"What do you mean I can't have kits!?" The brown tortoiseshell queen wailed. Her wail could be heard throughout the whole camp.

"I'm sorry... but this is your third stillborn litter... You can give birth, but I don't think the kits will be alive, no matter how many times you try." The silvery-blue she-cat standing beside the queen shook her head solemnly, her pale blue eyes gleaming with sympathy.

"But what if Darksky leaves me!?" The brown queen fretted. She continued licking her kits, hoping that they would start breathing soon.

"If he truly loves you, he won't care whether or not you can have kits. He should still love you, whether you can have kits or not." The bluish she-cat comforted the tortoiseshell queen.

"But...!"  The brown tortoiseshell yowled in agony. Just then, a kit moved- one that looked exactly like its father. The tortoiseshell queen gasped.

"Frostfern! This kit moved! Help me!" The tortoiseshell queen commanded. The silvery-blue she-cat named Frostfern looked at her.

"What do you mean? There's no way a kit is aliv- oh my StarClan!" Frostfern gasped. She started licking the kit with the grief-stricken queen. The kit squirmed, but it stopped moving and breathing after a few moments. The brown queen yowled in anguish once more.

"Why must StarClan punish me this way!?" The queen wailed. "What have I done to deserve this agonizing punishment?! I hope every StarClan cat rots in the Dark Forest someday! Have them be forgotten, and forever shunned, those fox-hearted pieces of dung!"

Frostfern gave the queen a comforting lick, looking a bit uncomfortable after the tortoiseshell had just talked to StarClan that way.

"I'm sorry..." Frostfern meowed softly. A silver tabby queen looked at the tortoiseshell queen with pity.

"I'm so sorry. If there's anything I can do to help, please just let me know..." The silver queen mewed softly, her ice blue eyes gleaming with sympathy.

The tortoiseshell queen's head whipped toward the silver queen.

"I don't need your pity!" The tortoiseshell queen growled. "Just because you'll see your kits healthy, and all grown up someday doesn't mean that you have to rub it in, Silverfur!"

The silver queen, Silverfur, winced. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- I wasn't trying to-"

"Save it for the Dark Forest when they accept you into their ranks!" The tortoiseshell queen snarled.

Silverfur gasped, and looked at the tortoiseshell queen in shock, her blue eyes shining with hurt and shock.

Frostfern had left without either of the queens noticing, and she had just come back with some poppy seeds for the tortoiseshell queen's shock, and some chamomile for the tortoiseshell queen's stress. Frostfern also carried another bundle of herbs; some borage leaves for Silverfur.

Frostfern placed the herbs in front of the queens. She nosed the borage toward Silverfur, who obediently chewed them up without a single complaint.

Frostfern picked up the poppy seeds and chamomile, and gave them to Rosewing, who grudgingly licked them up.

The tortoiseshell queen was... Different... After giving birth to three stillborn litters in a row- her only three litters. Her eyes were glazed over for the next couple of sunrises, almost as if she was thinking of something, or in a dream-like state...
____________________________

A brown tortoiseshell tortoiseshell she-cat with her pelt littered with small stars sighed, shaking her head, and turned to the she-cat next to her.

"Sorrelberry, there must be something we can do." The tortoiseshell she-cat pleaded.

Sorrelberry shook her ginger-brown head that was flecked with stars, as well. "I'm sorry, Briarleaf. Things just weren't meant to be."

"But that is my daughter suffering down there, and your niece!" The brown tortoiseshell, named Briarleaf, cried out. "How can you just stand by idly and not do anything!? We're just sitting here, waiting for disaster to happen!"

Sorrelberry sighed. "You don't understand, Briarleaf... These things are meant to be. Everything has a purpose."

"Just because you're older than me doesn't mean that you can act like some sort of smart piece of fox-dung!" Briarleaf retorted, her orange eyes blazing.

"Just because your daughter is suffering doesn't mean that you can call your sister a piece of fox-dung!" Sorrelberry snarled, stalking off.

Briarleaf just sighed sadly and sat down, watching her daughter from StarClan...