Interesting that despite being distant with stonerun axel named one of her kittens after her with pebblekit?
It’s more like Stonerun is the distant one and Axel is just following suit after her “mother” made it clear she wants nothing to do with her.
Imagine this occurs in between Moon 33 and Moon 34. Although she hasn’t fully recovered from giving birth, Axel feels like she’s suffocating inside the nursery’s stuffy, cavern walls (they sometimes remind her of the cage she used to live in) and she’s grateful when Bluegale offers to look after her litter while she goes outside and stretch her legs out in the clan’s territory. She also decides it’s the perfect opportunity to get familiar with her new home.
While out and about, she comes across a face that she never thought she’d see again in her lifetime— her mother! She’s ecstatic to see her, even more so when she catches the scent of TallClan on her pelt. At this point, she hasn’t had time to familiarize herself with her new clanmates and Stonerun had no idea that the new queen Mulberrystripe had brought was her own daughter.
Needless to say, Stonerun is not particularly happy about this new development. TallClan was supposed to be the start of a new life with a new name, a new identity, and a devoted, loving husband by her side. It was easy for her to forget about her past, but now, not anymore with Axel’s arrival. So, when confronted by Axel, Stonerun is quick to act like she doesn’t know her and dismisses her like she’s a confused, lost kit. She was never really attached to her anyway, so it comes easy for her to act like she isn’t her child.
Axel is devastated by this. She’s had mixed feelings about her mother. She always knew Stonerun was dismissive and unattached throughout her childhood, but she always just chalked it off as something normal (after all it was just the two of them in a small enclosure seperated from the rest of the world). She was hurt when she left her behind, but as her eyes opened to the kitten mill’s horrible ways, she came to kind of understand her decision and silently forgive her.
For a split second, when Axel first saw her, she envisioned a teary reunion between the two and a new sense of warmth knowing that someone familiar was with her in the clan. However, now reality has broken in and she’s realized she’s truly on her own with just her kits by her side.
Pebblekit was named in honor of her mother and prior to finding out she was also in TallClan. Now, Axel is hoping that her son will give the name a new meaning.
