Just Another Mouth to Feed

"Hollyshade." The russet tabby deputy pricked her ears at the call of her name. She turned her gaze to look at her ginger and white leader, whose expression was lacking dearly in any form of emotion. "What is that?" the tomcat nodded to the bundle in Hollyshade's mouth.

Hollyshade carefully set the furball on the ground before replying, "It's a kit, Dryblade. I found it while I was patrolling alone."

Dryblade tipped his head. "Why did you bring it?" he inquired. "It's not like we have enough prey to go around. In fact, we are starving. The hunting patrols today didn't bring much more than a measly shrew. We had to give that to the queens."

Hollyshade bristled. "It was small and defenseless, and it was going to die in the cold," she defended herself. "I wasn't going to just let it stay there and freeze to death."

Dryblade narrowed his eyes. "Very well, bring it in," he conceded. "But be noted that I will be keeping a close eye on that scrap. And you, Hollyshade, will be held responsible if this kit is hungry. You will catch it food and make sure that it doesn't get into any trouble."

Hollyshade dipped her head. "As you wish, Dryblade."

"Good. Get it to the nursery and get some sleep. My guess is that most cats aren't going to be too happy with this choice you've made."

"We'll see," Hollyshade mumbled quietly, padding towards the clump of ferns that was the hiding place for queens and their kits. The deputy pushed her way in, ignoring the surprised squeaks of kits as the sudden blast of cold accompanied her entrance.

"Hollyshade?" a pale ginger tabby she-cat blinked. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Sunbrook. I have something for the queens in here," Hollyshade meowed quietly, placing the bundle in her jaws carefully on the mossy floor.

A black she-cat hissed. "Is that a kit? Another one? We're having trouble controlling four already!"

"It can't be helped, Ebonyice," Sunbrook meowed. "Let me take a look at the kit."

Hollyshade pushed the little kitten forward. The young cat mewled in protest, clinging to Hollyshade's front paw. The russet tabby gently shook the kit off and nudged it towards the ginger queen.

The kit was a beautiful specimen. It had a thick silver tabby coat that would help it survive the cold leaf-bare. It was probably what helped it live for so long in tonight's cold, Hollyshade assumed. It had a delicate facial form that reminded Hollyshade of a fox. The silver tabby kit was now trying to climb up Sunbrook's paw, which the queen seemed to be delighted about.

"I'll take her in," Sunbrook declared.

"What?" Ebonyice lashed her tail. "Sunbrook – "

"It's just one kit, what harm can it do?" Sunbrook cut her black denmate off.

"I'm going to be responsible for feeding it," Hollyshade mewed. "It looks like it's old enough to eat solid meat, anyway."

"What did you name her?" Sunbrook asked, grooming the now purring ball of fur.

"Her?" Hollyshade cocked her head. "It's a she-kit?"

"Yes, it's a she-kit," Sunbrook replied, licking the little kitten. "Now, what's her name?"

Hollyshade bent her head to inspect the young kitten. The kitten lashed her tiny, plume-like tail as she mewled rather ungratefully at her savior.

"I'll call her Frostkit for now," Hollyshade decided. "Since she came from the snow and all."

ANOTHER MOUTH TO FEED

It had been a couple moons since Frostkit had arrived in the outsiders' camp. The silver tabby soon proved herself to be fairly rambunctious, play-fighting roughly with her denmates. The latest addition to the nursery, Shadefoot, complained regularly that Frostkit disturbed her sleep. Oftentimes, Ember, Nightkit, Blazekit, or even Tempest would lose to Frostkit's battle moves.

"That's a dirty move!" Tempest squeaked, bushing out his blue-gray kit fur.

"We're not in a proper sparring session, so it's not considered dirty," Frostkit announced, puffing her chest out.

Thrushfeather narrowed her eyes as she glared at the silver tabby kit. It was going to be a long time until leaf-bare ended. The seasons had been becoming longer and longer, it seemed. That wasn't good for the young ginger and white she-cat.

She was expecting kits, after all.

Not just any kits, Dryblade's kits.

Frostkit wasn't a very welcome sight in her eyes. The kits she held inside her were the future of the outsiders. The way Thrushfeather had heard from gossip was that Hollyshade made sure that she caught one piece of prey each day to give to Frostkit specifically. Sure, the kit shared the prey with the other queens and kits in the den, but it did appear that the tabby took the lion's share of the lot.

Not only that, but Dryblade was keeping a close eye on Frostkit than he did for Thrushfeather. Honestly? She was furious.

