Linden

Linden is a pale brown mackerel tabby tom with a tuxedo pattern and light amber eyes.

## History

Linden was born to the loner she-cat Garlic and exiled warrior Crowshade alongside his younger siblings Hemlock and Coot. Crowshade had abandoned Garlic as she got pregnant, and as Garlic never let on any information about her former mate, the true identity of his father was something that Linden never got to discover.

He failed miserably at the hunting lessons Garlic tried to give them at an early age, being prone to lost himself in thought. His early months of life was often troubled by both Garlic's long outings to hunt and the psychological influences from his siblings: Hemlock, keen to assert his authority in the den, and Coot, who was pretty much in need of therapy.

When he was three months old, Garlic came back one day with heavy wounds and bloodstains. Deciding that it was Hemlock's deliberate probing at their father the night before, Linden blamed Garlic's wounds on his younger brother.

Tensions rose between the two as they were forced to fend for themselves while Garlic recovered. Deeply unnerved by Hemlock's callous wording, bullying, and manipulative personality, Linden started to see his brother as evil, or perhaps worse.

After a drink from the stream that Linden did not completely finish (due to there being a dead body in the water, shh), he was sent out by Hemlock to find Garlic, who had gone hunting again. Linden managed to follow her trail to HollowClan territory, where he stumbled upon her corpse. The both of them was then stumbled upon by Firetail and Rootripper, and Linden, still in shock, ran away after a brief and somewhat threatening exchange.

He met Hemlock on the way back, who told him to look after Coot while he went hunting. Linden did so, lying to Coot about Garlic's death. Coot, having figured out the truth herself, demanded for Linden to speak it to her, hinting to him that she was still sick and wouldn't have much time to live. Linden did not.

Coot died in her sleep that night.

Linden's hatred for Hemlock heaped even higher as they were forced to live in close proximity every day. Deciding that this had to end, he finally gathered up the courage to stand up to his younger brother, accusing him of being heartless and causing the deaths of both Garlic and Coot. Hemlock, furious, pinned Linden to the ground and accused him of faking his grief, doing it only for the narrative. A huge argument resulted, and Hemlock disappeared the following morning.

Linden, convinced that they weren't brothers anymore, left and decided to hunt for himself, which turned out to be a truly stupid decision as Linden really couldn't hunt. He passed out in the desert some days later, only to be found by Star Shadow, who brought him back to Spire's camp.

After an argument between Columbarius and the rest, he was allowed to join Spire's Gang as their youngest member.

## Appearance

Linden is perhaps the one whose pelt resembles Garlic the most out of the litter, albeit in a slightly lighter shade of brown, and with smaller areas of white spotting. His fur quality is somewhat coarse - again, inherited more from his mother than his slinky father.

Being of descent from two rather small cats, his adult size is also shorter and lighter than average, sometimes causing other cats to underestimate his age.