A Fateful Beginning (Open to Everyone in the Caves)

[[OOC: Foxglow and Tigerlily are SkyClan NPCs. Burningkit is SkyClan]]

It wasn’t a bad day, so Foxglow and Tigerlily decided to take a nice stroll together through the Tribe’s territory- hopefully to find some food. Tigerlily’s belly swung to-and-fro, heavy with the weight of the kits. It was much difficult navigating the rocky terrain than at home, and frankly, the queen thanked StarClan daily for allowing her to keep her kits, even though the hardships plaguing the Clans. She was very fortunate for Foxglow’s help as well. All in all, the molly was grateful.

Along the walk, the pair decided to stop and breathe. Tigerlily was breathing hard as she sat down with an impatient sigh. Her heart was thudding oddly, and her stomach was clenching. Suddenly, she realized…. The kits were coming…

Yowling out, Tigerlily called Foxglow back to her. Explaining the situation to her mate, Tigerlily began to panic. They were way too far away for a medicine cat to come help, but she didn’t know how to deliver kits herself. Calmly, the red furred Foxglow calmed her down. The two worked together to give birth to three, beautiful kits.

After the kits were settled, Foxglow stood. “Well, should we get them back to the gave?” The red tom looked to the sky. Dawn was nearing and he remembered the warning the Tribe had given them: the birds come out at dawn.

“Just… One more moment.” Tigerlily said dreamily, gazing at her three beautiful kits. Two of them were toms, and one was a molly. “She looks just like you, Foxglow…” She whispered softly, looking up with a purr… Only for a shadow to fall across. A loud shriek pierced the air.

“StarClan!” Foxglow cried, jumping to his paws. Frantically, he looked around to try and hide the kits and his wife. There was only a tiny crevice. His kits would fit... “Hurry!” he was interrupted by another shadow flying overhead, accompanied by other shriek. Two shadows now circled.

“There’s two!” Tigerlily cried as she grasped the she-cat in her maw. With her heart racing, the queen fought to race to the crevice. Shoving her in, the molly spun around. “Foxglow, the other kit!” Foxglow stood behind her with one kit in his mouth, leaving the final kit exposed. A giant hawk was diving towards the kit.

“No!” Foxglow cried, dropping the kit in his mouth and racing for the final kit. But the hawk grasped it before he could reach him. The hawk’s claws pierced grabbed the kit roughly and began to take off. Using his SkyClan strength, Foxglow leaped onto the eagle’s back. The warrior was easily thrown off. Stunned, he was forced to lie on the hard rock as more and more shadows emerged.
“Help!” TIgerlily called, shaking him from his confusion. Foxglow dragged himself up to see the second tom being carried away, and Tigerlily fighting off another hawk. A large gash was in her shoulder, bleeding profusely. She had already lost blood during birth, and this wound was bleeding fast. Dragging his paws as fast as he could, Foxglow attacked the hawk fighting his mate. One of the hawks returned, attacking him from above and slashing his back. He fought hard, and managed to kill one eagle. Finishing the kill, he spun. “Tigerlily?” he called. His wife was gone. Even looking in the sky, he couldn’t find her.

His head was getting fuzzy, but the remaining kit was mewling hard. He could feel his body get weak. But his fatherly instincts kicked in. Glancing around, he saw the coast was clear. He dig the young female kit from the crevice and began running as fast as he could back to the cave. He could feel himself get weaker and weaker, but his determination to keep the kit alive was driving him.

Finally, he made it to the edge of the cave. He was save. Staggering a few feet in, the young tom dropped the kit as softly as he could. He took one last glance at the young kit before he crashed to the ground. Gasping, he joined StarClan, leaving behind his only legacy.
The bright ginger she-kit laid mewling on the cave’s floor, pawing at the air, trying to get back on her stomach. Her mewling was constant, and scared.

Ferretpaw was growing to have a fear of heights.

Every day she spent on the mountaintops blurred as she gazed into chasms wide open below her, threatening to swallow her up. One misstep, and she'd plunge to her death. The ThunderClan apprentice had no idea how the tribe cats could stand it. On that day, she was headed out of the caves for a chance to stretch her legs. She had found herself a flat rock just outside the tribe camp that the sun hit ever so lightly, warming it on her paws. Though, she did not make it very far. She nearly stepped on the teeny scrap of ginger laying right outside the cave. A few pawsteps farther was the cat that brought her in. She gasped in alarm.

"Quickly! Somebody, help! Get Tinystar, these cats are SkyClan! Somebody find Pricklebush!" she hollered as loudly as she could manage. She ran to the tom and found that, to her horror, he was already gone. Wincing, she turned away from him and curled herself around the cold and lonely-looking kit. She couldn't have been more than an hour old. Ferretpaw licked the kit's fur gently as she had seen queens do in the nursery many times as she waited for help to arrive.

OOC: edited for clarity

Having been sitting alone with his son, Sunflower, where they both enjoyed each other's silent company, the sudden panic stricken yowls of some cat sent Tinystar's fur standing on end. Gazing around the cave, it wasn't difficult to spot the quickly growing crowd and the little leader made his way over, pushing his way around and through the gathering cat's legs.

