A/N: This is my first fanfic, so I'd appreciate it if you weren't too hard on me, but contructive criticism is accepted, of co

A/N: This is my first fanfic, so I'd appreciate it if you weren't too hard on me, but constructive criticism is accepted, of course.

Disclaimer: Erin Hunter has taken to writing fanfiction under the name Flamespirit-eth, surprising as it may be.

NOTE: Revised and edited 4/27/08

Prologue

Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw, two of the most respected warriors of ThunderClan, looked down at their only kit in adoration. The medicine cat, Leafpool, stood by, studying the kit; she was, after all, Leafpool's sister's kit, and the tabby she-cat had a right to interested in her newborn relative.

"What should we name her?" asked Squirrelflight, licking the tiny kit's head weakly; she was still exhausted from giving birth, and her eyes drooped, barely able to keep from closing. A couple pants escaped from her mouth. Her eyes did close for a couple moments, but she forced them open again. After all, she had to name her kit, didn't she? She wouldn't let Brambleclaw get away with naming their precious kit something horrid. He had expressed a liking for Otterkit a few days ago, and Squirrelflight would have slapped him with her tail if she wasn't pregnant. Actually, she did try to, but Brambleclaw dodged.

"Russetkit," Brambleclaw said lovingly, fixing the tiny ginger kit with his amber gaze. He had the look of one who was going to pamper and protect their child, no matter what, since it was the only one. Squirrelflight gave a small half smile and a nod. His suggestion wasn't horrid – it wasn't Otterkit, at least –, so she might as well agree, before her head clunked on to the moss and she fell asleep. "Russetkit," Brambleclaw mewed again, "our one and only daughter."

--A few weeks later--

Her kit-blue eyes barely open, Russetkit crawled out of the nursery, inching her way through and scratching her tiny paws in the moss and dirt. She fell over and stumbled over small things like pebbles, several times, as she hadn't walked much, being a kit only a few weeks old. Soon her fur was not as clean and well-kept as Squirrelflight had made it when she licked her so many times. She ambled out of the ThunderClan nursery and camp and into the forest, unknown to her doting parents, both asleep. It was night after all, and not even close to the beginning of day. Stars still shone and twinkled, and the moon still hung in the sky, unwilling to give way to sun, light, and a blue sky just yet. The wind swept around her, making her squeak as she tumbled headfirst into the dirt, covering her bright ginger fur with dull brown mud and scuffing it up. Feebly shaking herself clean (though some dirt still stayed lodged in her pelt), she padded farther and farther away, blending into the shadows, not even knowing she was not in ThunderClan camp anymore.

Talon held up his head higher, cocking his ears as his icy blue eyes narrowed in concentration. What was that he had just heard? Was it a mew?

A shadowy brown tom sitting near him echoed his thoughts. "What was that?" he asked. "Did someone just mewl?"

Ignoring the cat, Talon stayed silent, trying to listen. Suddenly he heard it.

"Crashing through the undergrowth," he hissed, craning his neck forward. "Stay still." He fixed the brown tom with a piercing stare for a second, and the cat bowed his head and did as Talon ordered.

For a few seconds, the two cats sat in silence, waiting.

Nothing happened. The brown cat privately thought this was rather foolish, and was about to venture a question as to why they were doing this, when suddenly a ginger kit – rather dirty and unkempt, the brown tom thought – burst through the grass and right in front of them, as if pushed there by another cat hiding a few tail-lengths away.

The kit gazed at them with wide, still blue eyes, and then Talon cooed in a high voice, "Oh kit, little kit, come forward."

The kit stared at them for another second, then slowly stumbled over to them, perhaps thinking they were its parents.

"Talon, who is this?" the brown cat said, shivering from the wind that had just passed through.

Talon's icy blue eyes gleamed. "Swipe," he murmured, "I have a good feeling about this little kit. We shall make her strong and powerful. I know she will bring fortune to us again; she will once again make us great."

The brown tom, Swipe, gave Talon a look of slight disbelief. "Talon," he hissed. "She's just some ThunderClan kit. Nothing special. She'll probably just grow up to be another cat among us. Just another mediocre cat, probably – she looks like she's related to him, Firestar, with that ginger fur."

Talon just looked at Swipe, a look full of knowledge and hope, of excitement abd plans

And also full of threat.

"Trust me, Swipe. Just trust me."

Swipe had trusted for moons and moons – he had trusted for Talon's father, too. He could afford to put just a little more trust in, enough to see if Talon would be right. And if Talon was right, he might even half to trust one day for this kit, too. Something he thought highly unlikely "Okay," he mewed, sighing a bit as he looked at the little ginger kit. He bent down to study the kit a bit more. Instead of being harmless, the kit batted a small paw that wavered in the air at Swipe, and hit his nose. Hard.

"Perhaps this will turn out well," Swipe muttered, rubbing his nose with a paw. He couldn't resist glowering at the helpless – or not so helpless – kit, despite the fact it was only a small hit and all kits did such things. But he wasn't very accustomed to kits, anyway.

Talon smirked. "It will. I know."

And unknowing of what was going on around her, Russetkit lay down in front of her new family, and slept.

A/N: Yeah, I know, short, but it's only the prologue. I'll try to get the chapters longer than this. Anyways, R&R!