Sweettooth was not in the patrol escorting ShadowClan. Instead, Sweettooth was on a fishing patrol together with Bluegray and Havenpelt.
While sitting on the river's bank, facing the sun, and not letting his shadow fall on the water, Sweettooth saw a big fish coming closer to where he was sitting and waited patiently. As the fish reached swiping length, Sweettooth shot one of his front paws forward, claws unsheathed, and tried to fling the fish out of the water.
The fish was taken out of the water together with Sweettooth's paw but it didn't reach land, it was penetrated by Sweettooth's claws and remained dangling heavily from his paw, throwing out the last few faint struggles to return to water.
Sweettooth recognized the same type of carp he captured more than half a moon ago for Shelldawn. This would be a great start for their weaning process. Sweettooth thought happily about his kits. They might even find a scale for themselves like Shelldawn has hers.
"Hey Sweettooth, you found another one!" Bluegray exclaimed with a few fish in his mouth. "Owlnose told me about this sort of carp. Does it taste any different from a regular one?"
"Not much." Sweettooth answered as Havenpelt arrived with her own batch of fish. "I'm taking it to start my kits' weaning process."
"Let's head back to camp." Havenpelt ordered. "Oh and do any of you know if Frostfur is expecting? Splashpelt won't tell me anything about it."
"Mistfeather hadn't told me either," Bluegray commented. "Maybe they're waiting with it."
"Maybe." Havenpelt sighed through the fish and her mouth and headed down stream back to camp.
Sweettooth's fishing patrol came back to camp with plenty of fish, including the big, odd scaled carp that blocked part of Sweettooth's view. Sweettooth made only a few steps after crossing the river before he felt three separate bodies slamming into him, toppling him over and sprawling all of his fish on the ground. Though Sweettooth's breath was knocked out of him, he was very happy, as he knew the identity of his silent attackers.
"Sweettooth you're back!" Sweettooth heard Maplekit's sweet kit meow.
"You're back!" Silverkit and Torrentkit joined in chimeing.
"I am!" Sweettooth agreed at his kits' observance, and carefully used his paws to slide them to the ground. "And I've brought this carp with me for you to eat."
"Yay we're going to eat fish!" Silverkit meowed while jumping around, clearly excited. "I'm going to tell Shelldawn!"
"Not if I tell her first!" Torrentkit challenged his littermate for a race and shot off. Maplekit simply gave Sweettooth a quick, excusing, glance, and pelted after his littermates.
Sweettooth carried the fish over to the nursery where Shelldawn was sitting and purring while the kits were jumping and fidgeting all over the place, waiting for their first taste of prey. Sweettooth laid the fish down on the ground and the kits' heads were rapidly turning from Shelldawn to Sweettooth and back as if asking permission.
"Remember to eat slowly," Sweettooth reminded his kits. "You need to chew before you can swallow, and watch out for bones, don't eat them nor the scales. Now, what do we say when we catch our prey or before we eat?"
"Thank you StarClan for this prey." The kits meowed proudly in unison.
"Great job!" Shelldawn congratulated their kits with a purr. "Now take a small bite each."
Maplekit was the first to lean in and take a bit from a scaleless part of the fish. Upon seeing their littermate take the slow bite, Silverkit and Torrentkit seemed to have lost their courage and were now staring wide-eyed at Maplekit, waiting for his response.
Maplekit chewed slowly and eventually swallowed the small morsel. After the chewed fish visibly went down the kit's throat, Maplekit smiled. "It's really tasty!" The tortoiseshell-and-silver kit purred. "Try it!"
Silverkit and Torrentkit listened to their littermate, and each took a bite near the hole Maplekit left in the carp.
The kits chewed well and responded similarly to Maplekit. "Can we have another bite?" Torrentkit meowed excitedly.
"Can we?" Maplekit supported his littermate.
"Pleeease!" Silverkit tried to reason using politeness.
Shelldawn looked at Sweettooth questioningly and Sweettooth returned a nod, knowing one more morsel each won't hurt.
