the Wet Siblings strike again!!!! i thought that river would be good as medicine cat apprentice bc he kept hanging out w ratquill and planned to assign that to him and then it just happened :D and also he got a poppy to decorate his fur with!
then prongs and sloe straight up just found three new kids as soon as their other ones became apprentices but they’re so warm and cute and we’re keeping them
Violetkit cries as Needlepaw picks her up. Her grip is gentle, but she’s being torn from Twigkit, and she reaches out toward her sister with desperate, clumsy paws. Twigkit runs after her, squeaking angrily, and ShadowClan almost surrounds them before Alderpaw’s voice comes, strong even in the chaos. “Stop!” he commands, and Needlepaw hesitates, her head turning toward him.
Alderpaw’s dark ginger pelt is fluffed up, his amber eyes narrow and angry. “Tearing apart two kits? Taking them from the only family they have? I never thought ShadowClan was heartless,” he hisses.
“ThunderClan has had enough prophecy cats!” Rowanstar growls from where he’s perched high in the oak, his claws digging furrows into the bark. “ShadowClan helped find these kits, and we have a rightful claim!”
There’s silence for a moment. Violetkit struggles, but Needlepaw’s grip gets stronger, and she isn’t able to escape.
“I am almost fully trained,” Alderpaw says at last, the words pulled from him slow but strong. “You have lost your medic. You have no one to heal your sick and injured.”
Rowanstar’s face scrunches angrily, eyes stormy. “What? Are you going to pull Flametail from the lake? Raise Littlecloud from his grave? Are you so special, royal-born?”
Royal-born? Violetkit thinks, but even her thoughts are drowned out by the ripple of offense from ThunderClan’s ranks.
“I am almost fully trained,” Alderpaw repeats calmly, stepping farther from the ranks of his agitated Clan, “and I will trade myself for Violetkit.”
“You can’t!” Squirrelflight’s voice comes. She’s standing on the roots, her eyes wide and desperate. “Alderpaw, no!”
Rowanstar turns a narrow gaze on ThunderClan’s medics. “Is it true? Is he ready for his full name?”
Leafpool’s mouth hangs open, but Jayfeather gathers himself. “He would have gotten his name at this half-moon or next,” he says, voice reedy.
Rowanstar sits back on his haunches, considering. Violetkit manages to wiggle from Needlepaw’s now-loose grip and runs back to her sister, who throws her paws around Violetkit’s black-spotted neck and pulls her nearly to the ground. They huddle under Alderpaw’s large paws, pressed against each other. Fear runs like ice through Violetkit’s veins. “Very well,” he says eventually, though he doesn’t sound happy about it. “ShadowClan accepts this trade.”
Squirrelflight wails. Alderpaw breathes a sigh of relief, dipping his head to touch first Twigkit’s and then Violetkit’s ears. “Be good. Be strong and clever and swift. May StarClan bless you both.”
And then he’s gone, striding across the clearing, not looking back. Needlepaw’s gaze meets Violetkit’s own, and then she too looks away.
(This is how Violetkit loses the only parents she’s ever known.)