Warriors EmberClan-- Coalbranch

Here is a scene from EmberClan and FrostClan-- by Nibby, with characters made with Crazy. Enjoy!

Coalbranch

Maybe it was some paternal instinct stirring inside his chest, or maybe it was the remnants of the cheer that once lit his eyes, but despite everything surrounding him, Coalbranch could not help but be overjoyed.

Kits! His own kits! Kits made by him, that carried his blood that would grow up to be strong defenders of their clan. And four of them! In the mountains, litter sizes were very small. Getting three kits was a blessing enough--but four! He couldn’t believe it! A miracle, that’s what he was sure it was.

He was so focused on the four, absolutely perfect kittens that lay before him he was mentally able to block out the steep cave walls, the faint shouts from fights in the distance, and the she-cat who lay before him, her body stretching around the kits.

“Look at what you’ve done, she hissed, her voice raspy and low.

“I think they’re absolutely perfect,” Coalbranch replied, still not quite aware of her presence.

One of the kits was light blue, like the sky on a slightly overcast day. Another was cream colored, like the wings of a swallowtail butterfly, with darker splotches. One was brown, not so much like mud, but more like wood, he decided. The last one was black, charcoal black, it’s fur close to his own color. It’s fur was also close to the dark, sloping black walls of the cave the six cats were in. “What shall we name them?” Coalbranch asked, his voice still dreamy.

The she-cat scoffed. “Of course you care about names and appearances,” she muttered. “You don’t have to huddle in this dark cave, with only rocks and a stream, no nest. You can chat with your many friends and ignore the fact I exist.”

Coalbranch frowned. His kits were beautiful. He was hoping the same parental instincts would come across his mate like they did for him. But now, seeing the way she pushed aside her kits, he realized the feeling wasn’t mutual.

The she-cat, Quartzstripe (he had to think for a moment to recall her name) was not in good condition. Her still swollen belly was streaked with blood and was prodded by the hard stone underneath. She had no rabbit fur, no moss, no bedding underneath her, and the cries of pain Coalbranch heard told him the birth had not been an easy one. The sun was just barely rising now, but the cave was dark and shadowed.

But Coalbranch could look past that. It was just him and the four kits, the four beautiful, strong, smart, clever newborn kits alone, facing the world together. If they didn’t need their mother for food, he would gladly pick them up by the downy scruffs of their necks and take them somewhere safe and nice.

Except he couldn't. The she-cat was there, Quartzstripe, the bitter, rightfully angry mother if his kits. And as he watched her watch  the kits, he noticed something awful. “Quartzstripe,” he said softly. “You have to let the kittens eat.”

The pale blue and grey she cat swatted her tail at the four. She had pushed them aside from her belly, refusing to let them latch onto her teats to lap her milk. “They’re hungry, Quartzstripe,” Coalbranch told her, his brow furrowed in concern.

“So what?” the cat snapped. “These kits have ruined my life. It will take moons for me to return to being a warrior, and until then, I am a helpless queen who can do nothing for herself. Your sons and daughters will weigh me down.”

For the first time Coalbranch saw her permanently furrowed brow, her tired eyes, the way her laying body fell lifelessly against the sharp floor as though she had no energy to move it. “But…” Coalbranch protested. “You can’t just let the kits starve! They haven’t done anything wrong!”

“This is all your fault,” replied Quartzstripe. “You don’t care, do you? You don’t care that my life will be ruined by these kits that chain me too this floor. You forced me to bear these kits, accepting orders from…..” She trailed off.

“I was doing what I had too. We’ve discussed this before. You and I could be exiled, she could kill me at worse. And if those kits die….you would be killed.” Coalbranch studied her face. He knew that what he said was true--Emberstar had downright forced him to mate with Quartzstripe. She was defiant about these kits. But he also knew, somewhere, he was defending them not for himself or for his mate, but also because he loved the kits, already. “Please. We will both be dead if these kits die. You can ignore them as soon as they are old enough to eat meat and sleep on their own. Until then…”

Quartzstripe didn’t say anything. She had lowered her head, hiding her face from the black oriental tom. Still, she slowly, let the kits inch closer to her belly and latch onto her teats to drink, circling her striped tail around their little warm bodies. Coalbranch sighed in relief. The kits would stay, for now, he knew from that one small gesture.

The silence and awkwardness in the dimly lit cave suddenly became very apparent. Coalbranch shivered. How long would Quartzstripe have to stay here? Would he hunt for her? “What shall their names be?” he asked, trying to distract himself.

“Ah, what does it matter. You’ll go all lovey-dovey and romantic, so I pick the names.” Quartzstripe cocked her ears arrogantly.

“They are my kits too!” Coalbranch stamped his paw onto the dark floor. “They are mine, and if I accept care of them, that means I get to name them. Come on. I name two.”

“One.”

“Fine. I don’t want to argue.”

“But I go first.” Quartzstripe studied the kits. “Actually, will you lift them up so I can see if they are a tom-kit or she-kit?”

Coalbranch couldn’t help but feel bad. Quartzstripe was so helpless. Gently, he lifted each of the kittens by the downy furred scruffs of their necks so Quartzstripe could gender them. The warmth, the energy, the tiny strength that flowed through them as he first touched their fur…. It was one of the happiest memories he carried of his kits.

He was even more happy to know it was two toms and two she-cats. And the black one, the one he was sure would be like him, was a she-cat. “Coalkit,” he murmured to himself. No. That was dumb. These kits were his in every right, and he would fight Quartzstripe about it to the peak and back, but they weren’t him. He needed to give them a unique name, a special name, something with meaning.

