ScorchClan | 16 She-cats | 12 Toms | 2 NB (1 DMAB, 1 DFAB)
Leaders - Stonesky - Blue point tom with blue eyes. / Dustleap - Lilac tabby and white she-cat with hazel eyes.
Deputies - Drizzletail - White she-cat with van gray tabby spots and green eyes. / Sandshadow - Cream mink tom with teal eyes.
Warriors
Lizardbelly - Light ruddy ticked tabby she-cat with minimal white and yellow eyes.
Reddusk - Cinnamon smoke and white she-cat with blue eyes.
Dawnspeckle - Golden-shaded blue-cream tortoiseshell she-cat with copper eyes.
Gorgefang - Fawn marbled tabby tom with pale orange eyes.
Palestone - White she-cat with green eyes.
Thymeclaw - Bicolor black and white tom with golden eyes.
Tawnyfeather - Cream point she-cat with pale blue eyes.
Canyonflight - Dark red-silver tabby tom with orange eyes.
Rockflower - Blue spotted tabby tom with orange eyes.
Duckstep - Lilac marbled calliby genderfluid cat with yellow eyes and a bobtail. Biological female.
Cindersmoke - Lilac smoke she-cat with copper eyes.
Timberfire - Dark ginger tom with orange eyes and white paws.
Brookclaw - Blue tabby tom with minimal white and hazel eyes.
Skycloud - Gray and white swirl-patterned she-cat with blue eyes.
Apprentices
Petalpaw - Black she-cat with vitiligo and green eyes.
Batpaw - Black tabby tom with green eyes.
Jaypaw - Blue-cream tortoiseshell golden shaded she-cat with green eyes.
Longpaw - Blue tom with blue eyes.
Queens
Flowersong - Amber tortoiseshell she-cat with orange eyes.
Burntwhisker - Chocolate torbie she-cat with green eyes. Mother to Thymeclaw's kits, Drykit, Mothkit and Smokekit.
Drizzletail - See above. Expecting Sandshadow's kits.
Kits
Breezekit - Pale amber tabby trans she-cat with green eyes.
Lionkit - Amber smoke tom with copper eyes.
Drykit - Light chocolate torbie she-cat with amber eyes.
Mothkit - Calico she-cat with green eyes.
Smokekit - Bicolor black and white she-cat with hazel eyes.
Elders
Nightstorm - Dark blue smoke tom with copper eyes.
"One more, Burntwhisker!" Stonesky urged, placing his paw on her belly as he watched with a concerned gaze. This litter was a big one, and their birth had not been easy. The camp had been up since moonhigh the night before because of Burntwhisker's yowls of pain. Now she was just laying on her side, panting, and the leader was certain that her throat was raw from all of her earlier noises. He couldn't imagine how she felt - past sunhigh and she was still in labor!
Finally, after much help and encouragement, the final kit was out of its mother, and her contractions subsided. As she sat up slowly to look at her kits and lap at the damp mossball that Dustleap had just brought in, Stonesky began to lick the kit's fur backwards to help it breathe and warm up, but after a moment he noticed something strange. The kit wasn't moving at all. He was completely still - no breathing or squirming or mewling. He closed his eyes and sent a prayer to StarClan to give the little kit safe passage before moving him next to his mother. "He didn't make it, Burntwhisker. I'm sorry."
The devastated she-cat let out a long, mournful wail at his words, her voice clearly hoarse. Thymeclaw poked his head into the nursery, which was beginning to get a bit crowded with the presence of both of the leaders, the queen, her mate, and their kits. "Burntwhisker, are you alright?" With that, Stonesky and Dustleap shared a look, then Dustleap nodded and led the way out. While they went to go announce the kits, Thymeclaw made his way inside, licking his mate's ears comfortingly. "Please, Burntwhisker, what is it?"
"Our last kit..." The torbie's green eyes filled with pain as she looked down at her son. "He's stillborn." Her eyes closed in grief as she tried to hold back sobs. Finally, she opened her eyes to look at her remaining kits. "The rest are all she-kits."
Thymeclaw was silent, listening to the distant sounds of the announcements of the birth outside. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, unsure of what to say. He felt the same grief that his mate did, but he didn't know what he could tell her. "We should name him, so he doesn't go to StarClan unnamed," he finally mumbled.
Burntwhisker sniffed and nodded, drawing the still kit in and licking gently around his ears. He was already beginning to smell of death - one of the leaders or deputies would likely be back soon with lavender to cover it up. "What do you think we should name him?" Her mind was too clogged with sadness to think straight, and she wanted to give him a good name, one he could be proud of in StarClan.
Thymeclaw nuzzled his mate comfortingly, laying down beside her and looking at their kittens. "What about Cliffkit?" he suggested finally. The deep fawn that covered half the kit's body reminded him of the color of the tall, rocky walls of the gorge in which they lived.
"I like that name." Burntwhisker rested her head on her mate's shoulder, letting out a long, shaky sigh. "It's a strong name, one for a protector. Maybe he'll watch over his siblings from StarClan."
"I'm sure he will," Thymeclaw agreed, licking Cliffkit's fur the right way so it didn't look messy any more. "It's been a long day for you, Burntwhisker. You should rest. We can name our other kits later, and I'll wake you for Cliffkit's burial."
Burntwhisker nodded, laying her head down on her paws. She didn't have the strength to argue with Thymeclaw, and he was right, she was absolutely exhausted. With one last look at her new kits, she closed her eyes to sleep, ready for today to be over.
Over the sound of the other kits playing in the nursery, the nameless kitten felt a purr rumble through Burntwhisker as she pulled her close. "I think I'll name you Mothkit, for the way you're attracted to light," Burntwhisker purred jovially, licking her calico kit's head. "What do you think, Thymeclaw?"
Mothkit's ears angled towards her father's voice as he came from across the camp. "I think it's perfect. We've put off naming them long enough, anyway."
Light. Was that what the warm patches were that she was always wandering towards?
"What about her sisters?" Thymeclaw asked his mate. Mothkit liked her parents. They were both very nice and took good care of her.
"What about Drykit, for the torbie?" Burntwhisker offered. "Her brown patches look like dry earth."
"I like it!" one of her sisters squeaked.
"I think it's a pretty name, Mama!" Mothkit said enthusiastically, her tiny tail flicking this way and that.
"Then it's settled. You'll be Drykit," Thymeclaw chuckled.
"What about me?" Mothkit's other sister demanded.
She turned her head towards her, tilting her head. "You should be Loudkit!" she teased, getting down into a crouch.
"No! I'm not loud!" her sister whined. Mothkit heard the scuffle of paws on the ground and rolled away quickly, feeling the other kitten rush by where she had just been.
"Now, now, don't tease your sister," Thymeclaw reprimanded Mothkit gently, picking her up by her scruff and setting her down between his paws. He began licking her head, cleaning the dust off her fur that she had accumulated by rolling, while she sulked at being treated like a small kitten. She was one and a half moons old, she didn't need to constantly be cleaned!
"What about Nightkit, sweetheart?" Burntwhisker asked.
"But Nightstorm is an elder!" she complained. "I don't want to be named after an elder!" Mothkit giggled quietly as her sister puffed up indignantly. She was always a little bit of a perfectionist, and ever since they started to talk she'd been thinking up names she might want. Drykit was frailer and much less outspoken than their sister, and Mothkit had a feeling she would be fine with anything that their parents could've named her. Mothkit herself was content with the name she was given because she liked the feeling of moth's wings fluttering against her face when she sat outside and was really, really still on warm ScorchClan evenings.
