After reading these, I'm sure by that you can kinda guess I do like a psychology just the slightest bit. Diving into topics that multiple people can have and studying what others and things we see affect us and how they affect us. It's a fascinating topic and each day, there's always something else that comes up that makes me study and ponder, coming up with answers of my own. There are millions upon millions of questions and answers anyone can come up and those questions might even be simple ones such as, "Why do you like that song?" or "Ever wonder why you can hear the voice of your friends when you read a text sent by them?" Right now, I'd like to ponder and wonder about siblings. Even if someone's an only child, I'm sure people, like friends, do have some kind of impact on your actions and the way you see things.

One person acts a different way than the other one does. The bond is as tight as blood; one sibling gets hurt and the other one cries, one is angry and the other takes action, one attacks the other and the other fights back, and many more. Other bonds aren't as tight; one steals the remote, hides it, and the other tries to find it with no avail, one messes with the other's things and the other one does the same thing back - the possibles are kinda random and endless. But as you grow and mature, I'm sure you learn how to work with the personality your friends or siblings give off. You know they're shy so you use that to your advantage, you know they're brave so you bring them wherever you go for support, you know they're gullible so you trick them into doing things that aren't the smartest things, you know they're caring so you talk to them when you're down - main point: we know how to use them to better ourselves. We know how they'll act and know what they'll do next and we apply those traits to ourselves, striving to improve.

Of course, there's always going to be some kind of rivalry because as each day goes on, I think there are some people who can see themselves in their siblings or friends.

X X X

"No, don't go in!" Mothpaw begged, practically throwing herself on her brother to stop him from entering Ashstar's den while he was in a discussion with Tigerfrost and Lionfur. A little ways off, Icepaw was sitting between Firepaw and Leopardpaw as they jeered him for being afraid of a cat like Aspenstar. When the sharp-eyed leader heard her name spoken, she approached the trio of apprentices slowly, advancing like a hungry snake. That stopped the siblings and their fight before she even got two inches in front of them. Beechpaw stopped fighting and looked at the brown leader, wanting to say something.

He held his tongue and Aspenstar walked away, hardly noticing the older apprentices. The moment her back was turned, Leopardpaw whispered something in Icepaw's ear and he snarled, batting her in the head. Firepaw joined in seconds, and another quarrel started. As if they had some kind of radar for the CinderClan leader, before she could even turn around, the siblings stopped their fight and sat shoulder to shoulder, all signs of their fight ending. Mothpaw and Beechpaw snickered when the leader turned away, and the three got back to their fight. Every time the trio sensed a piercing gaze, they stopped bickering and every time they did that, a certain she-cat was glaring at them with a mischevious gleam in her blue eyes.

From the den, Lionfur was first to exit, and his kits didn't have a radar for their father, and he caught them fighting and trying to rip at each other. His face dropped and he clenched his teeth, ready to explode. Tigerfrost followed, poking her head behind her mate to see the blockage. Then she noticed their kits and she gritted her teeth. They continued to fight as if their parents weren't standing there. Aspenstar noticed their exit and just like before, all she had to do was move her head in the apprentices' direction, and the battle finished.

Leopardpaw scrambled away, falling on her back. However, she landed at her father's side, eyes trailing up his legs up to his disapproving face. Her jaw dropped open and she stopped the fight as her brothers jumped around to fix themselves up. They frowned, noticing their sister's absence and spotted their father standing over her. Tigerfrost had slipped away and the two toms looked at one another, dread falling on their face. Very slowly, they looked behind their shoulders simultaneously. Right there, their striped mother stood, green eyes flashing.

"It was Firepaw's fault!"

"Blame Icepaw!"

"Leopardpaw started it!"

The family was dragged away by the two warriors, dragging their kits by their tails by force, small pleas of help coming from their hapless faces. Their cries went unheard, and the apprentices were dragged into a private section of the Clan where Tigerfrost and Lionfur adjusted themselves in front of them, blocking out any spectators.

"Rest in peace, Leopardpaw, Firepaw, and Icepaw," Beechpaw joked, keeping the whisper concealed to her alone. "You never got your warrior names."

