This was a quick little warm-up (or at least, it was supposed to be) featuring Silentchaser and Cinnamonswan, the medicine cat! Silentchaser had a fairly interesting life and I figured I would talk about him.
Silentchaser was the first non-founder cat to join the clan when a patrol found an abandoned newborn kitten and brought him to camp. Other than that, his youth was pretty unremarkable. He was apprenticed to Freezerump and trained alongside Buttercuppaw, although she was a few moons older than him. At somepoint during his life he also had a litter of kits with Heronspot, the son of Comfreyfur and Pinetree, but he wasn't really involved with their lives and likewise wasn't into Heronspot.
He always had aspirations to become leader, and that chance was given to him when the previous deputy Crookedpatch retired and he was appointed deputy. (Just for context, Basildapple died fairly young and Crookedpatch was appointed in his place) Silentchaser was fairly good at his job, until tragedy struck.
He saw dark, ominous clouds gathered in the sky and bravely decided to go on border patrol, hoping he could make it back in time before the downpour. Unfortunately for him, the storm broke out quicker than expected. A flash flood happened and in the resounding chaos he broke his back.
Many cats, the three medicine cats included, did not believe he would survive. Especially after his broken back became infected. Though, everyone still held out hope, and thought Comfreyfur taking over his duties would only be temporary.
Then, Crowstar lost his last four lives saving his clanmates when a fire raged through camp. Now the clan was really faced with a dilemma, because while Silentchaser was technically still deputy, he was in no shape to lead. Either they hoped he would recover when he might not (and leave the clan leaderless for a bit before he got his nine lives) or let Comfreyfur take over leadership. You can guess what they chose!
Against all odds, Silentchaser made a full recovery; physically at least. Mentally? He was no where near ok. Logically he understand why the clan made Comfreystar leader. He might not have lived, and it certainly would have taken him months to make the journey for his nine lives. But, it had always been his dream to lead the clan and it had been cruelly taken away from him.
For a while, Silentchaser refused to do anything at all. He spent most of his days in camp going between stewing angrily, begging StarClan to fix his life, and lying around in a depressed heap. Things got even worse for him when the cat he was in love with, Rootstripe, turned up dead. Most cats gave him a wide berth, unable to comfort him in any meaningful way. Some of the younger cats were even afraid of him, with his short temper and habit of lashing out at StarClan. There were even rumors he was planning on killing Comfreystar and with how much jealousy and resentment he had it certainly wasn't impossible. But despite it all, Cinnamonswan refused to abandon him.
The daughter of Crookedpatch and Whirlfur and the youngest medicine cat, Cinnamonswan had gotten rather close with him over the months it took to heal Silentchaser's broken back. She felt terrible for him and wanted him to be able to start anew.
Knowing he had to have gained some herb knowledge while he was in the medicine den for six months, she offered to train him to become a full medicine cat. At first he refused; as it had always been his dream to be a warrior and he never really had interest in "boring herbs". However, he also realized part of the job would be communing with StarClan-- something normal warriors didn't do. He was desperate to know why StarClan screwed him over so badly, and so eventually he agreed.
He wasn't the best medicine cat, in all honesty. He frequently refused to treat cats who he felt wronged him, which over time became most cats in the clan. Not to mention he never really had a natural talent for herbs and often forgot what they looked like when out gathering. That being said, he did eventually get to commune with StarClan, and learned that they had nothing to do with the storm that caused his broken back. It was just a terrible tragedy that happened, nothing more. It took a long time for him to accept that.
Cinnamonswan caught feelings for him a lot sooner than he did for her. It took him a long time to get over Rootstripe's death with everything that had happened. Eventually she confessed her feelings to him, and they became mates. Silentchaser actually retired shortly after that, as he had never really been a good medicine cat and his old back injury was starting to bother him, along with the usual aches and pains of old age.
Cinnamonswan got pregnant, and the two were overjoyed to finally have a family of their own. Then yet again, tragedy struck in Silentchaser's life. Well, it was more like tragedy struck at his life, because he suddenly turned up dead on the border, with no visible cause of death. Cinnamonswan gave birth shortly after that, and she refused to have anything to do with the single kitten born. She busied herself with medicine cat duties and then, in similar fashion to her late mate, died at the border.
Overall, his life was kind of bad! He did learn to happy (or at least accept it) but he certainly didn't get what he wanted. I thought his resounding jealousy, anger, and eventual pairing with Cinnamonswan very interesting and I figured he deserved some backstory.