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Ashheart was going to be the very best ThunderClan warrior and deputy! Oakstar was depending on him to take on the WindClan cats who are threatening the territory, and Ashheart was going to make him proud. After Oakstar dies, Ashheart would become the Clan leader of ThunderClan, and he wanted to prove himself here.
The WindClan warrior who met him, though, was a beautiful cat. She nearly made Ashheart forget why he was there. She had a caramel coat, clean all the way across. Ashheart had a red coat with white points, and he hoped she’d taken notice the way he had. “What’s your name?” he asked.
“Ribbondance,” she answered, nose turned up, “and we should be fighting, shouldn’t we? WindClan needs this land, and you selfishly claim it to be your own.”
“This land belongs to ThunderClan,” Ashheart growled, “WindClan knows this.”
“ThunderClan has all the prey they need! Your Fresh Kill pile is big! WindClan has new kits, and we need this food.” Ribbondance crouched into a fighting position. So did Ashheart.
“Last chance not to do this, Ribbondance!” Ashheart howled, but Ribbondance jumped and attacked him. Ashheart, luckily, was able to dodge and avoid her blow. He hissed and swiped at her.
The fight was fast and brutal. Ashheart, with the advantage of being deputy, was able to get Ribbondance’s ear. She pulled back, hissing with an arched back. The fight went to Thunderclan and Ashheart. “This territory will remain ThunderClan’s!” Ashheart declared with pride.
Ribbondance hissed. “You’re depriving our kits, ThunderClan scum.”
“It’s Ashheart,” Ashheart offered. She didn’t seem to care. “I could bring you some Fresh Kill, but this territory must remain part of ThunderClan.”
“I do not need pity! I am not a kittypet!”
Ashheart approached the hissing she-cat. “I’m not trying to be mean? I just want your clan to be alright. These forests belong to all of us.”
Ribbondance seemed to relax. “I won’t accept help from ThunderClan. But thank you… Ashheart.”
Ashheart didn’t want to go back to see Ribbondance again, but he found himself telling Oakstar that he would patrol the WindClan boundary. He told himself it was to make sure they didn’t try to take any of ThunderClan’s territory again, but that was half a lie. He knew, even as he scent-marked, that he was hoping to see Ribbondance again.
Finally, after multiple rounds, she came out of the woods. “I keep smelling you around here. Why is it always you?”
“Oakstar wants me to make sure you don’t try to hunt in our territory.”
“You won that fight. We wouldn’t attempt to hunt here again.” Ribbondance fell into step beside Ashheart as he did his rounds. “Are you sure you didn’t want to see me again?” she teased, hitting his side with her own. Ashheart averted his eyes.
“No,” he protested, but it was weak to even his own ears. He knew that he did want to see Ribbondance. She had made her mark on him with only one encounter.
But cross-Clan relationships were forbidden, and with good reason. If he were to have kits with Ribbondance, what clan would they belong to? WindClan for her, or ThunderClan for him? Of course, Ashheart was getting ahead of himself. He and Ribbondance would not be having kits – even if the relationship wasn’t forbidden, there was no knowing if Ribbondance even thought of Ashheart beyond seeing him from time to time.
But the next time that Ashheart went out and patrolled, Ribbondance walked by his side again. And it continued.
Seeing Ribbondance became one of the main reasons Ashheart patrolled the boundary between ThunderClan and WindClan. He knew it was wrong to talk so much with a cat from another Clan, and especially to fall in love with her. But Ashheart couldn’t stop himself. Not when Ribbonheart spoke so well and had the most beautiful coat.
Sometimes Ashheart found himself thinking about what their kits would look like. Would they have Ribbondance’s sandy coat and his white points? Or would they have a mottled pelt of red and caramel? He would love to see, to start a family with Ribbondance. But even if it wasn’t forbidden by StarClan, Ribbondance was a warrior. Why would she give that up to be a Queen? Queens couldn’t fight.
Oakstar died in the middle of leaf-bare. He had told nobody about how many lives he had left, not even Lemoneye the medicine cat. Not even Ashheart. As Ashheart made his way to StarClan to become the next leader of ThunderClan, he couldn’t help but feel a little betrayed.
“What are you doing in our territory?” Ribbondance asked. Ashheart startled, and cursed himself that he hadn’t been able to notice her sneaking up on him. ThunderClan deserved better as their next leader. “Where is Oakstar?”
“Oakstar has died. I’m making my way to the Highstones, to become the new leader of ThunderClan.”
“So you’ll return as Ashstar.”
“This is what I’ve always wanted, but knowing that it’s come with Oakstar’s death saddens me. I wish he was here to see this. He mentored me since I was just a kit. He made me deputy when he could have made anyone deputy. Replacing him is bittersweet.”
“You’ll be an excellent leader.”
“Thank you, Ribbondance.” Ashheart knew there was another reason that the ascension made him unhappy. It was already forbidden for cats from different Clans to be in love. It was even more forbidden if one was a leader of their clan.
“I hope it’s easy for you to become leader.” Ribbondance turned, as if to make her way back into the forest.
“I hope so too.” Ashheart was about to leave Ribbondance, but something came over him. “Don’t leave just yet,” he called after her. Ribbondance turned back towards him, tilting her head questioningly. “Ribbondance, you’re a beautiful cat. I know it’s forbidden for cats to have relationships over clan lines, but I think I love you.”
Ribbondance smiled. “Tell me again when you’re Ashstar,” she said, and disappeared back into WindClan territory. Ashheart – soon to be Ashstar – watched her go.
At his first meeting at FourTrees as a Clan leader, Ashstar watched the WindClan deputy move with the same grace she always held when they patrolled together. No one even knew that she and Ashstar knew each other. Ashstar kept it close to his heart, like a secret only he and her held.
And when ShadowClan’s dual leaders, Rosepelt and Violetpelt threatened his authority as ThunderClan’s leader, Ribbondance was the first to say that WindClan supported him.
The only con of Ashstar’s duties was that he could no longer patrol, and he saw Ribbondance less and less. He missed her, the gentle way she walked and spoke. He even missed the harshness of fighting her, but WindClan was proving to be a valuable ally to ThunderClan.
“What’s wrong, Ashstar?” Lemoneye asked, helping Ashstar with injuries earned by a fight with a particularly nasty badger. “You’ve been down lately. Is being a leader hard?”
“No- well, yes, but that’s not what I’m down about. It’s nothing, Lemoneye, don’t worry. How’s your little sister? Petalpaw, she was very excited to be an apprentice.”
“Petalpaw is happy to be working to become an apprentice, you’re right,” Lemoneye affirmed, and luckily didn’t press anymore about Ashstar’s melancholy. How could Ashstar possibly explain that he was missing a cat he wasn’t even supposed to be friends with?
The next time Ashstar saw Ribbondance, she was grooming herself by their borders. “Ribbondance,” he called out. She looked up with a fond look in her eyes.
“Ashstar. It’s been a while.”
“Uh, yeah, I’ve been really busy. Clan work is hard! But I’ve missed our patrols.” Ashstar padded over. “How have you been?”
“We aren’t supposed to be friends, Ashstar. We’re from different Clans. You’re a Clan leader. We shouldn’t even be talking.”
“Ribbondance-”
“So why do I still love you?” She asked, moving closer to Ashstar. He stepped closer, bodies pressing side to side. “This is forbidden by StarClan.”
“They don’t have to know.”
“No,” she conceded, “they don’t.”