Hard Decision
"C'mon Blackivy you can do it!" urged a dark brown tom. The white she-cat with a black tail and paws yowled in pain, cramping up. A spasm shocked through her, a tiny wet body slipped out. The brown tom fiercely licked the small black and ginger kit. "Tom, alive" he purred. Blackivy smiled but then another spasm came. Another wet kit slipped out, and the medicine cat started licking once again. "She-cat, alive" he murmured. Blackivy craned her neck to look at her kits. "Their beautiful.." she whispered. "Sure are" purred the tom. "Thank you so much Cedartooth, can you please bring Redblaze in here?" Blackivy gratefully asked. Cedartooth smiled and nodded, he left the nursery. To his sight he saw and lithe but large red tabby tom pacing back and forth. "Redblaze!" he called. The tom jumped and rushed over, "How is she?! Is she ok?! How many kits?!" he worriedly asked. "Go and look for yourself" the older tom murmured, Redblaze nodded and rushed into the nursery. "Redblaze! Come look! Their so beautiful" Blackivy cried out. He padded up cautiously and then a proud smile appeared on his face. "They are" he murmured. "What should we name them?" Blackivy asked curiously. "How about the tom should be named..Patchkit" she meowed, "after Patchpelt, your father" she looked up at him. Redblaze smiled, "Of course, the she-cat should be called..." he looked at the tiny red fluff ball. "Emberkit, after your brave grandmother, Emberstar." he purred.
"Emberpool! Emberpool!" a yowl awoke the long-haired Windclan medicine cat. "Huh? Yes?" she said sleepily, standing up and stretching. "Its Blossomleaf! A fox attacked her. She's bleeding heavily!" the small she-cat called to Emberpool. "Calm down Deerpaw, bring her in immediately" the she-cat sighed and gathered her herbs. "Yes ma'am!" Deerpaw raced out of the large den. Great..more injured cats, first it was Birdfall with a incident with a Thunderclan patrol..then Dawnstar with a badger attack..now Blossomleaf..dear Starclan help me. Emberpool looked over to see the tortoiseshell leaning on a black and gray warrior while Deerpaw nervously circled them. "Over here!" Emberpool called to them. Blossomleaf fell to the mossy sheet of ground, groaning. Emberpool chewed some chervil leaves and spat it out on her flank wound. Blossomleaf hissed in pain, "Shush" Emberpool muttered. She collected some cobwebs and lightly put it on the warrior's wound, keeping the paste there. "Now go to your nest and rest, Breezeclaw report the injury to Dawnstar. And Deerpaw...for Starclan's sake calm down!" the red she-cat ordered. The cats left the medicine cat den without a word. Emberpool sighed watching them leave. Suddenly the air got chilly. Leafbare is coming, need catmint. She stood up and exited camp, flickering her tail as she thought. Emberpool walked along the Twoleg border, sniffing for the catmint. "Hello there!" she jumped at the call and glanced over her shoulder to see a large, muscular white tom staring at her with bright green eyes. Emberpool turned around and noticed his black collar with a silver bell. "Kitty-pet.." she whispered to herself. "What's your name?" the tom asked curiously. "Emberpool..yours?" she answered cooly. "Forest cat! Wow, talking to a forest cat!" he exclaimed. "Oh my name is Leo by the way" he sheepishly added. "Nice to meet you, whats it like being a kitty-pet?" she asked. "Kitty-pet? I'd rather like to be called a house cat" he retorted. She rolled her eyes, "Whatever same thing" she sighed. "Well I think its great, knowing you'll be able to be fed, having a warm den to sleep in whenever, having a great nest to sleep in. And the food taste good" he smiled. "Oh" she murmured. That sounds great! "Why you ask?" he cut her train of thought off. "Just curious" she meowed. The air got heavy and he started to purr loudly. "Your cute" Leo commented. Emberpool's ears went hot, "Well I gotta go, see ya!" she found the catmint, grabbed some and took off.
