Lark-kit's pale yellow green eyes were as wide as the moon, two glowing orbs in his head. His whiskers twitched in excitement, his paws yearned to escape the confining walls of the nursery. His whole body itched to run out into the storm raging beyond the safety of the camp.
But his mother watched him like a hawk. She was casually draped across her nest, grooming her tabby coat despite the insistent leak in the thatch roof. At all times she kept one eye on her rowdy kit while half way relaxing.
"Come over here Lark-kit, before you catch a cold out in the freezing wind." Cherrynose coaxed her only kit. Lark-kit looked over his shoulder mutinously.
"I'm not even outside!" he exclaimed with exasperation. "Look, all four of my paws are in the nursery." he pointed out. Cherrynose responded by moving closer to Lark-kit and grooming the fluff around his neck. She drew her raspy tongue over his ear and he wiggled free.
"Stop fussing over me." he snapped, his cheeks burned with embarrassment. Cherrynose snorted in an annoyed sort of way but moved back to her nest. Lark-kit refocused his gaze out on the storm running rampant across the Seaclan beaches. He could make out the colossal waves through Ravenclan trees whenever a flash of lightning illuminated the darkness. A shiver rippled through his grayish black fur as the rain picked up more forcefully. Splashes of cold, wet, water fell on his nose.
He watched, mesmerized, as the rain swayed back and forth in the pulsing winds. There was another flash of lightning. For two seconds Lark-kit saw a magnificent wave swell up higher and higher. He couldn't contemplate how the ocean could produce that much water. He didn't think about how Seaclan would cope with having all that water flooding their camp.
His yellow green eyes narrowed as he saw three shapes on the white capped crest of the mountain wave. Three soggy lumps of fur...on the wave.
He shook his head, thinking he was seeing things. There was another flash of lightning and the shapes were gone, the wave had finally crashed down. Taking whatever had been with probably down to the bottom of the ocean. Lark-kit yawned and Cherrynose didn't hesitate to scoop him up in her jaws and order him to go to bed. Lark-kit hardly protested, he could feel sleepiness and fatigue wearing him down.
The soft snoring of the other kits, already sound asleep, made his eye lids droop. He allowed his mother to curl up around him for warmth and let her soft complaining of the hole in the roof lull him off to sleep.
The sound of hushed voices outside of the nursery awoke Lark-kit. He shivered and looked around frantically, his mother was no longer next to him. The other kits were still asleep however. Lark-kit padded over to them and prodded them awake.
"Huh?" Birchkit mumbled as his blue eyes lazily opened. His black and white fur was ruffled and disturbed from the stormy night. Frogkit awoke to his brothers voice and shifted slightly and opened his green eyes. Frogkit sat up fluffed out his brown coat to fight of the insistent chill in the nursery. Lark-kit nudged Blossomkit awake as well. Her piercing blue eyes opened only in slits and she curled up into a tighter ball of snow white fur.
"What?" she demanded with a yawn.
"The clan is outside talking, lets listen." Lark-kit chirped. Blossomkit grew visibly ore interested. All four of the kits dashed over to the entrance of the nursery and flattened themselves to the ground to stay unnoticed. All of their ears were pricked with curiosity as they watched only a few members of the clan gathered. Lark-kit picked out the clan leader Nightstar, the deputy Pebblestep, the medicine cat Leafcloud, and the queens.
"That's odd, queens usually don't take part in clan meetings." Frogkit murmured.
"It must be really important then." Blossomkit whispered.
Despite how quiet the group was speaking it was evident they were having a heated discussion. Lark-kit managed to pick out key points in the conversation.
"But how will we provide for them?" One of the queens demanded.
"The warriors will hunt." Nightstar retorted.
"Are you sure their mother is gone?" The medicine cat asked while casting her gaze out over the blue ocean in the distance. It was so calm and serene from what it had been the night before. Nightstar nodded and cast his gaze out over the waters as well. His amber eyes were unusually soft from their normal stony expression. His ears flatteend against his midnight skull.
"I sent out messengers to the other clans, there is no sign of her. It would be impossible for her to have survived that storm." Nightstar muttered, his judgment seemed to be clouded. He was acting very guarded and wary of his clanmates. They noticed and acted suspicious towards him.
"The kits survived." Leafcloud pointed out.
"A miracle from Starclan." Lark-kits mother amended.
"But still, we cant just take them in. They have a clan, Seaclan." Pebblestep explained and lashed her gray tail.
"They are too young, the only life they will ever have know will be Ravenclan if we decided to take them in." Nightstar countered.
"Won't Seaclan want them though?" Leafcloud questioned in a claming tone, trying to ease the tension in the air.
"Seaclan has no other queens to nurse them. Their clan was devastated by the storm and they are in shambles. They truly cannot care for these kits."
"Seaclan has never needed reason to justify their actions before." Pebblestep snorted. Nightstar bristled defensivley and hissed. Pebblestep looked taken aback by his reaction to her comment.
"These kits will stay in Ravenclan until their mother is found. If she is gone then they will be raised as if they were born here. End of discussion." He declared and stormed away. The rest of the group disassembled. Lark-kit watched Leafheart head back into the medicine cat den. He guessed that's were the Seaclan kits were. His mind was still reeling from everything he had heard.
