Chapter 1
Large, golden eyes lazily watched as warm sunlight fluttered into the den, casting even the prickly brambles of the nursery front to look soft. It dappled the soft brown earth of the nursery, flickering different colours all over the den and its walls. The occasional shadow flitted past the entrance as the cats outside moved about, working as usual.
With the cozy warmth of the nursery, Vixenkit could guess at this point that it was getting close to Sunhigh, if it wasn't already. She slowly licked her dark paws, and pressed her eyes shut drowsily, the urge to nap creeping dangerously near. She faintly heard some high pitched squeals outside the den just barely drowned out by her mother's own purring.
Vixenkit jerked her face backward and mewled in surprise when two bodies crashed through the bramble and collided messily on the nursery floor. The impact kicked up a decent cloud of dirt that Vixenkit found herself trying to wipe out of her ears and face. She squinted indignantly as the pair continued to tussle in front of her, tossing earth and moss everywhere in their excitement. Vixenkit just barely managed to duck her head and pin her ears down as a scrap of moss bedding was tossed over her head and onto the queen's pelt whom she'd snuggled by.
Said queen looked at the piece of moss with a glint of annoyance in her golden eye, but made quick work of it by licking it and tossing it aside from her beautiful, dark-red tortoiseshell coat. Vixenkit noted that she seemed happy with her handywork. Finally she turned her head to the tussling kits. Her kits, rather.
"Alright, alright. Juniperkit, Flowerkit, take it easy," She started, tilting her chin up slightly. "Do you want your first task as apprentices to be fixing the nursery entrance?" She questioned.
Juniperkit hopped away from his sister and shook the dust out of his short black and white pelt fairly easily. "Flowerkit started it!" He yelped then turned to Flowerkit. The golden kit with bits of moss obscuring her longer fur looked appalled.
"I didn't, Mother!" she cried out. "It was Splashkit!"
"H-hah...s-sorry Cherryface." mewled a white and sandy-patched cat from the bramble opening, casting the nursery in a cool shadow.
Vixenkit wrinkled her nose one more time and sneezed as Cherryface pulled her ears back and huffed at the wild kits.
"I didn't ask who started it, I just asked you to stop." said Cherryface, her tone softening again. "Is that how you want to start off your first day as apprentices? Trying to get each other in trouble? Justice is all well and good, but don't get petty." Cherryface finally turned her attention back to the sneering kit that had made curled up against her. Feeling Cherryface's cold nose bump against her spine, Vixenkit squealed in surprise, before she felt Cherryface nudge her up further until she was standing on her own legs.
"Curling up into a little ball won't make you feel better, Vixenkit."
Vixen pulled back her ears and whined, she stared at the wonderfully cozy spot where she found solace just a moment ago but didn't try to go back.
"Oooh...I feel like I'm gonna be sick…" She started. "I feel like I've eaten a pigeon's-worth of yarrow,"
Vixenkit's longer ears swiveled back when she caught the sound of the bramble moving again, and moments later she felt Splashkit press against her side, albeit a bit roughly.
"C'mon! Do you even know what a mouse-worth of yarrow would do to you?!" she mewled with a tinge of excitement. "You wouldn't be able to stand up from all the hurling you'd be doing!"
Splashkit raised her nose up as she continued. "I should know, cause Appleleaf told me!" Cherryface once again snorted and looked at the kit with disbelief.
"Is that so? Warmheart told me a different story," She responded.
In response, shuffling stirred from the far end of the nursery where a pale brown and white queen rested.
"Mmhm," Purred Warmheart. "I have the feeling it included more of you and Littlekit mistaking yarrow for "a tasty dandelion"." The tiny cat next to her seemed to squirm at the memory and stood up, though he could hardly be seen past Cherryface as his stubby little legs left him half the size of any normal cat.
"Mother…" he grumbled, trying to hide himself from the snickering cats. Splashkit seemed to glare at her mother instead.
A third queen, Acornfur, squawked in surprise as a little dark-grey fur ball managed to wrangle out of her grasp, and bumbled straight into Vixenkit's legs.
"Oof!" Vixen wobbled inelegantly with the collision but managed to hold herself up regardless. "Ouch…! Be careful Smokekit…" she complained.
Smokekit shook her head and looked up at the older cat with wide, glimmering eyes.
"What's wrong Vixenkit? Don't you want to be an apprentice?" she asked, ignoring what just took place. Vixenkit was tongue tied for a moment.
"Sure I do!" she meowed, "I just…! What if I mess up during the ceremony? What if I forget what to do? What if my mentor doesn't like me?! What if I don't like them?!" Vixenkit's breath latched in her throat and she heaved in an attempt to catch a breath. Splashkit pressed up against her side.
"Vixen, as long as I'm around, you'll be perfectly fine!" Splashkit mewed, "As the up and coming medicine cat, I should know! We were born to see the future!"
This time Littlekit spoke up again, giving his sister a skeptical look.
"See the future? I...don't think that's how it works…" He mumbled. Splashkit shrugged and rolled her eyes in response.
"Get prophecies, see the future, same thing really. And my prophecy tells me that I'm going to be the greatest medicine cat, and remembered by all." Splashkit announced before using her paw to drag Vixenkit closer to herself. "And so will you- be a good warrior, I mean." She added.
Vixenkit chuckled a bit and purred in thanks to her friend. She internally rolled her eyes at her denmates statement.
Warmheart piped up again from the back of the den, her upper half completely hidden against the shadowed dirt of the cave walls.
"Splashkit is right though, the ceremonies are less daunting than they seem." Warmheart began. "You all line up, Patchstar will say a few words, you touch noses with your mentor, and then you wait till the others finish! That's it!" she purred. The two other queens nodded in on the other hand let her backside flop down on the soft nursery floor.
"I wish I was becoming an apprentice with you all! Instead I have to wait a whole moon..." She moped
Acornfur rolled onto her side from her position and scoffed.
"Trust me, you're not the only one," She meowed. "You all are getting far too big to all be shoved in this tiny den." With that she stretched her aching leg muscles as if to prove a point, then reached in to snatch Smokekit away by her scruff and began to bathe her. "Until then, you're stuck with me." She snickered good-naturedly whilst Smokekit writhed and shoved her mother's shoulders with her little paws in retort.
The laughter of Vixenkit's cousins and siblings helped her release some of the tension in her back, and she looked to Cherryface. They locked eyes for a long couple of moments before Cherryface blinked gently at her daughter.
"Just pay attention, and you'll be fine."
Vixenkit lowered her head and looked at the ground intently. She breathed in. Then out, slowly. 'Right...just...listen, and you'll be okay...it'll be okay.' she recited in her head and closed her eyes.
As Vixenkit looked back up at Cherryface, she just barely had any chance to see the queen widen her eyes in surprise before she felt something launch itself into her side. She fell onto her side, feeling Splashkit's paws pressed against her chest. There was a glint of mischief in Splashkit's grey-green eyes which sparked the same sensation in Vixenkit's spirit.
"Not fair!" she yelped before she twisted to throw Splash off balance; scrambled out from under her and leaped on her. The two latched onto each other in a kitten fight, having no idea which way they were wrestling.
From her peripheral vision, Vixenkit saw Juniperkit and Flowerkit squeal and leap away from them, and by the sound of the bramble rustling again, she knew they had run outside.
Cherryface's annoyed hiss lurched Vixenkit into reality and Splashkit off of her, and both proceeded to scurry outside in a fit of giggles and excitement.