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[ 0 MOONS - 5 MOONS ] Featherfire, a young and lively warrior, had Minnowkit not many moons after her warrior ceremony. Due to her immaturity, not a single one of her clanmates thought she’d make a good mother, and they were right. Featherfire wasn’t at all interested in Minnowkit. She didn’t even name her. Mallowgaze and Boulderfern, Featherfire’s elderly mother and father, were the ones to name Minnowkit. Featherfire also refused to identify the father and nobody was surprised, convinced that not even she knew who the father was. Featherfire often left Minnowkit in the care of her parents while she worked and socialized, only visiting the nursery to feed her daughter. Once Minnowkit started eating fresh-kill, Featherfire stopped dropping by the nursery altogether. Mallowgaze was a no-nonsense she-cat and Boulderfern was a tom of few words, but they were better parents to Minnowkit than Featherfire would ever be.

Minnowkit became very close with a denmate, Sandkit. They were born just days apart and together, they were trouble. Occasionally, they’d do something normal, like sculpt fake prey in the mud that they’d pretend to catch for Sandkit’s mother and Minnowkit’s grandparents to pretend to eat. And other times, they’d play hide and seek or moss ball, but most times, however, they were doing something they weren’t supposed to be doing. They were especially fond of wrestling, but that usually ended in someone getting hurt and someone getting reprimanded. They sometimes tried climbing the many trees that made up the camp’s dens, but again, someone would get hurt and the other would get reprimanded. A lot of the things they did resulted in one of them getting hurt and the other one getting reprimanded, but for whatever reason, they seemed to like it that way, because they just kept on making sure it happened.

[ 6 MOONS - 7 MOONS ] Minnowpaw was apprenticed to Curlycloud, an older warrior on the verge of retirement. Surprisingly, her troublesome antics decreased, perhaps due to how desperate she was to prove herself. She was eager to learn and listened closely to every lesson Curlycloud taught her, no matter how boring. Like most of her peers, she wasn’t very fond of chores, but she got them done without complaint. When it came to training, Minnowpaw started out like every other apprentice - terrible. It took days before she caught her first mouse and even longer before she caught her first squirrel. As for combat training, she would find herself pinned by her opponent within heartbeats, but with some practice over the next couple of moons, she was capable of holding her own. Minnowpaw owed her progress to Curlycloud’s teachings, but she’d never get the opportunity to improve even more.

[ 8 MOONS ] When RidgeClan launched their attack on MistClan, Minnowpaw and Sandpaw fought side by side. They were inexperienced, but when one of them made an error, the other was quick to correct it. Surprisingly, they were a formidable pair. That is, until they got separated. Minnowpaw found herself facing a RidgeClan she-cat that she recognized as Sprucetail. As Minnowpaw went to swipe at Sprucetail’s shoulder, the RidgeClan cat turned and Minnowpaw slashed her throat instead. Next thing he knew, she was standing over Sprucetail’s limp body. She barely had time to feel horrified before she was locked in combat with Sprucetail’s children, Sycamorepaw and Hemlockpaw. While she managed to get a few heavy blows in, Sycamorepaw and Hemlockpaw were older and more knowledgeable and they outnumbered her. Minnowpaw reared up on her hind legs at some point, lashing out at the pair as she did so, with plans to drop down on whichever sibling gets too close, but she wouldn’t get the chance. Fast as snakes, Sycamorepaw and Hemlockpaw soared through the air and crashed into Minnowpaw. She fell backwards, felt a sharp pain in her head for a brief moment, and then there was nothing but darkness.

When Minnowpaw woke up, she panicked. Half of her vision was pitch black and everything she could see was blurry. She also had a splitting headache and felt like she was about to be sick. She couldn’t see clearly, but she recognized Mallowgaze and Boulderfern’s voices. It took their soothing words and a couple poppy seeds to calm her down enough to the point where she could fall back to sleep. Next time she woke, she started to panic again until she realized Sandpaw was sleeping beside her, her best friend’s closeness providing comfort. Minnowpaw called for MistClan’s medicine cat, Lotusfire, who helped her understand that her partial vision loss was permanent and warrior duties would be impossible for her to perform. Lotusfire suggested she retire, and so she did. She didn’t think she’d make a good warrior anymore anyway. When she was finally allowed to leave the medicine cat den, she needed someone to guide her everywhere. Mallowgaze, Boulderfern, and Sandpaw were happy to help. Featherfire never even checked in on her.

After a few days of hiding in the elders’ den and only leaving if someone could guide her, Minnowpaw attempted to wander camp on her own, but ended up tripping over and walking into everything. This discouraged her and she stopped taking care of herself, even chasing away those who cared about her. It was bad enough she’d never become a warrior, but now she couldn’t even navigate her own home? Her grandparents encouraged Minnowpaw to eat and sleep, but the smell of fresh-kill made her feel sick and her thoughts refused to slow down enough for her to rest. Mallowgaze would get angry with her, though she knew her grandmother was just concerned. Boulderfern would get sad, which broke her heart, but she couldn’t bring herself to do what they asked. Sandpaw would stop by frequently, but her visits were awkward. Minnowpaw was too bitter to interact with her friend like she’d used to and Sandpaw wasn’t sure how to help her, and so the visits decreased significantly.

