MoonClan's ambitious story/(1): The First Four Leaders/2/26

### Chapter 26: Birdkit's Problems

Everyone was surprised at the revelation. Not that many cats were awake when it happened, but the ones that were there told the rest of the Clan.

Shadowclaw, Icemoon and Swanpaw's duties were paused yet again. Nightnose officially became a queen, so he could fully watch over Birdkit and Petalkit, since he cared about kits a *lot,* especially his own. Quailclaw, Zebrapaw, Mountainpaw, Spottedpaw, Primrosepaw, and Dandelionpaw had to comfort them again. Rainpaw and Lilypool both were depressed and didn't have the heart to gather or sort herbs.

When Zebrapaw thought about Birchpaw, it seemed like he was spending all of his time thinking at the prey pile, not really doing anything, not even training with his mentor, also Zebrapaw's mother. The newborn kits had never seen death before, so they were pretty confused about what was going on, especially Birdkit, whose learning was also slow, even at a quarter-moon old. MoonClan wondered if Birdkit's condition would improve when she got older, but there seemed to be no change at all. As for Petalkit, she was too sad to even move, and combined with her shyness, she looked like Mousekit while the latter was alive, even while awake. Begoniaclaw and Lilypool tried to comfort her, since of course, they also lost *their* littermate at one moon old, too.

Everyone was also confused how Mountainpaw knew about Mousekit's condition, especially Snowstar and Rainpaw since he didn't seem like a cat who would know about that. Later, Lilypool admitted that she told Mountainpaw because he seemed to want to know about what was happening to Mousekit.

But the weirdest thing happened. After Mousekit died, Goldenlily had appeared as a spirit and said, *"Mousekit is safe."*

After comforting Swanpaw in the apprentices' den, Zebrapaw walked to a secluded corner of the camp, wanting to get away from all this madness, and tried to forget about the event four days ago. He was about to sit down and think until he heard a gist of arguing. He perked up his ears to see where that awful screeching was coming from.

Zebrapaw realized the sound was coming from a secluded training area, the same one that Sandleap and him trained in on his first day, when Birchpaw, then Birchkit found them. He suddenly noticed saw Stonepaw and Nightnose, and they looked completely incensed at each other.

*Ah, Violetrain was right,* Zebrapaw figured humorously. The mentor and apprentice argued so much that it came to a point where it was getting hilarious, especially when Stonepaw was nearly a warrior. *I wonder if they will want to look at each other at all, much less touch noses, when she becomes a warrior.*

He sighed because it was getting ridiculous. He already noticed Stonepaw's stoicism towards Goldenlily and Mousekit's deaths, but she was being a total jerk to Nightnose, who was probably still mourning Goldenlily and Mousekit and scared for Birdkit. It could always happen to another queen sometime, even if not Sandleap, since Goldenlily's cause of bleeding was never really figured out. And Birdkit was Nightnose's daughter, who had a severe life-changing condition. It was still being debated if she could even be a medicine cat. Although Nightnose was probably being immature with his *first* apprentice, too, since he needed to spare *some* time for training. Nursery fathers who were also mentors usually still allotted their work time to training and other warrior duties, and the rest to spend time with their kits. Even nursery *mothers* did this with their apprentices.

*"Hey?! What is with this commotion?"* Zebrapaw snapped at them. Stonepaw and Nightnose immediately froze when they heard him, as they did when Forestcreek reprimanded Stonepaw and Icepaw.

He immediately continued, "I thought you were mentor and apprentice, not AdderClan and SnowClan! You need to be on good terms because of your important relationship!"

The mentor and apprentice did not reply for several moments, still seemingly shocked that Zebrapaw found them. He still continued, wanting to now address them one at a time, "Stonepaw, you should stop being a jerk to Nightnose. Don't you even know what happened?"

Nightnose slowly nodded after a while, but Stonepaw became furious. *"So?"* she snapped back at him. "Did Rosepetal do this sort of drama with him? Where did he learn this stupid behavior from?"