"Well," Thymeclaw said after a moment of thinking, "How about Smokekit?" He probably remembered that she said she liked that name once.
There was a short pause in which Mothkit heard her going, "Hmmmmm," softly. Finally she said, "I like it!"
"Smokekit it is, then," Burntwhisker purred, laughing softly.
"How come they get to pick their names?" Another kitten's voice reached Mothkit's ears, and she turned to look at Breezekit, blinking at the amber tabby. Her voice was always really squeaky, but Mothkit knew that she did it on purpose, because she had asked once not too long ago and Breezekit told her it was because her normal voice was starting to get deeper and she didn't like it. Mothkit sort of understood, though she wondered why it was such a big deal for her.
Breezekit's brother, Lionkit, and their mother, Flowersong, were coming out of the nursery after him. "Yeah, that's not fair!" Lionkit huffed, though he held his head high as he added, "My name's great, though. But it would've been cool if I picked it!"
Flowersong let out a soft little laugh, running her tail down her son's back. "None of them picked their names, they were just asked their opinion. In the end, the decision is up to their parents." She looked up at Burntwhisker with a smile on her muzzle. "What are their names, Burntwhisker?"
"They're now Mothkit, Drykit, and Smokekit," Burntwhisker purred proudly. Mothkit felt her tail pass over her head as she said her name and assumed she did the same before scampering away towards Breezekit and Lionkit to play, tuning out what the adult cats were saying.
"Do you guys wanna play?" she asked, lifting her tail high in her excitement. "We could play warriors! Or tag!"
Lionkit and Breezekit exchanged a look before Breezekit said quietly, "Momma says we still have to be careful of you guys. You're still really young and we're a lot bigger, and you could get hurt really easy!"
"What about mossball?" Lionkit suggested instead, offering her a bright smile.
Mothkit pouted as he suggested mossball, not noticing how genuine his grin was. "I'm not a tiny kit! I can handle rough games!" Plus, she was awful at mossball. She and her siblings had been introduced to it when they first began to feel the need to get their extra energy out, and she had never won a game. Once she was able to bat the mossball back to Smokekit, but that was just on pure luck.
"I'll play with you," Smokekit said sweetly as she padded up to join them, Drykit tailing along behind her. The little calico kitten wanted to scoff at how obvious her crush on Lionkit was. She was just trying to get the older tom to like her better! "Mothkit might not know how to catch a mossball, but I do!"
"That's not very nice," Breezekit said. Mothkit could almost hear the frown in her voice, and silently thanked her for coming to her rescue.
It went unnoticed, however. "We should find some moss, then!" Lionkit said enthusiastically.
As the two kits went back into the den to claw moss away from the nests (Mothkit thought with no little satisfaction about the trouble they'd be in later when their mothers found out), Drykit and Breezekit both came to sit with her.
"I don't like mossball much either," Drykit mumbled, shaking her head. She wasn't that good at mossball, like Mothkit. Then again, Drykit really wasn't that great at anything if it had to do with any physical effort, at least so far.
Breezekit nudged both of them encouragingly. "I'm sure you'll both get better at it later! You just need to practice." She seemed to realize what she was saying and amended, "If you want to, I mean."
"Burntwhisker, Thymeclaw!" Just at that moment, Mothkit heard the voice of a cat that she vaguely recognized heading in their direction, and she turned her head to watch them approach. "Sandshadow and I want to speak to you." There was a pause, and Mothkit could sense the lilac tabby's hesitation. Her name was conjured up in her mind after a moment - this was Dustleap, one of the cats who visited the kits sometimes. Sandshadow's name was even more familiar, since his mate, Drizzletail, had recently moved into the nursery expecting his kits.
Mothkit liked Drizzletail. She was stern and hated being woken from her naps by a pile of tussling kits, but whenever Mothkit answered questions she always seemed to be able to answer them.
Dustleap finally seemed to decide against whatever she was thinking of saying and led Burntwhisker and Thymeclaw away from the nursery. Mothkit's ears pointed towards them as they left, straining to hear what they were saying as they mumbled among each other. Their retreating voices were too hard for even Mothkit to make out, however, even with her sharp sense of hearing. She felt a prick of irritation, wanting to sneak after them to find out more, but she was awful at sneaking, and she would surely get found out and get in trouble.
"I wonder what that's about?" Breezekit said curiously, looking after them.
"I dunno. Shouldn't they be talking to your momma about you being apprentices with Lionkit?" Drykit questioned.
Mothkit's tail swished behind her as she crouched down in the dust of the camp's floor. "Maybe they're telling Momma and Poppa that we're so good at stuff that we get to be apprentices first!" she teased, before leaping for Breezekit, knocking her to the ground. "I mean, 'cause, I just pinned you!"
This made Breezekit laugh until tears stung the corners of her eyes, and she pushed Mothkit off of her after a moment. "I doubt it, Mothkit, but I'm sure that your parents are very proud of your pouncing skills!" She gave the little kit an affectionate nuzzle before looking over to Drykit. "Do you two want to learn some hunting moves?"
"Mothkit, could you come here, sweetie?" Mothkit turned to look for the source of the voice, finding that it was her mother, waiting for her by the entrance to the leaders' den. Her voice sounded weird, like something was wrong. Mothkit made her way over, but on the way she was suddenly hit in the head with a mossball.
"That was coming right for you!" She scowled as Smokekit came over to retrieve the mossball, using her usual know-it-all voice. "You so could have easily caught that, Mothkit!" Smokekit laughed, seeming unaware that her words might've hurt Mothkit's feelings, and Mothkit resisted the urge to say something back.
Momma is watching, and I don't want to get into trouble, Mothkit reminded herself, shaking her head and padding the rest of the way over to meet her mother, trying not to feel too disgruntled. It wasn't her fault that she didn't know the mossball was coming - she was focused on something entirely different right now, and Smokekit and Lionkit had acted like they were just going to play mossball by themselves.
"Are you okay, dear?" Thymeclaw asked as she joined them.
"I'm okay," Mothkit replied, no longer feeling too upset over it. It was just a stupid mossball. "What are we doing here, Poppa?"
"Well," Thymeclaw started, glancing at Burntwhisker, "Stonesky, Dustleap, Drizzletail, and Sandshadow wanted to speak to you about something very important. Go on in, your mother and I will be right behind you. Everything will be fine, just do what they say and it'll all turn out okay."
Mothkit could sense the unease in his voice, but before she could ask about it, Burntwhisker was pushing her forward into the den. "Go ahead, dear," she said briskly, though underneath the sharp edge to their voice Mothkit could tell that something was still wrong with her, too. She frowned and kept walking forward as Burntwhisker gave her another sharp nudge.
"Hello, Mothkit." A pretty white she-cat greeted the kitten as she stepped into the den, the gray tabby on her head and tail giving her away as Drizzletail. "You know me, don't you?"
"You're Drizzletail," Mothkit said with a nod, scenting the air just to make sure she was right. Her scent carried the faint traces of milk that came with her being a new queen.
