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1.04 Forest of Secrets
20 Plays21 days ago
Fireheart is the keeper of secrets, and no cat can hide things from him. Forbidden love? Bastard kits? He knows everything. He knows when you sneeze and don't wash your hands. He knows when you don't hold the door for someone. He…knows…all…
Allegiances are shifting among the Clans of warrior cats that roam the forest. With tensions so delicately balanced, former friends can become enemies overnight, and some cats are willing to kill to get what they want.Fireheart is determined to find out the truth about the mysterious death of the former ThunderClan deputy Redtail. But as he searches for answers, he uncovers secrets that some believe would be better left hidden. . .
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Find us online at glitterfoxmedia.com
Laura posts about Warriors and other books on TikTok as glomdii
Laura is glomdi on Twitch, Bluesky, and TikTok
JJerrica is on Bluesky as CosmicSparkleheart.
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Transcript
00:00:09
Speaker
This is Never Grew Up, a show where two grown-ass adults discuss their love of middle-grade fiction. I'm one of your hosts, Laura. And I am your other host, Jerrica.
00:00:20
Speaker
And here we are. we're going to talk about Forest of Secrets. Da-da-da-da-da. Can you just remind me a little bit about what happened last time? Yeah. Yeah. Let's do a little recap.
00:00:37
Speaker
That's actually a good idea. We should do a little recap at the beginning of each episode. And from now on, I'll have that prepared. But for this one, I'm going to go off just what's in my brain because, you know, I didn't have it prepared. Wait, you know would be fun? Maybe. Let's see remember. To say what you remember. a Yeah. Okay. Um,
00:01:01
Speaker
Grape?
00:01:04
Speaker
Nope. What is... is a great start. So do you remember the main character's name? main character is Firepaw, right? Fireheart.
00:01:16
Speaker
Fireheart. Yeah. It was Firepaw, though. Yeah, it was Firepaw at first. Now he's Fireheart. We're on third name now. Damn. ah And his friend is Graypaw?
00:01:32
Speaker
Yeah, but he's a warrior now, so now he's Graystripe. Graystripe.
00:01:40
Speaker
Graystripe fell in love with someone from RiverClan.
00:01:47
Speaker
And that caused some stuff, some problems. There was a fighting between Not StarClan, because that's the and the gods' ancestors or whatever. No.
00:02:06
Speaker
ThunderClan. ThunderClan. knew. Okay. ThunderClan. And RiverClan had a little skirmish for what seems like no real reason.
00:02:17
Speaker
um
00:02:20
Speaker
There was there was a clan that... got eliminated pretty much. Yeah, that was in the first book.
00:02:30
Speaker
And then, but then, then some, of then, then they take some of them in and then they took them back to find a new, new place.
00:02:40
Speaker
And then we met, uh, Fireheart met his sister. uh, and
00:02:49
Speaker
ah This is a lot. for Considering that we recorded the first episode like three months ago, I'm impressed by how much you remember. And then there was something up with... ah
00:03:04
Speaker
I forget what the name, the title is, but basically the second in command. The deputy. ah Tiger Claw. Yeah. He's sketchy. m
00:03:18
Speaker
and
00:03:22
Speaker
Blue Star? Mm-hmm. Was basically, like, questioning loyalties.
00:03:34
Speaker
um
00:03:39
Speaker
ShadowClan did some shit again. as always. ah And...
00:03:50
Speaker
Oh, Yeah. Fireheart and Graystripe were tasked with training the new recruits, even though they weren't take got basically like rushed their warrior.
00:04:06
Speaker
And the kids weren't even six moons old yet. They were like four moons old. Yeah. um Which is just a bad idea. And... and I think that's all that happened.
00:04:20
Speaker
That was a good recap. Yeah, that was pretty much it. The basics. I don't remember where we left off, though. So the last thing that happened was that WindClan and ShadowClan are very upset that ThunderClan still has BrokenTail in camp because BrokenTail WindClan out and almost destroyed ShadowClan. So both of them hate BrokenTail.
00:04:48
Speaker
Who's Broken Tail? Broken Tail is the previous owner of ShadowClan. And he was training kits like three moons old. And then when they hit five moons, they were warriors already. So like a lot of them were dying. He exiled the elders because they couldn't be the clan. plan Okay, so he was the one who ThunderClan deposed in the first book. Yeah.
00:05:12
Speaker
At the end of the last book, one Whisker comes into their camp asking for help because RiverClan and ShadowClan are attacking them. Graystripe finally admits that it is hard attacking the RiverClan cast because they feel like Silver... pelt Nope. They feel like Silverstream's clanmates instead of enemy warriors. And they're like...
00:05:35
Speaker
Fireheart and Graystripe admit that, okay, well, this is hard, but we're always going to be best bros, so let's stop fighting and be best bros again. Oh, yeah, they had beef. Yeah.
00:05:46
Speaker
So Fireheart still doesn't like that Graystripe is with Silverstream, but he's not going to, like, get on his ass about it all the time.
00:05:58
Speaker
Plus, that would kind of make him kind of a hypocrite. Oh, because of Princess? Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, he's not boinking her, but as he shouldn't, but... um Yeah, I mean, it's not to the same extent, but it is like Bluestar was upset about it, which honestly, i think...
00:06:22
Speaker
That in itself is kind of hypocritical because Bluestar also has friends outside the clans. Like she's friends with Barley and Barley is a good ally when they need him. That's the cat on the way to the Moonstone. So like he helps them against the rats. He shelters them you know when they are making the trip.
00:06:43
Speaker
So it's kind of honestly a little weird that she's so upset about Princess. Her thought being that Fireheart has conflicting loyalties and what if he decides to be a kittypet again? But clearly he's not, you know? No, he's not doing that.
00:06:57
Speaker
Yeah. Okay, so Forest of Secrets is the first book written by Cherith Baldry. The first two being written by Kate Carey. Cherith Baldry is the older one.
00:07:10
Speaker
Yeah. i This is the first episode we're recording since the podcast released, so all of that information from the first episode is fresh in my brain now.
00:07:24
Speaker
because i listen to Yeah, i just listened to it the other day, too. so um this was published October which is four days before my birthday
00:07:38
Speaker
Your ninth birthday. Yeah. This third book, the prologue starts out with Oakheart of RiverClan. And Oakheart was the deputy that died at the beginning of the first book. So we know that this is a flashback.
00:07:55
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Oakheart of RiverClan is bringing two kits to Greypool, who is a RiverClan queen. And he wants her to nurse them. Yes.
00:08:08
Speaker
um So he was the one who... The one... Saw... but like there's There's speculation that... Tiger Claw killed him.
00:08:22
Speaker
So... The story that Tiger Claw shared... Is that Oakheart killed Redtail... And then... In revenge... To get revenge...
00:08:35
Speaker
to get revenge Tiger Claw killed Oakheart and Fireheart is suspecting that actually Oakheart and Road, sorry, that Oakheart died by rock slide and then Tiger Claw killed Redtail.
00:08:51
Speaker
Right.
00:08:55
Speaker
So he's bringing two Greypool and asking her to nurse them. And Greypool is wondering where these kids came from. Like, Oakheart, how are you bringing these two random kids to me?
00:09:08
Speaker
you just find them in the forest or something? And he says, oh, don't worry about it. But, like, they're going to starve if you don't nurse them. So can you just nurse them? And she says, okay, fine. I trust you enough that I...
00:09:24
Speaker
Won't bother more with where they came from. But then after he leaves, she's giving them a good sniff. And she says, gasp. These have the scent of another clan on them.
00:09:37
Speaker
But they don't. They don't tell you which clan yet. They just say another clan. How do you. How can you tell? They're cats.
00:09:48
Speaker
Yeah, but the clans are like a societal artifice. like are I mean, ok think about it this way, though. like If you go to someone's house, sometimes like their house has a different scent. Even if it's not like a stinky scent, like you can tell people smell different. Yeah, okay.
00:10:10
Speaker
And cats have super smell, so. Yeah, yeah. um They call the... um I guess the brood mother's queens? eat Well, a queen is just like a cat who has kits, but then very occasionally a cat will just decide like, okay, I'm just going to stay in my the nursery. My job is helping out with the kits. And it's totally by choice. No one is forced into that role. But it's just kind of like, I would rather be helping with the kits than be out there battling and shit.
00:10:43
Speaker
And they do know battle moves, so in case they need to defend the kits. But they just don't go into battle. And what are the leaders of the clans called? Leaders.
00:10:54
Speaker
Oh. Okay. Queen sounds like, oh, that's the... That's the leader, but apparently not. Well, I think a queen, like, IRL is also another name for a nursing cat.
00:11:13
Speaker
Hmm. Let double check that. Yeah, so that's just the the term for it, for a cat who's nursing. Interesting. It's kind of... um
00:11:27
Speaker
It is interesting ah which words like from our world make it into the Warriors universe and when they come up with names for things because like a deputy is obviously a very human term but then they have like a medicine cat which they don't say medicine in the fiction. They say herbs but they do say medicine cat so it's kind of interesting.
