MoonClan's ambitious story/(1): The First Four Leaders/1/1

### Chapter 1: Nursery

Birchkit was in the nursery, watching kits play mossball. There were mostly older kits and kits *his* age, but right now he felt bored and didn't want to play with them right now, however, he didn't feel like sleeping, either. He was only two and a half moons old at the time, but neither his mother or his littermate and sister, Rainkit, were here, and he didn't know where they were. He decided to go to the elders' den and listen to some stories out of boredom, since the kits had stopped playing.

He saw his sister already there. An elder, Wisdomheart, who was also Moonstar's brother, saw him and signaled him to sit down.

"Hey! You're also the son of my niece, Petuniaheart, and her mate, Snowpool! Come sit down," he said nicely, but in an old, cracked voice. Birchkit sighed.

Being a grandchild of the *great* legend Moonstar, he had no choice but to acknowledge cats that were paying a lot of attention to him because of his heritage. His mother, Petuniaheart, being Moonstar and Orangehill's daughter, made cats pay even more attention to her. But Wisdomheart was Moonstar's brother, so he got the same kind of attention, in fact, probably more since he was an elder. Birchkit assumed they had already gotten used to it by now, but he was still disoriented by all of this attention ever since he was born.

Wisdomheart told Birchkit a story about a time before there were Clans. He used to be called Wisdom, his sister Moon, and her mate Orange, now known as Orangehill. Then Moon met up with two cats who were also her friends, Adder and Snow, and made the Mountain Clans based on a prophecy called the Mountain Clan Prophecy.

Then they created rivalries among themselves. They stayed away from each other.

Birchkit thought about it. Moonstar was still the leader, but she had her first litter, of which both kits died, at the age of forty moons. She had Petuniaheart and her brother, Blazesky, at fifty moons. His mother had Rainkit and him as her third litter at the age of thirty-six moons.

*Basically, Moonstar is really old,* concluded Birchkit's thoughts. *No wonder she was a legend.*

Wisdomheart went on about their ancestry and such. After a bit, he started talking about his deputyship. Birchkit never knew about him being a deputy before, and he wondered why he was in the elder's den if he was a deputy, until Wisdomheart said that he was retired. Birchkit never knew deputies could retire, but then again, he usually liked to stay in the nursery and sleep a lot instead of going to the elder's den. His mother was very comforting to him.

His great-uncle said, "You see, when the Clans were created, I was appointed as the first deputy by Moonstar, my sister, since she thought we were shared blood, and my brother, Calmpond, the medicine cat, since he was a healer already. But you see, I didn't know exactly *how* to be a deputy. I had never been in a leader-like position before, so I wanted to try and figure it out before I had apprentices." He started talking about how after about a dozen moons, he got two apprentices back-to-back. "I guess Moonstar knew what I wanted to do. Be a mentor before I have to retire, so she gave me an apprentice after my first one became a warrior! Well, I was getting pretty old so it makes sense. After a few dozen more moons, I started getting health issues, so I retired and now Falconblue is the deputy. In fact, just a few moons before you were born. But Moonstar is still going! She even mentored our cousin when the Clan was made, even though she was still trying to figure it out herself!"

Rainkit looked very excited about his story, but Birchkit started to wonder more about it. His curiousity grew about the entire history of the Mountain Clans, and then he wondered why he was sleeping so much and staying in the nursery.

But suddenly, he felt hungry. His mother had already weaned Rainkit and him, so that they could learn to eat solid food. Birchkit took out a mouse and wondered what to do next. Then he remembered that he had never met his grandmother before personally. He mostly met her when she was always talking to someone else which was usually about warrior matters he never understood, which usually had something to do with SnowClan and AdderClan, the Clans Wisdomheart mentioned. He wanted to meet her now.

So he went to Moonstar's den, which was obviously the leader's den. Moonstar was just sitting on her moss bed. Nothing about her changed when he entered the den.

"H-H-Hello?" he stammered.

Moonstar did a little smile. "Petuniaheart's son, Birchkit." She then said his other siblings' names, his sisters Sealpaw, Sandpaw and Hailpaw, his brother, Quailkit, and Rainkit.

