A/N: Hello! I'm so glad you came this far in the story! It means so much! :) Just so you know, there'll be no more spoiler alerts. So have no fear of that! :D
The sun shone down on Owlkit as she opened her eyes, the last of the clouds scuffling away with the brisk breeze. Owlkit yawned and scrambled out from underneath her littermates, her fur sticking in a thousand different directions. After bouncing a couple mouse lengths away from her snoring sisters, she shook out her fur and stretched, then looked around the hollow. The trees stood high above her, and sunlight flickered it's way through the bare branches, golden, bronze, and yellow leaves littered the ground while some cats slept in the protection of the bushes. Hardly any cat was in the hollow though, Sagetail appeared to be keeping watch, Frecklewish and Echosong were talking at the edge of the hollow, Clovertail was cleaning herself a couple of mouse lengths away, and Tangle was snoring in the bush next to Owlkit. But everyone else seemed to be off doing something, including Cherrytail and Sharpclaw. So much for playing. Owlkit thought sadly. She continued walking through the hollow.
She had only been out of the camp once before, after they nagged Cherrytail to death, as she put it, Cherrytail finally resented into letting them go and watch the apprentices train in the training hollow. Sandypaw, Firepaw, and Harrypaw were learning about how to catch rabbits, when Finchkit got the brilliant idea of going and catching a rabbit themselves, and if the each brought back a rabbit, then Leafstar would make them the youngest apprentices ever. Obviously, it didn't work. They managed to track down a rabbit but when they spotted it, instead of sneaking up on it, all of them bounded towards it. The rabbit immediately saw them coming and ran for it's life. They chased it all through the territory when suddenly the rabbit vanished into a rabbit hole, but they noticed that after it was too late. The kits went skidding off the cliff into the gorge. They yowled at the top of their lungs as they fell into the river. And after hitting the water, Owlkit blacked out; when she woke up, she was in the medicine den and she could hear Cherrytail muttering about how she'd never let the kits leave the camp again.
Owlkit sighed, that was one moon ago, but it seemed like ages. Then her ears perked up, behind bush, that was hidden from her view before, was Sandypaw and Firepaw. They're back! But...where's Tinycloud? Owlkit pondered the question for a moment before coming up with the conclusion, She must be helping clean up the camp. Satisfied with that answer, Owlkit continued on, but before she could go one step further, a crushing weight was on top of her.
"I got you!" she could hear Finchkit cry out, causing birds to flock out of the bare branches.
"Nof, you didfn't!" Owlkit mumbled into the ground. "You sfeak!"
"What was that?" Finchkit asked in a sing song voice. "Are you congratulating me?" Finchkit yelped as Ravenkit rammed into her, throwing her off of Owlkit, who immediately scrambled up, only to be tackled by Robinkit.
"Watch out!" Robinkit cried, "I'm a big giant flood about to wash you all away!"
"Yeah? And I'm a bigger gianter flood about to wash you away!" Owlkit roared, pushing Robinkit off of her. Finchkit and Ravenkit added their weight to the tackle.
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Firepaw woke with a start, the kits were roaring and growling about a flood or something. Firepaw stood up, putting as little weight as possible on her cobwebbed-wrapped paw. She limped out of the bush to see Finchkit, Ravenkit, and Owlkit attacking Robinkit. Firepaw would have approached them, but for some reason or another, kits never seemed to like her very much. She sat down and began cleaning herself, which she forgot to do last night, so her fur was still caked with mud and whatnot.
"You already up?" Firepaw jumped and turned to see Sandypaw yawning and looking at her with sleepy eyes.
"Yeah, you're not?"
Sandypaw chuckled. "No, most definitely not." The cheer slowly vanished as she watched the kits tackle each other. She's remembering what happened last night. Firepaw guessed, before going back to cleaning herself. "Are you going to go down to the gorge and help out?" Sandypaw asked.
"She is most definitely not." Echosong said sharply, stalking up to them. Even the kits became silent and frozen in place. Which happened to be, Firepaw noted, with Robinkit sitting on Owlkit's head. "Both of you need to fully rest today, I would also say the same for tomorrow, but with the current state of the camp, I'll allow you to do minor work for the following days." Her tone softened, "Is it bothering you?" What? My paw? Or the fact that I can't do anything today? Firepaw mentally growled, but aloud she simply replied,
"Not at all." While Sandypaw silently shook her head.
Unaware of the internal turmoil, Echosong nodded, "Okay, well tell me if it starts to hurt. I'll give you a fresh wrap this evening, alright?" Both cats nodded their heads. Satisfied, Echosong turned and walked over to where Frecklewish was waiting.
