In appearance, Snowlight is fairly plain. She's small for a RidgeClan cat, with sleek white fur which—while it doesn't do much to keep out the harsh mountain wind—is exceptionally effective at repelling water, due to her diet of fish and time spent in the water. Her only marking is a broken smudge of gray on the top of her head.

Her features match her siblings, with angular cheeks and large, pointed ears. Her nose, paw pads, and inner ears are all a soft pink. The flush of pink around her eyes can, depending on the light, make her look delicate or frail. Her tail is strong from swimming and tends to thrash when she's excited or anxious; try not to get thwacked.

Snowkit was three moons old when she first felt that something was wrong with her. Her parents, Ashnose and Lightfur, were very devoted to something called StarClan—their ancestors; in between sleeping, eating, and playing with her siblings, she spent a lot of time being forced to sit and listen to stories about cats she could not see or hear. To Snowkit, the concept of StarClan was too abstract for her to grasp. But it was important to her parents, and the stories were interesting enough for her to agree that she liked them, so she listened.

Shadowkit was much better at listening than she or Juniperkit were. He sat politely, with his kitten tail wrapped around his little black paws, and soaked in every word. Snowkit could never bring herself to focus like that; there was too much going on in the world to be sitting idly.

Her siblings quickly make friends with another litter in the nursery who were only a little older. Their parents were friends, so it happened naturally, and through them they met Silverkit. Silverkit is two whole moons older than them. Snowkit instantly likes him, feeling safe with him standing between her and the older kits and apprentices who tease her. It makes her sad when he leaves, even with Shadowkit's assurance that they would be with him again soon.

'Soon' doesn't come soon enough. By the time Snowkit and her siblings are six moons old, they're all more than ready to leave the now-quiet nursery.

After her breakdown last moon—when Lightfur had brought a mouse to the nursery for them to play with, and she'd let it get away by getting distracted—Snowkit was nervous about being an apprentice. What if she was terrible at everything and the older apprentices teased her? What if her mind wandered at a critical moment and everyone saw how stupid she really was?

That day never came. Her mentor, a small spotted tom called Littlesplash, never seemed to let her fail. Even when she did fail, he had a way of spinning things to sound better, emphasizing what she'd gained instead of what she'd missed—whether that was knowledge or prey, however messily caught. And when they realized Snowpaw was much more adept in the water than on land, Littlesplash leaned into training her to fish and swim and she started gaining confidence in her ability.

Even though she wasn't smart like Shadowpaw or hard-working like Juniperpaw, she was at least good at swimming. And it was fun! Snowpaw and Littlesplash got along well, thanks to his patience and good humor, and she had her kithood friends back in the apprentices' den—even if they were busy a lot.

Shadowpaw was busy a lot. He spent a lot of time with Firepelt, Weaselpaw's dad, and then he started spending time around Wolfstar too—the leader of RidgeClan. He was nice, Snowpaw thought. He had kind eyes, and even though he loved StarClan even more than her parents did, he seemed to really want their clan to do well.

The one thing Snowpaw didn't understand was how he talked about their neighboring clan, MistClan. Even a lot of older warriors seemed uncomfortable or irritated when she asked about MistClan; the two clans had been at odds for as long as anyone remembered, feuding over a variety of reasons that all ended up back at StarClan. It seemed silly to her. The stories were nice, but who cared what their ancestors thought? They weren't even here, there was no point in fighting over them.

She'd never admit such thoughts to her parents. Or anyone, really; no one else seemed to share them.

With her siblings and friends becoming consumed with their own troubles and training, Snowpaw begins to feel as though she's been left behind. It isn't a new feeling; she knows she's not the smartest of her peers, or the fastest or strongest or bravest.

As this loneliness began to gnaw at her, Snowpaw started to fish by herself near the waterfall. The waterfall itself was loud, but the large basin of water around it was wide and deceptively still; between the fall kicking up sediment and the shallower water around the stones, it made an enticing place for fish.

And cats.

It didn't take her long to encounter one. It was a lazy greenleaf day, and having already caught a couple of fat trout, Snowpaw had given in to the heat and slipped into the shallows for a swim.

A snort of derision drew her attention to the opposite bank. A fluffy gray apprentice was standing there, just watching her. Snowpaw squinted to make out her silhouette in the shade. She stared back with leaf-green eyes.

"You should try it!" Snowpaw called, batting the surface of the water to make a splash. "It's nice and cold!"

"And get soaked? No thanks," the young molly snorted.

"Are you from MistClan?"

The apprentice looked around her, as if confirming what side of the river she was on. "Last I checked," she said dryly.

Her name, as it turned out, was Rainpaw. She was patient as Snowpaw piled her with questions about MistClan, most of them harmless enough to answer ("Do MistClan cats really have feathers?"), and the white molly began to realize Rainpaw wasn't as serious as she seemed at first. Her humor was just very dry. Dry, like rocks in the sun. Dry, like crackling twigs in greenleaf. She didn't seem to get it when Snowpaw cracked a crunchy leaf and said it was like her, but at least she stayed.

Their chance meeting by the waterfall lingered in Snowpaw's mind like cobwebs. Even while fishing with her mentor and drilling defensive moves, she could only think of the way she'd felt spending time with Rainpaw. She hadn't felt alone, or worried about the way her friends were pulling in different or scary directions. She'd felt happy.

