When Ashkit gained consciousness, cold air pricked her sides cruelly. She shivered weakly, desperately trying to warm up. She couldn't see anything except black. A low buzzing started to occupy her ears, making her squirm a bit. A nice scent filled her nose, apparently coming from the huge lump that curled around her; it had maybe felt her shiver, because it pressed hard against Ashkit's body. Instinctively, Ashkit knew this was her mother, and it looked like she had no brothers or sisters, otherwise they would have been pressing her side or something. She tried to open her eyes, to see what her mother looked like, but she felt her strength melt away and gave in to sleep.
'I hope she'll remember me.'
'Of course she will.'
Over the days, Ashkit heard her mother, Rainfall, telling her stories. She heard some things about the Clans, the warrior code, her Clan, ThunderClan, the leaders and deputies, and legends.
Ashkit was roused from her sleep as a soft, small thing nuzzled her flank.
'Ashkit. Please wake up. Please open your eyes. Do you know how long it's been since I first saw you? Half and a quarter of a moon. Show me what you are like.'
Ashkit wished with all her heart she could open her eyes for her mother. She put all of her precarious strength into it. And slowly but surely, light entered, breaking through the darkness. And finally, she opened her eyes, not without pain. As she blinked, trying to get the annoying, blinding white light out of her eyes. As soon as it did, she gasped.
It's huge!
She looked around, where she knew her mother would be. Rainfall's eyes were lost in the distance by then, seeing as she had taken some moments to try to tear her eyes open. They were dark blue, a dreamy, beautiful color. A thin, but glossy blue-gray coat hanged on her, showing her ribs a bit. She had a narrow face; an elegant, narrow muzzle with angular cheekbones and jawline. Her underbelly was paler than her fur, but Ashkit saw faint white splotches on her chest and her ears. A long, plumy tail was curled around her, soft but strong, and also very long, like her legs. Ashkit froze in awe of her beauty.
Rainfall is beautiful! I wonder if I look like her?
She looked at her pelt. It was of a very dark gray, without a spot of another colour, and looking a bit dull. She glanced at her legs; they were short, and stumpy. Weirdly, they were outgrown by her long, plumy tail.
At least I have her tail.
Ashkit hopped silently over her mother's tail, but before she could do anything, a soft paw dragged her back into the warm moss. She meowed in annoyance, trying to shrug it off. She turned to face the one who tried to hold her back; her mother.
'You woke up!'
Rainfall's eyes glowed with happiness. She pulled closer to her mother, huddling close to the soft fur.
'Ashkit, you have beautiful eyes.' she whispered, her breath warm on her face.
'Really?' Ashkit meowed, doubtful. She saw her mother's grin stretch further, and nod. Ashkit looked over to the nursery's entrance, where she could see outlines of cats moving around the camp.
'I can see that you want to explore our camp. Go on, and have fun!'
'I can?'
'I said so, come on, go meet the Clan.' Rainfall pulled back from her. Ashkit felt her mother push her towards the entrance. Excitement coursed through her heart as she ran to the exit. 'Wow, it's gigantic!'
Piles of white fluffy stuff covered the ground. Ashkit wrinkled her nose as she felt some of it melt on her pads.
'Mother, what's that ?' she asked, annoyed because her paws felt like they were blocks of ice.
'That's snow. It fall in leaf-bare, and sometimes in leaf-fall. It's cold and it floats from ther sky. Try to not fall into it.' Rainfall smiled at her, her blue eyes thoghtful, and burried her head in her flank, closing her eyes.
She took a few steps outside, only to fall into snow. Ashkit growled in annoyance and tried to move her stuck paws.
'This has to happen to me now!'
Ashkit heaved a sigh. Her head was the only thing that was not drowned in layers of soft snow. A snowflake entered her nose as she wriggled, trying to get out. Ashkit sneezed, before feeling a surge of anger at fate. She was about to give up when she felt teeth tugging on her loose neck skin, picking her up, then dropping her on the ground.
Thank you, whoever you are!
'Got stuck in snow on your first day out?' She turned around to see a big tortoiseshell she-cat, her dark amber eyes full of laughter. Ashkit felt hot shame and annoyance go up in her.
'Isn't it obvious?' she snapped, pointing at her fur full of heavy snow. She felt a jolt of smugness when the she-cat's eyes widened in shock.
I bet my fur she thought that a kit could only be be soft and innocent. I'm not, so what?
She shivered; having cold snow on you in winter is not the best thing to do.
'Well, what are you going to laugh at me for this time?' Ashkit rolled her eyes, then stared questioningly at the tortoiseshell, still surprised. The she-cat shook awake, then replied:
'Nothing, why? I'm sorry, okay? My name's Sweetpaw, and you?'
'To answer you questions; one, fine, two, fine, three, Ashkit. Sorry, I was annoyed.' Ashkit apologized, feeling a bit guilty.
'Nevermind, it's not like I'm not used to it. You should hear the elders, they're ten times worse.'
'Oh, okay!'
'Do you want me to show you around?' the tortoiseshell asked. Ashkit raised her eyebrows, then felt a hint of arrogance.
'No thanks, I can do it myself.'
A yowl interrupted their conversation as a tawny tom waved his tail impatiently at Sweetpaw.
'Sorry, I have to go! See you soon!' The tortoiseshell raced to the tom. Ashkit watched them leave longingly. She looked at the High Rock.
