#4000 words... goddamn

Either way I think Onestar knew one way or another, I don’t think it was always a good thing, but given that I headcanon that most of Gorsetail’s family died while the moor was being destroyed, Onestar being the one there for her even briefly would be nice. 

BUT ANYWAYS (see, this is why I am not allowed to ramble lol. I will get sidetracked)

The TUNNELS. I deeply know Sedgekit was the one to lead them there. It might have been a bet with Swallowkit, but Sedge was still the leader of their group and they got in anyway. This was definitely a deeply traumatizing experience for all three of them. They nearly died, Thistlekit literally fell unconscious because of hypothermia, escaping through the river was definitely not the most pleasant experience and yet Sedgekit remained chatty and willing to explore and fight through it all (my little weirdo <3). In my mind Segde got EXTREMELY claustrophobic and at least moderately scared of rivers because of that whole ordeal. Thistle and Swallow were more fascinated by the tunnels because of it, but Thistle, being deaf, couldn’t safely tunnel so only Swallow got to become a real tunneler lol. 

Anyways, I know for a fact they were on camp arrest for the rest of their kittenhood after that point lmao. No point in trying to escape when at least one warrior was always keeping an eye on them AND they got to deal with every tick and dirty nest for moons. 

Apprentice tribulations 

By the time all three finally got to become apprentices they definitely calmed down a lot. Sedgewhisker learnt first hand how consequences work and that breaking the code will have repercussions. She definitely developed into a “model apprentice” by that time. Thistle had always been seen as the pleasure to have in class, if maybe a little “lazy” (she’s just chill you know) and Swallow kept being a contrarian little shit, but Sedge matured and became a true stickler for the rules. Dewspots (a cat with LITERALLY not a single appearance outside of the allegiances and thus a true blank slate for me to play with <3) definitely encouraged that. I don’t think Dew was a stellar mentor (more on that later…) but the two worked well together and Sedge learned everything she needed to become a promising young warrior at a very early age. She was definitely still close with her sisters, but also Sunpaw and the four of them were definitely having a lot of fun as they grew up together. 

Eventually all four of them got their names somewhere in the 6 moons between Po3 and OOTS. Probably a lot closer to PO3 than OOTS given when they were apprenticed, but the timeline is deeply broken and honestly Bonefall is right to make Sedge and co apprentices during the battle of Eclipse. Sedgepaw should have had a role to play in Heatherpaw and Lionpaw’s fight and he’s right that setting her up as a promising young warrior could have been so good if the erins cared… I do also think Sedge said it, but it will remain a mystery forever (I refuse to make a decision, I like having some of these bits of the story that stay unknown forever lol)

Anyways, by the time she gets her name that incident with the tunnels is far far behind her. Her reputation has been fully cleared and she’s ready to take on the world!

Beaver quest 

This is in my opinion part of why Onestar chose her for the beaver quest. Sedgewhisker by then was a level-headed but confident warrior who was truly loyal to her clan above all else. She had proven to have overcome her troublemaking youth after a stellar time as an apprentice and he probably wanted to give her a chance to prove herself further (but he also probably wasn’t too scared of losing her. She was just A promising warrior in between the others. Heathertail for example he’d have never sent lmao. There was no way he was risking her life, but a halfclan young warrior? yeah…) and prove she did. 

She wasn’t as vital to the mission as some other members, but she was a part of it still and her helping bring back water definitely helped with her reputation back home. In my heart she did truly enjoy being with Dovepaw and Petalfur (PetalSedge ftw), but she’s loyal to WINDCLAN and wasn’t about to risk her reputation by being too cosy with cats from other clans, especially given her parentage. By now I think she’d know who her father is and no matter what he’d try she wouldn’t be willing to have a relationship with him. She’s far too independent and focused on WindClan to ever. Which was kinda messed up by Dovepaw sneaking to see her, but Sedge recalibrated that quite fast and while she probably wasn’t too pleased, she had more important relationships to worry about. In a better world she, Dove and Petal would still be incredibly close (and we would have Petalstar, but fuck me I guess), but alas, clan rivalry will get the best of every cat at some point. 

