S M A L L E A R ' S   M O S S

    From Forest of Secrets- Cloudkit was not in the nursery, so Fireheart tried the elder's den. As he entered, he heard Halftail's voice. "So the leader of TigerClan stalked the fox for a night and a day, and on the second night-- Hello, there, Fireheart. Come to listen to the story?" "No thanks, Halftail," he meowed. "I can't stay. I just wanted to speak to Cloudkit. Yellowfang says he's bringing in damp bedding. Dappletail let out a snort. "What nonsense!" "She's been listening to Smallear," meowed Patchpelt. "He'd complain if StarClan decended from  Silverpelt themselves to bring his bedding. Fireheart's fur prickled with embarrassment. He hadn't expected to find the elders making excuses for Cloudkit.

    That Night- Smallear slowly walked into the elder's den with a small vole from the fresh-kill pile. As he slowly sat down, he muttered to himself about the damp moss that Cloudkit brought in this morning. After he reduced his small vole to a scrap of bones he lie down and tried to fall asleep. After some time, he sat up and looked around at the other sleeping elders. Suddenly, a bright light started shining in the sky above. He squinted his eyes as he looked at the light when he saw hundreds of former warriors descend from Silverpelt. The former ThunderClan medicine cat Spottedleaf appeared a tail-length away, her sweet scent the most prominent sense. "Spottedleaf? Have you come to take me to StarClan?" he asked weakly. "No, Smallear. Your time is not now," she sweetly whispered in his ear. "Then why have you come to me?" He looked around at the cats standing behind Spottedleaf. Then, another cat stepped forward and handed Smallear a pawful of shining moss from StarClan's territory. "Th-Th-Thank you, Sunstar," He smiled at his old friend and lay the shining moss on the ground. "Goodbye, old friend," Sunstar meowed before he returned to Silverpelt with the other warriors. Smallear lie down and, for the first time and a moon, got a good night's sleep.