"You can have more," Sweettooth meowed sternly. "But only one more morsel. You still need milk."
"Okay." The kits meowed, in a mixture of excitement and disappointment. All three kits leaned in and took another morsel, eating it as carefully as their first.
"Will we have more fish?" Torrentkit asked Sweettooth and Shelldawn expectantly.
"Of course you will." Sweettooth answered with a purr. "But most fish would be smaller than this one, and will have scales less odd-shaped, that cover them entirely."
"So this is a special fish?" Silverkit asked, turning her head to Shelldawn. "The scale in our nest is like one of these ones right?"
"Yes it is." Shelldawn meowed. "Do you want to practice scaling this one?"
Sweettooth noticed Maplekit was already tearing of a certain scale like he would if he was scaling the fish but more carefully.
"Yes Maplekit," Shelldawn noticed too. "Exactly like that but you can do it faster and tear off more scales at the same time."
Maplekit didn't seem to hear as he finished ripping the scale from the fish's pelt. The scale had five pointed tips forming out of its center like a flower with five petals.
"Can I keep this scale?" Maplekit put a fore-paw on one of the scale's tips and looked at his parents with pleading eyes.
"Of course you can." Shelldawn purred sweetly. "Now let's finish scaling this fish, and after that we rest."
"But we don't want to rest." Torrentkit sighed heavily. "We want to run."
"If you run after eating you're going to get a bellyache." Shelldawn reasoned with the kits. "And resting would let you grow and be strong warriors."
"Sweettooth," Maplekit caught Sweettooth's attention quietly. "How do you deal with bellyaches?"
"Usually medicine cats give watermint to the patient, and it needs to be chewed well for its juice." Sweettooth answered thoroughly. "Juniper berries also have the same effect, other clans use them because watermint is more scarce in their territories."
"Okay," Maplekit meowed excitedly, and began scaling the carp.
Silverkit and Torrentkit soon followed and they were all scaling the fish precisely. Not long after, a pile of scales was left beside the bare carp and the kits looked proudly at their fine work.
"Good job, all of you." Shelldawn meowed quietly and began licking the kits, Sweettooth following straight after.
Eventually Torrentkit let out a long yawn. "Go to the nest." Shelldawn told the kits softly. "We'll join you shortly."
Sweettooth went to the nursery entrance and pulled aside some of the brambles to let the kits in without any struggles. Sweettooth watched the kits climb inside the nest and cuddle there together. After watching happily for a few moments, Sweettooth turned back to sit with his mate.
"They look so cute together." Sweettooth meowed happily to the beautiful silver tabby. "I can still barely believe they're real."
"I feel the same way." Shelldawn almost shed a tear from happiness. "Do you think Maplekit wants to be a medicine cat?"
"We'd have to ask him that." Sweettooth tried to answer as well as he could. "But I'm not going to tell Willowshine anything about it for now. I know she didn't mean the things she did but I'll prefer it this way."
"I understand," Shelldawn meowed quietly. "Let's eat. Feeding them all this milk is draining me, they drink so much."
Sweettooth and Shelldawn ate quietly and managed to finish the fish by themselves.
"I'm giving these scales to Willowshine." Sweettooth meowed while pointing at the large pile with his tail. "I've got a feeling they might be useful."
"I'll wait with the kits." Shelldawn returned, and proceeded to touch noses with Sweettooth.
Sweettooth breathed in more of his mate's scent and began to push the pile towards the medicine den.
On his way to the thorn bush, Icewing intercepted Sweettooth with a puzzled stare. "Sweettooth what are you doing?" The clan deputy questioned Sweettooth.
"I'm giving Willowshine these scales." Sweettooth answered. "Scales protect fish so I thought they might be able protect us as well."
Icewing seemed to ponder for a while but looked proud and smug in the end. "Okay, do that." The white she-cat ordered. "If Willowshine doesn't need the scales, bury them near the warriors' den, I think I understand what you meant."
