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1.09 A Dangerous Path Part 1
19 Plays12 days ago
Bluestar vs. StarClan continues! Except this time it's kinda Bluestar vs. everyone who's not Mistyfoot or Stonefur.
ShadowClan now has a dark new leader, but will he be satisfied with his power now—or does his desire for revenge burn even more strongly? Fireheart fears that there is a connection between the rise of Tigerstar and the terrible dreams of danger that haunts his nights.Meanwhile, a mysterious threat has invaded the forest, placing every cat's life in peril. Fireheart's beloved leader has turned her back on their warrior ancestors, and Fireheart can't help but wonder if she's right. Has StarClan abandoned them forever?
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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
Jerrica is on Bluesky as CosmicSparkleheart.
"Cloud Dancer " Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Never Grow Up'
00:00:09
Speaker
This is Never Grow Up, a show where two grown-ass adults discuss their love of middle-grade fiction. I'm one of your hosts, Laura. And big surprise, I'm Jerrica. I'm not surprised. You shouldn't be. You tried to surprise me, but you you weren't successful, so. Yeah, I... doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying.
00:00:30
Speaker
Last time...
Recap of 'Warrior Cats' Last Episode
00:00:33
Speaker
last time on Warrior Cats. We had just a bad time in ThunderClan. There was a fire. Bluestar was acting very concerningly. And Leopardfur looks like she loves that ThunderClan owes RiverClan a favor.
00:00:53
Speaker
She would. Yeah, she would. And she's the deputy, so she got a little bit of power. And Cloud Paw was being a real little bitch.
00:01:07
Speaker
Yeah. he And got what he deserved. Well,
00:01:17
Speaker
Cloud Paw... Maybe realize that he should start caring about some things.
Discussion of 'A Dangerous Path'
00:01:27
Speaker
Book number five, A Dangerous Path.
00:01:32
Speaker
Damn. that it um Well, last book was called ah
00:01:41
Speaker
Something the Storm, right? Rising Storm. yep yeah And now the mind has been changed. And here we go.
00:01:53
Speaker
This one was written by Cherith Baldry in June of 2004. So, am yeah, we're like a year out from the first book and we're already on book five. So.
00:02:06
Speaker
but
00:02:09
Speaker
Like a year and a half. That's pretty good.
Prologue: The Dog Threat
00:02:14
Speaker
Yeah. we're Just cranking out them cat stories. This is what happens when you've got so many people to work on the books.
00:02:23
Speaker
Well, there's other things that happen because of that, but.
00:02:29
Speaker
They get released quickly.
00:02:34
Speaker
Never mind. We won't talk about all the continuity errors. yeah It's fine. There are none. So it the prologue starts with ah unfortunately a big pack of dog dogs have escaped just from somewhere. Okay. the dog Just somewhere. you ok yeah yeah and they Probably not elsewhere yeah they kind of have like really basic language like they talk haltingly and they're like hey
00:03:15
Speaker
i'm not sure why they are like this because it's told from their perspective and for some reason they just don't have like fully functioning brains essentially um there's a lot of things to think about there Mm-hmm.
00:03:35
Speaker
The phrase that they keep repeating is pack, pack, kill, kill. Okay, we're setting up a very feline-centric universe here.
00:03:47
Speaker
Yes. ah So I guess just what we know is that the dogs are violent and they like to be in a pack and they like to kill.
Crossover Speculations: 'Warriors' and 'Survivors'
00:03:56
Speaker
So does this just this obviously changes when we get to the dog books, yeah?
00:04:03
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Survivors. Even though they were written by. well I don't know if they're if it's the same universe. Oh, interesting. Yeah, because there's never a crossover. So seems like a wasted opportunity. Yeah, everyone wanted a crossover, but it never happened. And now those books are ended. So maybe there are the bears ended too?
00:04:30
Speaker
Yeah. Well, damn. I bet there are some fan theories about crossovers. I mean, of all the fan theories that must exist out there, I'm sure crossovers is one of them.
00:04:51
Speaker
wonder if, hang on, let's see,
Tigerstar's Leadership and Bluestar's Absence
00:04:53
Speaker
archive of our own.
00:04:57
Speaker
let me just do a quick search here. Fandoms, warriors, and survivors. Let's just do little search.
00:05:13
Speaker
Oh!
00:05:17
Speaker
Oh, interesting. Someone wrote a fanfic of the point of view of the dogs from survivors in this book.
00:05:31
Speaker
Okay. Like, they wrote the same scenes, but instead of these just being, like, mindless beasts, they're like, what if they were the dogs from Survivors? okay.
00:05:43
Speaker
Oh, I gotta read the shit out of that. But I've only read one Survivors book, so don't know if it'll make sense. Oh, it's really short. I can totally read it.
00:05:54
Speaker
And it's by The Autistic Patriot 93.
00:05:59
Speaker
Sounds good. but Okay. So anyway, just setting that aside to read when we're done with this.
Fireheart's Challenges with Leadership and Trust
00:06:09
Speaker
So that's the whole prologue. The dogs busting out of somewhere and they're very bloodthirsty.
00:06:15
Speaker
So yeah I'm sure that means nothing bad for the cats, you know? i mean, that unless they're wild feral dogs, like that seems very unlike dogs. They're not...
