About two moons later, Orchidkit was grooming her fur carefully. It had gotten all messed up by Bluekit. "That tom is so annoying!" she hissed to herself.
She had just been coming to tell Bluekit and Briarkit that they shouldn't be playing so far away from the nursery when Bluekit had screamed, "MoorClan intruder!" and they both pounced on her an messed up her pelt. She lashed her tail in irritation. Bluekit was always getting in trouble, and dragging her brother into it! She didn't understand. Did he like getting scolded by Ferntail? It didn't seem to bother him much.
Orchidkit stretched and yawned. Maybe she should go take a nap. She padded toward the nursery. "I'm tired," she said to Ferntail, who was sharing tongues with a she-cat named Whitefeather. "I'm going to take a nap."
"I'm afraid you can't right now," Willowfur, who had just come to join the she-cats, said. "Silvertail is having her kits."
"Is she?" Whitefeather exclaimed.
"Yes," Willowfur said. "Blossomfur is with her now." Orchidkit hadn't noticed the medicine cat entering the nursery, but she did recall seeing Blossomfur's apprentice, Forestpaw, dashing toward the medicine cat's den a few times. She had just figured that Mothflight's wound from a border patrol skirmish had been acting up again.
"What about my nap?" Orchidkit whined.
"You can take it later," Ferntail said. "Why don't you see if Rosekit and Leafkit will play with you?"
Orchidkit reluctantly padded toward where Willowfur's kits were playing.
"Hi, Orchidkit!" Rosekit said. "Want to play with us?"
"Okay," Orchidkit said.
Rosekit batted a ball of moss toward Orchidkit. "Let's play keep-away from Leafkit!" Orchidkit picked up the ball in her mouth and started to run away. Leafkit, who was over a moon older than her, quickly caught up. She pounced on Orchidkit, bowling her over.
"Hey, that's not fair!" Orchidkit complained, dropping the moss, which Leafkit promptly scooped up.
"I win!" she exclaimed. "Now we keep away from you!" She tossed the ball toward her sister, and they both ran off.
"I don't want to play anymore!" Orchidkit wailed. The older kits didn't hear. She headed back to her mother.
"Back so soon?" Ferntail asked.
"I don't like that game," Orchidkit said, and sulked next to her mother for some time. She eventually drifted off to sleep. When she woke up, Ferntail, Willowfur, and Whitefeather were talking quietly. She kept her eyes closed and listened.
"Just one kit?" Whitefeather was saying. "That's unusual."
"And no tom came to see how she and the kit were doing," Willowfur said. Orchidkit guessed that Silvertail had given birth.
"Did she tell either of you who the father is?" Ferntail asked.
"No one seems to know," Willowfur said.
"Blossomfur said that the kit has his mother's silver pelt," Ferntail said. "So no clues there."
"And she gave him such a strange name too," Whitefeather said.
"What was it, again?" Ferntail asked.
"Slashkit, right?" Willowfur said.
"Yes, that's it," Whitefeather agreed.
Orchidkit yawned and stretched.
"You're awake!" Ferntail said. Orchidkit nodded, pretending she had woken after the queens' conversation. Ferntail began to groom her kit's rumpled fur.
Blossomfur, a light brown she-cat, stepped out of the nursery.
"How are Silvertail and Slashkit?" Whitefeather asked.
"They are both fine," the medicine cat reported. "Have you seen Forestpaw?"
"I'll go get him!" Orchidkit offered.
"I saw him go into Blossomfur's den," Ferntail said, nudging her daughter to her paws. "Be quick!"
Orchidkit dashed off. She poked her head into the medicine cat's den. "Forestpaw?"
"Yes?" the dark brown apprentice asked. Orchidkit noticed that her heart began beating faster, and she felt hot under the gaze of the handsome cat's leaf-green eyes.
"Um... uh... um..."
"What is it?" the apprentice asked.
"Oh! Um, Blossomfur needs you," Orchidkit said quickly.
"Thanks." Forestpaw dashed past her without a second glance. Orchidkit stood for a minute, blinking, then padded slowly back to her mother.
Silvertail looked down at her newborn kit. A shaft of moonlight from a hole in the nursery ceiling illuminated her nest. The other three queens and five kits were asleep.
"This never should have happened," Silvertail whispered. "Oh, Slash... what am I to do?"
The face of her mate swam before her eyes. His midnight-black fur and eyes as red as blood were so close... yet so far. "This shouldn't have happened."
All of the pain in her heart rose up into a yowl that she only just managed to stifle. Slashkit stirred.
"Hush, little one," the queen soothed. The agony in her heart was spiked with a fierce love for this little bundle of silvery fur. He was so precious. Was there a more beautiful and perfect kit in the whole world?
But what would happen when the Clan found out who Slashkit's father was? Wild fear raged inside of Silvertail, threatening to consume her. "I don't care what happens to me anymore," she muttered. "I'll never see my one true love again. Oh, DreamClan, just keep Slashkit safe."