Aspenwillow

"oh no! a dog!" - words spoken before imminent disaster

## Physical Description

Aspenwillow has short brown fur striped with darker brown, and his eyes are amber colored. He has a small build, typical of a WindClan cat.

## Personality

Aspenwillow is stubborn and snarky, with very little patience, but cares about those close to him. Despite his stubbornness, he is not prideful and is willing to admit when he's made a mistake or needs help.

## Skills and Weaknesses

Aspenwillow's greatest skill is his dedication to medicine; he is excellent at finding herbs and using them effectively, as he often experimented to find which cures worked best. However, his perception does not help him find prey, as he is rather clumsy. This makes him both a poor hunter and fighter. His impatience also makes mentorship difficult for him.

## Life

### Kithood

Aspenkit was born in the WindClan nursery, only a few weeks before an outbreak of greencough ravaged the camp, taking the life of his father, as well as two of the other inhabitants of the nursery, Doefur and Houndkit. While she was devastated by the loss of her mate, Aspenkit's mother took care of him and Doefur's other kit, Whisperkit. Whisperkit and Aspenkit became fast friends, and Aspenkit eagerly awaited his apprenticeship.

### Apprenticeship

Aspenpaw was apprenticed to Rednose, a young warrior, while Whisperpaw was apprenticed to Fallowfur, the WindClan medicine cat. Despite his eagerness to learn and Rednose's kindness, Aspenpaw disliked his training and found that his practice was not yielding any results. Within a few moons, Whisperpaw found that she was also unhappy with her training and asked Aspenpaw to give her lessons in hunting and fighting, through which she quickly surpassed him. They came to the conclusion that they had taken the wrong apprenticeships and approached Driftstar, asking to swap mentors. The leader accepted, and Aspenpaw began training under Fallowfur, finding that he was much more talented at medicine. Thanks to him helping Whisperpaw at first, she became a warrior within a few moons and earned the name Whisperstep. After this, they spent less time together, particularly because Whisperstep spent most of her spare time with another warrior named Jaysprint instead.

When Driftstar reached his final life, he became paranoid and suddenly declared war on RiverClan. This accelerated Aspenpaw's training, as he spent most of his time searching for herbs or treating wounded warriors. Whisperstep also assisted him and Fallowfur when she was able, although most of her time was focused on her warrior duties. While Aspenpaw spared no effort in their treatment, many of the warriors were too injured to survive, including the deputy, Ferretwhisker, who was also Whisperstep's father.

### Adult Life

Even though his apprenticeship began late, he completed it by the time he reached 18 moons old and was given his medicine cat name, Aspenwillow. Soon after, his mother died to greencough, along with his two former mentors, Fallowfur and Rednose. Aspenwillow reconnected with Whisperstep, who was now the deputy, over their shared loss, and Aspenwillow helped her deal with the pressure of becoming deputy at such a young age.

When a surprise RiverClan attack took Driftstar's final life, Whisperstar became leader and immediately ended the war with RiverClan. She helped Aspenwillow take care of any remaining wounded. A few moons later, Aspenwillow took an apprentice named Heatherpaw. He found it difficult to teach her, and sometimes asked Whisperstar for help while she was in the nursery with her kits. However, he was never able to complete her training, as he died a few moons later while collecting herbs from a dog attack. His death left Whisperstar without any friends, and this loneliness is what lead her to enter the Dark Forest.