"The scrap with legs told me you'd be here" is the greeting Deadfoot gives her, sidling up alongside his mate "shouldn't you be in the den?"
"Smokekit and Morningflower are watching over them" she reminded him. "Besides, if I have to spend one more second in that cramped den, Starclan help me."
"It's actually quite spacious" Deadfoot mused "back in my day-"
"Did you seriously just say that?" She blurted, and his nose twitched.
"Point" he admitted.
"What did Tallstar want?"
"He propositioned me" he said, voice flat.
"Of course, he did. He is part of your fawning harem of drooling lovers" Her whiskers twitched, amused.
He purred, butting his head against her chest. "Don't worry dear; you're my favorite" he promised, before sobering "he actually wanted to ask me about the new kit."
Ashfoot stiffened "Smokekit?"
"The new kit" he repeated. Seeing her eyes narrow, he sighed, tail flicking. "Look, it's not that he's a Kittypet that's bothering me it's-"
"He's a kit" she emphasized.
"A kit with no knowledge of the Clans, or it's customs."
"He can learn. He is learning, if you lot would just give him a chance."
"It's not the fact that he's a Kittypet I have a problem with" he sighed, shaking his head "the others are going to eat him alive" he said seriously.
The soft pound of paws on sand stopped Ashfoot from responding as Runningpaw bounded up to them.
Normally Ashfoot would be annoyed at the interruption, but this conversation was going to unpleasant places and it was Runningpaw. She had known them from before they transitioned, back when they were a lonely kit in the nursery.
(The fact that Plumclaw was a senior warrior did nothing to stop Ashfoot's seething contempt for her)
Stupid motherly instinct. She had been much better at ignoring the young ones before she gave birth.
"Hello Runningpaw" she said, dipping her head at the wiry apprentice and pointedly ignoring her mate "can I help you with something?"
The tabby bounced on their paws, a thing she'd seen them do since kithood."I was wondering if you'd seen Smokekit" they said "I wanted to talk to him."
Ashfoot felt something in her lighten. Finally! Someone around his age reaching out! Runningpaw was always the odd one out of the apprentices-Whitepaw and Webpaw were much closer-and now they could have their own friend.
It felt like the leaves had parted, revealing a ray of sunlight.
"He's in the Nursery" she said, trying not to sound too eager "looking after Eaglekit, Rapidkit and Waspkit. I'm sure he'd be delighted to see you."
I'm sure he would be delighted to see any friendly face she added silently.
After they vanished from sight in a blur of grey and silver, she turned her attention back onto Deadfoot, expression severe "he's a good kid" she insisted, bristling slightly under his cool gaze.
He actually looked genuinely shocked for a moment. "I never said he wasn't" he protested, hurt "what I am saying is that it's going to be hard, and you really shouldn't get your hopes up."
Ashfoot didn't dignify that with a response, instead rising to her feet and marching away.
Waspkit was a biter.
Teething, Ashfoot had called it, and Smokekit could see why she wanted out of the den for the moment, the kits needle-sharp teeth digging into his slender tail. He had long since given up shaking him off, instead choosing to just sit and wait it out.
"Hello again!"
Morningflower looked up from where she was licking a paw, gaze warm. "Ah, hello Runningpaw" she said, rising to her paws. "Have you met Smokekit yet?"
"Yup!" She nodded proudly "I was on the patrol that brought him in! Iwasactuallytheonewhofoundhim!"
Smokekit blinked as the rest of her words blurred together, but Morningflower just nodded in complete understanding. "Good on you" she praised "those sharp senses will make you a great warrior."
Runningpaw did a little dance, prancing around the Nursery as Morningflower informed Smokekit that "they're such a good help! Most cats never visit the Nursery after they're made apprentices but Runningpaw always stops by to look at the kits."
"I like kits" she admitted "weird to think we were that small once, right?" She gave Smokekit a friendly blink, pale green eyes wide as she took in the clumps of fur that were the newborns. Much to his relief, she didn't make a pass about his size.