Zebrapaw noticed Dandelionpaw from the corner of his eye perk up from hearing her mother's name. She was in another area of this secluded place covered by trees, talking to Swanpaw, Rainpaw and Spottedpaw. Apparently Rainpaw and Swanpaw calmed down for a little bit, but they still looked sad. Spottedpaw and Dandelionpaw were still comforting them. Zebrapaw remembered Rosepetal was Nightnose's mentor before, and she had gotten pregnant with Maplestripe's kits a moon before he became a warrior, but she was still his mentor. Coincidentally, they were both the same age when they got their first apprentices; 15 moons.

"Didn't her parents already die or something? Also, coincidentally, Rosepetal had a kit with a special condition, but that was *after* Nightnose became a warrior. I think you are being too insensitive! What if Peonyclaw or Blazesky died?" Zebrapaw growled back.

Stonepaw winced at the mention of their mother's name. "I would probably mourn for a day or two then move on."

Nightnose's eyes widened with shock. He was about to retort but Zebrapaw interrupted him, *"Really? Is that your attitude about the Clan?"*

"Also, he's pretending as if Goldenlily is his real mother and Mousekit his sister, which she is definitely not," Stonepaw added angrily, completely ignoring what her brother said.

"But she means a lot to me!" Nightnose finally retorted. "She helped mentor me after Rosepetal got pregnant with Primrosepaw and Dandelionpaw, even if she isn't my real mother! After she gave birth to Swanpaw, anyway. But she's also my father's mate!"

Zebrapaw nodded in agreement with him. He was about to say something but Stonepaw interrupted.

"Oh yeah? If you want to mourn and monitor Birdkit, then spend your *free* time doing it!" she growled back. "I hardly remember training the past few days because you are spending *all* your time, including *work* time!"

Zebrapaw remembered Nightnose being glued to the nursery after Goldenlily's death, and especially after Birdkit's birth and Mousekit's death, until Snowstar, Watereye and Nutclaw told him that he should probably being doing some warrior duties in his time, which included training his apprentice. But after he did so, he always came back to Sandleap and his kits again.

He internally groaned. He had another reason, actually two more, to be angry at Sandleap and Nightnose. Since Sandleap became a queen, her mate was also worried for her, too. And since she got pregnant she had kits, one of which had a condition. *How did Birdkit get a condition anyway?* He couldn't find any sort of trigger for it, except Sandleap not really doing much as a queen.

"I sort of agree with Stonepaw. You should be doing more warrior duties, too, Nightnose! Especially since you have an apprentice!" Zebrapaw scolded him.

Now Nightnose was confused at his mate's apprentice siding with Stonepaw this time. "But-"

"But what? Warriors usually have to move on from death and other bad things eventually since they can't leave the Clan hanging! So you need to do your part, too," Zebrapaw continued with his discipling lecture. He thought about Rainpaw and Lilypool who were barely doing any medicine cat duties.

Stonepaw smirked at her brother in a way that said she appreciated his comments about her awful mentor, but he glared at her, too.

"But seriously, Stonepaw. Stop being a jerk to your *mentor!* Clanmates don't argue like this! I can't count how many times you have been mocking him for mourning Goldenlily and Mousekit and spending so much time with Birdkit."

Now both Nightnose and Stonepaw looked confused at who Zebrapaw was angry at, exactly. "Whose side are you on? This waste of a warrior or mine?" Stonepaw hissed at her brother.

Nightnose said nothing, but he looked tense at the black & white striped apprentice, probably remembering his nature again.

*"Sides? Who needs sides?! I am on MoonClan's peace's side! You both are becoming too much, you know!"* Zebrapaw's loud voice boomed throughout the area, causing the other four she-cat apprentices to notice what was going on, too.

Nightnose and Stonepaw looked completely lost for words now. The angry apprentice was about to leave, but he heard Rainpaw calling his name. His stupid name.

