Snow brushed against Ravenkit's pelt in it's path from the sky. It crunched beneath her paws, creating a snowdrift so deep that Ravenkit felt her chest being submerged in the fluffy white. She struggled through it, pausing upon spotting the plump body of a field mouse a few tail-lengths away from her.
Ravenkit bunched up her muscles and soared through the air. She felt a sharp pain in her side slice through her dream and throw her from the hunt. She pricked her ears and opened her eyes, noticing the familiar brambles that made up the nursery interior. Starlingkit scrabbled with a moss-ball close beside her, and Crowkit still laid twitching in her nest. Dapplekit and Shadekit had already vacated the den in search of interesting activities. Ravenkit peered through the gnarled entrance of the nursery. The sky was bright and blue and the ground was devoid of snow. She could see the tip of Mudflower's tail next to the fresh-kill pile.
"Ravenkit," Starlingkit whined, prodding her flank incessantly. "Play-fight with me! This den is so boring."
"Ugh," Ravenkit groaned, still blinking the sleep from her eyes. "Make Shadekit or Dapplekit play with you. I'm sleepy."
"But Shadekit and Dapplekit are too big! They win everytime!"
Slowly, Ravenkit lifted herself from her nest. She shook bits of moss and feather from her fur and arched her back in a deep stretch. "Well maybe we can find something more interesting to do in the camp today."
Crowkit lifted her large, quivering nose out from her under her long tail. She looked up at her sisters with wide yellow eyes. "Maybe we can play hide and seek," she suggests softly.
"Well, let's go then!" Starlingkit cries, racing out into the sunlight of camp. Ravenkit looks back at Crowkit and slowly helps her from her nest before trotting to the exit of the nursery.
"Try not to bother the warriors," Spottedstride calls from behind them, exiting an engaging conversation with Firelily. "They're still trying to repair the camp after that pine fell a few sunrises ago."
Ravenkit nods in affirmation before following her sister into the camp. She emerges into the sun-filled hollow and a humid breeze brushes past her. Redstreak and Ratface sit beside the fresh-kill pile, laughing and sharing tongues with eachother. Ravenkit notices her fathers, Nightshade and Tatteredstar, are engaged in hushed conversation at the base of the hazel tree. Just to the side of the nursery, Hailspot, Whisperpool, and Baypaw are weaving branches of the pine into the walls of the nursery and ferrying blocks of wood from the camp. Ravenkit trots over to Starlingkit with Crowkit on her heels.
"Okay, Crowkit and I will hide and you'll count," Starlingkit declares, pointing her tail at Ravenkit's chest.
"But I'm always counting!" Ravenkit protests, but Starlingkit was already bounding away from her and disappearing into the shade of the hazel tree. Ravenkit cast her wide yellow eyes to Crowkit, who gave her a half-hearted shrug and began to walk in the opposite direction.
Ravenkit sighed heavily. She slowly stepped her way through scattered pine needles and patchy tussocks of grass and hid her gaze in the shade of the bramble barriers. She counted silently up from one, and upon reaching ten, she whipped herself around on her heel.
Ravenkit cast her eyes across the camp, slowly picking away places where her sisters could be hiding. She raked her eyes across the nursery, the pine tree, the elder's den, and finally where Tatteredstar and Nightshade sat. She narrowed her eyes. There was a lump underneath Tatteredstar's long, willowy tail. After a few seconds, Ravenkit could also make out a small quivering nose.
Ravenkit bounded across the clearing, shivering as she passed under the shade of the billowing hazel tree.
"Hi dad, hi papa," she greeted her parents fleetingly. Tatteredstar smiled down at her and Nightshade glowed. Ravenkit began to nose beneath Tatteredstar's tail.
"Hello Ravenkit," Nightshade purred warmly, his owlish amber eyes glowing. "What are you up to?"
"I'm trying to find Crowkit," Ravenkit answered distractedly, although she dutifully noted Nightshade's knowing tone.
"Oof," Crowkit moans from beneath Tatteredstar's heavy tail as she and Ravenkit bump heads.
"Found you!" Ravenkit cries triumphantly. She can hear Tatteredstar and Nightshade laugh from beside her. Crowkit slowly crawls out from beneath their father, her long, tufted ears dripping and dragging across the sandy floor.