00:06:31
Speaker
bloodthirsty. Yeah. um We don't really learn a lot about the dogs. In fact, we don't even really know what breed they are. They're just big, like, can't remember if they say they're brown, but they're like some like brown or black or something. It's kind of assumed that they ah are Dobermans.
00:06:54
Speaker
And...
00:06:58
Speaker
I don't know, it was some training facility or something, so maybe the dogs, like... Okay, well... Maybe they were using some questionable training tactics, and these dogs became, ah you know... Yeah, okay, i can see Obermann's and... trent Yeah, okay.
00:07:16
Speaker
So, it's unfortunate, and you know what? I'm just gonna give a little trigger warning that bad things happen to dogs in this book.
00:07:27
Speaker
Uh-oh. And it's not graphic, but, like, bad things do happen to the dogs. Do the warriors fuck them up? Well, we'll see. Okay. so the first chapter opens up right where we left off last time, at the gathering, just having learned Tigerstar has become leader of ShadowClan. Oh, yeah, that fucker. Okay. Yeah. Oh. Yeah.
00:07:55
Speaker
oh How long was this in the in the works? like it You mean from the authors or from in the Warriors universe?
00:08:07
Speaker
Yeah, in continuity. like how How long has Tigerclaw been planning this? You know what? There's a novella about it. But we can't read that novella until like series four because there's spoilers for stuff.
00:08:23
Speaker
Okay, so in eight years. Yeah.
00:08:28
Speaker
No one really questions why Tigerstar was driven out. He says that Running Nose got signed from StarClan that he should be their leader. so everyone's just like, okay.
00:08:39
Speaker
And just accepts it. Okay. Yeah, these cats ah have maybe an unhealthy dependence on StarClan. But, you know what? That's just kind of realistic sometimes to yeah real life religion. So...
00:08:57
Speaker
didn't blue Didn't Blue Star just in the last book like basically say fuck Star Clan? Yeah.
00:09:05
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Fireheart tells everyone that Bluestar just breathed in a lot of smoke and couldn't make it to the Gathering tonight.
00:09:16
Speaker
So he took her place. um He's kind of nervous about this because he's like, ooh, I don't want to make ThunderClan seem weak, but also like, what the fuck am I supposed to tell them about Bluestar? Because Bluestar hates StarClan and won't come to Gatherings anymore is not a very
ShadowClan Leadership Mysteries Revealed
00:09:35
Speaker
good excuse.
00:09:37
Speaker
Nope. everyone about Yellowfang, Halftail, and Patchpelt dying. And everyone is really sad because people liked Yellowfang.
00:09:53
Speaker
in like a grouchy old lady sort of way.
00:09:59
Speaker
she was. Yes. Yes. After the gathering, he talks to Misty Foot to get updates about Graystripe, because Graystripe's still not allowed to come to gatherings. um And she ah tells him how worried she is about Graypool, because Graypool is getting ah old as fuck and is starting to, like...
00:10:24
Speaker
I mean, she's essentially describing symptoms of like dementia and Graypool is the one who adopted Misty Foot when she went to Riverclown. And this hold on.
00:10:38
Speaker
Misty Foot is Blue Stars kid. yeah okay
00:10:47
Speaker
So they go back to the camp and Fireheart and Cinderpelt talk about it, about Tigerstar becoming leader, because
Internal Clan Politics and Fireheart's Dilemma
00:10:57
Speaker
Fireheart is really worried about how Bluestar is going to take that, but Cinderpelt points out that...
00:11:03
Speaker
you can't hide it from her so like you gotta just tell her anyway sorry it sucks but um so he goes and he tells her and she becomes even more convinced that star clan is out to destroy thunder clan and that fireheart is the only loyal warrior who she can trust that may be true actually but what yeah Why?
00:11:34
Speaker
Well, because I'm sure the others are going to start like. Seeing Bluestar and be like, OK, but I think Fireheart. Will.
00:11:45
Speaker
Be by Bluestar's side the entire time. Well, it's really sad because like her and Whitestorm have always been so close. And then in the Super Edition, it's revealed that like they're he's her nephew. And so for her to be like, oh, only Fireheart is trustworthy. Like, you know, it's kind of sad for Whitestorm.
00:12:11
Speaker
Yeah. Even in the previous book, she would like share tongues with White Storm. And he was like, he and Fireheart were the ones who what kind of bring her to her senses sometimes. Who she could like find peace in And now she's like, nope, only Fireheart.
00:12:32
Speaker
Yeah, she's losing her mind.
00:12:37
Speaker
It's unfortunate. Yeah. Yeah. The next day, Whitestorm reports that there's been a dog s sent it at Snake Rocks.
00:12:48
Speaker
And Fireheart isn't very concerned about that because he's like, oh, two legs bring dogs into the forest sometimes. It's no big deal. You know, they always bring them back out.
00:12:59
Speaker
Won't be here forever. And we, the audience, just pretend that we didn't read the prologue. Well, also, Fireheart is also... He's a little dense, so... i mean, he's trying, he's doing his best, to be fair.
00:13:21
Speaker
He also admits sometimes that ah he... Well, often he admits that he doesn't know the right thing to do, so... Yeah, that's a great trait to have in a leader.
