"Okay, breathe deeply. Don't push just yet." A bluish-gray tom was pressing his paws gently against the gray-silver queen's extended belly as she panted hard, pain and panic swamping her.

It's been many moons since kits have been birthed, and the Clan has been running dangerously short on warriors to battle and hunt. Finally, at the end of newleaf, the secret EmberClan is readying to welcome its newest tiny warriors.

So far the elderly queen had given birth to six kits - four she-kits and two toms - and the medicine cat was helping her push out the last kit. On the tom's command, she whined and moaned in pain as the final kit plopped into the nest. The medicine cat bent down to nip open the kit sac and licked it until it began to mewl loudly.

"Congratulations, Silverheart," he reported as he nuzzled the final kit to his mother's belly. The seven kits all began to bury their muzzles into her belly and suckled, paddling their tiny paws against her. "EmberClan is blessed with four she-kits and three toms."

"Thank you ever so much for helping me, Stonefeather," Silverheart smiled weakly, worn out from her kitting. She bent down and licked each of her kits in turn.

"Their father will be pleased to meet them once they grow old enough to go to the elder's den," Stonefeather chuckled. He gently pawed open a wrapped leaf and pulled out a few borage leaves. He placed them down in front of the exhausted queen. "Eat these. They'll help you produce milk for your kits quickly. For as many kits as you have, you'll most certainly need it."

Silverheart blinked warmly at the medicine cat before bending down and licking up the bitter leaves.

A greeting mew was heard at the entrance of the den and Stonefeather's clouded blue eyes brightened. "Pearlstar!"

A large and broad brown she-cat with white markings squeezed in through the mossy entrance of the nursery den. "I hear EmberClan's seven newest warriors have arrived."

"You heard correctly," Silverheart meowed as she stroked her thin sleek tail over her seven suckling kits.

"Seven kits! How wonderful!" Pearlstar's blue eyes shone with joy. "EmberClan will have its normal amount of warriors in no time. Have you given them names yet?"

"I've been thinking about it, and I have." The queen brushed her tail over each kit in turn as she named them. "This gray one will be Lovekit, the white one Blossomkit, the pale ginger one Treekit, the black and white one Sweetkit, the spiky brown one Thistlekit, the ginger one Swiftkit, and the black one Moonkit."

The EmberClan leader nodded her head. "Those are all fine names, Silverheart. They will surely become some of the Clan's finest warriors since they're the kits of you and Cloudflight. And don't worry about the trouble of having to raise seven kits; Snowfoot will surely be able to help you raise them." She turned to another queen, a snowshoe cat, who nodded to her in agreement.

"Thank you, Pearlstar and Snowfoot," Silverheart mewed before licking her kits once again, a few of them mewling loudly before going back to suckling. "You seven kits will be EmberClan's strongest warriors, and once we have enough warriors, we can finally begin attending Gatherings and have trips to the Moonpool once again with the other Clans just as we used to."

"Come on, Moonkit, jump!" Blossomkit mewed.

"But it's so high," Moonkit squeaked as he curled up against the rock, quivering as if he were freezing in the snows of leaf-bare.

"Quit being such a scaredy-mouse and just jump already!"

It had been two moons since EmberClan's seven newest members had been born. The seven kits all had very unique and charming personalities, and the Clan cats loved each and every one of them.

"If you didn't want to jump, you shouldn't have gone up that rock in the first place!" Lovekit pointed out as she rolled her eyes.

"I didn't even want to come up here in the first place!" Moonkit protested, his bright amber eyes narrowed in anger. "Blossomkit made me do it!"

"Did not!" Blossomkit hissed.

"What on earth is going on here?" a ginger she-cat with darker stripes meowed as she padded over to the three kits.

"Runningleaf, tell Moonkit to stop being a scaredy-mouse and jump!" Blossomkit squeaked as she bounded over towards the warrior.

"I don't want to jump!" Moonkit wailed. "It's too high!"

"Don't make your brother do what he doesn't want to do," Runningleaf softly scolded them as she grasped the black kit by the scruff and placed him gently on the ground. "Where's Silverheart?"

"She let us play out in the clearing!" Lovekit replied. "So long as we didn't split up!"

"But I don't see your other littermates anywhere."

"That's because Thistlekit and Sweetkit are listening to the elders' stories, Treekit keeps hopping all over the place, and Swiftkit keeps sneaking into the medicine den."

"I swear, EmberClan doesn't have enough cats to keep track of you kits," Runningleaf sighed as she sat and swept her tail over her paws. "We still have our own responsibilities, you know. We still need to hunt for the Clan, patrol the borders to make sure no ThunderClan or ShadowClan cats go past the border, and the apprentices still have to be trained to become warriors."

"Well, it's not our fault Silverheart had so many of us," Blossomkit huffed.

"I didn't say that, now did I? Just please try to keep out of trouble and under any cat's paws." Runningleaf stood up and padded across the clearing towards the fresh-kill pile.

"So, where did you say the others were again, Lovekit?" Moonkit asked as if the conversation with the young warrior never happened.

"Well, I know for certain that Thistlekit and Sweetkit are in the elders' den with Cloudflight and Graywhisker," Lovekit replied. She leaped to her paws. "Let's go get them!"

The three kits scampered across the clearing, accidentally getting under a brown tom warrior's paws along the way, and entered the elders' den where they found Thistlekit and Sweetkit sitting in front of Cloudflight and Graywhisker.

"So you're saying that dead cats came to our world and fought the four Clans?" Thistlekit breathed, his green eyes wide with interest.

"That's right," Graywhisker rasped. "Many cats had died in the fight, both from the Clans and the Dark Forest. One of the cats who died was Firestar."

