Chapter Text
A voice broke through the crackling cacophony of trees breaking and branches snapping in the fire to screech. Cedarkit cried into her paws, pressed against the mud as her mother shoved her through the pond near Windclan territory. Water filled her mouth and she spat it back up, eyes wide as she watched her mother’s grey pelt disappear from sight, the smoke erasing her fleeing form.
A branch nearby fell, exploding into the water with violence. Cedarkit dove underneath the surface of the pond, legs kicking out weakly to keep her from breaching the surface. All Shadowclan kits were taught a bit of swimming for when the marshes flooded, but her form was weak from shock and fear.
She thrust her head back up, swallowing precious gulps of air before sinking back down again. The fire outside her pond raged fiercely, screaming into the night with heat and colour. She had to hide underwater, just until her mother came back to get her. Keep from getting burned just long enough to be rescued. Her mother was going to come back for her.
Her mother was going to come back for her.
Her mother was going to-
Cedarkit woke with a start, heart pounding in her chest as she blinked emptily at the ground beside her paws. Though her white paws were clean of soot and the air smelled like pollen, smoke clung in the back of her throat and there was black ash behind her eyelids. The young cat squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, shaking her head and standing abruptly.
Willowkit raised his head from nearby, mumbling something sleepily before closing his eyes and curling up. Cedarkit held her breath until she was sure the other kit was asleep, before creeping around him to exit the nursery. The sky was still dark this early in the morning, with only a touch of blue at the edges of the mountains. It was still painfully dry, but the lack of sun made the weather bearable, or almost pleasant.
Windclan was quiet with slumbering cats, except for the guards who barely cast her a look before turning back to their posts. Cedarkit supposed Windclan had to have good guards if their camp was so vulnerable, especially compared to Shadowclan. Signing, she looked towards her old clan, only able to see the stretch of Windclan’s moors.
“Missing your pine trees?” A voice asked as Cedarkit jumped, whirling around to face the speaker. The toms pelt was white and ragged with scars, but he had sharply amused yellow eyes. She recognized him as one of the Windclan elders, but embarrassingly couldn’t put a name to his face.
“Yes.” She replied after a silence, and then immediately worried that was too blunt. “Not that it’s bad here…” she hedged out awkwardly, just as the elder began to laugh.
“I understand.” He purred out kindly “I was born in Riverclan, I missed water for awhile one I came here.” There was probably a story there, but Cedarkit didn’t want to be rude and ask after the elder’s private business. Still, it was nice to see that there were other cats who felt as out of place as she did now. Perhaps he expected some type or response from her, but as Cedarkit remained silent he seemed to get that she wouldn’t speak further.
“Well” he meowed casually “I’d better get ready for my long day of loafing around. Do some stretches.” And with that the scarred tom waked off, tail twitching as he entered the elder’s den. Cedarkit had no idea what loafing was. She twitched her whiskers and found a good spot at the side of camp to watch the sunrise.
-
“Hey frog breath!” was a rude awakening, and Cedarkit realized with a start that she had started napping as she was watching the sunset. Springing to her paws she almost slammed the top of her head on the jaw of the warrior who had woken her. A grey tabby frowned at her, muzzle wrinkling with displeasure. Cedarkit remembered that they were Pigeonflight, a cat who was quite outspoken about her place in Windclan when she had been found in Windclan territory.
“Yes.” She asked, watching the warrior stoically. Pigeonflight blinked at her acquiescence to the name ‘frog-breath’ but continued forward in strong spirits.
“Rootstar is having Willowkit and Cloverkit’s apprentice ceremonies soon, so we need you out of the clearing.” Cedarkit nodded and moved away easily enough, though she was preoccupied on the warrior’s description of events. She was around the same age as Willowkit and Cloverkit, but the exclusion of her name from Pigeonflight’s wording made her worry they would keep her as a kit. She was aware of how unpopular the decision to let her into the clan was, but it seemed cruel to outcast her entirely. Shadowclan and Windclan had a rocky relationship for many moons, filled with conflict. Yet…the fire had forced her to seek asylum in Windclan, and the warrior code stated that they had to help a kit in need.
Still mulling her chances of becoming Cedarpaw at any point, she almost bumped into Willowkit, who was blocking the whole nursery entrance. Willowkit looked up, his head fur sticking in several different directions.
“Hey Cedarkit!” He meowed cheerfully, before wincing as his sister pounced on him, pinning him to the ground easily. Willowkit squirmed ineffectually on the ground as his sister firmly ignored him, licking his head thoroughly and getting rid of the uneven fur. Cedarkit backed up slightly, unsure if she was supposed to say hi back to Willowkit or if he was busy now. Cloverkit looked up suddenly, ignoring her brothers yelp as she accidentally pushed her paw into his ear.
“Cedarkit.” She hissed, ears flattening on her head. Cedarkit valiantly tried not to stare at the interesting white pattern on the kits face that broke up her tabby stripes. It was sort of star shaped, and the eye that was in the white patch was blue instead of green like her other eye.