00:13:36
Speaker
Well... It's kind of like, you know all the type of thing where it's like, oh, the person who didn't want to be a leader and for that reason they're a great leader because they're not just like power hungry ambitious. That's kind of the vibe they're going for with Fireheart.
00:13:58
Speaker
Every other cat, when you switch perspectives, every other cat who likes him is always like, oh, Fireheart always knows exactly what to do, and like I wish he was here to help us out, blah, blah. And...
00:14:13
Speaker
i I can see from the outside that it would look like that because he's pretty good at covering up when he doesn't know what to do. Because, like, he knows that these cats are pretty frail and need a really strong leader. So he often doesn't share with them his insecurities. Yeah.
00:14:30
Speaker
That's fair. Yeah.
00:14:34
Speaker
Fireheart and Sandstorm go out hunting and they see Graystripe from across the river. So, you know, they got to say hi. and Graystripe is surprised that Sandstorm is actually being nice to him.
00:14:48
Speaker
ah Because she was a bitch to him when he was in ThunderClan. Hmm. And... She, like, gets pissed that Fireheart offers her food because she sees it as him thinking she can't hunt for herself for some reason.
00:15:11
Speaker
She's like, oh, I can catch my own food. And she just, like, leaves. And Graystripe is like, oh, I guess Sandstorm is crushing on you. He could just, like, tell.
00:15:23
Speaker
Wait. Yeah, she always seems to be mad at Fireheart. Okay, so it was, it's, I thought it was, um, Cinderpelt.
00:15:34
Speaker
You always think it's Cinderpelt. Do I? Damn. To be fair, a lot of people ship Cinderpelt and Fireheart, and going to say this because it's never really talked about in the books. The authors have said a lot that Cinderpelt did have a huge crush on Fireheart.
00:15:57
Speaker
And
Mentor-Apprentice Relationships and Romantic Tensions
00:15:58
Speaker
that was one of the things that i she lost, essentially, when she became a medicine cat because she can't take a mate anymore. She was kind of hoping to get with Fireheart, which honestly is like, why do you keep doing this? Because he was her mentor. So that's weird.
00:16:15
Speaker
It's like a teacher getting with one of the students. Yeah. Yeah.
00:16:23
Speaker
but Like, we i feel like this comes up all the time with the age difference of cats. Like, I get that if you're a warrior, cat ages are different. So, like, if a cat is is born when you're a warrior and is up, you gotta, like, wait until they're a warrior to start crushing on them. Otherwise, it's you're having a crush on a child.
00:16:50
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, so, but, ugh, whatever. It's just weird to have mentor-apprentice relationship. Right, because the power dynamic is is asymmetrical, right? So, yeah that, unless they're into that, like, ugh.
00:17:15
Speaker
I guess you could argue with them that Cinderpaw never really took his mentorship seriously. um But, I mean, they were still mentor-apprentice, you know?
00:17:30
Speaker
Okay, so Sandstorm always mad at him. Yeah. he That's the thing is that rereading these books, I'm like, wow, Sandstorm gets mad at him like every single scene they're in together.
00:17:43
Speaker
And I always shipped them like really hard and rereading them. I'm like, i don't think I see it this time.
00:17:53
Speaker
Because anything he does, she gets pissed about. She's never understanding of him. She never, like, takes a moment to try to see why he says anything. And it's always just him being like, I have to figure out a way to make up with Sandstorm. No matter how valid it was that he, the thing that he said, you know, to make her upset. Mm-hmm.
00:18:17
Speaker
When he's like, oh, Cloudpaw is the only cat who understands my origins. And that's a big thing that I lost. And she gets pissed at him because she's like, you have me. What the hell? And it's like, well, OK, but you're not his family. Like, you're a love interest.
00:18:34
Speaker
Yeah, but like, I've seen that sort of trope before where like. The girl's like always down on the dude and then they ah end up together.
00:18:44
Speaker
I hate that trope. I hate it so much.
00:18:50
Speaker
Because it's always like, in a way it's kind of sexist because if you flip it around, that guy is completely, like that guy is super toxic to her. If he treats her like that, the only reason that it's okay, if it's the woman being like spicy and fierce is because she's like the weak one. Right. So like, she can't actually do anything to him. Like, like I hate in fiction, When they'll have like, oh, she slapped him. Haha, she put him in his place. The only reason that's acceptable is because she's the weak woman, right? Because if a man slapped her, then it would be like, yeah you're abusing her.
00:19:29
Speaker
When it really is the same either way. Yeah, so I just fucking hate that trope, and i don't i don't know. i think I feel like I still love them just because it's so ingrained in me. You know, like I've i've been with this ship for so long, but I'm not a fan of what's happening here.
00:19:50
Speaker
um maybe things change. ha Yeah.
00:19:56
Speaker
Ugh.
Graystripe's Loyalty and Cinderpelt's Warnings
00:19:59
Speaker
But anyway, for Greystripe is all bummed that he's not going to be able to mentor his kids. um Which is wild to me because parents never mentor their kids. Yeah, was going to say, that's just what's done. Yeah, I don't know why he thought there was ever a chance.