00:11:57
Speaker
But chapter one, we have are officially starting our story off. Fireheart comes back from a hunt and sees Tigerclaw and just fucking hates Tigerclaw. He hates him.
00:12:09
Speaker
The feeling's mutual, too, right? Yeah. There's so many scenes of Fireheart just, like, seeing Tigerclaw across the camp clearing and being like, ugh, Tigerclaw.
00:12:22
Speaker
He killed Redtail. I hate him. I should tell Bluestar how much i hate Tigerclaw. I can relate. Yeah. Um...
00:12:35
Speaker
Fireheart and Graystripe go to a gathering and at that gathering, Graystripe immediately slinks off to meet Silverstream. course. Yeah, Fireheart is not a fan of because he wants them to stay more hidden and he's like, hey, Graystripe, if you keep, you know, showing everyone that you're into Silverstream, maybe they'll figure out that you're into Silverstream. Yeah.
00:13:02
Speaker
um but And then Fireheart overhears elders talking about how this is the c coldest season since Bluestar lost her kits. Oh, no Yeah. so we And he's interested in that because he's like, oh, I didn't know Bluestar ever had kits. And yeah, apparently she but she lost them in the cold. um So should they never you know got to grow up or anything. And she never had sex again.
00:13:33
Speaker
Yep, she said, well, I had sex the one time and my kids got lost because of it, so no more sex for me. I'm going to devote myself to the clan.
00:13:45
Speaker
Yeah. After the gathering, they decide to go see Ravenpaw because they realize that his story is conflicted a little bit, um or contradictory a little bit.
00:14:01
Speaker
And as to, like, the order of the murders that happened, and one of the reasons that Bluestar didn't believe Fireheart was because she doesn't think Redtail would have murdered Oakheart.
00:14:15
Speaker
And Fireheart wants to just really cement the story because they didn't really have time in camp to get a clear story out of Ravenpaw since it always had to be, like, through secrecy and stuff.
00:14:28
Speaker
Oh, wait. did Did you mean... She didn't think... Hold on. So... Yeah, the story is that...
00:14:41
Speaker
Since Oakheart they think that Redtail would have killed him. But Bluestar is like, well, your story isn't believable that Tigerclaw killed Redtail because you're saying Redtail would have murdered Oakheart.
00:14:55
Speaker
And Fireheart is like, yeah, I guess that's weird. Because warriors don't have to kill each other in battle. That's in the warrior code. right So they want to get clarification of what actually happened from Ravenpaw, who is now living with Barley.
00:15:12
Speaker
And Ravenpaw was
00:15:20
Speaker
Tiger Claw's apprentice? Yeah. Jericho's very happy about getting that. so they go to talk to Ravenpaw, and he has something interesting to add about the fight that happened. He goes into a little more detail about it.
00:15:42
Speaker
Redtail was fighting Stonefur, who is a RiverClan warrior, and Oakheart interrupted them and he pulled Redtail off of Stonefur and he said, no ThunderClan cat will ever harm that warrior.
00:15:56
Speaker
Oakheart, yeah, Oakheart said that. Yeah, and it's very confusing to the three of them because RiverClan and ThunderClan are right next to each other. They're always fighting over sunning rocks.
00:16:08
Speaker
What is so special about Stonefur that a ThunderClan cat wouldn't be able to harm him? Also, we're adding another person into this yeah we are whole situation. we are. Yeah.
00:16:23
Speaker
And then this is when Ravenpaw also clarifies that Redtail didn't kill Oakheart. Oakheart died in a rock slide. So that takes away part of blue Star's hesitancy because...
00:16:39
Speaker
she's convinced that Redtail would kill another cat, which also is interesting because why is your main objection to Tiger Claw didn't kill Redtail because Redtail would have never killed another cat? You know what I mean?
00:16:54
Speaker
ah hold on. The Tiger Claw story was that Oakheart killed Redtail and so he killed Oakheart in revenge. So why, what what the fuck is this about Redtail doing it? Like,
00:17:09
Speaker
Because Firepaw is saying no, that, or Fireheart is saying no, that didn't happen. it was Tiger Claw who killed Redtail, but Oakheart is dead. So then if Tiger Claw killed Redtail... they're assuming Redtail killed Oakheart.
00:17:27
Speaker
Yeah. So Fireheart is saying no, it does make sense because rock slide killed Oakheart. Okay.
00:17:37
Speaker
And... They get this idea where they're like, okay, well, let's get an unbiased opinion or an unbiased perspective of this. Let's go talk to RiverClan.
00:17:50
Speaker
And we know a RiverClan cat who we can trust to ask about this. So they decide that they'll go ask SilverStream about that the next day. But that night, Fireheart has another vision.
00:18:06
Speaker
And... it's having visions. And it's weird because only medicine cats are supposed to have visions. And leaders, when they share tongues with StarClan, which is just going to the Moonstone.
00:18:21
Speaker
And sharing tongues is grooming, right? Yeah, but they also use it to refer to just when they contact StarClan. Okay.
00:18:32
Speaker
um but the vision is spotted leaf is there of course because spotted leaf is obsessed with fireheart and fireheart is obsessed with spotted leaf and she tells him spotted leaf again spotted leaf is the medicine cat from when fireheart joins the clan
00:18:58
Speaker
And they, like, had a thing together, even though they only shared they only talked to each other, like, three times.
00:19:07
Speaker
Somehow I missed that that they had a thing together. also did when I read this, and i was very confused when I went online and people said that they were in love. Oh, so they're just telling you about this now, then?
00:19:25
Speaker
Probably. I mean... Apparently other people picked up on it and I didn't. Okay.
00:19:37
Speaker
So Spottedleaf tells Fireheart, water can quench fire.
00:19:46
Speaker
Yes. And that's how it works. That's kind of how StarClan visions are where they say something and you're like, you either say, what the fuck does that mean? Or you say, yeah no shit. How is this helpful to me?
00:20:05
Speaker
So. Good on StarClan. The next day, Fireheart and Graystripe go to RiverClan and get the attention of Silverstream, who says, well, I wasn't at the battle, but my best friend in the whole world, Mistyfoot, was.
00:20:23
Speaker
So let me go get Mistyfoot and she can tell you about it And it's kind of cute because we learn that like Mistyfoot is essentially Silverstream's Fireheart in regard to this whole thing. So Mistyfoot has been telling Silverstream, hey, this is a bad idea. He's from another clan. Don't do this. I don't like it, but I'll keep your secret. That kind of funny. And I feel like Mistyfoot and Fireheart have a thing to bond over. Their friends being dumbasses.
00:20:55
Speaker
I was going to say never trust a ah woman named Misty, but... Oh, I mean, you can hate Misty Foot if you want, but you're going to get... i don't know No, no, no. No, I mean, I have no reason to have any feelings about her yet.
00:21:09
Speaker
Yeah. So she confirms that Oakheart was killed by a rock slide. And she also says that Stonefur is her brother.
00:21:21
Speaker
oh Yeah, and she doesn't know why Oakheart would say that. She's also very confused by it. But she says, maybe we can get Graypool, who's our mother, and she can come talk to you about it.
00:21:36
Speaker
Because... Wait a second.
00:21:45
Speaker
Oh! ah Oh! Okay. Uh-huh. All right.
00:21:55
Speaker
But they say, however, we have been in the wrong cat's territory for way too long for this conversation, so let's to be safe, let's leave now, and we'll come back later to get Greypool. And plus, Greypool is an elder now, so it's going to take some convincing to get her out here in the first place. yeah So they go back to camp.
00:22:17
Speaker
And... um
00:22:22
Speaker
They say Frostfur's other two kits should be apprenticed now because in the last book, Cinderpaw and Brackenpaw were apprenticed just randomly because Bluestar said, we need more warriors. They're not ready yet, but let's apprentice two of Frostfur's kits, but not the other two?
00:22:42
Speaker
And nobody's questioning Bluestar's, like... Competency? ah No, everyone sees Bluestar as a very ah like noble and wise leader.
00:22:57
Speaker
But they say, okay, Thornpaw is going to be mentored by Mousefur, and Brightpaw is going to be mentored by Whitestorm. um Which is, Mousefur is like a newer warrior, but Whitestorm is like one of the senior warriors. So, sorry, Thornpaw.
00:23:17
Speaker
I think guess.
00:23:21
Speaker
And then the next day when they meet with Graypool, she ah she's going to spill the beans about Mistyfoot and Stonefort.
00:23:33
Speaker
Silverstream and Graystripe are immediately like, okay, And they run off together while Fireheart talks to Graypool. Oh my gosh. These two, they fuck all the fucking time. I swear to God, they can't stop fucking. What did what ah what did they call it in the book?