"When you're made an apprentice, you'll be sharing a den with Runningpaw" Morningflower told him "they can show you the basics if you like."
Smokekit snorted "yeah right. I don't think the others will be very helpful."
Morningflower seemed surprised, or maybe confused, the shadows of the den hiding half of her face. But Runningpaw seemed distressed, kneading the ground with her front paws. "Webpaw and Whitepaw are really very nice" she blurted "you just surprised them, that's all."
Neither he nor Morningflower seemed impressed by this, and she dithered under their joint gazes, almost folding in on herself before his eyes.
"Sorry, is there supposed to be a designated day for when Kittypets can come in asking for shelter?" He snapped "they can get over themselves!"
Honestly, adults were bad enough, but cats his own age who barely even held a conversation with him, judging him? Condemning him? That was unfair.
"I know!" She cried, and Smokekit was startled for a moment, thinking she had somehow read her mind "but everyone's worried about food shortages especiallysinceleafbare'scomingandnowyou'rehere-"
"Do you know what she's saying?" He asked Morningflower bluntly, and Runningpaw fell silent beside him.
To his surprise, now Morningflower was looking at him with disapproval. "First of all, don't interrupt someone when they're speaking" she said, tone severe "secondly, they were talking about how when leaf bare comes, we now have an extra mouth to feed-not exactly a minor issue" she glared at him.
With every word being spoken, Runningpaw seemed to shrink more and more, which was odd, because he was the one being chastised, not her.
"Thirdly" she said, a growl starting to make its way in the back of her throat "please respect Runningpaw's gender and pronouns. We are allowing you to live and grow with us, and if you want the others to not maim you, the least you could do is not misgender someone."
"Okay!" Runningpaw exclaimed, stepping between the angry mother and the scolded kit. "It's okay Morningflower, I never explained my pronouns-or my gender- to him!"
She seemed almost excited when she turned to him and announced "I'm agender, just so you know! They them pronouns please!"
Smokekit peeked at Morningflower, whose gaze was serious as she stared at him. "Yeah, everyone's a gender" he said "and what do you mean by they pronouns?"
She seemed surprised by the question. "No, not a gender. Agender. It means I'm not a tom or a she-cat, so instead of calling me she or her, you would call me they or them."
". . . But that doesn't make any sense" Smokekit said.
"Smokekit" Morningflower warned.
"But it doesn't!" He insisted, because it didn't. Star strung cats and nine lives and medicine cats were weird enough, but claiming that you weren't a gender? "How can you not be a gender?"
A faint but distinct scent of nervousness permeated the den. "Well" she said slowly "I suppose it's the same way you are a tom. You're just kind of-born like it."
Smokekit was already shaking his head "no" he protested "I was born a tom, just like you were born a she-cat. Just like you are a she-cat. I don't get how you can feel like you're not one, it doesn't make sense!"
"Gender doesn't have to make sense-"
"Yes it does!" He couldn't believe he actually was arguing with her over this "there are only two genders, you can't just choose not to be one, it's stupid!"
"Enough."
Morningflower was no longer sitting in the corner, instead, sometime during the discussion she had made her way over to the two. Her tortoisehell coat seemed to almost catch aflame in the weak light of the den. Her gaze made Smokekit shrink away, but Runningpaw remained frozen, not even looking at either of them.
When she turned to Runningpaw, her voice was kind "why don't you go and find your friends dear? I heard they were out exploring together."
The apprentice looked down at her paws, trembling slightly. "I-okay" she gave the two a wide-eyed stare before she slinked away "sorry" she whispered, but to who the apology was addressed to, Smokekit didn't know.
Morningflower waited until her pawsteps, oddly hesitant, faded away before rounding on him. "What is wrong with you?" She demanded; voice as cold as her pelt was warm. "Do you- don't ever say those things ever again, are we understood?" When he didn't answer, shocked silent, she loomed over him, driving him back into the thorny wall of the den. "Are we understood?"
