Fire and Ice

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, illness, injury and bullying.

The next day, more kits have fallen ill. Distressed, Fireheart visits Princess, who now has five kittens. He tells Princess about Bluestar’s illness and how he blames himself for Cinderpaw’s injuries since she was trying to deliver the message to Tigerclaw. Fireheart is especially frustrated because he doesn’t know why Tigerclaw summoned Bluestar (given the lack of evidence of a threat from ShadowClan). Princess wonders if Tigerclaw could have been hoping to lure Bluestar to an isolated location to harm her. Fireheart wonders if he would be happier to live as a domestic cat, but Princess points out, “It sounds like a good life […] sometimes even I stare into the forest and wonder what it feels like to live out there” (219).

Fireheart is sent on patrol with Sandpaw, an apprentice with whom he has a tense relationship. Sandpaw notices that the river has frozen and proposes crossing it so that ThunderClan warriors can “invade RiverClan’s territory and steal back some of the prey they’ve taken from us” (232). They hurry back to camp, where Sandpaw shares her plan with