#nanosecondthoughts

[redux-iterum]

Thunderclan better be super attentitive to Firestar because nobody has mentioned it on page or maybe it's just me but the Bluestar Trauma must be causing some anxiety! It must be. It's causing me anxiety and I know Firestar is going to pull through. He forgot. He forgot Badgerfang becoming a warrior! He forgot because of trauma and shock and stress but he forgot all the same and it's hitting the same buttons in my brain that started firing in Charred Legacy-

Also please give us more cold Firestar- please, just make him roast the people around him more. It would be great if he was in control of it and not just in a depression arc.

It's making me sad that we're not going to get much side-character interaction, if there is something I love about this book and the narration choice to stick to Firestar is that we can feel the isolation and the sudden separation of leadership along with him. It's really not the same as being a warrior or apprentice. It's so far away from the rest of the cats-

Firestar should jump down in one these gathering after the leaders are done speaking and just go around hanging out with others the way he used to.

So all of this is a treat, and I agree that the side-character interactions are a lot of fun, but this part:

You'll be very happy in the future, and that's all I'll say about that.

[redux-iterum]

Okay- So I have been here since this blog was new. Around four years or something. And I never felt the need to comment on anything. But here we go, you can have my thoughts and feelings I've had reading this rewrite or a rewrite for four years;

1) How dare you. In general.

2) You knew what you were doing with Tigerclaw. You knew we would come begging for him to be not evil. Even though he has been The Villian since thirty pages in Into The Wild.

3) I love the lore. Worldbuilding is one my favourite asoects of any media and you have went out of your way to make it as well-grounded as possible. I need to know the terminology. I need to know.

4) Why is Crookedstar dead. What did you do to him.

5) Thunderclan with Firestar and Riverclan with Leopardstar is certainly. A combo. A strange sight. I want to see those two interact just as much as I crave Firestar and Deputy Dustpelt interaction. Canon robbed us of Dustpelt and Firestar.

6) You are doing god's work.

7) I was so sad when the Redux stopped and I just had the story plotlines and ideas to imagine. But you made it! To the fourth book!

Glad to receive your thoughts! In order:

ouo

I have to say, I think the most fun part of the middle section of Burning Hearts was the deluge of comments I got here and on AO3 of people begging for Tigerclaw to be a good guy this time around. Credit again to our editor, Lynx, for kickstarting that idea with her love of Goldenflower!

I keep forgetting to work on the terminology post! We have more lore posts coming - I intend to finish off at least that part of this blog while RSR is posting - and I think they're pretty darn swell! The terminology will require me to go through the first arc again and mark down everything, so that'll probably be posted and updated after RSR is done.

oh yknow

You have no idea how much fun it was writing Leopardstar in this book. ESPECIALLY when she's talking directly to Firestar. Oh my god. I cannot wait.

Thank you!

Another round of thanks to Lynx for bringing me back into the ring. If I didn't have someone to go through the allegiances and handle all the bloodlines, names and colors, the Redux wouldn't have gotten a revival. It was only meant to go four books, and now we're planning all the way to the third arc with Special Editions! It's good to be here again.

[redux-iterum]

Okay so it just hit me that Sootkit and Rainkit are just clueless about recent history, how much do the little guys know????

They know nothing. Yet.

[redux-iterum]

I.

Wow.

Scourges death should have been celebrated. It would have been celebrated. And nobody can celebrate. Nobody can look at Firestar and come up with anything more positive than 'at least he is dead'. They can't even say that because of what got him into that state.

And everybody just being so kind to Firestar, the other leaders waiting for Firestars opinion, Dustpelt taking over the burial, Firestar sleeping with the warriors.

He is not doing well, and this probably will be haunting him forever. But through out the chapter I just kept thinking that it will be okay, bevause he has so many people ready to support him.

It really should be a great moment for the Clans, but this one simple wrench in the system has ruined it for a lot of people.