Emberfoot… 

This “more important relationship” she had was with emberfoot… A cat who appears as a warrior in Eclipse alongside Dewspots, Willowclaw, Leaftail and Antpelt (Sunpaw also spawns then as Emberfoot’s apprentice). 

I have no proof of what I’m about to say. The erins would have never intended this, but as we all know from other such cases like TigerDove, SnowScorch, ReedQuail etc, They Don’t Care. 

But for starters. Emberfoot is a warrior in Eclipse. He might have only just gotten his name or he might have been a warrior for a while. The thing with these blank slate cats is that you can truly do whatever with them and it’d technically work. Sue Susann definitely had a field day when Eclipse made the allegiances for the other clans more interesting than the like 4 cats they had each. The Thing is, we don’t know Emberfoot’s age. He has an apprentice, that in my mind makes him feel like he’s at least been a warrior for a little while because why else would Onestar give him an apprentice if that wasn’t the case. There were plenty of other experienced warriors available to take on Sunpaw (who in my and most fans’ mind is a rogue they allowed to join. I usually think she was found as a kitten, but joining as a ‘paw works too). Her outsider status either way would make her a “difficult” case usually only given to more loyal and experienced warriors as to instill True Clan Loyalty into them. Was Emberfoot truly The cat for the job then if he had only just gotten his name? What about Leaftail then? THE most xenophobic cat in WindClan right now. Was he not loyal enough (in my mind yes and that’s why he got Oatclaw as an apprentice later on). 

So he’s at least a full grown warrior by the time Sedgepaw becomes an apprentice. Probably been one a little while given that Sunstrike is apprenticed before Sedge and co and probably even more because I still don’t believe Onestar would pull a “let’s give two cats who graduated early kittens who technically are still too young” à la Bluestar. The clan wasn’t in dire need for more paws (and the three were on tick duty anyway, so they worked no matter what) (because yeah, I do think Onestar would be vindictive enough to make all three deal with tick duty for the rest of their kittenhood after nearly causing a war with TWO CLANS). But anyways, Emberfoot trains Sunpaw. Sedgepaw is an apprentice at the same time as Sunpaw. Technically Emberfoot wasn’t her mentor, but he definitely was present during her training and had power over her as a fellow mentor. If it’s iffy when Thornclaw (mentored briarlight) gets with Blossomfall (although their age gap is also a lot more blatant when it comes to them…) then I don’t see why Emberfoot getting with his apprentice’s best friend wouldn’t be odd. 

Let’s also add the timeline being a mess and Larkwing being their child. Larkpaw first appears as an apprentice in The Forgotten Warrior, so in Newleaf of year 8 (I have an entire timeline I’m working on, don’t test me). So she’d be born in Leaf fall of year 7, which takes place during fading echoes. Book 2 of OOTS. Sedgewhisker has by then at best been a warrior for two seasons and given that Lark is born IN newleaf, Sedge would have gotten pregnant by late greenleaf, which takes place during The Fourth Apprentice. I’d assume it happened after she came back from the beaver quest, but splitting hairs. 

And who is her mate? Emberfoot. The cat who by then had been a warrior for AT LEAST a year (and probably more, but let’s be generous for one second). 

There is no canon evidence of there ever being something weird going on, there isn’t canon evidence for NOTHING in these books, but even with the most generous age gap I can give them, it’s a 19-20y/o getting pregnant by her best friend’s private tutor, who definitely also had a hand in teaching her and thus had very easy access to her as an apprentice. Maybe nothing happened, maybe everything happened. I don’t know but I find their relationship to be terribly icky no matter what. 

