just worried about his mate, after he had found out there was a safe place to stay in our clans, he happily took his mate, that was expecting into the clans with us.

I laughed at it, not too loudly to stir the kits up, but loud enough so that a couple of cats could hear it, I was enjoying my time as the leader of the clan, Owl looked up at me and smiled as well, and I saw Youngtail shake his head, but he was trying to hide a smile at the same time.

I saw one of my other best friends, and almost like a kid to me and Mint for a while, Limp, as she was taking care of Venom, who had gotten a nasty scratch on him while playing with the kits. He pretended that he was okay, but I could see him wincing while Limp was putting the medicine on him.

Venom, while it seemed like he had a bit of an evil name, he had a good heart, and he was one of the most friendly cats I had ever met, at first I was not really wanting to have him in the clans, because he was so old, I would have thought that he would not bring much use to the clan.

I soon found out, how wrong I really was about the cat, and how I should not let my first impressions judge what a cat was really like. He brought so much light to every cats day in the clan, I don't know what life in this clan would be like without him.

I knew that it most certainly would not be the same. I watched as Ginger, Owl's mate as I just found out, was walking into the clearing with Silent, a cat who had very bad hearing loss, from something that had happened to him when he was much younger.

When I asked him what had happened, he just said he was far too young to remember, but he also had a bit of an embarrassed look on his face at the same time, so I was not too sure how true that really was, but I suppose what had not happened in the clan, was none of my business.

Ginger, was a cat from the mountain tribe, Owl had brought her back with him, she was in love with him the moment she had met him, I could tell and I was happy that they were finally together, and that Owl was no longer stuck on my mate.

Ginger in fact, had planned on coming with us, but she opted out on the first day, she did not want to go on such a scary journey, even though Kettle had been her only friend. A lot of that might have been my fault as well, I had been a bit hard on her.

My first impressions were once again wrong about another cat, and don't get me started on Shadow, he had turned out to be a good, and fun cat to be around, I had been a bit disappointed when Kevin had not chosen him to be leader, but I suppose he had made the right decision by choosing a friend that he trusted.

I did not know much about his friend, I could not tell much about him from the times that I had been around him. It was not long, the cats all had to separate into their own separate clans, it was getting far to hectic with so many cats in one small area...

Things had seemed to be going good so far, we were going to have our first meeting between the clans an the small little island upon the lake in a couple of days, just when the moon lights up the sky, Limp had already met up with the other medicine cats this last half moon.

I walked down from the tall rock, seeing that Ginger and Silent were walking towards the bit of a small fresh kill pile with a large rabbit and 2 mice on the happy face of silent... It made me feel a bit better, I knew that the other 2 cats would come back with a bit of food as well.

We normally put our scent at the borders early in the morning, we had gotten in a couple of arguments and a couple of paws were shot at, but cats were getting used to the borders at this point, and there were not as many fights going around.

Now that there was a fair amount of food on the fresh kill pile, and a fair amount to come after that, I figured it was time for me to eat for the first time of the day, even though it was already starting to get a bit dark. The leader was always supposed to make sure that his clan mates were safe before he did things like that.

All the cats seemed to be well fed, and Silent went back with a smaller mouse, and sat at the back of the clearing. I had noticed that he had not seemed to make many friends in the clans up to this point, it was not because he was a mean cat, it was just because he was a bit afraid to talk.

As I hopped down from the tall rock, I figured that I would go over to Silent, and speak to the tom cat. He looked at me a bit surprised to see the leader coming over to him to talk. He dropped the mouse right away and went down a bowed at me.

I let out a bit of a snort, and he looked at me a bit confused. I shook my head at the cat, he was really afraid to talk to other cats, it seemed as if he did not want to seem stupid to others, but when he did stuff like that, he did seem to look a bit dumb.

"You don't need to bow to me, I am the leader, but I am a friend to all of the cats here..." I said to him. He looked at me for a few moments, and then he looked down at the ground, I could tell that he was a bit embarrassed, and he did not know what to say.

He was not much of a talker either, but I figured I would let him know that it was okay to talk to me. Even though I knew it was hard for him to get what he was thinking in his head, and then put that into words. However, he did talk to me this time.

