EclipseClan

Pumapelt stood at the entrance to the nursery, shuffling his paws. The mouse he had caught still lingered on his breath, even though he had tossed it uneaten into the fresh-kill pile. Missingpaw, the toothless medicine cat apprentice, had been sent to fetch him while he was returning from a hunt, bringing the news that Lilydream had just kitted.

Pumapelt gave a nervous sigh. He remembered when his little sister and brother were born, so tiny and fluffy, blue eyes sealed shut. He remembered their apprentice ceremony, how excited Lilypaw was when she found out her older brother would be her mentor. He remembered his sibling's first hunt, their first gathering, when they finally received their warrior names. And of course, he remembered when Lilydream told him she was in love with Porridgefur. Of course he remembered, how could he not? He was the first one she told, even before she admitted it to Porridgefur.

And...he remembered her plans. He remembered them so vividly, as she would happily chatter on and on to him and Porridgefur with a squirrel gripped between her fangs, dreaming about her and Porridgefur's future kits, speculating which of the kits in the nursery would be her apprentices... how he missed those hunts.

But this moment was nothing but joy, he reminded himself firmly.

Nothing but joy.

His heart fluttered nervously as he stood outside the nursery entrance. His skinny tail twitched, as a sudden flood of bliss overcame him. His sister was a mother. He was an uncle.

As he slipped under the bush that hid the nursery, he was sure this was a moment that would remain forever etched in his mind along with the rest of the precious memories he shared with Lilydream.

Nothing but joy.

If only that were true...

-{}-

The moment Pumapelt stepped into the burrowed entrance of the nursery he knew something was wrong. The room felt...stale. There was no contented purring of mother and kit and- oh no, was that...blood?

It was a small smear, only about a kitstep in length, but Pumapelt's heart sank deep, deep into his chest. Tearing his gaze away from the smear, he continued on.

He spotted Lilydream and his spirits lifted. She was okay! She was napping on the ground, curled up with her tail around her. He couldn't see the kits, but he assumed her long fluffy tail was hiding them from view. Pumapelt stepped forward with a smile.

But when Lilydream pulled back her head from her paws, Pumapelt's heart dropped. His little sister's face was full of despair, her sage-green eyes carrying more sadness than he had ever seen in his life.

"L-Lilydream?"

The lilac she-cat's head sprung up, and a small, saddened smile spread across her face. "Puma."

Pumapelt swallowed. "Is everything okay? Are you okay?"

"Of c-course." She brought her paw to her face to muffle a short sniff, her eyes not meeting his.

A moment of silence passed. And then-

"I-I had two stillborn kits, Puma..." Lilydream gave a sob.

"Oh, Lily... I'm so sorry," Puma said, now holding back tears himself as the shock hit him...Lilydream wasn't going to be a mother...he wasn't going to be an uncle. As he came closer to Lilydream to comfort her, he felt a stir of anger in his chest. It was these moments that he doubted StarClan's supposed infinite wisdom... how could they do this? Lilydream already lost her sense of movement, her chance at being a mentor, now this? Her motherhood? Why must StarClan take everythi-

A tiny meow stopped his heart.

A movement between Lilydream's paws.

A tiny paw reaching upwards, outstretched baby claws barely poking through the fluff...

Tears still sparkling in her eyes, Lilydream smiled, reaching down to lick a kit...her kit, her living kit.

Two more tiny meows protested in unison, demanding a lick for themselves, and their mother happily obliged.

Upon seeing Pumapelt's absolutely befuddled expression, she gave a soft gasp. "I'm so sorry, I guess I made it seem like..." she trailed off, and in the silence that followed, she moved the tail that shielded them from the world.

Three tiny balls of fluff squirmed and mewed, shivering from the sudden lack of warmth.

The biggest of them was a lilac tortoiseshell, her swirled pattern shared between lilac and cream spotting.

The second was only a tad smaller than the tortie, a deep cinnamon color just slightly darker than his father's, his swirled pattern dark and prominent.

