Underdeveloped ships and how you would change them

It starts on the Great Journey, with Gorsepaw of RiverClan meeting Beechpaw of RiverClan. She finds him annoying at first, what with his endless, excited chatter, and just pretty much ignores him until the cats get to the mountains. There, Crowpaw becomes Crowfeather, which makes Gorsepaw jealous and angry; not only is she not much older than the new warrior, but she also considers him disloyal for leaving his Clan without telling anyone, and it's clear to her that he and Feathertail of RiverClan were more than just friends. Her sister Thistlepaw tries to comfort her, but Gorsepaw is just too irritated by the unfairness of it all to really care what Thistlepaw has to say.

A little later, she finds out that Stormfur is planning to stay with the Tribe and wonders aloud if all RiverClan cats were traitors. Beechpaw overhears this, and—with his initial excitement having subsided—the two get into an argument. Gorsepaw bringing up TigerClan is the last straw, which leads Beechpaw to attack her. Her mother Whitetail and Beechpaw's mentor Blackclaw break them up, and the two begrudgingly apologize to each other. Gorsepaw also vows not to underestimate Beechpaw next time.

Later, Gorsepaw's jealousy of Crowfeather grows when he's chosen to look for new territory. Whitetail reminds her daughter that Crowfeather had been one of the cats chosen by StarClan, but this just makes her feel worse.

When Tallstar dies and names Onewhisker his successor, Gorsepaw is initially very happy for her father, but this quickly disappears when tensions rise within the Clan, especially between Whitetail and her siblings, Webfoot and Nightcloud, who both support Mudclaw; their other brother and Gorsepaw's mentor and namesake, Gorsetail, doesn't seem to care so long as WindClan has a good leader. This growing tension eventually gets to Gorsepaw and Thistlepaw, who also supports Mudclaw, though Gorsepaw guesses that her sister is only saying these things because of her crush on Owlpaw, who is the apprentice of Mudclaw's brother Tornear.

One day, Gorsepaw goes hunting on her own and encounters Beechpaw on WindClan's side of the border. Remembering what happened the last time they spoke, she keeps her guard up and immediately questions him on what he's doing on WindClan territory, but he points out that she's the one who crossed the border, not him, and threatens to report her. Too irritated to care, she accidentally vents to him about the problems that WindClan has been having, and much to her surprise, Beechpaw is sympathetic and reveals that RiverClan has been having similar problems on whether to support Mistyfoot or Hawkfrost as deputy.

Before the conversation can continue, Gorsepaw hears Beechpaw's patrol, and he gives her his word that he won't tell she was there; she takes the risk of trusting him and runs back to her territory. Later, back at camp, tensions only continue to grow, and Gorsepaw finds herself wishing she was talking to Beechpaw again.

During Mudclaw's rebellion, Gorsepaw and Thistlepaw—unable to fight each other—fight side by side against Mudclaw's followers. However, Thistlepaw dies of her wounds after the battle. The death of the apprentice as well as her other Clanmates helps bring WindClan together in shared grief, and Gorsepaw wonders if any of this was really worth it.

When Onestar returns from the Moonpool, the first thing he does as leader is make Owlpaw and Weaselpaw into warriors, named Owlwhisker and Weaselfur respectively. Gorsepaw, too numb with grief to feel jealousy or otherwise, wonders why her father named them warriors until she realizes that he most likely did it to gain support from Mudclaw's followers. Onestar also announces that WindClan will stand on its own from now on, which makes Gorsepaw feel uneasy.

Life goes on in WindClan and Gorsepaw and Beechpaw grow closer at Gatherings, especially after she worries about him after hearing that he almost died. They even apologize to each other again for the argument they had at the Tribe, and it's genuine on both sides this time. Gorsepaw also continues to train harder in Thistlepaw's memory. Later, she notices that Crowfeather has been acting odd lately and follows him one night, only to discover that he has been meeting with Leafpool, ThunderClan's medicine cat. She confronts him about it, but Crowfeather dismisses her because she's only an apprentice. He also accuses her of being a hypocrite and falling in love with Beechpaw, but she denies it; it feels like a lie.

During the battle against the badgers, Gorsetail is injured and dies afterwards. Gorsepaw's new mentor is Ashfoot.

After Crowfeather returns from running away with Leafpool, he is monitored by his Clanmates constantly, and Gorsepaw finds herself feeling sorry for him and wonders if she really is in love with Beechpaw. The next Gathering confirms this when she gets jealous after he shows admiration for Willowpaw when he tells Gorsepaw that the medicine cat apprentice had helped save his life. Gorsepaw tries to convince herself that her feelings will fade, but they only get stronger.

She finally earns her warrior name—Gorsetail, after her mentor—and shares the news with the newly named Beechfur when she sees him alone at the border. Gorsetail finally confesses her feelings for him and wishes to be with him in RiverClan, but—thinking he's protecting her from possible ostracism—admits his guilt to telling Hawkfrost about WindClan's problems not long after she had vented to him when they were apprentices, which then led to the older RiverClan warrior to conspire with Mudclaw. Gorsetail wants him to tell her that he's lying, but he remains silent. She then thanks him for telling her this, because now it'll be easier for her to hate him and face him in battle.

