A moss ball rolled out of the well-sheltered nursery, followed by two gray balls of fluff. Duckkit raced just behind her sister, Splashkit, as the two followed the moss. Reaching the ball first, Splashkit barely had time to mew victoriously before the darker kit caught up, knocking her off of her feet. Duckkit managed to snatch the moss ball and began to dash off, before running right into a much larger brown tabby.
"Sorry!" Duckkit squeaked nervously, backing away.
Nightbriar chuckled. "It's quite alright, Duckkit. You aren't the first cat to have run into me, and you certainly aren't the largest." He purred, retrieving the dropped moss ball and returning it to the kits. Splashkit perked up immediately, snatching the ball before her sister could react, trotting off towards the nursery.
Duckkit began to follow, before Frostwhisker exited the nursery and scooped the two up. "Now I told you two to not get too messy, you don't want to leave a bad impression on your future mentors!" She chided gently, affectionately grooming the two. The white she-cat ignored their mewls of protest, determined to get the two clean, as the kittens excitedly guessed at who their mentors would be.
"I would hate to be Nightbriar's apprentice, he's so big and scary!" Splashkit whispered loudly, accepting her fate of being cleaned and letting the white queen groom her.
Duckkit shook her head. "He might be big, but at least Willowjaw already has an apprentice, he's so grumpy..." The gray she-kit trailed off, thinking back to her first- and last- adventure in the medicine den, where Willowjaw chased her out of his herb stock with a threat to put fire ants in her nest. She had been too scared to sleep in her own nest for 3 nights, instead sleeping on top of her mother or sister. That is, until they got tired of being kicked in the ears all night.
Splashkit snorted at Duckkit's reaction. "You're just lucky he couldn't find any fire ants!"
Duckkit huffed at her sister, turning to leave before Frostwhisker pulled her back. "Not so fast, dear, I still have to clean you too." She ignored the kit's complaints, focusing instead on cleaning her messy fur.
"Well, Emberstorm would be a cool mentor, but it'd be really hard being the deputy's apprentice. I'd be too scared to mess up." Splashkit resumed their discussion, laying in the sun since she was no longer the object of her mother's attention.
"Honeythorn would be a great mentor, but she already had an apprentice just a few moons ago, so I don't think she'd be picked." Duckkit replied.
"Well, no matter who your mentor is, I'm sure you'll both do great." Frostwhisker gently spoke, satisfied with her work. She stood up and shook herself, padding back into the nursery. "Stay out of trouble now!"
Duckkit and Splashkit mewed their promises, dashing off to find a new moss ball. Duckkit poked her nose into some bushes, searching for some scraps of moss, and was about to retreat when she heard hushed voices.
"-wouldn't want anyone finding out about your-" The rest was too quiet to hear, and she couldn't quite catch the response. Duckkit pulled away from the bushes, trying to figure out who was talking, as she went to find her sister.
Finally, it clicked in her mind who the voice was. That had to have been Willowjaw! She thought, then turned her attention away. It's not like it matters to me, though. He's a medicine cat, he's probably doing some top-secret stuff.