"I don't know what a diorama is, but - there's quite a lot to cover and I'm not sure this specifically is important to check right now.  I can ask someone back at camp which it was."

"Okay. Offer's available for historical mysteries in general."

"I will keep that in mind; thank you.

This was also when Brokenstar was in power.  Brokenstar killed his father, who was Clan leader, as well as several kits, and framed his m - his own medicine cat, Yellowfang, for it.  ShadowClan exiled her and she came to live in ThunderClan.

They drove out WindClan from their territory for more hunting ground.  They stole kits from ThunderClan to replace the ones Brokenstar killed, and in capturing them one of his warriors killed Spottedleaf, our medicine cat, which - medicine cats aren't warriors; it's more wrong to kill them than other cats.  Yellowfang succeeded her.  We helped ShadowClan remove him and his followers from power while retrieving the kits, and Ravenpaw went to go live with Barley.  We said he'd been killed by one of Brokenstar's patrols; Tigerclaw had already done things like send him alone on a hunting mission to Snakerocks and was trying to turn the rest of the Clan against him."

This is so much cat politics. Why is there so much cat politics. "Motives for all this murder are mostly - covering up other murders and securing power? But I'm not clear on why clans attack other clans' territories."

"The deaths of ShadowClan kits were because Brokenstar apprenticed them at two moons old instead of four and his training regimen was too harsh, not - as deliberate as the other deaths he caused, at least.  Still very obviously avoidable.  And when Clans want more territory it's because - that's where we live, that's how we get our food; more territory can support a larger and healthier Clan . . ."

"And there's nowhere around nobody's using?"

"The leaders who've tried to conquer other Clans apparently didn't think so.  Or they just didn't care.  ThunderClan has never tried to expand our territory that I know of; Bluestar sent me and Graystripe to find WindClan and help them return."

"Do clans ever peacefully split or merge?"

"As far as I know there have always been four."

"...bout how long is 'always'?"

"Many years?"

"Like, twenty, fifty, a hundred, two hundred -?"

"I don't know what any of those words are.  Or, I know 'like', 'a', and 'two' . . ."

"...huh. You have four paws. Five cats have twenty paws between them. Five - litters of five kittens each - have a hundred paws between them."

Fireheart puzzles a moment.  "I still don't know.  I think there were elders who were born as Clan cats when our current elders were kits, from the stories I've heard them tell, so at least that long."

"Okay, so fiftyish years maybe more. I wish I could tell by conjuring which cats can talk and which can't but I don't seem to be able to."

"Fifty is . . ?"

"Slightly less than three cats' worth of toes."

". . . I think that our elders are not that old.  Hm.  There's - one two three four five six seven eight nine - "  He pauses and makes a face, tail flicking back and forth.  "And ten?"

The numbers up through nine are catspeak words Cam got with his summon.  'Ten' is the English (or, Latin) word, transliterated.

"Yes, ten. The current elders are almost certainly not fifty years old, but if when they were born the elders who were around at that time were born to already-existing clans, that's like three or four generations of clan cats."

"That's a new word to me.  And I knew what you meant with the generations and I still think our elders are not that old."

"How old do you think the elders are?"

"Smallear, our oldest cat, isn't more than three paws' worth of toes; the other older ones are probably around two front paws - er, ten years - and I think Patchpelt was maybe seven years."

"...ah. Indoor kittypets live like ten to fifteen years."

"Well.  Patchpelt died in the fire.  Or.  After the fire.  The - smoke, even though I got him out - "