Chapter 6

So much had happened since the death of Silvermist yet at the same time, so little had happened since the death of Silvermist. Ivypaw hardly left her nest except to see Eaglefeather, who she had been seeing to help her cope with her loss.

"I know how you feel," he had told her, "Me and Sunfur felt the same when our mother, Sandbreeze died. No apprentice deserves to go through this pain."

Ivypaw felt comfortable when she was with Eaglefeather. He understood her pain and was simply a welcoming presence. When Ivypaw wasn't with Eaglefeather, she was usually with Lightningpaw or their families. Lightningpaw wasn't taking her loss any better than Ivypaw. Lightningpaw also hardly left her nest and them along with Applepaw and Antpaw, weren't training. The only apprentices that were still training were Mistpaw, who frequently visited Applepaw, and Shrewpaw, who hadn't taken a single break from training. Ivypaw wanted to slash her claws across her sister's nose. Shrewpaw was acting like she didn't even care that their mother was dead! At the very least, no more cats had died in their sleep so every cat had assumed that Shadowclan had murdered their cats and the battle had taught them a lesson. Ivypaw however wasn't convinced. It had to be more than that, she just knew it!

"Ivypaw!" A voice called.

Ivypaw looked up from her nest. Applepaw and Harepelt were sitting just outside the apprentices' den. Ivypaw sighed and padded out to sit beside them.

"Still no Shrewpaw?" Harepelt asked.

"She said she didn't need to grieve," Applepaw growled.

Ivypaw's eyes widened.

"That arrogant furball!" Ivypaw hissed, "Does she not even care that Silvermist is dead?!"

"She does care!" Harepelt replied, "She's just grieving differently."

Applepaw sighed while Ivypaw rolled her eyes.

"That's not what I called you here to discuss," Harepelt meowed sternly, "I wanted to ask you if you'd like to return to training."

"Tr-training?" Ivypaw stuttered.

"Yes," Harepelt replied, "I think it would be good for you two to focus on something other than your grief."

"B-but," Ivypaw began to protest.

"I agree," Applepaw interrupted, "We'll move on faster if we let life go on."

Ivypaw glanced at her brother. When did he get so mature?

"I agree," Ivypaw said softly.

"Great, I'll talk to your mentors," Harepelt replied.

With a nod, he walked away. Ivypaw padded toward the apprentices' den, immediately noticing Lightningpaw, laying in her nest.

"Lightningpaw," Ivypaw murmured.

The black and white she-cat slowly rose her head to face Ivypaw. There were tears in her blue eyes and her fur was badly disheveled.

"Me and Applepaw are returning to training today," Ivypaw continued, "Do you want to join us?"

"I guess," Lightningpaw sighed.

She sat up and wrapped her tail around her paws.

"I'll tell our mentor," Ivypaw replied.

Ivypaw felt her stomach knot at the thought that they were sharing a mentor in Snowpelt because there weren't enough moor runners to be mentors. The only other moor runner was Harepelt who couldn't mentor Ivypaw because he was her father and Snowpelt was already Lightningpaw's mentor before. Lightningpaw stood up and pressed against Ivypaw. She glanced affectionately at her friend and wrapped her tail around Lightningpaw. After a while, Snowpelt padded toward them.

"Alright, Ivypaw," Snowpelt meowed, "You're ready to return to training?"

"Yes, and so is Lightningpaw," Ivypaw meowed.

"Great!" Snowpelt replied, "I'll give you both a simple task for now, then. Go get new moss for Starlingfeather."

Ivypaw and Lightningpaw nodded and padded out of camp together. They made their way through the moor and towards the moss tree at the edge of Windclan's territory. Ivypaw grabbed a piece of moss from the tree and tore it down. Lightningpaw grabbed the other side in her teeth and stretched it out a bit. Neither cat said a word as they prepared the moss to take to Starlingfeather. They placed the piece of moss on their backs and carefully made their way back to camp.

"You know," Ivypaw spoke up, "It'll be good to see Starlingfeather again."

"Yeah," Lightningpaw sighed, "She was a good mentor."

"She'll give birth to her kits any day now," Ivypaw replied.

"Good, the clan will need new warriors," Lightningpaw sighed, "After all the deaths from poison and the Shadowclan battle."

"Uh...yeah, we'll all be warriors someday. We could even have our ceremony together."

Lightningpaw smiled. "That would be nice."

Ivypaw licked Lightningpaw's cheek and pressed against her. Lightningpaw entwined her tail with Ivypaw's as the two apprentices walked into camp. Ivypaw glanced at the nursery. Starlingfeather was alone in her nest as usual. Her belly was so plump now that she almost looked like a kittypet. Ivypaw and Lightningpaw stopped in front of the nursery and took out the old moss before giving Starlingfeather the new moss.

"Here you go," Ivypaw meowed.

"Thanks you two," Starlingfeather replied.

As Ivypaw and Lightningpaw turned to leave, Starlingfeather let out a cry of pain. Ivypaw and Lightningpaw whipped around. Starlingfeather was lying in her nest, convulsing and mewling in pain.

"What is it Starlingfeather?" Lightningpaw asked.

"The kits!" Starlingfeather gasped, "They're coming!"

A million thoughts began racing through Ivypaw's head faster than she could keep track of them.

"Right now?!" Lightningpaw exclaimed.

Suddenly, all of her thoughts gathered and Ivypaw had everything in order.

"Lightningpaw, stay with Starlingfeather," Ivypaw ordered, "Do exactly as she tells you. I'm going to get Eaglefeather."

