SkyClan's Destiny

SkyClan's Destiny is a children's fantasy novel and the third super edition in the Warriors series, credited to the pen name Erin Hunter. The story takes place six months after the events of *Firestar's Quest*, when Firestar and Sandstorm left the gorge. The Clan is dealing with internal tensions over "daylight warriors"—house cats who train with SkyClan during the day but return to their human owners at night. Later, four loners named Stick, Cora, Coal, and Shorty, whom Firestar had met on his earlier journey, arrive and become another source of debate. Major themes include rebellion and SkyClan needing to determine its own destiny without help from other Clans or their warrior ancestors.

The plot begins with Leafstar, the Clan leader, receiving a dream from Spottedleaf, a former ThunderClan medicine cat who helped SkyClan when it was first reformed. In the dream, cats say, "This is the leaf-bare of my Clan. Greenleaf will come, but it will bring even greater storms than these. SkyClan will need deeper roots if it is to survive." The next day, Leafstar and the Clan’s medicine cat, Echosong, realize they had the same dream. Meanwhile, Leafstar starts developing feelings for Billystorm, a daylight warrior. Tensions rise as some regular warriors, like Sharpclaw, mock the daylight warriors, calling them "kitty warriors" and questioning their loyalty. Leafstar tries to keep the peace but struggles.

When the four loners arrive, they learn battle moves and hunting techniques from the Clan. In exchange, Stick teaches the Clan how to destroy a rat family living in a dump on their territory. After this success, the loners begin leading patrols, even though Sharpclaw still refuses to let daylight warriors do so, despite the daylight warriors having been with the Clan longer. Leafstar later follows a group of SkyClan cats to a nearby town and discovers the loners came to recruit help against a group of cats stealing prey there. She agrees to help but insists no killing. The battle ends in SkyClan’s victory, but Stick’s daughter Red dies protecting her mate, whom Stick had tried to kill because he believed the mate threatened her. Stick becomes angrier when Leafstar calls off her warriors from killing anyone, a policy he rejects. After returning home, Leafstar sets new rules for visiting cats: they must help hunt daily, cannot be taught fighting moves until they have