"That's right," another, more unfamiliar cat said, his voice flat and grating in a way that made Mothkit want to pin her ears back, but she didn't because that would be rude. Still, his voice was very unpleasant - the way his voice was pitched and that monotone that he spoke with went awfully together. She had to wonder how someone who sounded like that managed to get with someone like Drizzletail, who was so pretty and had such a sweet voice to listen to. "That's Drizzletail. Do you know the rest of us?"
"You're..." She sought her mind for the answer, then finally remembered where she'd heard his voice before. He'd visited Drizzletail a few times in the nursery, but usually she was out in the camp organizing things, so he didn't have to come find her there very often. "You're Sandshadow, right? And the other two are Dustleap and Stonesky." They came by at least a couple of times each quarter-moon to check on the kits, so they were easy to identify, even by scent alone.
"Very good," Stonesky praised, his gravelly voice much more pleasant than Sandshadow's. She hoped he would talk more than the other tom did while they were all here. "Now, Mothkit... We're going to ask you to do a few things. Firstly, there are two stones in front of me. I'd like you to pick the larger of the stones and give it to me."
This wasn't hard at all! Mothkit wondered if this was some new game the adult cats were playing, and if her siblings would get to play, too. She went towards the sound of his voice and stopped when her paw landed on top of a rock.
"Very good, Mothkit!" Burntwhisker praised loudly from behind her, though she quailed under a sharp glance from Sandshadow. Momma still sounds weird. I wonder why she's so worried! This is a fun game. Still, her words made her think that the rock she had her paw on was the larger one, so she rolled it towards Stonesky.
He let out a sigh that seemed disappointed, and she wondered with a tiny flare of anger why he wasn't happy. She'd done what she was supposed to do! "You did very good, Mothkit. Burntwhisker, Thymeclaw, I'm going to have to ask both of you to leave for now. We'll be out in just a moment - it won't take us long at all."
Why did her parents have to leave? Mothkit turned to watch them go, Thymeclaw speaking in hushed tones to his mate as they left, but another voice soon distracted her.
"Here, Mothkit. Now pick from these three stones. They're all different from the last two." Mothkit nodded, bounding forward to sniff curiously at each rock in front of Dustleap, whiskers brushing over them as she found each one.
She picked out the rock on the far right. "This one is the biggest!"
"That's right," Stonesky said, seeming a bit troubled. "Now, we need to ask you to do one last thing, Mothkit. Stay where you are. Dustleap, go to the other side of the cave."
Mothkit heard the sound of pawsteps as Dustleap went to the far side of the cave, and she wondered what this was all about. "Mothkit," Dustleap called, catching her attention. "I'm posing in a specific way right now - can you mimic what I'm doing?"
Oh, this was easy too! Mothkit breathed a sigh of relief as she lifted a paw to go over to Dustleap, but Sandshadow's voice stopped her. "No! Mothkit, stay where you are and copy what she's doing."
"But - but how am I going to know if I can't touch her?" Mothkit said in confusion, sitting back on her haunches. First she thought this was easy, and now they were telling her that she had to guess? Dustleap could be in any pose at all. She crouched down, hoping it would be right, and asked, "Is - is this right, maybe?"
There was murmuring among the other four cats, then Dustleap cleared her voice. "Mothkit, can't you see what I'm doing? There's enough light here that it shouldn't be hard for you to see."
"It's colder in this cave than outside, though," Mothkit complained, hunkering down and wrapping her tail around her back paws. "It's warmer out there. It's lighter. What does that have to do with knowing what pose you're in?"
"Oh, Mothkit." Drizzletail's voice was breathy and mournful as she closed her eyes. "You poor thing."
"What did I do?" Mothkit demanded, becoming increasingly afraid and frustrated. If they didn't tell her what she was doing wrong, how was she supposed to fix it? "I did everything you asked me to!"
There was another pause, then Stonesky spoke. "Mothkit, you're... You're very different from the other kits in the nursery."
"Of course I am!" Mothkit huffed. "Lionkit and Smokekit are bossy and Breezekit is all cautious and Drykit can't play like us because she's tiny but she's smart and I'm me!" She still didn't see what any of this had to do with what they'd just made her do.
"No, Mothkit," Stonesky sighed. "Not different like that. You see, we've noticed you act differently than your denmates ever since you all began to walk with your eyes opened. Mothkit, we believe that you are..." He paused, and there was an uncomfortable silence while he seemed to gather himself.
"Mothkit." The kit nearly jumped as Dustleap curled her tail around her. She hadn't noticed her approaching, which was unusual. She would've usually heard her, but she was so confused and upset that she hadn't this time. She hated whatever was going on, she decided. It was far too complicated for her tastes. "What Stonesky is trying to say is, we believe that you're blind."
Blindness apparently entailed other cats treating you like a newborn even when you were almost six moons old.
Mothkit hadn't realized before the meeting with the leaders and deputies that other cats didn't see by touching and smelling and tasting and hearing. It was strange now to realize it. Her mother had cried when they brought her back in and told her, and her father had comforted her mother and tried to comfort Mothkit, too, but she didn't want any of it. She was still confused, then. She was just another kit who did things a little differently, but people were making a big deal out of it, and she hated it.
After that, her mother had tried to shelter her from everyone else in the clan who might look at her differently. Burntwhisker was absolutely vicious whenever anyone implied that maybe she was showing too much favoritism for Mothkit, saying that she needed the extra care, except for when Mothkit herself complained, when she would gently explain that others might think that Mothkit was too different, and she didn't want her to experience that. Mothkit always failed to mention that she was already experiencing that because of Burntwhisker, but she eventually got her to let her play with others without being constantly watched again.
Drykit was still babied a little too, of course, since she was a very frail she-cat, and while she sometimes seemed to be getting better, she also had bouts where she got worse. That was enough to make Burntwhisker be protective over her, too. But Smokekit was a perfectly healthy she-kit, and so she got the least of Burntwhisker's attention. For someone who was getting oversaturated with praise for doing small things right before, this was an awful turn of events, and she became bitter early on. It wasn't so much towards Drykit, who had always been babied, but towards Mothkit, who took up most of Burntwhisker's attention now, even though she didn't want to, either.
And now, it was almost time for the kits to become apprentices. Burntwhisker had been trying to teach Mothkit how to do some of the simple crouches and battle moves ahead of time, and while Drizzletail saw, she never said anything about it. Lionpaw was always teaching Smokekit things, and Mothkit had asked Breezepaw to teach her and Drykit once, but she said no because they both were too frail and she didn't want to get into trouble. Mothkit was pretty sure that everyone thought that even if she tried, she wouldn't be able to learn anything.
She was set and determined to prove them wrong, no matter how they seemed to be determined to stop her.
"Hey, Mothkit!" Mothkit's ears twitched as someone called her name. She knew who this was by now.
"Hello, Mariolakit." She gave the kit a tired smile, purring as she nuzzled Mothkit affectionately. Mariolakit tended to be very affectionate with everyone, and while at first it had annoyed Mothkit, she was beginning to find it endearing. "What is it?"
"You get to be an apprentice tomorrow with your sisters, right?" Mariolakit sat back on her haunches, and Mothkit could feel her staring intensely at her face.
"Of course!" Mothkit laughed, though on the inside she wasn't so sure. But they really couldn't keep her from being an apprentice. It wouldn't be fair or right, and she worked just as hard, if not harder, than her siblings to prove she was ready to take on the challenge.