00:23:51
Speaker
ah They don't really address it. They just, oh, well, they just say they're mates. Okay. So I guess they were off mating. yeah Which is also funny because IRL, if you consider how fucking horny cats are when they're in heat, it must be really loud.
00:24:10
Speaker
So how does no other cat hear it, you know? Yeah. I just imagine how awkward it is around camp when all of the cat and all the female cats are in heat and we got them just like lifting their tails and screaming for someone to mate with them.
00:24:29
Speaker
And you know, it's a children's book, so we don't get any of that, but I think about it.
00:24:35
Speaker
Well, now I am too.
00:24:40
Speaker
I didn't want to, but here I am thinking about it. uh-huh thank yeah for that who so pool tells fireheart that i'm not sure why she feels comfortable telling fireheart this she just says like oh you seem trustworthy so i'm gonna tell you even though she has just met this motherfucker i but think i believe that's called uh
00:25:12
Speaker
plot device. Yeah. Someone in a review that I read said in this book, Fireheart is the keeper of secrets, which will become apparent. It's very true.
00:25:25
Speaker
And so Graypool tells Fireheart that actually when Oakheart brought them to me, I smelled ThunderClan scent on them. Well, okay. I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure which clan it was going to be.
00:25:41
Speaker
who it also um She also says that, oh, I'm not their real mother. Their real mother was from Thunderclan, which just pisses me off. i These books are really obsessed with saying things like that where she raised them and they treated her as her mother.
00:26:01
Speaker
um just really is a thing that annoys me. Hi, cutie. I get it.
00:26:11
Speaker
So now Fireheart has this new quest to figure out who's... why these ThunderClan kits were brought to RiverClan. It makes sense now that Oakheart didn't want Stonefur to be hurt by RiverClan cat, which I still think is wild because they fight all the time.
00:26:34
Speaker
Stone... There's some... like Okay. So... If it was revealed that ah Silverstream was actually a ThunderClan kit, like would she have to leave RiverClan? Or is she just RiverClan now? like How does that ah that work?
00:27:03
Speaker
So it's funny that you ask that because... The clans like to pretend that that would be like a one-off case that never happens. Cats only are with cats in their clans. But it actually does happen. The more you look into the history...
00:27:19
Speaker
i the lore of these books, it happens quite frequently and each and every time they're like, how do we deal with this? Like, this isn't a thing that happens. So sometimes the clans just accept it and sometimes the clans fucking hate it and make those cats leave.
00:27:39
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, we'll get, there's going to be a lot with that. There are a lot of cats who have kits with other clans.
00:27:49
Speaker
which So, is it... Are we supposed to, like, assume that oak that they were also Oakheart's children that he had with someone from ThunderClan?
00:28:02
Speaker
Or... That is what Greypool suspects. and Okay. The dads don't have really much to do with the kids, do they? At this point in the series, generally not. That kind of changes as the series goes on. And there's... Every time you ask a question, I'm like, well, there's some controversy with that later on. But there is some controversy with that later on of... There's one cat who is a terrible father and like half the fandom is like, who cares? Because a lot of the time these cats don't even tell who the father is. And then the other half of the fandom is like, no, he's a trash person because he's such a bad father. Gotcha.
00:28:46
Speaker
And we will talk about that too. But at this point in the series, this is another thing where... i I think it changed as it goes on because they just haven't established a lot. But yeah, some of the cats don't even tell who the father is. So like it's normal for them to just not tell. And it's kind of considered rude to ask even.
00:29:11
Speaker
Like if the queen wants to share, she will. Who is your daddy and what does he do? Exactly. So they go back to camp and Fireheart tells Bluestar everything he's learned. And he's kind of like, okay, see? So even the RiverClan cats thought that. And she is cautious about it, but listens And she says, you know, these are very serious accusations.
00:29:40
Speaker
We need to be sure about this because Tigerclaw is a very respected warrior and our deputy. And, like, I really don't want to think about him betraying us like this. But with RiverClan also confirming it, the kind of vibe is that, okay, I'm going to take this seriously and look into it.
00:30:02
Speaker
And then Fireheart brings... Sorry. No, go ahead. Does he tell her about the ThunderClan kits or no? Well, he does.
00:30:15
Speaker
And when he brings them up, her it her whole demeanor shifts and she is pissed off. And she says, like, what the hell are you talking about? i Don't bring this up ever again.
00:30:33
Speaker
Obviously, that's not true. Okay, it is as I suspected then. ah At this point, he uses my new favorite phrase, which he cusses by saying, thistles and thorns, which is just fantastic.
00:30:49
Speaker
And not easy to say. Yes. So i've I took a note to just start saying that regularly. Thistles and thorns. So Fireheart goes to help Cinderpaw gathering some herbs and while they are exiting the camp notices that Cloudkit and some of the other kits are tormenting Brokentail who is a prisoner in their camp and is blinded.
00:31:17
Speaker
and Darkstripe, who is a big Tigerclaw stan, just watching them, like, very entertained. Like, haha, these kids are tormenting this blind cat. They'll, like, scratch his tail and jump away and, you know, just generally being bullies.
00:31:39
Speaker
Like the goblin kids in Baldur's Gate to Halston? Yeah, that's actually a really good example, yeah. And Brogontail swipes back at them eventually because, like, they're hurting him. And then Darkstripe immediately jumps up and he's like, i get your paws off those kits. I'll kill you if you harm them.
00:32:04
Speaker
And Fireheart steps in and he's like, well, hold the hell up because... We are not going to teach these kits that it's okay to torment this defenseless prisoner and he's not even allowed to defend himself. ah We're not going to do that. Which Darkstripe is like, Ugh, stupid kitty pet. You're too soft and walks away. And firehear tells the other kits, Get back to your mother's. And he pulls Cloudkit aside because he obviously feels more responsible for Cloudkit.
00:32:36
Speaker
And... He says, you know, that wasn't a good thing to do. And did you hear that Darkstripe said something about a kittypet? And Cloud Kit is like, yeah, but like, I don't get it. Why did he say that? To which Fireheart is surprised because he thought that Brindleface would have told him about him being a kittypet.
00:32:59
Speaker
Yeah, it's like common knowledge, right? Yeah, and so he is like, okay, well, I'm gonna have to tell Cloud Kit now that we're both from kitty pet homes.
00:33:12
Speaker
And Cloud Kit does not take it very well. He says that, oh, this is why some of the cats look down on me. And he says, they think I'll never be good because I wasn't born in this dump of a forest.
00:33:25
Speaker
Whoa. Cloud Kit has attitude and he is not scared to show it Wait, hold on a second. Cloud Kit is a kitty pet? So Cloud Kit is Princess's kit and she gave Cloud Kit to fire parade. Oh, right.
00:33:46
Speaker
Okay. So while they're going out to gather herbs, ah Cloud Kit comes with them because he's super bored. um He's kind of bored because he's older than his litter mates, which I can't really figure out.
00:34:06
Speaker
how that works um he's older than his litter mates but he was given to brindle face because she had milk to spare so do cats start producing milk before their kids are born like ain't i don't think so oh but so it's weird but he's older than the other kids and he gets kind of like impatient sometimes because they can't keep up with him essentially So they let him come. And he is like, ooh, these tasty berries, they look awesome. And he's about to take a bite into one of them. And Cinderpaw stops him and shocks Fireheart with how she just like runs over and like smacks Cloud Kit away from the berries. Are they poisonous?
00:34:57
Speaker
Yup, they're called death berries. So, and she says, Cloud Kit, I need you to not just eat random stuff without knowing what it is. And he's kind of spooked by that and for once listens instead of having an attitude back at her. Does Cloud Kit know that Fireheart is his uncle?
00:35:24
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Okay. And then that night, Fireheart has another vision dream. my gosh. Two tiny kits are suckling from a silver gray she-cat.
00:35:39
Speaker
And he stops and thinks yeah he stops and thinks, wait, but ThunderClan has no kits this tiny. And then he looks up at the cat's face and she has no face.
00:35:53
Speaker
That's fucked up. Uh-huh. And then Spottedleaf is there for some reason because Spottedleaf always has to be there. She doesn't even say anything. He just, he'll always smell her sweet scent on the air.
00:36:05
Speaker
Which, yeah, he's really hung up on Spottedleaf. And then next day, Fireheart, Sandstorm, and Brackenpaw go out hunting because, as usual, Graystripe is neglecting his mentor duties and Brackenpaw didn't have anyone to train him.
00:36:22
Speaker
And they hear a kit crying nearby, like in terror. And they go and they find Cloudkit has once again followed them to...
00:36:33
Speaker
Far into the forest. They're not too far away from camp, so it's not like deep into the forest, but just he's where he's not supposed to be. And Brackenpaw fucking leaps at this badger that's attacking Cloud Kit.