00:20:23
Speaker
Well, Greystripe's not the... Yeah... most with it kitty cat there because the way he sees it is like oh i'm never gonna be a trusted river clan warrior so they don't trust me to mentor the kids and it's like i mean maybe that's true but more importantly yeah parents don't mentor their kids i mean even um with blue star and firestorm they didn't give him ah to her to mentor even though she was his aunt not his mom
00:20:58
Speaker
Right. They also, like, Graystripe is all, like, bummed out that he can't go to a gathering and he thinks it's unfair because they, you know, they don't see him as loyal.
00:21:10
Speaker
And i'm kind of... It's kind of annoying because... It's just big main character energy. Like, yeah, dude, you can't come because there are RiverClan cats who have actually, like, are actual loyal warriors who get to go to the gathering. Like, can you imagine how pissed you would be if you were RiverClan cat and, like, oh, you can't go to the gathering. This dude who's literally only in the clan because his kits are here got to go.
00:21:41
Speaker
but and it's like... I grew up in this clan and I dedicated my whole life to it. Yeah, like... The dude's lucky that they even accepted him. Right?
00:21:53
Speaker
They didn't have to Yeah, so that's why I think it's main character syndrome. Because he's like, well, I want to go. When, like, there are more qualified cats to go, bud.
00:22:05
Speaker
Just because you knocked up a RiverClan cat doesn't mean that... you're special
00:22:15
Speaker
gray stripe fetch catches here's the thing also uh gray stripe catches a fish for them from the river and he's like here you go my tree and it's like my absolute dude this is what they talk about when they say you're not a true river clan warrior because you are literally taking river clan prey and giving it to your friends over in thunder clan Jerika is laughing, but it's not coming through. Oh my, yeah.
00:22:45
Speaker
Like, no, that's not a thing you can do. You can't give prey away. It's against the warrior code. Yeah, like, you are literally being disloyal to your clan by doing this while complaining that they don't trust you. Oh, Graystripe.
Prejudices and Snowkit's Challenges
00:23:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:10
Speaker
Cinderpelt has a dream of something crashing through the forest. Sorry, something huge crashing through the forest and saying, pack, pack, kill, kill.
00:23:24
Speaker
And do you think Fireheart takes this seriously? No. No. He's like, well, we don't know what it means. So nothing we can do about it
00:23:36
Speaker
Meanwhile, his own dreams, he's like, oh shit, what does this mean? Well, that's because they're from Spottedleaf.
00:23:45
Speaker
me Spottedleaf, some chick that he barely even knew that is that has been dead for a long time. yeah Some of the kits are playing in the clearing and one of them is Bramblekit.
00:24:02
Speaker
And he pins Snowkit down. He's playing way too roughly with him. Him? i think Snowkit is him. And Snowkit just starts like squealing Fireheart goes and interrupts them and has his, you know, anti-Bramblekit thoughts.
00:24:20
Speaker
Because Bramblekit is obviously evil because Tigerstar is. Bramblekit is Tigerstar. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And Goldenflower is like, how many times do have to tell you? If they squeal, let them up.
00:24:36
Speaker
And so Fireheart is like, yeah, that kid's definitely going to be evil.
00:24:47
Speaker
Does the, does the, the, the, if he would stop and think about that for a second, he would realize that his constant insistence that the kid's going to be evil has the potential to actually make it true.
00:25:05
Speaker
book Jesus Christ, dude. And you know what? This is also a sexist thing because he never has those thoughts about the she kit. Yeah. Is only Bramble Kit because Bramble Kit looks like Tigerstar. He never is suspicious of Tawny Kit.
00:25:24
Speaker
And he probably should be. i don't know. Maybe. Goldenflower and Fireheart have a talk about Bramble Kit. and Goldenflower wants Fireheart to tell him about Tigerstar.
00:25:40
Speaker
I don't really know why, well what the other than Fireheart is the main character and they want to give him things to do. Yeah, but yeah please tell my kid about their dad. Right?
00:25:58
Speaker
Brackenfur has been keeping a close eye on Snowkick because Brackenfur really wants to get an apprentice because he's like, you know, the new enthusiastic warrior who wants to prove himself. So he's like, I really want an apprentice. And I think Snowkick could be it And he goes to fireart And he's like, listen, I've been watching Snowkit because like I really want to mentor him. But I feel like there's something wrong with him. He doesn't like respond to the other kits very well. like He's not engaged. like
00:26:33
Speaker
ah He's worried about him. So Fireheart says, you know, I'll look into it. I'll talk to Cinderpelt and everything.
Rising Tensions and Leadership Struggles
00:26:41
Speaker
But before he does that, he goes to Bluestar and says, hey, the older apprentices, they are ready to become warriors. It's well past time. um So let's get that going. And she thinks about for a second. She says, well, I can't really trust any of my warriors, so I can't trust their apprentices. But you know what? Your apprentice could become a warrior. Just make Cloudpaw warrior.
00:27:07
Speaker
Oh, my gosh. Oh my gosh. That's, oh my god. Tell me that he sees how what a bad idea that is. Yeah, he's like, um, maybe we'll just put off making all of them warriors then, I guess. He's really scared because he knows that Cloudpaw is kind of a tool, so he's like, I don't want people i don't want people to have an excuse to hate Cloudpaw, you know?
00:27:38
Speaker
Right, and then there's the whole favoritism thing. Right. and and you know what's funny is that Swiftpaw, one of the older apprentices, this is one of those continuity issues we were talking about, Swiftpaw was made an apprentice before Brackenfur.