She frowned as she scented her mother approaching. She dreaded being around her mother these days. "Mothkit!" she called, her voice tight. "It's time to come inside. You and your sisters have a big day tomorrow!"
Mothkit knew it was no use arguing, and she could feel the air around her growing cooler. Her head hung low as she flicked her tail in a goodbye to Mariolakit, following her mother into the den. As she curled up beside her mother and sisters, she hoped against hope that tomorrow would go okay.
"Okay? Everything is not okay! What do you mean my little girl isn't going to be an apprentice?" Mothkit could practically picture Burntwhisker spitting the words in Stonesky and Dustleap's faces. She felt a sort of bitter satisfaction at that, but she didn't quite dare to do the same. She was too busy with the dangerous, boiling envy that coiled in her belly.
Smokepaw and Drypaw have mentors now. And those names! And I'm still a kit?
"Maybe it's better this way." The tiny calico's fur bristled up at her father's voice, whipping her head around to stare at him with wide eyes. His words were gentle, like he was trying not to offend anyone, but Mothkit was extremely offended. "If she remains a kit, she won't get hurt."
"If she becomes an apprentice she could learn to protect herself from harm!" Burntwhisker snapped, her eyes wild as she half-way lunged for Thymeclaw, but stopped as Dustleap stepped forward.
"Burntwhisker," Dustleap said, her voice cold and stern, "you need to calm down. Our territory is dangerous. This is the only way to keep her safe."
"You don't know that!" Mothkit hissed, now deciding to get involved herself, stepping forward with her lips parted in a snarl. "If you give me a chance I could be the best warrior you've ever had!"
"Dustleap, I'm going to take Mothkit outside," she heard Stonesky murmur. "You take care of these two while I try to help her understand."
"I understand!" Mothkit growled. "I understand that you just don't want to give me a fair chance just because I'm blind! You think I can't handle myself!" Tail lashing, she stormed out of the leaders' den, muttering obscenities she'd heard from warriors under her breath.
She heard exchanged words in the den as she left, a few clearer than others, then a set of pawsteps rushing out after her. "Mothkit, we just don't want to lose any more cats than we must," she heard Stonesky say as he slowed to a walk beside her. "You could be a valuable asset in the future. You could have a mate and kits someday and help keep the clan going!"
Mothkit stopped dead in her tracks at his words. He realized she stopped after a moment and looked back at her. "Mothkit?"
Her body shook with the rage she felt. "Did you honestly think - Really? That that would make it okay? I'm just going to be a queen someday! That's great! It's good to know that the leaders see my future as just a chance for me to sit in the nursery all day while I coddle some cat's kits forever and ever!" She hoped she was staring right at him so her eyes would burn holes in his pelt. She was sick of being treated like this. "I hope that one day StarClan gives me the chance to prove how wrong you all are! That one day someone will actually stop worrying about me long enough for me to be able to move on with my life and experience what's outside the camp!"
The camp was on fire.
The trees that clung to the rocks above them had been caught ablaze. They fell to the ground, crushing the dens made of brush, and she'd already heard someone screaming that Nightstorm was dead. Jaylily was just ahead of Mothkit, and she was currently following the young warrior's cries as she sobbed to the cat she was with about Longpaw. She could feel heat licking at her pelt, and her ears twitched around wildly for her family. Burntwhisker had been out of the nursery when it started, and as soon as Mothkit had heard the screams she'd bolted. Thymeclaw had been more distant since the meeting in the leaders' den, so she wasn't sure he'd try to come to her rescue even though every time he and Burntwhisker spoke about her he'd insisted he was trying to protect her. With her gone, he could probably comfort Burntwhisker and everything would be okay between them.
"Drypaw!" From up ahead, she heard a sudden screech from the voice she was least searching for of her family. "Drypaw, no!" Smokepaw was the one yowling. Mothkit followed her voice, veering away from a wall of flames that suddenly burst forth to try to eat away at her pelt. "Get out of the fire! Drypaw!"
Mothkit felt sorrow bite at her. Drypaw was her best friend, even if they couldn't talk as much any more, and she wasn't sure that the feeling was mutual after she became an apprentice. But she was a good friend anyway, and one of the only cats that Mothkit knew sort-of understood her plight. "Smokepaw," she gasped as she scented her sister's pelt under the smoke. She could smell charred flesh, and tried not to think about it. "Smokepaw, we have to go or we'll end up that way too!" She pushed her stubborn sister, and for a moment she wouldn't move, staring at the carcass, before she gave way and started to run out of the camp. Mothkit took her tail in her jaws, though she seemed not to notice, and followed after her.
After a while, she could feel that the heat was being put behind them, and the ground underpaw was not the camp that she had memorized every step of. "We're going to cross the stream," Smokepaw let her know in a shaky voice. "Everyone is waiting on the other side. You have to swim."
Panic seized Mothkit. She'd never been out of camp before, and she had never even touched any water besides the stuff in the tiny pool that trickled into the small cave that connected the medicine den and the nursery. She would almost rather go back and face the flames. She could hear cats splashing into the stream ahead of them, and the air was heavy with the stench of singed fur, and that was what steeled her for the journey across. Besides, if she was going to be a warrior one day, she would have to learn to cross the stream herself anyway.
"Smokepaw! Mothkit! Thank goodness!" Thymeclaw's relieved voice rang from across the stream. "Mothkit, I'm coming to get you! Smokepaw, go ahead and cross so you'll be safe!"
Mothkit felt anger boil up in her at Thymeclaw's words. She was sick of being babied. She was sick of Thymeclaw and Burntwhisker treating her like she couldn't carve her own path, and Stonesky and Dustleap acting like she was only useful alive so that she could provide future warriors. She could do this on her own!
She jumped into the stream without thinking and immediately came up gasping for breath.
She heard someone splash in after her, then someone else, and she felt two cats press their bodies to hers. "It's okay," she heard Mariolapaw meow, "we've got you, Mothkit! Just keep paddling and you can stay afloat!"
"We can guide you, but we can't carry you," Smokepaw said, her mouth twisting into a grimace. "Just keep swimming, Mothkit. You've got this." Her voice was hollow, all of her old fire missing, like losing Drypaw had sucked the life from her.
She and Drypaw were almost warriors without me. Of course they were closer by now, Mothkit thought, even as she battled the current to stay above the water. It seemed way too strong to simply be a stream, since all of the other warriors said that the stream was pretty easy to cross. But finally, they were on the other side, and someone was taking her by her scruff to pull her out of the water - she suspected it was Thymeclaw, and when her nose cleared of water as she was set on the ground, her suspicions were confirmed by the familiar scent.
"I could have walked out on my own!" she snapped, getting to her paws and shaking out her pelt while ignoring the fact that her legs felt like jelly after being battered around by the water.
"Look!" someone else suddenly called. The obnoxious voice was easily recognizable as Sandshadow. "Stonesky and Dustleap are coming from the camp!" There was a short silence in which all of the cats murmured among each other, then Sandshadow gasped, "Dustleap is carrying Stonesky! We have to help!"
There were several splashes as cats dove into the water. Mothkit closed her eyes for a moment and thought, selfishly, that at least for now, they weren't worrying over her. Even more selfishly came the thought that for all that the leaders had put her through, they were now the ones being worried over, and perhaps StarClan would give what was deserved to Dustleap and Stonesky.