00:36:48
Speaker
And he's just like super brave about it. They're all like, oh my god, you're so brave. And they chase the badger away. And then... tiger claw a bunch of cats like come out because they hear the commotion and tiger claw is like oh my god it's this fucking kit again causing issues is all he does is cause issues and he tells cloud kit that he has to look after the elders and you know change their bedding and that he has to take care of their tics and cloud cloud kit
00:37:22
Speaker
Being the only one who's not scared to talk back to Tigerclaw says, i'm not doing that. Why can't they see to their own tics? There's kind of like this silence as everyone is like, oh my God, Cloud K just talked back to Tigerclaw.
00:37:40
Speaker
Which is, it just makes me so happy. you going to get smacked? He doesn't get smacked, but Tigerclaw fucking hates him.
00:37:53
Speaker
Even Tigerclaw is not going to smack a kit in front of everyone else, though. He'll do it in secret, and coward. I mean, i wouldn't be surprised if he did.
00:38:03
Speaker
um But then Fireheart is showing Cloudkit how to take care of the elders, how to clean their moss out and everything. and he sees Tigerclaw slinking out of camp. And he, for some reason, thinks that...
00:38:20
Speaker
oh my god maybe tiger claw is going to hurt princess because he hates cloud kit so much so maybe he's gonna go teach princess a lesson as a way to hurt cloud kit which doesn't really make sense yeah because at this point cloud kit has never met princess like he just found out that he's a kitty pet Fireheart goes to follow Tigerclaw and they like bump into each other and it's very awkward because Tigerclaw is like, what are you doing out here? And Fireheart pretends to be just hunting, which is very lucky that he did.
00:39:01
Speaker
conveniently stop to catch ah something on the way. So he he has to show Tigerclaw that he caught something as proof, otherwise Tigerclaw just doesn't believe him.
00:39:15
Speaker
I mean, yeah. So, Tigerclaw, you know, they part ways, they leave, and Fireheart is trying to follow the scent that of Tigerclaw, except there are a lot of cats that gather and mix with his scent. At this point, it's like,
00:39:35
Speaker
out of ThunderClan territory. And so he's kind of like, what is Tigerclaw doing meeting up with all these strange cats? Because he doesn't recognize their scents. And he reports it to Bluestar, who doesn't do anything about it. Because it's Tigerclaw. And she's she's like, well, he's a deputy.
00:39:54
Speaker
You know, I'm sure he has his reasons. He's doing clan stuff, yeah. Yeah, he's doing clan stuff. What is her deal with, like...
00:40:08
Speaker
Is she like in love with him or something? Um, but she...
00:40:18
Speaker
mean, have conflicting feelings about this because on the one hand, I get that Fireheart is new to the clan and Tigerclaw has been there, you know, for a long time. He's a senior warrior. So I get that just...
00:40:35
Speaker
As a baseline, she would trust Tigerclaw more. But Tigerclaw is just constantly doing things that I'm like, this seems really sus. I don't... You need to question him more, you know?
00:40:49
Speaker
So, I don't know. I'm trying to put myself in the position of, like, if there was someone I knew my whole life who I knew to be, like, a good, honest person... it would be really hard to shake my belief in that person. Even if they did seem to be doing suspicious things, I would be like, well, they probably, right but when someone like provides evidence and you're just like, no, that seed does not leave your head. Yeah. Like you're like, I don't want to believe this. And so maybe subconsciously you're just like looking at that person a little differently or watching them a little differently.
00:41:27
Speaker
like, Oh, wait.
00:41:31
Speaker
So, I... like Blue Star doesn't share that opinion, i guess. If Tiger Claw does not end up being a bad guy, i'm going to be upset.
00:41:44
Speaker
no Since I read these as a kid, there were definitely times when I went back and forth on it because I was in that state of, like...
00:41:58
Speaker
Not really recognizing literary tropes, essentially. So, yeah. reading ah If I read these the first time as an adult, I feel like I would not be so taken in by things.
00:42:16
Speaker
That's fair. Yeah. ah But these are meant for 8 to 12 year olds, so that's that's fine. Yeah.
00:42:25
Speaker
um But on a patrol, Fireheart finds that the river between RiverClan and ThunderClan has thawed. and Bluestar has a whole meaning about it with the clan.
00:42:42
Speaker
And Graystripe sneaks off during this meeting. And fire viewed ah hu Fireheart follows him and they see two kits in the river screaming for help.
00:43:01
Speaker
Like they've fallen in the river. And so they they go and they save them and they end up on the RiverClan side of their of the river. And a patrol from RiverClan finds them, led by Leopardfur, who fucking hates Graystripe because of that time when Graystripe and another warrior, Whiteclaw, were fighting and Whiteclaw fell over the gorge.
00:43:32
Speaker
And Leopardfur sees that as Graystripe having killed him, even though Leopardfur started that battle. So is this the the same guy who started the last fight between those two clans? It's a she.
00:43:44
Speaker
Oh. But yeah. Is this the... Yeah, okay. Because there were like two patrols and then all of a sudden there was a fight. Yeah. For another reason. Okay. Yeah, it's same cat.
00:43:59
Speaker
um But she takes some convincing that they saved the cats. She says, no, you were trying to steal the cats. And they were like, why would we go into the river? Like, we're ThunderCline. We hate the river. Yeah.
00:44:13
Speaker
And she finally is convinced that they actually saved the cats. And then they they bring Fireheart and Graystripe back to the RiverClan camp because Leopard Burr is like, well, we'll tell Crookedstar about this and see what he has to say. And then when they get back to the camp, we find out that these are Misty Foots kits. And they had been taken away when the river thawed and part of the RiverClan camp flooded. Oh.
00:44:40
Speaker
So Misty, but obviously, is like, thank God here are my two missing kits. And they learn that the river has been poisoned by two legs. And Riverclan, even though it's green leaf and this is when they're usually flourishing from fish from the river, they haven't been able to hunt from the river because of the poison that the two legs are doing. Which, oh I assume the poison just means they're like throwing trash in it. and Yeah, they're polluting it. Yeah. Yeah.
00:45:14
Speaker
And so Fireheart and Graystripe feel really bad for them, and they offer to hunt for them on ThunderClan territory and bring them ThunderClan prey because ThunderClan is flourishing right now.
00:45:30
Speaker
Yeah, that's going piss Bluestar off. Yes, that is definitely against the warrior code. i do have a question. Okay, tell me. How do these cats know what a leopard is?
00:45:44
Speaker
There are actually mythologies within this universe Leopard Clan, Tiger Clan, and Lion Clan. So they know that they are descended from big cats. ok well Fair enough. There's actually in, I think it's Cats of the... my Secrets of the Clans. There are like short stories about them. And they're honestly like...
00:46:14
Speaker
They're pretty good. They're pretty enjoyable. They're not like... They're told as if they're you know like mythologies. so but I don't know why i never I didn't think about that with Tiger Claw for some reason.
00:46:31
Speaker
No, there are some really weird names in these books, though. like At one point, there's a cat named Thriftpaw. And so I had to look up what that actually means. And I think it's like a plant or something. But I'm like, why would you name it that? Because I'm just going to think of a thrift store and like thrifting, you know.
00:46:54
Speaker
So it's silly sometimes. But so they hunt for RiverClan for like a good amount of time. It doesn't specify how long, but like it does one of those things where time has obviously passed.
00:47:09
Speaker
Except one day, Cloud Kit is tracking them, just for the fun of it. Just because he's Cloud Kit. And He's kid. Uh-huh. And he greets them while they...
00:47:23
Speaker
come out of the river and they he's like, oh my god, what were you guys doing over there? Were you on a secret mission? And then there's just like an ominous voice. Yes, Fireheart, what were you doing over there? And suddenly, Tiger Claw comes out of the forest. So, whoops, he also saw them.
00:47:43
Speaker
Because he was probably following Cloud Kit. And Cloud Kit is so oblivious to the mood here. He's just like, hey, Tiger Claw, they were on a secret mission. Isn't that so cool?
00:47:56
Speaker
Shut the fuck up, kid. And Tigerclaw's like, yeah, why don't we go tell Bluestar about this? I'm sure she would love to hear all about this secret mission. Surely she knows about this secret mission, right? Right?
00:48:13
Speaker
So they he brings them to Bluestar. Bluestar is like, okay, well, what were you guys doing on that side of the river? And Fireheart...
00:48:24
Speaker
Pretty much just says i don't want to say it from Tigerclaw. Because he like hesitates. And you know like looks at Tigerclaw. And just makes it super obvious. And Bluestar dismisses Tigerclaw.
00:48:40
Speaker
Which is just... Like, can we talk about that? but Because Tigerclaw is supposedly her most trusted cat, and she's just like, okay, yeah, Tigerclaw, get out of here. He doesn't trust you. That probably pissed Tigerclaw off, too. Oh, yeah. Tigerclaw can't fucking stand it. Because he doesn't... i don't want to say he doesn't want to know what they were doing over there, but he's just assuming, like, oh they're traitors, so just, like, punish them, you know?
