- A time of Torment -

[Arie]

Doepaw's backstory.
{This is simply to use as reference for when referring to Doepaw's backstory}

Sagefeather glanced down at the kits at her belly, fear glinting in her eyes. There were two… only two. A beautiful little white kit, such a beautiful little pretty molly who she couldn’t wait see grow up. And then… there was the disgusting little brown and grey and black thing that was also suckling at her stomach. How she could give birth to two such different kits were… a conundrum to the queen. Yet she already knew how she was going to raise them. Nuzzling the little white kit, she murmured softly, “Dovekit. Yes, you’re my dearest little Dovekit. My beautiful, beautiful daughter.” And then she looked over to the tabby kit, the disdain clear on her face. But she had to name her second daughter too no matter what.

Yet before she could, Deerstride entered the den and looked down at the two scraps at his mate side and his eyes lit up with happiness. “Has she gotten a name yet?” he asked, excitement filling the older tom’s voice. He himself was getting old… not that he in truth wanted to admit it, but him and Sagefeather were old to have their first litter. When Sagefeather shook her head the large russet tom looked down at the beautiful tabby molly that was snuggled tightly against the belly of her mother. She looked oh so sweet. “Doekit. That shall be her name.” Named partly after him? Yes, he was not ashamed of admitting that, because it was the truth.

It wasn’t long after that the two new parents discovered that these two kits weren’t born completely normal – possibly a side effect from the adults both being older than they should be for their first litter.

Sagefeather was shaken. This could not be true. Yet it sadly was. Her dearest love, her dearest little thing… Dovekit was deaf! She would never be able to her the compliments Sagefeather gave to her, the compliments from others… It was unbelievable to the old molly as she just stared at the white kit and the blue eyes. They were growing now, 3 moons of age already and Dovekit’s eyes had yet to change from their beautiful blue. Yet the ugly kit… still remained. Or Doekit, as she’d been dubbed by Deerstride. Sagefeather herself still referred to the scrap as ‘kit.’ Yet that kit seemed to be the one normal, well outside of the fact that it seemed to be having a bit of cloudy eyes, but it was nothing as worrying as Dovekit’s deafness!

Deerstride on the contrary was quite worried about his dearest Doekit. The little thing was not growing properly, or so it seemed to the tom. She was still so tiny, especially compared to Dovekit who seemed to grow much faster than the little tabby next to her. Doekit’s eyes were so very beautiful though, having transitioned into a mix of green and amber, depending on the light that shone through the canopy. Yet they always seemed to be slightly cloudy and the little molly needed to always be told that there was food before she actually went for it. He’d went and asked the medicine cat about it, and had gotten answer he hadn’t exactly been expecting. Doekit was blind. His dearest little daughter was blind. Blind. She wouldn’t be able to see. He didn’t know how to think about, neither of Dovekit’s disability nor Doekit’s disability. He just reached down and nuzzled the little kit, “You’ll grow up to be a fine cat, my little sweet Doe.”

A few days passed and here… an incident would happen that would define the whole family for the rest of time.

Sagefeather watched as her two little kits played in the clearing, the old she-cat was finally in a good enough mood to let them both play without everyone watching them at once. And so she laid down, eyes constantly focusing on Dovekit, not exactly caring where the little tabby monster was. At least she wasn’t near her Dovekit, despite them being littermates to Sagefeather was quite frustrated with how the kit would fail to play even the simplest games or do the simplest task! The little it was just useless! Couldn’t even pick up a leaf and bring it to her so she could at least look at something pretty. However, then the screeching started and she turned her head to see the little it just screaming at Dovekit. Didn’t it know that Dovekit was deaf? “What are you screaming at you little monster!” Sagefeather yelled, deciding to focus on the it for once, instead of on Dovekit. This… seemed to be the mistake that would haunt her forever. “Dovekit no!” she screeched as the watched the hawk dive for her very precious kit. But it was too late, Dovekit was gone. Turning her eyes to the monster, the one who’d caused Dovekit’s death she hissed at the tabby kitten, “Its all your fault! You distracted me! YOU GOT DOVEKIT KILLED!” the end of the queen’s words rose up in a loud scream that was then filled the sobs. It didn’t feel like she still had one kit left. Because she had lost the one, she so very much loved.

This was what broke Sagefeather. The queen returned to her duties after Dovekit’s vigil, refusing to take care of Doekit at all. In the meantime Deerstride had been extremely busy with patrols and warrior duties and training his own apprentice, leading to Doekit with no one to take care of her, and the reputation of a kit killer.

Sagefeather glanced at the little tabby kit as it scrambled out the nursery. She hated that kit, she despised it. She wished she could just take the kit out into the wild and abandon but it would be too suspicious. No, she had to wait. Maybe… maybe take Doekit on a trip after she was an apprentice. It wouldn’t be strange, and if she got Deerstride onto the patrol too it could just look like a family hunting trip. Yes. She was going to do that… and end this kit killer for once and all.

This defined Doekit’s kithood. Abandoned soon after the death of her sister, she struggled with socializing and being a normal kit in part due to her reputation. However, as soon as she was apprenticed thing seemed to go better for Doepaw. Until the eventful day in which Sagefeather’s plan would happen.


Sagefeather was… happy for once? Today her plan would unfold and she was… feeling good because of it, or so she assumed. The little paw now, no longer kit, was waiting on her with it’s large green eyes watching her. Well it wasn’t exactly watching her but rather… She didn’t actually care now did she. Nope because this little monster would die soon enough. Throwing a soft smile at Deerstride, Sagefeather headed out into the undergrowth, leading their little patrol towards the thunderpath. “We’re not stopping to hunt?” Deerstride questioned, but Sagefeather just simply shook her head, a hidden smile growing ever so slowly on her face.

Finally they had made it. The thunderpath. Looking at Deerstride she smiled, “We’re teaching the paw here to cross the thunderpath. She’ll need to learn it, is a vital skill.” With that Sagefeather stepped up on the thunderpath and gestured for her mate to join her. “Come on, we need to teach the thing how to cross this.” Yet as soon as Deerstride had stepped up on it, a bright light came… and then silence. Complete silence.

Doepaw’s parents died that day. Both. Killed on the thunderpath due to Sagefeather’s need to for vengeance. Despite Doepaw’s mom’s obvious dislike for her, Doepaw still suffers from extreme trauma as an after effect on that day. She lost a parent she loved and lost someone she didn’t even know. However, Sagefeather got what was coming for her.