Moonstar padded out of his den. The chill of the Leaf-fall air made his short black fur fluff up. He looked over towards the nursery. His deputy, Badgerbane, was in the nursery with her first litter of kits. Their father, Darkcloud, had died shortly before their birth and it broke Badgerbane's heart. The rambunctious kits were quite a pawful for the laid-back cat. Moonstar decided to give her a break and tell the kits a story so Badgerbane could take a rest. As he was about to grab a thrush from the freshkill pile, the medicine cat, Swiftclaw ran over to him. As she skidded to a halt, she ran into her leader, almost pushing him into freshkill pile.
"Moonstar! Moonstar! I've received a sign from StarClan!" She meowed.
"What was it?"
Swiftclaw paused for a moment before speaking the words that the warriors of StarClan had spoken to her.
"Darkness has faded, the bad times have gone, but will arise anew, waiting to follow is past pawsteps."
Moonstar's eyes clouded over for a second, as if he was remembering something from long ago that he had wished to remain out of his thoughts.
"Do you think it's about Darkcloud?" He meowed softly.
Swiftclaw looked at Moonstar, sympathy shining in her eyes.
"I'll figure it out. You can go back to what you were doing."
Moonstar shook his head to clear his thoughts and continued to walk across the den towards the nursery.
Moonstar stuck his head into the bramble den.
"Badgerbane?" He meowed.
"I'm here, Moonstar." Badgerbane said.
Moonstar could hear the exhaustion in her voice.
"I've come here to relieve you for a bit, so you can take a nap." He said as dropped the thrush at Badgerbane's paws.
She looked up at him with relief and gratitude in her eyes and she took the thrush and went to lay down in the opposite corner of the nursery.
Moonstar curled his tail over his paws.
"Alright, kits, what story do you want me to tell?"
"I want to hear the story about the rouges!" Leopardkit meowed
"No! The story about Jaggedstar!" Brokenkit pleaded.
"I want to hear the story about Thunderstar." Mudkit mewed.
"I don't want to hear a story!" Starkit muttered crossly.
"How about the story of Darkcloud?" Tigerkit suggested.
Moonstar flinched and looked over at Badgerbane. The queen was already asleep, her breathing deep and relaxed.
"Alright. I'll tell you about your father." Moonstar said.
As he was about to start, Starkit stood up and started to walk out of the nursery.
"Where are you going, Starkit?!" Moonstar called after her.
"I told you I didn't want to hear a story!" She meowed over her shoulder.
Moonstar sighed and ran after the kit. Leaving the other four still curled by the place Moonstar was sitting, their ears perked with amusement at their leader chasing after a moon-old kit.