MoonClan's ambitious story/(1): The First Four Leaders/2/14

### Chapter 14: Swiftclaw

Birchpaw got back from training. He was now ten moons old, a moon ever since Spottedpaw (originally Tina) joined the Clan. Spottedpaw was only seven moons old at the time, now eight, so he thought it weird to have been older than her since she seemed so much more mature. Her mentor, Flameeye, seemed to be teaching her well, but her time of being a warrior was scheduled on her fifteenth moon since she started at seven moons.

Birchpaw met with his friends who were also ten moons old, Mountainpaw, Swanpaw and his sister, Rainpaw. Rainpaw had chosen a separate path than the other three by becoming a medicine cat. But they were friends nonetheless.

Shadowpaw, Icepaw, and Quailpaw were thirteen moons old, about to be warriors. Zebrapaw and Stonepaw were twelve moons old. Primrosekit was six moons old, but her apprentice ceremony was going to be the next day and her mentor was going to be Hailstream. Thymekit was three moons old, and Snowstar planned his mentor to be, yes, Violetrain.

While Birchpaw was walking towards the nursery, a tom-cat named Watereye came to the nursery and started talking to Goldenlily, who was two moons in with her kits. Birchkit thought Goldenlily's mate might be Watereye since there was no one else who could have been her mate.

Birchpaw decided to ask the expecting Goldenlily about it. Watereye left after their brief talk.

"Um, Goldenlily... who is Shadowpaw, Icepaw, Swanpaw and the kits' father?" Birchpaw asked sheepishly.

Goldenlily stared at him for a long time, but then laughed intensely. Then she answered, still chuckling, "Oh, well, Watereye, of course! He's also the father of Nutclaw and Nightnose, and I'm their mother, too!"

Birchpaw was confused. Everyone said she was nineteen moons old when giving birth to Shadowpaw and Icepaw. Nightnose and Nutclaw were eight moons older than them two, so she would have been still an apprentice when giving birth to them if that was true.

"Are you actually the mother of Nightnose and Nutclaw? You would have been too young to have kits!" Birchpaw pointed out. Goldenlily faltered, then glared at Birchpaw strangely.

"Oh fine," she spat finally. "Anna, a kittypet, mothered them both. She was so in love with Watereye, and he was so in love with Anna." She let out an exasperated sigh. "And I never knew anything about Watereye that was so handsome," she continued, still weary. Birchpaw understood, but he wasn't sure who Goldenlily's mate was.

Suddenly she smiled slyly. "It was Swiftclaw who fathered all of my kits."

Birchpaw looked puzzled again. *Who's Swiftclaw?* He didn't know that name anywhere in MoonClan... unless she...

"Since you're so smart, Swiftclaw's from another Clan. SnowClan," answered Goldenlily, looking vast and far off. "I mated with him three times. I don't know why."

Birchpaw's eyes were wide. *Swiftclaw's from another Clan?!*

"And it is against the warrior code, yes. During some time in patrol two moons ago, I saw Swiftclaw, and dearly missed him. He missed me, too. So we did it again. But he doesn't know what happened now. That I'm expecting his kits again.

"Nobody knows this but me and him... and now you," ended Goldenlily, saying the last part with a hard stare. "Keep this a secret and don't tell anyone without my consent."

Birchpaw nodded, but this secret-keeping awfully reminded him about Peonyclaw, Flipsnow and Whitelight's trio of sisters secret, where nobody knew about it except for him. Suddenly, he felt as if the burden was dragging him further down.

Then she said, "I'd like to die once this ends, you know, join StarClan."

Birchpaw was surprised. He wondered why she would say that, since Goldenlily wasn't the type to say weird things. Or so he thought. He didn't think she would be sad about life or anything. *Is she worried what might happen if she gets caught?* he wondered. He had no idea, because Goldenlily just told him this now. He decided to not talk about this dark subject anymore.