It must be wonderful to feel the wind swoosh over you each time you go up there! And having all the Clan looking up to you, and making all the decisions. It might be interesting to be leader, I want to do that!
At its foot, a curtain of lichen sheltered a slightly visible hole. Ashkit padded silently to it, then glanced inside. A white, slender she-cat was breathing loudly as she slept. Her eyelids twitched, and a sliver of light blue peered from under them. She shuddered, then rolled over.
'That must be Froststar.' she muttered to herself.
Ashkit slowly took a few steps back, pawed some snow off her fur in an attempt to keep warm and crept to a partly sheltered den where comfortable looking moss nests were littered. Next to it was a smaller, but similar den. A black and white tom was nonchalantly pawing out snow and piling them on each other in front of the smaller den. He puffed, and almost transparent clouds escaped his mouth. A gray tabby tom walked to him, his tail lashing, and started scolding him. Ashkit strained to hear what he was saying, and caught snippets of the conversation. Guilt surged again in the pit of her belly; she knew she was eavesdropping, and that that wasn't necessarily polite, but the curiosity gnawing in her demanded to be satisfied.
'Dusttail waited for you all morning!'… 'As an apprentice, you should know you have to obey your mentor.'… 'Go collect moss.'…
The apprentice whispered something, and the tom looked furious.
Ashkit looked away, knowing their conversation was about to get heated. She quickly analyzed where the elder's den and the medicine cat's den were. She tore some snow out of her fur again and looked at the sun. It was almost going to set. She wrinkled her nose at her slightly wet fur, and smoothed it a bit.
Wow, I really woke up late, didn't I?
'Who are you?'
Ashkit shook herself to get herself out of her daydream, then regretted it as her 'smoothed' fur became bushy again. In front of her was a much bigger black tom. His icy blue eyes bore themselves into hers as she raised her head slightly. His striking features made something stir in the darkest, deepest pit of her stomach but she ignored it. It faded. Ashkit focused on answering his question.
'I am Ashkit. And you?'
'Blackkit. No questions on why I was named like that!' he joked, poking her playfully. 'Hey, do you want to meet my littermates? They're over there by the fresh-kill pile.'
'Okay!'
'So… How old are you?'
'A half and a quarter of a moon.'
'I'm exactly the exactly same age…'
'So what? Is it because I'm small that you thought I was younger than you?'
They stared at each other awkwardly. Ashkit felt her ears hot with embarrassment as Blackkit's gaze cut into her's. She lifted her head again proudly, trying to forget about her embarrassment, meeting his eyes, then smirked.
'Race you to them!'
Ashkit urged her legs to go faster as Blackkit ran off. She gritted her teeth, then felt her muscles straining. Suddenly, Blackkit stopped. Ashkit was surprised. She flopped down on the ground.
'I beat you.' Blackkit meowed smugly. Ashkit felt faint anger.
I'm winning next time! But for now…
She stuck her paw out. Blackkit tripped and clumsily crashed into a gray tom. Ashkit felt deep satisfaction roar in her chest.
'Oooops, I didn't see you,' Ashkit said, her voice coated with honey, an innocent look plastered on her face, 'Are you okay?'
Blackkit glared at her, his gaze steely.
Ashkit purred, then looked at the four kits, including the gray tom who was picking himself off the ground.
The first was a dark red she-cat with beautiful emerald eyes. Her thin frame looked almost frail, and she had long, slim legs for a kit. Her features were all equally proportioned and sharp, making her face noticeable and pretty.
The second was a pale gray tom with creamy white patches with forest green eyes, and while Blackkit had a slim, narrow build, his shoulders were broad and strong looking. He had a flat, broad face, and dark tufts of fur tipped his ears. He was, what was called, handsome.
I could barely reach his shoulders!
The last one was a pure, snowy white she-cat with dark golden eyes. She had defined, but soft traits. Her face was between narrow and broad, and her fur looked glossy and thick, without a speck of snow on it, but not that it could be seen anyway. She had normal-sized legs, but they looked strong and made to run. Something about her made Ashkit frown mentally, awaking some doubts, but she pushed it away.
'Hi, I'm Ashkit!'
The white she-cat squealed.
'Yes, you finally opened your eyes! We're going to be best friends! I'm Snowkit, this is Gingerkit,' Snowkit pointed the ginger she-kit with her long tail, 'And this is Stonekit.' She poked the gray tom with her tail. 'Pretty obvious names, right?'
Ashkit smiled. She already loved Snowkit's outgoing personality, so different from hers.
'So, what do we do know?' Stonekit asked. Ashkit shrugged.
'What about Cat and Mouse?' Blackkit proposed hopefully.
Ashkit opened her mouth, only to notice that the sky had turned dark orange. She looked at Blackkit instead and said, 'Race you to the nursery!'
She raced as fast as she could to the nursery. She skidded into it, and observed that Blackkit had not arrived yet. Her chest constricted painfully as she regained her breath, and she let her tail flop down and her muscles relax. Blackkit collapsed on the soft soil a few seconds later, with Snowkit then Stonekit falling on him as he was blocking the entrance. Ashkit laughed loudly as the black tom wheezed heavily. She dragged herself to him, and meowed:
'I won.'
She washed the snow out of her fur, making it soft and shiny, and watched her new friends, including her frennemy, go to sleep. She looked at Rainfall, and saw pride lighting her mother's gaze as purred quietly.
Feeling the satisfaction she had felt earlier, she curled at her mother's belly and felt Rainfall pull her closer to her belly fur as she fell in sleep.