“Cougarkit,” Quartzstripe suddenly stated blankly. She glared up at her mate. “Oh come on, don’t look at me like that. I said I didn’t want some name with faux-importance. Cougars are mountain animals. CliffClan kits are supposed to have mountain-y names. Cougarkit is nice and suits him well enough. Practicality here.” She gestured with her blue paw at the wood brown tom-kit.

Coalbranch opened his mouth to protest, but quickly closed it. She had given up everything to birth these kits and was now stuck in this cave for at least two moons. Let her name them, a voice inside whispered. “Good enough with me,” he replied, trying to shrug it off like it was no big deal.

“I guess this one could be Ramkit,” Quartzstripe pointed to the other tom, who was pale blue, like the diluted tint of his mother’s paws, face, and tail. “Fits in well enough with all the Coyotesteps and Sunsnaps.”

“Sure.” Coalbranch really didn’t want the only basis for naming the kits to be how well they fit in. He couldn’t let his own blood children have bland names. “Wait.” He focused on the little black she-kit, who was now stirring restlessly against the soft fur of her mother’s belly. Her dark, just dried pelt was hard to see against the black stone in the cave. “Cavekit?” he suggested.

“Come on. So what, she was born in a cave. Boo hoo. Tragic. Tons of cats are born in caves like this one, Coalbranch.” Quartzstripe raised one eyebrow and smirked. “Are we seriously doing Cavekit? We’re doing Cavekit, oh my gosh, you really want to do Cavekit?”

“Yes,” Coalbranch declared. “Cavekit. Really, it’s a normal mountain thing. It fits with the theme well. You don’t even have to pretend it’s ‘cause she was born here. I just want to name her.”

“Why? Because she looks like you?” Quartzstripe suddenly snapped.

“I feel... connected to her. I want to name her.”

“You won’t feel so connected when they aren’t the perfect little angels you thought they were and turn out to be hungry, needy, personal clan members, will you? All the miracles and cuteness will go away for the father once his kits are a little older and start thinking for themselves. Then he doesn’t care enough to demand to get a say in the parenting. Typical,” the she cat spat, her teeth gleaming under curling jowls.

“You can’t predict the future! You can’t say what I’ll do just from stereotyping me!” Coalbranch cried, flattening his ears, his gaze leaving the black kitten.

“Oh, yes, I can’t predict the future,” snarled Quartzstripe. “But all those times you were so kind of that one friend until they didn’t want to spend a day with you, or every time you were the most obedient apprentice, until Claystar said something you didn’t like, or all those times you were fun and loving and sweet, until suddenly you weren’t. But no, ‘fatherhood changes you,’ and I’m sure you will be the most dependable and consistent father ever to touch the land!”

“Don’t set me up for failure!”

“You’re setting yourself up!”

“I only want to help you! What do you want me to do?”

“To not pretend to be someone else! To TRY a little harder! Maybe to get these BLOODY KITTENS OFF OF ME!”

“STOP!” Coalbranch shouted, throwing his head back into the air. He collapsed onto the floor in a heap, his paws over his ears. “Please stop!”

“Why?” Quartzstripe drew out her claws. Her bright blue eyes were gleaming with hatred now, her tongue running over her gums. “Why can’t we try and resolve things?”

“Because I don’t want the kits to hear,” Coalbranch whispered. His voice cracked, and now he was very, very silent.

“They can’t hear!” the siamese roared.

“I know! But--but if we keep doing this, this arguing in front of our children, they’ll soon be old enough to hear, and understand, and…” Coalbranch trailed off, trying to stare Quartzstripe directly in the eye. He shuffled back onto his feet, his tail dragging on the ground. “They have it hard enough. I don’t want them to grow up with us hating each other as mere background noise.”

“You can’t change the fact I hate you.” The she-cat let the words simmer and burn on her tongue painfully.

“I know,” the tom replied softly. “But please. These kits have done nothing wrong.” He turned back to look at them. Cavekit.

He watched them, watched as they batted with each other, as they nestled closer, as they drank their milk. “Listen, Quartzstripe,” he started. “You and I are both damaged. We’re both too far gone.”

The siamese she-cat lowered her head.

“You may not like to hear it, but we are. I was forced to mate with you. I followed terrible orders, and for what? You bear the kits of someone you hate more than anything, and you now have to raise them. We’re beyond repair. Nothing we do is redeemable. It just isn’t.” Gently, he lifted Cavekit by the scruff of her neck and set her down on his own front paws. “But these kits are different. It’s a cruel world for them, but at the same time, there’s possibility. Possibility in their little heads for a better clan, for a better world. They shouldn’t bear the sins of their parents.” Coalbranch bent down to lick clean the soft belly of the kit before him. “I know we’re both tainted and ruined, but these kits, they’re like a clean slate, you know?”

“Slate,” Quartzstripe murmured. She glanced at the cream and brown she-kit. “Slatekit.”

“And you said you were against syrupy nice names!” Coalbranch burst out. For the first time in moons, he was able to smile, laugh even.

“Well, okay, sure, but Slatekit sounds nice and simple and clean and you know what? I’m naming her. If you get Cavekit, I get Slatekit.”

“Oh, no, I’m not protesting!” chuckled Coalbranch. “I’m just saying!”

“She is Slatekit and that is Ramkit and that is Cougarkit and that is Cavekit. End of story.”

“That’s just fine with me,” replied Coalbranch. His eyes shone with appreciation as he watched the four. The four perfect little kits. ''I will raise them. They will be the best apprentices, the best warriors, ever. I’m going to make that happen.''