Sweetblossom padded softly through the forest. She opened her jaws and breathed the forest in deeply. Being cooped up in the nursery was starting to make her nerves raw, what with Ivystream's kits wailing and chattering all the time, and Iceflower's kits on the way. Soon, Sweetblossom's own kits would soon be there to crowd the nursery even more.
Earlier that day, Sweetblossom had decided that she would go out to get some exercise in the forest. Rosestar had insisted on sending a warrior with her, but she had left him asleep by the Tallpine. Raggedstone! What a lazy tom, she thought to herself. The new warrior was always sleeping.
Sweetblossom stopped as she felt movement in her belly. Looking down, she chuckled to herself. Long-ear had tried to keep her in camp, insisting that their kits could arrive at any moment at all. Won't he ever learn that a mother knows when her kits will come? She padded on.
A little while later, her mind occupied with mothering thoughts, she stopped: She thought she heard a kit wailing. Straining her ears in the direction of the sound, and opening her mouth to catch any new scent, she listened. And breathed.
There it was again! It sounded too tiny to even be able to walk! Gripped with a sense of panic, Sweetblossom hurried towards the sound, waddling as fast as her heavy belly would allow. Bursting into a small clearing, she whipped her head around, looking for the tiny kit. Why wasn't it there? It had to be there!
Suddenly, she realized. It was inside the hollow tree in the clearing. Gasping, she knew that she could not climb any tree when she was so heavy with kits. Waddling faster, she hurried towards the Tallpine, crying out for Raggedstone. He woke with a jolt, and, thinking that she was about to kit, hurried towards her.
"Leave me alone, I'm fine, Raggedstone!" she meowed. He cocked his gray head. "What's wrong, then? You look like you've seen a cat from the Dark Forest!" he asked.
"Raggedstone, there's a kit. Stuck in a tree! Oh, it sounds so small! Come on, hurry!" Sweetblossom spun around and began bustling towards where she had heard the kit. Raggedstone followed, also beginning to panic.
Finally, they reached the clearing. Raggedstone strained his ears. "Sweetblossom-" he began, but she interrupted. "Don't stand around talking! Go up and get it!"
"But Sweetblossom-" He began again, and she started to butt him towards the tree. Shaking a little bit, he began to climb. Hurry, Raggedstone! She bounced up and down on her paws. Raggedstone climbed into the hollow tree. With a muffled, quivering voice, he mewed, "Got it!"
Sweetblossom sighed with relief. But as Raggedstone shakily climbed back down, she saw that what she thought would be a tiny kitten was actually a large, red bundle about the size of an apprentice. When the gray tom landed on the ground, she hissed, "Raggedstone, I told you to get the kit!" He looked at her and lowered the fox to the ground. "Sweetblossom, open your ears! Listen! Smell it for yourself!"
Sweetblossom listened. The tiny mewling had suddenly turned into a hoarse, barking whimper. The scent of warm milk was replaced by fox stench. She padded softly over to the large, orange-red heap of fur. She looked at the gray tom again. "I think I've just been given a kit from Starclan," she murmured. She grasped the kit's scruff, and, despite Raggedstone's exclamations and oaths, she headed back to camp, with the little fox kit in her jaws.