Rainpaw padded over to them, very surprised. "Zebrapaw! What happened?" Dandelionpaw, Swanpaw and Spottedpaw also came over urgently and nodded. It didn't look like they were sad anymore, but confused.

"Trying to teach them a lesson once and for all," Zebrapaw replied as if it was nothing.

Spottedpaw raised an eyebrow. "About their arguing? I thought it was weird, too. How can a mentor and apprentice be so irritated with each other?" She looked very confused now. "Flameeye is perfect for me. He understands my upbringing, since he said that his mother, Raindrop, and his paternal grandfather were kittypets, and goes slow with me about every single thing, trying to explain every single detail about Clan life and being in the wild."

Zebrapaw remembered Snowstar and Forestcreek's father was a kittypet, and the latter mated with a kittypet, too. So Flameeye and Redwater were mostly kittypet blood.

Dandelionpaw agreed. "Sealbranch is so nice to me and spends a lot of time with me, even though she is a deputy!"

Zebrapaw wondered how it was like to be a deputy or leader's apprentice, like Shadowclaw, Dandelionpaw, Maplestripe, Stormlight (Pinetail's brother and Moonstar's apprentice when the Clans were made), Daisyfoot and Littleclaw (who were Wisdomheart's apprentices when he was a deputy), but he *did* knew what it was like to have a queen mentor. *Not fun.*

Rainpaw also agreed. "Lilypool, being a medicine cat is calm and understanding, too. Like *her* mentor was, haha." She seemed to forget about Mousekit for a moment, which Zebrapaw thought was good since the Clan probably wasn't in a good position to handle any more cats mourning. The prey pile and herb pile started dwindling, albeit slowly, much to someone like Stonepaw's disdain.

Swanpaw just shrugged. Zebrapaw knew that she had a good relationship with her mentor, Nutclaw, but he also knew that Nightnose was Nutclaw's brother, so he wondered if she was biased towards her mentor's brother, who was also her mother's stepson, technically. Zebrapaw also knew that she would still be mourning for her sister, so she probably didn't have the attitude to deal with arguments like this. Of course, she couldn't say if that was true or not.

Stonepaw was blazing with anger at this point. *"Who invited you fox-brains in here!"*

The other apprentices didn't reply, except for her brother.

"Well, I wonder if *their* situation is an appropriate time to change mentors," he quipped. He didn't really care about his sister or her mentor's emotions at this point.

Spottedpaw seemed to agree with Zebrapaw. "Probably. But it might be too late, don't you think?"

Swanpaw looked at Zebrapaw weirdly, as if she was remembering his conversation with his mentor. Zebrapaw never liked being stared at weirdly by Swanpaw, Birchpaw, Rainpaw or Mountainpaw, but that was probably because he was remembering his awful skirmish between him, Stonepaw and all four of them that all started in the same place that they were all in right now.

He sighed, thinking about Stonepaw and Icepaw, and Stonepaw and Nightnose. His sister had a very terrible relationship with them both, but he wasn't sure where he stood with *them,* since Nightnose was partially the reason for his mentor not being able to train him for these last moons of his training, and Icemoon... he groaned at the mention of her name. She was the most annoying and love-struck she-cat he had ever seen. Stonepaw was probably better at this, but he worried what would become of her because of the way she was acting so far. She was his littermate, the only cat born next to him (other than that stillborn littermate). Of course he would worry the most about her. But he didn't know what else to think about them.

Shadowclaw and Primrosepaw were in the nursery, watching Birdkit. After Mousekit's death, Shadowclaw wanted nothing but to watch over Birdkit so she didn't die, too. At least Swanpaw and Primrosepaw managed to survive to apprenticehood, but he worried for Birdkit, despite her not being that related to him, just being his sisters' foster sister. But he felt the closeness of a younger sister in Birdkit all the same, like Mousekit was.