“Hello.” She meowed out unsurely. Cloverkit huffed and jumped off her brother, walking away from the nursery with her tail held high.
“I hope your not getting apprenticed with the rest of us Windclan apprentices.” She grumbled before turning away fully. Cedarkit flicked her ears noncommittally.
“Don’t take her to heart Cedarkit!” Willowkit meowed from the ground “She’s just being grumpy because she woke up on the wrong side of the nest.” Cedarkit thought Willowkit was maybe a little too positive but shrugged and passed the other kit. The nursery was beginning to get too hot as the morning continued on, but she didn’t want to make Pigeonflight angry by walking through the clearing again.
Sunflowerclaw, the only queen in the clan, perked up as Willowkit approached.
“Did you bring me any prey?” She asked sleepily, paws curled around her only kit, Larkkit.
“Uh. No. Sorry.” Cedarkit mumbled, confused. The Queen was definitely much odder than her own mother and seemed to expect her kits to work for her, but she was the only Queen left to take care of any of the kits. Willowkit and Cloverkit’s mother Mintnose had died in a skirmish three moons ago, despite being barely recovered from pregnancy. At the time, Windclan had been so desperate for fighters to throw against Shadowclan, they had essentially sacrificed a mother of two kits. Still, they considered her death to be Shadowclan’s fault, and Mintnose had been brought up several times when Windclan had argued over her stay with them.
“Oh it’s fine I suppose. I’ll get Willowkit and Cloverkit to get me some after their apprenticeship.” Cedarkit doubted that the first thing new apprentice wanted to do was fetch prey for a queen who had been using them as servants for moons, but she nodded anyway. Best not to argue with Sunflowerclaw.
“All cats old enough to run through the moors join me for a clan meeting!” Rootstar’s strong voice called out, and Cedarkit took the excuse to escape from Sunflowerclaw.
Windclan gathered around the bump in the middle of Windclan’s camp, watching Rootstar with excitement. The clan was small enough to count, with only six warriors and no current apprentices. It was a grim picture, with only medicine cats, elders, and the only Queen to fill in the rest of the space. It was even more reason to be excited for new apprentices.
“Today I am proud as a leader to announce the Apprenticeship of Willowkit and Cloverkit.” Cedarkit’s ears lowered from where she watched the ceremony behind the elders. Her worst fear was confirmed, and she was being completely ignored. Wouldn’t she only be a drag on Windclan’s resources as a permanent kit? She watched the rest of the ceremony unfold with dread, hardly hearing who Willowpaw and Cloverpaw got as mentors, beyond seeing a flash of Pigeonflight’s grey pelt.
“I have however one last announcement to make.” Continued Rootstar, golden stripped pelt rippling with tension. The clan murmured uneasily, some sending glances in her direction. She couldn’t fully tell, but some looked sympathetic or pleased. Did others in Windclan find her treatment unfair?
“Cedarkit, step forward.” Cedarkit breathed out roughly before politely edging through the elders, stopping just before Rootstar. Up close, the tabby was massive, much bigger than most scrawny Windclan cats.
“I know many of you worry about Cedarkit’s loyalty, being from a clan of Foxhearts and murderers.” Rootstar began, in a frankly worrying start to an apprentice ceremony.
“Some of you feel that she is a drain on resources, or that we will have to waste a warriors time teaching her Windclan moves, when we have so few hunters as it is. I’ve heard your concerns, and I’ve come up with a solution I hope you’ll all be pleased with.” Cedarkit now figured the solution was to throw her down a cliff. This was a terrible speech if it was meant for the clan to trust her, which she imagined was probably not the goal anyway. Around her, cats murmured curiously.
“I am creating a new role, called helper. A helper will assist others with minimal tasks so our apprentices do not have to waste their time cleaning ticks when they should be practicing hunting and fighting. Our helper will also hunt, but we will assign her teaching to Mothscar so no warrior is inconvenienced.” Beside her, the scarred white fur of the elder she had talked to this morning appeared. He looked tense, his soft features simmering with some unknown emotion. Numbly Cedarkit wondered if he was angry for being spoken about like he was lesser than a warrior, despite his long moons of loyalty. Badgerstar would never have spoken so disrespectfully to an elder…
Cedarkit tried to breath normally, feeling lightheaded. She leaned back slightly onto Mothscar, but the old tom paid her no mind.
“Doesn’t this seem a bit cruel to young Cedarpaw?” Asked Mothscar in a good humored voice that betrayed how stiff his body was “It’s not her fault she was born in Shadowclan.”
Rootstar watched the elder with imperious yellow eyes. “Well, I’m not punishing her, am I? I’m simply doing what’s best for Windclan.” The elder said nothing in reply, whiskers twitching in silence. Rootstar continued “Either way, she shall no longer be Cedarkit, and she certainly will not be Cedarpaw.”
“Our little helper will be known as Cedar.”