Diamondpelt of RiverClan

[Diamondpelt is very kind. She is very much aware that she has a problem with remembering things and she always feels bad if she can't remember a cat's name or who they are. It doesn't seem to matter how much she is visited by a specific cat, she has trouble remembering them. She does try though.

Diamondpelt has a form of dementia, known to the twolegs as Alzheimer's disease. To the medicine cats and the other cats, she just can't remember things any more. The only exception seems to be if you mention Oakheart, her mentor. At the sound of his name, her ears perk and here eyes gain a life to them. She can talk about him for hours on end and he seems to be something like a gateway to other memories. She can remember who her apprentice is and her siblings - if they are talking about Oakheart. Every once in awhile, however, the memories will come back without Oakheart's help. Sometimes she will just wake up and remember who she is and who everyone else is. These events last anywhere from a few hours to a few days.

On the days she remembers nothing, she is often quite confused. She can be heard mumbling things to herself - usually herb names and uses - but she can't remember why she knows them and it often scares her. Sometimes, she claims there is another cat's mind inside of hers and she knows things she shouldn't know. It takes reassurance and reminders of who she was but eventually she will calm down.

She is very thankful to her Denmates who help to look after her. When the medicine cat is busy, they make sure she is safe and comfortable and happy. She loves the visits from kits and apprentices, although she doesn't know any stories to tell them and sometimes worries if she isn't doing her job as an elder. But when kits to come, she loves to cuddle them into her long fur and be their pillow. She loves to listen to the stories just as much as they do.]

[parents - Bouldercreek and Sweetmint got to know each other as apprentices. They were close in age and often trained together. He spent most of his time trying to show off to her and she spent her time playing hard to get. But one night, after they had both been made warriors, he finally got her to admit her feelings and they spent a glorious night together. Not long after, she moved to the Queen's Den and gave birth to two kits.

She would have two more litters, the middle containing Diamondkit and her brother. After the third litter, Sweetmint moved strait to the elder's den and was joined by Birchclaw a few moons later. They died of old age within a moon of each other.

kithood - As a young'un, Diamondkit was very bouncy. She had a hard time sitting still (a disease that ails many kits) but she grew out of that as she aged. She was very close to Ratkit, her littermate-brother and the two played often. But she had little interest in fighting or hunting. She had a nose for the herbs that the meek Thistlemind was using. But Thistlemind already had an apprentice so at six moons, she was named Diamondpaw and sent off to learn the warrior way.

apprenticehood - Diamondpaw spent her entire time as a warrior apprentice keeping her head over her shoulder, looking back at the medicine den. Something far more interesting was always going on there. One day, Thistlemind had been out in collecting herbs. He had left his apprentice back at the camp to do other work and had felt secure enough to not bring a warrior with him. He was attacked by an unknown creature.

When he didn't return, Oakheart informed his leader of the situation and a patrol was sent to search for him. he was found, mauled to death.

The following day, Oakheart took over. After a few moons of grieving, he recognized Daimondpaw's attraction to his den. He spoke with her about what she wanted. Her desire to learn his trade intrigued him and he saw her as something of a prodigy. In secret, he went to his leader and told him of Diamondpaw's desire. After a few weeks consideration, the leader moved her training to the paws of the Oakheart.

Diamondpaw loved her work as a medicine cat. She had never been able to picture herself as a fighting warrior the way her brother always had and the switch, even so late in her training, had been an absolute gift. She felt this was the perfect match for her. At twelve moons, she finally knew who she was and what she was meant to do with her life. The only draw back was that she could not take a mate. And oh how he had fallen for her strong and kind mentor.

Oakheart had been originally named for his pelt being the colour of oak, but as he aged, it was obvious that the cat was also very physically fit. Despite his obviously warrior-esque build, he had begged to become a Medicine Cat and it was soon discovered why. Although he was strong, he could never harm a living creature. His heart was pure and strong. Many cats came to him with problems beyond the physical. He was always a shoulder to cry on or a pair of ears to listen. Diamondpaw thought he was amazing.

But she could do nothing about it. The pair grew very close during her training but he never saw her as anything more then an apprentice and she never told him her true feelings. She just spent every moment with him that she could.

When she was nineteen moons, she was given her full Medicine Cat name and for many moons the pair reigned as a wonderful Medicine Cat team. While he did still have rank on her, he treated her more as an equal now and the pair shared the duties of the full job.

But he was taken far sooner then he should have been. When he was only fifty-three moons when he contracted a terrible disease. Luckily, it did not kill him imidiately, but he was no longer able to perform his duties as a Medicine Cat. He retired.

full medicine cat - She visited him daily. She spent all of her extra time and energy to try to find hm a cure but there was nothing she could do. After four moons, he told her to take on an apprentice. She asked for -kit.

She was granted her apprentice and the young cat helped to keep her mind off of her sick mentor a bit (though she still checked on him daily). After four moons, at the age of fifty-seven moons, Oakheart died. Diamondpelt was distraught but she struggled on with her work, knowing it was what he would have wanted of her. What she didn't realize was that her mind was slowly slipping away.

Her apprentice was taking on more and more duties as Diamondpelt began to pull away from her position. She claimed that she was slowly trying to hand the position over but she had no control over herself. She was scared but couldn't let anyone see what was happening to her.

Five moons after Oakheart's death, at the age of seventy-four moons, Diamondpelt woke up one morning and didn't know where she was. Her apprentice didn't know what was happening but the elder she-cat couldn't help with any details. She didn't know who she was, where she was or what was going on. She was terrified. Her only response was to curl into a ball and refuse to move until someone explained something. After a discussion between the medicine cat apprentice and the leader, Diamondpelt was moved to the elder's den.

elderhood - Thymeleaf spent the next few days trying to calm her down and help her. While he was never able to jog her memory, she came to realize that she had a friend here and that she was safe. All of these young cats were not going to hurt her.

The last fifteen moons have been rocky with her. She has good days and bad days. Sometimes she remembers the events of the day before and sometimes she can remember nothing and reverts to the terrified she cat in a ball. And miraculously, some days she can remember everything. Those are the days Oakheart is looking after her in StarClan.

On the days that she does remember who she is, she believes strongly that StarClan is punishing her for the strong love she felt toward her mentor. Despite the fact that they were never mates, she spent her time looking after him - he was her first priority, not the Clan.

Most of the time, she is somewhere in between the two extremes. She can remember little things, like her favorite food or what certain herbs do. She has a difficult time with names and faces (although she is getting very good at recognizing the medicine cat again and her new little apprentice).

The only thing that seems constant is Oakheart. It doesn't seem to matter how bad of a day she is having, if you mention her mentor, she will smile, her eyes lighten and her ears perk. She can talk about him for hours and although she spent so much time trying to hide it when he was alive, it is all but obvious now to every-cat how she felt about him.

She is to spend the rest of her moons in the Elder's Den, living with Thymeleaf and looking forward to (as much as she can) the next visit from her apprentice or her brother.

Because of her memory problems, the move to the new territories had very little effect on her. It was nothing but a big adventurous journey.]