A screech rang through the air.

Beechfur paced anxiously in front of the RiverClan nursery. "Will she be okay?" He asked Lilyshine, his sister.

"Of course!" She purred, rolling her eyes. "You would think Whitefeather was the first queen to ever give birth judging by your reaction."

Beechfur shot his sister a glare and started pacing again. "This is her first time kitting! What if it goes wrong? What if the kits die? What if she-" He broke off, not wanting to say what he feared might happen.

An ear splitting yowl rang through the air, followed by frantic orders from the two medicine cats. Beechfur lunged for the opening of the nursery. "Whitefeather!" He screamed, fearing the worst.

A heavy weight crashed into him before he could reach the entrance, he was pinned to the floor by a familiar pelt. "Throutsplash! Get off of me, I need to help Whitefeather!" His best friend shook his head and remained where he was.

"If you go in you will only stress her more." Troutsplash meowed, ignoring the frantic struggles of his best friend.

After what seemed like a whole season Cloudleaf finally appeared at the nursery entrance, "You can come in now Beechfur" The tired medicine cat said, moving aside to let Beechfur pass. Troutsplash let his friend dash to the nursery.

He shook his head at Lilyshine "I hope the kits are okay, from the amount of noise coming from there you would think she had a big litter."

Lilyshine frowned in worry, "Big litters are often dangerous for a queen's first litter."

Meanwhile, Beechfur had pushed his way into the nursery, he spotted his mate curled around multiple squirming bundles of fur. "How many?" He asked eagerly, licking his mate's ear.

"Five beautiful kits" She purred proudly, her fur damp from kitting.

"Five?!" Beechfur gasped in amazement. Whitefeather mowed her tail to show him his kits. There was one dark gray she-kit and one white and brown striped she-kit. The biggest kit was a pure white she-kit The remaining two were a gray and silver tom and a small tabby tom.

Cloudleaf and Smokestep left the nursery to give the new family some privacy.

Beechfur carefully lowered himself into the nest beside his mate, nuzzling each of his kits. "What will we name them?" He asked.

Whitefeather studied her kits, "How about Acornkit for the brown one?" She asked nuzzling the smallest kit. "No, it doesn't fit him." She immediately said afterwards. Beechfur let out a meow of agreement.

"Mistkit for the gray one?" He then asked. "No, it sounds too much like a she-cat name" His mate replied.

"Let's think of names tomorrow," Beechfur suggested, curling around his family. Whitefeather let out a small purr and snuggled closer.

~.~.~.~

The next morning Lilyshine stepped into the nursery to find the new family fast asleep, sun beams warming their fur.

She let out a meow of amusement and prodded her brother awake. He lifted his head sleepily and blearily looked around him. He suddenly realised where he was and happily gazed at his kits.

Beechfur gave Whitefeather a lick on the head and she immediately awoke. "Rise and shine!" He purred.

She gently stood up without waking up the kits and stretched, "What have you named them?" Lilyshine asked curiously. "We haven't come up with any names that seem to fit" Beechfur sighed.

His sister blinked sympathetically, "How about you two take a walk in the forest and by the river? It will clear your mind"

"Good idea!" Beechfur meowed, flicking his tail excitedly. Whitefeather was less enthusiastic however. "What about my kits?" She asked, her voice full of worry.

"I can watch them for you Whitefeather." Minnowheart , another queen in the nursery offered. "I'll just send my kits outside to play"

Whitefeather still looked hesitant, at that moment Cloudleaf stepped into the nursery.

Having overheard the conversation she nodded, "It would be a good idea to go on a walk Whitefeather. The fresh air will do you good after spending so much time in the nursery."

Whitefeather finally gave in and moved her kits to Minnowheart's side. She then walked out of the nursery and took a deep breath.

"It is a bit stuffy in there." She admitted to Beechfur. He didn't say anything, only laying his tail over her shoulders and leading her to the camp entrance.

Dewflower, who was on guard duty peppered her daughter with questions, "How many? Are that well? Have you named them yet?"

Beechfur let out a purr, "Slow down Dewflower, all five of the kits are well and we are still thinking of names" Dewflower purred proudly at her daughter and sat back, apparently satisfied by the answers.

The two RiverClan cats padded into the forest side by side. They kept walking until they reached a small creek that branched out from the river.

"Remember how you fell into this creek when you tried to leap across it?" Whitefeather teased.

"That's it!" Beechfur gasped. His mate shot him a confused look. "We'll think of names as we walk! We could name the gray and silver tom Creekkit!"

The white queen's eyes lit up in understanding. "That's a great idea! And a great name." She added with a purr.

A flock of birds settled down on a branch and began singing. "Larkkit for the white one?" Whiteflower asked. Beechfur nodded.

Without meaning too, their paws took them to a patch of grass sprinkled with beautiful flowers next to the river underneath an overhanging branch.

"This is where I asked you to be my mate." Beechfur murmured. His mate nodded, her eyes clouding over with memories.

"Flowerkit for the white and brown striped one." She said. They stood watching the river for a moment, leaning against each other before walking away.

They reached a bare spot in the forest floor, scorched naked by a former forest fire.

"Smokekit for the dark gray kit?" Beechfur asked, looking at his mate who nodded.

They reached a spot by the river where dark stains speckled the rocks, indicating that there had been a battle here.

Whitefeather closed her eyes in grief, "How about Tigerkit for the tabby after my father?" She said, recalling how her father, Tigermask, had died here.

Beechfur nodded in understanding and led her away from the forgotten battlefield.

The two cats headed back to their camp, to their kits, and to their future life.

This is probably my favorite story so far, I had the idea that this could be like a new RiverClan tradition that parents took a walk in the forest to come up with names for their kits. If you want to know the warrior names for the kits here they are: Larkkit became Larksong, Smokekit became Smokeshine after Lilyshine who gave her life to save Smokepaw from a fox, Flowerkit died as an apprentice in a battle against ThunderClan, Creekkit became Creektuft, Tigerkit became Tigerflower after his sister and because he's super sweet.

(Word Count: 1045 excluding bolded parts)