[Fae Magic]

The coldness of the Leaf-Bare sung it's haunting tune in the form of a icy wind outside of the Rainclan's Nursery. The howling of the wind outside could not but barely mask the agonizing cries of the queen in labor. A young she-cat lay in her nest with her anxious mate pacing back and forth behind the medicine cat whom helped the young warrior give birth to the first litter of the mated pair. The she-cat you could plainly see was rather tired from her efforts to birth her kits. The stress on her mate's face as every few minutes he'd peer over the shoulder of the white furred shoulder of the medicine cat that helped his mate. Bright blue eyes focused encouragingly to the other pair of stormy blue that looked up tiredly at her and the tom knew that his mate was in good paws but he could not help but worry. It was their first litter of course; and the future of their linage and the future of Rainclan. 

"You're doing good Springstep just a few more pushes." the long furred Siames spoke up gently but firmly bringing the molly's attention back to the she-cat that was helping her birth her kits. 

"Is she going to be alright, why is it taking so long Dewfrost?" the large tom behind him spoke up anxiously as he sidled himself up beside his mate and licked her fluffy ear in silent support.

Annoyed bright blue eyes peered up at the large tom in front of her but her voice was calm as she spoke to the father-to-be. 

"Tallbreeze why don't you get Springstep something from the fresh kill pile? I'm sure she will be very hungry when the kits are finally born and she will need all the strength she can get to be able to stay strong and healthy for her young. Everything is alright, please. Go take a breath." Dewfrost encouraged the other warrior.

Although her voice was soft there was no hiding the fact that the young medicine cat was just as tired and worn out as the mother-to-be she helped. She normally did not lose her temper very easily but it had been a very long night when the young queen went into labor and it had been a few hours since with no kits yet to be born. It was clear to tell that the long furred molly was growing wary. But she also knew that having the tom pacing behind her did not help ease the worried mother in labor at all and it made the den seem a bit more claustrophobic then it needed to be. So, she had to send the tom out. She honestly did not wish to do that as she believed that having the moral support of the mother's mate helped along the process; she could see this tactic was actually wrong for this pair. 

Tallbreeze stared down at his mate looking torn at the thought of leaving her but Springstep gave him a worn smile but she nodded anyways encouraging him to take a breather outside. Frankly, she was feeling a bit overwhelmed with how anxious he was acting. So she silently agreed with the clan's medicine cat. The white and brown tabby tom hesitated before he nodded and nudged her lovingly; whispering that he loved her before he padded out of the nursery with a glance over his shoulder. The glance between the two she-cats went over his head like a secret language was spoken between them as he left. Only if he knew that it was going to be something that changed his life. 

When he stepped out of the Nursery he was greeted with the cold wind of Leaf-Bare like a slap in the face making him have to stop and catch his breath. He hated this weather but he forged on despite his paws growing cold and headed straight for the meager pile of fresh kill the hunting patrol had managed to grab. He did not see very many of the cat's outside except a few that were smart enough to sit back under shelter to share tongues. One of those few happened to be a large and well built tom. Larger then even Tallbreeze himself. That tom was none other then Mountainfire; the best friend of Tallbreeze. The toms and Springstep had grown up together as kits and were like family; he was jokingly called the uncle of the kits that were being born.

"Hey, any news?" Mountainfire questioned as he swiftly padded over towards his friend. 

"No kits yet. I'm worried there is some kind of complication that Dewfrost isn't telling me about. She sent me out to get Springstep something to eat." Tallbreeze mumbled as he nosed through the pile clearly missing the look of panic in the other's eyes as he looked towards the fore-mentioned den. 

"Well, I hope that everything goes well. Why don't you deliver her meal to her and then come out for a patrol with me and a few others. Emberlight wants another patrol out to check the borders. With the lack of prey he is worried the other clans will want to cross over to hunt in our territories if they deem fit that our borders have better prey then their own." Mountainfire suggested. "It'll help you get your mind off of the stress. Everything's fine I'm sure. She's in capable paws." he added.

The brown and white tabby looked at his friend with tired anxious eyes but he agreed. He would be of no use to his mate right now. And if he had been sent out of the den by the medicine cat it was for a good reason. He knew they were all tired and anxious and he was not helping matters. So, he picked up his selection for his mate and headed straight for the Nursery to deliver the meal. By the time that Springstep would probably be able to eat it the squirrel would have been thawed enough to eat. No one liked cold prey.