[ 9 MOONS - 11 MOONS ] Minnowpaw believed the stress she caused by existing only weakened her grandparents. She started worrying about their health, though they assured her they were fine. Mallowgaze was as headstrong as ever and Boulderfern still rarely said a word, but Minnowpaw couldn’t help fearing that time was running out for them. She was distraught to discover she’d been right to fret. Less than a moon after the war, Mallowgaze didn’t wake one morning. Just a couple days before, Mallowgaze had washed her like a kit. How could she have joined StarClan already? Mallowgaze had been an aloof and obstinate molly, but she’d raised Minnowpaw and done more for her than her own mother had. Shortly after her grandmother’s demise, Boulderfern followed Mallowgaze to StarClan. Minnowpaw was sure her grandfather had died of a broken heart. Losing both her grandparents in two moons left her inconsolable. Not even Sandpaw could get through to her.

Featherfire actually attended the vigils for her parents, but Minnowpaw paid her no attention until she left Boulderfern’s vigil early, slipping out of camp. Unfortunately, she couldn’t follow Featherfire since she didn’t know the territory as well as she’d come to know the layout of camp, but she stayed awake, waiting for Featherfire to return. Featherfire entered camp the next morning and Minnowpaw was there to ask her why she’d left Bouldefern’s vigil. Before Featherfire could answer her, a clanmate named Thistlepelt entered camp and Featherfire beckoned him over. She asked Minnowpaw if she was happy that her mother had found herself a mate that made her happy, even referring to Thistlepelt as Minnowpaw’s stepfather. Minnowpaw stormed off before she could lose her temper. Featherfire had left the vigil early to spend time with her mate? And then she’d gone and called herself Minnowpaw’s mother? And Thistlepelt Minnowpaw’s stepfather? They had no right to those titles!

[ 12 MOONS ] Minnowpaw was granted her warrior name alongside her peers. She was named Minnowtail for her equanimity, though she was certain Hailstar simply wasn’t sure what moniker to give her or what traits of hers to praise. After all, she’d been injured at a young age so she never got the chance to discover her skills and she’d been doing nothing except harboring resentment for moons, but she knew Hailstar wouldn’t commend her negative qualities. Minnowtail was a boring warrior name, she thought, but it was better than remaining a ‘paw all her life. Sandpaw graduated, too, and she became Sandstrike, honored for her fighting prowess. Even though her poor vision wouldn’t help her guard camp, Minnowtail insisted on sitting vigil, arguing that her sense of smell and hearing were still good. Sandstrike attempted to talk to her halfway through the night, but Minnowtail put an end to that real quick. When morning came, Minnowtail hurried to put as much space between herself and Sandstrike as possible.

Just days after the naming ceremony, Featherfire got Minnowtail alone in the elders’ den. She explained that there was something she wanted to get off her shoulders and went on to tell Minnowtail that her father had once been a RidgeClan cat named Lightningfang, but he’d died long ago. Featherfire continued to say that when she’d told Lightningfang she was expecting, he’d warned her not to identify him as the father, because he had kin in RidgeClan that he didn’t want to find out about his infidelity. She named Lightningfang’s family and Minnowtail was shocked to hear her list Sprucetail, Hemlockclaw, and Sycamorefall. Sprucetail, the cat Minnowtail had unintentionally killed in the war, had been Lightningfang’s mate, and Hemlockclaw and Sycamorefall, who had been apprentices when they fought Minnowtail in the war, were their children. Minnowtail hadn’t forgotten about Hemlockclaw and Sycamorefall, no, they consumed her thoughts, and to find out they were related was too much. She didn’t sleep that night, unable to force her mind to rest.

[ 13 MOONS - PRESENT ] Sandstrike still stopped by, albeit rarely, and typically only to deliver fresh-kill, but Minnowtail couldn’t really blame her since she was the reason why her old friend avoided the elders’ den. She knew Sandstrike had a new friend group now that didn’t involve her, which she thought would’ve fueled her anger, but instead it just made her sad. Minnowtail missed her friendship with Sandstrike, but she wasn’t sure how to mend it. Could they even recover what had been lost? Sandstrike had always been there for her and Minnowtail had gone and ruined everything. She’d distanced herself from Sandstrike, because it hurt too much to listen to her friend go on about what she did in training that day and to listen to her talk about her other friends, friends who could see and keep up with Sandstrike where Minnowtail couldn’t. She hadn’t expected loneliness to be so painful, though, but she also wasn’t sure where to begin when it came to fixing her friendship with Sandstrike, and so she didn’t.

As life went on for everyone around her, Minnowtail felt left behind. Tensions in the valley increased every moon, but she remained stuck in the past, wondering how the war went so horribly wrong for her.

Pre-Plotting: Minnowtail relates best to Bark in [MistClan’s Plot Ad]. She believes in defending one’s clan with tooth and claw, and although she’d struggle to physically fight for her clan, she’d give it her all. MistClan cannot afford to be vulnerable, not when there’s threats everywhere, and Minnowtail feels some responsibility to stand strong against those threats so the more soft members of her clan don’t have to.

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