I have Ivypool's Heart!

Whistlepaw hollers and asks if any cat is there. A deep purr answers her, and Ivypool spots two wildcats, clearly related to Tumble and Stalk, beckoning them. Whistlepaw sees them too, and bounds over to them. Ivypool thinks to herself that she's really got to have a talk with Whistlepaw about thinking first, and acting later, but she and the others follow Whistlepaw in succession. One of the wildcats mews a greeting and she's glad to see Clan cats after so long. Ivypool breathes, knowing this confirms the wildcats and Clans are connected. The other beckons them to follow. The two wildcats lead the four down a ridge and down into a ravine. The sides are rocky; ferns and small bushes cling to the sides with a small stream in the bottom. The mingled scent of many cats reach Ivypool, but not all of them are wildcats.

Several cats mill around the water's edge, resembling the start of a gathering before the Clan leaders begin the actual business. There are tabbies, large as the wildcats, and cats with thick, fluffy fur like the Sisters. Others smaller still, like Clan cats. Every color Ivypool could think of appeared in their pelts. The wildcats leading them there merge in with the crowd, and a black-and-white she-cat emerges to greet them, introducing herself as Galestar. Galestar is small, like the size of a Clan cat. Rootspring remarks she has a Clan name, and she must be a leader. Galestar sadly says she WAS a Clan leader. She adds that Whistlepaw got her vision. Whistlepaw is surprised, asking if that was her. Galestar says it was. Icewing mutters they've never heard of StormClan.

Galestar says the story of StormClan has been long forgotten, but there are things that the Clan cats must know, hence why she sent a vision to Whistlepaw. Galestar waves her paw over the surface of bare earth, revealing the StormClan symbol from earlier. Whistlepaw asks what it means. Galestar says she'll explain it in due time, but there are other matters to discuss. Irritated, Ivypool bluntly tells her to just give them answers. Galestar bows her head, and obliges. She explains that many many seasons ago, not long after the Clans were created, she was once the leader of WindClan, and she fell in love with Stripestar, the leader of ThunderClan. Ivypool remarks two clan leaders have never fallen in love. Galestar says she and Stripestar were the first. They tried to deny their feelings, but couldn't, and didn't know how to lead their Clans while also being together. Rootspring asks what she did then. Galestar says they decided to merge Clans, combining Thunder and Wind into a Storm.

Icewing mutters she never would have guessed. Galestar says that no leader had done that before. Both of them were so excited. Cats of ThunderClan and WindClan reluctantly accepted the idea. ShadowClan, RiverClan, and SkyClan despised the idea, as such a large Clan would become too powerful and disrespects the very establishment of the Clans in the first place since there's supposed to be five Clans, not one big one and three smaller ones. Galestar talks of the prophecy of the blazing star flower, which none of the Clan cats recognize. Galestar says the other Clans made good arguments, but she wanted to be with Stripestar, and he with her. It worked for a while, but Icewing, clearly annoyed with the exposition dump, tells her to speed it up since it's already mentioned as a tragic story.

Galestar nods an acknowledgement, and explains that they tried to stick to the warrior code, but it wasn't enough for the other three Clans and the ones in StormClan who disagreed with the merge. And so, they made the difficult choice to leave the forest territories. They tried many places to live and be happy, but all failed for one reason or another. Some cats returned to the forest, who became the ancestors of modern ThunderClan and WindClan. Galestar underestimated how feeding such a large group would be in foreign territory. Galestar says she feels guilty for all the cats who died because they believed in her and Stripestar. Galestar contemplated cutting her loses and going back, but she found out she was expecting kits. She had three kits, but the ThunderClan cats were restless to move on. Eventually they decided to go up to the mountain, but as they were, the worst storm that she had ever seen raged through them. As she was looking after the kits, it meant she fell behind in the group. To keep the kits safe, she took shelter in a crevice, but lost StormClan in the storm.

Rootspring and Ivypool exchange a glance, both thinking that the crevice they stayed in was the same one Galestar was in. Galestar goes on, explaining that the storm caused a rockslide and blocked off the entrance to the crevice. Galestar waited for Stripestar to come back and look for her, but days passed. She yowled for help as she heard her name being called by StormClan, but help never came. Galestar gets angry and says she and her kits were suffering for his mistakes, and he picked his Clan over her. Whistlepaw exclaims she saw the rockslide and mewling kits in her vision, surprising Galestar. Galestar continues, saying Whistlepaw is a good medicine cat and much more open minded than Kestrelflight. Whistlepaw mews that Stripestar probably didn't want to abandon her, he was just persuaded by his Clanmates.