Birchkit was really confused now and almost thought that Moonstar was losing her whiskers until she added, "I'm naming you. I'm losing memory."

Birchkit then realized she wanted to remember their names by saying them out loud. But he didn't understand how she could be losing memory if she was a leader. Or the other way around. He thought, *Maybe it's because she's* really *old like her brother.*

He just replied, "Okay, um, good-bye?" and left the den taking his mouse with him to a rock. He was still confused about that exchange, however. No one said that his grandmother was losing memory, not even Wisdomheart. He hoped nothing bad would happen all of a sudden.

He saw Quailkit there. He was much older than Rainkit and him, almost an apprentice. He was also smart and kind and usually taught Rainkit and Birchkit about certain things happening in MoonClan when the two couldn't leave the nursery. However, right now, Quailkit was barely touching his snow hare and seemed deep in thought.

*A Snowstar thing,* Birchkit thought. Quailkit didn't even seem to notice him. He just prodded the hare. Birchkit then decided to speak to his brother.

"Um, Quailkit, are you okay?" Birchkit asked him.

Quailkit replied, "Yep, I'm *all* right," in a rather sarcastic tone.

"Is something wrong? You don't seem-" Birchkit was saying, taking a bite out of his mouse, but Quailkit interrupted, "Nope, I'm *totally* fine!"

Birchkit knew there was something wrong with him since he didn't usually act like that, but he decided not to care about it. Why did he have to care, anyway? He was only a young kit. Quailkit probably had a good reason that he didn't know. *Is it about Moonstar?* he wondered for a moment but he shrugged since he didn't know the answer to that.

He finished his mouse and went to the training section. He saw Sealpaw training with her mentor, Blazesky, who was also their uncle and Petuniaheart's brother and littermate. He got the same kind of attention as his sister and uncle, too.

"Hey, Birchkit, you're not old enough to train yet," teased Sealpaw humorously.

"He can stay to watch," said Blazesky politely.

Birchkit went into a sitting position and started watching them fight. Sealpaw seemed to be concentrating on their uncle's moves. Blazesky looked at her head but aimed for the chest. Sealpaw toppled backwards, but immediately got up, and scratched his nose.

Birchkit thought the fighting was intense, so when they paused for a bit, he asked, "Don't you get hurt?"

Blazesky replied thoughtfully, "Not very hurt. Our claws are always sheathed during training so we don't hurt our apprentice or mentor. Safety is a big thing in Clans. But when Sealpaw falls down, she is expected to see this when she fights in real life. But honestly, falling down is a barrier to no cat, and shouldn't hurt you."

Birchkit thought about it. He looked at his paws, wondering if that made sense. He wondered about warriors who might get hurt from falling, but he couldn't think of any. *Will there be one in the future?* he continued to wonder. There were already a few expecting queens in the nursery, but he wasn't really sure if that was possible or not.

Then they had a snack break, which was three mice, and Birchkit also ate a mouse, too.

After their break, they continued. Sealpaw ran a few feet away from Blazesky and he chased her. But when Blazesky caught up, she immediately whipped around and scratched him on the forehead.

"Good method, because with claws unsheathed, that can make blood pour out and blind your attacker," he pointed out. Sealpaw looked proud of herself. But then he warned, "But be careful. He can immediately attack after you do, so always keep your reflexes and muscles active while fighting."

Sealpaw nodded, heeding the warning, and they continued.

Birchkit got a little bored of watching them since they seemed to be doing the same attacks over and over again and decided to go back to sleep as he usually did. But he started to wonder more and more about the world after listening to Wisdomheart's story.

**This is a chapter subpage of MoonClan's ambitious story (1): The First Four Leaders.**

***This is the first chapter of Part 1: Little Birchkit's Life.***

*← Previous Chapter: Prologue: Beginning of the Mountain ClansNext Chapter: Chapter 2: Moonstar →*

*← Previous Part: Prologue: Beginning of the Mountain ClansNext Part: Part 2: Birchpaw's Training →*