- Aug 3, 2022
- 326
- 143
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Theme prompt #5. The Circle of Life: health, evolution, transformation, death.
*
As the season has warmed, Granitepaw has begun to reminisce. Betonyfrost's kits have been born, and soon the nursery will be full as warriors become queens and new life is breathed into the dried husk that ShadowClan had become. He is not often for introspection, but one day he sees one of the kits -- a little copper-colored one -- flinging himself at a littermate, and his world becomes shimmery like a mirage.
He had been in the nursery like that. A strange thought, one he's never pondered. It's a time he has never wished to return to. Before Spark-kit's death, Granitepaw had been that way, springing on a denmate's tail, needling their ear with his burgeoning teeth.
He realizes his sibling's death had been the turning point for everything. It had revealed his Clan's shameless incompetence, Bonejaw's inability or willingness to heal the sick, Pitchstar's lack of compassion for anyone not his blood. It had also revealed Sandylights' weak nature. Granitepaw had never known his mother had been a kittypet, and he would never have believed a soul who'd told him, but watching her wither away with grief and then abandon him had confirmed every whisper.
Motherhood and maternity are triggers for Granitepaw's anger, and he knows this about himself now. Watching Betonyfrost nurse or bathe her kits sends him spinning through a past best left forgotten. And yet -- now that he has Starlingheart's affection, Granitepaw finds himself wishing he could fix this.
Surely the sight of Starlingheart nursing her kits -- his kits -- would bring him joy. Surely, any children their love and devotion would create would wash the pain from their bruised perceptions of family. Granitepaw has only Siltpaw left, and Starlingheart has lost her parents, her brother, her aunt and mentor.
It would be a chance, he thinks, to make it right again. Granitepaw is not Sandra, not the mythical figure of Flint who had died in the war. Starlingheart is certainly not Briarstar. They will let the ghosts of their kin lie, and they will bring kits who are raised with respect, loyalty, and dignity to ShadowClan.
Granitepaw had never considered the possibility that he could be a father, but it's now within his grasp. The idea does not fill him with warmth or excitement. But surely... if Starlingheart were his mate, and the mother to his kits, their bond would be unbreakable. Surely the kits' existence would solidify her loyalty to him.
The gray tom finds himself staring thoughtfully into the mouth of Starlingheart's den. Her familiar sweet scent, a blossom amongst waste, is stirred by a stiff breeze. The heady combination of spice and greenery from the den makes him light-headed as he considers all that is within his grasp.
He hears her stir inside, and he smiles. Busy mixing herbs for some foolish Clanmate who'd been bit by another rat, he's sure.
Granitepaw enters the den that has become his sanctuary as well as Starlingheart's. He is not thinking of the fatherhood that could be on the horizon, after his warrior ceremony -- but he is thinking of Starlingheart, and all he would do to keep her as his.
*
As the season has warmed, Granitepaw has begun to reminisce. Betonyfrost's kits have been born, and soon the nursery will be full as warriors become queens and new life is breathed into the dried husk that ShadowClan had become. He is not often for introspection, but one day he sees one of the kits -- a little copper-colored one -- flinging himself at a littermate, and his world becomes shimmery like a mirage.
He had been in the nursery like that. A strange thought, one he's never pondered. It's a time he has never wished to return to. Before Spark-kit's death, Granitepaw had been that way, springing on a denmate's tail, needling their ear with his burgeoning teeth.
He realizes his sibling's death had been the turning point for everything. It had revealed his Clan's shameless incompetence, Bonejaw's inability or willingness to heal the sick, Pitchstar's lack of compassion for anyone not his blood. It had also revealed Sandylights' weak nature. Granitepaw had never known his mother had been a kittypet, and he would never have believed a soul who'd told him, but watching her wither away with grief and then abandon him had confirmed every whisper.
Motherhood and maternity are triggers for Granitepaw's anger, and he knows this about himself now. Watching Betonyfrost nurse or bathe her kits sends him spinning through a past best left forgotten. And yet -- now that he has Starlingheart's affection, Granitepaw finds himself wishing he could fix this.
Surely the sight of Starlingheart nursing her kits -- his kits -- would bring him joy. Surely, any children their love and devotion would create would wash the pain from their bruised perceptions of family. Granitepaw has only Siltpaw left, and Starlingheart has lost her parents, her brother, her aunt and mentor.
It would be a chance, he thinks, to make it right again. Granitepaw is not Sandra, not the mythical figure of Flint who had died in the war. Starlingheart is certainly not Briarstar. They will let the ghosts of their kin lie, and they will bring kits who are raised with respect, loyalty, and dignity to ShadowClan.
Granitepaw had never considered the possibility that he could be a father, but it's now within his grasp. The idea does not fill him with warmth or excitement. But surely... if Starlingheart were his mate, and the mother to his kits, their bond would be unbreakable. Surely the kits' existence would solidify her loyalty to him.
The gray tom finds himself staring thoughtfully into the mouth of Starlingheart's den. Her familiar sweet scent, a blossom amongst waste, is stirred by a stiff breeze. The heady combination of spice and greenery from the den makes him light-headed as he considers all that is within his grasp.
He hears her stir inside, and he smiles. Busy mixing herbs for some foolish Clanmate who'd been bit by another rat, he's sure.
Granitepaw enters the den that has become his sanctuary as well as Starlingheart's. He is not thinking of the fatherhood that could be on the horizon, after his warrior ceremony -- but he is thinking of Starlingheart, and all he would do to keep her as his.
[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]