#tempestclan

This would happen around the very beginning of TempestClan. Whalekit sneaks out of camp one day and finds Rootkit and he decides to bring her back. With no real connection with the other Clans or where she may have come from, TempestClan takes her in.

I don't think she'd be closer with one of the kits over the other, nor would she have official adoptive parents/siblings. Whale is happy to have a playmate around his age, and Tern is happy to have a cat who shares his interest in healing and StarClan.

Meanwhile, Puffinquill and Wildfirestar are more hesitant. They already have their paws full with Whale and Tern, so another kit just adds to the monumental responsibilities that these teenagers/young adults are taking on. As time passes, Puffin would spend more time with Root as Wildfire takes on the responsibilities of leadership and trying to keep TempestClan afloat. This would lead to Puffin influencing her to be more hesitant, lacking the fiery determination of Wildfirestar.

Rootpaw becomes a medic apprentice and a diviner alongside Ternpaw, who is a medic apprentice and a botanist. They're a great balance for TempestClan—a healer who can focus on StarClan and spirituality, and another who can focus on cultivating plants and herbs. (I always thought that med cats in canon have way too many responsibilities, especially when there's only one, like how do they get all that done 😭!?) They would become good friends across the course of their apprenticeship and end up getting their full names at the same time. I can see hwr being named Rootwing (due to my the Clans' obsession with birds).

I don't want to spoil anything, but I could definitely see her being very involved with a future plotline that I'm still working on since she is both the most religious and the earliest outsider to join.