What if Princess went into the forest instead of Rusty?

Royal Fire

Chapter One

A light brown tabby she-cat stared into the forest with the setting sun at her back from on top of the fence to her yard, her amber eyes dark with emotion. She had been having dreams of the forest for days, yet she couldn't bring herself to step foot in there. But the pull was so strong; it was tearing her will power apart.

"Hey Princess!" A voice called to the young tabby. "What are you doing out here so late?"

Princess turned and saw a tabby she-cat padding toward her along the fence. It was Cody, the Kittypet who lived in the next yard over and Princess' best friend.

"Hi Cody," Princess mewed and turned back to the forest. "I'm just looking at the forest."

Cody settled down next to her and looked at the forest too. "Are you thinking about going into the forest?"

The tabby she-cat looked to her paws and admitted, "Yes. I've been thinking about it for some time now."

"I've always wanted to go into the forest, it seems like fun. But I heard it's dangerous in there, giant wild cats who eat stray house cats and bones," Cody told her.

"Surely a quick look around wouldn't hurt," Princess mewed.

"I wouldn't if I were you," Cody meowed and noticed how dark it was now that the sun had set. "I have to go now, see you around!" She pounded down the fence before leaping down into her yard.

Princess stared off where her friend had disappeared before turning once more to the forest. Slowly, she got to her paws and leapt down, padding into the forest with her head and tail high.

"Wow," she breathed as she looked around the moonlit forest in wonder. "I never thought it'd be so beautiful."

A noise caught her attention and looked around, spotting a mouse scuffling along the forest floor. Getting into a crouch, she slowly began to creep toward the mouse, getting ready to pounce.

"STOP!" A yowl scared both the Kittypet and the mouse, the mouse running off while Princess held her ground.

Princess looked up and stared with large amber eyes at a young black tom with a white chest and tail tip. She composed herself, straightening up and mewed, "Oh hi!"

The young black tom stepped back in shock. "Y-you're in ThunderClan territory!" he shouted. "G-get out!"

The Kittypet tilted her head and blinked. "ThunderClan?" she asked. "What's that?"

"You don't know about the Clans?" the black cat asked.

"Clans? No, I haven't heard of them. Are they those wild cats living in the forest, catching their own food, that I hear about?" she mewed.

Slowly, the ThunderClan cat nodded. "We are those cats," he replied.

Princess' amber eyes grew large with excitement and mewed, "Really? Can you tell me about them?"

The black tom looked down at his paws and mewed, "W-well there are four Clans; ThunderClan, RiverClan, ShadowClan, and WindClan. We live by the Warrior Code and StarClan, our warrior ancestors."

Princess meowed, "It sounds so different than what the other house cats have told me."

"Outsiders tend not to know about us that well," the young black cat admitted, gazing up at the pretty tabby she-cat. "You should really now."

"Leave? But I just got here," the Kittypet complained.

The tom looked away, sniffed the air, and froze. His amber eyes grew wide with alarm as he recognized the scents hitting his nose. "You need to leave NOW!" he hissed at her. "My mentor is coming. GO!"

Princess stared at him before turning to leave, but stopped when a large tabby tom and a slender blue-gray she-cat appeared from behind the bushes.

"Ravenpaw," the tabby tom growled, "Why have you not chased this Kittypet off ThunderClan's territory?"

"I-I…" the black tom, Ravenpaw, stuttered.

"Wait a moment, Tigerclaw," the blue-gray she-cat mewed. She turned to the light brown tabby she-cat and said, "You seem interested in our Clans. Not many Outsiders are."

Princess looked into the she-cat's icy-blue eyes and stood a brave step forward. "I've always been interested in the forest," she admitted.

"Bluestar, we should be sending this Kittypet off, not chatting it up," the large tom, Tigerclaw, meowed to the blue-gray she-cat.

"Be patient, Tigerclaw," Bluestar mewed before turning back to the Kittypet. "You are a highly unusual Kittypet. What is your name?"

"My name? My house-folk call me Princess," the light brown tabby mewed.

"Tell me, Princess, what brought you to the forest?" Bluestar asked.

"My dreams. I've been having dreams of going into the forest and living wild, living free," Princess confessed to the Clan cats.

Tigerclaw snorted as if he thought something was funny.

"I'm sure you are aware that Kittypets don't normally think that way," the blue-gray she-cat meowed.

"I know, but I can't help what I dream about," the Kittypet mewed.

"Dreams are very important things to us, but is it what your heart is telling you?" she asked.

"I-I don't know," Princess said as she looked down at her white paws.

"If it is what your heart desires, would you consider join ThunderClan?" Bluestar said, staring at the Kittypet with her icy-blue eyes.

Princess looked up and met those eyes with wide amber eyes.

"Bluestar! This is a Kittypet! Kittypets can't be warriors!" Tigerclaw shouted at the blue-gray she-cat.

"Why can't they, Tigerclaw? There is no part of the code forbidding Outsiders from joining the Clans," Bluestar told the large tabby.

"It just isn't done, Bluestar," growled Tigerclaw.

Suddenly Princess' mew rose up, breaking into the argument, "Can I think about it?"

Bluestar turned back to the Kittypet, her eyes softening. "Yes, I will send some of my warriors to find out your answer at sunhigh tomorrow."

The Kittypet turned to look at Ravenpaw, who had not spoken throughout the entire exchange. "Will Ravenpaw be coming too?" she asked.

"No," Tigerclaw said gruffly. "Ravenpaw has a patrol to attend to at that time."

"He will see you tomorrow if you decide to join our Clan," Bluestar reassured the tabby she-cat.

"Okay. I better be going then," Princess mewed as she glanced at the moon rising in the sky through the treetops. "Goodbye!"

"Goodbye, young Princess," Bluestar mewed in farewell.

Tigerclaw scoffed and turned his back on the Kittypet, his tail flicking impatiently.

"Goodbye," Ravenpaw mewed shyly.

Princess padded out of the forest, heading toward her Twoleg's nest, her thoughts still buzzing with what just happened. Later that night as she laid on the nest the Twolegs made for her, she thought of Bluestar's offer.

"What would Rusty do?" she asked as her thoughts strayed to her ginger furred brother.

I've got to stop coming up with new stories and focus on the ones I'm already writing.

Anyways, what do you think Princess' Clan name should be?