00:49:13
Speaker
And so Fireheart admits what they've been doing. Bluzar obviously very unhappy with this. And he says or she says, you know what? Since you two haven't been acting like warriors, we're going to say you're not warriors. We're going to give you apprentice duties until I say so. Well, you're the one who, like, made them warriors when they weren't...
00:49:40
Speaker
Ready? Yeah, when they were too young. But, obviously, they don't like that, but they're like, oh admittedly, that's a fair punishment.
00:49:53
Speaker
And she dismisses them but holds but says, i actually, Fireheart, stay for a minute. Greystripe, you can move on. And she gets very quiet and more cautious and says, so ah you say it's been really hard on RiverClan. I'm just wondering, have any RiverClan warriors died?
00:50:14
Speaker
And Fireheart tells her no. And she says, oh, okay. And she looks pretty relieved and so dismisses him.
00:50:25
Speaker
So obvious these cats. Wait, the blue star doesn't know about Graystripe and Silverstream, right? Right. Interesting.
00:50:38
Speaker
Cloud Kit does a really shitty job of looking after the elders. Yeah, because he doesn't want to it. Yeah, yeah. So Yellowfang, the medicine cat, is like, can you talk to him? Because the elders keep complaining that their nests aren't actually clean and all that. And so he says, yeah, I'll go talk to them.
00:50:57
Speaker
And he goes to tell Cloud Kit to do better. And the elders are huge fans of Cloud Kit. They think he's adorable. So some of the elders are like... Hey, leave Cloud Kit alone. He's been doing a fine job. The other cats are just being cranky. There's like one cat who they're all like, I think it was maybe One Eye. One Eye is just being cranky. He's he's just too old. Don't worry about it. And internally, Fireheart is like, feel like Cloud Kit was doing a shitty job and they just like Cloud Kit, so they're defending him.
00:51:33
Speaker
You can't just nod. It's audio. Oh, sorry. Yeah, I nod. but Okay. Sorry. And then there is a gathering soon. And Bluestar is concerned about the flooding of the river because she's not sure if they can get to Four Trees, the gathering place. So she sends a patrol to check if their forest has flooded.
00:52:02
Speaker
And she sends Tigerclaw with Fireheart and Longtail, which is unfortunate for Fireheart because Longtail is also a Tigerclaw fan. He's one of his goonies.
00:52:16
Speaker
So he doesn't want to be doing it, but obviously can't say no no to Bluestar. um There is flooding in ThunderClan territory, and so they're trying to figure out if they can get to Four Trees.
00:52:30
Speaker
And they found they see this log that's like, oh, maybe they can cross this. And Fireheart is thinking, it's pretty dangerous. Maybe we just shouldn't. And Tigerclaw is like, no, no, no, get up there, Fireheart. Go on the log and see if you can cross.
00:52:46
Speaker
Oh, gosh.
00:52:49
Speaker
And Fireheart, sure enough, falls in the water. And Longtail actually pulls him out.
00:53:00
Speaker
which Oh. surprise Yeah, it surprises Fireheart because, like, Longtail hates him, too. But so then he kind of has a thought of, like... Okay, so Longtail hates me, but maybe he is a loyal ThunderClan warrior still because, like, you know, he's not going to let me die because I'm a clan mate.
00:53:21
Speaker
So he wonders, like, did Tigerclaw do that on purpose? But then he thinks, well, I don't think he would have done it in front of Longtail if Longtail is more loyal to ThunderClan than Tigerclaw.
00:53:34
Speaker
Right. So it's kind of nice getting a little nuance because a lot of the cats are just evil or not evil. So Longtail, Longtail turns out to be kind of an interesting cat because he's a bit of a coward at times and an asshole. But then he's also like, well i'm not going to let my clan mate die, even though I fucking hate him.
00:53:56
Speaker
Is his tail actually pretty long? um I think so. Okay. Let me look up to make sure. Because I'm also curious then. Yep, he has a long tail.
00:54:10
Speaker
He also has a scar in his ear from his initial fight with Firepaw in book one.
00:54:19
Speaker
oh Oh! That's the one that he fought. yeah Oh, okay. Okay.
00:54:28
Speaker
So they go back to camp and Blue Star orders Fireheart to go see Yellowfang because like he just fell in the river and she's like, no, no, no. I'm not going to have any of my warriors coming down with anything. I don't care if you want to go or not. Go see Yellowfang.
00:54:43
Speaker
So he goes to see Yellowfang. And while he's there, Yellowfang asks Cinderpaw if she wants to be the next medicine cat. Because Cinderpaw has been helping Yellowfang out.
00:54:59
Speaker
So it's kind of like, well, you're going to be doing pretty much the same thing, but let's make it official because clearly you're going to be a medicine cat. So even though they have not found a way to get to Four Trees, the gathering isn't for a few days. so Bluestar says, at the night of the gathering, Bluestar is like, well, let's just try to cross anyway. Maybe the water levels have gone down. But they can't find a way past, so they have to go through ShadowClan territory.
00:55:31
Speaker
And they, sure enough, run into the ShadowClan patrol that's going to the gathering. And it's... ShadowClan just, like, makes a point of intimidating them. They're like, okay, you can cross our territory because it's the gathering, but we're going to like, surround you and...
00:55:50
Speaker
pretty much act like an escort while we're going there. And then at the gathering, we find out why they have done this. And it's because Nightstar is pissed off having discovered that they are sheltering Broken Tail.
00:56:11
Speaker
Well, sheltering, that's... Uh-huh. I don't know if I would use that word. He's a prisoner. Yes. ah ShadowClan and WindClan don't see it that way. They just see it as, oh, you're giving shelter to the cat that almost destroyed both of our clans.
00:56:30
Speaker
And BlueStar is like, well, I mean, what are we supposed to do? Just kill him? That's against the warrior code. We can't just murder him. Obviously, we can't banish him because we tried that and he got followers and attacked our camp.
00:56:46
Speaker
Mm-hmm. So there's a lot of fighting and the gathering ends with no one being happy. And Nightstar, as they try to go says, hey, and by the way, ThunderClan, hope you have a fun time getting home because you're not crossing ShadowClan territory again.
00:57:04
Speaker
Which is like the biggest dick move ever because he ah had to know that he was going to do that when he saw them. Yeah. But RiverClan wasn't really affected to by Broken Tail, so they're kind of just watching everyone else fight over it. Like, they know he's evil, obviously, because they know what he did, but it there's no personal stake. Yeah, they got no skin in the game.
00:57:29
Speaker
Yeah. So RiverClan offers that they can travel through RiverClan territory to get home. and on the way, Bluestar falls back next to Mistyfoot and asks about how her kids are doing. And Mistyfoot is surprised because she's like, well, I'm just some random cat in another clan. Why does the ThunderClan leader care about my kids?
00:57:52
Speaker
And Fireheart is watching them walk and he's like, wow, they actually, they resemble each other quite a bit. They both have this like bluish gray fur. They got kind of the same face shape.
00:58:06
Speaker
If, if the cats, if cats from different clans can look so much alike, why can't they think alike? That's what he gets out of this.
00:58:17
Speaker
Okay. Wait, I might have missed something. Okay. grit Okay. Graypool is... I thought Graypool was Silverstreams and like Adopted Mom.
00:58:36
Speaker
Mistyfoot and Stonefur are the adopted kits of Graypool. Oh! I thought it was Silverstream and Stonefur. No, no, no, no. Mistyfoot and Stonefur. Okay, because I was like Yeah, when she finds out that Greystripe and... Oh! rainble Okay, yeah. Okay, that's my bad. Oh, okay. So yeah, he says this thing about like, oh, they look alike, why can't they think alike? Yeah, you're you're not very... You're pretty dense, man.
00:59:15
Speaker
But the next day... Fireheart is training Brackenpaw because of course he is. Graystripe is always gone. And didn't Cinderpaw like get moved to.
00:59:30
Speaker
Yeah. self Training. Yeah. So Fireheart is kind of like, well, I don't have an apprentice anymore. So I, like it makes sense to train Brackenpaw since he doesn't have a mentor essentially.
00:59:40
Speaker
So he's training Brackenpaw and he does one of those like, okay, stop and smell. What do you smell? And Brackenpaw is like, oh, I smell mouse and, and. Vole and ShadowClan and WindClan and Fireheart is like oh come on there's no way so he stops and spells and he's like oh shit that is ShadowClan and WindClan so they rush back to camp and yeah they're being attacked and you know obviously they joined in the battle Fireheart Morningflower
01:00:14
Speaker
um like meet up. Morningflower? This is a new one. Morningflower was the cat that in book two, Fireheart had helped her with her kit in ThunderClan.
01:00:31
Speaker
He had carried her kit for her when they were coming back to their camp. So they had like developed a bond then.
01:00:42
Speaker
I don't remember this, but that's okay. um And they kind of meet in battle and they both stop awkwardly and just like back away and attack other cats.
