Lilypaw

**Lilypaw** is a lithe, longhaired light russet she-cat with black tabby ticking and a stripe of black along the length of her spine to the tip of her tail. The underside of her muzzle is a soft cream. She has yellow-green eyes and a feathery tail.

## Personality

Before the untimely death of her mother Firebloom, Lilypaw was as social as her father has been in his own youth. She enjoys making friends and is comfortable spending time with cats older than herself, given Molestar's rank. She was raised to be polite and inherited her sweet temper from her mother and a proclivity towards mischief from her father. She loves to laugh and happiness often seemed to radiate from every part of her spirit. Nowadays, Lilypaw's smiles seem to have lost an element of their shine and her laughter is more forced. She has become incredibly distracted in her training and requires the pressure of other apprentices being present in order to force herself to focus out of fear of embarrassment. She fears she has lost not only her mother but a significant part of herself in the midst of her young grief.

## History

Lilykit was born the only kit of GrimeClan's leader Molestar and his mate Firebloom. She shared the nursery with her fellow kits Snowkit, Sleetkit, Hazelkit, and Sootkit, all younger than her by a varying number of moons. Her parents' close friend Redclaw was a common figure in her kithood.

Four moons before the arrival of HollowClan, Lilypaw was apprenticed to Clawface. During her apprenticeship, her parents went out on a patrol in the tunnels. The tunnel they were in collapsed, killing Firebloom and leaving Molestar with an injured leg.

### First Leaf-fall

When the border patrol consisting of Clawface, Dustscrape, Batwing, and Embertooth returns to the camp, Lilypaw notices Clawface and Dustscrape going to speak with Redclaw. Concerned, she approaches Dustscrape and asks how the patrol went. Dustscrape explains that they met the intruders that had been scented in the Conifer Grove, finding that they called themselves HollowClan, and that there will be a meeting between their respective leaders and deputies at sundown. Lilypaw is surprised and asks Dustscrape further questions, in response to which Dustscrape doubts that HollowClan is really a Clan. Lilypaw agrees, musing that any group of cats could call themselves a Clan if they wanted.

They are interrupted by Redclaw's arrival, as he tells Lilypaw that she will be on the supplemental patrol with orders to defend Molestar, Redclaw, and Dustscrape if a fight breaks out, alongside Embertooth and her mentor Clawface. Once Redclaw has told Clawface that he will be on the patrol as well, Clawface summons Lilypaw for impromptu battle training before they leave.

Arriving at the meeting place, Lilypaw hides a short distance away with the rest of the hind-patrol, listening to the discussion between Molestar, Adderstar, Redclaw, and Stagleap. She is surprised at Adderstar's mention of StarClan, realising that these cats must be a true Clan after all. Once the meeting is finished, she returns to GrimeClan's camp with her Clanmates.

Upon their return to camp and Molestar's announcement of a Clan meeting, Lilypaw sits beside Clawface, nervous and confused by Molestar's decision. When Clawface decries Molestar's allowance to HollowClan as a disgrace, and declares that he has doomed their Clan, Lilypaw watches on with a horrified expression.

Overnight, Lilypaw lies in her nest considering the events of the meeting, realising that while she had beforehand only seen her relation to Molestar with pride, it was also a burden - a number of her Clanmates had looked upon her with judgement, seeing that Molestar had made his decision in part to protect Lilypaw from battle. She feels a spark of anger towards Molestar for doing so, then guiltily apologises to the spirit of her mother for it.

The next morning, she leaves the apprentices' den and considers her next decision, unwilling to approach either Clawface or Redclaw after the events of the night before. She watches the tunnel patrol leave, glad to have been excluded, as the tunnels are still uncomfortable for her after Firebloom's death - then watches Dustscrape and Sleetpaw return soon afterwards, with Dustscrape surprisngly angry. Once they have spoken to Redclaw, Sleetpaw approaches Lilypaw and offers her a mouse. She asks what happened, worried that someone may have been hurt, and Sleetpaw admits that he pretended the tunnel was collapsing on him. Lilypaw finds herself not as angry as might be expected.

Sleetpaw tells her he has been confined to camp for the next moon and set to camp maintenance duties, though he doesn't think that they will delay his warrior ceremony. Lilypaw assures him that she's sure they won't, and agrees to spend time with him while he's confined, suggesting a match of moss-ball between all the apprentices. Finishing her meal, Lilypaw says her goodbyes before going to speak with Redclaw.

She and Redclaw discuss the events of the night before and Molestar's decision to let HollowClan stay, with Lilypaw commenting that many of their Clanmates were at best silent and at worst openly condemned Molestar's choice. Redclaw assures her that Molestar made the right decision.