"What happened?" he mewed to the ThunderClanner before turning his gaze to the motionless warrior. What in StarClan's name had happened to the tom and why had he left the cave alone? Over the clamor of worried clanmates, the sound of a kit's mews hit his ears and he noticed that the ThunderClanner was comforting a small kit, who was most likely the deceased warrior's. "Is that his kit?" he asked Ferretpaw, though he already assumed what the answer was.

Ferretpaw sat up as Tinystar approached. It was silly, but she felt intimidated by the leader's eyes. She glanced down at the kit as she swallowed the lump growing in her throat. She turned her head to look at the motionless tom with her good eye and finally noticed the talon marks shredding his coat. The harshness of his mangled body frightened her as she stiffened.

"I suppose she must be. They both have the scent of your clan, Tinystar. He has talon marks all over him, and this kit has barely been alive long enough to start mewing." Ferretpaw frowned and her voice took on a softer tone. "Look at the state of him. I shouldn't think her mother was so lucky to escape with her life. If she did, she's still out there."

Echo of Shattered Ice stood along the wall of the cave, watching the events unfold before her silently. Her heart broke for the small kit, and a glance at the apparent father's torn pelt made it devastatingly clear what disaster had befallen them. It was a threat that was all too well known in the Tribe, and one that happened too much, in her opinion. She pressed against her mates side, seeking comfort in his warmth and strength as her heart wept for the family that fell far too soon, and the kitten that was left far too early. She hesitated to step forward and offer her assistance, unsure if it would be wanted or needed, but after a moment she padded up quietly, moving to stand next to the to-be she recognized as Ferretpaw. With a soft mew, she leaned into the to-be's ear. "You're doing a wonderful job. If you would like, I can help warm the kit. We should keep licking her fur the wrong way, it's getting warmer but it's still quite cold for such a young, small one. If that's alright with you, of course." She looked to Tinystar at the end, looking to get permission to help how she could before beginning.

Daylily rushed towards the commotion as Tinystar and several others began to approach, immediately concerned by the horror in the ThunderClanner's voice. As she came to a stop in the tight knot of cats, her gaze fell on a familiar though shredded pelt. Foxglow's empty body lay motionless, and only a few fox-lengths away lay what could only be his mate's kit. Tigerlily was nowhere to be seen, and this could mean only the worst.

She approached gently and sat beside Ferretpaw and the Tribe queen. "She's so small," she breathed. The SkyClan warrior felt an immediate kinship for this small bundle of fur, whose life had nearly been taken only moments after her birth. This was her Clanmate, a cat she had to support and protect at almost any cost. She leaned down to briefly brush her nose to the kit's cold, tiny, flame-colored pelt. "Foxglow is dead," she said, looking up. "She needs a name." The she-kit's ginger pelt stood out against the stones of the ground. Her future, or what it might have been with her parents who were now with StarClan, was burning away. "I think her name should be Burningkit," Daylily decided.

The small, lifeless kit was starting to warm up with the attention of the cats around her. Faintly, she was aware of everything, but only in a instinctual way. She cried softly, mewling her tiny little mewls. A soft sound purred above her ears, followed by a warm feeling she liked. The kit, now named Burningkit wiggled towards the new scent, her closed eyes searching for the source.

Ferretpaw shared a comforting look with Daylily. She seemed like a very fine she-cat, and Ferretpaw's fears for the little bundle of fur dissipated. Echo's words struck a chord with her and finally allowed her critical thinking to return. "If that's alright with you, of course." This kit was in the hands of her clan, and a fine clan it was. Looking down, the apprentice noticed how the scrap reached for her clanmate's belly. Ferretpaw smiled as she looked from Daylily to Tinystar and gently surrendered Burningkit to the ginger-and-white warrior.

"She's in your paws," Ferretpaw said quietly to Daylily. "I quite like Burningkit. It's a good name for a kit born during a time like this. Fire is so harsh... and yet, so bright." She turned to Tinystar as she rose to her paws. "If you don't need any more help, I'll let SkyClan matters stay SkyClan matters, sir."

Nodding back to the tribe cat who was helping Ferretpaw in warming up the kit, Tinystar watched as his pride and joy, Daylily, joined the scene and took liberty in naming the fiery pelted bundle of fur. Burningkit... it was a fitting name, though it wasn't like he had much of a say in the matter.

"While you don't have any milk to give, do you wish to take Burningkit under your wing after she's been weened off of the Queens?" the little leader mewed, looking up to his daughter who now had the kit at her paws. He always knew that she would make a great mother, something in which he could always count on, for the clan was always in need of caring Queens. His son, Sunflower, however... well, he would be an interesting father, to say the least.

Daylily nodded appreciatively towards the ThunderClan apprentice. "Thank you, Ferretpaw." She leaned down closer to the kit, drawing her closer to herself. Burningkit's small body was finally starting to warm up, to her relief. Although this kit was not related to her, she already felt a strong sense of kinship to her.

"I will take this kit as my own, as soon as she is old enough," she responded, nodding to Tinystar. He was almost eye level with her, despite the fact that she was seated and he was standing. "She deserves to know at least someone as her kin." Daylily couldn't imagine a life without Sunflower or Tinystar, and she felt she owed it to this kit to pass on the love that her own family had given to her. "Don't worry, Burningkit," she whispered to the flame-colored bundle of fur at her paws. "I'll keep you safe."