Stonesky was badly burned, and because of their shared lives, Dustleap was also weak. It didn't look like Stonesky would make it, so neither would Dustleap. Mothkit didn't really think it was what they deserved - she felt bad for her earlier thoughts. They weren't cruel enough to deserve to die like this. Their daughter, Skycloud, was spending much of her time in the makeshift den that everyone had set up for them, while the rest of the cats made their own new dens in the place they were using as a camp until their old one was deemed safe again.
They had lost many cats in the blaze. Besides Nightstorm, Longpaw, and Drypaw, Mariolapaw's brother, Stormpaw, was also dead, and so was Cindersmoke and Rockflower, and one of Tawnyfeather's adopted kits, Cloudkit. It had been completely unexpected, and it left many cats mourning the loss of loved ones.
Weaker cats were almost unable to move at the loss their clan had suffered. It was nearly too much to handle, unable even to bury the bodies, which lay in their old camp as smoldering ashes. Stronger cats were able to take it, and they were providing enough prey to feed everyone for now.
Since Smokepaw's mentor, Rockflower, had died, and she was almost a warrior anyway, they gave her her warrior name, Smokestorm. "Looks like I'm the only one who's going to be a warrior," she commented dryly to Mothkit. Her words stung, but Mothkit couldn't argue, and she knew she hadn't meant it in a bad way. They were both mourning, and Smokestorm was actually being nicer to Mothkit now.
Everything was going okay. The clan was trudging along, waiting. Waiting for their leaders to die. Waiting for their camp to stop smoldering with the ashes that the fire had left behind.
Then came the day it rained.
"Stonesky is dead!" Drizzletail's voice rang about the camp, clear and silvery, such a contrast from her mate's. "Dustleap will soon follow him. Sandshadow and I plan on travelling to the Moon Peak tonight."
"We have decided on our deputies!" Sandshadow called from beside Drizzletail. "They will be Thymeclaw and Burntwhisker! You have both proven to be excellent warriors in the past, and we know you can lead the clan well if you work together. We look forward to teaching you all we know of herbs and StarClan as well."
"What?" Burntwhisker burst out, her fur bristling. She moved close to Mothkit, curling her tail around her daughter, who was almost her size now. She would probably be larger given more time, since she wasn't full-grown yet and Thymeclaw was quite a bit bulkier than Burntwhisker. "I said it when Smokestorm became an apprentice and I'll say it now - I'm not leaving the nursery while Mothkit is there. I won't leave her alone. She doesn't deserve that!"
"You didn't let us finish," Drizzletail said with a smile. "Since Stonesky and Dustleap have passed and I have witnessed her growth myself while I was in the nursery with Mariolapaw and... Stormpaw." Here Drizzletail paused, a momentary cloud of sadness passing over her at the memory of her recently lost son. "Well," she said, starting again with a deep breath, "I've decided it's time for Mothkit to move out of the nursery."
"So, Mothkit, come forward!" Sandshadow added, his voice enthusiastic.
Mothkit felt paralyzed with happiness as it tingled through her, from her nose to the tip of her tail. She didn't move for a moment as she grinned up at them, before Burntwhisker nudged her a bit. "Go on," she whispered. "It's time!"
She stepped forward, eyes shining. Overhead, the skies rumbled. A few cats said things to each other, then Drizzletail called for silence. Fat drops of water began to hit Mothkit's pelt, soaking her fur in mere moments. "StarClan has blessed this day with rain!" Drizzletail yowled over the sudden downpour. "From this day on, this apprentice will be known no longer as Mothkit! She is Mothpaw!"
"Mothpaw, wait up!" Mariolanose padded out of the camp after Mothpaw, her voice filled with concern. "Are you okay?"
"Do I look okay?" Mothpaw's voice cracked. She didn't turn her head towards Mariolanose; not like it would do her any good to look at her. "Why did they make me an apprentice if they were just going to give me Flowersong as a mentor? She doesn't push me at all! She's just like Breezefrost! She always wants me to take things slow and is always making sure I'm okay like I can't handle myself, like I don't know how to walk on my own four paws!"
The younger she-cat's whiskers twitched as she tried to think of something to say. Finally, she murmured, "She doesn't have to be the only cat you learn from."
Mothpaw stopped, then finally turned her body towards Mariolanose. "What do you mean?" Her wide, unseeing eyes almost seemed to study Mariolanose, though it wasn't really possible. "She's my mentor."
"But she's not the only warrior in the clan. StarClan, you could even learn from another apprentice. I learned things from everybody all the time, and I still do now that I have my warrior name!" She paused, hesitated, started a few sentences - "So I - Well, I thought - Maybe we - " - and finally said, "I think I can help you. Like I did when we were younger. Like I tried to when I was an apprentice."
The calico tried not to show her interest or excitement at the idea. It was something that worked, that she already knew worked. She was close to Mariolanose because of it - she'd grown up around Mothkit, so her blindness was just a fact of her, and she didn't seem to care like the older cats did. She let Mothpaw do things. She helped Mothpaw do things. Mariolanose was considerate enough to have helped Mothpaw learn things when she was younger, like battle moves and hunting moves when everyone was still calling her Mothkit like she was two moons old when she really should've already been on her way to being a warrior.
Still, every idea had the chance to fail. Even with Mariolanose's help, Mothpaw might not make a great warrior like she always wanted to.
"Okay," she finally said. "I'm up for it if you are."
Are ScorchClan cats cursed?
Why did bad things have to be so common around here?
Mothpaw was on an herb patrol. Normally she would've hated being on one, but all warriors had herb patrols along with their other patrols now. A sickness was spreading through the camp, and many cats had been moved back to the old, charred camp to live while Drizzletail and Thymeclaw watched over them. They accounted for nearly half of ScorchClan's cats, and it was hard to keep up prey and herbs, all while making sure borders were secure. At least, she thought, grimacing at how morbid and unsympathetic the next part would sound, we're starting to lose some of the ones that can't help themselves. At least the prey situation is slowly getting better, that way...
Mothpaw was two years old now. She wished that she would just get her warrior name soon - Coyoteface, Sleekmask, and Willowfall had gotten their warrior names, and Coyoteface and Willowfall were sick! - but she didn't think it would happen. She'd been training hard with Mariolanose. She thought she was ready. But sometimes her judgement got clouded. Maybe she only thought she was ready because she couldn't see the mistakes she was making with her own eyes - maybe it really was her fault.
She shook her head to dislodge the thoughts, focusing instead on the herbs in her jaws. The flowers of the prickly cacti that grew on the sides of the cliffs were hard to get, and she didn't want to mess any up.
"... and they're not working any more! I just don't know what to do - if the cacti flowers won't work, what will?"
As they got closer to the spot where Drizzletail and Thymeclaw would meet them to take the herbs to the camp, Mothpaw picked up on her father's voice. The flowers weren't working? Apparently they noticed the approaching patrol, because they soon stopped talking, and there was a grim exchange before Drizzletail and Thymeclaw went their own way. Mothpaw's patrol was just starting to go back to camp when she heard something.
"Mothpaw!"
Her ears swiveled around towards the source, but she just kept walking, not recognizing the voice. She might just be hearing things.
"Mothpaw, come over here!"
She stopped, feeling the rest of the patrol ahead of her beginning to walk away, back to the camp. She waited until they were out of earshot, thanking StarClan that they didn't actually care enough about her presence to notice she was gone (though when they did she was sure they would freak out - it had happened before, when she slipped away from a group of cats to be on her own). Then she spoke, her voice accusatory. "Who's there? Is this supposed to be a mean trick?"
