"Oakstar?" Voleclaw meowed outside his leader's den. The three kits were standing besides him nervously. Mintkit flexed her claws onto the stone while her sister fidgeted beside her. Orangekit was motionless next to Peachkit, hanging his head.
"Come in, Voleclaw." Oakstar called. He was sitting in his nest with his tail wrapped around his paws. Mintkit always wondered what the leader's den would look like, and she wanted to see it, but not this way. It was a cave, like all the other dens, but it was darker, with only the light of the sun filtering in. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw the kits follow the warrior. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"These kits have gone out of camp and were almost killed by an eagle! If it wasn't for us, StarClan knows if they would've survived." Voleclaw growled, his brown eyes flashing.
"Do we have to wait another moon before we become apprentices?" Mintkit spoke up, her voice filled with worry. She hoped they didn't. She just wanted to have some fun before they became apprentices. I don't think I could stand to wait another moon!
Oakstar gazed at the kits for several heartbeats, appearing to be deep in thought. At last he spoke, "No, but you will be punished. For the next moon, starting tomorrow, you will share the job of checking the elders of ticks and bringing them fresh-kill. You can tell the apprentices that. I'm sure they'll be glad to hear it." His eyes glittered mischievously.
"Oakstar," Voleclaw dipped his head, "Shouldn't they get their bedding as well?" The leader frowned. "They are too young for that. However, they can check it for thorns. Since there are three jobs, you can each do one and share."
Mintkit hung her head disappointedly. They weren't supposed to do this yet! Oakstar excused them and Mintkit found out that it was darker. Stars lit up the sky and she could imagine each of them being one of the dead cats that were in StarClan. The voice of her father jolted Mintkit out of her thoughts.
"Why don't you get prey for your mother and yourselves?" he suggested, his voice more gentle since he found out what they did. "It's getting late. I'll go tell the apprentices."
"Okay," Mintkit padded to the fresh-kill pile with the others following close behind to see what was left. Most of it was picked through from earlier but there was still a plump vole, two mice, and a shrew. "What do you guys want?" she asked.
"How about the vole?" Orangekit meowed.
"Sure," Peachkit mewed, picking it up in her jaws.
"I'll take the shrew to Willowfur." Mintkit decided.
Willowfur was sitting up in her nest when the kits arrived. "I heard what happened," she meowed once they came in, "You should've known better!" she scolded.
"I'm sorry," Mintkit meowed when she gave the shrew to her mother. Peachkit and Orangekit said the same.
"The thing that matters is that you're safe." Willowfur replied, eating her shrew quickly. "Now eat your vole and get some rest. You'll have a big day tomorrow."
Sunlight shone through the den, waking up Mintkit. She glanced around the nursery. Her mother and denmates were asleep and Flowertail was gone.It was just after dawn and soon the Clan would be waking up. She licked her fur, getting all the knots untangled from yesterday. By the time she finished, Peachkit and Orangekit were starting to wake up.
Peachkit yawned and stretched her muscles. "Time to start our punishment." she muttered, looking pointedly at her sister.
"Hey!" Mintkit objected. "I didn't know there would be an eagle attacking us!"
"She's right; no one can know things like that. It was fun though." Orangekit meowed wistfully. Mintkit flashed a grateful glance to him. "We're almost apprentices so it's not that bad." he added.
"I guess." Peachkit mewed. "I'm hungry; let's see if the fresh-kill pile is restocked."
"You take a stick with moss with bile and you go through the elder's fur for ticks. When you see one, dab it with the moss, and the tick will fall right off." Sandspots explained to Mintkit. She had offered to do this job first. Peachkit and Orangekit seemed happy about that. Orangekit was giving fresh-kill to the elders after she searched for ticks and Peachkit gave them their bedding.
"Okay." she replied. Sandspots padded back to her storage area, which was a large crevice in a boulder at the back of her den. She came out holding the stick in her jaws with the ball of moss dangling from the end. Mintkit wrinkled her nose from the smell. Great StarClan, this stinks!
Sandspots gave her the stick. "Don't lick your paws when you're done." the medicine cat told her. "Get someone to take you to the stream so you can wash your paws. It hasn't frozen over yet." The stream on their territory was right by the camp so they could easily get water if they needed it for an emergency. Mintkit nodded and padded out of the den.