"Emberpool! Where have you been?! Dawnstar has been looking for you!" a silver she-cat stomped up to her. "Lunacloud, I was just out for catmint. I'm fine and here now, here take the catmint to the storage. I'll go talk to Dawnstar" Emberpool meowed. Her apprentice growled and took the catmint to the medicine cat den. The red she-cat rolled her eyes and strolled over to the elder's den. "You were looking for me Dawnstar?" she interrupted the creamy-white she-cat's conversation with an elderly black and white she-cat. "Oh yes! I'll catch back with you Blackivy!" meowed the Windclan leader. Emberpool bowed her head to her old mother. "Hello Emberpool" Blackivy purred to her daughter. "Lets go Emberpool" Dawnstar called and trotted to her den and entered it. The medicine cat followed and sat down in front of her leader. "This morning..I got a message from Cedartooth and Squirrelstar" Dawnstar meowed quietly. "So?" Emberpool pushed her on. "They said...that one of your medicine cat's is going to make a hard decision, that will...change her life completely" Dawnstar continued. Emberpool stiffened. My old mentor and my father's sister and past leader said that? Whats that suppose to mean? "Emberpool, has Lunacloud been acting differently lately?" questioned the creamy-white she-cat. "Not from what I can see" the long-haired cat shook her head. "Just an odd message then.." Dawnstar looked at her paws. "Well go back to your den, report to me if you see Lunacloud starting to act strange" the leader dismissed the medicine cat. Emberpool nodded and walked off. Change her life completely..hmm.Emberpool went to the fresh-kill pile and grabbed a hare. "Mind if I eat with you?" a deep voiced cat asked. Emberpool looked over at the ginger and black tom and smiled. "Of course Patchnight" she purred. The two siblings sat in a shaded area and ate in complete silence. "Hey, can I ask you something?" the tom asked. "Hmm? Yes" she meowed, looking at him curiously. "Well I love..Skylily and she loves me back, do you think I should ask her to become mates with me?" he asked shyly. Emberpool looked shocked, her brother trained with her when they were apprentices. She never expected them to become mates. She shifted uneasily. "Well if you love her..and she loves you back..then yeah I think you should" she stammered. Patchnight smiled, "Thanks Emberpool, you always give the good advice!" he leaped up and buried his prey's bones and took off towards the spotted gray warrior. The medicine cat blinked, if only I could have amate.She shook her head and padded to the medicine cat's den.
Emberpool padded out early the next morning to the two-leg's territory. She stopped at the border and searched for Leo. "Ha! Got you! Wait! Stop! Emmy quit it! Enough! I'm suppose to win!" she heard him yowling. Is he getting attacked?! She raced and jumped onto the top of an wooden fence to see the tom fake-fighting with a small dog. Emberpool gasped. Leo whipped around and sparked up. "Emberpool!" he cheered happily. "What you doing playing with a dog?! The dog will tear you to pieces!" she confronted. "Aw no, Emmy is to sweet to! She's my humans dog and I live with her" he purred with laughter. "Oh" she looked away from embarrassment. "What you doing here anyway?" he asked and looked at her. "I want..I want to live with you..and become a house cat" she blushed as she stammered. Leo's eyes went big, "really?!" he gasped. "Yes" she smiled. "Great! C'mon! My humans will accept you quickly!" he exclaimed happily. "Wait.." she sighed, "I have to tell my clan..I can't just leave without telling" she meowed. "Oh ok! Be back before moon-high!" he called. Emberpool leaped off the fence and sprinted back to camp. "Dawnstar! Dawnstar! I have to tell you something!" the medicine cat yowled. The leader leaped up to her feet, "What Emberpool?!" she called. "Call for a clan meeting please" she begged. Dawnstar looked at her skeptical but leaped onto High Rock. "Cats that are able to catch their own prey! Come beneath High Boulder for a clan meeting!" Dawnstar called. The clan gathered around. Confused but curiously. "Emberpool has a announcement" she meowed. Emberpool leaped onto the boulder and called out. "Windclan cats! I'm sorry to say but I'm leaving my duties as medicine cat, to become a kitty-pet!" she cried out. Fur bristled as cats gasped. "I have fallen to the likings of a kitty-pet life so I must go. I'm sorry once again but Lunacloud will be a great medicine cat for Windclan, probably better than me." she meowed. Lunacloud looked at her mentor in shock. "So thats what Starclan meant.." Dawnstar muttered. "Well if thats what you want you can leave. It'll be a loss but I won't keep you hostage as an unhappy clan cat." the leader told her. Emberpool dipped her head, "thank you Dawnstar" she meowed. "Goodbye Windclan!" she leaped down and took off to Leo's den.
"Leo! Look! There's five of them!" Ember purred. "Their beautiful, what about names?" he asked. "The black and white tom should be Patch, the creamy-red one should be Dawn" she meowed. "And the red one should be Blaze" he added in. "Can't forget the white one, thats named Cleo" she purred. Leo smiled, "lets not leave out this little one" he looked down at the small red and white kit. "Luna" they both said at the same time.
AC: Hey hoped you enjoyed! The rest will come soon! These cats are made up by me but credit to Erin Hunter for the clan.