- Username: munchkin.
Cat Name: orchidpetal, previously silvernose
Gender: female
Age: thirty-seven moons
Clan: emberclan
Rank: warrior
Prompt:
silvernose could remember it just like yesterday. she remembered the dry season, the way everybody fought over a drop of water. she remembered lilyfrost trying to calm everyone down, she remembered orchidkit's soft white pelt pressed up against her coat, her unusual eye colors (one light blue and one emerald green). she remembered the storm shaking the trees, and she remembered orchidkit's soft terrified mewls.
"mama?"
orchidkit squeaked, snuggling closer into her mother's short pelt.
"what is it?"
"I'm scared. It-It's so loud. It hurts my ears."
orchidkit whimpered, her high-pitched voice cracking. silvernose wrapped her long tail around the young kit before giving her a comforting lick on her forehead. "nothing can hurt you, my little orchid. I'll protect you. I promise." silvernose whispered to orchidkit, giving a comforting smile. orchidkit laid her head back down, letting out soft purrs as silvernose licked her pelt, calming the kit down.
It was just after that conversation that lightning struck a tree near camp. with it being so dry, the fire spread rapidly, sparing no mercy to any of the cats in camp.
"everyone! we need to get out of camp immediately!"
emberstar yowled over all the other cat's screaming. all silvernose could feel was terror as the camp began to splinter apart. the fire already reached camp. all of the cats in the warriors den were trapped by a fallen tree, and she could hear their terrified yowls, and some paws stuck out of the warriors den, desperately reaching for something. olivenose, a new warrior was desperately clawing at the den, trying to reach his sister, cavetooth. flarenose was sobbing in the middle of camp, distraught and confused. the only cats that seemed to be quite calm were lilyfrost and emberstar, but they still were shaking heavily.
"NOW!"
lilyfrost screeched, causing all of the cats to barely sit upright. "if we stay here, we're DEAD!" lilyfrost yowled. "we need to get out of here now, or else all of us are dead."
silvernose shivered, before looking down at orchidkit. the kits was terrified, shaking and crying. suddenly silvernose felt the need to run as far as she could, to save her young kit before they all died. she quickly grabbed orchidkit by the scruff, which caused the kit to let out a soft mewl of terror.
everything after that was hazy. all she could remember was the fear, the adrenaline. she could remember the way she ran at a speed she never expected from herself. she remembered a bit of orchidkits soft white fur pressed against her, and the way she curled up in a tiny ball.
run run run run run rUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN
despite being safe, she still felt the need to run and run and run until orchidkit was safe. almost half of the clan was missing. some held onto the hope that their loved ones survived, but silvernose didn't really care about the other cats. she only cared about orchidkit, who was sleeping peacefully beside her.
life was not easy after that, sadly. yes, a few cats did return, like owleyes who was in the dirtplace when the fire started, or flowerpelt, who took a midnight stroll before the fire (which confused silvernose since there was a thunderstorm before the fire.) but slowly the cats started starving. everybody was weak and tired, and greatly wounded. with no medicine cat to help them, a few cats died of their wounds, like chiveclaw who died because of the smoke he breathed in, or juniperwing who died because of heavy burns on his pelt.
soon, every cat could count everyone's ribs. whisperberry died in their sleep because of starvation. wrenheart was the first cat to go, saying that he would become a kittypet. the second he left a bunch of other cats left for that life too, like typhoonclaw, sparrowheart, sparrowpaw, lochwish, whitepaw, mudkit, and barkkit. now there was only silvernose, orchidkit, emberstar, lilyfrost, flowerpelt, owleyes, and flarenose.
but then emberstar died in his sleep.
everybody split up after that, including silvernose and orchidkit. with no leader, everybody left. technically lilyfrost was leader now, but she refused to become a leader, saying emberstar was the last leader.
the cats that stayed all became loners, too wild to become kittypets but too hungry to stay in their clan. silvernose traveled east, hoping to find prey for her kit who was barely alive.
silvernose didn't find what she was looking for.
silvernose woke up in the log she decided to take shelter in. she yawned lightly, sleepy eyes looking at her kit sleeping. her gaze softened as she looked at her kit, and she felt bad for having to wake the kit up. she licked orchidkit's back fur, before she instantly knew something was wrong.
her kit was freezing, and silvernose could see maggots digging into her, making silvernose screech. she instantly pulled the maggots out, before staring at her kit.
for the first time she could see orchidkit clearly.
her chest wasn't rising.
silvernose screeched to the stars after that, wondering why it was her kit that died. the one light in her life was dead, and would never return.
silvernose laid down and watched the crows circle around her, sensing that she was about to die. silvernose didn't mind. she deserved to die. because she didn't become a kittypet, her kit died. all she could think of was orchidkit's little smile, and her odd eyes that were nothing but beautiful in her eyes. she still had kit fluff behind her ears.
she didn't deserve to die.
