Эрин Хантер - Moth Flight’s Vision

“We’ll be fine.”

As he drew away, Moth Flight felt cold air touch the fur his breath had warmed.

She watched numbly as Honey Pelt padded after Skystar.

“Good-bye,” she murmured under her breath.

You’ve done the right thing. Micah’s mew touched her ear fur, as light as the evening breeze.

“Have I?” she whispered.

“You have changed the destiny of the Clans.” Micah’s voice was clear now. She wondered if Skystar and Honey Pelt could hear it as they climbed the slope toward the forest. But neither cat looked back.

Micah went on. “You were always braver and smarter than you thought. It’s one of the reasons I loved you, and why I still miss you. But you have so much left to do. Making decisions is easy; living with them is the true test of courage. Only by being true to yourself and becoming the medicine cat you dream of will you learn how truly special you are.”

Moth Flight looked up, staring past the branches to the sky beyond. The stars flashed like flecks of sunlight on rippling water, brighter than she’d ever seen them and too many to count.

“I will do my best,” she promised. “I will always do my best.”

Moth Flight fluffed out her fur against the chilly air of the Moonstone cavern and looked up. Stars glittered beyond the hole in the roof. Moonlight spilled over the rim. As she waited for it to reach the Moonstone, she listened to the other medicine cats talk.

“I’m glad the clouds cleared in time,” Pebble Heart mewed.

“Clouds never last long when it’s this breezy,” Dappled Pelt answered. “The wind has been tugging at my whiskers all day.”

“It brought down the first fall of leaves in the forest,” Cloud

Spots told them.

Acorn Fur shivered. “I’m not ready for leafbare.”

“That’s a few moons away yet,” Pebble Heart reassured her.

Moth Flight’s thoughts drifted from their idle chatter, her mind sifting through everything they’d told her on the journey here. In the moon since she’d given Honey Pelt, Bubbling Stream, Blue Whisker, and Spider Paw away, her heart had felt like a heavy, cracked stone in her chest. She’d curled into her empty nest each night, feeling their absence in the cold moss around her, and each morning she’d awoken expecting to feel their soft pelts nestling against her but feeling nothing but the twitching of her own paws.

“How is Blue Whisker?” she’d asked Cloud Spots as she met him at the WindClan border.

Cloud Spots had told her that Blue Whisker was eating well and had made friends already with Milkweed’s kits. “She and Shivering Rose are inseparable.”

Acorn Fur had purred as she told Moth Flight that Honey Pelt was following Skystar around camp, asking endless questions. “Skystar enjoys it,” the chestnut she-cat had reassured her. “His eyes light up whenever Honey Pelt darts in front of him, begging to know something new. He seems impressed by Honey Pelt’s eagerness to learn.”

“How’s Bubbling Stream?” Moth Flight had asked Pebble Heart as they’d crossed a dusky meadow.

“She’s leading Dangling Leaf, Dusk Nose, and Shade Pelt on expeditions outside camp.”

Moth Flight’s belly had tightened with worry. “Are they safe in the forest by themselves?”

“Someone always tracks them,” Pebble Heart had promised her. “Mouse Ear followed them through a nettle patch yesterday.

They all came home with stung noses and pads.”

Moth Flight’s heart had quickened with alarm. “Is Bubbling Stream all right?”

“I had plenty of fresh dock in my store,” Pebble Heart had told her gently. “Besides, every kit gets stung eventually. Mouse Ear should have known better than to walk through a nettle patch, but he said he didn’t want to let them out of his sight.”

Moth Flight had felt reassured and hurried to catch up with Dappled Pelt. “Is Spider Paw settling into RiverClan?”

“He can swim already.” There had been a hint of pride in Dappled Pelt’s mew.

“Not by himself, surely?” Alarm flashed through Moth

Flight’s pelt.

“Kits never swim by themselves,” Dappled Pelt promised her. “Not until they’re strong enough to ride the currents.”

Moth Flight’s thoughts had flashed back to her “swim” with Spider Paw. She’d felt helpless against the buffeting of the water. She couldn’t imagine Spider Paw ever being strong enough to survive it.

“He’ll be swimming like a fish before long.” Dappled Pelt must have guessed Moth Flight’s anxiety. “It’s just like running through a gale.” She’d glanced sideways. “You’ve never been knocked off your paws by the wind, have you?”

“No.” Moth Flight had been unconvinced. But she had to trust RiverClan.

Dappled Pelt gently changed the subject. “Drizzle and Pine

Needle think Spider Paw’s great. He’s been teaching them how to play moss-ball. He’s a great jumper. Drizzle can never get the moss past him.”

Moth Flight pictured Spider Paw now, as she gazed at the Moonstone. She could imagine him charging around the RiverClan camp as he’d done in the hollow. Her heart ached.

Did her kits miss her? They sounded happy in their new homes.

Happier than with me? Guilt pricked her paws. She wanted them to be happy, and yet she hoped they still kept a place for her in their hearts.

Acorn Fur’s mew cut into her thoughts. “I wonder if StarClan has anything important to share with us.”

Moth Flight shifted her paws uneasily. Had they known she would give her kits away? Had she done the right thing? Guilt hollowed her belly.

The Moonstone flared. Moth Flight flinched, slitting her eyes as light blanched the cave. Countless stars seemed to blaze before her face. Leaning forward, she touched her nose to the glittering stone.

The floor shifted beneath her paws. Her heart lurched as she felt herself swept sideways, whirling dizzyingly until suddenly she felt soft pasture beneath her paws. She opened her eyes into the half-light of evening. Pebble Heart, Dappled Pelt, Cloud

Spots, and Acorn Fur stood nearby, blinking at the rolling meadows and distant forest. They were in StarClan’s hunting grounds, on the breeze-blown hilltop, grass rippling around their paws.

Above them, a purple sky deepened to black as it stretched toward the distant horizon. She gazed at it, the stars blurring as she stared at them. They began to swirl like a flock of shimmering birds, spinning toward the ground.

Pebble Heart lifted his chin, his eyes wide in wonder.

Dappled Pelt’s fur pricked along her spine. Acorn Fur backed away as the stars circled closer. Moth Flight narrowed her eyes against the brightness as the grass sparkled and the stars slowed, coming to rest on the hilltop around them.

Blinking, she saw the light fade until she could make out the shapes of the StarClan cats.

Half Moon stepped from among them, her white pelt glistening. She stopped in front of Moth Flight and dipped her head.

Moth Flight tensed, trying to glimpse the expression in the StarClan cat’s dark green gaze. I scattered the petals of the Blazing Star, just as Micah told me. She knew what she wanted to say. She had given away her kits and she wanted to tell StarClan that it was the only thing she could have done. But the words she’d planned stalled on her tongue. “I had to!” she blurted as Half Moon met her gaze.

“We know.” Half Moon stared at her steadily. “You made the right choice.”

Moth Flight glanced beyond the white she-cat, hoping to glimpse Micah. He’d given his blessing to sending their kits to new homes, but she wanted to see him—she needed to read his gaze and truly know that he understood.