Suddenly he felt sharp claws dig into his shoulders.
"Get back!" Birchkit hissed in his ear. Lark-kit stumbled back into his nest, realizing the queens were heading straight back to the nursery. All of the kits curled up and feigned sleep as heavy paws entered the den. The queens suspected nothing of the kits eavesdropping and awoke them. Lark-kit impatiently acted oblivious to what he had just heard, but his paws were itching to get out of the nursery and go visit the medicine cat den to see the Seaclan kits.
Eventually Lark-kits mother got tired of his hyperness and allowed him to leave the nursery. The other kits followed in suite. All of them huddled together in a nervous cluster and skittered around the Ravenclan camp. Warriors cat them bemused smiles as they bounced around full of energy and wonder. Although they had left the nursery before each time there was knew things to see, and each time the world only seemed to grow.
"This way." Lark-kit commanded and flicked his tail. The group followed him towards a cave formed between two trees and a pile of rocks. Lark-kit poked his head inside of the medicine cat den and watched shadows dance along the walls. Leafheart was nowhere to be seen. Perfect. Lark-kit thought to himself. He carefully padded inside of the den, his smokey gray paws barley brushing against the ground. He could feel his den mates brushing against him as they explored the vast den. There was a strong smell of herbs in the air. Lark-kit wrinkled his nose.
Suddenly two shapes came into view, it was two kits curled up together. The Seaclan kits. One had long silver fur which seemed the ripple with each of her shallow breaths. The other kit had almost black fur. The closer Lark-kit looked the more details he saw in her pelt, swirls of brown and black and spots decorating her short fur coat. Suddenly her eyes opened. Lark-kit heard Frogkit squeak in surprise. The she cat had one golden eye and one violet eye. She blinked at them.
"Hi." she whispered.
"Hi." the four Ravenclan kits responded in unison. The silver cat stirred suddenly, her head shot up and her eyes opened. Unlike her sister the silver furred kit only had a single color in her eyes. They were a deep navy blue like the ocean, unknown secrets lurked in their ominous depths. Lark-kit shuddered involuntarily.
"Who are you?" the silver kit demanded. She adjusted her position so her sister was half hidden.
"Who are you?" Lark-kit retorted. She narrowed her blue eyes and didn't respond.
"I'm Blossomkit!" Blossomkit offered her name.
"And I'm Birchkit."
"And I'm Frogkit."
"Lark-kit." he grudgingly stated. The silver kit met his pale green gaze.
"You should all leave before Leafcloud gets back." The kit advised and curled back up into a ball. Lark-kit felt like he'd just been dismissed after being scolded by a senior warrior. He stalked away with embarrassment.
"What do you think you are doing?" A stern voice snapped. All the kits spun around and looked up at Cherrynose.
"Nothing." Lark-kit stammered. His mother scoffed.
"Why were you in the medicine cat den? You weren't bothering the Seaclan kits were you?" Cherrynose demanded.
"We just wanted to meet them!" Birchkit protested.
"Yah we heard you talking about the..." Blossomkit slapped her tail of Frogkits mouth. Cherrynose narrowed her eyes.
"I supose it would be best if you all learned what was going on instead of having you poke your noses into everything." Cherrynose sighed. She lead them all back to the nursery.
All the kits gathered excitedly, none of them ever missed a story, ever. Even if this wasn't exactly a story they all eagerly listened.
"I assume you all listeend to our conversation earlier?" Cherrynose sighed. The kits sheepishly nodded and didn't make eye contact. Cherrynose sighed again and looked upward as if asking Starclan for assistance.
"How to explain..."she muttered under her breath. She smiled as an idea came to mind.
"Long ago the clans were formed by Sea, Raven, and Cedar. Ash joined them later on after the first three clans were established - or so the legends say.
They created what the clans are today, they created the full moon gathering place and the camps and the borders. They were the first leaders, and they came with messages of prosperity and survival if we banded together in clans. However Ashclan was wiped out countless moons ago when a terrible eruption of fire shook the earth. It was ominous that a clan named for fire was destroyed by fire, and now Seaclan is threatened by the ocean. No one knows why this is happening and the clans are panicking, cats are afraid.
Everyone is very confused right now. Two kits from Seaclan are in our custody and we are trying to figure out how to take them in without upsetting Seaclan. They can't provide for them, but they are proud. But you shouldn't worry about it, Nightstar Leafheart and Pebblestep are going to discuss the matter with Seaclan. It should be settled by the morning." Cherrynose finished the rambling story. Lark-kit felt more confused now than he did before.
The other kits let out mewls of protest as the queens ordered them to settle down and rest. They begged for more stories and explanations about the Seaclan kits.
"Nope, mother needs her rest," she said and closed her eyes while curling up into a ball. Lark-kit frowned and curled up too, he wanted more answers. And he was determined to get them.
The first chapter of Larkflights Treachery takes the stage! Yay! I've decided to put a couple AU's in this story cause its fun to communicate with all my lovely readers. Feel free to leave predictions/suggestions/critique/comments/questions in the comment section. I value all of your opinions and appreciate every comment!
Enjoy the story!
-Briza
