Briarshade

From kithood, Mudwhisker knew what she wanted to be. She so desperately wanted to be a Medicine Cat. She truly believed it was her destiny. After all she came from a line of heavily religious cats, and knew even as a kit it was her path in life. However, when the day came to receive her Apprentice name and her mentor, she was not given to Hurricanewatcher like she had wanted. She was instead given to a Warrior named Flowerlight. At first Mudpaw was destroyed at this knowledge, but she did not give up. She would avoid her mentor and bother Hurricanewatch often, only to be constantly rejected when she asked to become a Medicine Cat’s Apprentice instead. After a good two to three moons of this, the Leader of EmberClan finally told Mudpaw that she was forbidden from asking Hurricanewatcher to change ranks and that she was to be supervised under Flowerlight and Flowerlight alone. Mudpaw gave up at this point, and trained to be a Warrior until she reached adulthood and was given her Warrior name of Mudwhisker. But by this time, Hurricanewatcher had chosen an Apprentice, a calico by the name of Yewpaw. She was horribly jealous of the cat and openly disliked them. When Yewpaw became a full fledged Medicine Cat and received their name Yewberry, Mudwhisker had decided she was not entirely done trying to get closer to Medicine Cat status. She made a plan to carry kits and ensure one of them would be Yewberry’s apprentice and have them teach the Medicine Cat’s ways to her when Yewberry was not looking. Mudwhisker was sure this plan was fault proof, she just had to wait. So Mudwhisker talked Cobratail, a quiet tom of EmberClan to help her carry kits. He was a shy and somber type, and was dazzled by Mudwhisker and her beauty, but did not realize he was being coerced into some plan. 

Kithood [ 0 - 6 moons ] >

    Cobratail and Mudwhisker carried a litter of three, naming them Widowkit, Bramblekit, and Briarkit. Soon after her kits' births, Yewberry announced they were indeed looking to take an Apprentice, and that's when Mudwhisker grew far more troublesome. 

Mudwhisker was sure to express that she was not interested in Cobratail as a mate and wanted him to have nothing to do with her kits. He was crushed, but being the quiet and painfully self loathing, the Warrior accepted that though the kits were biologically his, he was not to be a father to them. So the feline took a step away from parenting, and left Mudwhisker in full control of the three kittens. She pushed religious beliefs and was harsh on discipline. She would make sure the kits would bring Yewberry gifts and visit the Medicine Cat den as often as they could. However, it didn’t seem to get Yewberry’s attention. Mudwhisker grew angry with this. Her plan had to work! How else could she get close to StarClan without one of her kits being chosen? So she took things into her own hands. She decided that out of all her kits, Briarkit was the most suited for Medicine Cat life. Widowkit and Bramblekit were far more rambunctious and ill behaved while Briarkit was a doting listener of her mothers teachings. So in the dark of night, Mudwhisker left a thorn covered thicket outside Yewberry’s den, trying to give the cat a fake omen. However the next day, she was furious to find that Yewberry had ignored the ‘omen’ and seen right through Mudwhisker’s skeem. Despite all the chaos happening with her mother, Briarkit was having issues of her own. Widowkit and Bramblekit were openly ignored by Mudwhisker at this point, allowed to be bothersome to others and enjoy clan life- but Briarkit was under her mother’s paw. Her siblings grew close together, but left their sister behind. She spent all her free time alone and enjoying nature. That's when the weird dreams started. What was worse was when the dreams seemed to happen while she was awake. She would see stars walking around during the day! She didn’t understand, and thought about telling her Mother about them- but hesitated. At this point, it was clear that Mudwhisker was unhinged. She confronted Yewberry demanding that they take her daughter as their Apprentice, and Yewberry openly called her out on the fake omen and attempted to force a decision only made by StarClan. With that, Reedstar was forced to step in and separate Yewberry and Mudwhisker in hopes that there would be no more issues between them. However Yewberry was familiar with not normal families and when they had a moment of peace approached Briarkit. The strange and quiet little kit asked questions like if Medicine Cats were really able to see StarClan, and if being a Medicine Cat was that important. Their talk was short but good, but Yewberry noticed that Briarkit would stare into space often and ask if Yewberry saw stars during the day which he thought was a weird question. That night he was given a dream of large thorn covered thickets covering the horizon. It was a briar- and suddenly from the thickets, herbs and leaves grew from the brambles and sprouted towards the hot sun above. Yewberry knew that this time it was not a fake omen. That time it was real.
Yewberry talked to Briarkit again, and this time asked her about the ‘stars during the day’ comment. That's when Briarkit explained that she was having some dreams where the stars talked to her and they sometimes came to her when she was awake! Yewberry knew that this was a sign. This kit was the cat he was meant to train. 