silvernose opened her eyes for a second, before screeching as she realized the crows had found orchidkit's limp body, which was covered in leaves.
silvernose ran as fast as she could to the crows, swatting one of them with her claws. the crow continued trying to grab orchidkit from silvernose, clawing silvernose and even dragging her lightly into the air a few times before having to let go.
after a while of fighting, the crows finally flew off.
silvernose trembled as she looked at her kit. she looked almost angelic, despite the fact her fur was matted and dirty. in that second, she could see orchidkit's mouth curled into a smile. silvernose cried into her kit's soft fur, wishing she could see her grow old and find a mate and have kits of her own.
my sweet orchid, you didn't deserve this.
silvernose buried her in the ground by the fallen log, and found a few flowers that she laid in orchidkit's grave. she cleaned her kit profusely, before laying her in her grave. despite being dead, she looked beautiful and more peaceful than she ever was in life. silvernose sat beside her, hoping for a miracle to happen, for her kit to open her eyes and smile and say starclan gave her another chance.
but that never happened. after a few hours, she finally scooped the dirt up and put it inside her grave. just as she was about to leave, she saw something that looked like a miracle to her.
an orchid seed.
she scooped the orchid up and put it in orchidkit's grave, tears flooding her eyes as she said her final goodbyes to her beloved orchid.
you may think that's the end of the story. but it isn't exactly the end for poor silvernose.
she traveled far and wide, leaving tears wherever she stood. her once bright, hopeful eyes were dull. she wanted to die and see orchidkit again, but she wanted orchidkit's memory to live on. she wanted to have other kits just like orchidkit so she could tell them her story and she wanted to see orchidkit's starry pelt watching over her peacefully.
but it was so hard. some days she couldn't even find the motivation to get out of her nest in the morning. grief flooded off of her in waves, and she was quite hostile to any cat who dared to go near her. the life of a loner frustrated her greatly, and silvernose just wished that she was back in clan camp, purring as orchidkit batted at a butterfly. she could just imagine flarenose's agitation as lochwish batted at his tail, and owleyes purring as poolwind have him a nuzzle. she could see emberstar's stoic face as he calmly tried to stop cavetooth and sparrowheart from fighting.
after a while of thought, silvernose decided that she wanted to try to find lilyfrost, who she assumed would try to rebuild the clan. lilyfrost always was one for clan life and silvernose knew if she came back perhaps a new clan would rise from the ashes.
and so she traveled back to the twolegplace. after a while of looking for cats she knew, she found sparrowheart, now marina. marina happily showed her the direction of lilyfrost, and said that if she didn't find lilyfrost then her twolegs always had some room for another cat.
and so silvernose traveled where lilyfrost went.
she almost gave up hope, until a kittypet said they saw a lynx-point tabby with light blue eyes traveling towards a forest. silvernose was ecstatic when she found lilyfrost, who caught a mouse.
"it's so great to see you, silvernose."
lilyfrost purred, her eyes shining bright and an amused smile on her face.
"it's good to see you too!"
silvernose mewed back, her once dull eyes finally showing happiness for the first time in forever.
after a while of talking and explaining what happened to orchidkit, lilyfrost gave her an idea.
"hey... how about you tend to some plants?"
"what?"
silvernose was confused. flowers? silvernose was a warrior through and through, she wasn't a medicine cat who would tend to flowers.
"you don't have to be a medicine cat to plant, silvernose. maybe it'll.... help?"
lilyfrost said, careful to not word it wrong. silvernose and lilyfrost talked for a while before silvernose finally tried out her idea. silvernose quickly fell into a routine of hunting, tending to her flowers, sleep, and repeat the cycle.
to her own surprise, it helped her a lot. the flowers reminded her of orchidkit, but instead of causing grief, it gave her good memories and it gave her time to think. she liked the way she could create life in her paws by planting a seed and giving it water, and she liked the way the petals felt in her paws. and after a while, she found meanings to the flowers she planted.
pink carnations meant the love of a mother. asters were for patience. hydrangeas meant heartfelt emotions. snapdragons meant graciousness and strength. stock meant lasting beauty and a happy life.
and of course, orchids meant innocence and purity.
---
"are you sure about this?"
silvernose said to lilyfro- lilystar.
"of course!"
lilyfrost purred, giving her a friendly shoulder-nudge.
"o-okay."
"spirits of starclan, you know every cat by name. I ask you now to take away the name from the cat you see before you, for it no longer stands for what she is. by my authority as clan leader, and with the approval of our warrior ancestors, I give this cat a new name. From this moment on she will be known as orchidpetal, in honor of orchidkit."
silverno- orchidpetal didn't know if she was just imagining it, but she could just see orchidkit's soft white pelt beside the orchids she planted, and finally orchidpetal felt at peace completely.
even though you're dead, you'll still always be here in my heart, and one day I will pass on and finally see you again.
goodbye, my little orchid.
Extra: oof that's a lot. and it's really bad haha
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