Mosspelt and her new mate! (Toms only please!)

Snowwillow shifted. Wow, this is awkward, she thought to herself.

Goldenblaze smiled at Mosspelt. This is the she-cat you've liked since you were apprentices. Say something! he thought.

A kit tumbled out of the nursery along with a moss ball. The kit pounced on the moss ball and rolled on to his back, kicking the ball in the air with his hind legs. Adderhawk stopped grooming and looked fondly at the kit.

Rising to his paws, Goldenblaze walked over and batted the moss ball back to the kit, smiling.

Snowwillow watched her brother fondly.

"I've always loved kits," Adderhawk sighed happily watching the kit and Goldenblaze. "My sister, Redforest has just had kits."

Goldenblaze smiled.

Snowwillow nodded. "I love them, but I'm not sure I can have them." The memory of not being able to get pregnant with her former mate made her suddenly shiver, and she looked down at her paws, not wanting to meet anybody's gaze. Her and her mate, Redwillow, had tried at least twice to become parents, but Snowwillow had never become pregnant. She didn't know why, or hot to fix her problem, but she realized, after the fourth time trying with Redwillow, that she was just never going to be a birth mom. Redwillow was disgusted with her, of course, feeling she was a freak of nature when she told her thoughts to him, and left her for a she-cat who proudly bore three fine kits four moons later.

Adderhawk purred in agreement, but looked at Snowwillow sadly.

Snowwillow smiled weakly at Adderhawk, but continued to avert the tom's gaze. She suddenly rose to her paws, and padded away.

Goldenblaze watched his sister go, and licked the kit on the ear, before padding back over. "It's about the kit thing, isn't it?" he asked. Already knowing the answer, he added, "She's always wanted to be a mom. Ever since she could walk, and talk, she never left the younger kits' sides. And she wanted the perfect mate. She had a feeling Redwillow was, and wanted to make him happy so much. And when she couldn't, her heart broke even more, adding to the fact that she could not have kits. I don't think she'd be so sad about losing Redwillow if she hadn't thought he was perfect for her." Flicking his tail, he added, "I always knew he wasn't. Even when they were mates, he was always flirting with other she-cats." He shook his head in disgust. "Personally, he didn't deserve such a wonderful she-cat." He gazed fondly at his little sister. "I just wish I could make her have one litter. Just one litter. Just to see her smile like she used to at the thought of having her own kits."

Adderhawk murmured in agreement,"Sounds like he was pressurizing her, but he could have been the one with the problem." Adderhawk leaned over and licked Amberpelt's ear.

Skywing and Nightshadow sat opposite of the group of cats sharing a meal.

Goldenblaze nodded. "That's what I've been thinking. It does make sense. I mean, how could StarClan be so cruel? To make a she-cat who wants to be a mother so badly, and would be the perfect mother, not be able to have kits?" He looked over at Snowwillow. "I've tried to tell her that perhaps it isn't her, and that it was Redwillow, but she won't hear it. She loved him too much to blame him, and she thinks she wasn't good enough for him. That she doesn't deserve him if she can't bear his kits." He sighed. "It's a shame, really. And another thing? How could it be Redwillow if he had three kits with the second she-cat?" He shook his head. "But perhaps StarClan was just showing them they're not meant to be together. Maybe both of them can be parents. And the only way to find out is if Snowwillow found another tom, but no tom has taking a liking to her." He blinked. "I had the idea of a tom trying with her once, to hopefully make her pregnant, and then separate. Because I have a feeling that even though she really wants both kits and a mate, she'd give up the 'mate' part and only bear kits."

Snowwillow crouched in the shadows underneath some ferns on the edge of camp, her head bowed.

"I'll go too, I need to stretch my muscles," Adderhawk said as he padded after Amberpelt.

Goldenblaze watched her go with regret. It's obvious who she is in love with, he thought sadly.

Snowwillow crept out of camp and went to the river, stopping nearby to where Mosspelt and Adderhawk hunted. But she was unaware of them. Sitting on the bank, she hunched over, her head low, watching the river rush by.