Plovertail

basic description > Small brown ticked tabby tom with a bobbed tail, white markings, and amber eyes
build > Big and slender, but short
fur description > Medium and soft
breeds > Moggy
height > 22 cm
weight > 7.0 lb

voice > Justin Young
scent > Reeds and moss

scars > Large and small scars on the left side of his face, a small scar on the right side of his face, and three large nicks out of his ears
accessories > N/A
banned traits > Deaf

Positive Traits
positive >
    >> Observative - In all of his time not spent with others, Plovertail enjoys watching the activity of the camp and, more recently, out in the territory. He picks out every detail that he sees and analyzes it as something important. It's hard to get anything past his eyes.
    >> Intelligent - Plovertail takes information and knowledge and devours it like its prey. He never seems to want to stop learning. And his ability to retain information is excellent in which he rarely seems to forget anything that he learns. Unless he wants to, that is.
    >> Compassionate - Despite his small stature he has a big heart, and Plovertail almost feels like he can sense the emotions coming off others. He feels heartache for others when they're going through something indescribable, and wishes he could help whenever possible.

neutral >
    >> Quiet - He doesn't seem to speak his mind much, or speak anything at all. Sometimes others won't hear his voice for a few days until he decides to speak up. It's nothing against his voice or others, just Plovertail thinks talking is far too tedious.
    >> Stoic - His thoughts, emotions, and anything else he can keep hidden is only for Plovertail to see. It's hard to break his facade and get him to show anything on his face. It has its benefits and its downsides, especially when he actually does want to express himself, but doesn't seem to know how to.
    >> Loyal - One thing that does seem to fascinate Plovertail is the stories and history of his clan. He's all the more proud of his clan after meeting the other three and seeing how strange they were compared to MarshClan. From a young age, he's been very devoted to MarshClan and is prepared to start serving the clan. Although he can no longer do so as a warrior, he works hard in helping raise the next generations

negative >
    >> Insecure - Worried about every fault he has, Plovertail tends to cower at his own weakness. His insecurities cause him to work harder most of the time, which eventually tires him out and then makes him feel worse. He tries his hardest to make up for his weakness, but in the end, is haunted by letting others down.
    >> Reclusive - Plovertail doesn't seem to care for company, though he is partial to kits and young apprentices. He keeps to himself and very seldom seems to associate with others. He also seems to intentionally make it hard to approach him, all so he can be alone. He tries his hardest for patrols, but in the end, finds himself wandering off to be on his own once more.
    >> Careful - It's never a bad thing to be careful, but Plovertail's a little too careful. In fact, his overthinking about what's the best way to be careful often causes more problems. He steps over every little rock that he encounters and so far hasn't dared tried to get even a tail length close to the border, even as a warrior. He probably doesn't do scent markers too much because he's so worried about overstepping the border.

Parents
 parents >
    >>  Doepuddle > Mother > Brown chimera she-cat with blue eyes > Played by Zodiac-Dream > Deceased
    >> Jethro > Donor Father > Dark gray and white ticked tom with amber eyes. > NPC Rogue Donor > ???

siblings >
    >> Dovemask > Sister > Dark brown she-cat with a white paw, a white patch over her eye and blues eyes. > Played by Melontine > Deceased
    >> Coalfrost > Sibling > Dark gray tom with a bobbed tail and heterochromatic blue and amber eyes. > Played by Sn0wbranch > Deceased
    >> Dapplecrash > Sister > Chocolate calico she-cat with blue eyes. > Played by Winter5587 > Alive

mate >
    >> Beetletail > Black-and-white she-cat with amber eyes > Played by peeperonipip > Deceased

kits >
    >> Mothcloud > Daughter > Brown ticked tabby bicolor she-cat with a short tail and golden eyes > Played by Jax47698 > Alive
    >> Monarchstream > Daughter > Black ticked tabby bicolor she-cat with amber eyes > Played by PrettyPosey > Alive
    >> Murkytrail > Son > Brown ticked tabby bicolor tom with a bobtail and golden eyes > Played by CGIspector > Alive

    >> Lightember > Adopted Daughter > Tortoiseshell tabby she-cat with amber eyes and curly fur > Played by Melontine > Alive

extended >
    >> Beesting > Niece > Golden tabby she-cat with white markings and yellow eyes > Played by RubyRose364 > Alive
    >> Spiderbite > Nibling > Dark brown tabby cat with yellow eyes and a white marking on her chest > Played by Sn0wbranch > Deceased
    >> Mantisdawn > Niece > Light brown tabby she-cat with white markings and green eyes > Played by peeperonipip > Deceased
    >> Roachstar > Nephew > Red-brown tom with darker markings and orange eyes > Played by monkiies > Alive
    >> Cicadashell > Niece > Cinnamon she-cat with white markings and blue eyes > Played by Sushipies > Alive
    >> Batwhisper > Nephew > Brown speckled tabby tom with curled ears and yellow eyes > Played by Spacecat011 > Deceased
    >> Shrewflight > Niece > Brown tabby she-cat with green eyes > Played by RubyRose364 > Alive
    >> Charcry > Niece > Black-and-white bicolor trans-she-cat with blue eyes and a short tail > Played by Melontine > Alive
    >> Snapcreek > Nephew > Black-and-white bicolor tom with blue eyes and a short tail > Played by Winter5587 > Alive
    >> Hartfire > Niece > Chocolate calico tabby she-cat with brown eyes > Played by Lehfren > Deceased

    >> Beetlepaw > Granddaughter > Black-and-brown tuxedo she-cat with green eyes and a bobbed tail > Played by Skysplash8 > Alive
    >> Claypaw > Grandson > Brown tabby tom with amber eyes and a bobbed tail > Played by RubyRose364 > Alive
    >> Cowpaw > Grandson > Dark brown tabby trans-tom with white spotting, green eyes, and a bobbed tail > Played by Sn0wbranch > Alive
    >> Pearlpaw > Granddaughter > Albino she-cat with pink eyes and a fluffy tail > Played by CGIspector > Alive
    >> Peonypaw > Granddaughter > Chocolate calico tabby she-cat with green eyes and extra ears > Played by codesii > Alive

    >> Minkkit > Grandson > Brown spotted tabby tom with yellow eyes > Played by drakkeosaur > Alive
    >> Weaselkit > Granddaughter > Brown spotted tortoiseshell tabby she-cat with yellow eyes > Played by 0PrinceofDarkness0 > Alive
    >> Fisherkit > Grandson > Black spotted tabby tom with yellow eyes > Played by RubyRose364 > Alive
    >> Webkit > Grandson > Fluffy grey-and-white tom with blue eyes and folded ears > Played by codesii > Alive

kithood [ 0 - 6 moons ] >
    Ploverkit is the firstborn of MarshClan's queen, Doepuddle, alongside his two sisters, Dovekit and Dapplekit, and his brother, Coalkit. Don't expect to see him stray from the nursery, however, for he's quite attached to its coziness.
    Throughout his kithood, Ploverkit was often found attached to Doepuddle's side. If it wasn't that, he would be observing the camp from the highest point that he could reach or in the medicine den. He learned a good amount about the clan just from his observations, from the times that patrols went out to the snoring of warriors from a long, hard day. Of course, there was still a lot he didn't understand, but it made Ploverkit pleasantly encouraged to at least feel somewhat ahead.
    He was quick to learn about his distaste for blood when Ryepaw was treating a cut on a warrior. It had such a strange and unpleasant smell, not to mention it looked like it got everywhere. He questioned how well he's going to be able to be an asset to the clan with this dislike, but figured his mentor will help him through this discomfort.