The littlest kit was visibly smaller than her littermates, enough for Pumapelt to wonder if something was wrong. She was as beautiful as the others, though; her long fur a golden fawn color reminiscent of his own.

He smiled, his heart fluttering. "They're perfect, Lily."

She giggled. "Look at their tails! They're so stubby."

Puma hadn't noticed at first, but sure enough, the kittens had very fluffy stubs for tails, much like a rabbit's; the way they wiggled made Puma laugh out loud. "They still have more tail than Porridgefur!"

Lilydream and Pumapelt laughed together, their tears disappearing in their long fur.

Their laughter soon trailed off into a happy silence, broken only by the soft purrs from contented kits.

"What are their names?" Pumapelt asked softly.

"I wanted to wait for Porridgefur, to name them," she purred. "He's on the sunhigh patrol, he should be back by sundown."

Puma smiled, padding over to lay contentedly next to his little sister, and his new nieces and nephew.

The leaves covering the entrance to the burrow rustled, and a bulky honey-brown tom stepped into the nursery, holding a few stalks of dark green leaves between his teeth. He was followed quickly by a lithe black and white apprentice, who was holding the star-shaped flowered tips of the same type of plant between toothless gums.

"Honeythroat, Missingpaw," Pumapelt rose to his haunches and addressed the medicine cat and his apprentice with a respectful nod, his own citrine eyes lingering on the tom.

"Deputy Pumapelt," the honey-brown tom returned the nod with a small grin that was barely visible from behind the dark stalks he held.

He held Puma's gaze for a few heartbeats, the honey-brown tom's deep blue eyes gazing into the deputy's knowingly, before turning to chat with Lilydream. Puma shuffled his paws to refocus himself, missing the first few moments of Lilydream and Honeythroat's interaction.

"-Really, I'm fine, I'd much rather let another queen have them," Lilydream urged, tucking one of her white-tipped paws under her chest.

"Oh, we give all queens borage leaves when we have them," Missingpaw explained enthusiastically, with a toothless lisp. "Espe-th-ially queens with enough milk, because they- uh-" The black and white apprentice glanced at his mentor. "Uhm..."

Honeythroat smiled kindly. "Borage leaves take a little time to work, so it's best-"

"-best to allow queens without problems to have enough milk for more kits than sthe has, in case that it's needed!" The foldie apprentice finished proudly. The honey-brown tom ruffled his apprentice's head fur with a grin.

Lilydream giggled. "Alrighty then, if it won't hurt anybody." Honeythroat dropped his bolade stalks to Missingpaw, who began to strip off their leaves and press them flat with his pawpads.

"Borage has actually been pretty abundant this Newleaf," Honeythroat mused. "We have plenty to spare. I've been having Missingpaw collect as much as he can to store for Leaf-bare."

Missingpaw handed over a small stack of pressed leaves to Lilydream, who took it gingerly between her teeth.

The apprentice purred, "Cthew it until it's a paste, then swallow. It'll help you absorb it better."

"Okay," Lilydream made a sour face as she chewed the leaves, which made Missingpaw laugh.

Pumapelt glanced at Honeythroat, who upon seeing the deputy stare gave a quick jerk of his his head towards the entrance of the burrow.

The deputy's heart skipped a beat. Did Honeythroat...? No, no, he couldn't. He-

Maybe...

Puma glanced towards the other two cats. Missingpaw was happily babbling and laughing to his patient, while Lilydream had her face screwed up and eyes squeezed shut from the sour taste. Deciding the other two probably wouldn't notice if they were gone for a little while, he deputy padded towards the medicine cat.

Much to his surprise however they didn't go far; only enough to be out of earshot.

The honey-brown tom lowered his voice. "I take it Lilydream told you about the kits?"

Pumapelt blinked, his mouth slightly agape. It took him a moment to realize they weren't leaving the nursery, and another to realize what he was talking about. "Oh...oh, yes," He cleared his throat, glancing away from Honeythroat's deep blue eyes for a moment in an attempt to focus. "There were two, if I remember?"

