The Present Is Dark, But The Future Might Be Brighter

"To talk about the good things that have happened. To just... Celebrate," Emberheart murmured, her voice quieter now. "We've lost a lot... But while we shouldn't forget that, we can't let it blind us to what we still have. Even when it doesn't feel like it, there are still things that are worth fighting for... I... I think I used all the words I had to say already, but I hope they're enough," she said softly, smiling at her Clanmates. "There's no such thing as a life without pain. But we have to keep going, to live a life that makes the pain worthwhile."

She wanted to say something else. She wanted to say everything else. A hundred thousand words bubbled up in her mind, forming fragmented sentences, but those were all that left her mouth.

Heatherpetal padded over to the gathering cats with a rather scrawny mouse dangling from her jaws. It may be small, but at least it would feed a kit. She overheard Emberheart's speech to Weedblaze when he challenged her, and her chest grew warm to see the once uncertain apprentice she had befriended moons ago defend herself with confidence.

And she was completely right. ThunderClan may have lost the battle against Sunningrocks, an apprentice, and a medicine cat, but there were always brighter sides to every situation, just as Sunkit told her. ThunderClan would have another chance to reclaim Sunningrocks. Thistlepaw may be away from her family, but at least she won't know the pain of hunger or the cold of leaf-bare. And Honeyspark and Lionspark will return.

And... even before the back-to-back tragedies that came with the war... Heatherpetal found love, something she never thought she'd be able to find. She wasn't like most cats. She may be attracted to toms, but she was also attracted to she-cats, something that she knew was frowned upon, at least by the rogues. Buttercup had always called it a sin, but thanks to ThunderClan's kind teachings she grew to know that it was a blessing. It was a blessing because she finally found a cat to truly love and protect with her life, next to ThunderClan.

Heatherpetal placed the mouse down and padded right up to Emberheart before gently bumping her head lovingly to her shoulder, a purr rising in her throat. She loved Emberheart for everything she was. She was a gorgeous she-cat who never gave up on becoming the best warrior of ThunderClan she could ever be. She proved to their Clanmates that loyalty doesn't have to be Clan-born, and it was thanks to her friendship that Heatherpetal herself was able to prove the same thing with her rogue past.

That was truly something to celebrate in her eyes.