"Sorry, I - I forgot." The tiny, sheepish voice spoke, then, miraculously, she saw something. Someone. A tiny fawn and white tom appeared before her, looking up at her with wide eyes and a bright smile. "You heard Poppa and Drizzletail."
"Yes, I - Poppa?" Mothpaw was so shocked that she didn't even know how to ask how she was seeing the kit. Then it clicked. "Are you - are you Cliffkit? My - my brother?"
"Yes, and I'm really not supposed to be here!" Cliffkit said quietly, waving his tail for Mothpaw to follow him. "But I couldn't just watch them treat you like that anymore! And I wanted to help!" She could somehow see the path he was leading her on. It wasn't quite seeing, though. She didn't think it was. She got the sense that it really wasn't. "The older cats said I shouldn't meddle. But this will be good for you and for them."
"Why are you here?" Mothpaw asked, her voice tense. The only reason StarClan cats ever visited anyone was if they were a leader, a deputy, or if they were dying. "I'm not ready to die yet. I still have some cats to prove wrong."
"I know." It was all Cliffkit said.
"Where are we going?" Mothpaw demanded. "It's getting late - cats will send a search party for me soon."
"They won't find you while you're with me," Cliffkit reassured her. The sage voice he was using was almost comical for his tiny form. "I'll make sure of that." He stopped suddenly, looking up. "We're here. The place you need - there's a moss, up this path, in the cave at the top, that has flowers, and you need to get the moss and flowers and bring to Drizzletail and tell her it's important and the cats in the old camp need it. It's a big ledge. You shouldn't fall off. I'm going to go see if I can be distracting." With that, he vanished, along with the sense of almost-sight that Mothpaw had briefly had.
She wondered what he meant by distracting as she started up the path he'd pointed out. She felt out each pawstep carefully before putting down her weight on this unfamiliar ground. It didn't take long to reach the ledge that Cliffkit had pointed out. She entered the cool, damp cave, feeling along the walls with her whiskers for the moss.
Finally, she felt the soft surface of the moss, and carefully peeled it and its flowers away from the wall. Once she thought she had enough, she began to climb back down. She hoped this would be enough, but they could always come back to get more, whether she did have enough now or not.
Not everybody got better. Thymeclaw didn't. Thymeclaw died. So did Willowfall and Gorgefang. Tawnyfeather and Flowersong had died early on, leaving Mothpaw without a mentor, but she had never gotten an official new one. It wasn't nearly as bad as the fire, and Mothpaw was grateful for that. Burntwhisker and Smokestorm were devastated by Thymeclaw's loss, but by the end of his life, Mothpaw hadn't been very impressed by him. He was never that good of a father to her after her blindness was realized, but she sat at his last vigil all the same.
Palestone and Batcall were the new deputies. Burntwhisker's spirit seemed to have diminished further by the loss of Thymeclaw, and she retired early. A few more moons passed normally once the sickness was gone, and during the first moon her new mentor was Breezeflight, who wasn't much of a change from her mother, then, finally, a day came that Mothpaw thought never would.
"Cats of ScorchClan, gather here beneath the Charred Tree to listen to what we have to say!" Drizzletail called. "It's a very important day today - Sandshadow and I have decided it's time to give an apprentice what she rightfully deserves."
"Mothpaw, step forward," Sandshadow called.
She had had no idea this was going to happen. "Go on!" Mariolanose whispered, suddenly appearing beside her to nudge her forward. "Your day's finally here, Mothpaw!"
Buzzing with carefully contained excitement, Mothpaw picked her way to the front of the crowd, being sure not to trip over anything. She could hear the others parting around her to give her a pathway, and while she was annoyed, she was also pleased - it almost felt like a sign of respect, though she quickly squashed that hope. She had to continually earn any respect she got. One wrong move and it was out with the respect for most cats, so respect or not, it didn't matter.
What mattered was that she was about to hear her warrior name for the first time.
"From this day forth, we in ScorchClan will recognize you not as Mothpaw, but as Mothbriar," Drizzletail started.
"May others recognize that your name symbolizes your hardships," Sandshadow continued. "It recognizes your persistence and will to carry on, no matter what others might think of you."
"Thank you," Drizzletail added, dipping her head to Mothbriar with a smile. "You've proven to us that even through the worst of times, in the worst of circumstances, it's possible to do more than just hope to live another day."
When it became clear that they were done talking (many ScorchClan warrior ceremonies came with such a speech, and the Clan was lucky that Mothbriar was the only one receiving her name), the Clan began to chant her name. "Mothbriar! Mothbriar! Mothbriar!"
Her chest swelled with pride, and she turned to a familiar scent as it approached her. "Congratulations," Smokestorm purred. "I'm glad I wasn't the only one to make it to being a warrior after all." She rubbed her cheek against Mothbriar's, then moved to make way for someone else.
"Mothbriar!" Mariolanose purred. "Would you like to go hunting? Your first hunt as a warrior?"
Despite feeling pleased by all of the positive attention everyone was giving her, Mothbriar had to admit that it was stifling after having been carefully avoided for a majority of her life. "I'd like that," she said with a nod. "Can Smokestorm come along too?"
"If Smokestorm comes, she'll want to bring along Lionstrike," Mariolanose chuckled teasingly.
Just the thought made Mothbriar shudder, and she quickly shook her head. "Never mind then!" she laughed. Lionstrike had had enough of an ego before Smokestorm started actively padding after him, but now he was nearly unbearable, and especially so whenever he and Smokestorm were in the same place. Mothbriar would much rather go on a hunting trip with just her friend. With a big smile on her face, she followed Mariolanose as she led her out of the camp, eager to bring home something good.
Good things were happening. Mothbriar wasn't really sure what it was, but she felt it in the air when she woke up that morning, and she felt it seeping through her fur when she stepped outside of the warriors' den. She felt it when Smokestorm asked her to share prey that morning, and when she and Mariolanose shared tongues between patrols at sunhigh.
"All cats, gather here beneath the Charred Tree to hear what we have to say!" Her ears pricked at the unexpected voice of Sandshadow. Was something happening today?
"What's going on?" she whispered to Mariolanose as they padded towards the tree to find a place to sit.
"I don't know," Mariolanose answered, shaking her head. "Wait, I think - oh! It's Reddusk's kits' apprentice ceremony!"
"Really?" Mothbriar's ears twitched with interest, picking up on bits and pieces of what the other warriors were saying. "I hadn't realized they were getting that old! I'm sure everyone's grateful to have apprentices and kits at once again, though." Since she couldn't see and didn't often visit the nursery, it wasn't really surprising that she didn't have a solid concept of how old Cragkit and Alderkit were, though she knew that Lizardbelly's kits had recently come into the nursery alongside them. But it had been nearly six moons since she became a warrior, and they had been born right around the time that she got her name. In that time the younger warriors had been taking turns doing some of the chores that would normally be tasked to apprentices. Mothbriar would be glad to have those tasks off her back now, at least for the most part.
She was so lost in thought that she hadn't realized the ceremony had started until Mariolanose gave her a hard nudge. "Wha- what?" she asked absentmindedly, turning to Mariolanose.
"Go up!" Mariolanose urged, nudging her again.