"Sorry, I just don't know how all of this works, it is all so new to me." He said to me. I looked at him for a few moments, and then I nodded, it was well spoken what he had just said to me, I wished that he would stand up, and speak his voice a bit more often.

I looked at the cat, and then nodded for him to go ahead and eat the mouse that another cat had found earlier. He happily began chewing on it, I could tell that it was the first thing that he had eaten today as well, he should have chosen a bit of a bigger mouse.

I knew that he was worried about all of the other cats, just as I was, if it were not for Owl, I would have chosen Silent as a leader, he had such a good heart for a cat that did not seem to talk very much. I looked at the tall rock, that was the place were I had my meetings, I figured that I should have one tonight before everyone lay to rest, there was a lot that was going through my head right now.

"It is okay, don't lower yourself, it is new to everyone... I am worried, because we made these clans, just at the time that leaf bare is about to start... Food will be hard to come by soon, I hope that we will be okay..." I said to him. I noticed that it made him feel a bit bad as he had stopped eating, that was a bit of a stupid way for me to start a conversation. "No! Don't stop eating, you are one of my best cats, I need you in full strength right now."

As I said it, I could tell that it brightened up his face a lot, while there was not many cats to select from in the clans, I knew that he was going to stay one of the best, if something did happen to Owl, which I hoped would not happen, he was a great deputy, than he would most certainly be my next.

He nodded to me, and he kept on eating the mouse. I looked around at the clearing once again, just to make sure that all of the cats of my clan were okay, and then I looked back at Silent, as I surprisingly once again began to hear him start talking to me.

Maybe it was just speaking to me, that was going to get his voice out to the rest of the cats that were a part of Windclan. I turned my ears to him paying full attention to what it was that he had to say to me.

"Thank you Moon! You are a great leader, I am happy that this is the clan that found me... Just a few moons ago, trapped in a twoleg place surrounded by dogs..." He said to me. I looked at the cat, and then I smiled at him. I was happy that he was grateful to be a part of this clan...

I did not want to make any restrictions on which clan a cat wanted to choose. Unless it was a cat that was born on one of our clans, that was something completely different. I shook my head, and then noticed that Silent had his eyes on something behind me.

I turned my head to see what it was, as I saw the other 2 cats coming back from their little hunting trip. It was Angel, and her sister Shrivel, I saw what Silent had his eyes locked on, and no, it was not the vole or the mouse that both cats were carrying, but he had his eyes locked on Angel.

It was not the first time that I had seen Silent just blatantly staring at her, I just did not think about it the other times, now I knew why, he had feelings for this cat, his words always stuttered when she talked to her, and it always made her giggle.

I am pretty sure she thought that was normal, she did not see him talk to many other cats in the clan, but it was only like that when he was talking to her, and her sister, I could tell, she had feelings for Silent, and it made her a bit angry for her to see Silent just staring at her sister.

She looked at Silent for a few moments, then turned towards her sister as she began talking, but she walked away mid way through her conversation, which confused her sister quite a bit. Her sister just shook her head and took both foods to the fresh kill pile, taking one of them for herself to eat alone.

I looked at Silent, he was just staring at the cat, with his eyes wide. He did not even notice that Shrivel looked a bit upset when she saw that Silent had his eyes locked on Angel, I was surprised that Angel had not even noticed herself that Silent was always staring at her.

I turned my head over to Silent to get his attention, Silent kept on staring for a few moments, and then he realized that I was coughing at him. He looked at me a bit embarrassed, he knew that I had noticed him just staring at Angel. I laughed a little bit, and then shook my head at the young cat, before I then began to speak to him.

"I see that you've got your eyes on the prize Silent... Why don't you just go and speak to her, from what I can tell, she is a friendly cat, the worst thing the can say in no..." I said to him. Silent looked at the ground for a few more moments, he was still quite a bit embarrassed that I had caught him sneaking.

I nudged my head up against him to let him know that I was okay with it, I was not going to be one of those leaders that made every decision for every cat, at some point they had to make a couple of decisions on their own. He then lifted his head up at me, this time he looked quite a bit more steady.

