A Meeting of Sisters [Closed]

Thistleblaze stood next the border, the moon high into the sky. Her belly was swollen with another litter of kits, though it didn't feel like the others so she assumed it was just one. Her last little kit, she was getting too old to have anymore. She also wanted to talk to her sister before she was stuck in the nursery for a while too because of her new kit. The gray tabby she cat glanced around one final time before approaching the border fully waiting on her sister to come by. They hadn't talked in a while so it was time to do some catching up. Hopefully there wasn't anything too bad going on in Windclan.

Nightheart was walking alongside the border, her dark fur that stood out from the golden grass of the moors during the day now blending in perfectly, to the point where if it wasn’t for her strongly contrasting ice blue eyes as they reflected the moonlight it would be impossible to spot her as she approached Thistleblaze “Greetings, sister”.

The dark warrior smiled lightly at her, however, she was clearly different from the last time they had met. She now had a noticeable slash across her back and a “v” shaped scar near the tip of her ear besides the claw marks over her eye. Her cheerful and optimistic eyes had turned as cold as the ice that shared its color with them, glints of grief and fear present in them while the lively spark once so noticeable in them was lost completely. Her whole posture was way more defensive and tense, as if expecting to be attacked at any second, and even her voice was way more serious than what the RiverClan warrior had ever hear coming from her.

This was still Thistleblaze’s sister, but it was clear that this wasn’t the Nightheart she once knew anymore. Life hadn’t been kind to the WindClan warrior and it was showing.

“I hope I didn’t make you wait too long” She sat with her small smile before her attention landed on Thistleblaze’s belly, ears perking up immediately after “Kits?”.

"Greetings, and yes kits, though Cloudstone thinks it's just one possibly two. Either way it's my last litter." Even if it was only one kit that would mean she would have three surviving kits.. Out of all the others she had they had been taken to Starclan.

The gray tabby she-cat looked over her sister taking in her appearance and scars. "How are things in Windclan?" She asked, her amber eyes narrowed in concern for her sister. Things didn't seem they were going well for her. Well Windclan wasn't a concern for the Riverclan warrior but her sister was. Even if she was considered a queen right now she would instantly go and fight anyone who was giving her sister a hard time.

Nightheart smiled and nodded with her sister’s words. While she was surprised to hear this was going to be her last litter she decided against asking about it. After all, she was none to tell her sister what to do anymore, and not only because she lived in another clan but because she had come to respect her as a wise and smart warrior able to take her own path without others trying to carry her by the scruff “Congratulations, may your kits have a long and happy life”

Unlike mine’s…

She had to hold back her tongue to not add that last part to her sentence. Even if some time had passed since her last kit’s death the memory still caused a deep grief to overtake her, knowing she wouldn’t get to see her kits again until she joined StarClan as well. The idea of getting a new mate and some more kits to love was always there, but alongside with it was the fear of betrayal, of being deceived and hurt again, a fear that always caused her to retreat and ignore any tom’s approaches.

She tilted her head with her sister’s next question. She wasn’t expecting her to care about WindClan’s wellbeing, but then again it could be just a way to start some conversation with her or plain curiosity. Even she had to admit that from time to time she wondered how things were going for the other clans as Leafbare approached “We are faring relatively well…there has been some issues, but nothing we couldn’t handle” Her answer was obviously ambiguous, though more honest than what she would’ve answered if she was talking to any other RiverClan warrior. After all, she wouldn’t had mentioned the existence of troubles within WindClan to a complete stranger. However, even if her answer was short and not exactly clear, it was clear that she was hiding something, something that made her lower her gaze for half a second as she remembered the events that had changed her “What about RiverClan? I hope the cold isn’t affecting your clan too much”.

Well most of her kits didn't seem to have a long happy life.. She only had two surviving kits right now, and she didn't know if they would last too much longer. Some relief washed over the warrior glad that nothing to serious was going down in Windclan. "Riverclan is fairing well, the cold hasn't gotten too bad that we can't hunt yet, but I'm sure it will." The queen mentioned.

Nightheart nodded with her half-smile, glad to know that her sister and her clan appeared to be faring well so far “Well, at least you have the river. I’m sure you’ll be able to have plenty of food during Leafbare to keep yourself and your kits strong and healthy” If she had to admit one thing she envied of RiverClan, was the river and their ability to fish. It gave the rival clan an almost unlimited supply of food all year round even when the rest of the clan had to struggle to not starve.

She was going to make a couple questions regarding the life within the clan of her sister, wanting to make sure everything was going well not only for the clan, but for her, worried for her happiness, but the words got caught in her throat when she saw a silent shadow come out from the few trees on RiverClan’s territory, causing her whole fur to stand on end and show her fangs in a surprised hiss as she took a defensive pose, terrified as the thought they had been at last discovered and fearing the consequences of it.