Apprenticeship [ 6 - 12 moons ] >

Briarkit was quickly given to Yewberry and named Briarpaw when she reached the age of 6 months. Her siblings went on to receive their Apprentice names and mentors as well, but due to her mother’s favoritism, they often avoid Briarpaw. 

Mudwhisker at this point was thrilled her plan had worked and attempted to force Briarpaw to spill the secrets of a Medicine Cat to her- but the little she-cat could see how destructive her mother had become. She confronted Mudwhisker, telling her mother that she was wrong for chasing away Cobratail, and neglecting Widowpaw and Bramblepaw. With Yewberry at her side, Briarpaw felt she could finally tell her mother how she felt. She told her mother that she would never know the life of a Medicine Cat because it was not her destiny, and she needed to accept it. Mudwhisker, thrown into a rage, attacked Yewberry, but was quickly stopped by a few other Warriors. She was then banished from EmberClan for her repeated offenses and attempt to attack a Medicine Cat. Briarpaw was pretty shaken up about the exile of her mother, but decided to take this as a lesson and a chance to reach out to her siblings and possibly mend what their mother had broken.

Things were fragile for a time. Her efforts seemed rather... pointless as time went on. Briarpaw watched as her siblings made friends, developed into Warriors. She wasn't sure how she felt. She got someone closer to Bramblepaw, but it was clear they would never be as close as some of the other families in the Clan. Though saddened by this, Briarpaw accepted it and moved on, appreciating having any relationship with her brother and sister as compared to nothing. She threw herself into her training, looking to Yewberry for all knowing knowledge and following his every order. But her family issues were not the only things that happened in these early moons of Briarpaw's training. 

Petaldrift, a well respected Warrior of EmberClan was witnessed having a vision! Both Briarpaw and Yewberry were shocked to hear that one of the Warriors of the Clan received the message, and not either of the Medicine Cats, or even Leader or Deputy, but they accepted what the pale she-cat had to tell them about her strange dreams. Soon after this, Lotusbreeze stepped down as Deputy leaving the Clan feeling anxious for who would replace them. However, Reedstar was quick to decide that Piketongue, a beautiful golden she-cat with a heart of a hard worker and kindness would take the role of Deputy. The she-cat agreed, and  New-Leaf followed after. Though still chilly out, the Clan was doing better catching prey and the common deaths that followed Leaf-Bare were starting to pass by like horrible nightmares. Lotusbreeze, the former Deputy, was found bleeding horribly after a mysterious attack and soon passed from their injuries. The Clan felt unease knowing that something might be happening without anyone seeing it. But life went on. A month later, Reedstar lost their first life, and the Clan became very protective of their leader. And finally, despite Bramblepaw and Widowpaw receiving their Warrior names, Briarpaw was not ready for her name quite yet. Bramblepaw was named Bramblebite, and sadly Widowpaw was named Widowmist and soon after died. Briarpaw hid her grief over her lost sister but praying to StarClan and begging to get to see her again. But she was not answered. Perhaps even in death, Widowmist did not wish for a relationship with Briarpaw.

Medicine Cat-ship[ 15+ moons ] > 

Finally, moon 195, another moon after Reedstar lost her first life, Briarpaw was given her name. She thought about requesting Briarmist to be her new name, but felt like it was doing a disservice to her sisters legacy, as Widowmist never would have wanted her journey to be carried by Briarpaw. So she allowed Yewberry to choose, and Briarshade was her name as a full fledged Medicine Cat. It was celebrated that EmberClan had two Medicine Cats as HailClan and CloudClan had not been as fortunate. However, this was short lived. Less than a month later, the entire EmberClan camp flooded. Reedstar was killed while the clan struggled to escape. Many lost their lives, including Briarshade's beloved mentor Yewberry. She tried to grab what herbs she could, as it was still cold enough for herbs to be hard to find. However, she lost most of her supplies, and barely made it out with her own life. The clan cried and tried to stay together as suddenly they were left with Piketongue and Briarshade to lead them. The two she-cats did their best to keep the clan calm, but knew that they couldn't say in the flooded camp. So Piketongue lead the clan to the Two-leg cabin which was usually only used in the warm months of the year which was not far into EmberClan territory. The clan was wet, cold, and hungry, so they resided inside. From there is was clear that Piketongue was no longer Deputy, and would take her name was Pikestar, and Briarshade as the sole Medicine Cat of EmberClan.