i.i Kit

Dusk-kit was born in Echoclan, to a molly named Swiftfeather, along with his siblings Chicorykit and Bumblekit. Unknown to the very young kit, the clan was suspicious of their mother. Swiftfeather never confirmed who the father was, leaving it unknown and the family under a close eye. Swiftfeather did her best to ignore the looks and care for her kits, a struggle as a lonely mother.

Dusk’s kithood for his first few moons was peaceful, learning about the caves and plains and clan life in general. He played with siblings and was known to sleep often, a happy if quiet, fat kitten.

Life took a drastic turn for the family when Swiftfeather became very ill suddenly. Food poisoning was suspected from the medicine cat, who attempted to help the young queen. Swiftfeather however, from stress and worry, wasn’t in very good health and passed fast. This left the clan in shock at the sudden death and were now left with three possible half clan kits. The kits were fostered off and on by some other clan queens until a tom finally stepped up.

The tom turned out to be Eagletail, the ambitious and well liked warrior who had eyes for a bigger role in his clan. He was pushed forward by his brother to take on the 'burden' of his now motherless kits. The whole clan was in a tizzy over the story but also relieved to find the three kits to be fully Moorclan. His father, young and brash, was part of their life in bursts. The tom, while he loved his tiny kits, had plans for his life beyond them. Their uncle, Eagle’s brother called Mulchtongue, was the most stable family in their lives, always there to tell them a story or show them his den. Mulch was the medicine cat and this is where Dusk’s passion began.

Eagletail's in and out fatherhood left the three kits with mixed feeling on him. Bumblekit was the most forgiving and loved his father when he was around. Chicorykit and Dusk-kit were less happy with it but tried to remain happy to see him. Dusk-kit looked towards Mulchtongue as his father figure and was happy to think so.

i.ii Apprentice

The three kits grew into young apprentices, ready to show Moorclan, that they were capable clan-members. Two of the three went on to be warrior apprentices but Duskpaw was taken in by Mulchtongue to be his new apprentice. This put a bit of strain on his father, as Eagletail thought they should all be warriors one day. Mulch disagreed, leaving the two to depart on bad terms. Duskpaw was sad to see his father so uninterested in his own passions but he had his uncle for him.

The apprentice grew alongside his litter-mates, learning the ropes. They had a fairly easy apprentice hood, with the clan more easy on them as they worked with others. It seemed in no time, all three were taking their new names on. Duskpaw became Duskshade, for his dark pelt and as a homage to his love of plants. Chicorypaw became Chicorytail while Bumblepaw got the Bumblebush.

i.iii Medicine Cat

For a while, life was good. In another drastic and sudden turn however, both Dusk’s father and a sibling were killed in a patrol accident, leaving the family shaken and distrubed. Duskshade struggled afterwards, curling in on himself. Mulchtongue helped but it was a hard road.

Moons later, Mulchtongue himself would pass, his older body losing the fight against a nasty Bare-leaf cough. This left Duskshade the sole medicine cat in Moorclan and with only Chicorytail left. The tom took to his den more often and found interacting with others harder and harder. His already blunt and quiet personality took a negative turn to others and he found it was easier to just not be social anymore. His love towards other felt hurtful and he turned his back to focus more on his herbs.