ThunderClan

Prologue
A ginger she-cat laid in the nursery. She was surrounded by cats: some of her clanmates had come to watch her give birth to her kits, who were kicking in her womb. They didn't like this experience any more than she didn't. But she had to endure it. It's for my kits! the she-cat thought.

Her mate leaned closer. "Amberstorm, are you okay?" Graywhisker's blue eyes shone with fear for his mate. Amberstorm opened her mouth to speak, but a wave of pain stopped her. She closed her amber eyes and whimpered. Graywhisker tried to dart to his mate, but Fallowpaw, the medicine cat apprentice, who was also her daughter, stopped him.

Another wave of pain struck Amberstorm, and plop! Out came a tiny white kit, with little brown stripes. Amberstorm reached over to the kit to nip the sack, but more pain inferred. Amberstorm shrieked in agony. Fallowpaw nipped the kit's sack and gave it to Whitestorm, the deputy. "Lick it," she commanded. Whitestorm looked surprised, receiving orders from his granddaughter, for he was Graywhisker's father, but he did what she asked.

Fallowpaw darted out of the room and came back, moments later, carrying a stick in her jaws. She dropped it near Amberstorm's mouth. "Bite it when the pain comes. It helps a bit." When the agony returned, Amberstorm bit the stick so hard that it cracked.

Amberstorm remembered that when she was an apprentice, she had gone after a squirrel in the Sky Oak, fallen, and broken her paw. That pain seemed like nothing compared to this pain. She would rather break all of her paws then give birth.

But when it was done, she felt pride in her kits, and enjoyed watching them grow into warriors. Swiftfoot and Ravenheart, some of the kits from her first litter, were the best hunters in the clan, and the current medicine cats, Featherspirit and Fallowpaw, were both her daughters.

With another wave, the next kit slid out. This kit looked like Graywhisker, solid with a stripe down his back, but was shades of ginger instead of gray. Amberstorm managed to nip the sack and nudge the kit towards Fallowpaw before the pain stopped her. She glanced at Whitestorm. He was still licking the kit, who wasn't responding.

Amberstorm began to panic. But, a few seconds later, the kit let out a weak cry, and Whitestorm placed it at her belly to nurse. She licked the kit's forehead, and the kit mewed softly.

Amberstorm looked up. The sky was covered with gray clouds, and right after the second kit had been placed at her belly, it began to rain.

A wave of pain let loose a small kit, pale gray with darker speckles. Darkstar bit the sack, and licked it. It mewed after only a few moments, and wiggled toward her belly.

For what seemed like endless moments, Amberstorm lay in pain, bitting her stick. Another kit came out, a ginger one, with white paws. It was night time when the last kit began to exit, and the clouds still covered the stars. The kit's head got out, but its body got stuck.

The pain began to come more frequently, but the kit remained stuck. Amberstorm's vision went blurry, and she began to get dizzy. Fallowpaw screamed and thrust at Amberstorm's belly wildly. A few moments later, the kit had popped out, but for Amberstorm, it was too late. She felt her body seize up, and she fell.

Amberstorm's spirit jumped from her body. She heard everyone gasp, and Graywhisker called out, "No! AMBERSTORM!" She padded to Fallowpaw, the only one who could see her.

"I want to name them, before I go," Amberstorm meowed to Fallowpaw. "Tell them I'm here." Fallowpaw nodded and mewed. "Amberstorm's spirit is here. She wants... she wants to name her kits."

Amberstorm padded towards the kits. "Willowkit," she said, pointing at the white tabby kit with her tail. She touched the ginger striped kit with her paw. "Stripekit. The pale gray one will be Rainkit. This little troublemaker," she mrrowed, pointing at the kit that had killed her, a big gray and white kit with a longer than average snout, "will be Wolfkit. And tell my love that he can name the last one." Fallowpaw nodded and spoke to Graywhisker in a hushed tone.

As Amberstorm faded away, she heard Graywhisker meow, "Amberkit will be her name. For you, my love."