Prologue:
A loud squeal came from the queens' nursery, and a pretty brown tabby came running out. After her came a dark she-cat, her eyes were dark with grief, and her voice was husky as she yelled "Strawkit is dead, my sweet kit is dead!" the brown tabby tried to comfort the dark one, but it didn't help. Suddenly she saw a spotted tom and ran over to him.
"Would you give Nighttail some poppy seeds?" she asked him, with a gentle but husky voice. And the tom nodded, and ran straight to the medicine den, where he fetched the seeds.
By the time the brown tabby got around the dark she-cat again, the dark one was crying out loud in front of all the clan.
"Where is Otterstar? He would calm her," a pretty golden tom asked the brown tabby. "I don't know, Summerfeet, but I'll see to Nighttail while you find him," she answered the golden one.
When Summerfeet had returned with Otterstar, the clan leader, Nighttail had been calmed a lot down. She was lying on her side, breathing loudly with grief.
Otterstar lay down next to his mate, and breathed in the scent of her fur. Nighttail looked at Otterstar and whispered: "Strawkit is dead, I have nothing more to live for!"
Otterstar said nothing; he just let his mate cry out all her sorrow.
Crowkit was lying in the nursery, cut out from the world around him, the only thing he could sense was his mother's cry of pain outside. He squealed for her, but no one turned up, except for Winterpaw, whom he recognized by her sweet honey-like scent. "Care not about what's happened, little one," she meowed with a calm, yet disturbed voice. "Strawkit is dead, but you are still alive, and you have not even caught the green-cough," Crowkit meowed again, to get his own mother's attention, but she didn't come.
"Worry not, she'll come soon enough," Winterpaw said, and lay down and shared her body warmth with Crowkit.
"Soon you'll meet a friend you'll know for a lifetime," she exclaimed with a sleepy voice, and soon they both were asleep.
"You better behave yourself today," Nighttail meowed, with a humoured twitch to her whiskers, "today you are big enough to meet SeaClan's other kit," she said, with a bit of sadness in her voice. "I really hope that the two of you'll get along," Crowkit was getting nervous from all this talk about an upcoming friend. The only kit he had ever known of the same age, had been his brother Strawkit, but he had died by green-cough's deadly paws.
That had been nearly two moons ago, and now he was able to meet someone his own age. He was looking forward to it, with a nervous mind, nonetheless.
"There she is," Nighttail meowed as she saw Wavetail, a pretty brown tabby of their own clan. She had been very hysterical about her own kit when her mind had realised that green-cough had taken Strawkit, so even though there was no trace of green-cough left, she had lived outside the SeaClan camp with her one kit.
When Crowkit finally was meeting his potential friend he was knocked over by the aura the little kitten had. "This is your new friend, Pebblekit," Nighttail said and nudged Crowkit closer to the bigger kit.
Pebblekit had the strong, green eyes of a LeopardClan cat.
Crowkit staggered towards Pebblekit and meowed a "hello," and at first he didn't know what to expect from the look in the bright green eyes, but when he was gently nudged by the kit, he got a feeling that he and Pebblekit would become very good friends, very soon.