Dawn of Fire

As the yowls of agony and furious screeching slowly ebbed away, the Shadowclan camp grew quiet and (mostly) peaceful once again. The whole ordeal had lasted quite a while, and Thornbriar had hardly had time to breathe in between kits. They were all clearly eager to get out into the world, to become the warriors they were meant to be. The scarred she-cat lay on her side within the warm nursery walls, eyes half-lidded with exhaustion as the little rat things that had been nestled in her belly last sunrise now fed from her. Stars, that was... something. That had been a new level of pain, even for her. She breathed deeply. For the moment, she and the kits were alone. The other queens had been successful in keeping both of her 'babysitters' at bay, but Thornbriar knew that wouldn't last much longer. Stars knew all she wanted at this point was to sleep, but those toms wouldn't dream of leaving her alone. Lifting her head, which felt quite heavy after all the work of pushing these little wiggly rat-things out of her, she looked down at the kits.

They were her blood.

She made these.

Her gaze soft and somber, she curled her long, soft tail over the little pink lumps in an attempt to keep them warm. She hadn't a clue as to what she was going to do with them, though the thought of giving these helpless little lumps of skin and fluff to Redwing made her want to tear the pretty red she-cat to shreds. Oh how Asterspark and Wildstrike would be laughing at her now. She'd been so determined to not keep them, but now... Leaning in, she rasped her tongue over the largest, her firstborn. It suddenly dawned upon the dark-furred queen that she had to name them. She blinked at the kits in hesitation. What in Magpiestar's name was she going to call these little lumps?

The idea of naming each of them Lumpkit was seriously tempting.

her tail twitched in amusement at the thought, but she brushed it away as a new one came to mind. Touching her nose to the tiny tomkit she'd just licked, she let out a rough, raspy purr.

"Sootkit."

The name felt right, and she had to fight a smile at the thought of her brother guiding her eldest son's pawsteps. Sootstrike would have teased her for moons over such a sappy thought. "May you grow to be as strong, loyal, and passionate as your namesake."

Turning her attention to the other four, she wracked her brain for ideas. She wasn't the type to name things. How was she going to be able to name four kits. Watching them squirm about, she saw her second eldest attempting to wiggle free from the tangle of tiny paws and tails he was trapped in. It was amusing to say the least. Helping her son out of his predicament, she touched his tiny pink head with her nose as well.

"Tanglekit."

She watched the tiny tom fight his way over his siblings to get to her belly and purred in approval. "You're a fighter... that's good. Remember to use that strength to care for your siblings."

This was steadily becoming easier. Turning her attention to the dark little she-kit, she noticed that the child hadn't eaten yet. In fact, she seemed slow to move. Worry clouded the queen's gaze and she nudged the kit closer to her belly. "Eat... you can't let your brothers outpace you now, child. Show them we can be just as big and strong as they can."

At Thornbriar's coaxings, the kit clumsily wobbled her way closer to her mother's teat and began to nurse. The queen purred, giving the kit a few brisk licks in approval. "Good girl." The little kit now steadily feeding among her siblings, Thornbriar touched her nose to her dark little head.

"Sablekit."

The she-kit squeaked softly in protest at the chill of her mother's nose. Thornbriar chuckled. "Aha, you do have some spirit in you. Hold on to that, it'll take you far."

The next two kits nestled close to each other, as if for warmth, or comfort. The queen purred in approval at the sight, pressing her nose to the larger of the two.

"Brackenkit."

The kit seemed to respond to her mother's voice, nursing more vigorously as Thornbriar moved on to touch her nose to her smallest kit.

"Firkit."

And with that, the she-cat tucked her tail more firmly around the five little pink lumps and began to groom them. "You will grow, and you will be happy." She said, still amazed at how everything had changed so fast. In fact, it was easy to forget that the kits were half rogue. On top of all this, she was unsure as to what the warm feeling blooming in her chest was. It felt like... hope, mixed with something else.

Love... maybe?

The queen turned her gaze to the entrance of the nursery and realized that dawn had just broke. What little she could see of the leafbare sky through the bramble barrier seemed to be alight with fire.

Thornbriar closed her eye.

The dawn of a new day marked the birth of her kits, and the birth of her kits marked the dawn of a new age in her life. It was so stupidly, grossly poetic that it practically hurt. Nonetheless, a hint of a smile made it's way over her scarred face. This dawn of fire...

She would remember this.