Swanstream

Swanstream was a MoonClan warrior who was known for being mute from birth to death, however being a great warrior nevertheless.

## Physical Description

### Fur Color & Pattern

Light Yellow, might look like pink in some cases

## Education

### Unofficial Mentor

Violetrain

She was also known as the mate of Birchstar, the fourth leader, and the secret niece of Briarstar, the second leader of SnowClan, and got to be a prominent figure in the Clan regardless of her condition. She was also known for being a strong cat who tried to protect others and make good decisions, despite not being able to speak as she had a sign language that Goldenlily, her mother, taught her which everyone in MoonClan learned, especially her family friends. Since she had gone through quite a few tragedies in her life especially when she was young, it strengthened and empowered her to take on bigger challenges Birchstar even had her mentor their daughter, Moonbird, as he thought Moonpaw would understand Swanstream the most.

Because her father was Swiftclaw, a SnowClan cat, she and her siblings were half-MoonClan, half-SnowClan. Some MoonClan cats wondered if this was the reason for the tragedies happening to Swanstream and her siblings, especially Birchstar who knew about it since his apprenticehood, as it could have been a terribly ill omen. But Birchstar later decided that it probably shouldn't have been one, and to simply think of it as something that happened in the past. Swanstream herself never thought about it after the fact, only considering MoonClan to be her loyalty, heritage, and home, and still loved Goldenlily despite her major mistake since she understood her situation and guilt which was part of the reason why she died, and also decided that her mother mating with her biological father was not an ill omen, just like her remaining siblings and most of the Clan decided to think.

She was the first of the four she-cats with conditions born around her time, the others in order being Primrosestorm, Mousekit and Birdwing, and the first cat in MoonClan in general to have a congenital condition, and perhaps out of all the Clans. Birdwing as a kit decided to suggest the name Powerful Three to make their friendship more interesting, being a unique friend group, and to honor their conditions, and Swanstream and Primrosepaw had agreed, though Swanstream wanted to add Mousekit to it even though she had died, making them the Powerful Four.

When her grandson, Sunstar, was born deaf in one ear and half-deaf in the other, she tried to help him out significantly beyond the normal grandmotherly ways, considering she was also mute and used sign language instead the two mutually worked together with communication the best. To honor the five cats' conditions, her mate decided to choose him as the deputy on top of his many achievements, who later ascended to leadership.

When she joined StarClan, the StarClan cats, especially the ones she knew, praised and revered her for her resilience, patience and goodwill all her life and granted her a melodic StarClan voice, but she preferred to continue to use sign language as she honored her condition greatly throughout her life since that was how she lived and she didn't want anything to take that honor away, and only used the voice when appearing to cats that were born too long after she died to know her language, just like Primrosestorm and Birdwing, who also decided to keep their conditions to honor them. However, whenever a cat joined StarClan, Swanstream taught them her language to keep her tradition going.

## Youth

### Birth

She was born as Swankit to Goldenlily and Watereye (pretend father) alongside her sibling, Vinekit. Swankit and Vinekit were the second litter of Goldenlily after Shadowkit and Icekit who were three moons older than them, after their mother had mated with their biological father, Swiftclaw, for the second time. Swiftclaw was the littermate of the SnowClan leader, Briarstar, and the blood relationship between them and Swiftclaw was unbeknownst to most cats, especially Swankit.

However, Vinekit happened to be stillborn and their closest family members had mourned, though Swankit thought her littermate was just sleeping and was very confused when the Clan buried them. She had gotten over them in a few days and forgot about the loss, though she thought about them sometimes in relation to other cats' littermates.

Other kits were also in the nursery at her birth, like Quailkit who was just a few days younger than her older siblings and also had a stillborn littermate, Zebrakit and Stonekit who were two moons older than her, and Quailkit's younger siblings, Rainkit and Birchkit, who were a quarter-moon older. A few hours after her birth, another queen, Flipsnow, had given birth to a single kit, Mountainkit, and a few more hours after that, Orchidmoon had also given birth to a single kit, Berrykit, which helped Swankit quickly get over her dead littermate.

Swankit seemed to be perfectly healthy when she was born, but the Clan, especially the kits who played with her, was confused why she wasn't making any sound except for breathing when she laughed, cried, or yelped in pain. Then a few days after her birth, it was realized that she was mute, especially when her closest family members had tried to talk to her but she couldn't reply except with pointing and expression, which was very surprising for the Clan as she was the first cat in MoonClan ever to have a congenital condition, and not even the oldest of the cats like Moonstar could remember the last mute cat in the Mountain Tribe. They were worried something might have gone wrong in the womb that caused her to be mute and Vinekit to be stillborn as Goldenlily had gotten slight whitecough but it quickly subsided a few days before they were born, but there wasn't anything MoonClan could do about it since they were already born and had no knowledge of the exact cause.

The Clan, especially Goldenlily, was worried that she couldn't be a warrior, much less a deputy, medicine cat or leader, since MoonClan was known for its peace and knowledge which needed quite a bit of speaking, but Moonstar decided to reassure them that Swankit could still be a warrior and hunt since there was nothing wrong with her mouth or body itself, only that sound couldn't come out. To remedy this, Goldenlily decided to teach Swankit a basic sign language as a groundwork that Swankit could learn and easily add to, so that she could communicate with other Clanmates, and Goldenlily told others what each sign meant. As Swankit learned it, she adapted many more complex signs of her own which her Clanmates quickly learned as well, and soon even newborn kits easily learnt them.