"Firestar of ThunderClan?" Sweetkit gasped. "He's legendary! He started off as a soft kittypet and he turned out to be one of the best warriors the forest had ever seen!"

"Eh, I could be so much better than Firestar," Blossomkit interrupted as she padded in with her brother and sister. "Rumor had it he would constantly break the warrior code and deep down he was still really soft."

"Fairness and mercy are excellent qualities to have, Blossomkit," Cloudflight meowed. "And sometimes you have to follow your instincts rather than the warrior code if it's the right thing to do."

"But I thought it was completely forbidden to break the warrior code," Lovesong mewed as she tilted her head off to the side questioningly.

"Oh, believe me, it is, but sometimes it is necessary. There are still laws of the warrior code a cat must never break."

"Ow! Get off of me, kit!" a female voice suddenly spat from the medicine den.

"Looks like your brother's messing around in the medicine den again," Cloudflight sighed. "Thistlekit, go make sure Swiftkit doesn't get into anymore trouble than he may already be in."

"You got it!" the prickly kit squeaked as he scampered out of the den. He made his way over to the medicine den and peeked in to see Swiftkit's eyes wide with horror as a white she-cat apprentice with black markings swiped at him with unsheathed claws.

"My side hurts, you little scrap!" she hissed. "Go away!"

"Now, now, Whitepaw," Stonefeather meowed as he carefully made his way next to the two young cats. "Swiftkit was just trying to help your side after getting that stone lodged in due to your rough playing with Blackpaw."

"Well, he'd be so much more help if he were to stay away from me!" Whitepaw snarled.

Swiftkit backed away slowly and hid behind Stonefeather's fluffy tail. "I-I was only trying to help press cobwebs on her wound..."

"I know you were, but maybe you should leave the medicine duties to the medicine cat." Stonefeather gently brushed the kit towards the exit.

Swiftkit pouted, and as Thistlekit approached he turned to him. "It's no fair. Stonefeather's so lucky to be the Clan's medicine cat. I wanna be one, too!"

"But don't you wanna be a warrior instead?" Thistlekit mewed. "They get to fight and hunt and patrol rather than sort herbs all day."

Swiftkit shook his head. "I'd rather sort herbs if it means I get to help my Clanmates faster by healing them after battles."

"You're such a mouse-brain," Thistlekit purred teasingly.

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Quit fighting and get out so I can rest!" Whitepaw suddenly yowled from inside the den. The two kits yelped and purred as they scampered away from the medicine clearing.

"Hey, where's Treekit?" Sweetkit meowed as she, Lovekit, Blossomkit, and Moonkit approached.

"Wasn't she with you guys?" Swiftkit asked the young cats next to the white and black one, who shook their heads.

A yowl was heard from the edge of the clearing, and the six kits turned with widened eyes towards the source of the noise; a dark ginger she-cat with a large bushy tail was seen laying on the ground in front of the warrior's den as if she'd fallen, a tiny pale ginger she-kit purring with amusement underneath her tail.

"Treekit, for the last time, stop bouncing around!" the warrior hissed as she stood up and shook herself off. "You're getting into a lot more trouble than we can take!"

"Sorry, Foxtail!" Treekit meowed as she scampered off. She spotted her littermates and ran over to them, then began bouncing up and down. "Hi! Who wants to play Dark Forest Battle?"

"We keep playing that game over and over, Treekit," Lovekit grunted.

"It's so boring being the only kits in EmberClan," Moonkit whined. "We're getting sick of each other as the days go on!"

"Luckily, we'll be apprentices like Whitepaw and Blackpaw in four moons!" Sweetkit pointed out optimistically.

"That's four moons too many," Blossomkit growled. "I wanna be an apprentice now! I wanna learn how to hunt and fight ShadowClan! Once I've become a warrior, they'll be too scared to show their faces at the borders!"

"Well, I don't want to be a warrior," Swiftkit mewed, puffing out his chest proudly. "I'm going to be Stonefeather's medicine cat apprentice!"

"And I'm going to be leader of EmberClan one day!" Thistlekit exclaimed before scrambling up a stone, acting as if it were Highledge. "I, Thistlestar of EmberClan, hereby declare my littermates to become the best warriors ever!"

"You look funny with your prickly chest puffed out like that!" Treekit purred loudly.

Thistlekit shot a glare at her. "Hey! No laughing at Clan leader!"

"I'm sure she didn't mean it, Thistlestar," a teasing voice spoke from behind. Thistlekit whipped around and gasped when he saw the EmberClan leader standing next to him.

"Pearlstar!" he squeaked.

A soft purr rumbled in Pearlstar's throat. "You'll most certainly make a fine leader one day, Thistlekit, but you'll have to wait until you've become a warrior and have apprenticed a cat of your own." Her gaze swept over the other six kits. "You'll all make fine warriors. And medicine cat," she added when she caught sight of Swiftkit narrowing his eyes.

"Wow, thanks, Pearlstar!" Lovekit mewed. "You're the best!"

"I await the day you all have earned your warrior - and medicine cat - names." The EmberClan leader waved her tail affectionately before padding off towards the Highledge to talk with Violeteye, the EmberClan deputy.

"Wow, can you believe it?" Blossomkit breathed, her eyes wide. "Pearlstar really has faith that we'll become some of the best warriors in the Clan!"

"And medicine cat!" Swiftkit hissed, yet no kit paid mind to his snappy tone.

"I just cannot wait until we become warriors!" Sweetkit meowed excitedly. "We're gonna be the best warriors and medicine cat any cat has ever seen in the forest!"