#y1-gl

[warriors-but-cats-die]

ceremony in exile

Downkit's fur felt heavy and soaked. Ashfoot sighed, licking her head.

"At least your pelt is dark," she murmured.

"At least Tallstar gave us a warning," Deadfoot said, touching his nose to Ashfoot.

She swatted him with her tail. "You cheated. You're the deputy." Eaglekit and Hillkit had already been groomed, but the grit of the tunnels clung to their grey fur. Ashfoot said they were born outside the tunnel, but Downkit couldn't remember the outside world. They would only be allowed to travel outside the tunnel after becoming apprentices.

"Who do you think your mentor will be?" Hillkit asked, his voice squeaking. "I want Deadfoot."

"You can't have Deadfoot, mouse-brain," Eaglekit said. "He's our father."

Ashfoot picked Eaglekit up by his scruff. He dangled from her uncomfortably, his tail swishing on the ground. "Don't call your brother a mouse-brain," she said, growling around him.

"I'm sorry," Eaglekit muttered. Ashfoot placed him next to Downkit, and she winced when Eaglekit caused the water to splash over her pelt. She hated how it dried sticky.

"It's fine," Hillkit said, licking his paw.

"Let all cats old enough to fast gather before me for a Clan Meeting," Tallstar called. There was little space to travel, and Downkit watched as her parents glanced at each other, unspoken sadness passing between them.

"Today, I perform one of my favourite duties," Tallstar continued. Downkit had heard the ceremony once before, only a few days ago when Webpaw was apprenticed to Mudclaw. She remembered how Barkface had seethed about doing it underground, where the stars could not witness them.

She made eye contact with her mentor. Barkface couldn't truly apprentice her without the blessing of StarClan at the Moonstone, and although Tallstar couldn't forbid them from travelling, the way was perilous, and Barkface had decided they would have to wait. For now, Tallstar could rename her Downpaw, and she would learn herbs from him.

Still, she watched her siblings touch noses with their new mentors, and couldn't help but feel her claws extend.

Ashfoot sighed, licking her ears. "It'll be your turn soon," she murmured. "Barkface will take you to the Moonstone as soon as it's safe."

But Downpaw could hear the uncertainty in her mother's voice. She might never be made an apprentice in the eyes of StarClan.

[warriors-but-cats-die]

thunderclan — year one — greenleaf

back in the easy clan bb...

redtail lives! that's a key difference! usually i report births, ceremonies, and deaths, but it's a key difference: he lives.

spottedleaf dies, and yellowfang replaces her, as per in canon. rosetail also dies as she does in canon, and bluestar takes over mentoring firepaw.

(she feels bad about the whole situation.)

ravenpaw runs away, joining barley on the farm.

and brindleface has her litter, fernkit, ashkit, elderkit, and tulipkit.

[warriors-but-cats-die]

shadowclan — year one — greenleaf

so. i did definitely struggle with how to write this, and i ultimately decided that bookkeeping the exile and the like of brokenstar was hurting my head.

i'm not quite pretending it didn't happen, but i am going to continue to treat all cats as shadowclan cats, just to avoid the headache.

anyway. nightpelt and cinderfur step into their positions as leader and deputy, as expected.

no apprentices die, because lucky apprentices! it's newleaf. and i don't have the heart to kill you.

applekit and ratkit become apprentices, with mentors russetfur and tallpoppy (respectively). marigoldkit dies, but mintkit doesn't! lucky duck!

my explanation? brokenstar's killing of the kits was discovered, leading to other apprentices and kits living. not by yellowfang; she was exiled earlier and will be showing up in thunderclan as appropriate.

darkflower has a litter of kits with scorchwind, lavenderkit and chaparralkit. lavendarkit is from missingkits, but chaparralkit is just a littermate. he's a white and red tom.

and that's it! shadowclan remains a tricky clan to write this for.

[warriors-but-cats-die]

riverclan — year one — greenleaf

from this point on, i won't list every cat every season, only changes. (there will be a year-end wrap-up with a new set of allegiances.)

oakheart still dies in the battle, and is still replaced by leopardfur.

frogleap also dies, possibly in that battle.

since there's no canon litter, greypool has a litter of kits. they are pinekit (white and cream point silver ticked tabby tom with long fur), firkit (brown sepia chinchilla tom), podkit (black and white smoke tom), and larchkit (brown and white point shaded she-cat).

[warriors-but-cats-die]

windclan — year one — greenleaf

first season of exile.

cloudrunner dies, weakened from hunger.

webpaw becomes an apprentice, mudclaw's apprentice.

eaglepaw, downpaw, and hillpaw are apprenticed to tallstar, barkface, and doespring, respectively.

windclan also rescues a kit while exiled, tawnykit. (she will grow to become tawnyfur.)