Blackspot

## Extra Story

I remember quite clearly the day it happened.

A fire burned through the MeadowClan camp.

I had been expecting kits when it had started. I had been sleeping the nursery when my best friend Moonlight screamed that Pondsky screamed there was a fire.

I instantly looked for a safe place. My first daughter Seedwillow had died a few moons before, and I wasn't ready to let me unborn kits die too.

I saw Pondsky looking angrier and angrier by the second. I rushed over to her. "What's wrong?" I screamed. Smoke filled my lungs, but I wouldn't let that stop me. I ignored my paws being burned.

Pondsky hissed. "This is all Suncloud's fault! The only reason the fire is here is because of him." Suncloud was Pondsky's mate, and the father of her unborn kits.

I tipped my head to one side, then quickly put it back as it screamed with heat. "Tell me later. Just let us get out of here, okay?" I ran through the wall of flames, jumping and hissing.

My paw slipped. A rock I had tripped over sent me flying, headfirst into the water. I had never been the best swimmer, in fact, I had never *been* a swimmer, so I felt myself sinking farther and farther.

A splash disturbed me. I saw Skysong's paw. Grabbing on with my paw, he pulled me up to the land. I coughed out tons and tons of water, which expelled some of the fire.

A drop of water landed on my back.

I looked at the sky. It had begun to rain! I moved closer to Skysong. But he wasn't there. "Skysong!" My voice filled the sky.

At an instant, a pelt touched mine. But it was Moonlight.

She looked at me. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "Skysong and Suncloud were both found dead by the willow tree."

I stared at her for a moment. I purred with slight amusement. "Haha, funny. Okay, tell me where they are?" I knew in my heart Moonlight would never lie about something so serious, but I had to be sure.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry. The fire burned off so much of him, we could barely recognize him. As to not scare Shorekit and Tealkit, we already buried him. But then Pondsky said that Shorekit had died too, and she had buried him herself."

Numb with shock, I shakily moved my head to look at Moonlight. "Why aren't you comforting Pondsky? Her mate *and* her kit died."

Moonlight sighed. "I tried. Pondsky says she hates Suncloud, because if he had been on guard duty like he should've been, it would have never happened. She says it only reached our camp because it traveled across the river on a log that he could've moved."

Suddenly the weight of everything weighed down. I collapsed.

I woke up a few hours later, unrecharged, grief-stricken, and not really ready to go.

Then I remembered my kits. They remembered themselves, too, because I had stomach pains that suggested they were coming.

I won't go unto the details of having kits. Just that I stumbled to the burnt camp and, with help from our medicine cat Webtail, I had two little kits. One was as golden as a goldenrod, and one was as orange as the sun. They were both little she-cats.

"Oh, little kits," I whispered. "I'm so sorry your father isn't beside you to watch your first breath. But you should always know that I promise he's watching. He would never abandon you."

Moonlight walked up to me. "Blackspot...I'm so sorry, again. What will their names me? I–If you haven't decided, that's okay too."

Two names flooded into my mind: Acornkit, and Seedkit. *No*. That wasn't who they were. Besides, my older kit was named Seedwillow, before she died because...never mind.

I remembered reflecting on how I had compared the golden kit to a goldenrod and the orange kit to the sun. I said softly, "The golden one is Goldenrodkit. And the orange..." I couldn't do Sunkit. Pondsky would never forgive me if it sounded like my kit had been named after her former mate.

"Well?" Yalastar pressed. Her eyes were filled with curiosity.

"I–uh–Orangekit." It was a boring name, but in the heat of the moment, that was all I could really think of. I considered saying "Excuse me, that's not her name," but my Clanmates were already congratulating me on the birth.

\*\*\*

It was a shocking thirty-two days and a half later when Orangekit first saw the world. The fire had since been cleaned out of our camp except some ashes in a few corners.

Orangekit was a playful little kit. Goldenrodkit hadn't opened her eyes, so Orangekit liked to play with the younger kit Tealkit. I swear Pondsky had two kits, but she denies it. She says she has always had one kit.

Moonlight had her kits too. She named them Plainkit and Pinkykit. They opened their eyes after only eight days, at nearly the same time.

Goldenrodkit opened her eyes on the fortieth day she was alive. Instantly, Orangekit hit her in the head with a mossball...Goldenrodkit fell over. For a horrible few seconds, I thought she was dead, before I realized that moss is the softest thing in the forest.

Then, five moons later, Yalastar apprenticed Goldenrodkit (now Goldenrod*paw*) and Orangekit (Orange*paw*). Goldenrodpaw's mentor was Brambleberry, and Orangepaw's was Pondsky. I have no idea *why* Yalastar deemed it fit to give my precious daughter to the most neglectful she-cat in the Clan.

Then they were Goldenrod*claw* and Orange*tail*. Orangetail hated her name and forced Yalastar to change it to Orange*face*. Don't ask me why. I don't know.

Orangeface fell in love with a loner, and though she didn't want to, the loner coerced her into running away with him. I never saw them again.

Goldenrodclaw found Graywhisper, Yalastar's daughter who had been lost for moons. Yalastar was *so* grateful. Even grateful enough to make Goldenrodclaw Goldenrod*star*!

Goldenrodstar fell in love with Emberclaw, and they had two kits together, Preinakit and Applekit. Both went missing and were never found. Well, not until long after Goldenrodstar had died...She later had Deltakit, a few moons after Emberclaw died.

Deltakit grew up into Deltasong, and became Gemstar's mate. I could go into depth about their kits, but I think it's time I wrap it up. I'll leave you with this:

Family is everything to me. I couldn't survive with my daughters and mate by my side. StarClan has been good to me, and I think I feel at home when I'm with the ones I love.

I'll never forget my life, no matter how far I fade.

I'll never forget the love.