Swankit did not remember how she realized she was mute, but she mentioned that she thought it was magical for other cats to somehow speak when she couldn't, but at the same time, it didn't bother her one bit as she knew that she had a special duty and destiny to fulfill with her condition, and she knew she would have to be strong to more than make up for it. The other kits in the nursery, however, including her older siblings, Zebrakit, Stonekit, Berrykit and her friends around her age, didn't understand why she never spoke to them as they weren't told directly and being too young and ignorant to understand all those details. They thought she might simply have been too shy to speak, until they became a couple moons older.

### 2.5-6 moons

Despite her condition and therefore assumed shyness, Swankit was known to be an outgoing, playful and sometimes mischevious kit as she always liked to play with others and didn't hesitate to bond with them, including warriors, unlike Zebrakit, Stonekit, Berrykit and originally Mountainkit. She was less talkative as a kit than when she was older since she didn't understand how to communicate with them yet, only knowing to point and express emotions, until Goldenlily taught her the framework, especially the signs for items, such as a held up cupped circle to represent MoonClan, arm slithering for AdderClan, and spread out fingers with her paws together for SnowClan, to represent the Clans' namesakes. Afterwards, Swankit understood that she should use each part of her body to express as much meaning as she could to other Clanmates and crafted a few of her own, such as the thumbs-up or down and pretend expression to show if she was okay or what she thought about something, waving to get others' attention or as an exclamation, shrugging to represent uncertainty or a question. She also came up with the gesture for cats to come to her.

Shadowkit and Icekit adored their younger sister, Swankit, and they were all tight-knit as kits, playing with each other all the time. Swankit was also friendly with the three siblings, Quailkit, Rainkit and Birchkit, though she later became great friends with the latter two after they were three moons old, when Birchkit had befriended Mountainkit, since she thought Rainkit and Birchkit were great Clanmates. Even though Zebrakit, Stonekit, Mountainkit and Berrykit were all shy, Swankit still considered them to be good kits. After Primrosekit was born four moons after her and was revealed to be reflexively-disabled, she empathized with her and befriended her as well.

Birchkit was watching Swankit was playing with her siblings, Shadowkit and Icekit, though he felt too bored to join in, and they later stopped. (*Chapter 1: Nursery*)

A half-moon later, Swankit was playing Clan with Shadowkit, Icekit, Quailkit and Rainkit, and she was playing as a warrior. Birchkit later decided to join in while she was on pretend border patrol. After Birchkit invited Mountainkit to play with them to be the fox, she playfought with Mountainkit. Because of this, she had befriended Mountainkit along with Rainkit and Birchkit. Afterwards, while going to the prey pile with the other kits, Birchkit finally decided to ask Quailkit what was wrong with Moonstar, and Quailkit and Swankit had thought it was weird that Birchkit didn't know since almost everyone in the Clan knew, which Birchkit didn't say anything about. But they told him that Moonstar was sick and soon going to die. This made Birchkit shocked about the dire situation in MoonClan. Later in the elder's den, Birchkit inquired her maternal grandfather, Pinetail, and his great-uncle, Wisdomheart, about several things, including why Swankit wasn't speaking as he finally figured out that it was very strange for her never to speak when she was so visibly outgoing. (*Chapter 2: Moonstar*)

A few days later, Swankit watched Shadowkit, Icekit and Quailkit become apprenticed to Snowpool (Quailkit, Rainkit and Birchkit's father), Forestcreek (Snowpool's brother and littermate) and Blazesky (Petuniaheart's brother and littermate) respectively. Five apprentices became warriors, Sealbranch, Sandleap, Hailstream, Nightnose and Nutclaw, too, the first three being Quailpaw, Rainkit and Birchkit's older sisters, and last two being brothers. A quarter-moon later, Swankit along with the other kits were pulled back by their mothers and they were scared of what was happening, but she felt better with Rainkit, Birchkit and Mountainkit around. Along with them, she watched the battle with AdderClan go on frightenedly, especially when Goldenlily was pinned and about to be killed. She watched the argument go on that later made Snowpool chosen to be leader. (*Chapter 3: AdderClan*)

Another moon later, Rainkit, Swankit and Mountainkit were accompanying Birchkit while he was trying to confront Zebrapaw's brash actions. Though she didn't say anything or do much, she still supported Birchkit and followed him to make sure he was protected. When he and Rainkit called Stonepaw a piece of crowfood, she ran to the apprentices' den where Zebrapaw and her older siblings, Shadowpaw and Icepaw, were. Since Shadowpaw and Icepaw were on their sister's side, they tried to band against Zebrapaw and Stonepaw, causing Zebrapaw to explode in anger, and Swankit and Mountainkit to nearly become scared. The next day, she was with Shadowpaw and Birchkit when they apologized to him, and she had indirectly befriended Zebrapaw, though she still hated his littermate, Stonepaw. Together, they all played Moss Fetch. A couple days later, Primrosekit and Dandelionkit were born, and a few days afterwards, it was quickly discovered that Primrosekit was moving way too sluggish for a kit, making Primrosekit the second kit after Swankit to have a condition. (*Chapter 4: Zebrapaw & Stonepaw*)

A moon later, Swankit was being watched by Primrosekit with her friends, Shadowpaw, Zebrapaw, Rainkit, Birchkit and Mountainkit. After they left the nursery, Primrosekit decided to watch them for a little bit, but since she was reflexively disabled, she couldn't join in. After some time, it was discovered that Primrosekit was gone. A few hours later, Blazesky and Quailpaw had found Primrosekit alive and well, though hungry and tired, and Swankit was one of the cats to look shocked at how she disappeared without them even noticing since they were close to the nursery. Swankit later slept in the nursery next to Goldenlily. (*Chapter 5: Primrosekit & Dandelionkit*)

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