And I don’t even want to be generous with Emberfoot’s age. Onestar wouldn’t just give an apprentice to a newly named warrior like that. I refuse to accept that he’d just barely gotten his name and in the same ceremony been given Sunpaw. This isn’t AVOS ShadowClan where they were overrun by apprentices and didn’t know what to do anymore to the point of desperation. Many warriors didn’t have an apprentice, Sunpaw could have easily been given to any of them, even if we work with a WindClan that brought back tunneling (or never got rid of it) and the tunnelers being a bit more limited in terms of available warriors.  

In my whisverse he is in fact a creep and by the time Whistlebreeze and friends are there has been dealt with for a long time, trust me. I simply refuse to use him in any art ever again, I don’t want this creep in my world. His impact stays, Larkkit is born, Sedge was taken advantage of, but she isn’t stuck with him anymore at least in my world (this is also a good part of why I was so violently repulsed by Fluff and Silky being their second litter. LEAVE HER ALONE)

Larkwing, Sunstrike, Featherpelt

In the end emberfoot is taken out (Swallow and Gorse made it simple, don’t even worry about it <3), but Larkkit was still there. Sedgewhisker, who until now had only been A Promising Young Warrior Destined For greatness was all of a sudden stuck with a child from her abuser. She wasn’t made to be a mother, she had never really wanted to, but now there she was with that child. Gorsetail and her sisters helped her obviously, but the most help she got was from Sunstrike. I am one of those SunSedge fans. 

I like the idea of Sun having a huge crush on Sedge and the two of them having a weird situationship for a good while that then gets turned very sour because of emberfoot taking advantage of their closeness to get with Sedge himself. The sheer amount of guilt Sun felt is something really interesting. She technically did no wrong, but her mentor abused her best friend and it’s obviously going to have an effect on her and thus she’d (aside from the crush) feel responsible for helping Sedgewhisker with Larkkit. 

They’d definitely grow even closer during that time and their relationship would get better overtime until they announced their relationship officially probably not too long after Larkpaw became apprenticed. Now. I know Furzepelt is her canonical mentor and I like it, but I also really prefer Onestar doing these two a favor and letting Sunstrike mentor Larkpaw. Is it technically a parent mentoring their own child? Yeah. Is Suntrike young? Yup, but so is Furzepelt if we’re splitting hairs. Furze is even younger than Sun. BUT ANYWAYS, Sunstrike mentors Larkpaw. 

Sunstrike would have by now already joined the dark forest. Being a rogue who joined the clan already put her in a prime position for wanting to be stronger so the clan would value her and whatever the fuck emberfoot was doing definitely also had a part to play, but all that to say that by the time she’s training Larkpaw she’d be in the perfect environment for the dark forest cats to encourage her to bring Larkpaw along for training. This would be before they really start to show their true nature and start getting outwardly murderous, even if by then Antpelt would’ve been double dead, so who knows. Either way Larkpaw joined their training for even just a little bit before things got sour. 

Sedgewhisker would be none the wiser of everything happening in their sleep, although she’d definitely get worried about the wounds both always end up with and probably wonder what kind of insane training they get into, but Sun would probably try to defend Larkpaw as much as possible anyway because that’s her child goddamnit. 

Anyways, While Sedge wouldn’t know about the training, she would soon realize she’s expecting again. It wouldn’t be the best surprise for her, but with Sunstrike by her side she was less afraid at least, even if a second stint in the nursery would again be bad for her chances at scoring an apprentice and thus becoming eligible for the deputy position she’d been gunning for ever since she got her name. 

Little Featherkit was born at a horrible time though. The dark forest plot was revealed around her birth and all hell broke loose

The dark forest and its effects 

In one horrific night Sedgewhisker lost both her sisters, learnt that her mate AND daughter were both training with the demons who killed her sisters AND lost her mate (I’ve decided to re-kill Sun, sorry but SunSedge works best as a Complicated mess). All she had left were Larkpaw, soon to be named Larkwing for her courage in the battle, her mother Gorsetail and little Featherkit. 

