Dunno if they properly count to be recycled but in 'Into the Wild' Dawncloud mentions having more kittens she doesn't want to be killed which can't be Blossom or Swamp who are dead by this point.
I'm counting them. I haven't named them yet, but in my notes, they're marked down as "WindClan Massacre 1" and "WindClan Massacre 2."
Dawncloud is a mess in-canon. She's an apprentice who's supposed to be an old queen with several litters, and a mate so old he should have been dead before she was born. The way I've decided to approach her is by making her more accurate to her TPB appearance; an old queen.
She is now Raggedstar's littermate.
A friend of Yellowfang's youth, along with Ashflame (previously ShC Ashfur).
Finchflight was a total git. The kind of husband that you really hope she divorces, but never does.
Nasty to her friends, really full of himself, a fantastic warrior who doesn't let you forget it.
"Dawcy, what do you see in that guy?" "Ohh, you don't know him like I do."
Together, they had several litters of kits. I'm still working out the nitty gritty details on how many litters and how many kits in each.
The oldest were the two who eventually die in the massacre. There weren't as many ShadowClan casualties as WindClan casualties that night, but they were strong warriors in the initial strike squad.
I'm thinking of giving them bird names-- Drake and Harrier, maybe. Finchflight would want his firstborn kits to have names like him, and Dawncloud would oblige.
Scorchwind is in a later litter. He was born after his uncle earned the honor title of Raggedpelt, and Dawncloud adored her brother's old name.
With his blessing, the unused, "lucky name" was passed to Scorchkit.
There's another "maybe" cat who might be hers-- a Glitch Warrior, the "Not Brokenstar" forest rogue from Rise of Scourge.
His WIP name is Braketail. A brake is a marshland dominated by one species of plant. I'm tempted to make his name Brakebone though.
May or may not stay in the Dawnkin family, though. Depends.
Since BB!Brokenstar both does not have the "child soldiers" plotline and has a much longer rule than his canon counterpart, Dawncloud is now the progenitor of some "kit saves."
Currently, Mossthorn is her lastborn.
Finchflight died while they were young, so their temperament is vastly different from his older siblings.
From there, Swampfang, Volewhisper, and Blossomfrost are grandchildren now.
Discopaw and her unnamed sibling (current WIP name Poppaw) may also be Dawnkin, depending.
I'm still deciding who the parents were, though.
Current draft is giving Swamp/Bloss/Vole to Mossthorn, but I might give them to one of the dead firstborns. I like the idea of Volepaw getting horribly mauled while rushing to his parent's defense.
Dawncloud there in the camp, burying two children and unsure if her grandson will survive his injuries, deciding in that moment she cannot lose another kit.
Sadly though, this doesn't have a happy ending. Dawncloud's family is devastated by Runningnose's plague.
Dawncloud, Mossthorn, Volewhisper, and Pop are taken out as Nightstar sympathizers. Disco and Swamp are targeted too, but survive.
Blossomfrost wanted to be a Cleric. She begged Runningnose to let her help, not knowing it was him who had unleashed it on the Clan that "betrayed" Brokenstar.
He warned her that the plague was dangerous, and that there were serious risks involved. She could have distanced herself from the infected, stayed safe. But she didn't.
Her death was unfortunate collateral. She was a bright young warrior with a good heart. A waste.
I'm unsure if Discopaw will stay in this family, but it's definitive that Crowfrost will be descended from Dawncloud. What defines this family is their bright, two-colored irises. Crow has cobalt ringed by brilliant blue frost.
To add insult to injury, I imagine Nightwhisper's name is a direct reference to Volewhisper. Probably Runningnose's idea; to have the first warrior that Tigerstar names be a repeat of the first title Nightstar gave.
'Let this be the sight you die seeing, Dawncloud,' Runningnose's subtle smile and gleeful eyes silently declare, 'I've taken your kits. I've trampled their honor. Everything you betrayed your Clan for was for nothing.'
It's only the beginning of TigerClan's tyranny, a droplet of the bloodbath to come.