Eventually the wildcats found Galestar and her kits, saving them from certain death. The wildcats took them to their camp. It was strange at first, as the wildcats didn't have distinct ranks. There were no warriors, apprentices, or medicine cats. Elders served as the leaders and medicine cats. They were so warmly welcomed, and with her kits so young, Galestar elected to stay. She became mates with a cat named Bound Hunt. She felt guilty about being unfaithful to Stripestar, but accepted she would never see him again and she was mad at him for abandoning them. She and Bound Hunt eventually had kits, and those kits had kits, eventually intermingling with the wildcats. She was happier with the wildcats, abandoning the Clan ways of life and the duties of a leader, including her name and nine lives. When she died, she was glad to see she found herself in the afterlife of the wildcats, not StarClan.

Whistlepaw asks why she's talking with Clan cats now then. Galestar says she has no ill will towards the Clans, but they need to repay the kindness the wildcats showed her. Icewing scoffs, clearly unimpressed with taking on the burden. Whistlepaw asks about the river running red with blood as per the vision, but Galestar is surprised and doesn't know anything about that. Galestar says they need to help release Tumble Leap and Stalk Purr. Icewing mutters it seemed like they didn't want to be freed. Galestar says they believe they're the last of their kind, but they're not. More wildcats live on the other side of the mountain, and they need only bring the two to them within the hidden valleys that the wildcats call home.

Whistlepaw mews she can probably find it. Rootspring asks what to do if they still refuse to come with them. Galestar says they'll leave as soon as they find out their kits will be taken away as soon as they're weaned. She says their names will be Pounce, Stretch, and Hunt. Ivypool is surprised she knows the names already. Galestar says that in the "eternal hunting grounds", they have a special connection to the kits, and them and their parents play an important role for the wildcats to come. Whistlepaw, excited, says they won't let them down. Ivypool promises as well, feeling renewed and thinks that even if she couldn't protect her own kit, she can at least help these ones.

I've found it's primarily them announcing they're hungry, trying to find food and either failing or another problem arising that prevents it. 

Has it? I’m pretty sure Rowanclaw just said he gave them up and he did. That’s why in River of Fire Tawnypelt thought he might come back, he never contacted StarClan to get rid of his lives, they just took them when he renounced them. Right?

I know this question wasn’t directed towards me, but if they do make a StormClan SE I think I’d prefer for it to be a dual Galestar and Stripestar POV book like SkyClan’s Destiny.

so within her lifetime, Galestar

-messed up the clan structure and her new clan was hated for it so much that they left the forest
-watched many of the cats who followed her die because of how poorly thought out the plan was
-not quite cat divorced, but separated from her husband
-contributed to the extinction of wildcats*

truly a girlfailureboss. 10/10

*Yes I know the irl thing of housecat wildcat hybrids being an issue has no bearing on wc. it's still funny to me

i just can't get over how much fanfiction energy her backstory gives off. "my OC was leader of windclan, and she fell in love with the leader of thunderclan. so they merged the clans together to create a new super clan, stormclan, but the other clans hated how awesome they were and so they had to leave. then she had kits with the other leader but a rockfall buried her in a cave and they tragically got left behind, but then she met up with some scottish wildcats who took her in and they became a new stormclan, anyways thats why all the cats in stormclan are bigger and cooler than other clans, because they're all part scottish wildcat"

Cats as large as wildcats, cats with thick, fluffy fur like the Sisters and small Clan-like cats. And here's Galestar, a black-and-white she-cat from WindClan. She's also the cat who gave Whistlepaw the vision and wants to repay the kindness that the wildcats once showed her. Again, what is the timeline? Is this before Ryewhisker and Cloudberry or after? We all know the second leaders are. The WC and TC leaders in the first code stories were named Duststar and Whitestar. Also, how is Windstar's descendants still around? I mean, I know she has a grandkit in ShC, RC and SkC. Forbidden romance? I wonder what the names of her first litter were. Her second mate was named Bound Hunt and they also have an unnamed litter. I also wish we knew what her warrior name was since she went back to it. Was Stripestar the cat from the prologue fueled with guilt? It sounds like the kits Whistlepaw heard were his and Galestar's.

The exact passage is here. I thought a skunk as well, though they don't really tend to have gray backs, do they? If it's an exotic animal show or something like that then I can see it being a honey badger. 

I got the vibe it was a summer camp. The adult human was described as an annoyed mentor and was wearing a shirt printed with the symbol, which to me sounds like a camp counselor.

I honestly forgot about that. Maybe it's a really small sandwich?? Otherwise I'm at a loss lol. The exact line is "[twoleg] put the shiny thing on one side, and took out what looked like a leaf wrap from inside the blue box. Unwrapping it, he took out a square white thing, two white things, Ivypool realized, with something colored brown and yellow between them. He put the whole thing into his mouth and took a bite."

Mini sandwiches are things in parties. Usually they're on skewers but I've seen them served without them too.



On the matter of the mysterious animal, I definitely think honey badger upon looking at some photos of them. There are certain honey badger individuals which have a more defined break between the 'stripe' and their back, while others kind of just have them meld together. If it's one of the former on the author's mind, I can see the description making sense.