Ravenkit immediately turns her gaze to Tatteredstar. "Did you see Starlingkit go anywhere?"
"Mmm," he hummed, pulling Ravenkit closer to him with a paw. "I don't think I've seen her. Maybe you should just stay here with us."
Tatteredstar leaned down and rasped at her head, smoothing down a piece of fur. Ravenkit struggled against his rough tongue, glancing to Crowkit for help.
"We have to find her," Crowkit objected quietly. "Or else she'll just stay hidden forever."
Ravenkit slipped through her father's paws finally, bounding a few tail-lengths away from him. "You best find her quickly then," Nightshade purred from behind her, using his long, thin tail to push Crowkit after her.
"Where should we search next?" Crowkit mews from behind her. Ravenkit kneads her paws into the soft, loamy sand, discerning the best hiding spots at the border of camp with her wide eyes.
"Maybe we should just walk around the camp walls and try to find her there," Ravenkit suggests, tossing her gaze over her shoulder. Crowkit nods in timid agreement.
Taking in a gulp of crisp new-leaf air, Ravenkit crossed from the center of camp to the very edges. The sunlight, while faint, felt heated on her black pelt. The kitten heaved a sigh of relief upon passing into the shade of the thick bramble walls. Badgerstripe had settled closeby. She ran her tongue across her white paw and swiped it over her ear before fixing the two kittens in her gaze.
"You two better not be causing trouble," she rumbled, narrowing her eyes and motioning her tail out towards the sides of the camp. "Shadekit and Dapplekit are a pawful enough."
Ravenkit and Crowkit follow her gaze. Dapplekit and Shadekit are scrambling away from Oakpaw, who is hot on their trail and snapping at their heels like a rabid badger. Ravenkit giggles at sight, quivering her whiskers in amusement. Crowkit huddles closer to her sister, leaning into her sleek black fur.
"Don't worry, we'll behave," Ravenkit reassures Badgerstripe before plodding past her. Crowkit trails after Ravenkit dejectedly, a shiver going through her paws.
Ravenkit plods on and on, avoiding jutting bramble branches and brushing past thorn and sage brush. Her eyes run along the edge of camp, searching for a place where Starlingkit might have shoved herself into. She raises her tail high and narrows her eyes in deep concentration. Suddenly, she feels her paw catch on a root that had snakes through the ground and her heart flies into her throat. Ravenkit wobbles left and right before tumbling into the bramble barrier to her right with a muffled cry of shock.
"Ow!" Starlingkit cries from within the brambles, having nestled within a hole there. "Get off of me!"
"Found you!" Crowkit squeaks from beside her, joyfully bouncing from paw to paw. She helps Ravenkit to her paws with a smile, using her long tail to steady her flank.
Ravenkit laughs gleefully, shaking remnants of the bramble wall from her pelt, "You can get out now Starlingkit," she chirrups, fixing her sister with her glittering forest eyes.
Starlingkit struggles from within the bramble wall, whimpering in pain from when the sharp fronds poke at her chubby sides. "I don't think I can," she says, continuing to wiggle feebly.
"If you got in there, can't you get out?" Crowkit reasons, leaning towards the thistles and looking closer.
"Maybe she got fatter while she was hiding there," Ravenkit teases relentlessly, narrowly avoiding a swipe of Starlingkit's paws. "Hold on, we can get you out."
"How?" Crowkit wonders, looking about the camp. The gentle new-leaf breeze makes her droopy ears blow in the wind a bit.
Ravenkit lets her gaze rake across the floor of the clearing, picking among the pine needles and cones until she spots a long, crooked stick lying half-lodged into the camp barrier. She scampers over to it and wraps her jaws tight around its hilt, feeling the wood splinter under her grip. With a heave of her body, she manages to drag it through the dark-coloured soil, creating a line in the dirt. She drops it and turns to Crowkit, breathing heavily.
"We can give one end to Starlingkit and pull on the other," Ravenkit suggests, and both of them nod in agreement. Energised by the prospect, Ravenkit drags the large pine branch into position. Starlingkit cranes her head and clamps her maw around one end, her eyes narrowed in concentration. Ravenkit takes up the other side, and she can feel Crowkit gently grip her tail behind her.