00:28:01
Speaker
He was made an apprentice at the beginning of book two. It's now book five. Brackenfur gets an apprentice in this book.
00:28:15
Speaker
Oh no.
00:28:22
Speaker
The next Fireheart walks a bit with Cinderpelt towards Highstones. She's on her way to the Medicine Cat meeting that happens every half moon.
00:28:35
Speaker
They just go and they talk with StarClan regularly. yeah And they meet up with Running Nose. And because Fireheart is the keeper of secrets, Running Nose reveals to him Nightstar never had nine lives.
00:28:51
Speaker
And Nightstar was the leader before Tigerstar took over. Because... Because Brokenstar was alive still. So StarClan said, hell no, we're not giving you nine lives when there's a leader alive still.
00:29:10
Speaker
Okay, hold on. There's a lot there unpack. Why is Fireheart Keeper of Secrets and what does what does that mean? um That's a reference to just everyone tells Fireheart their secrets.
00:29:26
Speaker
Oh, okay. It's not an official thing? No, it's just because he's the main character so people just innately trust him. Gotcha. So...
00:29:40
Speaker
Does that... Well... and So we never find out what happened to Nightstar then. He died. He got green cough. Okay. in the So that means that Tigerstar must not have nine lives.
00:29:56
Speaker
No, because Brokenstar and Nightstar were dead when he was appointed. oh that's right. ah Fuck. Okay. That's right, because...
00:30:09
Speaker
Yellowfang killed Brokenstar. She sure did. okay
00:30:16
Speaker
because i Again, it just works out a little too well for fucking Tigerstar. Yeah, because Fireheart is like, isn't that crazy that the green cough took all nine of Nightstar's lives? And Running Nose is like, well, actually, he didn't have nine.
00:30:40
Speaker
Nightstar was also an elder when he was made leader, so he kind of just had it rough right from the beginning. Yeah.
00:30:50
Speaker
So when Brokenstar died, they're just like, oh, no, we're not giving you nine lives because you can only get those when you first become leader.
00:31:02
Speaker
Oh, um well, it's because Nightstar went there while Brokenstar was alive. oh Okay. Yeah, but then by the time that Tigerclaw Yelfang had killed Brokenstar.
00:31:19
Speaker
And I think the other clans also didn't know exactly when Brokenstar died, so there wasn't, like... They never really had the opportunity who take Nightstar and go be like, hey, can I have my lives now?
00:31:37
Speaker
But Tigerstar knew when Brokenstar died. Because Tigerstar is a sneaky fuck. That's right. Oh my gosh, this dude. I hate him.
00:31:48
Speaker
And his kids. No, I'm kidding. Damn. I'm kidding.
00:31:55
Speaker
Fireheart. You know what? Sorry. i want. I want.
00:32:03
Speaker
Fuck. Yes. Rackin kid. Did you say Brackin kid? Kits. Or is it Bramble? Bramble kit.
00:32:17
Speaker
Bramble kit. Fuck these names, man. These are hard for me. OK, so I want Bramble kit to end up being the fucking hero. In the future and Fireheart like. Eventually, like makes him deputy or whatever.
00:32:36
Speaker
We'll see. We'll see what happens. No, I like when you predict things, though. They're often either spot on or the complete opposite. That's funny.
00:32:56
Speaker
You're either entirely right or entirely wrong. Yeah. There's never like, oh, well, you know, kind of that blah, blah, blah. Okay, well, at least I'm consistent.
00:33:13
Speaker
Yeah. Fireheart and Sandstorm are out haunting one day, Graystripe crosses the river to talk to them once again, because he's a very loyal RiverClan warrior.
00:33:24
Speaker
and And he tells them that Tigerstar has been to the RiverClan camp talking to Leopardfur.
00:33:36
Speaker
Just leopard fur. Just leopard fur. Not Crooked Star. Yeah, not Crooked Star, just leopard fur. And he doesn't have any information, any more information than that because, you know, obviously they're not going to tell him.
00:33:50
Speaker
How is that even allowed?
00:33:55
Speaker
Occasionally, leaders will cross into other territories and talk to, i mean, usually other leaders, not usually deputies. Right.
00:34:06
Speaker
Okay. Don't like that. And then Mistyfoot appears and says, Graypool is missing, and asks them to help look for her, because she is just a confused old elder now. And here we begin the side quest.
00:34:23
Speaker
but Well, Fireheart finds her. They all split up, and Fireheart's the one to find her, because of course he is. So, Fireheart is one to find her. But...
00:34:36
Speaker
She's talking to Tiger Claw. Well, Tiger Star. Oh, God. And she's very confused. And she some she thinks that he's Oakheart because they look kind of similar.
00:34:50
Speaker
Oh, no! And she says, Oh, those two kits you brought me, they grew up into such fine warriors. Yeah.
00:35:01
Speaker
So, Tiger Claw, you know, that perks his interest. And he says, oh, the the two kits? What are you talking about?
00:35:15
Speaker
And she says, oh I'm not stupid. I could tell that those were ThunderClan kits. No! No!
00:35:26
Speaker
And it she becomes suspicious that he, like, his behavior, because, you know, he's trying to get more information out of her, and she finally realizes, oh, you're not Oakheart? Who are you? And she, like, trips trying to get away from him and falls and cracks her head on a rock.