Another lie.

Gorsetail tries to find satisfaction in WindClan and even grows closer to Owlwhisker, who has since kept mostly to himself since Thistlepaw's death. They end up becoming friends, but nothing more than that. She also gives Crowfeather the idea to do the same to gain WindClan's trust back by taking Nightcloud as a mate, but it soon becomes clear that this was a mistake after Breezekit is born.

Not long after her little sister Heatherkit's birth, Gorsetail encounters Beechfur at the border, and he tells her that he missed her. She attempts to resist the temptation to be affectionate towards him, but still fails at being hostile, and the entire meeting is just awkward. Before he leaves, Beechfur blurts out that he wishes to meet her on the island, and she agrees without thinking.

During their meeting, Beechfur apologizes for telling Hawkfrost what was happening in WindClan, and while Gorsetail refuses to forgive him, she agrees to put it past them. They update each other on their lives, but when Gorsetail brings up Owlwhisker, Beechfur assumes that the two are mates. She assures him that they aren't and that she only has eyes for one cat. As Gorsetail nuzzles him, she's almost sure she smells Thistlepaw, but the scent is gone before she can be sure.

Their meetings continue until Gorsetail finds out that she's pregnant with Beechfur's kits, though almost everyone assumes the father is Owlwhisker, who is the only one besides Crowfeather who knows the truth. They both agree to keep Gorsetail's secret. Soon, Gorsetail has three daughters: Sedgekit, Swallowkit, and Thistlekit, who is named after Thistlepaw.

The secret doesn't last for long however, but RiverClan and WindClan agree to keep this information private when it finally does get revealed, and this creates a secret, though unofficial alliance of sorts. Beechfur also insists that his kits stay with their mother in WindClan; Leopardstar reluctantly agrees. The alliance briefly breaks after WindClan accuses RiverClan of taking the kits and almost goes to war with them, but they're thankfully found before the two Clans can fight. This shaky alliance also helps Onestar convince Leopardstar to help him attack ThunderClan.

Gorsetail's kits eventually become apprentices—Thistlepaw is apprenticed to Leaftail, Sedgepaw to Dewspots, and Swallowpaw to Willowclaw. They never learn that Beechfur is their father and instead grow up believing that it's Owlwhisker, who proves to be an excellent father to his foster kits by doing the exact opposite of whatever Crowfeather does.

When Hollyleaf reveals the truth of her heritage to the Clans, this deeply disturbs Gorsetail, and she has nightmares about it for moons—only except of it being Hollyleaf revealing her half-Clan heritage, it's one of her own daughters. As a distraction, Onestar has his granddaughters become warriors a little earlier than expected: they become Sedgewhisker, Thistleheart, and Swallowtail. But because of their RiverClan heritage, this just makes things worse for a few moons, much to the confusion of the three new warriors.

When the drought hits the Clans, Beechfur is one of the first cats to die, and Gorsetail mourns him in silence. She becomes proud of Sedgewhisker being chosen to help bring water back to the Clans, privately thinking that this is avenging Beechfur, even if Sedgewhisker herself doesn't know it.

Gorsetail has a very close relationship with her daughters even after they become warriors, such as encouraging Sedgewhisker to be with Emberfoot, comforting Swallowtail after Antpelt dies, and supporting Thistleheart's decision to not have a mate and kits.

After Furzepelt, Breezepelt, Whiskernose, Weaselfur, Harespring, Owlwhisker, and Heathertail attack ThunderClan, Gorsetail argues with Owlwhisker about being foolish for trusting Sol, and this has a negative impact on their relationship.

Sedgewhisker eventually becomes pregnant with Emberfoot's kits, and has a daughter named Larkkit. They have a close relationship until after the Great Battle, where it's revealed that Larkpaw was a Dark Forest trainee. Gorsetail tries to comfort her remaining daughter—having lost Swallowtail and Thistleheart in the battle, as well as her "mate" Owlwhisker—but to no avail.

When Sedgewhisker vents to her mother about how all traitors deserve to be punished after Harespring is made deputy and Larkpaw a warrior named Larkwing, Gorsetail finally reveals the secret she had kept for so long. It takes many moons for their relationship to be repaired, but Sedgewhisker eventually makes amends with Gorsetail when the latter comforts her daughter as she initially has difficulty giving birth to a daughter named Fernkit, and she later learns to finally forgive her mother and the former trainees.

Gorsetail continues to be a loyal and respected warrior for the rest of her life, and the story ends with her being reunited with Beechfur in StarClan.

Wow, that's amazing!
I love how you connected the families, like, made Gorsetail and Thistlepaw Whitetail and Onewhisker's litter from Firestar's Quest.
I also like how she named her daughter Thistleheart after Thistlepaw.
And the part where Sedgewhisker vents about how all the traitors should be punished, and how Gorsetail confides in her about Beechfur, and how Sedgewhisker learns to forgive everyone.
Gorsetail and Beechfur being together in StarClan again is cute too.