"Why?" Mothbriar was utterly confused, but she was still trying to keep her voice down. She was fairly sure that everyone could hear her anyway, because she suddenly realized that the rest of the clan was silent around them.
"Just go!" Mariolanose said enthusiastically, her eyes shining.
Mothbriar started to step forward, trying to hide her confusion but failing as she made her way through the crowd that parted to let her pass. She heard a soft laugh from Drizzletail's silvery voice. "You must not've heard me, Mothbriar. I'm sorry, you probably didn't expect this, and we should've let you know beforehand. But Alderpaw is waiting for her mentor!"
"Me?" she stopped for a moment, then her whole face lit up. "Really? Me?"
"Yes, you," Sandshadow purred, his tail sweeping back and forth under the branch of the Charred Tree that he stood on. "Drizzletail and I have been talking about this for ages! We think you'll do well with her."
She suddenly heard pawsteps racing towards her, and then Alderpaw was crashing her nose onto Mothbriar's. It seemed the she-cat had gotten impatient waiting on her. A ripple of laughter moved through the crowd, and after shaking herself out of her awed daze, Mothbriar led Alderpaw to a place near the front of the crowd to sit. To her delight, Mariolanose was called forward to be Cragpaw's mentor, and she knew why she felt that good things were happening that day.
That day was one of the hottest they'd gotten that season, and that was saying something, considering that it was summer and there had been a lot of hotter days previous. During these moons, most cats only went out at dusk and dawn, and some hunting patrols were sent out in the dead of night. Cats were allowed to sleep the day away, which was a relief for Mothbriar and her apprentice, because with their thick pelts, they both struggled with the heat, even in the cooler season. Everyone was feeling the heat bear down on them now, though, sapping away their strength in the day so they were always sluggish and hot. Some cats had already had heat strokes on days that weren't as bad as this one, though they'd all recovered.
Some cats couldn't help but be show-offs, though.
Namely Lionstrike. He always wanted to be the center of attention, laden with as much praise as his clanmates could heap on his broad shoulders. He liked to go hunting in the day, and often went on one-cat patrols. Some cats insisted on going with him some days, to make sure nothing bad happened to him because of the heat, and one of these cats was Smokestorm. She and Lionstrike were considered official mates among much of the clan now, though they would both deny it, and Mothbriar herself was wise to how Lionstrike treated her sister, as though she was a flea that somehow made him look better, but when he was tired of her he could just crunch her between his teeth and flick her away. She had tried to tell Smokestorm about it at first, but Smokestorm was ironically the blind one in this situation, and seemed content to remain that way.
Today, Lionstrike was going out again, and again, Smokestorm was the first to eagerly volunteer to go along. They left, and Mariolanose, who was dozing in the shade of the camp walls beside Mothbriar, muttered something under her breath.
"What?" Mothbriar turned to Mariolanose, unsure if she had heard right, though she rarely misheard anything anyone said. One of the perks of not having one sense was that her others were sharper, and she was guilty of listening in on more than one conversation when cats clearly thought she was too far away to hear.
Mariolanose seemed hesitant to repeat herself, and Mothbriar heard her tail swishing over the ground as it stirred up dust. Finally she said, "I can't believe she's going out like that. She should know by now, I mean... She's getting pretty big. And Lionstrike, letting her go like that! She's going to be even more susceptible to the heat now that she's pregnant, and their kits could get seriously hurt!"
"Excuse me?" Mothbriar's eyes widened. "My sister - Smokestorm - she's pregnant?"
"I forgot you can't see," Mariolanose said, scowling at herself. It was so hard to remember sometimes when Mothbriar could do almost everything a cat who could see could do. "I mean, yeah, and it seems pretty late in, too. If she doesn't realize it then, no offense, but she's stupid, and if she does she's even more stupid for going out!"
Mothbriar's mouth went dry, and it wasn't from the hot summer sun for a change. She got up and began to pace, her eyes darting around as she tried to calm her mind. If she tried to go out and find Smokestorm now, she'd refuse to come back to camp until the "patrol" that she and Lionstrike were on was over, and if she didn't, something bad might happen to her. Her tail lashed in agitation, wishing her sister would just stop being such a beetlebrain and listen to her over Lionstrike for once.
She hardly noticed how tense she was until Mariolanose stood up and pressed her pelt to hers. "It'll be okay," she sighed. "I'm sure one patrol won't hurt, but stressing yourself out makes it even easier for the heat to get to you." Reluctantly, Mothbriar let Mariolanose lead her to lay back in her place in the shade. "Come on, you can talk to her when she gets back, I'm sure this one patrol isn't going to do anything if the others haven't before it."
It was too late by the time Lionstrike carried her into her camp. Smokestorm and her kits were gone.
Mothbriar had run out of camp when Drizzletail announced with a hoarse voice, "We tried to save her, then her kits. But the heat has claimed its first victims of the season. None of them survived."
Mariolanose, ever the loyal friend, followed her downstream, intending on comforting her. She didn't expect it when Mothbriar rounded on her, eyes blazing.
"You said this one patrol wouldn't make a difference!" Mothbriar screeched. "You lied to me! You kept me from going to get her and now she's dead!" She could feel the heat in the air beginning to dissipate as the sun began to go down behind her, making her expression look even more fierce. "My only sibling left - and she's dead!"
Mariolanose didn't bother keeping the hurt from her face, knowing Mothbriar couldn't see, but she tried to keep her voice steady. "I'm sorry, Mothbriar. I didn't know this would happen. I'm so sorry that she died." She stepped towards her, but Mothbriar took a step back.
"I could've saved her!" she hissed. "I could've saved her if I went after her! I could've - I could've-" She repeated herself a few more times until she trailed off, staring blankly at nothing where her eyes usually looked so alert. She sat down hard on the ground, hunched over and head bowed. "It's my fault. If I went after her anyway..."
Finally, Mariolanose was able to get close to her, sitting close to Mothbriar so their fur touched, laying her tail gently over her friend's. "It wasn't your fault, either. Even if we both went to go get her, we both know that your sister is... was stubborn. She would've just ignored us and kept going, even knowing she was with kits."
Mothbriar sniffed quietly, but her only response was to sink further into Mariolanose's touch. Mariolanose didn't say anything else either, licking around Mothbriar's ears with rhythmic, comforting motions, and soon they were bathed in the moon's pale glow, replacing the last rosy rays of the sun. They had slowly shifted until they were laying comfortably side-by side, Mothbriar's tail twined with Mariolanose's.
"The patrols will be along any moment," Mariolanose finally said quietly, nuzzling Mothbriar gently.
The calico huffed in way of acknowledgement, then turned her head to rest her chin on Mariolanose's shoulder. She allowed another long pause to grow between them before speaking again. "Do you know that I love you?" she whispered into the silence, surprising even herself. She hadn't realized how much she loved Mariolanose until the words left her mouth, but now that she thought about it, Mariolanose had always been there for her, even during the times when Mothbriar had tried to push everyone else away - even now, when she'd briefly tried to push Mariolanose away directly.
The white and gray she-cat smiled, saying, "I know." There was another pause before she added, "I love you too." She nosed Mothbriar's cheek gently, and that night, no patrol came by to disturb them, and they were left in peace.
