Ripples and Splashes/The Fire Inside



Prologue
A large, orange tom with graying fur stood outside his den, watching the night sky. A gray she-cat padded up to him, her yellow gaze staring him down.

"Grayfoot, LakeClan is in despair! We’ve lost one of our best warriors and prey is scarce." He said to her.

"I know, Blazestar. Do you think I haven’t noticed how scrawny our High-class clanmates have been getting?" the medicine cat replied.

Blazestar continued, ignoring her. "I hope we can feed ourselves through leaf-bare."

"I agree. We still don’t-" She gasped suddenly, her amber eyes following a star that was falling in the sky. It fell past the lake, and right when it should have hit the surface, a large wave came toward them and showered them with water. "It’s a message from the ancestors!"

Blazestar was stunned. "That’s strange. StarClan hasn’t sent us a message in at least 2 years! I hope it means we’re getting more prey! Our clan is starving!" Grayfoot nodded, shuffling her paws.

"Agreed. Anyway, this is the message: The ripples and splashes of the water begin and flourish, turning the tide of the lake."

Blazestar sighed, his tail brushing away scattered leaves. "Well, that’s cryptic. And nothing about where to find prey."

Grayfoot ignored him, her attention turning instead to the two kits tumbling out of the nursery.

"And there's Splashkit and Skykit. We shouldn’t talk about the prophecy in front of them. They’re too young to worry about prophecies." She said.

Chapter 1
The tiny silver kit opened her eyes slowly, looking around the nursery. She was curled up against her mother's belly, tail toward the other kits. She turned her head slightly, seeing the other kits in the warm section of the nursery. She stretched, alerting her mother. Heathertail was a large, dark gray she-cat, green eyes as piercing as teeth. She had been sad for a while, and the only thing that seemed to cheer her up was Splashkit. Splashkit and her mother lived in LakeClan. Splashkit had been born during a harsh leafbare, and her father had dissapeared while scouting. Splashkit barely remembered him. Heathertail looked down. "Good morning sleepyhead!" she said cheerfully. The gray tabby had been eating a small shrew. She pushed it toward her kit. "Go ahead, take a bite. You need to try prey sometime." Splashkit glanced dubiously at the skinny animal. She hesitantly moved forward and leaned over to take a bite- And a larger kit rammed into her, knocking her headfirst out of the nest and into the nursery wall. "Skykit!" Splashkit wailed, flattening her ears. She stood up, shaking the moss out of her fur. The big tom kit was a light brown tabby, and he was smirking. "That'll teach you to sleep in!" he taunted, green eyes shimmering with joy. Splashkit padded up to him, hissing playfully. She swatted him with her paw, claws sheathed. She caught him over the ears. She glanced over at Skykit's mother, Whitespot. The white she-cat was looking in disgust at the two kits, her gaze aimed at Splashkit. As Splashkit was staring, Skykit reared up, looking much bigger, and leaped on top of her. Splashkit yelped, the unexpected blow hurting more then she guessed was intended. She rolled onto her back and pummelled Skykit with her hind paws. He jumped off her and started to groom himself. "Skykit, why is Whitespot looking at us like that?" she whispered to him. The brown kit swiveled his head to look at his mother. His face contorted as he said, "She doesn't want me playing with you. She says High-class warriors shouldn't mingle with lowborns." Splashkit hissed and padded over to her mother. "Maybe you shouldn't play with me then," she mumbled. "No! I don't care. It's just her opinion," he said. His tail swished and thwacked Splashkit playfully. "Besides, we can do what we want!"