Chapter 1

Lostkit shivered as she woke up to a chilly Leafbare breeze blowing into the nursery; the breeze stirred the other cats in the den awake and Lostkit shuffled over as Rosekit stretched out. After her mother's death Daisy had agreed to look after Lostkit, and Millie had said she would share the task if Daisy began to run low on milk.

It had been almost a moon since Ferncloud's death, Dustpelt rarely visited his kit due to grief and the fact he blamed Lostkit for his mate's passing; the few times he did visit he had been dragged along by Jayfeather on one of his check-ups to see how Lostkit was faring. The clan had, for the most part, gotten over Ferncloud's passing now and were doing their best to move on with life and make Lostkit feel accepted as a member of the clan.

Whitewing awoke last, licking her two kits – Dovekit and Ivykit – to rouse them from sleep and let them suckle. Lostkit huddled close to Daisy's belly as Rosekit and Toadkit bounded outside to play once they saw the ground was white with snow and were quickly follow by Millie's kits: Bumblekit, Briarkit and Blossomkit. It was an exciting day for Rosekit and Toadkit; they were finally 6 moons old and were to have their apprentice ceremony at sunhigh.

Daisy waited until Lostkit had finished suckling before standing and leading her adopted kit outside into the cold snow, Whitewing following with her half moon old kits. Lostkit, being the 2nd youngest and so not very into the rough-and-tumble games the older kits were, offered to play with Dovekit and Ivykit and began to count whilst the two youngest she-kits giggled and scampered off to hide.

They didn't hide far and Lostkit found them hiding behind the entrance of the nursery, they both giggled and pounced happily on the brown tabby she-kit, knocking her to the ground, and began to play a gentler version of the older kit's play-fighting game.

After a while the kits all agreed to play a chasing game where one of them had to tag the others, and they played all the way up until just before sunhigh- where they stopped to regain their breath and energy before Rosekit and Toadkit's ceremony.

"All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather around Highledge for a meeting!" Firestar's voice rang out around the camp, gathering the cats from their previous activities. Rosekit and Toadkit were giddy with excitement but did their best to hide it behind a proud façade as they walked up to the Highledge, the queens and the other kits following. Lostkit sat close to Daisy's side and managed to smile at Rosekit when she turned and grinned at her; the two had become close in the time they had known one another and Rosekit had asked her mother once why she hadn't given birth to Lostkit as well, because then she would have had a sister. Lostkit blinked to clear the thought from her head and paid attention to Firestar again as he began to call out the traditional kit-to-apprentice ceremony.

"This is a proud day for Thunderclan, by naming apprentices we show that Thunderclan will survive and remain strong. Toadkit and Rosekit, from now until you receive your warrior names you will be known as Toadpaw and Rosepaw." The two new apprentices sat up straighter and beamed, their heads turning discreetly to look behind them to see who their new mentors would be. With a flick of his tail, Firestar summoned Sorreltail and Graystripe to the base of Highledge.

"Sorreltail, you are ready for an apprentice, you will be Rosepaw's mentor, and Graystripe, you will be Toadpaw's mentor. I know you will pass on your strength and speed to Rosepaw and Toadpaw, and teach them the skills that will make them brave warriors of Thunderclan." Firestar finished. Graystripe and Sorreltail nodded and bent to touch noses with their new apprentices, who responded eagerly; the clan cheered and chanted the new apprentices' names, coming forward either by themselves or with another cat to congratulate them both – their mother, father and Lostkit among the first.

Lostkit didn't fail to notice Dustpelt hanging back until she had gone back to the nursery with Daisy to walk forward and congratulate Rosepaw and Toadpaw, and how he didn't make direct eye-contact with her, just stared somewhere off to the left of her face. Daisy noticed too and gave Dustpelt a stern look as she and Lostkit walked off; giving her adopted kit a few reassuring licks on the head, Daisy comforted the tabby she-kit by saying that her father would get over Ferncloud's death, they just needed to be patient. Lostkit nodded mutely then trotted off to play with the other kits; Toadpaw and Rosepaw joined them after a while, saying their mentors had let them off for the rest of the day and that their training would officially begin tomorrow.

As Lostkit scuffled playfully with Briarkit - the queens watching on to make sure no one got accidentally hurt - with the other kits cheering them on, she figured that she could be patient and wait for Dustpelt to forgive her, because she had lots of friends and an adopted mother who would keep her feelings up and push away the loneliness; besides, Spiderleg treated her like another of his kits, and he was enough of a father figure for Lostkit at the moment.

Letting Briarkit up off the ground, having successfully pinned her down, Lostkit scanned the camp for Dustpelt whilst she caught her breath; she spotted him talking with Brackenfur near the fresh kill pile and a couple of heartbeats later Sandstorm joined them both. Dustpelt caught Lostkit's eyes for a brief moment before turning his head sharply away and stalking to the entrance, Sandstorm and Brackenfur following him with worried and sympathetic looks on their faces.

Letting out a quiet sigh, Lostkit turned her attention back to the group of kits who were now cheering on Blossomkit and Bumblekit as they play-fought with one another; Spiderleg might be a good father-figure for Lostkit, but he wasn't her real father, and no amount of caring could fill the gap in her chest that longed for her father's love.