Before anyone could respond, Ivypaw bolted toward the medicine cat's den. She skidded to a halt just inside Eaglefeather's den. The brown tabby looked up at her in surprise.

"Ivypaw?" Eaglefeather began.

"Starlingfeather is giving birth to her kits!" Ivypaw interrupted.

Eaglefeather's eyes widened. In the blink of an eye, he grabbed a stick and various herbs from his stores before dashing toward the nursery. Ivypaw bolted after him. Her heart was pounding so hard she could feel it beating throughout her whole body. Skidding to a halt in front of the nursery, Ivypaw noticed Lightningpaw comforting and supporting Starlingfeather the best she could as Eaglefeather aided the young queen with her delivery. Ivypaw sat down with a sigh of relief. Everything was okay now. Ivypaw took a few deep breaths until her heart beat slowed then joined Lightningpaw and Eaglefeather in the nursery.

"Ivypaw, lick that kit!" Eaglefeather instructed.

Ivypaw gazed down to see a white she-kit on the moss. Ivypaw grabbed the kit and began licking her. Once she was done, Ivypaw placed the kit down gently at Starlingfeather's belly. Starlingfeather let out a sudden yowl.

"The next kit is coming!" Eaglefeather announced.

"You're doing great Starlingfeather!" Ivypaw encouraged her.

Starlingfeather gave a small nod to show she heard her before yowling again. Eaglefeather grabbed the stick from earlier and slid it toward Starlingfeather.

"Here, bite down on it," Eaglefeather instructed, "So you can focus on something other than the pain."

Starlingfeather nodded and took the stick in her jaws. Her cries were muffled slightly by the stick but her pain was still all too obvious. I don't think I ever want to have kits if it's this painful! Once the second kit arrived, Ivypaw took the small thing in her jaws and began cleaning them up. Lightningpaw jumped to her side and helped groom the kit.

"It's a tom!" Ivypaw announced once they was done.

Lightningpaw placed the kit next to his sibling so the two kits could suckle.

"How many more are coming?" Lightningpaw asked.

Eaglefeather placed his paw on Starlingfeather's stomach.

"Two," he answered.

Ivypaw glanced at Starlingfeather. She was now panting from exhaustion. It was so hard to watch the strong she-cat in such pain. Ivypaw looked up at Eaglefeather.

"Can't you give her something for the pain?" Ivypaw asked.

"No," Eaglefeather replied, "She needs to feel pain so we know when the next kit is coming."

Almost immediately after, Starlingfeather let out another yowl of pain. The queen took the stick in her jaws and bit down hard, causing it to crack slightly. Ivypaw rested her paw on Starlingfeather's back.

"Just two more," Ivypaw encouraged, "You're halfway done."

Once the third kit arrived, Lightningpaw grabbed the kit and began licking it. Ivypaw licked with her. This kit was another she-cat, with black fur like Starlingfeather's but without the signature white petal markings. Ivypaw put the third kit beside her siblings and looked back at Starlingfeather. She was sweating from exhaustion now. Thankfully, she only had one more left. Once the fourth kit arrived, Ivypaw and Lightningpaw groomed it before putting the kit with their siblings.

"Another she-kit!" Lightningpaw announced.

"Congratulations Starlingfeather," Eaglefeather meowed, "You've given birth to four healthy kits. Three she-kits and a tom."

Starlingfeather nodded before her head fell onto her paws with a sigh of exhaustion. Eaglefeather chuckled slightly before placing some kind of herb in front of her.

"Eat that so your milk will come," Eaglefeather instructed.

Starlingfeather nodded and licked up the herbs. Ivypaw glanced at the ground, noticing there was still a small pile of herbs left next to Eaglefeather.

"What about those?" Ivypaw asked, pointing to the herbs with her tail.

Eaglefeather glanced down at the herbs, then back up at Ivypaw.

"Those were for just in case anything went wrong," Eaglefeather explained, "But Starlingfeather and the kits all seem healthy so there's no need for them."

Ivypaw nodded as Eaglefeather took the herbs in his jaws.

"Wait!" Starlingfeather called, "I'm going to name them."

Eaglefeather dropped his herbs in shock.

"But they were just born!" Eaglefeather protested.

Ivypaw and Lightningpaw glanced at each other in confusion. What was the big deal with naming them now?

"Me and Longstripe picked three names way in advance," Starlingfeather explained, "And I have the perfect name for the fourth kit."

Starlingfeather pointed at the youngest, a brown she-kit.

"This one is Hazelkit," Starlingfeather meowed.

She then pointed her tail at the white she-kit.

"This one is Featherkit."

Then at the black she-kit.

"Sedgekit."

Finally, Starlingfeather pointed at the light brown tabby tom. Taking a closer look at the kit, Ivypaw realized that he looked like a tiny copy of his father.

"And this one is Longkit," Starlingfeather meowed, with a tear in her eye, "In honor of his father."

Ivypaw let out a small whimper of sadness. It was so sweet that Starlingfeather named the kit after Longstripe but it filled Ivypaw with despair to remember her former mentor.

"They're wonderful names," Eaglefeather sighed before walking away.

"It's sweet that you named one after Longstripe," Ivypaw added.

She turned away and padded toward the apprentices' den. Suddenly, she felt soft fur press against her side. Ivypaw gazed in surprise to see Lightningpaw, pressing against her.

"Hey, before you call it a day, wanna share some prey with me?" Lightningpaw asked.

Ivypaw smiled and gave a small nod as she followed Lightningpaw to the fresh-kill pile.