He remembered when he blacked out. It turned out Swanpaw did, too, and they both were in the medicine cat's den for a few hours before they came to. And remembered everything that happened. He sighed, wondering who Lightkit was and what Goldenlily was talking about. When he was told by Birchpaw, Icemoon and Snowstar that Goldenlily appeared as a spirit, Shadowclaw and Swanpaw had exchanged knowing looks. *Goldenlily spoke to us. Our mother. From StarClan.* Shadowclaw thought he was way more connected to StarClan than he ever had been before. *Is it because of Goldenlily and Mousekit?* he wondered spiritually.

Sandleap was sleeping, and so were Petalkit, Waterkit and Flowerkit, the other kits and expecting queens. Flipsnow and Redwater were training Robinpaw and Soarpaw. But Birdkit was still awake. Primrosepaw sighed, trying to get Birdkit to sleep, since she didn't want anything bad happening if she fell asleep, too.

"But I don't feel sleepy," Birdkit replied after a few seconds. Primrosepaw wondered if Birdkit's was schedule was also different from her mother and siblings' schedules, since she always fell asleep the last and woke up the last of them four.

Primrosepaw turned around and saw Shadowclaw fell asleep. *Huh, that's oddly different from before,* Primrosepaw thought perplexedly. Shadowclaw was the bouncy and energetic type of warrior, never sleeping in or slacking on duties. Until, of course, Goldenlily and Mousekit died.

Primrosepaw just sighed and looked back at Birdkit. She remembered when her father, Maplestripe, told her and Dandelionpaw a story of what happened to his much older brother and Lilypool's littermate, Fallkit. He was pretty much the same age as Mousekit when he died. He somehow contracted greencough in leaf-bare from Queenheart, now Queen, while nursing at three-quarter of a moon old, and died at one moon old. Lilypool, then Lilykit, got taken away from Queenheart when they found out since the Clan didn't want her to get greencough, too, but for Fallkit, it was too late. Fallkit's death made Lilykit want to become a medicine cat, so no other kit would die like that. *Well, Mousekit and Fallkit's deaths are grossly similar,* Primrosepaw thought disturbedly, as she remembered Lilypool not wanting to do any medicine cat duties. She now knew why Lilypool was acting like that. Maplestripe thought it was appropriate to tell his daughters about the story after Mousekit's death, because he wanted them to know what happened in the past. Primrosepaw didn't know if that was a good idea in the case of Dandelionpaw, though.

Now Birdkit was somewhat like her. Coincidentally, her mother, Rosepetal, and *her* apprentice, Nightnose, both had a daughter with a condition. *How peculiar,* was all she could think about that weird, terrible phenomenon.

But then, while she was thinking, Birdkit suddenly got a burst of energy. "Can I leave the nursery now?!" she squealed, but she didn't wait for an answer from the apprentice. She shot out of the nursery.

Primrosepaw gasped, and began internally regretting her condition again. She was glad Birdkit didn't have the exact same condition, but now Primrosepaw couldn't catch up with her. *"Birdkit! No! Don't leave the nursery!"* she yowled in a desperate manner, because most of her power came from her voice. But Birdkit didn't listen and went out of sight. *Hopefully she doesn't go out of earshot!* Primrosepaw thought, freezing right in place, remembering when she was only one-moon old Primrosekit, and she left camp trying to explore by herself out of boredom and to smell orchids and primroses. *She's not even* half *a moon old!*

Stonepaw just growled, "Well, Spottedpaw, you are literally born four moons after us! You will become a warrior way later than *we* will! How would *you* know what *I'm* going through?" Then she glared at Zebrapaw, directing her words to him. "We will become warriors in a *quarter-moon! A QUARTER-MOON! If Nightnose keeps doing this nonsense for my last quarter-moon of training, I swear to StarClan that I will complain to Snowstar!"* She sighed. "And wasn't Sandleap also getting on your nerves? I heard what happened."

Zebrapaw blinked, not knowing what to say. Of course, he also had his reasons to not like Nightnose or Sandleap. Zebrapaw sighed, since gossip spread like wildfire, so obviously Stonepaw, his only surviving littermate, would hear about him asking Sandleap those slightly intrusive questions.