[redux-iterum]

So the way I thought it would go was that we would be meeting squirrel in this book since the riverclan cat and ravenwing were talking about squirrels in a previous chapter. But the fact that you split the role squirrelflight plays in the early series into two is making me ask a lot of questions.

Also Oracle is not surviving this book. And she reminds me so much of Spottedleaf I was suprised that Firestar did not make a comment on it internally, though I think he picked up on it unconsciously.

So, um. How common is it for a tom to adopt a kit without having a mate?

I can't say much about the future in this series or this book, so I'll just answer your question and leave it at that!

A solo father isn't the rarest thing on the planet, but it is less common than mollies adopting kits alone. Sexism and the culture of the nursery play a huge role in that - a tom with no blood connection to any of the kits will not be allowed to visit them, and as a result it's more regular for a matriarch to take on a maternal role and be the "parent" for a lone kit until they're able to wander out of the nursery and talk with their adult Clanmates. It's only after then that a tom may develop a familial relationship with that kit, and even then he has to be careful in case the matriarch is watching and her instinctual protectiveness leads to her not trusting him with a lone child.

What you're more likely to get is a more mature cat, apprentice-aged or newly named as a warrior, coming to see a tom older than them as their father, and he to them as his kid. Mentors and apprentices especially have this happen fairly frequently (helped by if an apprentice has lost both of their parents already and needs a parental figure to guide them through growing up). It's not even that much to remark upon for the Clans, but they always enjoy seeing it happen.

I guess the way I'd put it is that queens adopt kits more often, and toms adopt apprentices and warriors more often. If that makes sense.

[redux-iterum]

Alright, so did Leopardstar come up with the idea to go to Thunderclan on her own, saw it as the only option or did someone else push the idea?

Because Leopardstar isn't particularly happy or relieved about not being homeless. I don't know but she read to me as someone that was pushed to be there.

Well, they were.

Also, How do the elders and remaining senior warriors feel about Firestars leadership?

For the first question: It was mutually agreed by the other authorities of RiverClan that Sunningrocks was their best bet for a place to live. Leopardstar knew they were right, but it pissed her off badly enough that Stonefur went with her to request it as a temporary home, because he had no faith she would do it herself.

For the second: They all like him greatly (no surprise), and think he's doing quite well for someone so young. He's consulted the elders often enough that they feel comfortable with him being leader, because every time he talks with them, he demonstrates a humility and eagerness to do the right thing that would come with wanting to get multiple opinions. The senior warriors, as few of them as there are, are relieved they're in good hands. Paws. Whatever.

[redux-iterum]

How is Stormpaw and Mintpaw handling the loss of their grandfather- Do they have any other relatives or cats they're close with in the clan, actually, how are they doing in general?

In addition to being useful for cooking, sunflower oil is used for leather and hair conditioning!

[redux-iterum]

SATURDAY! SATURDAY! IT'S SATURDAY!!!!

Firestar is The Therapist Leader, he is the Social Worker that enjoys it. The most -heart to have ever -hearted. But the constant reminders to how the change in rank have shifted pre-existing dynamics is very sad to read. Firestar is very much a social butterfly and I don't hink the distance being a Leader gives him is good for him. I think he'll change tjat aspect of his leadership by the end of this book.

Tawnypaw and Bramblepaw are adorable. You're really good at setting up character personalities from kits to apprentice to nearly grown adults. Tawnypaw is still protective but it's way more subtle. Bramblepaw has insecurities and it's not subtle. Your Cloudpaw is my favourite version of the character. Such growth in personality.

And is it just me projecting- but is Thunderclan acting more open with eachother than they were in Kindling or is it just Firestar being closer to his clanmates than the first book?

The excitement for Saturday returns and it makes me happy.

Thank you for the kind words! I'll say now that ThunderClan has communally gotten closer to each other as the tragedies have come and gone and Firestar has influenced his Clanmates. They're tightly bonded, but Firestar doesn't get to enjoy it as much thanks to his position. We'll touch more on that in the future, so that's all I'll go into for now.