The kits were slipping further and further backward, toward the swirling vortex that was sucking them in. Grasstail tried to run toward them, but some cat was holding him back by the scruff and he couldn't break free from their grip no matter how much he struggled.

"Let me go!" he yowled, thrashing desperately to free himself and save the kits. It was pointless; they weren't letting go. Giving up, he hung limply in the grasp of whoever was behind him and watched as the kits were dragged into the stormy waters.

As he defeatedly watched them sink, he sunk as well. Just as the water started to engulf him, he caught a glimpse of a cat on the other side of the vortex. "Grasstail?" they called tentatively.

It was a familiar voice. "Watersplash, is that you?" Grasstail fought to keep his head above water so he could see her. Sure enough, it was her. "What are you doing here?"

"Grasstail, what's going on?!" Watersplash demanded, eyes wide in panic. She glanced at the kits, which were still scrabbling at the edge of the platform they were standing on and shrieking. "Are those-?!"

Before she could finish her sentence, Grasstail woke up, roused by a commotion going on outside. His dream left him more baffled than any had before. Are those… what? he wondered. Then he realized with a jolt, the kits I keep dreaming about might be our kits! Before he had the time to properly process that thought, however, a mottled gray she-cat entered the den. Grasstail glanced around at his sleeping Clanmates and then blinked, stunned, at the intruder for a moment before recognizing her as Mossnose, the RiverClan medicine cat. What in StarClan's name was she doing here?

"I suppose you're wondering why I'm here," Mossnose meowed in a businesslike manner. Grasstail nodded silently. "Your 'lover', as Watersplash has informed me you two are, has just kitted," she explained. "I'm giving the kits to you to raise, as was her request."

Grasstail was positively dumbfounded. "Raise kits? Me?" he echoed, his mouth dry. "Does Watersplash have bees in her brain?! I'm not equipped to raise kits!"

Mossnose gave him a wry chuckle. "That's what I thought too, but it's what she wanted." She turned her muzzle to look outside the den and beckoned with her tail. Following this, a young orange-and-black she-cat stepped inside, carrying three tiny bundles of fuzz in her mouth. It was Emberpaw, Watersplash's apprentice- or at least former apprentice; she was apparently being trained by Shellsong now.

Emberpaw set down the kits on the floor of the warriors' den. There were three of them, and thankfully they were asleep- any mewling would certainly have woken up the sleeping warriors. "Watersplash already gave them names," Emberpaw informed him. Grasstail was perfectly fine with that- he'd have been awful at coming up with names himself. "This one is Sprucekit, this is Ripplekit, and this little one is Featherkit."

Grasstail looked the kits over. Sprucekit looked like a perfect combination of his parents; Ripplekit must have gotten her black colouring from Watersplash's side; and Featherkit looked just like Owlwing, which made Grasstail appreciate the name, and he wondered if Watersplash had taken that into consideration while naming the cream-coloured kit.

"They're all beautiful," he breathed. Then he remembered his current situation and his spirits utterly deflated. "But I can't take care of them!"

Emberpaw gave Mossnose a quizzical look. "That wasn't what Watersplash said," she whispered to the medicine cat. "She told us to give the kits to Grasstail, and then he'd give them to his sister!"

Mossnose stiffened. "Ah… yes, that was what she said, wasn't it?" she muttered, looking very uncomfortable, as if it had suddenly grown hotter. "But, Grasstail, don't you think it might be more fitting for the father of the kits to raise them?"

"I have depression, Mossnose," Grasstail objected. "Until my mental health improves- which there's no guarantee it ever permanently will- I'm just not suited to raise kits."

"Depression?" Mossnose sniffed, wrinkling her nose disdainfully. "You need to get your mind off of whatever's troubling you."

Grasstail's pelt prickled with irritation. As a medicine cat, shouldn't Mossnose understand that depression couldn't be cured with words? She certainly was a lot older than Podtail, he noticed with an apprehensive shudder. She wasn't as old as Sandstar or Roseflower, but she had clearly come from a generation well before Grasstail's. Perhaps that meant that her ideas were more old-fashioned, too.