apprenticeship [ 6 - 12 moons ] >
    At six moons old Ploverkit felt more than ready to get a little bit more space away from his rambunctious sisters through apprenticeship. He was named Ploverpaw and assigned Murkypool as his mentor. He's both pleased and a bit nervous at the idea of having the tom for a mentor. On one paw, he knows Murkypool from spending so much time with him in the nursery. His quiet nature made him easy to get along with, so at least Ploverpaw wouldn't have to worry about an overly-talkative mentor that tried to pry into his mind at every waking moment.
    But on the other paw, Murkypool was just about as reserved as Ploverpaw was. Would his nerves get in the way of training? What about his tendency to jump at even the shriek of a kit? He almost... didn't seem mentor material. Ploverpaw worried about his training, of course, but also how he may be able to overcome his distaste for blood with such a passive mentor. Still, he is willing to give Murkypool the benefit of the doubt, at least for now. He's overall happy that he gets to train with someone that knows him and has gotten along with well back in the nursery.
    Ploverpaw was quick to learn that he didn't care for fighting. He hated turning on another cat, regardless of clan and even if it meant for the sake of MarshClan, and struggled with battle training because he didn't want to hurt anyone when learning. He would often recoil from the mock battle if he heard even the smallest sound of protest come from his opponent, and was clumsy when he faltered mid-swipe. He, gradually, learned to get over his compassion for the others, but he still hates fighting would do anything to be able to prevent it. He was quick, however, to learn the hunter's crouch and capture his first piece of prey... only to let it go at the sight of blood.
    Ploverpaw was quick to learn how difficult training would be with his strange problem for blood. He couldn't finish a kill on prey because of the first sight of blood, or he would freeze in the middle of a battle training if blood was accidentally exposed. It made his training very hard on him, and who knew how difficult it was for Murkypool! Ploverpaw felt terrible that the warrior had to deal with such a wreck as Ploverpaw himself. It wasn't until this issue cost him a juicy vole that he finally resorted to confide in someone and get help. He didn't want to go to his mother; he feared she would get too worried about it. And Murkypool already seemed aware of it, but did he know what to do? It wasn't until a fateful day that Ryefeather, the medicine cat of MarshClan, needed help with carrying herbs. Ploverpaw poured out his concerns to the medicine cat, breaking his own character to do so, and sought out the help he so badly needed. The medicine cat suggested meditation, and he had Ploverpaw come to the medicine cat den every other day for a period of time to just let his mind clear and then use these techniques on his issues with blood. Ploverpaw thought it sounded dumb but never realized at the time how much those sessions and meditation would truly help his future as a warrior.
    It wasn't long after this encounter, however, that MarshClan was pushed out of its camp and forced to take refuge in EmberClan's camp alongside the other three clans. Ploverpaw and the rest of the apprentices suddenly had to begin their training in a different environment to what they grew up in, and it didn't help that the EmberClan camp was suddenly crowded. He struggled with the change, especially because he didn't want all of these strangers to know about his weakness and put MarshClan in a bad place. He still visited Ryefeather when he could for his sessions. He learned, however, that he actually enjoys fish. The taste wasn't actually as terrible as everyone in MarshClan makes it out to be, and there was no blood that fish produced when you bit into it. It was the perfect thing for Ploverpaw. And he seemed to make new friends from other clans, or so he believes he did.
    Gradually, Ploverpaw began to feel more and more comfortable around blood. He no longer froze in the middle of hunts or battle practice. The use of meditation helped him drown out the smell and sight of it, although he still didn't like the stickiness of blood whenever it got caught in his fur or he stepped in it. And, by habit, he still never ate fresh-kill with his eyes open, though Ryefeather seems to believe he can do so if he tried. Regardless, Ploverpaw could never be more thankful for Ryefeather's help, and still uses the techniques he learned to this day to help cope with anything that may go wrong, from blood to even the littlest of stress he experiences.
    He was glad to not have to stay in EmberClan for too long, to the point of becoming a warrior there, as the twolegs began to take their leave almost as fast as they appeared. Ploverpaw didn't want to receive his name in front of so many cats he didn't know, in a camp that was not his home, and a territory that he didn't want to familiarize himself with. CloudClan was temporarily invited to MarshClan's camp as the twolegs continued to clear out of the CloudClan territory, before returning to their territory, thus returning the clans and forest back to normal. Ploverpaw completed his training back in MarshClan, and made it to the beginning of his warriorhood.

warriorhood [ 12 - 20 moons ] >
    Ploverpaw, having completed his apprenticeship and could be considered a full-fledged warrior and, with the help of Ryefeather, overcome his problem with blood, rightfully earned his warrior name of Plovertail. His name was given for the strange kink in his bobtail, but he figured the average name fit for an average warrior such as him. His brother and sisters, too, earned their names: Dovemask, Coalfrost, and Dapplecrash. He doesn't know if it's a big brother instinct or just a feeling that anyone gets for their family, but Plovertail felt more proud of his littermates than himself and is very interested to see how each of them will grow.
    Plovertail can still be seen lingering around the medicine den and talking Ryefeather. He can also be seen nearby or even inside the nursery at some points, so long as there's no queens or kits there. He seems to enjoy reminiscing on his younger moons, despite not being old at all, but also seems to enjoy playing with Gullcry's kits whenever he can. The clan probably won't find it too surprising to see him as a father of some little ones in the near future.
    However, StarClan's prophecy wasn't complete as more chaos began to befall the clans. CloudClan reported across the borders of a group of rogues known as the Storm terrorizing them, and it wasn't long after that when half of their clan, led by Goldenstar, came to MarshClan for shelter. MarshClan didn't hesitate to take them in, but they would soon come to realize the consequences that came with doing so.
    At first, things seemingly went as usual, aside from the extra mouths that had to be fed. Plovertail continued about his warrior duties as usual, as well as taking up a side job as a caterpillar father--courteous to Beetletail in doing so. He didn't see anything else going wrong, and that soon the Storm would move on from CloudClan's territory and CloudClan could return in no time. But he was sorely mistaken. For the most part, it was nothing but their patrols getting attacked on the border. It seemed that the rogues had no intention of going into the marshy territory. They were still, however, brutal into their raids on MarshClan's cats. There was, thankfully, only one cat from MarshClan that was killed, but that one cat was none other than Plovertail's beloved mentor, Murkypool.
    Plovertail fell into a brief state of depression at the loss of his mentor. He wanted to avenge his mentor and couldn't think straight as he thought of nothing else. He began to fall a bit behind on his duties because of this, but after being pulled out of this mindset and put back on his feet by his friends, he managed to continue forward. In addition to this, he was given his first apprentice; Gullcry's daughter Turtlepaw. He looked forward to being able to pass down what Murkypool taught him to the sweet she-cat. Still, he thought of his mentor every day and how else he can make Murkypool proud from up in StarClan. And, slowly, he felt he did this. On top of beginning training with Turtlepaw, he was a part of the patrol that helped re-discover the tunnels that connected MarshClan and CloudClan's territories. With the help of the tunnels, the clans now had a surprise against the Storm that they could use. And then, of course, there was the final battle against the Storm. Plovertail didn't hesitate to join the raid in hopes he could help the driving away of the Storm in Murkypool's heed. And, after many battles with rogues and his ears shredded from a rogue near the end of the battle, he succeeded as the rogues fled and CloudClan was able to return to their territory.
    As MarshClan began to get back into its normal routine, Plovertail began to feel odd. He knew he had been injured during the final battle, but he didn't think twice about it as he was able to go back to his normal duties with dull aching in his ears. However, as the aching got worse and his hearing began to become disoriented, the warrior began to visit Ryefeather for the issue. For the longest time, neither could figure out what was wrong, as they believed they had avoided infection to his ears. But they were wrong; rather, infection had seeped into his ears from the injuries and begun to damage the inner parts of his ears. Ryefeather tried to heal the infections, but because they were so deep in, he couldn't get to the infection. And by the time his ears began to feel better, Plovertail could no longer pick up sounds.