00:35:52
Speaker
Jesus Christ! And... For some reason, Fireheart never interferes in any of this. I don't know why he's he just like doesn't want Tigerstar to see him for some reason.
00:36:12
Speaker
Well, if you probably doesn't want to get into it. like Yeah, but like he can see that she's revealing all the secrets about Mistyfoot and Stonefur. You'd think he would jump in and be like,
00:36:25
Speaker
oh he couldn't he could even play it off he could be like oh tiger star you found her good job like we can return her to river clan now yeah
00:36:40
Speaker
but he doesn't do that so gray pool dies and he the tiger claw just leaves so fire heart yeah like she's like okay well ah Yeah, so Fireheart goes to her and, like, you know, they have her last words are to him, but then she passes away. and it's really sad.
00:36:58
Speaker
they go back to ThunderClan. What are the last words? Oh, I don't remember them.
00:37:09
Speaker
Okay, hang on, hang on. all could you paul How could you mention all the last words and just think that no one's going to be interested in what they were? i know, I know, my bad.
00:37:26
Speaker
Oh, you know what? My bad. She doesn't say anything to him. She just dies right away. Okay. but That's why I couldn't remember.
00:37:37
Speaker
so Another thing is that when he tells Misty Foot what happens, he just says that Greypool slipped and fell and doesn't mention Tigerstar for some reason.
00:37:53
Speaker
Well, because then they would be like, okay, well, why didn't you go down there? Well, why didn't he? Well, yeah.
00:38:05
Speaker
Does he feel bad that he got that like because he didn't do anything she died or did? this yeah Oh, no. Yeah. Yeah, he he does. But. I yeah, I just don't understand why.
00:38:21
Speaker
he didn't interfere. Back at the camp, Cinderpelt does a little test with Snowkit and finds out that Snowkit is deaf and that's why he doesn't really respond to the other kits when they're talking to him.
00:38:39
Speaker
And he doesn't really talk much himself. ah Hold on What? His mom didn't know that he was deaf? Oh, she did.
00:38:50
Speaker
ah She did not want to tell anyone because she knows that these cats are ableist as fuck and would say he can't be a warrior then.
00:39:02
Speaker
and also, yeah, how would he say anything if he's deaf? He like, you know how like sometimes people when they're deaf, they'll like speak, but like, like a little disordered distorted.
00:39:17
Speaker
yeah ah That's kind of what he does. I don't It's kind of it's kind of weird. If you've never heard speech, how would you know how to replicate it? i don't know. no that's a whole other thing, but okay.
00:39:32
Speaker
I mean, people do. Yeah. so his mom, let me look up. his mom is Speckletail. Yeah, Speckletail is his mom, and she's, like, super protective of him, and ah pretty much tells everyone off, and, like, says, fuck you, he can still be a warrior, we just need to, you know, figure out ways to to help him.
Bluestar's Instability and Clan Safety
00:40:06
Speaker
Which, like, good on you, mom, you know? So does Cinderpelt not want to train? Or not Singapore.
00:40:18
Speaker
Hold on. Brackenfur. Yeah. Not want to train him anymore? um i mean, Brackenfur is pretty much just bummed because he knows that they're not going to let Snowkit be a warrior. Mm-hmm.
00:40:35
Speaker
Fireheart goes on patrol and... They smell a lot of dog scent in the area, and Fireheart's like, oh, whoops, I guess I should have Whitestorm's warning seriously because this is like a lot of dogs. and he goes to tell blue oh, and they found, um, prey that was killed, but not like-
00:41:06
Speaker
It's like torn apart and pieces left everywhere and just not like how cats would do it. And so he goes to tell Bluestar and she thinks that it's WindClan. It must be WindClan. They're trying to take over ThunderClan territory and they're definitely working with Tigerstar to do it. That's so Yeah.
00:41:30
Speaker
Well, because they found they found remains on the territory. So she's like, that must be a sign. They're to like they're they're warning us. They're trying to intimidate us. because It's WindClan.
00:41:42
Speaker
yeah Well, because when she went tried to go to the Moonstone, WindClan stopped her.
00:41:50
Speaker
And her logic is, well, it can't be RiverClan. RiverClan sheltered us during the storm.
00:41:59
Speaker
I mean, that's not terrible logic. Yeah. Fireheart tries convincing her that, like, well, there was no Wynn Clan scent on it, so there's not really a reason to think that it's Wynn Clan, and she gets pissed off and is like, are you disloyal too? Are you working with them? Oh
00:42:21
Speaker
She's like, oh but well but then she's like, no, you're not disloyal. You're just a hopeful fool. You don't see what I see. you You see good in everyone, but it's not there. The truth has been revealed to me and I know how disloyal everyone is.
00:42:39
Speaker
Jesus. This is sad. It's very alarming. This is so sad. Like...
00:42:55
Speaker
If I was firehard, this would be hard to watch. It's hard for him to watch, yeah. Yeah, like, fuck. Bluestar was my ultimate favorite character and I read these, and still. So, yeah, imagine, like, 13-year-old me reading these and this happening to my my beloved Bluestar.
00:43:20
Speaker
Yikes. Uh-huh. I also so is there going to be some sort of like big clan battle where it's ThunderClan and RiverClan against ShadowClan and WindClan? Because that's kind of.
