#mallowblight

I do like your idea quite a bit though, so here are three ideas to make it work

Nettlekit and Twitchkit are retconned to be the younger bio siblings of Mallowblight that it rescues, the same age as HalfFireThorn and nursed alongside them when adopted.

Mallowblight's bio siblings are completely new characters... but due to the malnutrition resulting from Lightfern's death and Jayfrost's neglect, they don't make it. Nettlekit and Twitchkit are still bio Tunnel Poly kits.

A combination of 1 and 2, with Nettlekit and Twitchkit being bio LightJay kits and the sole survivors of their second litter, but having a couple littermates who didn't make it due to the aforementioned malnutrition.

Personally I like idea #3 the best but I'm open to hearing your thoughts!

I think it makes the most sense for Nettle and Twitch to be bio Tunnel babies because of their designs looking like their parents merged into one cat

But maybe (somehow) Nettle and Twitch got separated from their parents (maybe a hole in the ground collapsed and they fell through??). They are found, wailing, by Mallow, and they survive despite being >1 moon old because it was there to care for them. The family is very thankful and when they take their kits back, they offer Mallow to come with them

Maybe the interaction could be like:

*the family takes the kits back home*

*Mallow watches them go, feeling proud but also feeling sad as they leave*

Emberdawn turns to look at it: "hey, are you coming?"

*Mallow breaks into a smile and happily follows*

But if Mallow were to have a bio sibling, I still think Half fits the most because they're partially grey and white, and so is one of Mallow's parents (and the other also having white), but neither Ember nor Gorse have any white. Also Half is blue-grey, not black-grey like Gorse and his other kits. Maybe when Mallow finds the kits, he puts all three together?

--Mallow's bio parents are Jayfrost and Lightfern, residences. They were pregnant with it when they died, and it was born in the DF.

--Shortly after it was born, they got pregnant again with who will become Halfsong.

--They are abusive parents.

--After giving birth to the new kit, mama loses lots of blood and asks for help, but Mallow is too scared of her to (think Smile).

--Papa comes home absolutely devastated. He doesn't care about the kits anymore, lost in grief. He doesn't take care of himself much less his kits. Mallow decides it needs to take Half--who hasn't even been named yet at that point--somewhere safe.

--They're found by the Tunnel family, and Half (maybe Mallow too) are nursed alongside Thorn and Fire. Half was lucky enough to be young enough not to remember those days.

because it was their idea, Fire and Mallow are tasked with going into the Dark Forest to propose what they came up with. They decide to go right to Gorseheart, but have no idea how to find him.

Lightfern was heavily pregnant with Mallowkit/blight before she and Jayfrost died and were sent to the Dark Forest, and gave birth to it almost immediately after arriving in the Dark Forest

So Mallowblight technically died in the womb, but is alive in the Dark Forest

Would explain why there's such a small age gap between Mallow and its siblings

Here's one of the last adopted children of the tunnel poly, Mallowkit/blight!

It is nonbinary and uses it/its pronouns! Couldn't decide whether orange or green eyes looked better on it so heterochromia time xdd

I can't design them right now because Ibis Paint is a BITCH and only gives me one hour a day free on it, but it has three littermates, Firekit, Thornkit, and Halfkit, who are also adopted by the tunnel poly! This is to come full circle with the poly since they started out with four adoptive kits (Lightswan, Ashmint, Froststorm, and Molechive)! The names are all callbacks to Gorseheart's friends - Mallowblight's suffix is after Blightstar!

Still working out their story but it and its littermates are Dark Kits. Their parents either died or were abusive to Mallow and its littermates. Either way, Mallow ran away and found Gorseheart, and then brought its siblings to him!

OH MY GOD YES YES YES

Death by accident in the Dark Forest is something that I would be very much interested to explore more. It IS a dangerous place to be