"Yes," the broad-shouldered tom gave a deep sigh, looking towards Lilydream and Missingpaw, who were both laughing at one another. "It's more common than you might think. It's just...especially heartbreaking when it happens to first-time queens."

Pumapelt nodded. He paused, thinking about his two stillborn nieces or nephews, wondering what life they would've led.

The deputy sighed. "At least three kits are still here and well."

Honeythroat winced. "That's the other thing I wanted to mention..."

Pumapelt swallowed.

"The fawn-colored kit seems to be very small, a bit behind her siblings. I wouldn't worry about it usually, all kits are different sizes when they're born, but the stillborn kits were smaller too. I'm worried the kit won't make it, or she'll run into problems when she's older..."

Pumapelt grimaced, his heart sinking. "You think she could be like Lilydream?"

Honeythroat sighed. "It's possible. A... definite possibility."

Pumapelt lowered his head. The kit didn't even have a name yet, but the thought of one of Lilydream's kits suffering the same fate as she did was... unbearable.

"Don't worry, the most likely outcome is the kit will just be shorter than average," reassured the medicine cat. "That won't cause much harm besides hindering her ability to climb trees," The tom chuckled, adding, "Though considering that Porridgefur is her father she wouldn't be excelling in that area either way."

The two toms chortled together, remembering when the fully grown warrior Porridgefur, normally shy and quiet, aggressively insisted and soon after attempted to prove over and over again that he could climb a tree.

"Once he almost got up there," recounted Pumapelt. "A pair of robins in the tree thought he was coming after their nest and started attacking him, and he never had to deal with birds before so he panicked and fell."

Honeythroat laughed out loud, his honey-smooth voice echoing in the small burrow. Lilydream and Missingpaw looked towards them with confused smiles, just now noticing how far away the toms were from them.

Honeythroat grinned and padded back to the other two, and Pumapelt reluctantly followed, having been enjoying his time with the medicine cat.

"Well, we best be going," said the broad-shouldered tom, scooping the bare-leafed stalks of the borage plants into his mouth. Perhaps they still had medicinal value; Pumapelt wasn't sure.

"Aww," whined Missingpaw and Lilydream in unison. Pumapelt silently agreed.

Honeythroat chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll be sending Missingpaw with more borage in a sunrise or so, you'll see each other then."

The monochromatic apprentice picked up the unused star-shaped flowers, and gave a friendly head-bump to Lilydream. She returned with a lick on his folded ear, and the toothless apprentice giggled.

Puma gave a nod to the honey-brown tom, who returned it with a grin, azul eyes sparkling. Honeythroat then turned and padded out of the nursery, his apprentice bounding after him.

Pumapelt gave a deep exhale, wondering how long he had been unknowingly holding his breath. His yellow eyes lingered towards the entrance, where a fluffy, honey-dipped tail had disappeared just moments ago.

Lilydream's soft coos to her kits snapped him back to reality, and the deputy turned back to his sister. He curled up next to her, smiling as the tortie kit gave a mew towards him, her eyes squeezed shut, her ears tightly pressed against her skull. He noticed for the first time the small tufts growing from the tips of each of the kit's ears. He chuckled, licking one of his sister's own tufted ears before placing his head on his paws.

Lilydream yawned, pink gums standing out from her pearly-white fangs, before leaning her head against Pumapelt's shoulder. "I'm sure you have a lot of deputy matters to attend to," she said tiredly.

Pumapelt sighed. It was true, he had a lot to do. Organize the fresh-kill pile, oversee warrior training, await the border patrols... he shifted himself, preparing to stand.

The kits mewed, heads turning towards the movement in apparent distress, and Pumapelt stopped, settling back down. He gave a calming lick to the male, whose small face was screwed up with visible worry. The copper kitten, seemingly satisfied, curled up next to his mother, his head disappearing into her long fur, and Pumapelt couldn't help but burst into a smile. He took a moment to collect his thoughts.

Eventually the deputy licked the half-asleep Lilydream on her cheek, purring in peaceful contentment.

"They can wait."

-
fin oct 11 2020