"You had to train with *Violetrain* of all cats! Our *own* sister! If that happens, that shows great incompetence for the *real* mentors!" Stonepaw continued on her tirade. Nightnose and Swanpaw narrowed their eyes, as if they were going to claw up Stonepaw right now. Rainpaw, Spottedpaw and Dandelionpaw just looked worriedly at each other. Zebrapaw just shrugged, still not knowing what to say, since he was conflicted between StarClan righteousness and love for his littermate.

Stonepaw hissed, "Not to mention Birdkit! Ugh, at least our aunt Flipsnow could finish training Sandleap for a *few* training sessions after she gave birth to Mountainpaw despite having to nurse him but Sandleap didn't learn anything from her mentor and is being too-"

*"That's enough crowfood about Sandleap!"* Nightnose hissed at his apprentice. Swanpaw fiercely nodded. Zebrapaw also forgot Stonepaw hated Swanpaw and vice versa, just like Stonepaw hated Icemoon.

Then Zebrapaw sighed with resignation. "Well, you can compromise, right? Or train with someone *else!* If Nightnose is not up to par, then train with Violetrain or Blazesky *instead!* Or Flipsnow or Redwater or Sealbranch or Hailstream or Flameeye or Petuniaheart or whoever else has an apprentice, *too!"* He didn't mention Nutclaw as he knew Swanpaw wouldn't be happy. Not to mention Nutclaw was Nightnose's littermate.

Dandelionpaw and Spottedpaw looked like they wished Sealbranch and Flameeye were off the list. But Stonepaw stared at him as if she had never thought of that. Then she smiled as if he was a genius.

"Well, then, that is not so bad," Stonepaw said appreciatively. But then she frowned. "However, I don't know if those mouse-brains will do so."

"I doubt Snowstar or Blazesky will be happy if all of them reject. After all, it can give them experience to train another apprentice," Zebrapaw replied nonchalantly. "You can also train with me and Violetrain, too. Or Blazesky. I doubt our father is angry at you for many things, and he can still train you."

Stonepaw shrugged. "Well, okay. I will find Blazesky. Even if *he* is our father, he'll do a much better job than Night*kit* over here." Then she departed from the secluded area. Nightnose and Swanpaw were still glowering at her, but looked relieved when she left.

Zebrapaw looked at Swanpaw. Shadowclaw and Swanpaw had told everyone else that they heard Goldenlily speak to them, so it seemed like they got *some* solace after Mousekit's death, and they weren't that sad. But they seemed to be star-struck by StarClan instead.

"She called you a kit! What a disgrace of a Clanmate," Spottedpaw whispered to Nightnose a little angrily. The latter seemed to agree wholeheartedly, and so did Swanpaw and Rainpaw.

*So Spottedpaw also has an attitude?* he thought blankly. He knew Spottedpaw was a kittypet before so she would have seen some things Clan-born cats have never seen, but it looked like to Zebrapaw that she had an air of wisdom and knowledge about the Mountains somehow. As if she knew about all three Clans. *Well, it's probably not a coincidence if she has Mountain Lion blood, too.* Spottedpaw seemed to be thinking about AdderClan, but Zebrapaw's mind swirled around that word.

*No. Stonepaw wouldn't go* that *far... would she?* Zebrapaw worried. He had *some* faith in his littermate, but it seemed to be wavering by the moons, especially with her attitude about Snowstar, Nightnose, Icemoon, Swanpaw, and the terrible MoonClan events that have been happening so far.

*You are the only one to tame the beast,* said a voice in Zebrapaw's head all of a sudden. He was very surprised. It was Peonyclaw again, and he wasn't sure when he had heard that sentence in his head before, but somehow it seemed familiar. Then he figured out when. *Oh, wait. Our apprentice ceremony.*

"I don't know, maybe she'll change once she receives her warrior name," Zebrapaw hoped out loud. "Don't worry about her so much."