Sweettooth nodded in compliance and kept moving the scales towards the medicine den. As Sweettooth reached the thorn bush, Willowshine stepped out and gazed half bewilderedly at Sweettooth.
"What?" The medicine cat grunted. "Sweettooth why did you bring me all of these scales?"
"Do you need them?" Sweettooth asked the gray tabby.
"No." Willowshine answered matter-of-factly.
"Okay." Sweettooth closed the conversation quickly before it reached another subject and kept pushing the pile, now towards the warriors' den.
Sweettooth was halfway to the warriors' den when Curlcry began helping him wordlessly. The two warriors reached the bramble thicket with the pile.
"Why did we need to bring this pile here?" Curlcry asked Sweettooth.
"To bury it." Sweettooth answered according to the clan deputy's orders.
Curlcry looked at the ground near the pile and turned her face to Sweettooth. "Okay, have fun." Curlcry meowed and trotted away to where Mist was talking with Whitepelt.
Sweettooth dug a hole on one side of the den, where cats eat less often, and buried the silvery scales in it. After swiftly cleaning his fur, Sweettooth trotted to the nursery. Upon entering the nursery, Sweettooth saw all of his kits resting in their mother's embrace, and joined the nest, cuddling close to his mate and kits.
The sun was going down as the clan sat down to eat. Sweettooth and Shelldawn were giving their kits another taste of fish, minnows this time. Sweettooth was well rested from his earlier uninterrupted nap.
Reedstar was in a private conversation with Icewing, Lizardtail, Sneezecloud, and Mallownose.
"Shelldawn aren't you tired?" Sweettooth meowed and faked a yawn while glancing from his mate to the senior warriors and back.
"Yes, I am." Shelldawn answered with less of a charade. "Kits, let's go to our nest."
"Wait," Sweettooth halted the wonderful kits and his mate, and proceeded to give each of his kits a few loving licks, grooming their kitten fur in the process. After finishing, Sweettooth got close to Shelldawn and gave her a lick as well, breathing in her scent before he might leave for battle.
As Shelldawn led the kits back to their nest, Sweettooth turned around and headed towards where the senior warriors were conversing near the leader's den. Sweettooth noticed more of his clanmates doing the same, but keeping distance, as to not interrupt the battle talks, and only awaiting orders. The senior warriors eventually dispersed their conversation and Reedstar gave Icewing the signal to speak to the clan.
"A battle with ThunderClan is close." The clan deputy began. "Lionstar did not agree to Bayblade staying prisoner in WindClan. We believe they'll launch an attack tonight, if not, then the next night. When they do attack, WindClan would send a runner to ask for help. For the next few nights, we'll have a patrol waiting for a quick response on our border with WindClan. I will lead the first patrol. Nightsky, Brackenpelt, Sweettooth, and Frostfur you're in it. We'll leave later, Sweettooth come with me."
Sweettooth watched the warriors of his clan come close to their close ones and share tongues as he followed Icewing towards the medicine den.
"How do you suggest we wear the scales?" Icewing discussed Sweettooth's earlier idea. "I thought about wearing the fishpelt with the scales already on it but it will rot before we get any use out of it."
"True," Sweettooth agreed. "Keeping the scales together would be the tricky part, we should first try thinking about wearing them. What if we wear them sort of like kittypet collars?"
"That could work," Icewing meowed and pondered. "But we shouldn't call them collars. Okay, so we need to arrange the scales in the same way they are on a carp, and then have it on a main collar that would keep it on the warrior."
"A collar is just a strand that has both of it's ends tied together, right?" Sweettooth began forming an idea. "We can make long strands of scales, maybe tie them with bindweed, and then we'll be able to tie each strand to the next one, like how the carp scales are beneath one another. That way, we can tie the whole pelt around our bodies easily."
"That's great." Icewing meowed with pride and approval. "It would also hide most of the bindweed you suggested using, which is weaker than the scales. Will the bindweed be strong enough?"