Ravenkit taps her paw three times in preparation before shifting her weight back. Her teeth dig deep into the slightly damp wood, smelling slightly of rainfall and pine sap. Her paws scrabble against the sand until she feels the bramble wall give way and release Starlingkit from it's hold. Ravenkit tumbles back on Crowkit and the pine branch goes flying from her maw, embedding in the sand a few tail-lengths away.
"Oof!" Starlingkit gasps, stumbling against the ground. Her fur, long and unruly, is now full of burrs, weeds, brambles, and thorns, all combined to create one massive knot. Ratface, who had been subbing himself nearby, leaps to his paws and rushes towards them.
"We just repaired that wall this dawn!" he cries angrily, his hackles raised and his tail-tip flicking this way and that in annoyance.
"Sorry Ratface!" Starlingkit squeals, tapping Ravenkit and Crowkit's flanks with her tail-tip and quickly bounding away from his wrath. Ravenkit and Crowkit followed soon after, leaving a flurry of thistle remains in their wake.
Starlingkit skidded to a stop in front of the Medicine Cat den, suddenly cradling her left paw and holding it above the sand and pine needles. "I think I have a thorn in my paw," she whimpered softly, a pout on her face.
"Of course you do!" Ravenkit snaps sarcastically, settling down and beginning to weed burrs out from her own pelt. "Who decides to hide in a bramble bush, especially with how much fur you have?"
Crowkit paused, gently taking up Starlingkit's paw in her own. She inspected her dusty pink pawpads carefully, easily spotting the offending thorn burrowed deep in her paw. "You do," she murmured somberly. "Maybe Birdsong can get it out for you."
"Good idea," piped Ravenkit, flicking her ear and disentangling the last knot from her fur. "We can pick out all the burrs from your fur while she treats you."
Starlingkit huffed indignantly. "I can do it myself!" she cries, starting to strut towards the medicine den with a limp, Crowkit trailing soon after. Ravenkit rolls her eyes with a sigh and follows.
The Medicine Cat Den is shaded adequately on all four sides with only little streams of sunlight filtering through gaps in the reinforced bramble wall. The ground is soft and loamy and littered with fallen pine needles, where kittens and apprentices could fall and trip without consequence. Songbird worked silently in the far back with Hazelpaw next to her, coughing hard. Far to the right, Smoketail rested in a pre-prepared nest, her whip-like tail resting across her nose.
"Here Hazelpaw," Songbird cooed softly, pushing a plant with fluffy yellow flowers closer to the apprentice. "That should keep away the cough for now."
"Thanks Songbird," Hazelpaw mewed hoarsely. She coughed again before taking up the bitter smelling herb in her mouth.
"What's that?" Crowkit asked as Hazelpaw brushed past her, pointing her tail towards the apprentice's mouth.
Songbird smiled towards them, nosing through her herb store. "That's coltsfoot; it helps shortness of breath and coughing trouble."
"Who cares about stupid herbs," Starlingkit grumbles, nursing her injured foot. "We came to get a thorn out of my paw."
Ravenkit cuffed Starlingkit's ear with her paw. "Be polite," she hissed.
Songbird laughed cheerily, placing a slender white paw on Starlingkit's in order to turn it over. "We can't have your paw compromise now, or else you can't make trouble," she purrs, leaning down and inspecting her paw.
"We don't make trouble," Crowkit defends softly. "Not as much as Dapplekit and Shadekit."
Starlingkit hissed in pain as Songbird pulled the thorn from the kit's paw with a jerk of her head. The Medicine Cat spit it to the side and went back to lap gently at the small trickle of blood coming from Starlingkit's pad. "All better," she chimes, gently pushing the kitten away with her mottle black and orange tail. "Go and raise havoc now."
"Thanks Songbird!" Ravenkit calls over her shoulder, already bounding away from her siblings. She emerges in the clearing, relishing in the feel of the gentle new-leaf breeze on her pelt. She can hear paw-steps thumping outside of the hollow, faster and faster until Hailspot, Whisperpool, and Doveheart emerge in the clearing with a stranger in tow.
"Who is that?" Spottedstride hissed, beckoning her kits and drawing Shadekit and Dapplekit close to her belly. Ravenkit, Crowkit, and Starlingkit huddled close to their fathers.
"He's hurt," Songbird whispered gravely from her spot in the Medicine Den. She beckoned the patrol close with her mottled tail. The clan as a whole held an ominous expression.
