Mintshade

## Biographical Information

### Description

large, fluffy brown tabby she-cat with a white underside and white paws, green eyes

## Kin

### Sons

Whistlesong, Webwhisper, Nettleclaw, Lightningheart

> Oh, *young love.* I agree with you on the front that total dependency on one another is a weakness. That is, of course, why I would like to unearth more information about the cats of Fallenclan. It's easier to control cats when you know their weaknesses. - Mintshade to Elderchime after the battle against Fallenclan
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Mintkit was born to a Shadowclan queen and an unknown tom. There was a rumor her father was a Thunderclan warrior and she would have divided loyalties. This shaped her kithood, driving her to want to be the best warrior Shadowclan had ever seen so there would be no more rumors about her. As an apprentice, a young warrior named Goldenfur developed feelings for her. With him being popular in the clan, she agreed to become his mate.

She was an impressive young warrior, eventually earning the respect of the leader and becoming the deputy. She later found out that she was expecting Goldenfur's kits. So she could become leader, she had her sister Fireglow, the medicine cat, drug the leader so she could drown him. He was old and she was tired of waiting for him to die so she could take over. During her leader ceremony, Mintstar received a prophecy saying one of her kits would rule with grace and bring peace to the forest. She took this to mean her bloodline was exalted by Starclan. After she became leader, she had Midgekit and Whistlekit, who, as far as the clan thought, were the perfect kits of their leader and deputy. Mintstar also spoke of the prophecy and promised to bring Shadowclan back to being feared and great around the lake, like they were in the old stories.

She later had a second litter with Goldenfur: Nettlekit, Lightningkit, Webkit, and Flamekit. She started training them herself in secret when they were just weaned, wanting to mold them into her perfect heirs. She found Lightningkit, the runt of the litter who was normally sick and too weak to train, a burden like his father. She didn't want such a stain on her bloodline, so she tried to exile him. What she didn't expect was for Nettlekit to loyally proclaim he was following his brother. The two kits walked out into a ranging storm, where the territory was wrought with floodwater. Mintshade assumed they didn't survive, which was a shame. Nettlekit had been her favorite out of the litter.

She allowed two loners, Violet and Petal, and their adopted kits, Sunny, Lion, Echo, and Willow to join the clan. What she didn't know was that Violet and Petal had actually taken the kits from a she-cat in Fallenclan who no longer wanted hers. Naming the two she-cats Violetwind and Petalfoot, she thought they would just be two new warriors for her army she was building. She didn't expect Violetwind to start looking into her plans and past, uncovering things Mintshade wanted forgotten. She set a trap for Violetwind and decided to take out Petalfoot too while she was at it. She sent them to fight in a border skirmish against Thunderclan, having them taken out during the battle. With those pests out of the way, Mintstar thought she was in the clear. She planned to conquer the lake.

She didn't know that Sunnypaw, Echopaw, Lionpaw, and Willowpaw would start looking into the death of their mothers. She had Goldenfur step down and made her daughter Midgewing the deputy, wanting to fulfill the prophecy. She also formed an alliance with the Riverclan leader, Rainstar. This created Stormclan, which would rule the lake territories. Midgewing betrayed her mother though, and had Willowpaw, Sunnypaw, Echopaw, and Lionpaw work with her to convince Thunderclan and Windclan to back her as leader so she could stop her mother. The clans met in battle, with Mintshade being killed by Midgewing and Lionpaw eight times. Midgewing exiled her mother and stripped her of her leadership name and Mintshade was left to wander. She became a loner for some moons until she stumbled upon a rumor of Fallenclan. Fallenclan... where those four brats who helped her daughter defeat her had come from. Intrigued, she came to the area and instead discovered a new clan, Fireclan. Sensing her chance for power, Mintshade joined. She was surprised to find Nettlekit and Lightningkit had survived and had been taken in by Fallenclan, becoming Nettleclaw and Lightningheart. She tried to convince Nettleclaw to join her and be her new heir, but he refused.

She became deputy of Fireclan after helping Elderchime win a great battle against Fallenclan and taking much of their territory. Nettleclaw join the group under the guise of becoming Mintshade's successor. Now she's just bidding her time, wanting to take over Fireclan. But Eldercime is also a wily she-cat and Mintshade seems to have met her match.