queenhood [ 20 moons - present] >
    Plovertail knew he wouldn't be able to do his warrior duties the same way again without his hearing. He wouldn't be able to hunt without hearing the prey, and he couldn't hear orders being given to him. He didn't want to admit it, but he knew he wouldn't be able to be a warrior anymore without causing issues. But that didn't mean he was going to be put into the elders' den to watch what he wished he could still do. So, when he went to Maskstar to bring up his deafness, he announced that he wanted to become a permanent queen. Not only was he still serving the clan, but he got to do what he enjoys most, which was caring for and loving kits. He looked forward to his new position almost more than he did when he became a warrior and was happy to see Maskstar's nod of approval.
    Now, Plovertail can be seen at the mouth of the nursery, waiting for new mothers and kits to come join him. He joins in on den building whenever he's bored, and he can still converse with clanmates, despite not being able to hear him. He'll look at the camp exit in longing to go hunting every so often or train Turtlepaw like he used to, but in the end, knows his heart belongs in the nursery.
    The first few moons of his life as a permanent queen seemed lackluster. Though he was helping Foxcloud with their kits and doing basic duties around camp like den repairs, he sometimes wondered what was going on out in the territory. But, his curiosity would always be fulfilled when Beetletail came to fill him in. He appreciated having them for company, and it made his adjustment to being a queen easier. And then his old apprentice, Turtlepaw, became a warrior. Plovertail was proud of his former apprentice and watched her ceremony from afar. Things seemed to be moving so fast around him, yet his life seemed to go so slow. But it was only about to get faster.
    Of course, Plovertail was always close with Beetletail, and she was one of the few cats that stepped up to work with him on communication. So it didn't come off as a surprise when the two confessed that they liked each other and became mates. He was ecstatic to know that they liked him back, and it took a big weight off of his shoulders. But he didn't have much time to think about their relationship, as Dovemask, his sister, announced she was expecting kits and joined the nursery. Plovertail was happy for his sister, though he would be lying if he said he didn't wonder about who the father was. And it didn't take him long to find out. He met the father, Moth-heart, on the border of CloudClan one day during a walk. After asking so much about his sister, it didn't take Plovertail long to realize that Moth-heart was the father of his sister's kits. He was skeptical about it at first, concerned about their over-the-border relationship, but when the tom mentioned he was going to move to MarshClan to be with his mate and kits, Plovertail couldn't help but sympathize with Moth-heart, as he was clearly making a difficult decision, and he decided to give both Moth-heart and Dovemask the benefit of the doubt. With that, he worked hard to get Dovemask prepared for her kits and looked forward to seeing Moth-heart join MarshClan.
    His sister gave birth to five healthy kits. Plovertail was excited to meet his extended kin, especially knowing they were a new light to MarshClan as they were going through a leadership change. His sister named them Beekit, Spiderkit, Mantiskit, Roachkit, and Cicadakit. Plovertail knew his mother was ready to be a grandmother, too, but she never had the time to be one. Not even a moon later, Doepuddle came down with a sudden case of greencough and succumbed to it, quickly joining StarClan shortly after becoming an elder. Her death came as a shock to Plovertail; having been so close to his mother, he had a hard time believing that she was gone. Plovertail ended up going into a reclusive state similar to when his mentor had died moons ago, only working to help Dovemask care for her kits and do the jobs that he had. He's slowly working to get past Doepuddle's death, and while it hasn't been easy, Plovertail's thankful to have cats like Beetletail, Dovemask, and his sister's kits by his side to help him get through the hardships.
    For a while, Plovertail's life as a queen continued without a hitch. He watched as Moth-heart joined MarshClan to be with his mate and kits, he helps Dovemask with said kits when she needs a break, and he's enjoyed watching the clan from afar. By now, he's become accustomed to his new role. If he wasn't in the nursery, he was most likely helping rebuild dens or in the medicine den spending time with Ryefeather and his new apprentice, Tansypaw. He even worked up the courage to welcome the former Storm cat, Seaheart, into the nursery when she announced she was expecting kits. He knew she wasn't like the cats that stole his warrior life from him, nor was her mate Icefang, but it still made him queasy thinking about it. As kits came and went from the nursery, he had begun to wonder if it was his turn to have his own kits. He figured he could talk to Beetletail about it, but outside problems caused him to hesitate in doing so.
    One night on the full moon, after a Gathering had occurred, the cats that had gone came home ruffled and clearly distraught. Confused, Plovertail approached the patrol to ask what was going on. Ryefeather and Tansypaw worked to fill him in; after a few moons of CloudClan scent being found on the EmberClan territory, Wildstar decided to declare war on CloudClan, and Gullstar had decided to side with her. In retaliation, Kitestar sided with CloudClan, pulling all four clans into a war. Plovertail, although not directly involved in the war due to his rank, was concerned about it nonetheless. This meant that many of his loved ones--Beetletail, his kin, his friends--would have to go to battle. And it terrified him that they could get injured. It took a lot to keep his mouth shut about the issue, but Ryefeather's reassurance that he and Tansypaw would be there to help calmed him.
    If only that was true. About a moon later, shortly after Tansyskip became a full medicine cat, Ryefeather suddenly passed away. It was so fast that not even Tansyskip was able to catch it, but the young medicine cat recalled that his mentor had been complaining about a bellyache days before. Plovertail was crushed at the death. Ryefeather was there for him on many accounts, from working to help him get over his dislike for blood, to his loss of hearing, to just being an overall great friend. One would think that Plovertail would be used to loss at this point, but each cat gone only made it harder. It took everything out of his family to get him out of his nest, or even to eat. For a while, he didn't sleep, either. He had completely missed Dovemask's kits becoming apprentices and his sister leaving the nursery. It would have kept going had Tansyskip not stepped in. The young medicine cat spent time with him reminiscing over Ryefeather. He would stay with Plovertail in the nursery to talk, even convincing the queen that it provided him a break from his work. This helped Plovertail get back on his paws, bringing the two toms close in a similar way that Plovertail was with Ryefeather. Though he'll always miss his old friend, he is glad to know he has a new one in Tansyskip.
    There's always a new light to look forward to, of course. Plovertail just wasn't expecting it to come from his sibling, Coalfrost. Them, along with their mate, Sandslash, had developed a sign language for the disabled cats in MarshClan. It made sense, as there were quite a few cats in MarshClan that were deaf, mute, and the likes. Plovertail was proud of his sibling for creating the language with Sandslash, just as he was excited to learn this language. He was thankful he could speak with cats, but it was frustrating that he couldn't hear them in turn. He knew Beetletail would also look forward to it. So, the clan got right on learning the signs and becoming fluent. Plovertail often worked with Beetletail and Tansyskip for practice, though he picked it up a lot faster than the others.  
    After that, though, things only seemed to get worse. There were cats that left the camp and didn't come back with their lives due to the war, though Plovertail had to thank StarClan each time that it wasn't a cat from his kin. Then Seaheart's son, Puddlekit, who had been born alongside his littermates shortly before Ryefeather's death, had fallen into the river and broken his jaw. This prevented Puddlekit from becoming an apprentice with his littermates, but there were other things that overshadowed this for Plovertail. Things that were much worse.
    Another border skirmish occurred with CloudClan. Well, he wished he could've called it a skirmish. In truth, none of the battles that have occurred could be considered a skirmish--not with the injuries and death coming home. And now, their clan had to add another death to that count. And that death was Moth-heart, Dovemask's mate. His loss was devastating for the family, especially considering the fact he was killed by one of his former clanmates. It, of course, damaged Dovemask the most, alongside her kits, who had only just begun to accept him as their father. Plovertail wanted to help Dovemask in some way--comfort, support, anything--but he didn't know how. Not when he could hardly keep himself together during meaningful deaths for himself. Still, it hurt him to see his sister look so lost.
    During this time, another clanmate by the name of Rabbitbloom had officially lost his hearing in one of his ears due to an infection. Plovertail knew this story all too well, his own ears itching at the thought of it. With Tansyskip's encouragement, Plovertail got to know Rabbitbloom and talk out with the young warrior about what he will go through and how he will get through it. Though they had very differing energies, he got on well with Rabbitbloom, and he hoped he was about to change the young cat's perspective on their situation.
    Then Gullstar died. Right there in the middle of camp, her last life slipped away like nothing. Sandstar stepped up and became leader, and his first declaration as leader was to pull MarshClan out of the war. Plovertail, personally, was relieved by this decision. Hopefully, this meant less death and pain for MarshClan. But it wouldn't give them back what they had lost in Foxcloud and Moth-heart's deaths, or the permanent injuries that his clanmates sustained. And then the new EmberClan leader, Reedstar, announced the end of the war. It felt like a weight was taken off of everyone's shoulders when it was announced, and Plovertail couldn't feel better. He no longer had to worry about his family and friends coming home injured, or worse, dead. His clan could return to peace and prosperity, even with the looming leafbare approaching. He was just happy once again.
    Of course, it still took time for the clans to return to normal. MarshClan was lucky to not experience much after the war, save the disappearance of some of their clanmates, including Haywish, who had been a permanent queen alongside Plovertail. But other than this, MarshClan was peaceful. Peaceful enough that Plovertail and Beetletail finally felt ready to have a litter of their own. With Beetletail's apprentice, Spiderbite, now fully grown and a warrior, she felt prepared to be a mother and join Plovertail in the nursery for a bit. So, the two planned and carried out, and soon they were expecting their first litter of kits.