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Sootwhisper had noticed that Thistleblaze wasn’t around after he returned to camp from his hunting patrol. He had decided to wait…but time went by and she still hadn’t returned, even if all the patrols were already in camp. Worried for her safety he finally decided to leave camp and look for her, following her well-known scent even if it was a bit harder to detect after all the time she had been away. It took him a bit longer than he would’ve liked to, but in the end he found her with a WindClan she-cat.

His silent steps carried him closer, revealing himself from between the shadows of the trees. Not knowing that the cat on the other side of the Gorge was Thistleblaze’s sister and as an answer to her own aggressive reaction, his neutral expression turned into a frown and his fur raised slightly as he approached them with his guard very high and ready to protect his mate if needed.

Thistleblaze was curios as to why Nightheart suddenly got so defensive and that is when she heard the familiar footsteps of a silent warrior going close. Fear sat on the queens face as she turned around hoping not to see anyone in Riverclan at all behind her. They didn't need to know..

The gray tabby looked behind her but she relaxed as soon as she recognized that it was her mate. They were both on edge. "No no, it's okay. Nightheart this is my mate Sootwhisper. Sootwhisper this is my sister Nightheart.." The queen informed the both of them. She turned back to Nightheart. "He knows I'm originally from Windclan.. He keeps the secret so I trust him to keep this one too." She felt a little thing of pain coarse through her stomach but she just assumed her kit was being a little active. She didn't know a storm was coming for all of them.

Nightheart sat rather slowly again after the small introduction from her sister. The trust Thistleblaze had on the tom was somewhat comforting to the dark warrior, but thanks to her new paranoid personality it wasn’t enough to get her to lower her guard in the slightest. Yes, she may had stopped hissing and took a far less aggressive stance, but the fur on her back and tail was still standing on end and her straight ears pointed on Sootwhisper’s direction as her eyes shifted from Thistleblaze to the tom “Greetings…” She had tried to sound calm and polite, not wanting to offend him, but her words came out forced “Its…hum…a pleasure to meet my sister’s mate”.

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Unlike Nightheart, the black and white tom had no troubles to take a neutral and quite relaxed position once more after the introduction given by his mate, sitting and casually curling his tail around his paws before answering the WindClan’s warrior forced greeting with his usual silent yet polite nod “I can say the same about finally getting to know my mate’s sister” His deep voice was void of emotion, as usual. His bicolored eyes went from the cat on the other side of the Gorge to Thistleblaze “I guess this is the place you come to whenever you want to patrol on your own?”.

There was still some tension in the air, but hopefully it wouldn't last too long. "Yeah sometimes. Other times I just need some alone time." The gray tabby informed her mate. Another pang of pain hit her, and she finally realized what was going on. Her kits were coming, and earlier than she expected. The queen felt another thing of pain as she slowly settled down. "Both of you get over here.. My kits are coming.." She was sure it was just one but who knew what would happen.

Nightheart’s worry towards Sootwhisper and overall defensive behavior dropped as soon as her sister informed them that she was going to have her kits right then and there. What worried her the most was that this apparently wasn’t planned, that the kits had arrived before time. Being a former queen herself, she knew no cat would dare to get away from their camp, even less close to the border, if they knew they were close to kitting. RiverClan surely had very competent medicine cats too, so they wouldn’t had allowed her to leave the nursery at all if the time for her kits to be born was close as well. She didn’t have to be a medicine cat to know something wasn’t right here.

Trying to shake the pessimistic thoughts away, she jumped the border and started to check on her sister with worried eyes before looking at Sootwhisper “Make yourself useful and go find a stick and…and wet moss!” She could remember those two things being brought by the medicine cat when she gave birth some time ago, but she knew that she had also brought her some herbs, herbs she sincerely wouldn’t be able to recognize at all. She wished that it was a medicine cat and not a warrior the one that found them now, but they clearly had no time to go back to any of their camps now.

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If Sootwhisper thought Nighthear had no authority to order him around or thought she had been rude in her words, he didn’t show it. Instead he immediately went to look for what he had been told. Luckily the territory they lived in was full of water and even if the trees weren’t many there were enough to finds sticks lying around everywhere, so finding the two requested items wasn’t that much of a struggle. However, he could easily tell that the WindClan cat was no medicine cat, as she hadn’t requested any herbs…probably a wise choice as neither of them would be able to distinguish a poisonous leaf from a medicinal one anyways. He just wished the kitting hadn’t been a surprise like this, as the lack of a medicine cat was making the usually emotionless cat drown with worry.