She crossed the camp which was pretty much deserted; most of the cats were on patrols or training. It had begun to snow so other cats were in their dens escaping the cold. Mintkit saw Rootpaw helping her sister sort through the moss to make sure there were no thorns. Orangekit was no where to be seen. The kits have visited the elders before to hear stories. She padded into the den and they looked up when she entered.
"Ah, hello Mintkit," Ripplepelt meowed warmly. He noticed the mouse bile she was carrying. "Oh no, the apprentices didn't make you do this did they?" he asked.
Mintkit shook her head. "We got in trouble for sneaking out." she mewed out of the side of her mouth.
"Oh, I remember now." Whitetail, Ripplepelt's mate, meowed. "Don't worry, you're not the first. Swiftbreeze and Sparrowwing got caught when they were kits too." She purred, mentioning her son, Swiftbreeze. Sparrowwing grew up with him.
Mintkit didn't say anything; she just poked into Ripplepelt's fur and searched for the insects. Whitetail launched into a memory about Swiftbreeze and Sparrowwing when they were kits but she was only half listening. Mintkit found a tiny black thing and dabbed it with the bile. It dropped off quickly. Gross! She found two more and went on to Whitetail.
"Thank you, that feels much better." Ripplepelt sighed. He rested his tail over his nose and closed his eyes.
Mintkit found only two ticks in Whitetail. She stopped talking about Swiftbreeze long enough to thank her. Before she continued, Mintkit told her she had to leave.
"I have to go wash off my paws. Peachkit and Orangekit will be in soon with new bedding and fresh-kill." she meowed.
"Alright, I guess you better get going." Whitetail meowed sadly. "Oh well, you can always come here if you have nothing else to do!" Mintkit nodded and promised she would and headed back to the medicine cat den.
"Mintkit!" her sister called.
"What?" she asked, setting down the mouse bile so she could talk regularly.
"I just wanted to see how your job went." Peachkit replied.
"Oh, it's really disgusting watching the ticks fall off." The two she-kits wrinkled their noses at the same time. "But Whitetail was really nice even though we got in trouble."
"That's good. I better go now, don't want to keep anybody waiting." Peachkit nodded towards the fresh-kill pile, seeing Orangekit coming with prey in his jaws. "See you later."
"Yeah, bye." Mintkit continued walking to the Sandspot's den. She didn't know who she was going to ask to take her to the stream. She wasn't that comfortable with most of the warriors. Her father was probably one of the cats on a patrol so she couldn't ask him.
"You're back." Sandspots greeted her. "I'll have Gingerpaw take you down to the stream to wash your paws." "Gingerpaw!" she called. The tan-colored she-cat poked her head from the crevice. "I need you to take Mintkit to the stream to wash her paws." the medicine cat explained.
"Okay," Gingerpaw meowed. She smiled and turned to Mintkit. "Come on," She led the way out of camp and into a place Mintkit didn't see when she sneaked out.
"Sneaking out huh?" the medicine cat apprentice asked as Mintkit stepped tentatively toward the water.
"Yeah," Mintkit replied glumly.
Gingerpaw twitched her whiskers. "I remember wanting to get out of camp." she meowed.
"Really what-!" Mintkit's meow was cut off by a yowl of surprise. She pulled her paw out of the water. "It's so cold!" she gasped.
Gingerpaw purred. "Of course! It's leaf-bare. The water's even colder now."
Mintkit sighed and put her paws back in the stream. She washed them until she was sure the bile was off them and when she was done, she shook them, the water droplets flying onto the snow. "I'm done, let's go." They started walking back to camp.
"I was going to ask you, what happened but I never got a chance to ask again." Mintkit meowed.
"Oh, Mudpaw, Treepaw, Rootpaw and I wanted to get out of camp but we never did." Gingerpaw replied.
"Oh."
They walked through the camp entrance and Mintkit found Orangekit and her sister waiting for her.
"I have to go." Mintkit meowed. She didn't really want to leave Gingerpaw, she liked her and she didn't treat her like a kit. But Gingerpaw had things to do too.
"Okay, maybe I can show you some herbs sometime." Gingerpaw suggested.
"Yeah, okay." Mintkit agreed. "See you later?" she meowed hopefully. Gingerpaw nodded. Mintkit padded to the other kits, feeling a smile form on her lips, happy on how this day turned out.
I wanted to get this chapter up before I have no time to work on this. Midterms are in two weeks and I'll be busy studying. I'm sorry if it takes forever to update!