    And it felt like time flew before their kits were born. They were blessed with three bundles of joy--two she-kits and a tom. They had already thought of some names beforehand, naming their daughters Mothkit and Monarchkit after the first insects they raised, and their son... Murkykit. Plovertail was overwhelmed with love for his own kits. How he longed for his own to love and care for, and now was his chance. Not only that, but there were two other kits in the nursery that had recently lost their parents, and unexpectantly, Plovertail's sibling Coalfrost and their mate Sandstar adopted the kits. They were named Batkit and Shrewkit. It felt strange to Plovertail, caring for kits alongside another of his littermates. But it felt welcoming. MarshClan was finally rebuilding itself and seeing new light.
    What he wasn't expecting was for his daughters to be so energetic and quite the pawfuls. The moment they were able to get up and move around, Mothkit and Monarchkit were wrecking some form of havoc. Murkykit, on the other paw, kept close to Plovertail and Beetletail, and Plovertail bonded to his son over this. Of course, he still gave his daughters plenty of love when they were more manageable, like giving Monarchkit the best groom after a long day or play, or showing Mothkit the newest caterpillar her mother would bring home. He loved every moment of having his kits in the nursery with him, and he wished it would last forever.
    His nephew and niece were a treat to have around, as well. Like Mothkit, Shrewkit seemed to have boundless stores of energy. She and Mothkit got into everything together, and Shrewkit seemed pretty determined to fly. Unlike Sandstar, who would encourage his daughter to follow her dreams, Plovertail watched on silently, being the protective one of the nursery and watching out for Shrewkit. Batkit was much like Murkykit, and he ended up sticking close to Plovertail and Murkykit. The three of them became quite close, to the point Plovertail would look at him as a second son at times. But he also didn't want to take that away from his sibling and their mate, so he also made sure Batkit spent time with his parents, too. Even Beesting, his niece from Dovemask's litter, had come to join the nursery as a permanent queen alongside him. He enjoyed the idea of knowing he would have a denmate at all times, regardless of whether there were kits or not. Even better, she was kin. It was such a joy to be surrounded by family.
    Time seemed to speed up because of this, and suddenly, Plovertail's kits were becoming apprentices and Beetletail was returning to the warriors' den. This was a moment that Plovertail wasn't looking forward to, but he knew it had to happen eventually. He watched from the entrance of the nursery as his daughters became Mothpaw and Monarchpaw, and his son became Murkypaw. Their mentors, Pheasantfern, Mantisdawn, and Pebblecreek, seemed fitting, and Plovertail was happy for his kits as he cheered for them. But the first night without them in the nursery was hard for him.  He had nudged his nest a bit closer to the others' that night just to be reminded that he wasn't alone.
    He didn't have too much time to think about his loneliness, though. Dandelionheart and Birchnose had moved to the nursery to have litters of their own, and shortly after Plovertail's kits left, theirs were born. Plovertail threw himself right back into his duty as a queen and helped the new queens get situated alongside the seven new kits. It filled that hole just a bit to see the new kits. And for awhile, it stayed filled as he continued to spend plenty of time with his nephew and niece and the new kits. He worked hard to prepare himself for Batkit and Shrewkit to also leave the nursery and become apprentices, but it would not happen like that.
    One night, Batkit and Shrewkit had snuck out of camp. This has surprised Plovertail, given he could usually feel the vibrations that Shrewkit give off, but not that night. And he didn't realize anything was wrong until he felt the thudding of paws as cats frantically searched the camp. He got a basic idea of what was going on by Icefang, who had stuck to camp to keep looking for the missing kits, and he joined the search around camp. He grew increasingly worried about the kits until the search party returned with them in toll. He was happy to see that Batkit was safe with the warrior Willowpool, but his heart dropped at the sight of Shrewkit on Sandstar's back, blood coating both his and her fur. He had followed the leader to the medicine den, where Tansyskip worked with his herbs to help Shrewkit. He said she would live, but it was obviously that nothing else could be said about her leg, which had been torn clean off. Plovertail felt terrible as he huddled close to Batkit for his own comfort, knowing this was going to traumatize the poor kits. Shrewkit was never the same after that.
    Sandstar had decided that the two would be held back a moon for their apprenticeship. Plovertail agreed with him that it was the best, not just as punishment, but also the fact that the kits had a new 'usual' to get used to, especially Shrewkit. Batkit was fine physically, but Plovertail could see that he was traumatized. He did his best to be there for his nephew and niece, visiting them in the medicine den--Tansyskip kept Batkit for his shock--and talking to them when he could. Still, the emptiness in Shrewkit's eyes never filled, and it crushed Plovertail's heart to see the two of them like that. Even more, their family seemed to become splintered. Batkit had begun avoiding his sister and parents, spending more time with Plovertail and Murkypaw. Shrewkit distanced herself from everyone, and while Sandstar tried to stay involved, Plovertail noticed Coalfrost had become a bit absent. How had this all happened? He prayed to StarClan they would all get better; he hated to see his kin so broken.
    Out of nowhere, an EmberClan warrior had come to join MarshClan. It seemed like such a sudden surprise, but upon seeing his interactions with Beesting, Plovertail began to experience deja vu. The tom's name was Stoatshell, and the love between the two was inevitable. Plovertail was wary, though he tried his hardest to open up. After all, Moth-heart was good for Dovemask, and if Beesting was happy with Stoatshell, then he would learn to accept the young tom.
    A moon later, his niece and nephew became apprentices, though the ceremony didn't seem as celebratory as it should have been. Though, Plovertail had to say that Sandstar picked good mentors for the two: Hootsong for Shrewpaw, and Dovemask for Batpaw. They were both trustworthy cats, though it was clear that, not long after, Dovemask's attention would begin to wane.
    This is because Mantisdawn suddenly fell ill. And she ended up being the first of many. Greencough hit MarshClan so suddenly; many cats were confined to the medicine den as they suffered from the sickness. And, unfortunately, the clan ended up losing some of them, too. Mantisdawn, included. The list seemed to go on, with Marigoldsong following quickly after. Then Coalfrost contracted the sickness, leaving Sandstar and their kits tense. Plovertail, too, was worried. Would their littermate be alright?
    And in the midst of all of this, a kit suddenly disappeared. It was Birchnose's daughter, Creamykit, who seemed to have vanish overnight. The entire nursery was distraught with her disappearance, and Plovertail had to do everything in his power to comfort the cats that resided in the nursery. The hardest was clearly Birchnose and his other daughter, Featherkit, who were feeling Creamykit's loss the worst. It crushed Plovertail seeing them like this, and it reminded him painfully of Batpaw and Shrewpaw's disappearance. Was Creamykit alright out there? He prayed to StarClan that she was.
    One day, Sandstar decided to visit Plovertail and ask him for a walk. It was unexpected, but Plovertail was not about to turn it down. After all, he and his brother-in-law never had a heart-to-heart before, and maybe it would benefit them to have one. But how wrong he was. What seemed to start off as an okay conversation quick a sudden turn for the worse when Sandstar told Plovertail to stay away from Batpaw. Plovertail was appalled. He had never encouraged Batpaw to spend time with him; in fact, he always tried to convince Batpaw to spend more time with his immediate family, though he was not so successful in doing so. He iterated this to Sandstar, who only continued to berate him, even daring to bring his kits into the conversation. Plovertail, being one that didn't care for confrontation or anger, tried to end it peacefully, but Sandstar would not heed. And then he dared to tell Plovertail to retire. He had hit a nerve in Plovertail, and Plovertail lost his own temper, telling Sandstar that he should consider it, too, in that case. That day, he had lost all respect for Sandstar, and has begun avoiding him at all costs. What did Plovertail do?
    Thankfully, Plovertail had other things to concern himself with, rather than brood over the fight with Sandstar. Seaheart had announced that she was expecting her second litter! It was a joyous moment, and although the nursery was already cramped with five growing kits, Plovertail made quick haste to expand the nursery and welcome the deputy. She was clearly excited for her second litter, and with her and Icefang's age, Plovertail was glad they had decided to do so. Although Plovertail had to admit he was concerned about leaving Sandstar in charge without the usual commentation from his deputy, but he was reassured that Seaheart would continue her duties even as she raised her litter. Truly, there was finally some form of light in all this darkness.
    However, that concern and Seaheart’s relaxing time waiting for her kits would be thrown out of the camp when Sandstar suddenly goes missing. No one was quite sure where he had gone, but he didn’t return for several days. It ended up being long enough that Seaheart stepped in as temporary leader until Sandstar would return. Yet, the clan couldn’t help but murmur and whisper about where their leader had gone, and whether he was okay. Plovertail, personally found himself less concerned, save for how his sibling and their kits were feeling with his disappearance. That was all that Plovertail was worried about, and he found himself constantly trying to reassure Shrewpaw and Batpaw about their father’s disappearance.
    One of Seaheart’s first acts as temporary leader was forbidding any apprentice from leaving camp without a warrior, which Plovertail could understand. After all, if Sandstar had gone missing, who’s to say an apprentice wouldn’t, too? Perhaps not everyone agreed with this notion, but the apprentices were the future of MarshClan, and they had to be protected at all costs, even if that meant restrictions.
    Her second act was getting to name Plovertail and Beetletail’s kits warriors. Plovertail was so proud watching his daughters and son stand up there and receive their names; he remembered when they were little, how Mothkit and Monarchkit would go wreak havoc somewhere while Murkykit preferred the quiet comfort of being with Plovertail and Batkit. Now, he looked at them and saw new cats, but with some of their old characteristics underneath. They were named Mothcloud, Monarchstream, and Murkytrail respectively. After the meeting, Plovertail made his pride known as he approached them and told them about how much they had grown individually. Words could not express what he had felt in that moment, and he was glad to see them all happy and healthy that day at their ceremonies.