Thistleblaze was thankful for the fact that she had two people she was closest too here now. She had done this before so hopefully it wouldn't go to bad... She just had to make sure she kept her breathing steady, and waiting on the stick, and water. Her amber eyes looked up to Nightheart. "I have done this before.. I should be able to handle this.." She reassured her sister.

Once her mate returned with the stick and moss, she quickly took the stick as she felt the first one coming. Her chest heaved as a sharp pain struck her, but she ignored it assuming it was from the lack of herbs this time. She could do this.. She could do this.. Eventually the first kit appeared. A little solid gray she-cat... Though something else came out with her. It wasn't easily seen in the night light but the scent was sharp and distinctive. It was blood... Though it didn't seem like the queen realized or even cared about it. She was going to be fine. Her chest heaved as she started to work on a second kit. "I thought it was over just after one?" She hissed. ".. I guess Cloudstone was wrong.. When will this be over!" She hated this part of the birthing process, but she only had one more.

Nightheart was trying her best to stay calm and mimic what a medicine cat would do to the best of her efforts…but in all honesty she had no idea of what in StarClan she was doing to begin with. She was a nervous wreck, and while the birth of the first kit was a relief it was short lived, the scent of blood quickly making her skip a beat. If she could remember one thing of her own time giving birth is that there was no blood…and if there was it was definitely not this much “Oh…oh StarClan….” Her voice was almost a mere whisper as she quickly started to lick the first kit clean like a medicine cat would do, hoping the bleeding would stop soon, that it wasn’t anything serious.

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Sootwhisper felt sincerely awkward, he started to nuzzle Thistleblaze and purr in an attempt to help her relax. He wished he could do more, but he had no idea of how the process of birthing was. He never had been allowed in the nursery during any of these before, after all. He, however, could feel the nervousness coming from Nightheart as she licked the first kit clean and the scent of blood flooded his nose “Is…is this…normal?” He asked in his usual low tone.

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Nightheart almost let out a furious hiss at Sootwhisper’s question, too busy worrying to process the thought of him being a tom and this possibly being the first time he was close to a birthing queen “Of course not, you mousebrain!”.

"It's okay.. I will be fine.. I have dealt with worse.." Her voice started growing a little weaker but it still held it's fire like she normally spoke with. She was panting as she slowly worked the other kit out, and soon after the tom appeared just like his sister, but looking exactly like the other she-cat standing before them. The sharp pain hit her one last time, pushing out more blood.

She knew something bad was coming, she could feel it but she at least wanted to spend some time with her kits. "They are beautiful.." The queen said. "The little gray she-cat... She will be Viperkit.." Thistleblaze had to take a few moment to catch her weakening breath. "And the tom... Will be Badgerkit.." She just need to hold on for a little longer.. She could do that until one of them could get help right?

As soon as the second kit was out Nightheart could tell by the lack of further contractions and pushing on Thistleblaze’s part that this was the last kit. Not wasting a single second she moved in to clean the second kit before placing both against the belly of their mother so they could suckle “C-congratulations, they are be-beautiful…” She tried to sound happy, but her words were full of worry. She started to check on her again, and she didn’t need to be a medicine cat to know something was terribly wrong, that Thistleblaze was dying “Thistleblaze…please sister don’t you dare die on me…we’ll get help, we’ll take you to your camp and get a medicine cat, but stay with us, stay with me…I lost you once, I can’t lose you again!”

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If Nightheart’s rude answer wasn’t enough to worry Sootwhisper, the next words directed to her caused him to start panicking “Thistleblaze? You can’t die, not when your kits need you, when I need you…oh, Thistleblaze, please, I love you too much” He pressed himself against her as much as possible, as if hoping that by doing so he would somehow heal what even a medicine cat wouldn’t be able to heal.

Thistleblaze knew she was dying as well.. She didn't mean to go out like this.. she always imagined dying in a battle or something not giving birth to a couple of kits.. She wouldn't last much longer. The queen let out a small broken sound.. "No it's okay.. They want me up in the sky with them.." She never really believed but at the same time she did. Breezeheart was up there waiting on her..

"Listen.. Nightheart take Badgerkit back with you.. Viperkit will go with Sootwhisper.. Each of you... deserve a piece of me.." She would be watching them from the stars.. All of them.. She couldn't stay.. With her little remaining strength she nuzzled her kits before nuzzling her mate as well. "My loves.. take your time.." This was her last wish.. She didn't want them joining her anytime soon.. She would finally be able to see all of her former kits again.. Oh how she missed them. Thistleblaze laid her head onto the cool grass, closing her eyes, and letting the the stars claim her.