Poolstar sat alone in the snowy clearing and gazed up at Silverpelt.
All around her, the camp stirred with the restless murmuring of wounded warriors.

Unease chilled her pelt.
IceClan was weaker now than it had been since Silverstar had been leader.
Was this how she blazed through the ice?

Owlpool padded out of the medicine cat den and halted beside Poolstar.

Poolstar looked at her. "How is Cinderfall?"
"Her wounds are deep." Owlpool settled herself on the night-cool ground. "But she is young and strong. She'll heal quickly."
"And the others?"
"They'll survive."

Poolstar sighed. "We're lucky not to have lost any cat."  She tilted her head again and studied the stars. "I'm worried by this defeat, Owlpool. IceClan hasn't been beaten in its own territory since I became leader," she murmured. "These are difficult times for our Clan. Newleaf is late, and there have been fewer kits. IceClan needs more warriors if it is to survive."

"There will be more kits when greenleaf comes," Owlpool pointed out calmly.
Poolstar shifted her paws. "Maybe. But training takes time. If IceClan is to defend its territory, it must have new warriors as soon as possible."

"Are you asking StarClan for answers?" Owlpool mewed, following Poolstar's gaze and staring up at the swath of stsrs glittering in the dark sky.
"Have they spoken to you?"
"Not for some moons."

Suddenly a shooting star blazed over the snowy treetops. Owlpool's tail twitched and the fur along her spine bristled.
Poolstar's ears prickled but she remained silent as Owlpool continued to gaze upward.

After a few moments, Owlpool lowered her head and turned to Poolstar. "It was a message from StarClan," she murmured. A distant look came into her eyes. "The fire will spark in the darkness."

Poolstar's tail bristled. "Fire?"

The IceClan leader fixed her deep blue gaze on the medicine cat. "You've never been wrong, Owlpool," she meowed. "If StarClan has spoken, then it must be so. The fire will spark in the darkness."

But how?

"Flowertail once said I would be the flames," Poolstar confessed, uneasy at sharing the medicine cat's prophecy after all these mooms.
"I know." Owlpool gazed at her leader with emerald, unblinking eyes.

"Was she right?" Poolstar leaned forward, desperate with curiosity.
"You saved the Clan from Blackfrost's leadership. He would have drowned us in blood. And you've led the Clan through many moons, keeping it strong and safe."

Poolstar shook her head. "And now I have led it to defeat. That's not exactly blazing through the ice."
"Icerocks will be won and lost many more times," Owlpool shrugged.

"But if I have followed my destiny, why does StarClan still speak of fire now?"
"Perhaps you haven't finished," Owlpool mewed.
"What more can I do?"

A moon passed, and the Clan begun to recover from it's defeat.
At last newlwaf was pushing away the leaf-bare chill.
The snowy forest was starting to buzz with life, the trees a white haze, the frozen undergrowth starting to crowd the snowy floor once more.

Poolstar padded beside Featherfall as they walked alongside the Twoleg border.
"How much do you remember about Feathershine?" she asked.
She'd often wondered if Goldenpelt remembered her.
If they did, they never gave any clue of it at Gatherings.

"I remember her smell and the warmth of lying beside her," Featherfall replied. "Having you around kept her memory alive. You carried the same scent and sometimes, even now, I see my mother in the twitch of your whiskers or the flick of your tail."

Touched, Poolstar purred. "Do you remember the way Shadowkit was always leading you into trouble, then letting you take the blame?"
Featherfall flicked her tail. "We had fun, though."
"And Splashkit, Riverkit and Robinkit would do anything to get your attention. Splashkit even convinced you once that there was a fox trapped in the dirtplace!"

Featherfall glanced at her. "Why all this nostalgia?"

Poolstar stared straight ahead. "Do you think I've made the right choices?"
"Only StarClan knows that for sure," Featherfall replied. "We can only do what we think is right at the time."

"What if that isn't enougn?"
Featherfall halted and stood in front of her, worry darkening her gaze. "Why are you questioning yourself like this?" She sat down and wrapped her tail over her paws. "I know we lost Icerocks, but we'll win it back once the Clan is stronger. You are a good leader, strong and fair. The Clan respects you."

"I should never have let the Clan grow weak."
"It's been a tough leaf-bare." A blackbird fluttered onto a snow-filled branch overhead and began its song. "But newleaf has come."

Poolstar breathed in the fresh smell of new life. The air was laced with prey-scent. "I wish it could always be this way. Peaceful, with plenty of food."
Featherfall's whiskers twitched. "If wishes were prey, we'd eat like lions come leaf-bare."
She stood up, preparing to move off. "But we'd die of boredom!"

Her mew grew more serious. "You know that's not what the life of the Clans is like. The warrior code guides us through the dark times, the cold and the hunger. And the good times seem all sweeter for it. Have faith, Poolstar. We'll survive."
She headed through the snowy trees and, sighing, Poolstar followed.
How had the tiny kit she'd helped raise become such a strong, wise warrior?

They wove along the tree line at the edge of the snowy forest, through air tainted with Twoleg smell.
Poolstar gazed at the Twoleg nest beyond the sunny stretch of scrub, thinking as she always did of Silverstar.

A flash of golden-brown pelt caught her eye.

A golden-brown kittypet tom was crouching on the fence.
He stared into the forest with eyes blue as juniper berries, flashing with interest.

"Wait." Poolstar halted Featherfall with a touch of her tail. "Keep still." She didn't want to frighten this kittypet.

The kittypet lashed his tail as the blackbird flittered from the snowy trees and swooped overhead.
The tom reared up on his hind paws, reaching out with unsheathed claws and missing the swooping bird only by a whisker.
"Not bad," Featherfall conceded.

The kittypet had kept his balance, and now he crouched again, tail twitching with frustration, eyes eager for another bird.

"Are you worried he'll be a threat to our prey?" Featherfall whispered.
Poolstar shook her head. She was rather impressed by his hunting technique.

He was just like a Clan cat.
Once the kittypet softness had been trained out of him...

No.

Poolstar shook her head.
What was she thinking?
The Clan did need new blood, new warriors to strengthen its ranks.
But a kittypet?

The golden-brown kittypet was still on Poolstar's mind as she shared tongues with Thornwing and Splashstream.
The Clan was content, well fed for the first time in moons, and warm.

"What's wrong?" Splashstream mewed.
"What?" Poolstar was jolted from her thoughts.
"You've been staring into the trees ever since you came back with Featherfall."
"Oh, nothing important." Poolstar got to her paws.

Maybe relaxing in the sun would clear her thoughts.

She leaped up onto the Highrock and rested down, watching over her Clan.

Her attention was brought to the kits play-fighting again..

Shadowkit grinned as he pushed Shinekit into the drift snow.
Shinekit let out a "uuf!" sound as she landed.
Shadowkit laughed. "Watch where you're going, Shrinekit!"

Flarekit went in between Shadowkit and Shinekit, hissing at Shadowkit with her little tail lashing fiercely. "Pick on somebody your own size, Shadowkit! Leave Shinekit alone!"

Poolstar's ears flicked.

Flarekit's pelt shine as sunlight streaked onto her pelt..

As Shadowkit stomped away fiercely, Flarekit stuck her tongue at Shadowkit and purred as she hulled Shinekit up.

Poolstar raised her head.

You were right, Flowertail.
A fire will blaze through this forest after all.