    Unfortunately, their family would still end up suffering a casualty. Coalfrost’s whitecough progressed into greencough, and Plovertail was restricted from seeing their sibling. A quarter of a moon later, Tansyskip offered him his condolences when he told him that Coalfrost had passed away from his illness. Plovertail mourned his littermate’s loss, though he held it in to support Shrewpaw and Batpaw, who were now without either of their parents. He wanted to step up and help them cope, though whenever he did, he was painfully pricked in the spine by Sandstar’s harsh words a moon ago. But he shook them off; Sandstar’s words didn’t matter. These were parentless kits that were scared and alone, and they needed someone to lean on. So Plovertail would be that someone, even if it would pit Sandstar against him when the leader returned.
    Thankfully, the clan was able to find their leader not long after Coalfrost’s death. Tansyskip had received a message from StarClan that could easily discern Sandstar’s whereabouts, and a patrol found him buried in the tunnels a couple of days later. Though he was alive, he was injured, and Tansyskip even wondered if he had lost a life down there given his injuries. Turns out, he was right, but he was able to patch him up and get him back to full recovery a moon later, which brought relief to the clan.
    Meanwhile, everyone was happy when Creamykit had returned to MarshClan. Despite being so young and gone for so long, she was surprisingly healthy and safe, if grown quite a bit during her journey. Plovertail remembered the scolding that Birchnose had given her, though he could tell that it was out of his love and concern for his daughter. Plovertail, too, was happy to see the young she-kit back in the nursery, and her presence seemed to bring back a lot of joy that was missing in it before.
    Besides, it wasn’t long after she returned did she, her sister, and their cousins become six moons old. However, while her sister and cousins became warrior apprentices, Tansyskip had ultimately chosen Creamypaw to be his apprentice in the medicine den, which she had accepted. Plovertail offered the both of them congratulations, knowing that an apprentice being around the medicine den would help lift a huge weight off of Tansyskip’s shoulders. After all, the poor young tom had been MarshClan’s sole medicine cat ever since Ryefeather died a moon after he received his full name. It already looked like Tansyskip was mentally better with the thought that he would have help around the den from now on.
    And he was sure going to need it when Sandstar called a meeting after being released from the medicine den. Plovertail, though not a warrior, still watched the meeting from the entrance of the nursery. He was sure to relay any information about it to Seaheart, who stayed in the nursery with her newborn kits. But he was not at all expecting what had happened.
    Sandstar recalled his time in the tunnels, which was haunting enough as is to hear. He announced publicly to the clan about losing a life there, and that there was one cat to blame for his death. Then, his eyes turned to Softsnap. Of all cats, he was accusing his own sister of trying to murder him? According to Sandstar, the she-cat had trapped him in the tunnels and left him there to die, and she would have succeeded had he not been found in time. He deemed her a traitor to MarshClan, and the two ended up in a fight. It was clear that Sandstar had an intent to kill, and the words of his yelling clanmates fell on deaf ears. Plovertail didn’t know what they were saying, but given their urgency, he figured they were trying to tell Sandstar to stop.
    But he didn’t. He killed Softsnap in cold blood, much to the horror of the cats surrounding them. There were crying cats, screaming that thumped dully against Plovertail’s ear, and cowering cats. Plovertail was quick to make his way over to comfort Shrewpaw, who had been pressed against Tansyskip in disbelief. And when Tansyskip had tried to gather everyone’s attention, Plovertail tried to help get their attention, despite Tansyskip’s clear comforting gestures towards Sandstar. He may not trust Sandstar, but he trusted Tansyskip. Tansyskip urged everyone, however, to simply return to their duties, and if anyone needed something for shock, then they were to see Creamypaw and him in their den. Then, the medicine cat turned to help Sandstar with Softsnap’s body.
    Plovertail glared at the back of Sandstar’s head for the longest of time, but Shrewpaw’s words and nudge had him breaking his gaze. She asked if she could stay with him, to which he of course allowed her. He directed her back to the nursery, where he guided her to his nest and remained with her until she fell asleep.
    Once she did, he turned to talk to Seaheart, but he saw the she-cat say that she had heard everything, much to her dismay. Plovertail could only shake his head in agreement. But they didn’t speak anymore about it, wanting to keep that negativity out of the nursery. Instead, Plovertail returned to where Shrewpaw laid, curling himself around the she-cat to offer her the comfort that she desperately needed.
    The clan remained terribly tense for the next half moon. All that Plovertail had to be happy about was when his sister, Dapplecrash, announced that she was expecting kits. He helped her move into the nursery, making a nest for her next to his so that he could be with her. But the peaceful duties of a queen were interrupted a few days later when Sandstar once again called a meeting. Plovertail wished at that moment that he couldn’t feel the vibrations of the leader’s urgent paw, but he was deaf, not desensitized. So, after telling Dapplecrash to stay in the nursery, he emerged so that he could watch whatever his so-called leader wanted to say this time.
    Unsurprisingly, it was about Softsnap and her last few words, which had told him that there were more traitors than just her. Sandstar stated that they needed to rid themselves of these traitors immediately. And while this made sense, for MarshClan’s protection, everyone was worried about how he would ‘take care’ of these traitors.
    At first, no one spoke about this concern. But then Turtlecloud lashed out, asking if he would only kill them again, asking if he would kill every cat he suspected a traitor until there was no clan left. Plovertail couldn’t help but see where she was coming from; where Softsnap had a valid reason for being called a traitor, there was no one else that could be deemed as such. Worse, no one deserved the outcome that Softsnap got, even if she would eventually be led to death in another way.
    It especially worried Plovertail and had him tensing his muscles when Turtlecloud mentioned this. He wondered if Sandstar saw him as a traitor, especially after their last conversation. What would he do to Plovertail if he did think this? He didn’t want to find out, and he was glad he didn’t. But he was just as stunned when Sandstar began accusing Turtlecloud of treachery, all because she spoke out against him. What properstery was that?
    Everyone called Sandstar out on this, stating that there was no evidence that stated she was a traitor. Even more, she was one of the most loyal cats MarshClan had to offer. Why would Turtlecloud, Sandstar’s own apprentice, want to turn on him and the clan? Unfortunately, the clan could help him make sense of that, and Plovertail worried about the possibility of another fight breaking out, especially when Turtlecloud’s own claws sheathed. He reminded Turtlecloud that blood did not need to be shed today, especially after what happened with Softsnap. And thankfully, his words got through to her, for she backed down immediately despite the sour look on her face.
    As for Sandstar, he dismissed the meeting with anger in his signs. He truly believed Turtlecloud a traitor, and he was not going to let MarshClan fall apart because of it. Yet, the clan would not–or could not--see his reason, and they would not back down. So he told them to come talk to him when they were ready to see reason and walked off. Meanwhile, Plovertail watched as Turtlecloud left the camp filled with rage. He had half a mind to follow her, but he needed to return to the nursery to help the queens, and he also wanted to make sure Seaheart would get the information that she had missed out on. He reminded himself to go and check on Turtlecloud later that day when she returned to camp.
    Tensions remained high, and Sandstar even refused to do some of his duties as leader, passing them over to Seaheart. She ended up naming a group of apprentices warriors and giving them their names instead of Sandstar. Which, to be fair, they seemed to prefer her far more than Sandstar, and Plovertail couldn’t blame them. At least the next clan meeting would be without bloodshed or any false accusations. Instead, Sandstar announced that MarshClan would be closing their borders to anyone outside of MarshClan. While this didn’t affect Plovertail, who stayed in camp for the majority of the time, he saw the disbelief and anger on the faces of the others. They all knew how unstable Sandstar was, though, and they couldn’t, with reason, argue his decision without being called a traitor. So they reluctantly accepted his decision, and MarshClan became closed off to the world.
    The rest of the moon goes about without event, much to Plovertail’s relief. He got to focus solely on preparing for Dapplecrash’s kits to arrive. The next meeting they had would be a moon later, where Sandstar stepped up and did his duties with naming warriors. Only this time, the warriors he was performing the ceremonies on would be his own kits. Was there bias there, in that he would do their ceremonies and not the other apprentices’? Perhaps. Plovertail didn’t bother questioning it.
    What he did question was Sandstar’s choice of names. Batwhisper’s name was fine–suited him in fact. But Sandstar had the gall to name his daughter Shrewflight Even Plovertail saw red when he read Sandstar’s signs. What bees did he have in his brain!? The whole concept of flying is what plagued Shrewflight and destroyed her kithood, and now it would need to haunt her for the rest of her life in her name? She, too, was clearly angry about it, and Plovertail saw her approach Sandstar after the meeting. He didn’t need to hear to see how angry she was, yelling and stomping at her father. By the end of it, she had walked away angrily, and Plovertail later learned that she had disowned her father out of her rage. He couldn’t blame her, and he was sure to go and support her through this tough time as best as he possibly could. He no longer cared about whether Sandstar hated him for his involvement; his nephew and niece mattered far more than the petty feelings that his brother-in-law felt. Call him a traitor, but Plovertail would never be deemed a bad uncle.