"Are you sure that I can do this? What about you and Mint? How did you get her to say yes..." He said to me. I looked at him for a few moments, not sure if I should tell him the truth. The truth was, she was in love with me the moment that she locked eyes on me.

I just knew one thing, that I had learned from the cats of Starclan, they had told me, to tell the cat I love how I really feel about them. I should not be afraid of failure, if I had not done that, me and Mint might not be mates right now, we might be looking at each other from time to time, but we would not be official, and I knew that Owl would get on that immediately...

Mint was one of those cats that had a hard time saying no... If it had taken me that long to tell her how I felt about her, she probably would have expected that I was not in love with her. I smiled at Silent, he still looked a bit afraid, but I knew how it was that he was going to get her affection. I might have to lie about it a little.

"You've got to go up to her, and tell her how you feel, let her know, that you... You are in love with her!" I said little bit too loudly, Owl squinted his eyes, a bit confused as to what was going on. I shook my head at him, to let him know that it was not his business.

Silent looked at me for a few moments, and then he looked back over to wear Angel was eating her mouse. He then looked back to me again. He then nodded to me, and then he began speaking back to me, about how he felt about what I had just said.

"If you think it is the right way to approach this, I will try it, you are a great leader, I assume that means you give good advice as well." He said to me. I looked at him for a few moments, then I looked down at the ground, this time it was me that was the one that was a bit embarrassed...

Just before he began to walk over to Angel, I stopped him, I did not want him to get upset at me if she told him that she did not feel the same way about him. He looked at me, a bit confused as to why I had stopped him. I nodded to the cat, then began to tell him the truth.

"There is a chance that she says no... Just know, if that is the case, there are bigger fish in the lake..." I said to him. He looked a bit scared once again, and I felt that I had taken the wrong approach once again, but I just did not want him to blame me if she told him that she didn't feel the same. "She will say yes though..."

I added in the last part, just so that he was not too afraid of her saying no to him. There was a good chance that she did say no however, it would make sense as well, because I never saw her looking at him, the way that I saw him doing it to her.

I felt a bit bad for Shrivel, I wanted to talk to her later, just to make her feel a bit better, but I suppose that I should probably not get into that, all of it was none of my business in the first place. I figured that I should start opening Silent up, his hearing loss was not the only reason he was named Silent.

I watched as they began talking for a few moments, I saw Angel sit there for a few moments, with no expression on her face, I did not know if that was bad for Silent, or if Silent had not expressed his feelings for her quite yet. I shook my head though and then began to walk up to the tall rock.

Once I climbed all the way up to the top of the rock, a couple of cats waited for me to address the whole clan, but my eyes were locked on Silent and Angel for the short period of time. I wanted to make sure that Silent had told Angel how he felt, before I called in everyone in the clan.

I then noticed right away that Silent had begun to express his feelings to Angel. Angel turned her head, I could not see the expression on her face, but from what I could tell so far, it did not seem to be working out to well for Silent, I felt a bit bad for him, wondering if I really should have given him that advice.

Then I saw Angel turn her head back around, as I saw a big smile on her face, I was a bit confused, had Silent just said a funny joke to her? But then I saw them rub up against each other, and I knew right away, that they were now officially mates...

I then realized that all of the cats in the clearing were all looking at me to begin speaking. I looked a bit dumb, I was lucky that none of them noticed what I was looking at, I saw Shrivel looking over at Silent and Angel, and she turned her head away a bit angry at her sister, as if she was reading her thoughts.

I looked at each cat in the clearing, trying not to think about what was going on in Shrivels head right now, I then nodded to all of them. Letting them know that I was ready to start one of our nightly meeting that I usually had. I spoke loudly just to make sure that each cat knew that I was ready to start.

"Everyone old enough to hunt please come to the tall rock for a clan meeting!" I said to each of them. Limp and a few other cats came out of their dens, and I thankfully saw that Shrivel was coming over to the tall rock, thankfully she was not too angry.

Once all of the cats were here to listen to me speak to the clan at the tall rock, I then began to talk to all of them.

"Everyone! I pray that you all sleep well tonight, though it has been a while since we have found new cats, I know that we are going to be okay..."