There was a nagging sense that told the to-be-queen that Dryblade would somehow favor Frostkit over his own kits. After all, any competent fighter would be perfectly welcome to serve as a replacement heir. Thrushfeather had seen it before. It had nearly happened to Dryblade. The leaf-bare had claimed Gorsestep's life, so that was that, but what stopped it from happening this time?

"Oof!" The squeak snapped the ginger she-cat out of her thoughts. She looked down to see Frostkit looking up at her. It appeared as if the silver kitten had bumped into Thrushfeather on accident. "Sorry," the kit squeaked out before dashing away.

"Sorry catches no prey," Thrushfeather hissed under her breath. That was it. She was going to have to talk to Dryblade about this.

ANOTHER MOUTH TO FEED

"Frostkit!" Hollyshade called into the fern's shade. "I got your favorite today! Mouse!"

"I'm not a mouse!" A gray blur burst out of the shadows. "You are!"

Hollyshade stumbled back, dropping her mouse in surprise. When the deputy regained her senses, she was on her back. A pair of bluish-green eyes stared back at her, sparking with mischief.

"I got you again," Frostkit announced smugly.

"You've gotten bigger again," Hollyshade grunted. "Off, you big furball."

"Are you growing old?" Frostkit asked as she complied. "You weren't as easy to pin down when I was younger."

"No, you just got bigger," Hollyshade corrected. "Good thing too. You're going to have to build some size if you want to be a strong warrior."

Frostkit bounced on her paws. "I'm gonna be the best warrior there ever was!" she squealed.

Hollyshade risked a smile. "Yeah, yeah. Eat the mouse first, Frostkit. I think Tempest and Ember are sneaking away with my catch of the day."

"Wha-!" Frostkit spun around and to Hollyshade's great amusement, launched herself at the two other kittens. The littermates gave separate squeaks before running away with the mouse, Frostkit chasing them. "Come back! Hollyshade caught it just for me!" Frostkit yowled, her paws giving up puffs of powdery snow as she ran.

Hollyshade shook her head. They grow up fast, huh.

"Hollyshade." The russet tabby sighed.

"Yes, Dryblade?" she asked, attempting to mask her bored tone.

The ginger and white tom beckoned to her with his tail. "A word," he meowed in Hollyshade's ear.

Hollyshade sneaked a glance behind Dryblade and saw the ginger form of Thrushfeather, who was looking immensely pleased with herself. Another sneaky glance downwards and Hollyshade noted that the ginger she-cat was looking notably plump.

Uh-oh.

ANOTHER MOUTH TO FEED

"No."

Dryblade frowned. "What do you mean, 'no'?"

"There's no way that I'm just going to throw her out of this camp," Hollyshade hissed. "Frostkit is part of the clan now."

"I beg to differ," Thrushfeather replied, sliding around Dryblade. "I've seen the way Frostkit hogs the prey you bring to her. Don't you think that'll be quite a risk for kits who are living right now and… kits that might be born sometime soon?"

Hollyshade bristled. "Frostkit can be a valuable member of this clan."

"How so?" Dryblade cut in. "Tell me, how does a rogue kitten help us in any form?"

Hollyshade racked her head. Frostkit… she would be a valuable warrior eventually, and she would definitely make up for the prey she ate when she was a kit, right? …Eventually was a vague term and Frostkit going to Frostpaw to Frost…belly, possibly – would take a long time, but every cat in this small group would count in the long term.

"She can spy!"

Hollyshade blinked. "What?"

"Frostkit can spy on MazeClan for our sake," Thrushfeather declared. "It's perfect!"

"But how are we going to ensure her loyalty?" Dryblade meowed. "She's barely a kit."

"So we keep her until she reaches the age of ten moons and send her on her merry way," Thrushfeather explained. "We train her, teach her everything she needs to know. Then we send her to MazeClan under the guise that she's a lost loner."

Dryblade looked at Hollyshade. "Do you agree to this?"

Hollyshade hesitated. Was Frostkit going to be ready for this? Stars, if that young kit wasn't, give her strength…

"I agree," Hollyshade growled. "As long as you don't throw her out of camp."

"Very well, then." Dryblade stood up. "Also, we agreed to change Frostkit's name to Featherkit. Hope you don't mind."

Hollyshade bristled as Thrushfeather began to follow Dryblade's lead. "It was you, wasn't it?" the russet she-cat hissed. "Why would you try to convince him to throw Frostkit out?"

Thrushfeather looked back, unblinking. "I'm expecting kits," the ginger she-cat answered. "I just did whatever it takes to keep my kits' future bright."