    Sandstar’s declarations only seemed to get worse from there. Plovertail learned from some of his clanmates that HailClan cats had come seeking refuge after their clan had begun to split under their deputy’s leadership, but Sandstar coldly turned them away. Not only this, but he even punished Rabbitbloom for the way that he behaved at the patrol in front of the HailClan cats, standing up for them and going against Sandstar’s decision. He put Rabbitbloom on apprentice duties, which only soured the relationship of them more, and Plovertail couldn’t help but find himself glaring at Sandstar every time he saw him walk by. Sandstar better hope he never had to step foot in the nursery again, because Plovertail sure wouldn’t let him. It would only be right to be denied entry somewhere when he wanted, or even needed it, much like he did to those HailClan cats.
    And then Sandstar accused Hootsong of treachery and exiled her. She had been seen going towards Hope Bridge one night by a patrol, who reported her to Sandstar. She admitted that she was there to see if there were any more cats that needed help like the HailClan cats. Though Plovertail could sense something else was up with her, he didn’t pry, knowing she was already in enough trouble. It meant she had gone against Sandstar’s word, in which no cat was supposed to speak to anyone outside of MarshClan. He deemed this enough evidence to call her traitor, and he told her that if she was seen on MarshClan’s territory, she would be attacked and chased out, being considered nothing more than a rogue. Hootsong didn’t fight it, though she left with parting words that MarshClan would be in trouble with him as their leader, and that she was no traitor.
    Plovertail was thankful that bloodshed was avoided, though he felt terrible for Tansyskip. Hootsong was the medicine cat’s littermate, and he couldn’t imagine watching his own sibling be exiled. Then again, it was still better than killing your own littermate. Plovertail offered Tansyskip his support, telling him that he would take care of things in the nursery so that he could only focus on the important stuff, including grieving his sister and her exile. The medicine cat seemed thankful for this, though he denied the extra help, knowing that his clan needed him before all else. Plovertail was worried for him, but he didn’t say anything else. Rather, he silently vowed to still do as he said, and he doubled his duties around the nursery and the camp overall.
    He felt especially fulfilled when Dapplecrash’s kits were born. She gave birth to three healthy kits, who she named Charkit, Snapkit, and Hartkit. Though she didn’t mention them, Plovertail could see the nods that their names gave to the deceased. He especially felt connected to Hartkit, who was named after their mother, Doepuddle. He looked forward to being an uncle to these kits, but he found that he would be a lot less involved in their lives than he initially wanted to be.
    A day after Dapplecrash gave birth, they were horrified to see a patrol bring in the bodies of their sister, Dovemask, and her kit Spiderbite. They were riddled with injuries that indicated they were in a fight, and it was a fight that they lost, for they were both dead. Worse, the injuries were clearly from another cat. Who could have done this to them? Was there truly another traitor in MarshClan that had killed them? Plovertail couldn’t make sense of it, but he mourned his sister and her kit terribly alongside the rest of their family. He and Beesting sought comfort in each other, as with Cicadashell and Roachheart. He worked hard to overcome his own grief so that he could be their pillar, their anchor should they need it. And he had a feeling they certainly would.
    Except he couldn’t be. The truth of it was that Plovertail needed his own pillar when less than a moon later, his beloved Beetletail died. She had been bitten by a spider, and it was venomous enough to kill, for it sucked her life away. Plovertail was not one for many outward emotions, but he cried at her vigil, albeit silently. He laid with her for the entirety of her vigil, and even when it was time to bury her, he went to assist with it, not wanting to leave her side. It was extremely difficult for him to say goodbye, yet he was forced to when she was finally laid to rest.
    Plovertail found himself closing off from the clan in his grief. He laid in his nest for hours every day, staring blankly at the wall of the nursery. He didn’t sleep, because when he did, all he saw was his sister’s mangled body, or Beetletail’s peaceful resting form. He hadn’t noticed any of the news going on in the camp, like other deaths from the rushing waters or when Frostheart joined them in the nursery after expecting kits. There was nothing that brought him out of his trance, and his family had to ensure that he was still eating and caring for himself. They noted that it was a lot like when they had lost Doepuddle, or when Murkypool died, too.
    He hadn’t even bothered to listen to what the others had to say about the strange darkening of the sky one gathering. He hardly even noticed anything happening; in fact, the sound of the storm outside of the nursery soothed him. He wouldn’t learn until later about Blizzardfang and her spies, and how Softsnap was a part of them. They only mattered to him because they are who killed Dovemask, but still they didn’t know which of these spies did it.
    It was Tansyskip that finally helped Plovertail out of his hole of despair. A queen by the name of Ripplefeather had given birth to a single kit, but she died in the birth process, leaving the kit without any parents and even without a name. The other queens were relatively busy, unable to pay the kit much mind. So Tansyskip asked Plovertail to keep her company, even if that meant talking with her. Something to make the kit feel wanted.
    So he did, albeit reluctantly at first. He let the kit sleep with him in his nest, while one of the other queens fed her. He would talk to her, and though she didn’t understand what he was saying, he found it comforting to tell someone about his feelings. Plovertail found himself growing attached to the little tortoiseshell, and by the next time that Tansyskip had checked up on them, Plovertail was treating her like his own kit.
    He named her Lightkit, for being his shining light in such a dark world. He began to find his old muse again as he raised Lightkit, and she reminded him of himself when he was little, as she was quite nervous and attached to him like he was to Doepuddle. He didn’t mind it–he welcomed it, in fact. Though he did try to convince her to at least interact with her cousins, which wasn’t all that easy. But the baby steps that they took were still okay in the end. At least Plovertail was smiling again.
    It was about a moon after he had begun coming out of his shell again did Sandstar call it meeting. It hadn’t been much longer after he had named Dandelionheart and Birchnose’s kits warriors, though something about the atmosphere that the leader carried told Plovertail this was something good. Sandstar told the clan that he had just gotten done with a meeting with Starlingstar, who told him that they had revealed two spies in CloudClan. One of these spies, a warrior named Drakefeather, had been the one behind Dovemask and Spiderbite’s death, resolving the unsolved mystery of many moons. So many breathed sighs of relief when they realized it really wasn’t any of their clanmates that had done it.
    Sandstar continued the meeting saying that he was lifting the restrictions off of the clan. MarshClan’s borders would be open again to the rest of the clans, and cats were able to leave camp and come back freely once more. Though he did warn everyone to be cautious, he felt that they were getting to a point where it was safe enough for them to lift these restrictions. Hearing this made many of the cats happy, and some of them didn’t even waste the time to take the opportunity to go in pairs or on solo hunts. Though it didn’t affect Plovertail, he was relieved to hear that they had found his sister and her kit’s murderer. Perhaps now they could finally be at rest with StarClan, knowing that their murderer got what he deserved.
    Plovertail was glad that he was present again in MarshClan by the time things started to pick up again. He got to help Frostheart give birth to their kits and welcome them to the world. They named them Cloverkit and Hackberrykit. Meanwhile, Seaheart officially moved out of the nursery and returned to her duties as deputy when her kits became apprentices. Admittedly, it was a bit strange to not have the deputy there anymore, but he was also glad that she could return to help the clan and balance out Sandstar’s own personality. Though, he was worried when Sandstar decided to make Rainpaw his own apprentice, and he wondered if the young tom would be okay. Though Sandstar had done a lot of bad things in the past, he seemed to be looking up, if ever so slowly, so Plovertail tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. But that was only for Rainpaw’s sake; he never saw him and Sandstar reconcile, nor did Plovertail ever plan to do so.
    But the clan experienced its share of deaths, too. Rabbitbloom’s especially, hit Plovertail hard, having been well acquainted with the young tom. He had been swept away by a strong current along with his mate, Cranefrost. They were not the first of their clanmates that the water took either; it had previously taken Echochirp and Morningshine, too, and Canaryflight disappeared when going out to search for their lost clanmates. Processing their deaths was quite rough, though Plovertail still had plenty of distractions to ward away his usual bouts of sadness.
    He celebrated when Batwhisper and Waspcatcher became mates. The two toms had been close since their apprenticeships, and it was personally about time that they announced it officially. Even Sandstar seemed to be happy for his son, though he didn’t show it very well. Plovertail only rolled his eyes at this and offered Batwhisper his own personal congratulations, all while welcoming Waspcatcher to the family.
    One day, the cats that went to the gathering had returned with suddenly a lot less stress on their shoulders. Plovertail was curious about this, so he asked Tansyskip what had happened. The medicine cat told him that Reedstar announced Blizzardfang’s death at the gathering, and they had stated that any of the remaining spies have been named and will no longer cause problems for the clans–at least, not without Blizzardfang. Plovertail was relieved to learn that there were no other traitors in MarshClan save for Softsnap, though it only made him more upset at how Sandstar had so wrongfully accused so many cats, even having one exiled. Hopefully Hootsong was doing better wherever she was. But at least now the cats could walk about their clanmates without feeling like they were treading on eggshells, and Plovertail, personally, was happy to see the atmosphere in the camp thin of tension.
    What followed this was a secession of more good news. Plovertail was happy to help Turtlecloud move into the nursery when she announced that she was expecting kits, and he also offered his congratulations to his nieces and nephew when they became apprentices and Dapplecrash moved out. And it didn’t stop there, because Beesting and Stoatshell finally announced their mateship moons after Stoatshell had moved to MarshClan. Plovertail had expected it sooner, though he figured with everything that was going on, so he couldn’t blame them for waiting.
