The Hummingbird:

R&R

Prologue:

The elder's den was quiet, as Thornear rested peacefully. The den felt rather spacious and quiet, without Whispersong and Lightpelt's arguments every morning about who got what for their first meal. The clan was just coming out of one of the worst leaf-bare's they had experienced in a while - StarClan, it was one of the worst leaf-bare's Thornear had experienced in all the moons he had lived - and greencough had claimed both Whispersong and Lightpelt's lives. They had peaceful deaths, the greencough had no chance to get worse. The earliest symptoms had claimed their elderly lives. They had died curled up next to Thornear and with their kits and grandkits with them.

Thornear didn't feel lonely, he didn't even feel sad. Whispersong had been his mentor, and she was still somehow struggling on despite the fact she was now in the elder's den with her own apprentice. Lightpelt had been an older apprentice when Thornkit became Thornpaw, but Lightpelt had been in and out of the medicine cat's den for most of his time in the elder's den. His death was long awaited.

Thornear did miss them, of course he did, but he knew it was their time.

And besides, he had plenty of other options for company. Twigleap had just had kits, and there were two other litters as we-

"Thornear! Thornear!" The elderly tom shot upright, eyes wide open and used claws unsheathing. A brief moment of panic consumed him, before he noticed a black-and-white splotched kit standing in front of him, eyes wide and curious. Two other kits sat behind him, a pale-grey she-cat and a darker-grey tom with black paws and ears. Thornear sighed in relief and sheathed his claws once more, relaxing.

"Yes, little ones? What is it?" These kits were all too familar faces to Thornear. The black and white tom who sat in front of him was Patchkit, the pale-grey she-cat was Dovekit and the darker grey tom was Sootkit. They were all Thornear's old friends grandkits, though they had never known their grandfather personally. So, they had become attached to Thornear, seeing him as their grandfather.

"Can you tell us a stooooory?" Dovekit mewed in a sing-song voice, ear twitching in amusement as herself.

"Yeah! Momma won't let us stay in the nursery, she said we were being too noisy," Sootkit agreed, flicking his tail back and forth, "But Dewkit and Olivekit are just as noisy as us." He muttered under his breath. Thornear purred in amusement at Sootkit's bitter resentment of the new kits.

"Let me see, hmm," Thornear tilted his head to the side and upwards, as if thinking, "I have a lot to do today, l have to patrol the border, fight Tigerstar to make sure he doesn't hurt any of us-" He began only to have Patchkit pounce on him. He chuckled as Patchkit pouted right in his face, looking incredibly angry at Thornear's sarcasm.

"There's no way you could fight Tigerstar! You're old!" Patchkit declared, glaring at the elder, "Come on, Thornear, tell us a story!"

Thornear chuckled again, low and rapsy, before he meowed, "Okay, okay, I was joking. But back in my day, I used to keep Tigerstar at bay, trapped 'im in the Dark Forest," Thornear looked at all of the kits, "And one day, one of you will need to take my place," All the kits looked at each-other excitedly, "But, anyway," He said comically, brushing off the seriousness of what he just said, "What kinda story would you kits like to hear, hm?"

All three kits thought for a moment, eyes glazing over as they thought through their options. Patchkit's ears suddenly perked, and he opened his mouth to speak, and a single 'ah' noise came from him, but Dovekit cut him off, "A love story!"

"Eww, gross!" Sootkit stuck out his tongue, looking at his siter and then Thornear, "She's only saying that cause she's so in love with Darkpaw!" Patchkit snickered at his brother's comment, and Sootkit swaggled his head victoriously when Dovekit made an audible choking noise in the back of her throat. It was no secret to anyone, even Dovekit's mother, that the young she-cat had a small crush on the dark tabby apprentice.

Thornear remembered his days as a kit, and the times where he would develop small crushes on other cats too. It made the entire thing more endearing, even as Dovekit's face morphed from one of embarrassment to one of anger.

"That's not true!" Dovekit hissed, and Thornear purred at the three kits. He watched as Dovekit went to cuff her brother over his ears, whilst Sootkit ducked out of the way of her paws. Patchkit stood in between the two of his siblings, well versed in how to stop them from arguing. It was hard to believe the three kits were almost 4 moons now.

"Hey now, Sootkit, be nice to your sister," Dovekit perked up as Thornear defended her, before she looked at him, expecting an answer to her suggestion, "I'll tell you a love story if you want, Dovekit," Thornear nuzzled the she-kit gently. Sootkit retched at the idea of listening to a love story, whilst Patchkit just muttered bitterly but seemed to accept it, "It might be a little different to what you're expecting though," Thornear leaned his head down his paws, and hummed,

"Let me tell you the story of Birdclaw."

Hey! This is my new story 'The Hummingbird,' (hopefully the name'll make sense after a while). This story will contain LGBT themes, so if that isn't your thing, this isn't for you. I can't wait to start writing this, and I can't wait to see what people think of it! I'm already starting on Chapter One, so depending on how well this is received, we'll see if I'll continue it :)! Until then,

~Screaming Fool.