"What's wrong with Appleshine and Barkstripe raising the kits?" Emberpaw pried. "They'll still be being raised by kin."

Mossnose gave no reply, which was in and of itself all the reply Grasstail needed. "It's because they're both she-cats, isn't it?" he meowed flatly- more of a statement than a question, really, because he already knew the answer. "You fleabag," he added under his breath.

"Well, do whatever you like with the kits; I don't care!" Mossnose hissed, raising her voice a bit too much for Grasstail's comfort. Next to her, Emberpaw was looking increasingly uncomfortable. "My only concern is that you keep them safe… and that means keeping them well away from their mother- or more accurately, their grandmother."

She exited the den, Emberpaw following behind, before Grasstail could ask her to clarify what she meant about the kits' grandmother. He knew Watersplash had spoken about her mother to him before, but she hadn't made Minnowleap out to be dangerous. What did Mossnose know that he didn't?

She probably doesn't know anything, Grasstail thought bitterly as he stared at the kits and wondered what he was supposed to do now. She's probably just trying to scare me into staying away from Watersplash. Well, it wouldn't work. They'd made their relationship work for this long; bringing kits into the equation wouldn't change that.

"You know, I really can't stand you."

Watersplash flicked her ear disdainfully as she glared up at Oakleaf, who had sidled up to her uninvited as she was trying to pick out a piece of fresh-kill. "Care to elaborate?' she asked dryly. She had no time for Oakleaf, and she wanted him to know it.

Oakleaf drew his lips back in a snarl, but only the slightest bit- there were cats all around them, after all. That fact alone made Watersplash a whole lot calmer than she would have been otherwise. It meant he couldn't do anything to her without drawing attention.

When Oakleaf didn't offer up any further commentary, Watersplash snorted and went back to picking through the fresh-kill pile. She settled on a trout, but when she went to grab it, Oakleaf stepped in front of her. Beavertail, who was busy selecting something at the same time, gave them a quizzical look, and Oakleaf noticed and stepped out of Watersplash's way.

As soon as the trout was between her jaws, she scampered off toward Shellsong and Mallowheart, who were sharing tongues by the edge of camp. She took a seat next to her friends, who didn't seem too pleased to see her. Oakleaf stalked around a few tail-lengths away for a few minutes while Watersplash ate her trout as slowly as possible. She tried to make conversation with Shellsong and Mallowheart, but Mallowheart said nothing whatsoever and Shellsong only gave the most bare-bones answers to her questions and didn't ask any in return. Once she was done eating, she stood up and padded toward the warriors' den. Sure enough, Oakleaf headed in that direction too, so Watersplash changed her direction, instead heading toward the Shale Hill. Her paws itched to get out and do something, so her shoulders sagged with relief when she saw that a patrol was being organized.

"I'll join," she offered eagerly.

Storkflight nodded to her. "All right," the deputy meowed.

Watersplash dipped her head gratefully, and stepped into place beside Smokefur, Coalpaw, and-

Her pelt prickled as she realized that Foxfang was there as well. She hadn't interacted with him much since she'd been his apprentice, and the few words they had exchanged since then had been tense and awkward. Now, he stiffly nodded to her, a gesture which she returned with a suppressed shudder.

The patrol set out, headed for- Watersplash sucked in a breath- the WindClan border. Upon realizing where they were headed, Watersplash felt like tearing her pelt out. Why did it always have to be WindClan?! She deeply hoped that they wouldn't encounter Grasstail or any of his friends.

As it turned out, they did not encounter him. However, they did encounter a lone warrior. The patrol drew to a halt as she bounded up to the border, ears pricked with interest.

"What are you doing here?" the cat, who Watersplash recognized as Barkstripe, demanded. "You don't plan on invading, do you?"