00:43:37
Speaker
That's kind of how things are like being sort of set up. Well, we'll see.
00:43:49
Speaker
This next scene is really sad and feels really traumatic, so I'm going to go over it quickly and we're not going to linger on it long. the The camp has now... It does not have a lot of shelter after the fire, which means that birds of prey will fly over it and save a bunch of prey in the clearing and There's a hawk that's flying around them and everyone screams to hide. Snoke is out in the clearing and can't hear everyone screaming and it takes Snoke away and we're not going to go into much detail about that other than it took Snoke away and Brackenfur chased it through the forest trying to save Snoke.
00:44:39
Speaker
So yeah, Brackenfur still cares about Snow Kid a lot. Speckletail is obviously devastated and yep, that's that scene.
00:44:49
Speaker
Way to go. make Just make it so that anybody with any sort of disability will immediately die. Yep, ah there is a whole lot of criticism from the fandom about these books for exactly that reason. Any cat that has any sort of disability whatsoever, they're automatically like, well, you can't be a warrior. You have to either move to the Elder's Den or become a medicine cat or like you can't do anything. And this between this and Cinderpelt, it's not starting out great.
00:45:30
Speaker
Yeah, this was i devastating to read as a child, and I thought, maybe it's not as bad as I remember it being. Nope, it's as bad as I remember it being. So they literally just introduced this fact about Snow Kit just for him to... All right.
00:45:50
Speaker
Yep. From what I can tell, the point of this scene was For... Just... To drive home that tragic things are happening in ThunderClan.
00:46:05
Speaker
Okay!
00:46:08
Speaker
So, yeahp Bluestar uses this opportunity to declare in front of the whole clan that StarClan is at war with them. That's what this means. Oh my gosh.
00:46:21
Speaker
So... Yeah... yeah Oh, so she finally leaves her den to that. Yeah. So it doesn't feel great that we use this death kit as just a plot device to give Bluestar more trauma.
00:46:38
Speaker
Yeah. The gathering, we learn that Crooked Star has passed away. From what? for what oh
00:46:55
Speaker
Let me look it up. From wounds that were inflicted by an unknown source? ah I don't like this, Laura. I don't like where this is going. Uh-huh, uh-huh.
00:47:07
Speaker
Oh, Green Cough. Damn, that's just getting everyone. Yeah. so That makes Leopard Star leader.
00:47:19
Speaker
fuck
00:47:23
Speaker
Yep. And i he she makes Stonefur deputy and Stonefur convinces her to bring Graystripe to the gathering. So at least Fireheart and Graystripe get to hang out now at the gathering.
00:47:41
Speaker
Oh, interesting. So Stonefur, who is Bluestar's kid, is now deputy. Yep. And Graystripe tells Fireheart that Leopardstar is planning on taking Sunning Rocks back.
00:47:59
Speaker
Just proving again what a loyal RiverClan warrior he is. Yeah, like... This is... Man, like, yeah!
00:48:10
Speaker
Just because they knew you were going to do this shit! Yup. I mean, he's essentially just a ThunderClan spy at this point. Yeah. And he continuously questions why they don't trust him.
00:48:24
Speaker
i don't. Oh my gosh. Go on. I don't like this, but go on. Well, for this gathering, Bluestar has decided to come.
Conflict and Betrayal in Leadership
00:48:36
Speaker
The reason being that she needs to confront WindClan about stealing prey.
00:48:44
Speaker
Something they did not do. And WindClan looks very confused when she accuses them of this. And they're like, i we haven't been stealing prey. We don't have anything against ThunderClan. And she says,
00:48:59
Speaker
um they definitely have been. And someone mentioned something about StarClan. And she says, I don't care about the will of StarClan. oh um All of the cats at the gathering are completely shocked.
00:49:18
Speaker
As they should be. Because, i mean, it's essentially as if, like, a pastor got up and on Sunday morning said, don't care about the will of God. Yeah. so that's cool.
00:49:38
Speaker
When they get back, Bluestar tells ah Fireheart, we're going to launch an attack on WindClan, so get everyone ready.
00:49:51
Speaker
Tell me Fireheart doesn't do this. Well, Fireheart is very worried and he's like, let me sleep on it. Because she says they're going to attack like ah at dawn, I think. And he goes to take a little nap, hoping that Spottedleaf will come to him in in a dream.
00:50:10
Speaker
Spottedleaf and Yellowfang come to him in a dream. Oh, shit. Yep. And they tell him that... ah Oh, they bring him to like WindClan territory, like, you DreamwindClan territory. And they're like, look, look at this.
00:50:27
Speaker
This is where a battle won't be fought.
00:50:33
Speaker
And so Fireheart is like, great, we're gonna figure out how to avoid this battle.
00:50:43
Speaker
sandstorm wants to go hunting with him and he says no sorry i can't right now and she's pissed at him of course because she always is you don't make fucking time for me and fireheart is desperately trying to avoid this battle because he knows that this is a fucking insane thing to do he he goes to drastic measures and the only thing he can figure out is to go to Wynn Clan and talk to Tallstar.
00:51:16
Speaker
Yeah, talk to Tallstar, please. Tell him, like, yeah, Bluestar wants to go to war with you. i know you didn't do anything.
00:51:27
Speaker
So...