She definitely shouldn’t have, but she began resenting Larkwing even more after the battle. Good for nothing child of a horrible man and clearly not even loyal to the clan. She rejected Larkwing and forbade her from seeing her younger sister. Gorsetail also resented that damned child and both of them spent most of their energy spoiling little Featherkit to hell and back. This little girl had every privilege, but grew up knowing that her older sister wasn’t a good cat and she should avoid her. Which she did. Featherpelt grew up to be a bit of a complicated cat, truly looking up to her mom and grandmother, but falling in a lot of the same pitfalls as them (accidental mother, gunning for the deputy position above all else thus leading to them being good warriors yeah, but not always the most pleasant cats to be around). Her upbringing has a lot to do for why Featherpelt is Like That in the Whisverse (can you sense a theme of family being fucked up in my stories) and I unfortunately don’’t see her Getting Better soon. 

Larkwing on the other hand had an absolutely horrendous time being rejected by basically everyone aside from Furzepelt (who is her friend even if she isn’t her mentor), Harespring and Breezepelt. Crouchfoot eventually came back around to be friends with her, but for a while she really was very alone, especially when Breeze began spending more time with Heathertail, Harespring became leader and his kits and Furzepelt literally died. She and Hare are still especially close. Traumabonded pair I swear these two. 

The fabled deputy position and every Sedgestar fan 

But back to our main girl. Sedgewhisker by the time AVOS rolls around is a respected warrior and doing mighty fine. She only got her first apprentice recently with Flutterfoot, so she’s only now barely become eligible for the position, but with other experienced warriors like Breezepelt and Heathertail it wouldn’t be easy to fill up crowfeather’s shoes once he finally kicks it (or becomes crowstar). She’s also getting up there in age. She’s nearly 9 years old and while she’s still got a few good years ahead it’s not like she’s sure she’d be able to stay alive until Harestar dies. 

Either way I know that we as WindClan fans always clamor for Sedgestar and she works wonders in alternate universes, but I do really feel like with the timeline fucking her over at every opportunity and Onestar choosing Harespring as a deputy being the most logical decision ever and while I know Hare is a boring leader, I don’t think Sedge would realistically ever have a chance at becoming deputy, let alone leader anymore. This is part of why I like making Featherpelt feel this same level of salty that in her mind both Sedgewhisker and Gorsetail were snubbed of the deputy position despite being way better candidates on a practical standpoint than fucking Harespring and especially CROWFEATHER. Oh trust me, their entire little family had to take a few too many fermented juniperberries after that one to not immediately do the emberfoot special on him. Harestar did really drop the ball with Crowf as his choice for deputy. But alas, Gorsetail was getting really old by then and Sedge didn’t even have an apprentice yet, so neither would have been chosen anyway. 

I really like Sedgestar as a concept. If you make her as rude and WindClan-first as she is in canon she’d be very fun to read about. Level headed and experienced, but not going to be pushed around. Very code-abiding and a WindClanner ‘til the end and thus very keen on pleasing StarClan. Had she been leader instead of Harestar by the time TBC rolls around the impostor would have had a very very willing aide in her. She’d have gotten Larkwing and Breezepelt’s asses exiled pronto alongside crowfeather, no doubt about it. (though her mama would be safe, no need to bring up her whole crossclan affair… hypocrite <3) 

But either way she isn’t leader, though it’s fun to imagine how she’d be. Featherpelt probably also won’t become Featherstar unless a miracle happens because she still hasn’t gotten an apprentice (despite Hootwhisker her denmate having TWO already and her good for nothing daughter* SONGLEAP getting one too)

(*Songleap would prefer being called child, but Featherpelt gets to be a little transphobic as a treat; she’s truly never going to get better </3) (also yeah, Featherpelt very much plays favorites with her kids…) (my horrible little cat <3) 

But either way, Sedgewhisker whether she's a leader or not is a very fascinating cat to me with her miserable little life (even if she'll never realize it)

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