"I wonder why Quailpaw, Swanpaw and Mountainpaw were born single?" he asked, not sure what else to talk about with her.

Goldenlily also seemed to be grateful, because her joyful mood came back again and replied, "Oh, Quailpaw and Swanpaw weren't born as singles, but Mountainpaw was. Flipsnow was very protective of him, being her first-born and only kit at the time."

Birchpaw nodded. Mountainpaw was in Flipsnow's first litter, while Quailpaw and Swanpaw were in their mothers' second. He still didn't understand how Quailpaw and Swanpaw weren't born singles.

Goldenlily explained to him, "You see, they both had a sibling. Your mother, Petuniaheart, had two kits on her second litter. Snowpool at the time and she had named Quailpaw already because he had gotten up first of the two. But Lilypool realized the other one was stillborn before they could choose a name for them."

"Oh," commented Birchpaw.

"And for Swanpaw's sibling, they were also already dead. I was anticipating both kits to wake up, but only Swanpaw did. The gender of the kit was also unknown, but I wanted to name them Vinekit after Moonstar's father, my great-uncle, *your* great-grandfather."

"Oh," said Birchpaw, thinking about it. He thought about how it would be like to be born with a dead sibling.

"The death of our second kits made us overly protective of them," Goldenlily added, "That's why Petuniaheart got hysterical from Quailpaw nearly falling down the waterfall as a kit. If it weren't for my son..."

Birchpaw knew the story of Quailpaw, and it was a little similar to Primrosekit's story. Almost everybody knew about it, where Quailkit accidentally slipped into river and Shadowkit was with him, so he alerted the Clan, and they rescued Quailkit when he was dangerously near the waterfall at the end.

"And I also almost cried when I figured out Swankit couldn't speak, thinking she couldn't be a warrior, but Moonstar, yes, she was the leader at the time, she comforted me saying it was possible for her to be a warrior since nothing was wrong with her tongue or mouth or... reflexes"—Goldenlily seemed to be thinking of Primrosekit—"but she simply couldn't negotiate with other cats or get herself understood easily. But that also meant she couldn't be leader or deputy, or a proper mentor." She took a deep breath and continued. "But I started teaching Swankit different signs to communicate and told other Clanmates what each one means.

"So she can be understood," Goldenlily finished.

Birchpaw nodded and decided to ask her something else. "Is anyone else born single or with a dead sibling?"

"Hmm, yes. Lilypool and Maplestripe. Lilypool had a sibling named Fallkit who died of greencough, and Maplestripe was born alone. They're all Wisdomheart and Queen's children," she answered.

"There's also Rosepetal alone, Watereye alone, Littleclaw alone, Zebrapaw and Stonepaw with a dead sibling, and Honeyflight, Littleclaw's mother alone with dead siblings..." she continued.

Birchpaw then remembered Primrosekit, since she was going to become a warrior apprentice. He asked, "What about Primrosekit? Do you think she is making the right decision?"

Goldenlily laughed. "I'm not so sure, because of her nerves, but your brother has been acting like a thoughtful mentor to her; pity he's too young to mentor her right now. But she should be fine with it, I guess. Her sister, Dandelionkit, has no problems, right?"

Birchpaw nodded, contemplating all this. "Who'd be good to be Dandelionkit's mentor?" he asked.

Goldenlily shrugged. "Could be Littleclaw, he has mentored Rosepetal and Fireclaw before, or Watereye himself, or even... wait, not Peonyclaw, that's *your* mentor... there's also Applefall... Fireclaw... Sealbranch... yeah, I guess that's it."

Birchpaw nodded in agreement. For a moment he partly wished he could mentor Dandelionkit if Primrosekit was taken already.

He decided to go train with Peonyclaw, still trying to understand everything Goldenlily said. For a moment he remembered his mentor's secret, too.

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

*← Previous Chapter: Chapter 13: Sandleap, Flameeye & TinaNext Chapter: Chapter 15: Another Ceremony →*

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