00:51:31
Speaker
I mean, that's but pretty much what he says. um But that's in a minute. Because on the way, he sees Darktail. Or sorry, not Darktail. He sees Darkstripe herding Bramblekit and Tawnykit somewhere through the forest.
00:51:54
Speaker
This motherfucker. And this was then this was the one who got mad Tigerclaw because he didn't tell him about the coup. Yep. Yep. Oh my gosh!
00:52:07
Speaker
I hate these these fucking cats.
00:52:12
Speaker
How dare you make me care so much? but ah I'm looking to make sure I have this in the right spot. OK. And I I knew this was going to happen. I knew that fucking Tigerstar was going to try and get his kids.
00:52:30
Speaker
I knew it.
00:52:34
Speaker
So they go and he brings them to just have a conversation with Tigerstar and Fireheart interrupts them and he's like, hey, Darkstripe, why do you have these kids out here when they're not allowed to be out here?
00:52:49
Speaker
And Tigerstar pretends to be all innocent and he's like, oh, I can't have a conversation with my kids. No.
00:53:00
Speaker
right And Fireheart is like, well, you've had your conversation, so now bring the kits back to camp. And Darkstripe does.
00:53:11
Speaker
is this such an upsetting book? but Yeah, it ah So...
00:53:19
Speaker
he fireheart goes to talk to tall star he convinces tall star to meet with blue star and tall star is like suspicious he's like blue star doesn't know you're doing this does she and fireheart just admits yeah no she doesn't but this is the only way i can see to avoid ah conflict. Fireheart doesn't explicitly say that she's planning an attack, but Tallstar is a smart dude, so he picks up on it.
00:53:54
Speaker
Yeah, especially since she just accused them of something. Yeah.
00:54:00
Speaker
And they agree that Ravenpaw will be the one to deliver the message to Bluestar Tallstar wants to meet. Because Ravenpaw has been declared a friend of ThunderClan and kind of like a neutral person. So they're essentially just using him to be the go-between.
00:54:19
Speaker
Right, because Ravenpaw is with Barley. Yeah. Yeah.
00:54:26
Speaker
Fireheart admits to Whitestorm what he did and Whitestorm is super pissed about it that Fireheart just took it upon himself to do this and Fireheart says, I didn't know what to do And Whitestorm is like, did it ever occur to you that you have cats here you could lean on and maybe you should have talked to one of us and gotten our advice?
00:54:48
Speaker
Instead of just doing this on your own, which makes Fireheart feel kind of guilty because he's like, okay, yeah, admittedly, I could have talked to you or Cinderpelt and he didn't do either one.
00:55:03
Speaker
But not, but not Sandstorm because she would just get mad at him. um Right.
00:55:08
Speaker
They tell all of the cats except Bluestar. So Fireheart gathers everyone up outside her den. And he tells them, and they are shocked that he did this and they're kind of various opinions on whether this was the right thing to do or not because some of them are like i mean blue star is kind of crazy now but some of them are like it doesn't matter she's our leader and the warrior code says the leader's word is law and she's guided by star clan well is she though because she just she just said fuck star clan yeah
00:55:50
Speaker
When Ravenpaw comes into camp to tell her about the meeting, she immediately knows what is going on because she's like, why would a tall star just conveniently at this time ask for a meeting? And I see that Fireheart hasn't gotten any of the cats ready for battle. So she is pissed at him. And this kind of breaks her trust of him. Completely. I said kind of, but it's not kind of. It's completely. She calls him a traitor, and she says, I regret giving up my kits to be in this clan full of traitors.
00:56:30
Speaker
This is terrible, and I wish that I had just never become leader. ah Holy fuck! Eee. Well, she said that in private.
00:56:41
Speaker
Oh, okay. Okay. ah ah Well, to be fair, Tigerclaw was a traitor. Yeah.
00:56:54
Speaker
They... they She does go to the meeting and they manage to avoid a fight. The meeting with Tallstar. And they manage to avoid a fight. But yeah, she essentially at this point is like, I can't trust anyone except Mistyfoot and Stonefur.
00:57:11
Speaker
I hate everyone else. Leave me alone. I'm going to be in my den. So she can't,
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:57:18
Speaker
she doesn't trust anyone except for two RiverClan cats. Yeah. Who don't even know that they're related to her. Mm-hmm.
00:57:28
Speaker
Apologies, dear listener. Like we have done with the last two episodes, we have decided to split this into two so we can dive very deep into it and not take up all of your time.
00:57:39
Speaker
But we forgot all about doing an outro because we were too excited about the book, so here I am by myself. If you would like to get in touch with us, you can join our Discord. It's linked in the episode description or at glitterfoxmedia.com where you can find all of the wonderful podcasts we do. Jerrica does one with her girlfriend and it's very, very good because they create worlds from prompts from you that you can submit in our discord.
00:58:07
Speaker
So go ahead and do that. And since Jerika's not here, i can talk her up a lot and say that she's very cool and creative in her world building. And she would be very happy if you went and gave her prompts, so you should go do that.
00:58:22
Speaker
And as always, i have been Snowstorm. Jerika had been Sparkleheart, but she's gone now and I'm all by my lonesome. remember, just because you got older,
00:58:35
Speaker
Doesn't mean you have to grow up. Bye.