    The clan, overall, had good news too when Creamytail received her name and became recognized as a full medicine cat. It was the first time in seasons that the clan would have two fully-trained medicine cats, and Plovertail was personally looking forward to seeing Tansyskip’s workload lessen.
    But it wouldn’t be proven that easily. Tansyskip and Creamytail had set out for a half-moon gathering with Icefang as their escort–Sandstar’s orders. But when they came home the next morning, their eyes had been filled with dread, and Icefang’s body was dragged behind them.
    Dark Forest cats had found a way to come to the living world and wreak havoc, starting with Crystal Falls. They attacked the medicine cats there, where one–the familiar name of Drakefeather, to Plovertail’s anger–had killed CloudClan’s medicine cat, Waverose. Icefang retaliated, killing the spirit for a second and final time, but he was ultimately killed when he was struck in the back of the head by a rock that the other Dark Forest cat, Snakeheart, threw at him. The Crystal Falls were destroyed in their presence, and suddenly, everything was thrown out of control.
    MarshClan couldn’t believe what they had heard, but Icefang’s body told it all. They held a vigil for the large tom, where his entire family mourned him. Plovertail remembered when the former Storm cat had joined MarshClan, and how he was unsure about his joining of their ranks. After all, he was once a part of the group that killed Murkypool and so many other cats. But he saw over time how he was wrong, and in the end, Icefang died for the clans. He was far more a worthy warrior of MarshClan than others could say they were, and the clan grieved for him for the rest of the day before he was taken to be buried.
    Thus, the half-moon meetings ceased. Tansyskip, in his stress, began to only work harder, and Plovertail would have to remind him to take breaks often. He especially had more time to do so and focus on the medicine cat when his daughter became an apprentice. Plovertail was sad to see Lightpaw grow up so fast, though he knew that she couldn’t be a kit forever. Besides, it wasn’t like he wouldn’t still see her, and he knew she would come to visit him in the nursery whenever she got the chance. In the end, he smiled and congratulated her on her apprentice ceremony, rubbing his nose to her cheek in pride.
    Plovertail would be preoccupied with his duties as a queen to notice her missing from the nursery anyways. The nursery gained a new queen in the form of Oliveroot, who was carrying Lichencloud’s kits in a joint decision to have them to carry on their legacies. Meanwhile, Turtlecloud gave birth to three healthy kits: Houndkit, Gullkit, and Marigoldkit. The nursery looked more full by the day, which had Plovertail worried as the weather got worse and the prey got scarce. When the fresh-kill pile was low, he would pass his share of food to the nursing queens and their kits, enduring hunger in the face of the healthy little ones.
    Things only got worse after a bobcat had been discovered on MarshClan’s territory. They never would have known about it if it weren’t for CloudClan requesting an investigation when they found their medicine cat, Bramblewhisper, dead at the border. The clans joined together to investigate, and they had a run in with the large wildcat. The tunnels where they found it had collapsed, trapping multiple cats and injuring others. Thankfully, though, they were successfully dug out and brought back to Marshclan to be cared for, including the CloudClan cats that were severely injured. After all, they didn’t have a medicine cat to care for them should they go home.
    But they wouldn’t have to worry about that when Creamytail made the decision to go to CloudClan and stand in as their medicine cat until they got a new medicine cat. She took the injured CloudClan cats with her once they were stable enough for transport. Plovertail was worried for Tansyskip when he was suddenly the only medicine cat again, though Tansyskip had dealt with it for many moons before, and he proved it would all be alright.
    After a few days to regroup and come up with a plan, MarshClan and CloudClan joined together and successfully drove the bobcat out of MarshClan’s territory. It was not without consequence, though. Plovertail was alarmed to see his daughter, Monarchstream, be carried into camp severely injured, and he followed her into the medicine den to be with her. He didn’t realize that there was another severely injured cat, though.
    Sandstar ended up losing his second life to his wounds in fighting off the bobcat, and he passed away surrounded by his family and clan. Shrewflight, despite her harsh words to him moons ago, cried for her father, and Plovertail left Monarchstream in Tansyskip’s care to go and comfort his grieving niece. He personally didn't feel much towards Sandstar’s death, but he would be with the family that needed him. The clan celebrated after his vigil and burial for Seastar’s rise to leadership, though, as they all felt that MarshClan will become a far better clan with her leading them.
    Plovertail’s job as queen continued to get busy when Mistyshine began expecting her mate, Yarrowfoot’s, kits and moved into the nursery. Plovertail didn’t have much time to help her get comfortable though, because Oliveroot gave birth to their and Lichencloud’s kits. While the kits were healthy, Oliveroot ended up dying of birth complications. While normally, the other parent would move into the nursery to care for their kits, Lichencloud was among the injured cats from the bobcat attack, and he was stuck in the medicine den. So Plovertail and Beesting collectively agreed to care for his three kits until he was healthy enough to join them in the nursery. So, Plovertail and Beesting became Alpinekit, Apricotkit, and Asterkit’s guardians for the first quarter moon of their lives, when Lichencloud was finally cleared by Tansyskip to join them.
    During this time, Seastar had chosen Roachheart for her deputy. Plovertail was pleasantly surprised to see his nephew rise to deputyship, and it even shocked the young tom. But he accepted it graciously, and Plovertail felt that he was a wonderful choice for MarshClan in the end.
    Frostheart and her kits moved out of the nursery when they turned six moons and became apprentices. As always, Plovertail watched their ceremonies with a gentle smile; it never got old, watching the kits become apprentices and move on to training to become warriors. In the same meeting, Seastar got the privilege to name the kits from her second litter as warriors, giving them the names Rainwillow, Skybreeze, and Riverleap. And the clan only continued to grow when an apprentice thought to be long dead had returned to MarshClan alive and well. They were Fogpaw, Waspcatcher’s littermate, and Seastar didn’t hesitate to name them a warrior called Fogheart.
    But the bad weather of leafbare continued to plague the clan. As if the struggle for prey wasn’t enough, the snowstorms picked up and only became more difficult to see in. Gullkit, Turtlecloud’s son, became lost in a snowstorm one day while everyone was sheltered in the nursery. By the time the snow cleared up, Gullkit was found dead, cold with hypothermia. In addition to this, Cloverpaw apparently had left the apprentices’ den to look for Gullkit, but she was nowhere to be found after the storm passed. And the snow only continued to take from them when Skybreeze also went missing one day during a patrol, having disappeared into a snowstorm and not returning.
    Plovertail continued his focus in the nursery while he let Tansyskip take care of the others. He offered his shoulder for Turtlecloud to cry on, all while he helped Mistyshine give birth to five healthy kits. The nursery was never without something new happening, and he always felt like he was busy regardless of what it would end up being.
    At least his family would have some things to celebrate of their own. Dapplecrash’s kits became warriors half a moon after Skybreeze’s disappearance, and then Plovertail was proud to call Flywing his daughter-in-law when she and Murkytrail announced their mateship. He had to admit, of all his kits, he wasn’t expecting Murkytrail to be the first to get a mate, but he was all the more happy for his son and welcomed Flywing into their family. And not even a moon later, Flywing announced that she was expecting kits. Plovertail was ecstatic to become a grandfather, and it would be a lie to say he didn’t dote on Flywing while she settled into the nursery and began the two moon wait to meet her’s and Murkytrail’s kits.
    They also got to celebrate Lightember’s warrior ceremony a moon after Murkytrail and Flywing’s announcement. Plovertail couldn’t believe how much his adoptive daughter had grown, and she was not only beautiful, but intelligent and an amazing warrior. He couldn’t have been prouder of all of his kits to see how much they had grown and developed over the moons.
    But the clan continued to suffer from the cold weather. Cats began to die of starvation in rapid succession, and among them was Batwhisper. His death shocked their family, and Plovertail was quick to step in and support his niece and Waspcatcher in their time of grief.
    Starvation was not the only thing that the cold weather offered them. At one point, the weather warmed up just enough to melt the ice to the water, and inconveniently, Splashkit found herself on top of the ice when it began cracking. The next thing everyone knew, she was falling through the ice into the freezing water. Before anyone else could react, though, Seastar had been jumping in after her and pulling her out of the water just in time. But while Splashkit survived, Seastar did not; she was still without a second life while Crystal Falls was still destroyed, and she lost her life to hypothermia.
    Splashkit was rushed to the medicine den, where Tansyskip was quick to begin treating her. Thankfully, she woke up a few days later, though it was difficult telling the young she-kit that Seastar had died saving her. She was riddled with grief, feeling at fault for her grandmother’s death, but thankfully, she had Tansyskip to comfort her and remind her that Seastar did what she did willingly and that the ice breaking was nobody’s fault.
    Meanwhile, Roachheart had become Roachstar. Yet again, though he was without a second life, which made Plovertail admittedly nervous given what had happened to Seastar. He named Waspcatcher his deputy, which despite the tom still grieving for Batwhisper, Plovertail found to be a good choice. The clan would continue strong with their new high ranks, even while they grieved Seastar, who had been taken from them too soon.
    Plovertail’s eyes turned to the medicine den as it became riddled with sick kits. Splashkit had caught greencough from the chill she developed from the cold water, but she thankfully recovered after two moons of rest and recovery, and she was able to return to the nursery once she was cleared by Tansyskip. However, Asterkit had developed whitecough and was admitted to the medicine den, where he unfortunately would pass due to his illness.
