Shining of the Four

Chapter 52

            Lifesnow kept her mouth shut and only stared at him further.

            Goosefur gasped. "Are you pregnant?"

            "No!" Lifesnow snapped, a little too harshly. Goosefur shrunk down, and Lifesnow sighed. "Sorry. It's just, I haven't been at all honest with you."

            "What do you mean?" Goosefur asked.

            "Thornstar talked to me the day I became a warrior," Lifesnow began. And Goosefur remained quiet as she relayed the prophecy onto him, telling him every word.

            After she finished, Goosefur paused. "Should you be telling me this?"

            "Probably not," Lifesnow said. "But you're my mate. You should know I'm in a prophecy."

            "But what does it mean?" Goosefur asked.

            "That's why I'm upset. Thornstar told me to talk to Patchfur, and so finally, I took up his advice a few days ago. I--" Lifesnow struggled for words, unsure of how to explain the matter to Goosefur.

            "My mother was part of a prophecy too," she explained. She started with that, telling Goosefur of Mousestripe's terrible birth story, of how Shinypelt grew up different from her siblings. Finally, she reached the part of the story that involved the MoonClan battle.

            "Wait a minute," Goosefur interrupted. "You haven't mentioned your birth at all."

            "When my mother fought in the battle, she hadn't given birth to me," Lifesnow explained.

            "Wait, what?" Goosefur asked.

            "Ever wonder why Shinypelt is talked of so much? She ended the battle. We were losing, Goosefur. Shinypelt used her powers to bring down all of MoonClan." Quickly, she told him of the miraculous event, where Shinypelt ridded the entire MoonClan army.

            "But she was discovered dead as soon as cats regained their senses," Lifesnow explained. "They were just about to grab her body and bring it to camp when she was lifted into the air. By some power of StarClan, her body transformed into a young kit that was white and golden and had bright blue eyes..."

            "You," Goosefur gasped.

            Lifesnow nodded, tears gathering in her eyes. "I tried to talk to Patchfur, but he was just as confused as I was. I don't know who I am, Goosefur. Am I a reincarnation of Shinypelt? Am I her and Patchfur's kit? Is Patchfur even my father? I just don't know," she wailed.

            Goosefur wrapped his tail around his mate. "You're Lifesnow, and you know that. Even if you are a reincarnation, you are not the same as before. You can't live in your mother's shadow, Lifesnow."

            "I know," Lifesnow sniffed. "I just want to know who I am. It's all so odd."

            "Have you talked to Thornstar?" Goosefur asked.

            "Not yet, but I think I've discovered what the prophecy means," Lifesnow told Goosefur.

            "What does it mean?"

            "I've been having dreams lately of Shinypelt's kithood. I talked to Patchfur about this too, and he told me a true reincarnation would possess all the memories of its former carrier. That made me think back to the other three Thornstar mentioned. It sounds crazy, but what if I'm not the only reincarnation?"