"Don't joke about something like that!" she demanded, cuffing him in the ear. "That's not very nice of you! You know that all of us had to go through something like that when Echoflight caught us in one of your or Honeypaw's ideas! All of us would get scolded and dragged into a punishment some of us didn't even follow through with!"

"Beechpaw? Mothpaw" An old voice stopped their conversation and Ashstar sat outside his den, tail curled neatly on his paws. The two siblings stopped and straightened up and the tom gave them a curious look, seeming to wonder what was going on between them. He spotted the two cats he recently spoke to in the corner and connected the rest of the story in his head.

Beechpaw was the first to approach him and ask, "Can we ask you some questions, please? Both of us have the same questions and we really want to know the answers."

"We do?"

"Yeah!" Beechpaw said through clenched teeth, directing the snarl at his little sister. He shoved her aside and stood over her, blocking her view of Ashstar. The leader peeked under her brother's legs, spotted her, and returned to the tom. Shaking with excitement and curiosity, the striped tabby leaned closer.

"What exactly do you want to know?" Ashstar asked, motioning Beechpaw to get off Mothpaw. He beckoned both of them into the small den. "We can talk in here if you'd like."

"Yes, please!" Beechpaw bounced through, dragging Mothpaw by her tail. She stumbled in and almost crashed into the wall, but she was careful not to destroy the den too much. Inside, there was a small nest pushed all the way in the corner and another nest next to it. They smelled strongly of Deerleaf and Ashstar, and she assumed that the she-cat visited the den often to check on her father. Ashstar sat down in his nest and looked at the vacant nest beside him, offering the two to slid in.

They accepted and got into the nest, Deerleaf's warm scent flying in their face like the wind. Mothpaw adjusted herself in a more preferred position while Beechpaw sat down and wouldn't budge no matter how hard she pushed him. She gave up after a single attempt and flattened her ears, quickly erasing the look on her face with joy. The den she was in was smaller than what it looked outside, she was a little disappointed in it, but didn't say anything to Ashstar. It had a cozy and secure feel to it, something she didn't get when she slept in the crowded apprentice den.

This is the first time I've been here, hasn't it? Mothpaw wondered, hoping there was something else in the den that she was missing. With the only light coming from the entrance and Ashstar's nest positioned as far away from it, it was hard to see anything until her eyes adjusted to the lighting. In the dark, she couldn't pick out her leader's features too well, and maybe that was something he liked, going unrecognizable until he stepped into the light. Beechpaw scooted to the side the slightest, giving her more breathing space, which she grabbed before he could regret his action.

"What is it you want to talk about? Something the matter?" Ashstar questioned, figure looking at Beechpaw.

Beechpaw nodded his head. "We want to know about Aspenstar. I know that asking her would be a better decision, but she still kinda scares me. I don't know what she'll do and how she'll react."

"How bad are these questions? You are right, coming to me isn't a smart choice if you want to learn about her, but I do understand how she might come off as bossy and unpredictable," Ashstar murmured. "I can tell you all I can without pushing too much into her personal life."

"That's good enough," Mothpaw replied. "We really don't want to know everything about her. Just knowing how to deal with her because she's unreadable would be nice. I remember Slatepaw and Cloudpaw telling us when we were taken prisoners by her that you two were really close, maybe even lovers."

That made Ashstar laugh. "Lovers, now? That sounds a little too much, but I wouldn't consider our relationship a romantic one. It was more like a sibling one if anything."

"But what got us is the fact she claims to know MeadowClan territory by heart. When we found her Clan, she said that she didn't want to stay in our territory without your knowing because she knew where all the herbs were so she could heal her Clan. I thought a leader wasn't supposed to know where the herbs were, that's a medicine cat's job. If I'm wrong, then I question how she can claim that the territory is so familiar to her when she isn't even a part of the Clan herself."

"Sounds like Daystar," Ashstar answered. "It isn't really a surprise, she always looked up to that she-cat when we were younger."