01:00:54
Speaker
And Fireheart is relieved because he's like, oh good, I don't want to attack this cat that I like formed this bond with. Oh, when, okay. So Mourning Flowers from Wynn Clan. Yeah.
01:01:09
Speaker
Okay. Okay. and Okay, I get it. When they were... Yeah. yeah Gotcha. um And then... So fight them fight them off which is kind of wild because they're two clans against one, but they fight them off because they're the main character clan. And Darkstripe is making a big stink about how Broken Tail is here. He's like, see ye see Blue Star? What a bad choice you made. We have this prisoner here. He's horrible and we're getting attacked. And Blue Star is like, well, okay, here's the thing, Darkstripe. I'm not going to
01:01:51
Speaker
rule my clan based on what the other clans want so he's staying oh fuck off don't question me again yeah pretty much and Bluestar goes... They're all in... Bluestar, Fireheart, and Yellowfang end up in the metal medicine cat den together, treating wounds and such. And Bluestar goes and gives Yellowfang, like, a ah mothering lick, just, like, because they're friends, I guess.
01:02:23
Speaker
And... ah She like gives her a little lick and... yeah I didn't say anything. Yeah. She gives her a little lick and Fireheart is like, wow, that looked like a mother licking her kit. And then he says, hold up a minute.
01:02:42
Speaker
Oh, someone told me that Bluestar lost her kits. I remember there were those ThunderClan kits in RiverClan. I remember how Bluestar and Mistyfoot looked exactly the same. my gosh. Oh, my God.
01:02:58
Speaker
What if Bluestar is their mother? is So, Fireheart is catching up. And i just think it's hilarious that Bluestar giving Yellowfang comforting lick made it click in his brain.
01:03:17
Speaker
Meanwhile, Bluestar and Mistyfoot, looking exactly the same, did not.
01:03:26
Speaker
Well, I mean, we know he's not the smartest cat. Yeah, he's not. um They finally make Brackenpaw into a warrior after that battle because he did so good.
01:03:39
Speaker
And yeah, so he's Brackenfur now. and Graystripe doesn't have to pretend to be a mentor anymore. Which is funny because Bluestar acknowledges to Fireheart. She's like, yeah, I know that you've really been the one mentoring him, so well done on his training.
01:04:01
Speaker
Which kind of, like, ugh, yeah. Mm-hmm. It's just annoying, but... In the following days, Fireheart learns something from Greystripe and Silverstream that is quite alarming to him.
01:04:18
Speaker
They get him out there to meet with them, and they're like, wait, we have something to tell you. This is all three of them hanging out together. We have something to tell Fireheart, my good friend.
01:04:33
Speaker
i Silverstream is having kids.
01:04:41
Speaker
Waiting for that. Yeah. um
01:04:47
Speaker
Which i think I fucked up because I think we were supposed to learn this before.
01:04:54
Speaker
No, whatever. don't think it matters. Maybe we learned it in the thought the last book. Damn.
01:05:06
Speaker
I really didn't put this in my notes. Graystripe and Silverstream have met up to have the kid. Not to have the kid. Silverstream and Graystripe have met up and she goes into labor. Except it's not going well for her. And Graystripe tells Fireheart to go get help. And so Fireheart goes back to camp and gets Cinderpaw.
01:05:30
Speaker
And... She gathers up the herbs she needs and it takes a while to get back because Cinderpaw's legs, she can't really walk very well. And by the time they get there, Tigerclaw has a file encountered them. And he's like, what the hell is happening? This Riverclan cat is having a kits on our territory.
01:05:57
Speaker
And Cinderpaw is hilarious because she just gives him a kit and like one of the kits is born and she gives him a kit and she says, here, lick it. And he's like, I'm not a medicine cat. And Cinderpaw says, you've got a tongue, haven't you? Lick you useless lump of fur. Do you want the kit to die?
01:06:17
Speaker
yeah Nice. this is why we love Cinderpot. And Fireheart is like, oh my god, he's gonna murder her! but but And to his astonishment, Tigerclaw just starts licking the kit.
01:06:32
Speaker
So he's like, oh, i guess I guess being medicine cat apprentice comes with some perks. I mean, yeah you you don't want to piss off the people who are gonna, like...
01:06:44
Speaker
heal your wounds and shit right it's like uh the dnd trope of like the be nice to the healer so it's a really hard kidding and two kids are born but cinderpaw does her best but silver stream is having difficulties and she ends up dying but And yeah, Graystripe is just like, you know, yowling into the air and
01:07:20
Speaker
i just generally in mourning Tigerclaw finally realizes like, what? That the cat's out of the bag?
01:07:31
Speaker
Oh my god. so stupid. I know. know Um, so Tigerclaw...
01:07:47
Speaker
This is a complicated, right? Because now Tigerclaw knows and there these kits and Silverstream is dead. And first of all, Tigerclaw is an asshole because he makes Fireheart and Cinderpaw bring the kits back to camp when Cinderpaw has her bad leg. So I feel like he could have at least brought a kit back.
01:08:08
Speaker
But they leave Graystripe there just like mourning Silverstream, which is also a funny moment because i Graystripe is, you know, yowling into the air Tigerclaw is like, stop that noise and just bonks him over the head. Tigerclaw or Graystripe stops yowling and Fireheart is like, I think it had more to do with just like the surprise of that happening than actually taking an order from Tiger Claw. But at least he stopped.
01:08:47
Speaker
Not in like a mean way, you know, shut the fuck up, but in just like a probably good for him to
01:08:55
Speaker
become more eyes not in such. Wow. Words are hard on a podcast, you know? hmm. Sometimes you have to learn how to speak on a podcast. That's very true.
01:09:08
Speaker
So they bring the kids to Golden Flower to nurse. And Bluestar... I mean, Bluestar asks, like, will you nurse these kids? And then um i have put...
01:09:21
Speaker
Specklebitch the other cat because I fucking hate her. Her name is Specklebur-pill-something. But Specklebitch tells her to ask who the kits were mothered by.
01:09:38
Speaker
Bluestar is like, okay, yeah, admittedly, these are Half-River Clan kits. And Goldenflower is like, well, I'm not a terrible person, so I'll nurse them anyway so that they don't die. And Speckletail is pissed about it. She thinks that they just should, like, I don't know, throw the cats across the river or something? Like, even though it's literally in the warrior code that regardless of what clan a kit is in you have to take care of them if they're in danger.
01:10:08
Speaker
huh So... Whatever, though. ah In private, Fireheart asks Blue Star what Grace Ripe's punishment will be. And Blue Star says,
01:10:19
Speaker
um let's wait and see because, like, things are going on right now. So I'm going to wait till things settle down to decide what his punishment will be. And she is much less upset than she could be about him going off to see Silverstream. And Fireheart, she tells Fireheart she actually suspected that this was going on for a while. And she was kind of waiting around to see if Graystripe would decide where his loyalties lie.
01:10:53
Speaker
And she was hoping that it would end up better, but she thought not interfering and letting Graystripe make the decision would be better than her forcing it upon him.
01:11:05
Speaker
yeah But obviously that's ah not necessary anymore.
01:11:10
Speaker
So, Fireheart tells her, well, because you know how conflicted he feels, right? Because you were too.
01:11:22
Speaker
And Bluestar is like, yeah, I thought you might have picked up on that. and confirms that she's Mistyfoot and Stonefur's mother.
01:11:36
Speaker
And ah she explains to him why, what happened. So essentially... When she was blue fur, she had these kits.
01:11:48
Speaker
She said she didn't have like a long romance with Oakheart like Graystripe did. It was more of like, it was more of a one night stand with Oakheart. She says she loves him, but it wasn't an ongoing thing.
01:12:01
Speaker
And the deputy at the time, Tawny Spots, was about to retire. And she was a very ambitious cat. She always wanted to be leader. And so she wanted that position, but she also knew that with the kits, that probably wasn't going to happen because warriors are sexist.
01:12:21
Speaker
And um
01:12:25
Speaker
it's just really annoying because i'm like, you could have made her deputy and then she could have taken the deputy duties when she was done with the kits. Like... Kits are temporary. And the only other... Also, not like there's not any other ones that could, like, take care of them. Right. So, like, they make a big thing about how the whole clan raises the kits, which is, like, obviously just not warriors, but it takes a village to raise a a child type thing.
01:12:51
Speaker
and
01:12:55
Speaker
ah ah I guess that didn't apply for blue fur though so I don't know there's a whole thing about should a clan leader be able to have kits if they will be the ones in the nursery um which actually comes up later so that'll be interesting to talk about.
01:13:10
Speaker
But the only other cat that was a potential to be made deputy was a cat called Thistleclaw. And he was kind of like Tigerclaw, where he was bloodthirsty, ready for battle. And she was like, I don't want him to be leader of the clan because I think he's going to lead us to unnecessary war and unnecessary death.