"If we dry it," Sweettooth began pouring out his knowledge of bindweed. "It is thin but very strong and hard to untie. A scratch can get through it but the tension from the scales weight won't bother it. We'll need a lot of it though, we can't puncture a hole through the scale so we'll need to wrap a stem around each scale, and tie the stems together with other stems to form a strand of scales, and tie them together with more stems to form the pelt."
"That sounds like a plan." Icewing congratulated. "We'll plant more bindweed and I'll tell everyone to scale big-scaled fish thoroughly before eating them."
Sweettooth and Icewing arrived at the thorny medicine den and padded inside to see Willowshine who was now back to her full strength.
"Hi Icewing, hi Sweettooth," Willowshine greeted the warriors. "I've prepared five portions of strengthening herbs, as you requested."
"Thank you Willowshine," The white she-cat meowed gratefully. "There is one more thing I need to ask of you. Would you please plant more bindweed? We'd need a lot of it in the coming moons."
"Sure," The medicine cat returned. "But why would we need bindweed?"
"Sweettooth had an idea." Icewing answered. "And this idea will become reality. Sweettooth, would you care to explain?"
"You know how a fish's scales protect the fish?" Sweettooth began explaining his idea. "Well, we can use bindweed to make ourselves a pelt of scales that will help us in battle."
"That sounds possible," Willowshine sounded mildly excited at the idea. "It might save me a lot of scratches to deal with."
"Sweettooth take some of these bundles." Icewing ordered Sweettooth. "Give them to Frostfur, Brackenpelt, and take one for yourself."
"And here's some heather nectar." Willowshine gave Sweettooth another leaf-wrap. "It's from the heather strand Rainkit brought."
Sweettooth nodded, grabbed three portions and the heather wrap, and went back to where the warriors still sat. Sweettooth saw Breezepelt and Nightsky sharing tongues on the way to give Frostfur the strengthening herbs. Frostfur was sharing tongues with Splashpelt while Grayfoot, Mudstripe, and Curlcurl sat near. Sweettooth gently dropped a strengthening herbs leaf-wrap next to the sharing couple and turned to look at the others.
"Here Sweettooth let me take one," Mudstripe suggested tiredly, but nicely. "I'll come say goodbye to you and Brackenpelt."
Sweettooth let Mudstripe take one of the bundles and together they padded towards where Brackenpelt was sitting with Gorseclaw, Shimmerpelt, Owlnose, and Jayclaw.
"I'll be fine, I'll claw their ears off," Sweettooth heard his mother's meow. "Besides, I'll have Sweettooth with me," She meowed and turned to look at her son. "No one can beat us."
Sweettooth gave Brackenpelt the herbs he was carrying and Mudstripe gave him hers. Brackenpelt and Sweettooth both swallowed their herbs.
"It's bitter," Brackenpelt complained. "It has been a long time since I've last taken these."
"Have some heather nectar." Sweettooth suggested his mother and carefully opened the leaf-wrap in a way that it can be closed again.
Brackenpelt lapped some of the nectar and seemed rejoiced. The warriors all sat quietly as stars were covering almost the entire sky with their shine, until Icewing arrived and led the patrol out of camp, towards the border with WindClan.
"Sweettooth," Icewing asked when the patrol was in the drying marshes, the ground not slimy and slippery as it was in previous moons. "Is Frostfur expecting?"
Sweettooth was asked this question before but did not know the answer, being far away from the young white she-cat. Looking at her belly now, which began to swell, and spotting more signs in her breathing and posture, Sweettooth knew that Frostfur was indeed expecting kits. "Yes," Sweettooth answered dryly. "It seems that she is."
Icewing did not respond, but simply quickened her pace to regain the lead of the patrol. "Listen up," Icewing meowed commandedly. "Frostfur, When the WindClan messenger comes, you will run back to camp and send for help, don't come back with them." Icewing added after a quick glance at the soon to be queen's belly. "The rest of us will go to the WindClan camp and halt the attack until more of us come. We will not lose this battle, we are stronger, smarter, and most importantly, StarClan is on our side."
The patrol was inspired by Icewing's inspiring words, sat on the border, with the sun no longer in the sky, and waited.