A Misty Flame part 16

    It was about two moons since Silverstream's death. RiverClan had recieved three new members; Featherkit, Stormkit, and Graystripe. The gray tom still seemed heartbroken over Silverstream's death, and being in a new Clan only seemed to make it worse. Meanwhile, Mistyfoot had been very happy to learn about Fireheart's promotion to deputy. The flame-colored tom had seemed tired but happy every time they had met. He had told her the whole story; how Tigerclaw had led a group of rouges to attack the camp, and how he had tried to use the attack to kill Bluestar. Mistyfoot had, in turn, told Fireheart about how Bluestar had been forced to give her and her siblings up to save her Clan from Thistleclaw. Fireheart had sympathized with his leader, as did Mistyfoot. It was hard not to pity her when they were in love beyond the border.
    Mistyfoot had been feeling sick lately, and she had been clumsier than usual. Stonefur had finally told her to ask Mudfur what the problem was. So here she was, sitting inside the medicine den, while Mudfur looked her over. Finally, he looked into Mistyfoot's eyes and mewed, "Well, I think you'll be pleased with what I have to say." Mistyfoot cocked her head. "What?" Mudfur grinned at her. "You're expecting kits." The words were like a slap in the face. Mistyfoot was stunned. "K-kits?" She asked, just to be sure. Mudfur nodded, still smiling. Mistyfoot felt despair coming on. What was she going to do? How was she going to keep this secret? Then she relaxed. She was going to have kits. Fireheart's kits. And very suddenly, she knew exactly what she had to do. It would break her heart to do it, but she had no choice.
    She forced a smile and mewed excitedly, "Wow, that's great! Thanks for telling me Mudfur!" The medicine cat nodded and mewed, "No problem." Mistyfoot padded out of the den and into the camp. "Hey Graystripe!" She called to the former ThunderClan warrior. "Wanna go hunting?" Graystripe looked up. "Sure!" Mistyfoot led him towards the ThunderClan border. Graystripe asked, "You supposed to meet Fireheart here today?" Mistyfoot shook get head. "No, but I hope to StarClan he's here." Luckily, she didn't have to wait long. Fireheart padded near the border, followed by his apprentice Cloudpaw. He looked at Mistyfoot with barely concealed surprise. "Hey Graystripe!" Graystripe waved his tail in greeting. Fireheart turned to his apprentice and mewed, "Can you go hunt for a little bit? I want to talk to Graystripe for a little bit." Cloudpaw nodded. "Sure!" He mewed, looking a little too eager to be gone. The white apprentice turned away and trotted off.
    Fireheart started speaking as soon as Cloupaw was out of earshot. "What's wrong, Mistyfoot? Were we supposed to meet and I forgot?" Mistyfoot shook her head and said quickly, "No, it's not that." She took a deep breath, and said bluntly, "Fireheart, I'm expecting kits." Both Graystripe and Fireheart looked at her in surprise, then the look in Fireheart's eyes faded to fear. "Oh great StarClan! What do we do now?" Mistyfoot sighed, then she mewed, "I know exactly what we have to do."