Heya^^ I've had a pretty weird day…
So, I went to Pet Smart, (I love looking at the kittens) and what do I see there? I saw EMBERPAW! She was so adorable, if my dad wasn't MENTALLY allergic, my mom would've gotten her I was literally just staring at her, tears in my eyes. I. just. Love. Kittens.
Okay, on to a comment I got last night: Yes, I know Cloudstar was a Skyclan leader, but I'm not confused -.- there can be more than one Cloudstar, and he was originally Cloudblink before he became leader.
I pride myself on creating all of the original cats, but I thank everyone who donated their cat names for the story! (No names are from any of the books)
CHAPTER 18 WAS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER! I got a comment commenting me on the story… then saying they were sad that it ended o.o have you forgotten about what the Darkforest is planning, Morningbird's death, Emberpaw's warrior name, if she even has kits, Nightpaw…. Apparently that commenter had…
N'Joy!
After eating the giant fish, Troutpaw filled her in on what happened during the two days she was gone.
"Your mentor, Robinflight, she's in the Nursery expecting Nighttalon's kits. Apparently she's close; she was waiting for the last moment to drop her deputy and warrior duties."
Emberpaw felt a rush of excitement for her mentor, and the prospect of new kits in the clan. Then she wondered who would be her new mentor; and when their final assessments would be. She had been an apprentice nearly six moons, and so had Troutpaw and Beetlepaw. Robinflight's kits could possibly be their apprentices!
"I wonder what my warrior name will be," Troutpaw mused aloud, yanking Emberpaw out of her excited dreams of the future.
"Maybe Troutbrain," Beetlepaw purred to him, flicking her ears and settling down next to Emberpaw.
"Hey! Well, maybe you'll be Beetledung!" he giggled and ducked a paw swipe from the disgruntled black apprentice.
"What about you, Emberpaw? What do you think your warrior name will be?" Beetlepaw prompted, turning her eyes to her, glistening in the sun of the clear, cloudless day.
Emberpaw hadn't really thought about it, but she thought about it the best she could.
"Maybe Emberwing? That has a nice ring to it… or maybe Emberstrike!" Troutpaw pondered this, purring.
"Maybe. You two want to go on a hunting patrol?"
They both agreed, and went to a hunting patrol that was about to take off. "Mind if we come, also?" Troutpaw asked the patrol leader, Maplebelly.
"Yeah, all of the paws are needed! There are bound to be lots of fish out today, with this nice weather." As they got into the back of the patrol, Maplebelly whispered In Emberpaw's ear,
"Welcome back, 'paw."
Emberpaw felt her chest swell with happiness.
A little later, the patrol all had fish tucked in their jaws, and gleaming, wet fur from the cool water of the river. Leaf-fall was fast approaching, and they needed to eat as much fish as they could for when the river froze over.
"Ah, Emberpaw, come here for a moment, please?" Reedstar called, beckoning with his tail for her to follow him into his den. The Leader's den was close to both the nursery and the medicine den, taking it's hold in a holly bush strengthened with countless reeds and brambles. There were two nests inside, one apparently Reedstar's and the other his mate Webwhisker's.
"I'm sure you've heard by now that Robinflight is expecting kits, and so she is currently unable to help you finish your apprentice training. Since, however, you only have to have your hunting and fighting assessments, I will oversee them in place of Robinflight."
Emberpaw had known what he was calling her in for, but she hadn't thought Reedstar himself would take place as her mentor.
"Yes, Reedstar. When are our assessments, now that I think about it?"
"Tomorrow, if the weather is good."
Emberpaw was in shock. These six months had gone by so fast; she really didn't know where all of the time went.
"O-okay… Thank you," she stuttered, backing out of the den.
"Emberpaw, come here, I need your help grabbing some wet moss! Robinflight is beginning to have her kits!" Beetlepaw yowled, racing past her with a mouthful of moss, and Emberpaw followed shortly after. They reached the small stream a little ways away from the camp where they caught minnows at, and dipped the moss in. As they were carrying back the soaking moss, she couldn't help but giggle abound her bundle at Beetlepaw's chin and chest fur, which was dripping water from the moss.
