"The Willow, Part 1: WindClan"

Rated M

Chapter 2: A Kit with Wisdom?

*Outside in a Fenced-In Yard; Twolegplace*

A kit's parents lay on the ground, a bloody mess: dead. While two she-cats dig two cat-sized holes each, a tom comforts the tiny scrap.

"So, Willow," Rabbitclaw was meowing. "Is this your first time outside?"

"Yes," the kit squeaked. "Mama said that our housefolk wouldn't mind if we used the flap on the back door." She waved her tail towards a large, white structure made of wood attached to the nest. It had a smooth, silver flap at the bottom.

Rabbitclaw nodded; he figured that 'housefolk' must be the kittypet word for 'Twoleg,' and the structures she had referred to were some types of back entrances to their nest.

"OK," he meowed. "How old are you?" He was trying to distract her as Redlily and Nightfur dragged the bodies of her dead parents over to the graves that they dug close to the edge of the fence. "A moon? Two?"

The tiny kit shook her head. "I'm almost a quarter-moon-old," she declared proudly.

Rabbitclaw was shocked. His jaw hung down as he stared wide-eyed at Willow. This kit is extremely intelligent for her age! "Wow!" he exclaimed. "You're smart for your age!"

Willow purred and puffed out her chest. "Mama and Papa said that, too." At the mention of her mother and father, her eyes clouded with grief and she looked around wildly. She bristled as she saw the two she-cats placing the cats' bodies in the holes.

Rabbitclaw notices and quickly blocked her view with his flank. "Uh, Willow," he mewed in a rush, thinking fast. "I know this is hard." He blinked sympathetically. "But your Mama and Papa wanted us to take care of you while they're in StarClan." That's all well and good, he told himself. But we need a cat who can produce…

Suddenly, he thought of something. A she-cat who can produce milk! Flowertail!

"You still drink milk, right?" he meowed excitedly.

Willow blinked in confusion and nodded.

"Perfect!" Rabbitclaw burst out. "There's a really nice she-cat in our Clan who has plenty of milk for you! Her name is Flowertail," he added.

The kit bristled. "No!" she screeched. Rabbitclaw flinched. "I only want my Mama's milk!" She wailed and flung herself to the ground. "I want my Mama! I want Papa!"

As intelligent as she is, Rabbitclaw thought. She's still only a quarter-moon-old kit who just lost her family. "Ssh," he murmured. He wrapped himself around her small body, trying to comfort her. "It's alright. Hey, remember when I mentioned our Clan?"

Willow sniffled and nodded.

"Do you know what a Clan is?" he prompted, unwrapping himself.

She thought for a couple heartbeats and shook her head.

"Would you like to know more about it? I can tell you how we live and what we do."

Willow's look of grief was replaced by one of curiosity. She nodded eagerly.

Before Rabbitclaw could speak, he heard rapid pawsteps and his name being called.

"Rabbitclaw! Rabbitclaw!" the voices yowled.

Just then, two small shapes hurled themselves through the tiny gap. Beepaw and Shortpaw were bouncing up and down in excitement and chattering over each other like a pair of arguing starlings.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" the WindClan deputy exclaimed. He waved his tail for silence. "One at a time, please." He nodded at Shortpaw.

"We chased the fox away!" the dark grey tom burst out. "We made sure it didn't go farther into Twolegplace or RiverClan."

"Yes, that's right!" agreed Beepaw. "We didn't have any trouble with it; if it veered off, we just bared our teeth and it went right back where we wanted it to."

"We must've scared it good when we all attacked it!"

The two apprentices started chattering away again before Rabbitclaw cleared his throat thoughtfully. He waved his tail towards the apprentices' busy mentors and jerked his head toward Willow.

The 'paws caught on instantly and their tails drooped and their heads hung sadly.

"I was just explaining to Willow," Rabbitclaw began, breaking the respectful silence after a few moments. "How a Clan works and what we do."

Shortpaw and Beepaw perked up.

"Oh! We can help explain!" Beepaw chirped.

"OK," meowed Rabbitclaw. "But let's explain on our way back to WindClan." He lowered his head to Willow. "Can you walk OK?" he mewed. "We have to go pretty far." He waved his tail to Nightfur and Redlily. As the two she-cats came trotting up at their deputy's signal, he nodded to Barkscratch, who had settled down and had been watching his deputy and the kit interact.

"If you can't walk that far," Barkscratch mewed to Willow. "I'd be happy to carry you."

Rabbitclaw blinked at him gratefully.

Willow's eyes were clouded, but after she shook out her small pelt, they were clear and determined. "No, I'll walk on my own," she meowed, her voice strong. Every cat blinked in surprise as she went on. "You all seem well-organized. Your friends and family will be missing you if we don't get moving and hurry."

Rabbitclaw blinked again in surprise. That's exactly right! "Yes," he mewed, hiding his shock. "Our Clanmates will be missing us."

Willow nodded, and with Beepaw and Shortpaw flanking her, she squeezed through the gap in the tall, brown wooden fence that led to the wild.

She already has so much wisdom, Rabbitclaw thought to himself. I wonder if StarClan has any big plans for her?

*Near the WindClan/Twolegplace Border; WindClan Territory*

"So," Willow mewed. They had just reached WindClan territory, and were headed for the camp from the border. "There are four Clans. They each differ in their strengths, and you guys live on the moor and are really fast. Each Clan has a leader, deputy, medicine cat, apprentices, and warriors. There are queens with kits and elders who get fed first. You all have weird two-part names, with the leaders' ending in 'star, the apprentice's in 'paw, and kits in 'kit.

"You catch your own food and attack other Clans that threaten your… what are they called? Your homes? Territories and camps, right. That threaten your food or your territories."

Rabbitclaw purred proudly. "Yes, you've got it," he mewed.

Beepaw and Shortpaw had explained almost everything about Clan life with hints and prompts from the older cats.

"OK," Willow squeaked. "And what are the rules you live by called again? The Warrior Rules?"

"The Warrior Code," Nightfur corrected gently.

"Oh…" Willow mewed shamefully. "I'll never remember all of this!"

"Nonsense," Shortpaw chirped. "You'll learn, and you already have the basic idea."

"Besides," put in Beepaw. "You learned from the best!"

Before any cat could say more, cats came crashing through the heather, coming face-to-face with Rabbitclaw's patrol.

Every cat yowled in shock while Willow wailed. "Foxes!" she squeaked in terror and ran and hid behind Rabbitclaw. She sobbed miserably as the older cats stared at her.

They all slowly looked at each other. Sunstar was in the lead of a patrol, with Branchpaw, Roughedge, Spikedclaw, Nimblepaw, and Blizzardpelt.

"Rabbitclaw!" Sunstar exclaimed.


End.