Watersplash could tell from the twinkle in Barkstripe's eye that she wasn't serious, but Foxfang must not have been so in-tune. "We're on our side of the border," he hissed, stepping forward and sliding his claws out pre-emptively. "And I highly suggest you stay on yours as well."

Barkstripe's nostrils flared in what looked like a mixture of amusement and genuine anger. "Well, somebody's in a bad mood," she sniffed, narrowing her eyes. Then her eyes wandered over to Watersplash and she perked up. "Hey there, Watersplash! I trust you're doing well?"

"Hardly," Smokefur muttered darkly. "She lost all of her kits."

"Oh, no!" Barkstripe's eyes went round with dismay that Watersplash wouldn't have been able to tell was feigned had she not known that the WindClan warrior was the one raising Watersplash's kits. "That's terrible."

"Why should you care, rabbit-chaser?" Foxfang snapped. From the way the fur on the back on his neck was standing on end, Watersplash could tell that they were about thirty seconds away from a fight breaking out if things continued on this way.

Barkstripe glared at Foxfang. "Excuse me," she shot back, "I was trying to be sympathetic!"

"We don't want your sympathy!"

Not giving Barkstripe a chance to respond, Foxfang lunged at her, crossing the border as he did so. Smokefur let out a frustrated hiss, holding Coalpaw back when his apprentice jumped forward to join in. Barkstripe threw Foxfang off of her and arched her back, hissing.

Watersplash moved forward to break the fight up. "Hey, knock it off," she cried. "We don't want any trouble here!"

Shaking his pelt out, Foxfang shook his head. "The Clans have lived in peace for too long," he hissed. "When I was young, we were constantly fighting. It was what kept us warriors! Now we might as well be kittypets!"

"Foxfang, that's mouse-dung and you know it," Smokefur reasoned. "We still do things the warrior way. There's no reason to sacrifice peace for glory."

Smokefur's logic was sound, but Foxfang was not one to be reasoned with. He dismissed his Clanmates' protests and swiped at Barkstripe, who knocked the blow aside, looking more irritated then outraged.

"Can you please deal with your Clanmate?" she hissed. "I have a mate and kits to look after, and I don't think they-"

Barkstripe was cut off as Coalpaw wriggled out of Smokefur's grip and tackled her to the ground. Smokefur and Watersplash lunged forward; Watersplash sunk her teeth into Coalpaw's scruff and dragged the nearly-grown cat off of Barkstripe while Smokefur held Foxfang back. Coalpaw twisted around and drew his claws down Watersplash's muzzle. Pain shot through her for a moment, causing her to lose her hold on him. In that time, the apprentice lunged at Smokefur, digging his claws into his pelt.

"Coalpaw, what in StarClan's name are you doing?!" Smokefur bellowed, twisting around to throw his apprentice off. Fortunately, Coalpaw shrunk back, and even Foxfang's fur flattened out somewhat. "You've both gone insane!"

Smokefur's commanding tone never failed to impress Watersplash. She was sure that her cousin would be the next deputy after Cranefeather. Before long, he'd gotten his apprentice under control, and Foxfang, despite still glaring across the border and lashing his tail, didn't keep trying to start a fight.

All in all, the patrol had gone quite poorly, and nobody was looking forward to having to tell Miststar about how it had gone. Still, Watersplash was glad to have run into Barkstripe. It was nice to at least have some contact with one of the cats who was raising her kits.

Grasstail padded back into the WindClan camp after a long day of hunting, a rabbit clamped firmly in his jaws. No sooner had he dropped it on the fresh-kill pile than he was intercepted by a running leap from a tiny ball of cream-coloured fuzz.

Although Featherkit was nowhere near big enough to knock him over, he made a big show out of falling to the ground. "I have been defeated," he cried, tossing his head back dramatically. "You truly are the mighty warrior!"

Featherkit jumped off of him, giggling. "You're so weak, Grasstail," he purred, wrinkling his tiny pink nose. "I bet even a bunny could beat you up!"

"Oh, yeah?" Grasstail pointed his tail at the rabbit he'd just brought back. "Tell that to this rabbit!"