"Hey! You don't look much better, I'm sure!" the black she-cat guaffed, motioning with her tail to Emberpaw's chest, which was dripping into a puddle between her paws. The two apprentices broke down into giggles, completely forgetting about the urgency of the situation until a pained yowl ripped from the camp. They both stopped laughing instantly, looked at each other, frozen, then both sprang the fox-lengths to the camp and brought the moss into the hot, small nursery. The Nursery was crafted from the roots of a large birch tree, where the roots had burst from under the ground and stuck into the air like paws out of a river. There had been a storm, Troutpaw had explained a while back, that almost tipped the tree over, but instead left a small space under the base of the tree. With a little work, the warriors set up the new nursery, easily protectable, and it kept it's warmth in leaf-bare and stayed cool in green-leaf.
It was then that they had padded down the steep slope into the hot and stuffy den, with Nighttallon fretting, Robinflight panting heavily, and Stormwater bending over the pregnant she-cat's swollen belly.
"They're almost ready. It feels like three, maybe four."
"Four?!" both Nighttallon and Robinflight exclaimed, Nighttalon's in excitement, and Robinflight's at the pain of having four kits.
"Or three," Stormwater reminded the two cats.
Robinflight moaned.
The two apprentices were just beginning to back out when Stormwater gave them a look.
"You must stay, to help when they come."
The two apprentices looked at each other, wary.
"What do we have to do?" Emberpaw asked after a moment.
Stormwater, not looking up from his hunched position at Robinflight's spasmning belly, instructed what they had to do:
"When the kits come, I will hand them to you; you must break the sacks surrounding their mouths and lick them roughly, against the fur to warm them up, and then direct them to her belly."
He said this like it was nothing, but it sounded to Emberpaw like a pawful of things she would mess up on.
What if she accidentally bit one of the kits, or stepped on one?! They were so tiny… or, what it one of the kits opened their eyes and thought she was their mother?! Even though she knew this was about as likely as a Starclan cat coming and blessing her with wings, it still stared Emberpaw to death. But, what if she did something wrong, like is she—
"They're coming!" Stormwater's voice sounded preoccupied, but his gaze was fixed intently on the she-cat, who was squeezing her eyes shut and screeching. Suddenly, a small ginger bundle slid onto the nest of reeds. Stormwater sniffed it, and then passed it to Beetlepaw. She black apprentice looked startled at how fast it all had happened, but nipped the sack from the small mouth and began licking it from tail to head, purring as it began to squirm and mewl tiny cries.
"Here's another one…" Stormwater muttered, his paws catching the next one, a cream kit.
"Emberpaw, here," Stormwater laid the kit gently at her paws, and turned back to the panting queen. She sniffed the kit and nipped the sack with an expertise that she never knew she had, and started licking the little bundle. It began to kick her nose, earning a blink of surprise from Stormwater and the cream kit continued to knead the nest with small, tan paws and opened its mouth to make tiny but strong sounds of hunger.
"That one's a little warrior already!" he noted, then turned back to the squealing queen. Emberpaw soon found out it was a she-cat, and this strange rush of affection rushed through her. Two more soon followed, the two being licked by Stormwater as the two apprentices placed the kits at Robinflight's now flat belly and began suckling.
"Three she-cats, and one tom," Stormwater announced, flourishing his paw at the four sucking kits, all with closed eyes and twitching tails.
"The ginger tom will be Flamekit, the grey one Mistkit, the blue-grey one Greykit, and…" Robinflight mumbled, tired.
"Nighttallon, I can't come up with a name for the cream she-cat…"
"How about Lightkit?" Emberpaw proposed without thinking. Fish-brain, these weren't her kits! Why did she have to blurt that out?! She was just about to open her jaws to apologize profusely when Nighttallon and Robinflight both purred.
"Lightkit? That sounds perfect."
She didn't say anything, but besides the surprise that her name was suggested, there was a warm feeling spreading throughout her body at the thought of naming such a small, innocent, beautiful kit.
"Flamekit, Greykit, Mistkit, and Lightkit, welcome to Riverclan." Stormwater blessed them, nodding his head before nodding his head and backing out to tell the rest of the clan.
Emberpaw, upon a nod from Nighttallon, padded the Lightkit, and licked the little she-cats pale tan ear.
"Welcome to Riverclan, Lightkit! May Starclan light your path…"
Yay! New kits! Expect lots of funnie things from these four, and I think it's pretty obvious who her first apprentice is going to be…
You guys like? This is a rather long chapter, so I hope I did well! Any suggestions, cats wanted in the story, am I lacking anything? TELL ME!
You guys won't believe how happy I always am when I see the comments on my email… It just completely lightenes my day
Till next time,
Emberfall