    Meanwhile, Flywing had given birth to five kits, but one of them, the youngest of the five, was rushed to the medicine den when she was born weak and frail. The other four, thankfully, were happy and healthy. Flywing and Murkytrail named the four Beetlekit, Cowkit, Claykit, and Pearlkit. Meanwhile, when they visited their ill daughter in the medicine den, they named her Peonykit. Plovertail found himself a bit biased to Beetlekit given her name and familiar appearance of his beloved Beetletail, but he loved all of his grandkits equally. He gradually looked more and more forward to telling them stories and playing games with them when they were old enough, though at the same time, he worried for little Peonykit back in the medicine den. The family was surprised, however, to discover that Peonykit had a second set of ears–something that Plovertail had never seen before. Tansyskip reassured them, however, that it would not affect her health, including her hearing, and that in the end, the extra ears seemed to be merely cosmetic. This relieved them all to hear, and they realized just how the ears made Peonykit just a little more special.
    The weather began to improve as Lichencloud’s remaining kits became apprentices. Though it seemed the newleaf would bring just as many problems as leafbare when it started with Houndpaw’s death. The young tom had been swept away by a current, and Plovertail once again found himself comforting Turtlecloud. It seemed the poor calico couldn’t find any peace in her life as the world snatched away her kits one by one. He could only pray that her life would soon get better.
    The family celebrated when Peonykit was deemed healthy enough to return to the nursery. Her littermates seemed quite excited to have her back, and Plovertail was glad to see that they had such a close bond with each other.
    They especially needed that good news as things suddenly made a turn for the worse in the clan. Puddlestorm was found dead with clear signs of a struggle, indicating he had been murdered. Plovertail couldn’t believe it; he thought they were past the traitors! Could it be a rogue that killed him? He couldn’t quite put his tongue on it, but he turned to Lightember, worried for his daughter’s mental health. After all, Puddlestorm was her mentor, and he thought them to be relatively close.
    And Turtlecloud’s life never turned for the better. In fact, it went in the complete opposite way when Turtlecloud was bitten by an adder and died of its venom. Plovertail mourned the loss of his one and only apprentice, and he joined her remaining son at her vigil, offering him his condolences. He recalled the times that he got to train Turtlecloud and get to know her. She was one of the closest friends he had, even after he had gone deaf. He hoped that she would find peace in StarClan.
    It only got worse when Hartfire was suddenly pulled under water. But it was how she got pulled under that had cats trembling. A fish had pulled her underwater. A giant fish that did StarClan knows what with Hartfire when it pulled her under. All the clan knew was that she never came back, and she was gone. Plovertail couldn’t believe the loss of his niece. She was young–too young to die. He grieved with the rest of his family over her loss, though Plovertail tried to remain strong as the elder of their family. He had to be there for them–all of them.
    Then the clan began to see some additions. For one, Creamytail returned to MarshClan after she had completed training CloudClan’s new medicine cat, Cirrusflight. Tansyskip was ecstatic to have his apprentice back. But she was not the talk of the clan; rather, a rogue by the name of Pigeon was. She came to MarshClan with the request to join, and Roachstar agreed. She had her name changed to Pigeonwish, and given her knowledge, it could be assumed that she was once a clan cat. There was a concern of split loyalties, but Plovertail tried to give her the benefit of the doubt.
    And then the bobcats returned. It was not the same bobcat, but now, there are multiple, and they seemed to be out for revenge. They attacked and killed many of MarshClan’s cats, and sadly, many of them were a part of Plovertail’s family. Cicadashell and Stoatshell were two of the cats that they lost, and Plovertail was reminded painfully of when Dovemask and Beetletail both died around the same time for him. Only now, it was Beesting that was experiencing it. Plovertail told Tansyskip that he would take care of Beesting, and he didn’t leave his niece’s side for a long time. After all, it only got worse when Roachstar, too, was found dead. The only thing about him, though, was that they couldn’t tell if he died to the bobcats… or something else. Another murder? Plovertail prayed that wasn’t the case. Regardless, the clan mourned the loss of the leader while Plovertail’s family mourned the loss of a family member, and Waspstar became MarshClan’s new leader.
    During a storm, a pair of mates were swept away after saving their kit from being taken by the river. Their kits, three kits by the names of Minkkit, Weaselkit, and Fisherkit, were left as orphans. Plovertail and Beesting were ready to take care of them when, out of nowhere, Lightember stepped up and said she would adopt them. This stunned Plovertail, though he figured he shouldn’t be surprised by it. After all, Lightember had been adopted herself, so perhaps she found it as paying it forward in adopting some orphans. Regardless, Plovertail welcomed it, especially since that meant he got to call more kits his grandkits. Although… they had a hard time accepting Lightember as their mother, save for Weaselkit. Plovertail hoped they would learn to appreciate Lightember with time, even if that didn’t mean calling her their mother. At the very least, Plovertail was glad that they had a family, and even happier that that family was his.
    The large fish continued to strike their clan. First, it took Dandelionheart. Then, it took Mistyshine’s young daughter, Lotuspaw. In their grief, Lotuspaw’s littermates had left camp with permission to mourn alone. However, this would turn out to be a dangerous decision, for they ended up being attacked by something they did not expect; a ghost. Thankfully, with Alpinepaw, Yarrowfoot, and Gelidstorm’s help, they chased off the ghost, but the damage had been done. The apprentices were taken to the medicine den, where they were put under strict care. It was there that Finpaw admitted to having a dream about the same ghost, and he said that he saw the ghost killing Puddlestorm. This shocked the clan; a ghost killed Puddlestorm. Under normal circumstances, Plovertail would have thought this preposterous. But the injuries on the apprentices were very real, so the ghost had to be, too. He wondered why this ghost was attacking them, and he hoped it would stop, soon. Their clan couldn’t afford to deal with this on top of the bobcats.
    Plovertail got to call himself a grandfather to yet another kit when Lightember adopted Webkit. Webkit’s parent, Oceancall, had died after giving birth to him, so Lightember adopted him before he even had his first taste of milk. Plovertail watched the young kit fondly, though as he opened his eyes and began to move around, it was clear that the little tom-kit only had eyes for his adoptive mother. This only made Plovertail smile, knowing that Lightember was loved as a mother with this one. Not that he didn’t think the others appreciated Lightember, though they definitely saw her as more of a caretaker than a mother.
    The clan was shocked when Creamytail announced that she was leaving MarshClan. She had decided that she wanted to go explore the territories and roam like her uncle, Aster, had. Tansyskip told the clan that he would not be stopping Creamytail if this is her destiny, not to mention her choice. So the clan said farewell to their second medicine cat, and suddenly, it was just Tansyskip once again in the medicine den.
    One night, after a gathering, the cats that had gone were whispering amongst themselves eagerly. Plovertail asked Tansyskip about it, and he was amazed to hear what the medicine cat had to say. For one, MarshClan was not the only clan that was suffering casualties; CloudClan lost their leader to an accident at a twoleg building, while EmberClan was recovering from a flood chasing them out of their home. Surprisingly, HailClan was doing relatively well, save for the tree that fell into their camp.
    This is not what everyone was talking about, though. No, they were talking about a quest. During the gathering, it was discovered that multiple cats from across the clans were experiencing visions not unlike Finpaw’s. Those cats included the friendly rogue, Dropletshine, who told them about their vision; they saw a place from far away, resided by deer and cats alike. The leaders decided this place had a meaning, and they decided to send some warriors and apprentices with Dropletshine to seek it out.
    Ah, so everyone was gossiping in wonder as to who would go on the quest. Well, they found out half a moon later; after picking Egretbranch to be his deputy, Waspstar chose Fogheart, Cedarbark, Alpinepaw, and Lagoonpaw to represent MarshClan on this quest. The cats learned about some herbal knowledge from Tansyskip, and then they were off to meet the others. The clan wasn’t sure as to when they would next see these cats, but they nevertheless wished them good luck and safe travels.
    This would especially be needed when, the next day, the territories were hit with a terrible earthquake. Plovertail took cover in the nursery with the rest of the queens and kits, while many other cats found higher ground or shelter in their respective dens. Regardless, it was terrifying watching the ground open up and swallow cats, or cats get killed by flying things like stones.
    By the time it was over, the cats had come out to assess the damage. That’s when Plovertail realized that none of his three elder kits were in sight. He panicked as he began asking around about them, but no one could confirm seeing them. They were gone. Did the earth eat them up, or did they get lost trying to find cover? Plovertail didn’t know, but he found himself breaking down at the realization they were gone. He found comfort in Lightember and her kits, though the latter didn’t really care much for him, and he grieved with Flywing and her kits over the loss of Murkytrail. Flywing, herself, would leave the kits in his care while she went out searching for her mate, but she always came back with nothing.
    But Murkytrail was a smart and resilient cat, for he returned to camp almost a moon later. The family crowded around him, with his kits clinging to his legs and Flywing pressing her face to his for a long time. Plovertail found himself scolding Murkytrail, though, telling him to never scare them like that again, all while his voice cracked from the overwhelming emotions. He had to hope that if Murkytrail came back to them, then Mothcloud and Monarchstream would, too. Right?
    Thankfully, he got to take his mind off of his missing daughters when Beesting announced that she was having kits. Plovertail knew she always wanted them, and she struggled to cope for a long time without Stoatshell. However, now she was ready to be the mother she always wanted to be, and Plovertail was there to support her all the way. So he helped get her situated and comfortable, all while telling her that she didn’t need to perform her duties as a queen while she was pregnant. After all, they had to put all of their focus into her future kits.