He nodded, but she wasn't finished.
"We are allowing you to join our Clan, to feed and raise and care for you. The least- the least you could do is have some respect for your fellow cat. I had assumed that you weren't raised like some backwards savage, that when someone asks you to call them something, you listen."
"That's not true-" Smokekit protested, unfairness stinging his pelt.
"And you're doing a great job of disapproving that!" She snapped. "You are an outsider. You don't get the right to judge others on their roles or jobs or –Starclan forbid- orientation. It's not your business why Runningpaw is agender. You don't need to ask questions, just do as you're told."
The words stung more than Tigerpaw's claws ever could, hot shame starting to make its home underneath Smokekit's pelt as he cowered in front of her, ears flat. And then the flames that made up Morningflower's coat extinguished as a shadow cut off the light from the den.
"Thanks for taking care of them for me Smokekit" Ashfoot, not realizing what she had just walked in on at first, said, before she processed the scene in front of her; the calm and gentle Morningflower, fluffed up and furious, standing over the pathetic looking Smokekit. "What's going on?" She asked warily and Morningflower huffed.
"I'd recommend giving this one a talk about respecting others genders" she said, brushing past the other Queen to leave the Nursery.
It took a second for Ashfoot to comprehend what she was implying, at least until she remembered how Runningpaw had left the den, looking as small as they did whenever their parents were around.
Her eyes narrowed at Smokekit's. "What did you do?"
"I'm going to kill him" Whitepaw breathed, as if making a prayer. Webpaw didn't bother to make such declarations, already stomping back towards camp, fur bristled and claws out.
Runningpaw planted themself between their friend and the path to camp. "Please don't" they sighed, feeling more strung out than they felt they should. One pointless conversation, and it felt like all their energy had drained out of their paws and into the earth. "I-he's a kit."
"Being a kit doesn't excuse this!" Webpaw snapped, tail lashing. Whitepaw stepped up beside him, gaze cold and hard.
Starclan, they needed to resolve this before that kit died.
"I think the thing he struggled to understand is how someone cannot be any gender" they explained "not that someone can swap genders later in life. He shouldn't have a problem with you two."
They had to hold back a wince as they imagined how Whitepaw and Webpaw would react if Smokekit reacted badly to their transitioning.
Oddly, the two didn't look comforted. "That's not what we're mad about, Run" Whitepaw said, and they looked blankly at the two of them.
"It's not?"
"No!" Webpaw stared at her, eyes round "he's a kittypet. He doesn't know anything, and if tries to claim that I'm not a tom or that Whitepaw isn't a she-cat, then all he's doing is showing the Clan how stupid he is."
"I don't think he's stupid" they muttered "just confused. I probably just explained it wrong."
"Confused or not, he has no right to treat you like that" Whitepaw snapped "especially when you were just saying hello. It's your gender, there's no wrong way for you to explain it."
"Okay?" Runningpaw said, a little bit confused. What was going on here? They had thought the two would be more concerned about Smokekit misgendering themselves, not Runningpaw.
The two gave each other that look and immediately Runningpaw, the lankiest of their friends, felt smaller, shrunken. They had known them since kithood, and they had never been able to decipher those looks.
Webpaw doesn't try and march back to camp anymore, instead winding his tail around Whitepaw's as he suggests "why don't we all race eachother? First one to the Outlook Rock?"
It's blatant in its attempts to cheer them up, and reminds Runningpaw of when warriors would come and play with them in the nursery; letting them win the fights they picked with them. It makes them feel silly, to be upset over something like this, a kit being insensitive? What a shock.
But if they don't, Webpaw and Whitepaw will be upset if their attempts to cheer them up fail. So they take off without warning, listening to their startled calls from behind them.
"That's cheating!" Whitepaw calls, scrambling after them, voice much more relaxed.