01:13:31
Speaker
So she made the hard decision to give her kits to Oakheart to raise in Riverclan. Like the Elder said, it was one of the coldest nights that they had ever remembered.
01:13:45
Speaker
and she had three kits to bring them. And one of the kits died on the way. Moss kit died. yeah shit. Yeah. um But Mistyfoot and Stonefur were given to Riverclan to raise.
01:14:03
Speaker
Which brings up just more questions because she had, they had their names. They had their same names.
01:14:15
Speaker
So essentially, Blue Star's kits, Misty Kit and Stone Kit, she made it seem like they got stolen by a fox. And then all of a sudden these kits show up in RiverClan called Misty Kit and Stone Kit. And we don't know who their mother was because if Greypool, everyone knew Greypool hadn't given birth to them. Like they knew that because they would have seen that Greypool was pregnant and they didn't. Right.
01:14:48
Speaker
So where, where did, where did Bluestar have these kits that no one else was there? So Bluestar had the kits in ThunderClan. Everyone knew that she had kits.
01:14:59
Speaker
Oh. So that's the thing that makes it not really make sense because they were, want to say like a moon or two old when she gave them to Oakheart because they were like talking and able to travel. Hmm.
01:15:18
Speaker
So it's just a plot hole, but it's an annoying plot hole. but So, finally, well, Bluestar tells Fireheart that he should probably go get Graystripe now. It's been a while. They've given him some time, but he needs to come home. He needs to rest. um So, Fireheart goes to bring him home, and Graystripe says, where are the kits? They should be buried next to their mother.
01:15:43
Speaker
And Fireheart is like, wait, no, like the kids are alive. And Graystripe, like suddenly a little bit of light comes back in his eyes because he thought that he had died along with Silverstream. And so now he has essentially something to live for.
01:16:00
Speaker
And so he goes home. um fireheart tells Fireheart goes across the river because he thinks that Silverstream's clan should know what happened. So he tells Mistyfoot about it.
01:16:14
Speaker
And, you know, she's thankful that he didn't let them just wonder what happened to Silverstream. Two days later... It's time to make CloudKit an apprentice. And so Bluestar gives CloudKit, well, CloudPaw now to Fireheart to mentor. No surprise there.
01:16:34
Speaker
No, probably no one else would do it anyway. ah No one else would do a good job because CloudPaw is pawful. her And they get they get visited by RiverClan patrol.
01:16:52
Speaker
And those RiverClan cats want the kits. And there's, you know, arguing about it because they're like, well, these are Graystripes kits and RiverClan is like, yeah, but if Silverstream hadn't died, they would be RiverClan kits and kits should belong to the clan that their mother was a part of.
01:17:16
Speaker
um But they agree to essentially let them think about it. So they leave and they're like, okay, well, we'll be back later to get the kits. And if you don't give them up, like, there's going to be a fight because we're taking the kids. But we're going to let you think about it.
01:17:33
Speaker
And then
01:17:37
Speaker
Fireheart is surprised when Tigerclaw sends Cloudpaw on a solo hunting mission because he's so young. um This is like a couple days later.
01:17:52
Speaker
and Fireheart follows him because that's just what you do when they're getting an assessment. and Cloudpaw finds... Cloudpaw does a thing you're not supposed to do and finds his mentor in the forest and talks to him. And Fireheart is like, okay, you're not supposed to see me. Like, I'm sneaking after you. And Cloudpaw is like, wait, wait, wait. No, listen, though. Tigerclaw was meeting up with a bunch of rogues. Like, why...
01:18:20
Speaker
Why was he doing that? That seems like something is up. And Fireheart is like, okay, well, let's follow them. And then he realizes, oh my god, he's leading them straight to the ThunderClan camp. and so he goes and he there's like a battle happening. And Fireheart realizes, oh, these are some of the cats that got exiled from ShadowClan. They're Broken Tails followers.
01:18:49
Speaker
And Tigerclaw is pretending to fight them, but his claws are sheathed. And so he doesn't really know what's going on. Like, what is Tigerclaw's big plan here? Yeah, like, what the fuck is he playing at?
01:19:05
Speaker
And then, so there's chaos of the battle, Fireheart is fighting, and then he realizes, like, wait a minute, where is Tigerclaw? And he goes and overhears Tigerclaw's in Bluestar's den saying, and Bluestar is like, Tiger Claw, what are you doing? Like, there's a battle. We have to get out there and help them. And Tiger Claw says, oh, no, no, you're not going anywhere.
01:19:33
Speaker
I'm going to kill you again and again and again until you have no more lives left and then I'm going to rule ThunderClan. And so Fireheart goes in there and defends Bluestar and they fight. And Bluestar is not really involved in the fight very much. um She's kind of just staying there in shock.
01:19:58
Speaker
And Fireheart manages who defeat Tigerclaw he like has him pinned down and Graystripe comes in to help and um it's kind of just obvious that the battle is won Tigerclaw is done for they chase the rogues out of the camp and RiverClan shows up actually RiverClan patrol shows up and helps fight off the exiled ShadowClan cats
01:20:32
Speaker
And... Fireheart is very concerned because Bluestar doesn't seem to be responding to anything. she's like She's in such a state of shock that she's kind of just staring off into nothing.
01:20:46
Speaker
um But... The RiverClan patrol, Mistyfoot starts saying like, oh, we're here for the kits and gets cut off. And Leopardfur is like, let's just give them a minute. It seems like they're going through with something. We'll come back later.
01:21:04
Speaker
but and so they drag Tigerclaw out of the den and everyone was like, wait a minute, Tigerclaw is a prisoner? What's going on? And Bluestar gets enough sense back into her that she can, she gets up into the high rock, which is where, you know, where she goes for the meetings. And she says, yeah, Tigerclaw tried to kill me and Fireheart was right all along and has Fireheart share just everything he knows. Obviously not about Mistyfoot and Stonefur, but everything he knows about
01:21:36
Speaker
Tiger Claw and Tiger Claw is like, yep, I tried to kill you because I think you're a weak leader and you let kitty pets into our clan and you have broken tail here.
01:21:47
Speaker
And um you're not a good leader. So I tried to kill you and take over ThunderClan. And Bluestar is like, okay, well, you are exiled then. And Tigerclaw tries to get some other cats to go with him. He's like, hey, Darkstripe, don't you want to go with me to exile? And, i you know, we'll essentially take over Thunderclan later. And Darkstripe goes, go with you into exile after you plotted with Broken Tail without even telling me?
01:22:21
Speaker
No, I'm not going with you because you betrayed me by doing that. Oh my Longtail, he offers it to Longtail and Longtail just says, no, because I'm a loyal ThunderClan cat and you tried to kill our leader.
01:22:39
Speaker
Which, you know, is just cementing Fireheart's thoughts from earlier, so that's nice. And then he also asks Duspelt, who... um In these... By doing these recap episodes, I've realized that Duspelt has a lot less impact on the plot than I thought he did, because he hasn't come up a lot.
01:23:05
Speaker
But he is... He's mentioned pretty frequently, but it's kind of more like Dustpelt was hanging around. And Dustpelt said something nasty. But he has been a follower of Tigerclaw. And Dustpelt essentially just says, Hey, Tigerclaw, fuck you, you're a terrible cat. And I'm never going to be loyal to you ever again. So Fireheart is like, Aw, hell yeah. I hate Dustpelt, but at least he's also a loyal ThunderClan warrior.
01:23:35
Speaker
So Fire, Tigerclaw goes off by himself, but I have to read to you the most classic Tigerclaw line because everyone loves this line. So as he's leaving, um he turns around and he says to Fireheart, keep your eyes open, Fireheart, keep your ears pricked and keep looking behind you. Cause one day I'll find you and then you'll be crow food.
01:24:00
Speaker
Wow. and That's like his classic line. And Fireheart, after the motion dies down, goes into the medicine cat den to get some of his wounds treated.
01:24:13
Speaker
Where he sees Yellowfang and Brokentail. And Brokentail is being an asshole to Yellowfang, even though she's treating him. And Fireheart is kind of like... it What is Brokentail treating him for what?
01:24:29
Speaker
Just because he was part of the fight. so How is he part of the fight if he was a prisoner? Because it turned out that he and Tiderclaw had plotted together. Oh, okay. Sorry, I did not mention that. um And Fireheart is, like, by the entrance and kind of stops because he overhears them talking. And Yellowfang reveals that ah she is Broken Tail's mother. what Wasn't she, like, she's the one who, like, got kicked out.
01:25:04
Speaker
Yep. Or forced out of ShadowClan and like has taken up residence here yep buy her own kid? he yup She was the ShadowClan medicine cat, so she kept it as kept it a secret that she was his mother.