The other cats didn't seem to look convinced, but Spottedpaw and Swanpaw just shrugged in reply. Zebrapaw had no idea what to say so he left the secluded area, too, and looked around for Stonepaw.

Shadowclaw suddenly burst awake from his dream about continuously floating into the sky and seeing StarClan when he felt Primrosepaw shaking him roughly.

*"Shadowclaw! Birdkit ran out... of the nursery!"* Primrosepaw screamed. *"Can you run... after her?! I'm too... slow!"*

As soon as she mentioned Birdkit, Shadowclaw was alert. He got so shocked by what she said that he immediately nodded and bolted out of the nursery without thinking. He accidentally bumped into someone, and felt fur on his face.

"What happened?!" Zebrapaw exclaimed with shock, looking surprised that Shadowclaw suddenly charged into him. *"Did you see* another *StarClan cat?!"*

Shadowclaw got up instantly. *"No, Birdkit is* gone! *Can you help me find her?!"* he cried urgently.

Primrosepaw didn't wait for Shadowclaw, though. She tried to use her running skills (that were taught by Hailstream and Quailclaw) to go after Birdkit. She ran slowly and with short stops, she ran towards the direction Birdkit ran. "She ran... *that way!"* Primrosepaw pointed to a dense group of trees.

But then she froze. *Oh no. This is the path which* I *took to leave camp.* Zebrapaw and Shadowclaw saw where she was pointing, too, and remembered what happened almost seven moons ago. Their expression matched hers.

Nightnose, Rainpaw, Swanpaw, Spottedpaw and Dandelionpaw also figured out what was happening. Nightnose's expression looked terrified.

Shadowclaw bolted towards that path, and ran for a few seconds at high speed. He worried that he wouldn't find her, but to his relief, he saw Birdkit standing next to a berry bush. She seemed to be sniffing the berries.

"Birdkit!" Shadowclaw called out. Of course, Birdkit didn't acknowledge him, so Shadowclaw swiftly picked her up.

"What are those round things?" she asked unknowingly. But within two seconds she realized she was picked up and she exclaimed, "Where are you taking me?!"

"Back to camp, of course," Shadowclaw disciplined. "You're so young! What if something bad finds you!" Zebrapaw came right behind him and wondered what he was doing.

Birdkit said nothing, even after a few seconds, so Shadowclaw just took her back. But Zebrapaw noticed Birdkit start to become tired all of sudden, even though she was somehow energetic before. He shrugged and thought, *That's fine, right? She* was *supposed to be sleeping.*

Primrosepaw watched them leave and wondered when they'd come back. From the commotion, Sandleap, Petalkit, Waterkit and Flowerkit all woke up. They instinctively looked around for their daughter or sister (or foster sister) and became frantic when they couldn't find her.

"Oh no! Where did Birdkit *go?"* Flowerkit exclaimed in worry.

*"Primrosepaw! Where* is *she?"* Sandleap yelled in the same tone.

Primrosepaw's breath caught. "In-in camp... of course!"

Shadowclaw and Zebrapaw came back, but they both noticed her lethargic behavior, similar to Primrosepaw's. Then Birdkit looked like she fell asleep. They thought it was okay, but they still felt something was off.

Nightnose ran to his daughter and exclaimed, "Birdkit, are you *okay?!"* He looked extremely relieved and thankful at Shadowclaw and Zebrapaw. Zebrapaw thought that it was ironic because earlier, he was lecturing Nightnose about being a mentor.

But Primrosepaw saw Birdkit and wondered what happened. Until she suddenly got a bad gut feeling, similar to what Swanpaw had gotten when Mousekit died. "Birdkit?" she exclaimed uneasily. "Are you okay?"

Rainpaw, Swanpaw, Spottedpaw and Dandelionpaw were still watching, and Spottedpaw and Swanpaw became frightened, too. Rainpaw tried to check Birdkit's pulse to see if she was alive. Her face contorted into shock, and the parents, other apprentices and Shadowclaw feared the worst.