It didn't take long for Snowpaw to seek out her new friend again. Maybe Rainpaw wanted to see her again too, because a few days later they saw each other by the river again. This time, they met on the stepping stones, Rainpaw picking her way carefully over them while Snowpaw swam like an otter to meet her.

The time she spent with Rainpaw was a blessed reprieve from the gathering tension in her own clan. Over that greenleaf, she taught Rainpaw fishing tricks and even how to swim, and Rainpaw taught her how to mix paints. They spent a whole afternoon together in the cave behind the waterfall, painting rocks and each other until the sun started to set, and that night when Snowpaw went to sleep with paint still drying between her claws, she felt the happiest she'd feel in a long time.

At twelve moons old, Snowpaw became Snowlight alongside her siblings Shadowgaze and Juniperbelly. She felt proud, at first. The feeling lasted until Silverheart started to pull away from their group. Or was it them pulling away from him? She didn't understand; they were supposed to be friends forever.

But Shadowgaze was Wolfstar's friend now, and Shadowgaze knew best, so she followed his lead. Juniperbelly wasn't far behind. Weaselsong and Rabbitfern stood by them, then Foxflight, but Silverheart... he didn't. Was it because of Wolfstar? His words were pretty, but she didn't really understand them; she just knew she needed to stay with her brother.

Her brother knew best.

"Do you think it's okay to have friends that aren't here?" she asks him one day, thinking of Rainpaw, and wonders if he understands her question when he says "of course," but his eyes are far away.

Everything should be perfect, but it isn't. Wolfstar is kind to them; he praises them, and they attend meetings with him and senior warriors like Sunstorm and Firepelt. He talks about a bright future. Snowlight watches her brother watch their leader, and wonders what he sees that she doesn't.

She misses Silverheart. And Rainpaw.

It was harder to visit her MistClan friend now, with so many patrols by that border. So many patrols, and one of them brings back news in late leaf-bare, of a tree that had cracked and fallen in an ice storm. It made a bridge across the river, a convenient path into MistClan's uplands.

Snowlight thought little of it, but it seemed to hold such significance to everyone else. To Wolfstar. His eyes began to shine with a light that she no longer thought of as kind.

He ruins everything.

Snowlight isn't a distinguished fighter, but she's part of Wolfstar's inner circle so she's sent to battle anyway. She tries to stay close to Shadowgaze, but he disappears almost immediately, blending into the night with his black pelt. She hears wailing, and only when her clan is streaming across the tree-bridge back into their territory does she realize it's her. Her body hurts, covered in scratches, but none of them are deep enough to be dangerous.

Lucky.

That night, the camp is filled with mourning. Bodies of fallen clanmates are gathered for vigils. Juniperbelly is weeping over the body of her friend, Cedarhawk. Silverheart never came back. Shadowgaze's eyes look hollow.

Snowlight runs from the camp before dawn, and finds herself back in the waterfall cave where she used to play with Rainpaw. Their scents are long-gone, but faded streaks of color on the rocks still mark where they painted together.

There, exhausted from the battle and the grief, she falls asleep with the memories of a carefree summer.

It isn't an easy process, but in the moons following the battle, RidgeClan slowly starts to pull itself back together. Their new leader, Mushroomstar, picks Toadfeather as his deputy, and Rainstorm steps up as the medicine cat after her mentor retires. Silverheart even comes home, having recovered from his injury enough to cross the river.

Shadowgaze only becomes more distant.

Were they always supposed to be the children at the end of the world?

Snowlight is adopted from Silverheart's wanted ad, 'in the cold light i live,' as the sister of Shadowgaze and Juniperbelly. Her political beliefs, despite her former ties with Wolfstar, fall closest to Uranus from the RidgeClan plot ad; she has never truly believed in the importance of StarClan and blames the war on RidgeClan's obsession with them. While most likely qualifying as atheist, she has never admitted as such.

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Snowlight and her parents aren't close. She was never what they expected or wanted out of a daughter; it used to make her sad, but stopped mattering to her after the battle. Sometimes, she thinks she and her siblings used to be close, but after all the drifting, secrets, and politics, she isn't sure anymore. One day, Snowlight hopes they can be close again.
Friendship never felt hard to Snowlight, having been surrounded by littermates and friends their age since she first opened her eyes. Even when other cats would tease her or get impatient, her friends were always there to defend her. Lately, though, her relationship with her friends and peers feels more complicated; everyone seems to have some secret or agenda or private feud.
Snowlight isn't sure what romance feels like, specifically. As far as she's ever been aware, she's only felt positively or negatively about the cats around her, with little nuance. Once, a fellow apprentice had told her if she feels butterflies in her stomach when she's with someone, that meant she was in love; after some time, Snowpaw came to the conclusion that it was entirely untrue when she, putting her paws in paint for the first time with Rainpaw, felt the butterflies. How could she possibly be in love with paint?
Due to being shielded from bullies by her siblings and friends, Snowlight never really had a chance to form early rivalries. Now, in her adulthood, she's much too easy-going and forgiving to be rivals with anyone; she always sees the best in every cat, even to her own detriment.

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