Ripplekit appeared at her littermate's side, followed shortly by Sprucekit, although the latter tripped over his paws on the way there. They both jumped on Grasstail, letting out playful battle cries. Grasstail play-fought with his kits for a while, careful not to hurt them for real, until Appleshine ran up to them and pulled them off him. Sprucekit let out a mewl of protest as he was plucked off, but Ripplekit and Featherkit each went completely still as soon as Appleshine dug her fangs into their scruffs and didn't put up any resistance.

"You kits shouldn't pester Grasstail like that," Appleshine scolded them. "Remember, he doesn't always have as much energy as me and Barkstripe!"

"It's fine," Grasstail assured her as he stood up and gave himself a couple of licks to clean his pelt off. "Today's a good day for me."

The truth was, he felt like his mood could crash again any day, especially with the increasingly depressing weather. He wanted to get in as much playtime with his kits as possible before that happened. Besides, their denmates were much older, and had no interest in playing with kits who were less than a moon old; Flamekit and Heatherkit would no doubt be made apprentices very soon. Grasstail just hoped that Sandstar wouldn't asign either of the rambunctious young cats to him; an apprentice was definitely more than Grasstail would be able to handle.

Barkstripe, who'd been out hunting with Grasstail, gave Appleshine a lick on the head. "How's everything holding up?" she purred with a twinkle in her eye as she looked over their adoptive kits. "I hope these three haven't gotten up to too much trouble."

"We've been good," mewed Sprucekit. He looked back and forth between his littermates. "Right?"

Ripplekit bobbed her head up and down. Featherkit stared at the ground and didn't say anything.

"Featherkit," Barkstripe scolded, "have you been naughty?"

"They've been fine," Appleshine assured her. She gave her mate a playful headbutt. "So, I take it the hunting went well?"

"Mm-hmm."

Grasstail watched contentedly as his littermate and her mate made light, teasing conversation. The kits were getting bigger every day. Featherkit remained the smallest, but he was catching up with his littermates quickly. Ripplekit was, out of the three, the one who looked the most like a WindClan cat, but with the sleek, oily pelt of a RiverClan cat. As for Sprucekit, the saturation of his pelt had decreased noticeably as he grew, and now he just looked like an ordinary gray tomkit. However, as his fur grew out, tabby stripes were becoming visible in his fur. Grasstail had had a faint tabby pattern himself when he'd been younger that had faded out over time, and he wondered whether or not his son's tabby stripes were going to stick around as he grew up.

One thing that Grasstail became more certain of with each passing day was that Sprucekit and Ripplekit were the kits he kept dreaming about. He didn't know why Featherkit was never in those dreams, but did it really matter? Two of his kits were going to be in grave danger sometime in the near future, and Grasstail had no idea what to do or how to prevent it.

Maybe Watersplash would have some advice for him. He made a mental note to talk with her at the next Gathering. He really wanted to see her more often, but he never got the chance. He wanted the kits to know who their biological parents were. He just wasn't sure when he was going to get the chance to arrange such a meeting.

"Hey, Grasstail, can you give me a badger ride?" Sprucekit asked. Grasstail's whiskers twitched in amusement as the kit started climbing on top of him without even waiting for an answer.

"Sure," Grasstail meowed. He bent down and let Sprucekit hop on his back. "Here we go!"

He started to run around. Ripplekit and Featherkit ran after them, nipping at Grasstail's heels; Sprucekit encouraged him to run faster to throw them off, but Grasstail didn't want to run too fast and risk having the kit fly off. Before long, Featherkit got tired out and fell over, leading Ripplekit to trip over him. She shrieked as she tumbled to the ground; Sprucekit turned around and stuck his tongue out at them as Grasstail widened the distance between them.

Having kits really was one of the best things that could happen to a cat, Grasstail reflected as Sprucekit hopped off his back and thanked him for the badger ride. It was just a shame these kits didn't know that Grasstail was their father.