"Her pulse is moving really slowly!" Rainpaw yowled in sheer terror. She opened her niece's eyelids and Shadowclaw, Zebrapaw and Primrosepaw saw that they were dilated. She immediately got a tiny piece of yarrow and tried to feed it to Birdkit.

Applefall, Begoniaclaw, Thymekit, Lilackit and Jumpkit had woken up by this time and wondered what was going on until they noticed, too.

*"Oh no!"* Waterkit exclaimed in fear.

*"What happened to Birdkit?"* Applefall exclaimed, too.

Begoniaclaw's eyes widened. "Not... another kit." She seemed to be remembering Smoothkit and Mousekit.

"What is going on?" Lilackit asked anxiously.

Petalkit was silent, though. Primrosepaw looked at Petalkit and wondered what she must have been thinking, after losing a littermate four days ago. She felt sad that it happened, and that she didn't know how to do anything. And right now, she had no idea how to fix this, either. Rainpaw and Lilypool weren't in the mood to teach her anymore.

Finally Birdkit vomited, but she was still unconscious. Nightnose and Sandleap looked horrified in helplessness as they watched Rainpaw do their work. So were Shadowclaw and Primrosepaw as they couldn't do anything, either.

Zebrapaw was worried what would have happened. He thought about Stonepaw again. *If Birdkit dies, too...* he worried. Stonepaw had never told him this, but she always looked like MoonClan was getting on her last nerves, ever since Goldenlily's death, or maybe ever since she became an apprentice, of which Zebrapaw seemed to be the only one who noticed. He didn't want her to get so fed up with MoonClan that she decided to—

"She's awake!" Rainpaw exclaimed, which brought Zebrapaw out of his harrowing thoughts. Birdkit finally opened her eyes again, similar to what happened when she was born. Everyone was massively relieved and thanked Rainpaw for doing so.

After a few seconds waiting for Birdkit to wake up, Rainpaw asked her where she went, and what she did, to which the answer after another few seconds was, "I saw some slightly sweet-smelling berries, so I licked one before *he* came!" She sounded excited about it, and pointed to Shadowclaw. Shadowclaw remembered Birdkit still didn't know everyone's names, but he figured Birdkit must have learned *his* name since he was now in the nursery nearly full-time.

Rainpaw looked extremely worried. "What color were they? What did they look like?"

Birdkit looked like she was thinking. "Bright red?"

Shadowclaw and Primrosepaw gasped, and so did Sandleap, Nightnose, Applefall and Rainpaw. Begoniaclaw and Zebrapaw's eyes were wide. While not being medicine cats, they were still taught basic herbs and plants that were either edible or poisonous, of course, and that probably included Begoniaclaw, too.

*"Deathberries?!"* Rainpaw yelled in distress. *"Oh StarClan!"*

*"At least she didn't* eat *one!"* Shadowclaw exclaimed in shock.

Nightnose looked like he was about to faint, but Sandleap looked thankfully at Rainpaw and Shadowclaw, looking so relieved that nothing worse had happened.

Birdkit seemed to be confused at their distress, but she didn't seem to care why.

Out of the corner of his eye, Zebrapaw noticed Birchpaw staring at them from the medicine cat's den which was across the nursery. Shadowclaw and Primrosepaw spotted him, too. His expression was blank, as if he had no idea what to think about this situation.

All three were worried about Birchpaw because he had barely been communicating with the rest of his friends, just thinking at the prey pile not really doing anything, ever since Mousekit died. He still trained with Peonyclaw, but he didn't do much else.

Then after a few seconds, Birchpaw's expression turned sad, as if he was feeling helpless, too. *What is he thinking?* Neither of them knew. All they knew is that he was under distress.

Rainpaw sighed uneasily. "She will have to rest."