Peaceful moons were something that were hard to come by in ScorchClan, but the next few were well-earned. No one else died that season, for which Mothbriar was both thankful and bitter, and she'd grown an even stronger hatred of Lionstrike. No one else, that is, except Drizzletail and Sandshadow. They lost lives that season, though they wouldn't tell their clan how many, and were already down a few lives before that. Mothbriar didn't think that could be a good sign.
She tried not to worry about it too much, though. It wasn't like it was any of her business, really, and she had a mate now. Every time she thought about it she felt a jolt of happiness run through her, and every time she was around Mariolanose she made sure to greet her lovingly and ask her about her day. She wasn't sure she was doing the whole "being a good mate" thing right, but she hoped she was. She had never paid attention to other mates before, so she wasn't really sure how to tell if she was doing it right or not, though sometimes Mariolanose would reassure her that she'd never done anything that would majorly hurt their relationship whenever she asked.
Her apprentice also became a warrior, and she made sure to chant Alderpuddle's new name the loudest at her ceremony. Things were looking bright for all of their futures. They still had apprentices in the den, and Petalfang and Coyoteface newly expecting kits. ScorchClan would be okay.
Nothing really happened that might cause cats to die at an alarming rate over the next few moons. There were a few deaths here and there - Canyonflight was stung by a scorpion, and Reddusk fell off of a cliff after getting distracted while hunting - but they had time to mourn without having to immediately move on to the next cat.
Mothbriar spent as much time with her loved ones as she could, enjoying the time StarClan was granting the clan for peace. Everyone else seemed to be doing the same, so it was easy for her to fall into the same pattern. There was even such a lull in the clan for everyone that Lizardbelly and Dawnspeckle both retired, and no one was worried about a shortage of warriors or the unusually abundant elders.
Everything was fine. It was odd to everyone. No one could remember the last time they'd had such a long period of relative prosperity, and it seemed the whole clan was holding its breath, waiting for its next tragedy. The sound of the apprentices playing, or the scent of milk and mewling kits in the nursery didn't really calm them. They were so used to dealing with one awful thing after another that they couldn't handle the moons of peace as they dragged on.
It was almost a relief for the cats when the floods came - they didn't have to worry about what to worry about next, because it was finally here.
"Here, Mothbriar!" The calico followed the sound of her mate's voice over the sound of the pounding rain, continuing up the cliff face one careful pawstep at a time. One misstep on the slippery slope and she'd be plummeting downwards into the rising, murky water, as she'd already heard some of her clanmates do, and she wasn't ready to give up her life yet. A week of rain wasn't enough to kill her.
Most of her clanmates reached higher ground, and by the time she and Mariolanose got there, Palestone was already taking a head count. "Where's Drizzletail and Sandshadow?" Mariolanose asked as they padded forward. "Shouldn't they be seeing who made it?"
Palestone's voice shook slightly, and Mothbriar guessed that something had happened before she'd said much. "Ah - Drizzletail, she - she fell into the rapids. Sandshadow says that he keeps blacking out. They're losing lives because she keeps drowning. She can't get above the water, and she's probably - well." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "He's picking a new set of deputies now. I saw Batcall fall in while he was trying to help me up and I don't think he's coming back."
Mothbriar felt both admiration and sympathy for Palestone and Sandshadow. It must've been hard for Palestone to remain so calm, and for Sandshadow to endure the repeated death of his mate while dying himself. She wondered if he could feel what was happening to her, or if he just kept fading in and out of life. "Is there someone with him?" she asked anxiously. She was still grateful to him and Drizzletail for all they'd done for her, confident enough in her to make her an apprentice, then a warrior, not to mention allowing her an apprentice. "If he's picking out a new set and she keeps dying and no one knows how many lives they have left..."
"The elders are all with him," Palestone reassured her. "I thought of that." She paused before adding quietly, "I have to tell Rosepaw and Sunnypaw that Lizardbelly hasn't made her way up yet, though. Excuse me." She slipped away, and Mothbriar turned to Mariolanose.
"At least it doesn't seem as bad as the fire, or the sickness," she murmured. "Only..." She paused, counting them up. Lizardbelly, Batcall, Drizzletail, and Sandshadow with his lives fading fast. "Only four cats? It's not so bad..." She then quickly bowed her head. "Of course, all of them will be missed... But it could've been a lot worse."
"I guess us ScorchClan cats are getting better at handling disaster," Mariolanose joked quietly, putting her tail over Mothbriar's shoulders.
"I guess so," Mothbriar laughed and leaning on her in return.
The moments seemed to tick onwards, each cat getting soaking wet from the pouring rain, with no real shelter in their immediate area on top of the cliffs. Finally, Mothbriar heard Palestone's voice above the rain.
"Everyone, please gather around me!" she called. Once the whole clan was huddled under the rock she stood on, Palestone cleared her throat, then her voice projected strangely clearly through the sheets of falling water. "Sandshadow is dead, and my mate has been lost! With his last breaths, our noble leader told me the choice he wanted to make - the choice that Drizzletail believed they should have been able to make in the first place, he says." For a moment there was a heavy silence, and then, Mothbriar suddenly felt her fur prickling, like eyes were on her. She shifted uncomfortably, laying her ears even farther back then they were.
"Drizzletail always did believe in you like no one else did." Mothbriar jumped when Palestone's voice sounded right in front of her, eyes widening. She hadn't even heard her approach over the rainfall! She wondered who she was talking to that was so near Mothbriar. "Perhaps she had a sign from StarClan about you, or simply saw in you what the rest of us admittedly sometimes cannot, but... Sandshadow has seen fit to pass on the leadership to you and Mariolanose, Mothbriar."
The calico's stomach lurched slightly as her name came out of Palestone's mouth, and a soft gasp escaped Mariolanose. Then she started laughing. "Drizzletail always did like me, I think!" she chuckled, nudging her head tiredly against Mariolanose. "I'll take this as an official belated blessing of us." She was too tired to think about the responsibilities in that moment, and too ecstatic that she had been chosen - that Drizzletail had believed in her so strongly, for so long, even if no one else had.
"You'll be able to go get your nine lives soon," Palestone purred, "and you should pick your deputies after conferring with each other, but for now, we can handle finding some shelter together, and dealing with the loss of so many of our cats."
Mothbriar just nodded, going along with what she said and feeling light as air. She got the feeling that Palestone would be helping them out for a long while as they got used to their new place, but somehow, Mothbriar knew that this was the right place for her to be. She finally felt as if she'd done it - she'd gone above and beyond what she'd set out to do as a kit, and now she and Mariolanose were in this place of highest honors together. They were leaders of this clan, and hopefully, they would be for a long while coming.
She was meant to be a leader, she could feel it in her bones. And somehow, she thought that she'd always known, in the back of her mind - never acknowledging it, keeping it a coveted secret, even from herself. This might not have been the best way she could've obtained this position, but she'd made it. She was at the top, and no one could tell her that she didn't deserve it. She had clawed her way through life, struggling to make others see that she wasn't some kit that needed to be looked after, and now she was here, more than deserving of all of her achievements, but most of all, this one.
In all honesty, this story might seem kind of rushed. But please keep in mind that I wrote this to showcase key parts of one of the new clans in this, ScorchClan, and to show the most important parts of Mothbriar's life! In addition to WiL, I'm working on this (though only concepts so far; I haven't started writing much yet;; ) and I hope you'll all enjoy this story as much as you do Written in Light! If you want to see more of the current concepts for these new clans, you can find them on my deviantart CharliSilverArts.