Daffodilpaw

History

Kithood [0-6 moons] >

Daffodilkit was born alongside Lizardkit into stressful times. Their mother, Quicksplash, had fallen ill with some mysterious sickness shortly before kitting, and Lizardkit was showing signs of the sickness as well. Worried that the vulnerable newborn would also fall ill, Daffodilkit was left with another nursing queen while Lizardkit and Quicksplash were taken to the herbalist den to be treated.

Unfortunately, less than a moon after, both of them succumbed to the illness. And before ever being born, Daffodilkit's father was already dead, a body found in the wake of what must have been either a predator attack or a random Empire ambush. Daffodilkit was alone, left to the remaining caretakers and queens of MarshClan to be raised. That same moon, two more kits - Robinkit and Gourdkit - joined the nursery after the caretaker Sundropsight adopted them, but it hardly lifted the young Daffodilkit's mood.

The nursery then grew a little emptier as a couple of kits, Fernkit and Ladybugkit, ranked up to apprentices. Word of another cat, Howlsun, dying to this weird illness going around reached Daffodilkit's ears. Was it the same illness that killed Daffodilkit's mother and littermate? The same one that Dandelionkit was so sick with?

One day, there was a commotion in camp, one Daffodilkit couldn't help but listen in on. Something about one of the MarshClan cats being an Empire spy? Daffodilkit hardly even knew what the Empire was at this point, just that they were the bad guys and that the clans had been at odds with them for moons and moons now.

Afterwards, the MarshClan nursery started getting a little crowded, as cats with unfamiliar scents moved in with their kits. As it turned out, these were cats from CloudClan. They'd been driven out of their territory by the Empire and were left without a place to stay. Daffodilkit supposed that was fine, though missed the relative quiet of before. Even more so when more CloudClan cats showed up. At least Dandelionkit seemed to be doing better, and was able to come back to the nursery. Daffodilkit was worried about that illness possibly killing a denmate... Not that it was much better learning that Dandelionkit was now paralyzed in the hind legs.

Regardless, Dandelionkit was named an apprentice. Shortly after, left to her thoughts, Daffodilkit realized she didn't feel much like a molly, and talked to the caretakers. They learned about a lack of gender, or agender, and happily accepted that as their new identity, starting to use they/them pronouns and feeling more comfortable being referred to simply as a cat and not a molly or a tom.

The last of the CloucClan cats that had been trapped in the MarshClan tunnels were rescued. Maybe things were looking up. The Empire was still very much lurking about as a threat, though. Never mind the illness that was starting to spread to more and more clanmates.

As the nursery continued to get more crowded, so did the herbalist den. Aphidstalk gave birth to Basilkit and Thymekit, Hornetshadow had a single kitten named Stoatkit with a surrogate, and Guppydawn birthed three kits. That same moon, a couple more cats - Claytansy and Kitewillow - got sick, and several deaths and casualties resulted from a mass attack launched against the Empire to drive them out of the clan territories.

When the nursery got to be a bit too much, sometimes Daffodilkit would slip away to peek into the herbalist den and see what was going on. They ached, they wanted to help so much but couldn't. They were too young. And yet, when Fisherbat took notice of them looking in, he didn't turn them away. Rather, he took a brief break from his work to ask what the kit was up to, and even offered to explain what some of the herbs he was using did when he saw the kit take an interest in said herbs.

More and more kits were ranking up, and Daffodilkit dreaded the day they would turn six moons. They didn't want to start training as a warrior like they assumed they would. Not because they necessarily disliked fighting, but because they would rather help where they felt they could be of greater assistance: in the herbalist den. They didn't get their hopes up, though. Surely there was some other kit more qualified for the role than them.

More and more cats were getting sick still. Even one of the herbalists had gotten it at this point! Not even the coming of new-leaf could make things seem better when this disease looked so dire. Especially as cats were dying from it; Claytansy and Kitewillow, and then another warrior named Mushroomstep. Apricotswan and Hyacinthsky moved into the nursery, expecting kits, happy to one day soon bring something good into the world, but Daffodilkit wasn't so optimistic. Even Waspstar seemed to know he could no longer handle things at his age, stepping down as leader and allowing Egretbranch to become Egretstar.

Wasting disease. That's what the herbalists ended up calling it. An appropriately frightening name for an equally frightening illness. Still more cats were getting sick and dying from wasting disease, with no apparent cure in sight.

Magnoliabird and Periwinklehowl were expecting kits now. Daffodilkit didn't understand why anyone would want to bring kits into a world so uncertain and deadly right now. Cats were still dying. The warrior Hawkclaw was found dead at the Hope Bridge after a fatal encounter with the Empire. But, maybe they were just too young to get it. Either way, life went on. Before they knew it, Daffodilkit was six moons old, facing their imminent apprenticeship.

Herbalist Apprenticeship [6-15 moons] >

To say that they were surprised when Fisherbat named them as the next herbalist apprentice would be an understatement. But Daffodilpaw was honored to take on their new name and role all the same, keeping a composed demeanor on the outside but practially leaping for joy on the inside. They would get to learn how to help cats with herbs! Maybe they would even help find a cure to this wasting disease going around.