falling petals | warrior cats story

thirty.

thirty.
lilystem.

"No—mother, she died," I repeated, not understanding how she wasn't understanding what I was saying.

"Lilystem." Clovertuft's tone stiffened, "Petalheart gave birth to her litter, I know she did because I was there when it happened." She explained, her paws shaking.

I narrowed my gaze, trying to understand what I was hearing. "No," I mumbled, "The kits would've died. It would've been too early," I said, my tone also growing colder as I grew more defensive of my stance.

"They were early," Clovertuft said, her eyes drifting away, "She went into labor here. At my twoleg nest. The litter was too early and she knew it, but there was no way she could stop it." Her gaze turned cold, defending her story sharply. "Petalheart gave birth to three kits. But only—"

"Only one survived...?" I spoke slowly, finishing her sentence. My mind whirled, as my eyes widened.

Oh, Starclan. "Right? Is that correct?" I advanced a step closer to Clovertuft, unable to sit still anymore.

She blinked rapidly in confusion, "Y-Yes, only one— how did you know that?"

I fell back onto my hind legs, "Emberkit." The whispered name slipped from my mouth.
Mouseberry found a kit — She said that it was alone, left in a hollow log.
She brought the kit into camp. I saw him. He was a black tom with white paws and chest. He was tiny, must have been around one or two moons old or something.

"Oh Starclan!" I exclaimed in pure shock, my head suddenly pounding as the world around me shattered. "Don't tell me that you left the kit for the clan to find!" I pushed my paw to my head to stop it from spinning.

Clovertuft took a deep breath to calm herself down, "Well, yes, P-Petalheart had wanted me to put the kitten close to camp once I knew that he would be able to survive living off of her - his mother. My twolegs had to personally feed him because he was so tiny," she panicked, her voice growing worrisome.

Now she began to freak out. "Now, you better not tell me that Petalheart died before that kit had a chance to see her again." Her voice broke, cracking down as her ears fell back.

"Oh no, mother," my figure sank to the ground, grief overwhelming my body.

Both of us sat in shock, unable to speak as words had already clogged our minds.