When he returned to the camp there was a gathering of a few she-cats around the Nursery peering inside the dimness of the den talking among themselves as they looked inside. The sun was high in the sky by this point and the cold wind had stopped making it easier to hear as he drew in closer to the den with his best friend hot on his heels. He nudged his way through with a few 'excuse me's' and 'sorry's' before he managed to get inside the den. There, in front of him lay a tired looking Springstep fast asleep with three tiny little bundles curled up nursing at her belly. Dewfrost was cleaning up the left over herbs and dirty moss from the nest with a few apprentices help when he came in. His heart swelled and nearly burst at the sight of his mate lying there fast asleep looking tired but content. And his kits were alive and well just lying there at her belly nursing happily. At the sound of the commotion Springstep woke up sleepily to look at him and Dewfrost turned to look over her shoulder at the father with a warm smile on her face as she announced. 

"Just in time Tallbreeze. Say hello to your new family. Springstep did very well. Three healthy little she-kits." she announced turning to look at the pretty silver tabby lying there waiting her mate's approach.

"They're beautiful...." the tom spoke up in awe as he sidled himself up beside his mate and peered down at the tiny bundles. "Did you name them yet?" he asked looking up at her with eyes in awe like a child's.

"Uh-huh." the silver molly nodded looking down and gave a warm smile only a mother would be able to. "Webkit, Yarrowkit, and...Poppykit." she pointed to each of them in turn.

A silver tabby kitten much like her mother in appearance was named Webkit. Yarrowkit looked much like her mother as well except of being silver she was brown. The third kit though, Poppykit was not a tabby like her parents but a solid brown with large ears. She was the smallest of the three but not by much. It was a bit odd in Tallbreeze's opinion that they didn't look all too much like him and more of their mother. Especially Poppykit but he loved them anyways and put that to the back of his mind. He was so much in love with them that he didn't take his eyes away; he just couldn't for a second look away from his new family. That's why he never caught the fact that Springstep was looking over his shoulder to the entrance of the Nursery...right at Mountainfire. The large mud brown tom stared right back at her and then at Dewfrost who gave him a small shake of her head before excusing herself. It was their little secret. 

As the moons past and the she-kits grew older it was starting to become rather obvious that something was not right within the family. It could have been Springstep's low fall into silent distancing or it could be the fact that Mountainfire was starting to try and avoid his best friend. But Tallbreeze couldn't figure out what was going on. He doted on his daughters and tried to dote on his mate but whatever he did seemed to breeze past the silver tabby. He sought out Dewfrost in hopes to figure out if something was wrong with Springstep but she did not yield any answers. He took himself out to hunt more and more often to escape the awkward tension that was building around his family. He had just returned to camp with a fresh caught fish and went to take it to his mate but stopped when he heard voices inside the den. It was Springstep speaking with Mountainfire. He could see the kits were out playing with other kits and the other queens outside in the sunshine since it was a nicer day today to play so it was odd that his mate and best friend were alone speaking. That was until he leaned closer to listen; compelled to eavesdrop on them for some reason.

"You cannot tell them!" Springstep's voice spoke up worriedly. 

"Can't tell them? It's beginning to get hide hiding the truth! The older they get the more obvious it is! We can't hide it forever Springstep! Tallbreeze is going to find out eventually!" Mountainfire argued back softly.

"Well...we can...we can make something up!" there was desperation in the mother's voice as she was trying in vain to come up with something.

"It's over sweetheart...we have to tell them..." Mountainfire's voice was soft and tender but filled with defeat as he spoke.

'Sweetheart?' Tallbreeze thought wondering why his friend was speaking to his mate like that. Mountainfire was never one to sweet talk anyone or give them pet names like that. Something was definitely up.

"No...we can't tell the girls yet..." Springstep sounded just as defeated.

"Then we have to tell Tallbreeze. I don't think he'll tell the girls until they are older to understand...I know he's going to be angry...so freaking angry with us." the brown tom's voice spoke up making Tallbreeze wondering what the heck was going to make him angry like the tom said, That's why he decided enough hiding and stepped into the Nursery. 

"What am I going to be angry about?" his voice was quiet but suspicious as he stepped in and froze to find that his silver tabby mate was leaned up against the larger frame of his best friend. 

