"She's not breathing!" A light brown tabby she-cat screeched from the gorse bush that made up the Nursery. A brown-gray tom with white splotches on his pelt was working feverishly on a toroiseshell and white kitten, trying all the tricks he knew to get kits breathing; but there was nothing in her throat blocking the air and he was pressing on her chest, pumping and trying to get things going.
"I'm trying everything I can, Heathertail. Sometimes it's-" But then the kit's body convulsed and it looked like it was being startled awake. The tom tipped his head, but dismissed it. He was just happy the kit was breathing, and as soon as it came to life it began wailing for the comfort of it's mother's belly.
"Oh, thank you Kestrelflight." Heathertail purred and wrapped her tail around her two kits.
"Have you named the black tom yet?" Kestrelflight sat down beside the queen, letting out a sigh of relief now that her kitting was over.
"The black tom is named Fangkit." The queen looked to the sturdy little tom cat with loving blue eyes.
"And the she-cat?" Kestrelflight looked to the little kit, who almost wasn't alive at all.
"Well..." Heathertail looked thoughtfully at the kitten. "I think I'll decide in a little while. Thank you for everything, though." Heathertail dipped her head to the medicine cat and he slipped out without a word.
One thing that she got lucky with was how the little tom had a black pelt. Everyone assumed she had mated with Breezepelt before he was discovered to be a traitor to the Clans and was banished. But these kits held a much darker secret. Their father was actually Lionblaze of ThunderClan.
Lionblaze had confided in her one night about a dark war coming. They had panicked and had one last fling before what they thought the end was near. Heathertail assumed the black pelt came from Lionblaze's father, Crowfeather.
So when Crowfeather ducked into the Nursery and asked how his grandkits were, Heathertail didn't hesistate telling him that his kin was beautiful.
"Names?" The fluffy, long-limbed black/gray asked.
"This is Fangkit," Heathertail pointed to the black tom who was suckling feverishly. "And this little female is...Well, I haven't named her yet."
Crowfeather looked thoughtfully at the little female. She was a gorgeous little kit. She had a dark creamy undercoat, and a tortoiseshell and white pelt. Her pelt was covered with brown dapples, like a leopard's coat.
"Leopardkit." Crowfeather spoke up. "You've heard the nursery tales of the three great clans, right? LeopardClan, TigerClan and LionClan. Well, there's so many 'Tigers' and 'Lions'...Why not Leopardkit?" Crowfeather shrugged.
"I love it." Heathertail purred. "Thank you, Crowfeather. And...I'm sorry about everything that's happened with Breeze-"
"Don't." Crowfeather furrowed his brow and lashed his tail. "Breezepelt is no longer a Clan cat. He's a disgrace." Without another word, Crowfeather turned and slipped out of the Nursery.
And now, Heathertail was alone. She had often felt alone in WindClan, even surrounded by her Clanmates. She was loyal, that wasn't questionable. But her heart was loyal to Lionblaze. And now that the kits were born, she had to chose, and soon.