Adoption is Easier (Birth)

A tiny queen lay curled up tightly in her nest. Her body was quite stiff, but her brown eyes were wide open, staring into the night unblinkingly. Suddenly, her stomach gave a lurch and she curled tighter around herself. She could feel the young kit that she had recently found in their territory pressed against her stomach. Spiderfur tried her best to hide the adopted kitten, afraid of what her brother would do if he found out about him. She had yet to name him, afraid that he would be taken from her due to his unknown heritage, and that in that case she would be less damaged if he had no name.

A searing pain jolted her out of her daze, making her yowl involuntarily. The young she-cat soon bit her tongue, forcing herself to pretend to lick her adopted son's fur in a way to appear like he was just born. Her only hope was that Kestrelstorm would be too distracted by the thoughts of his own kittens to notice how this kit didn't quite look enough like Spiderfur. Another wave of pain shot through her, one that didn't leave, and her eyes frantically gazed around for something to bite on, something to relieve the pain. Her teeth were clenched so hard that she thought they might shatter. She opened her mouth and traded to digging her claws into the hard dirt. "G-Gorsefeather! Emb-berleaf..!" Her voice shook, but it was quiet. She was terrified. Should it be this painful?

The unnamed kit lay almost still, only quite pitiful sounds ca,e from him every so often, he was scared, cold and weak as well. The to didn't know what was happening and squirmed under his 'mother's' tongue. He mewled in fear when Spiderfur curled tighter around him. His brown pelt stood out, lighter than Spiderfur's as well as the 'ticked' appearance of is fur. His short fur made him seem even smaller as it clung to his skinny form. The kit tried to burrow himself under the small queen when she called out to the two cats, quivering as fear became the atmosphere in the air.

The ginger tom came bolting into the nursery at the cries of the queen and the call of his name. From his mouth hung herbs to help with the kitting; Sticks, Chervil, and Raspberry Leaves. "I'm here," he yelled with his voice muffled from the plants. Emberleaf dropped the herbs next to Spiderfur, then jumped into action as he gave her a chervil leaf. "The pain will be over soon, Spiderfur, and this Chervil will help. Just chew on it and suck on the juices that come out. It'll ease the pain nice and dandy." Emberleaf then noticed the brown kit that Spiderfur was curled around. "This one has to get out of the way if you don't want him all bloody and petrified for life." Without waiting for a reply, Emberleaf snatched up the kit by the scruff and set him down by his side, where the medicine cat curled his fluffy tail around the kit to provide warmth and protection, then got back to work. This was no time for scared little kittens; birthing was dangerous, and Emberleaf couldn't let the kit be in the way while he was trying to get the others out of the queen while keeping her alive.

With his work area ready, Emberleaf started once he gave Spiderfur a stick to bite down on. "You have to push now, Spiderfur."

There was both a hint of relief and maternal anger when Emberleaf appeared. Relieved, as Spiderfur was sure that she wouldn't be able to manage it on her own, and an anger that she didn't know she had in her. How dare he take her kit! Taking the herbs with a sudden reluctance, she used her anger to push. Even wish that to fuel her, it took what felt like an eternity until there was another kitten by her side. As far as she could tell before the pains started again it was a brown tabby tom (Cat).

The queen's jaw tightened its grip on the stick, feeling it splinter between her teeth. This kit was smaller, and therefore took less energy. She was beginning to feel considerably lighter, but in no ways stronger. Certainly there were not many more kits? And here one came, a white and grey tom, smaller than his brother (Storm).

The pain was fading. For a moment she let herself believe that it was over, there couldn't be more than what lay beside her. But she was wrong, another kitten was seemingly forcing its way out. With the last of her energy, the little she-cat pushed, and the last kit lay in the nest. It was a she-kit of a deep brown (Skia), and Spiderfur murmured the name "Fawnkit".

She looked to her sons, setting her eyes on the oldest to the youngest, naming them in turn. "Harekit, Palekit, Stormkit." It took no more than a heartbeat afterwards for her to pass out from exhaustion.

The brown tom was petrified, he had been taken from his shelter, Spiderfur's cries only made him even more terrified. The kit was about the same size as the rest, he tried to crawl out from Emberleaf's tail to make a run for Spiderfur once more. His thin tail was hidden under him as he tried to move in with the other kits and the unconscious queen.

Fawnkit mewled loudly, struggling around blindly. Finally she managed to latch onto her mother and drink a little milk, but she felt that something was wrong. How come her mother wasn't responding? She prodded the queen's belly with her tiny paws, hoping to get some sort of reaction.

Palekit let out a cry as soon as he had come out- it was rather warm there, and it was rather cold out here. He wanted to stay warm. But he soon felt his mother and struggled to get closer, mewling quietly and shakily. He was the biggest of the three, and fist to come, and he didn't know what that meant anyway. He suckled, soon getting some milk, and snuggled close to his mother. Even with his larger size, he was still a fairly small kit.

OOC- By the way, I altered his appearance so it should just be 'brown tom' instead of brown tabby. You don't need to change it, but just for further notice... (Image)