"How does Daystar fit into this?" Beechpaw demanded a little harshly, and he slammed his mouth shut, afraid. Mothpaw thrust her paw over his mouth, making sure an apology wouldn't come flying out. Ashstar didn't scold or punish them and purred.

"Aspenstar loved Daystar when we were training. She looked up to her every day, though, when her leader went missing, that's when she went a little crazy. Perhaps a little more crazier than what she already is. After all, that was the first time a leader disappeared under our noses." Ashstar got up from his nest and padded over to the exit, lifting a paw to touch the roof. Messing around, a large leaf fell over, shrouding the three cats in total darkness. Mothpaw pressed closer to her brother and he reciprocated it.

"Ashstar...?" Beechpaw called, worried. "Was Daystar Aspenstar's mentor? Before she disappeared?"

"No, Aspenstar is related to Daystar distantly. I did take Pebbleflight as a mate." The tom sat back in his nest, and with her eyes adjusted to the lighting, Mothpaw could see Ashstar's figure once again, a soft glow emitting from his weary eyes.

And Dapplefur, Mothpaw silently thought. It never really bothered us that Daystar was Echoflight and Pebbleflight's mother; we never knew who she really was. I guess she's just another cat with a name and some grand story without a cat to prove any of it.

"Then..." Beechpaw gulped and she could feel him braving enough courage to stand up and speak. She touched his shoulder with his nose, unsure what he was thinking of, but she tried to offer what little support she could. A warm tail wrapped around hers and a low purr vibrating in him. Ashstar let out an exhausted sigh and slunk into his nest, swallowed by straws of dried grass and leaves.

"Aspenstar's related to you somehow. When you say Pebbleflight, I think that she's related to our mother, but Pebbleflight is her one and only sister. Unless Daystar had siblings, there's no way she'd be related to you. If what you're saying is true, she's also related to us in some way," he said that with disgust dripping from every word. Beechpaw groaned and shook his head, clearing his mind as Mothpaw softly giggled into her paw.

"And you act like her, in a way," Mothpaw whispered, hoping her input would be valued. "You both like it when you get something right. During the battle with Shatteredstar, you were almost beaten but somehow knew that Aspenstar was ready to fight and all you had to do was give the command. Your minds are connected and you fight like any other cat in the Clan, but unlike cats like Tigerfrost and Splashpelt, if they were to get into a small fight, they'd fix it as soon as possible. With you and her, it's like it goes on."

Ashstar took the words into consideration and only nodded his head slowly, eyeing each of them. Beechpaw and Mothpaw exchanged a glance through the dark, two, amber orbs reflecting back at her blue ones. There was a flutter in her heart but then her brother lowered his head, determination swarming over the two. The feeling stopped and she locked eyes with him one more time, wanting to say something. He squeezed her tail with his and then the two faced their leader at the same time. The sense she got in her stomach... she couldn't find the words to describe it, but she knew she'd fight with every nerve and bone in her body to keep that taste on her tongue.

I trust you, Beechpaw.

"She's your sister, isn't she?"

The den was peaceful for once. Beechpaw was adamant and faced his leader boldly, bravery surging through his body after that statement. Mothpaw hid her curiosity, going over the facts in her mind again as Ashstar remained still. Memories flooded in, each moment she saw the two leaders interact with one another, their arguments, teamwork, bravery, skill, and lenience with each other being much greater than the bond with their own deputies. Each strike of a paw or declaration coming out of their jaws always being fought with another argument or cause twice, if not the same depth as the other.

Another she-cat entered the picture, warm eyes glittering with a shade of soothing amber. Body small and petite but hid the strength of a warrior underneath. Light as a feather, twirling and spiraling in the air after a mouse or bird. Stealthy and secretive, lingering above the trees or den at a certain silver leader. Her image faded away and replacing her idea of Amberfeather stood Ashstar and Aspenstar, leaders who held the world in their paws.

"I don't understand why it was hidden from you for so long," Ashstar said. "But you are correct. Aspenstar, leader of CinderClan and MeadowClan's former medicine cat, is my older sister."