Normally, affectionate gestures were not an uncommon thing. But, it was uncommon with how lovey dovey they looked with each other. Then it clicked. Everything clicked. Their strange behavior. Mountainfire's odd distancing recently. The looks they gave each other...the fact the Mountainfire was so protective of the kits and how Springstep seemed to be hiding something. Everything fell together like a puzzle piece and he grew mad. So mad that his vision turned red; just like the hot fire in his veins and the blood that pumped through him to his broken heart as he finally found his voice; seeing the shocked and guilty looks on his mate and best friend's faces at his entrance. 

"You're cheating on me...aren't you...with him?" he looked between them. "And those kits...they aren't mind are they?" 

There were tears in her eyes as the tabby queen shook her head looking like she was about to start sobbing. Her ears fell back as she hid her face away from him in shame. 

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry Tallbreeze! It was only once..." she sobbed out.

Tallbreeze shook his head staring in disbelief. "That's why you were so insistent that we have kits that day...because you already knew about the pregnancy...I thought it was because you're mother passed away!" his voice rose.

Mountainfire stepped up to him looking pleading at his friend. "It was because of her mother...We don't actually love each other like that...I swear! I just had my heart broken by Mistyripple and she was hurt because of her mother's passing but we never knew this would happen man I swear! We never meant to hurt you or keep you in the dark about it..." he looked so hurt and pleading his friend to understand.

"You knew I loved her!" Tallbreeze shouted over at him. "Ever since we were kits you knew I love Springstep and you go behind my back and do this...." he didn't know what came over him as he launched himself across the space between them and tackled his best friend to the ground with claws and teeth in a rage. 

The shriek that Springstep let out alerted to something going on within the Nursery walls and made a warrior within the clearing come to investigate the commotion. It took three warriors to break the toms apart leaving a sobbing mess that was Springstep being comforted by one of the other queens and the two toms ruffled and bleeding escorted out of the den and marched to the leader's den to speak with their leader about what was going on. Dewkit and Yarrowkit looked on confused and worried but Poppykit looked between the den and her father and uncle's departing backs with a searching look. That would never be the end of things. Poppykit slowly saw her mother go into a depressive stage and barely leave her den. She never sang the girls to sleep like she used to and she ate only enough to sustain herself and the kits to nurse from her. Their once happy and gentle mother turned into a skeleton of her old self. They often saw Dewfrost visiting and speaking in hushed tones with her. Tallbreeze, their father seemed angry to even be around the kits for awhile. He didn't take their presence very well. But over time he grew distant and uncaring. More to Poppykit then to her sisters. She would later find out when she overheard him muttering something about how she didn't look anything like him or her mother to be the case for his supposed hatred of her.

Uncle Mountainfire on the other hand seemed hesitant to be around the kit's parents and made Poppykit wonder why; she knew her father and uncle got into a fight about something but she didn't know why and but she wanted to find out. It had to come to a halt though when one morning the kits woke up to find their mother had not woken up yet. When they called for her and poked her in hopes to wake her up; they found her cold and still. She had passed away in the night while the kits slept beside her. Horrified they ran to anyone they could find first to tell them what was going on. A funeral was held for her that night and the kits ended up finding another to sleep beside. That same night Poppykit heard the rustling of someone outside and peeked an eye open to see the dark form of a familiar large tom. Mountainfire had woken in the night and was making his way across camp; assumingly having stopped by the nursery and unknowingly having woken up the curious she-kit. 

She followed him toward the camp entrance and before he slipped through she spoke up. 

"Why are you leaving Uncle Mountainfire?" her voice made him halt in his tracks and spin around obviously not having realized he'd woken he up.

He looked for something to say but found nothing that he could use as a lie to her. He knew she was smart to know he was lying. He was never good at lying to her...his daughter. 

"I'm leaving the clan...you're daddy and I are not friends anymore and there is a lot of issues with this clan that they have against me..." he confessed 

"But I thought we're going to be friends forever?" she looked sad. "You told me you'd train me when I'm older remember?" she added.

"Oh sweet pea I know...And I'm so sorry but I have to leave...I'm not wanted here anymore." the tom crouched in front of her with a sad look on his face.

"You're wanted by me isn't that enough?" her childish innocence broke his heart as he leaned over and nuzzled her head.

"Oh honey...when you're older. Come find me someday okay? And don't let your daddy scare you or be mean to you or your sisters okay? He may not act like it but he still loves you and so do I." he said gently.

Poppykit didn't understand the heartache behind his message as she couldn't do anything to stop him as he rose and vanished out of the camp clearing and out of her life for a long time.