Robinfrost, Jaystar and their apprentices, Frostedpaw and Snowypaw padded into the forest, where the plants and the trees still dripped from the rain they had last night.
"Frostedpaw, Snowypaw. What do you scent?" Robinfrost, Frostedpaw's mentor, asked the two apprentices who had been, up until that moment, playing around on the wet ground. Both Snowypaw and Frostedpaw lifted their heads to taste the air.
"I scent Mouse, Squirrel an-"Snowypaw started to reply, before his sister interrupted him.
"And Vole." Frostedpaw finished, satisfied with her answer.
Snowypaw suddenly scented the air again, tasting it carefully. "Jaystar can you scent rogue?" He asked his mentor. And without waiting for an reply, Snowypaw put his sharp nose into the air and started following the scent of rouge, Frostedpaw following quickly after him. Both of the apprentices disappeared into a bush, the ends of the snowy tails waving behind them, before being swallowed up into the greenness of the bush.
Both Jaystar and Robinfrost gave each other a confused look, before shrugging and following the apprentices carefully through the undergrowth. By the time the warrior and leader had caught up, Frostedpaw had uncovered where the scent had come from. The scent of rogue had come from a well sheltered bush, away from the wind and rain that had poured down last night.
"Well what is it then Frostedpaw?" Jaystar asked the snowy apprentice. But before Frostedpaw could reply, a loud wail erupted from the bush, making Snowypaw jump, with fright. Frostedpaw stifled a giggle, but by the look she was getting from her brother, she knew that he had heard her. She knew she was going to be in big trouble with Snowypaw later.
"Don't tell anyone!" he pleaded with his sister, looking her in the eyes.
"And why would you think I would do that, dear brother of mine?" she teased him, flicking his nose with her tail. Snowypaw opened his mouth to answer back, before Robinfrost stopped it with a quick glare. Another wail came from the bush. And Robinfrost peered into it, looking for the sound.
She let out a small gasp when she saw what was hiding there. "Um, Jaystar? Your going to want to have a look at this." She meowed to the jay-blue tom. Jaystar shot a curious look at the warrior but she only flicked her tail, signaling him to look for himself.
Jaystar padded forward and peered into the bush. He also let out a small gasp at what he saw.
When another wail came from the bush, both of the apprentices looked in and, while Snowypaw gasped, Frostedpaw gave a "Aww how cute." At what they saw.
What all four of the cats had seen, were four kits, huddled together inside the bush. The kit letting out the wail was a black tom, with ginger paws, and tail-tip, he also had silver-tipped ears and dashes of white over one of his eyes and on his back leg. Next to the black tom, was a bright ginger she-cat with light ginger paws and underbelly. She had a black tail-tip with silver tipped ears as well. She also had a splash of silver across her eye and leg. Another wail sounded from the bush but not from the first kit, this one was from the silver tabby tom who had darker stripes, with black paws and ears tips with a flaming tail-tip. This tom had a dash of gold across his eye and leg. And the last kit, obliviously, the runt of the litter was a tiny silver-white she-cat with flaming orange paws and ear-tips. She has black tipped ears and a white underbelly, with a dash of black across her eye.
"Jaystar, what will we do with them?' Asked Robinfrost, as the apprentices looked at the kits, surprise filling their eyes at finding the four tiny kits.
Jaystar looked thoughtful for a couple of heart-beats, before nodding his head. "We will keep them. Waterbreeze can nurse them, she only has Riverkit." He meowed to the she-cat who nodded her head. "Robinfrost, please pick up, the silver-tabby tom, Frostedpaw, the black tom, Snowypaw, the silver-white she-cat and I will take the ginger she-cat." He ordered the cats surrounding the bush.
One at a time they picked up the kit they had been ordered to and took a step back, waiting for Jaystar to pick up the ginger she-cat one. When he picked her up, she swiped at him, blindly. He purred as best as he could with his mouth full of kit, and with the others behind him they took the kits back to camp.
Once they reached the camp, Jaystar padded toward the nursery, with the others following. He pushed his way into the warm den and dropped the ginger kit gently on the floor, next to a blue-gray she-cat with black paws and ear-tips. "Waterbreeze, we found these kits in the forest. They were abandoned and they need milk fast. Will you nurse them?" He asked the blue-gray kindly.
She looked at the kits and the back at her own light gray kit. She leaned over to sniff each kit in turn. The kits when they had entered the den had scented the milk scent and had blindly started to make their way over to the blue-gray queen. "Yes Jaystar. They will fit in well and make Forestclan proud." She meowed to her leader, nudging the kits to her belly and letting them latch onto her.
Jaystar nodded his head and walked out of the den and jumped onto the High Ash, a large ash tree, and called the words to gather the clan. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the High Ash for a clan meeting." He yowled. In twos and threes cats came to gather under the ash tree.
Once they were all seated he started. "When out in the forest this morning, Snowypaw scented rogue scent on our territory. When we went to find where it was coming from, we found the rouges were only kits. Waterbreeze has kindly agreed to nurse, and mother them. I do not want to hear any of you tell these kits they are rouges, only when they are old enough to understand, that they are rogues, will we tell them. I do not want any of them to find out until then. Is that clear?" He asked the cats below him. Most of them meowed agreements and the rest nodded their heads. "Good. Now Marshsong will organize the patrols. That is all." He meowed, before leaping down off the tree to pad into his den.
Marshsong the deputy organized the patrols and clan life went on smoothly.
Ok first of all I would like thank xxShadowheartxx for kindly being my Beta Reader and for changing for things around. I thankyou very much! Also the kits still need names so if you would like you can send kits name but do send them to me in PM please. Ok so that's it and I will update later.