Sandypaw sighed in relief. "For a moment there, I thought she was going to murder me." Firepaw laughed softly.
"It did seem that way, didn't it?" They both stared at each other for a moment, before laughing. For some reason or another, being in a flood ties invisible bonds. Firepaw and Sandypaw had barely spoken a word to each other before, but now it seemed like they had been friends from the beginning.
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If he tells me to hurry up one more time I'm going to rip his ears off that big head of his.
"Hurry up, Mintfur, we haven't got all day!" Mintfur sighed at the irony of his timing. She pushed with all her might at the fallen tree, the same fallen tree that was the death of Tinycloud. Mintfur still couldn't believe she was gone. She was so - a gasp escaped her as another cramp over toke her, she stopped pushing on the tree and hoped the cramps would stop before Nettlesplash noticed. Too late.
"Mintfur." He growled. "Do I honestly need to tell you to hurry up again?"
"N-no." Mintfur managed to gasp. "I'm fine, it's...nothing, it's nothing."
"Then get back to work!" Why is he being so cranky today? Mintfur went back to pushing the fallen tree, as the cramps faded. I really need to see Echosong about these cramps. The tree lurched, and with a huge splash, fall into the water. The water pushed the tree a bit, before it got stuck.
"Good." Nettlesplash said. "Now, after a long time, the tree will eventually rot away. So we won't have to deal with it any more. Then-" Leafstar's call interrupted him. Everyone splashed and waddled their way over to the Rockpile. The river was still considered a "flood" since it was still swirling around the bottom of the Rockpile.
"Tonight," Leafstar began once everyone was there. "we will move back into the gorge. We're vulnerable out in the forest, so we should come back here as soon as possible. Right now, your priority is making sure the dens are clean and ready, including the Birthing Den."
"The Birthing Den? Is someone expecting or something?" Nettlesplash asked. Something clicked in Mintfur's head. Birth? Kits? Cramps? Am I pregnant? Mintfur shook her head. I'll just ask Echosong to give me something for the pain, I can't be pregnant. Not now, this is an awful time.
"No, but if someone were to get hurt, we wouldn't have a place for them because the Medicine Den is flooded." Everyone nodded in agreement, and soon everyone was splitting into groups to clean dens.
"Okay," Nettlesplash started. Mintfur just turned and walked away. There is no way I'm working with him again. She splashed over to where Waspwhisker was organizing a patrol.
"Mind if I join?" Mintfur asked.
"Not at all! We're going to clean the Birthing Den. It shouldn't be too hard. The flood didn't reach up there, it just hasn't been used since Cherrytail had her kits four moons ago." Mintfur nodded, and followed them up to the Birthing Den. The Birthing Den was found when Clovertail was expecting her second litter and was afraid of her kits being trampled by the other older kits. So it was decided that the den was to be used as a birthing den, and the first few days of a kits life is spent in there and then they're moved down to the Nursery. There's no clear path to the den, and it's kept that way to keep predators out, but it doesn't make it any easier for Clan cats to get up there themselves.
Mintfur sat down to catch her breathe once she reached the den. Maybe I am expecting. She mused before glancing at Harveymoon climbing up to the den after her, she shook her head. No, just no, we can't be parents, not yet, we just got together! Half the Clan doesn't even know we're mates! She thought about the idea for a moment longer, when out of nowhere Harveymoon went up to her and asked,
"Are you okay?" She jumped.
"Yeah, just thinking about stuff."
"Stuff, hm? Does any of that stuff happen to do with cleaning the den." She blinked and quickly turned to the den to find that it was already cleaned up. Harveymoon smirked at her shocked expression. She flicked him with her tail.
"Why didn't you get me?" Mintfur all but yelled. How embarrassing.
Harveymoon shrugged. "You looked like you needed a moment alone." Mintfur glared at him. "Okay! Okay! I did try to get you, but you didn't respond!" Great, just great. Now everyone's going to think I'm going insane! She sighed. "Is everything alright? You don't look too good." Mintfur looked up at him, his eyes full of concern. Harveymoon, a father. Wow, that just – that just doesn't fit. Although then again, Sharpclaw doesn't exactly fit the profile either and his kits absolutely adore him, not that they ever see him. And our kits would always get to see Harveymoon, at least, more than Sharpclaw's kits get to see Sharpclaw. "Hello? Is Mintfur home?" Mintfur snorted, leave it to Harveymoon to make a joke out of anything.
"Yes, and, nothing's wrong, I just have a lot on my mind." I can't tell him, not yet, I have to be sure.
"Well, I'm always here if you need me." He brushed his pelt against Mintfur's.
"Thanks." Mintfur murmured softly, closing her eyes.