Primrosepaw nodded firmly. "Yes, she does. Birdkit... you *need* to go... to sleep when I *tell* you... to and *don't run... out* of the *nursery!"*

Zebrapaw raised an eyebrow. "How did she escape anyway?" Sandleap, Nightnose, Shadowclaw, Rainpaw and the other cats that were there seemed to be thinking the same thing.

Primrosepaw's face fell. Her condition wouldn't let her to catch Birdkit. Or she definitely... would have. "I *was* trying to... tell her to sleep... but then suddenly... she got *excited!* I *tried* to... tell her to *stop,* but... she *didn't listen* and... she ran *out!"* She sighed in despair. "I-I couldn't run after... her because..."

"We know," Shadowclaw said quickly, and Dandelionpaw and Rainpaw nodded. Shadowclaw's face fell, too. "It's *my* fault! I shouldn't have fallen *asleep!* I *could've* saved *Birdkit!"*

"No, no!" Rainpaw exclaimed. "It's-it's not *your* fault! Birdkit was too fast!"

Shadowclaw shook his head much quicker than he spoke, looking very guilty for his actions. *"No! I could have-"*

"No, it's neither of *your* fault. Weren't there *other* cats who should have been watching so she doesn't escape?" Zebrapaw interrupted strictly, looking at Primrosepaw, then Sandleap and Begoniaclaw. Primrosepaw felt uncomfortable because she managed to sneak out of camp since no one was watching, just like Birdkit.

Sandleap and Nightnose looked at each other worriedly. Zebrapaw and Primrosepaw exchanged looks, too. *How were they going to handle Birdkit?*

Shadowclaw had no idea what to do, and didn't want to look at anyone, feeling too shameful. He was thinking about many things that could have happened if he didn't catch Birdkit in time, or could have easily avoided by staying awake. Then he looked over at Birchpaw, who was still watching sadly, but he did nothing to help, just padding away with the same expression. Shadowclaw watched Birchpaw talk to his mentor, Peonyclaw, about something, and she nodded, her expression looking grim. Then they left MoonClan camp.

Shadowclaw missed the days where he could just have an excuse to train with Snowstar. But now he was a warrior. He wasn't dependent on a mentor anymore. He remembered his wish to postpone himself being a warrior, and recalled why. He also missed the days where all was fine, and Goldenlily was there to cheer him on. Now he felt like doing absolutely nothing but watch his sisters' foster sister, Birdkit. Snowstar and Sealbranch gave him some slack, but he said that after a quarter-moon, he should start doing some warrior duties again. Then he remembered Moonstar. The Battle of Moonstar's Death. The reason why Snowstar became leader.

*Oh, Moonstar! I am sorry that you got killed!* Shadowclaw internally exclaimed. *Please... no more hardships. No more!*

*Don't worry, Shadowclaw. You don't have to feel guilty,* a voice told him. He remembered it vividly. That mouse in reward for saving Quailclaw as kits. *Moonstar.*

Moonstar replied, *Yes, I am Moonstar. You couldn't do anything to save me, Goldenlily, Mousekit or Birdkit. You don't have to miss me, either, but you can still miss your family. However, you can be happy to be a leader's apprentice... that way you can have a much better standing in the Clan. If so, you can save yourself and the rest of your friends, and have Goldenlily be proud of you.*

Shadowclaw blinked for a few times before understanding what she meant. *StarClan. Goldenlily. Mousekit. Icemoon, Birdkit and Birchpaw. Primrosepaw and Zebrapaw and Stonepaw.* He blinked again. *And Lightkit, whoever she is.* He wondered if what he was hearing was real, but it gave him strength. *I need... to save them. Somehow. Or make them proud.*

Shadowclaw looked at Birdkit, and waited for her to look back. *"Don't worry, Birdkit,"* he started. *"We will help you no matter what."*

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

*← Previous Chapter: Chapter 25: Lack of CareNext Chapter: Chapter 27: The Ceremony of New Names →*

*← Previous Part: Part 1: Little Birchkit's LifeNext Part: Part 3: Birchcreek's Selflessness →*