01:25:22
Speaker
Why? Because medicine cats aren't allowed to have kids. Oh. So, yeah. There's also a whole book about that. um And she says, here, eat this because it'll help with your wounds. And he's like, you're you can't be my mom. You're a medicine cat. And so she explains to him that, like, actually, yeah, his father, Raggedstar, and her had a thing. And, you know, she hid him away. Or she gave him to
01:25:55
Speaker
I think it was Lizard Tail was his foster mom. And he's like, oh, well ah why do i why do i my legs feel numb? Why is this medicine you're giving me, is making me feel bad.
01:26:10
Speaker
And she's like, well, um I actually gave you death berries because you're a horrible cat and you're a threat to my new clan who's welcomed me in So I actually have to put an end to you because I brought this... What the ah She brought this curse into the world and she's taken it out.
01:26:34
Speaker
Whoa, that's cold. Yep, so Broken Tail dies and Fireheart walks into the den and he's like, hey, Yellowfang, my wounds need to be treated. And she's like, oh, yeah, ah Broken Tail, his injuries were too great and he died.
01:26:52
Speaker
Wow. yeah Did not see that coming. Yup. part of the warrior code is that when a new deputy needs to be appointed, it has to be before moon high. And there's a whole explanation of this of like, there was a time when that didn't happen before it was in the warrior code. And the, both the deputy and the leader died before a new deputy could be appointed. And it like,
01:27:23
Speaker
cause such division in the clan because then they had to figure out who was the leader and obviously some cats, you know, they disagreed on who should be leader. But Bluestar is just in her den and not appointing any deputy and Moon High comes and passes and everyone is freaking out because Where's our new deputy? we are We have broken the warrior code by not appointing a new deputy. And eventually she comes out and she's like, okay, I've decided who the new deputy should be. It's going to be Fireheart. we Well, yes, we knew this. Yeah, yeah.
01:27:59
Speaker
And Fireheart is surprised because he's a very new and inexperienced, not inexperienced necessarily, but he's definitely not a very experienced warrior.
01:28:11
Speaker
huh But there's also the added thing of like, it happened after Moonhigh. So a lot of the cats are like, does this mean... that that fire hearts like time as deputy is going to be terrible for the clans and like star clan is angry with us and they're just really uncertain about fire heart and a large part of that is because it happened after moon high and then eventually it's like a few days later or it might be the next day it's within the next few days sorry i didn't write down um
01:28:49
Speaker
Or I think they just... I think they didn't say. Leopardfur comes with a patrol to take the kits away. and a Blue Star is like, no, you can't have the kits. That's our decision. The kits are ours. And Leopardfur is like, well, we're going to fight over it. Like we said, like there's going to be war between our clans because of these kits. and suddenly, Graystripe is like...
01:29:15
Speaker
He comes out and he says, no, no, no, no River Klan can have them. I don't want war over my kits. And Silver Street wouldn't want war. Like, we want these kits to be something that unites us, not that brings us to war with each other. And Bluestar looks at him intensely and says, are you sure you're going to have to watch your kits grow up in another Klan?
01:29:41
Speaker
And... you're going to have to live with this decision for the rest of your life, which obviously Fireheart understands how, what she's meaning by this. And Graystripe says, yes, take them to RiverClan.
01:29:58
Speaker
Or he'll take them to RiverClan. He asks, can I bring them there though? Like, can you guys leave and I'll have my last moments and then I'll bring them. And they say, yeah, that's fine. But like, you better bring them or, you know, fights are going Yeah.
01:30:15
Speaker
And so the last scene of the book Graystripe asks Fireheart to go with him to the border. And then write as they're about to cross, Graystripe says, okay, so this has been really hard for me, but I can't watch my cats grow up in another clan. So I'm going to go with them.
01:30:38
Speaker
He's going to go with him. He's going to RiverClan with them.
01:30:45
Speaker
Not sure that RiverClan is going to let them do that, but okay. Well, we will see all of next book, the repercussions. Oh my gosh. but I thought he was going to take him and go rogue or something. Nope. He takes him and he goes to RiverClan. And obviously Fireheart is heartbroken over this because Graystripe is his best friend and...
01:31:09
Speaker
And now he's going to be not only in a different clan, but in a different clan that they frequently fight because they fight over Sunning Rux a lot.
01:31:19
Speaker
So he's dreading the day that he's going have to meet Graystripe in battle. To be fair, Graystripe has not been a good friend to Fireheart. It's true. um though There is a short story that was written called The Elder's Concern, and it is essentially just a scene where the elders are talking about, uh, fire heart being a deputy and doubting that that's what star clan wants.
01:31:49
Speaker
I didn't take any notes on it and we don't have to discuss it a lot because really it's essentially just elder gossip and there are a lot of, um, slip ups in it. Like they're like, Oh,
01:32:05
Speaker
When Lionheart died, it was past Moonhide that Fireheart was made deputy. ah Which, like... Right, it's just such an obvious mistake that it's like... Did y'all even...
01:32:23
Speaker
Did someone else write this who hadn't read the books? like it Lionheart hasn't been deputy since book one. So, yeah, we don't need to go over that.
01:32:41
Speaker
wow Okay. um So what do you think about this book, Jericho? A lot of things happened. Mm-hmm. I think I like this one better than the last one. Yeah, this is one of my favorite books in the series.
01:32:57
Speaker
Because the last one just didn't seem to have a clear purpose. Yeah, there's not like... a main thing that happens in it, I feel like. um Like, the book one is, like, okay, Firepaw joins the clan, they exile Broken Tail, that's a big thing.
01:33:17
Speaker
Book three is, like, the Silverstream happens, we exile TigerClan, has a clear plot. But the second book is kind of, like, mainly just the thing that's happening is Graystripe and Silverstream. So it's less defined, what it is. yeah I still like it, but...
01:33:37
Speaker
not Not my favorite. Just, you know, a good Warriors book. Um, yeah. ah This fucking book. I was blue stuff. She was just so stunned. It's like, dude, he tried to tell you.
01:33:54
Speaker
Well, ah you shouldn't have been surprised. You should have been like, well, fuck, he was right. e Yeah, um...
01:34:07
Speaker
In order to properly give context to the way Blue Star behaves in the following books, I have decided that instead of going over book four for the next episode, we're going to do Blue Star's Prophecy, which is a super edition ah about Blue Star's life.
01:34:27
Speaker
So we're going to see how she met Oakheart, how she had her kits, how she made her decisions. um Her mother and her sister feature in it heavily. And there is a lot of loss. I don't think it's a spoiler to say she loses them because they're not in this book series.
01:34:44
Speaker
um there's a law of lost in it There's a lot of lot of very real emotion in it where... a lot of the stuff in these books is overdramatic and like, haha, these cats getting upset about things. Um, Blue Zars Prophecy has a lot of just like description that, uh, hit me really hard personally.
01:35:11
Speaker
so we're going to go over that. and it's a very long book because there's a super edition. It's like over 500 pages. So that will probably be split up into two episodes.
01:35:23
Speaker
Yeah. That wasn't written for kids. It is written for kids. Kids are reading 500 page book. ah Every kid who reads Warriors is.
01:35:36
Speaker
Are they all that thick? Most of the normal books are like anywhere from like 280 to like 310 pages. But then the special editions, yeah, they're over, they're around 500 pages.
01:35:53
Speaker
I guess I have lost... i guess I have, like, lost my ah concept of how long books are over the years. Uh-huh.
01:36:07
Speaker
So, yeah, we're going to take a break from the main series to do Blue Star's Prophecy, and then we will be back with book four.
01:36:17
Speaker
But until then... Jericho, what's the best way to talk with us? um Before I say that, I am going to apologize to our listeners because you're going to make them wait
01:36:35
Speaker
so long to find out what happens to Stripe. But also me. Yeah. Well, I thought about this a lot if I wanted to do it before or after the series. And I think that having the context for how Blue Star deals with grief will make the next books make a lot worse. No, get it. It's just like, goddammit.
01:36:58
Speaker
Yeah. So if you, listener, dear listener, if you are also... ah
01:37:10
Speaker
Mourning the fact that it's going to be a while. ah Why don't you tell us. What your feelings are. Tell us what your feelings are about this whole book. This whole book series.
01:37:21
Speaker
About. Well no not about us. But um. but Tell us all this stuff. Oh. How?
01:37:32
Speaker
Well. Go to glitterfoxmini.com or the show notes and hop in the Discord. And you'll be able to have all these conversations plus more.
01:37:48
Speaker
I love talking about warriors. So if you get in there and you just start going off, I will respond to you and we will have a great conversation. The only thing I ask is that if you talk about stuff that happened after where we are in the podcast, just put a ah spoiler, cover it up with the spoiler tags because Jerika has not obviously ah known anything beyond this. So i don't want to spoil it for her.
01:38:14
Speaker
Once again, i have been... Sparkle Heart, a.k.a. Jerika. And I have been Snowstorm, a.k.a. Laura. And remember, just because you're older doesn't mean you have to grow up.
01:38:28
Speaker
Bye.