Hollyleaf added the two voles and a mouse to the fresh kill pile before heading back to retrieve the rest. About three fox leaps away from the camp Ivypool ran into her and sent her sprawling across the ground. "Come with me," she said sounding a bit flustered as she ran in the direction she had appeared from. Immediately Hollyleaf followed but had no idea what was going on until she noticed that they were on the faint scent trail of Dovewing. They followed it all the way to the abandoned twoleg nest where Dovewing lay sprawled out in a nest of moss. One kit lay in the curve of her stomach and she lay there as pain rippled through her body. Instinctively Hollyleaf ran to her side trying to figure out which herbs would be needed. "Borage," Hollyleaf commanded turning to Ivypool," go find borage leaves, they have blue or pink star shaped flowers with fuzzy leaves." "Got it," Ivypool said confidently before turning and running out the entrance.
A couple hours later Dovewing was asleep with three tiny kits nestled up against her belly. Hollyleaf had refrained from asking questions until this point but she couldn't take it anymore. Why didn't she tell anyone she was having kits? Why did she come all the way out here to have her kits? Who was the father? All these questions filled her mind, and now that she thought about it, Dovewing had been very secretive for the past couple months. Hollyleaf figured she could probably figure out who was the father by the color of the kits. The first kit was a tom and had a gray pelt just like his mother, but the other two were oddly colored. One was mainly bright orange with a black underbelly as well as the tip of her tail, and her face had bits of brown on it. She couldn't think of any cats that resembled her even a little except for maybe Foxleap, but that didn't seem likely. The last kit was yellow with a large orange spot on her face, resembling a mask. This all led Hollyleaf to a dead end, which caused her to think that maybe the father wasn't from this clan.
At sunhigh Hollyleaf and Ivypool helped Dovewing carry her kits back to camp. Once they got there all the cats gathered around asking tons of questions that not even Hollyleaf had thought of. Bramblestar pushed his way to the front of the crowd. It had taken a while for him to get used to being leader especially with all that had happened in the last couple moons. The former kittypet elder Purdy passed away in his sleep recently but where there is death there is always new life. The nursery was so full that Daisy had to sleep in the warriors den. They had found out about a moon after the battle with the Dark Forest that Sandstorm was expecting Firestar's three kits, two toms and a she-cat. The toms were named Thunderkit and Lightningkit, and the she-cat, Firekit in his honor. The nursery was also occupied by Squirrelflight, who just a moon earlier, had Bramblestar's kits, one tom and one she-cat named Bouncekit and Echokit.
Bramblestar looked from Dovewing to the kits before picking up the kit that lay in front of her and leading her to the nursery. Snowkit and Amberkit were play fighting in front of the nursery entrance and were immediately hushed by the sight of new kits. Thunderkit ran up to the clan leader excitedly, "Bramblestar, Bramblestar, Look what I can do!" He called tackling hid brother from the side with a move he had seen Lillypaw use while practicing with her mentor Blossomfall. Sandstorm immediately scolded them and made them go back to their nest. All the cats followed wanting to know more about these kits. Bramblestar walked up to her and asked, "Who is the father, you do not have to tell us Dovewing but it would be a smart choice." Dovewing looked a bit flustered, almost as if she wanted to answer but couldn't bring herself to do so. "They're mine" a voice said from the back of the crowd. Bumblestripe made his way down towards Dovewing and he gave her a glance almost as if asking for her approval and then she nodded in answer.
Suddenly Hollyleaf understood why Dovewing had acted as she had, they weren't Thunderclan kits! It was the only reason that she wouldn't tell anyone. Hollyleaf caught Ivypool's gaze and beckoned for her to come over. Hollyleaf led the way out of the tunnel and Ivypool followed reluctantly. Once they reached a quiet place Hollyleaf turned to face Ivypool, "whose kits are they?" she asked staring deep into Ivypool's eyes. "B-B-Bumblestripe's" she stuttered looking away obviously lying. "I won't tell anyone, I promise, I know what it's like to be outcasted. I won't do that to Dovewing." Hollyleaf said seriously. Ivypool took a big breath before saying anything, "Tigerheart," she said looking more nervous than ever. "Tigerheart! Like, Shadowclan Tigerheart!" "Shhhhh! Not so loud!" Ivypool hissed causing Hollyleaf to go silent," Dovewing wants me to go tell Tigerheart, do you want to come with me? It'll be less dangerous with the two off us. They walked in silence toward the Shadowclan boarder. Hollyleaf was trying to put all of the pieces together in her head and she was brought back to reality by Ivypool's hiss. "Get back on Thunderclan territory!" Hollyleaf looked up to see that the normal trees had turned to pine trees and the terrible stench of Shadowclan filled her nose. She scrambled back to their side and Ivypool started walking along the border away from the lake. "This way," she hissed, leading the way.
After walking for a while they came across the edge of Thunderclan territory and she stopped not sure it was safe. Hollyleaf looked over at Ivypool but she just kept walking as if it was still part of Thunderclan. They came across a broken tree and they waited. She heard a rustle coming from the underbrush to her left, and as she turned she was talked by a dark brown tabby tom. She fought back and managed to knick his ear before Ivypool cried out. Both cats stopped and looked at her and then at each other. That was when Hollyleaf realized that the cat she had been battling had been Tigerheart.
She sat up embarrassed and licked her chest occasionally glancing upward to look at them. "How are they?" Tigerheart asked panicking a bit. "Two she-cats and a tom, all healthy, and none of them look at all like you." Ivypool reported. Tigerheart sighed in relief, "Good, so no one should trace them back to me. That should keep Dovewing out of trouble for now. Does anyone know that I'm the father?" "Everyone thinks that Bumblestripe is the father, so that should settle most of the rumors." Hollyleaf added feeling as if she wasn't part of this conversation.
"It will only stay safe if you can keep me from telling!" a voice said from somewhere behind them. Dawnpelt immerged from the shadows with an evil glare in her eyes. Tigerheart looked genuinely shocked, how could his own sister betray him? "B-but why?" he stammered trying to look for a reason his own sister would do this to him. Dawnpelt, obviously seeing the shock in his eyes, easily offered up an explanation. "You chose them!" she hissed, "You fell in love with a Thunderclan cat, you sneak away to meet her almost every night, and when I accused Jayfeather even though you agreed with me in front of all of the cats, I overheard you talking to your precious little Dovewing saying you actually agreed with her! Now if you can't remain loyal to me or Shadowclan I won't let you keep Dovewing's secret!" With that she took off in the direction of Shadowclan and instinctively Tigerheart raced after her. Hollyleaf stood there stunned, not sure what to do now. Should they go warn Dovewing or go after Dawnpelt? Ivypool started walking in the direction they had come and Hollyleaf followed close behind. The whole way home she was trying to think of some kind of plan. If Dawnpelt did make it back to camp then Shadowclan would most defiantly come after the kits.
When they got back to camp the commotion had calmed down a bit. Dovewing saw at one glance that something had gone wrong. Ivypool went over and licked Dovewing's ear to reassure her that it was something that they could fix but it didn't seem to help. Hollyleaf decided to try to start some conversation between them," So what are their names?" "What?" Dovewing mumbled, looking like she just came out of a trance. "Have you decided on names for the kits," she repeated. "Oh um yes," she said looking at the little sleeping bundles of fur. "This one," she said pointing to the gray tom with her tail, "is Blazekit, because of his flame colored eyes." "And what about that one?" Ivypool asked curiously gesturing to the yellow kit. "That one is Sunkit, that's what the orange spot on her face reminds me of. And the last one over here," she said looking at the orange she-cat," is Maplekit."