Surprise! Driz and I are back with another chapter! We thought that we'd make a mad dash inour progress to give you guys this right before the year ends. A bit short, yes. But its still progress.
The MistClan camp was very small, much smaller than the silver warrior had imagined it to be at first. There were hardly any dens that swept her vision, which confused her. Where was the nursery? Where would the kits stay?
Leafclaw seemed to read her mind as she noticed the rival warriors searching in vain. The brown cat laughed at their obvious confusion. "The nursery is a little bit further away from the main sector of the camp. It's swathed by fog."
Brightfur saw Sunflight nod through the thick mist, and she understood too.
"It's kind of like how FlameClan sets the nursery on fire," she whispered to the golden tom, who nodded, his blue eyes sparking with realization, his tail flicking in the fog. Brightfur couldn't see it, but she felt the wind generated by its movement brush her fur gently.
"It's hard to get through," Sunflight said politely to Leafclaw, who looked proud that the other cats liked their defense system.
"Can you take us there?" the silver cat asked the other she-cat, but the brown cat shook her head.
"The nursery queen who will take care of your kits is coming. I can smell her," the MistClan cat meowed, looking up and scenting the air carefully. Brightfur tried to smell through the fog but couldn't scent a thing. She supposed it was another of the MistClan abilities.
Slowly a young, dusty brown queen emerged from the fog. A milk scent clung to her fur, and her light blue eyes flared with surprise as she noticed the newcomers and stared at them in surprise. Three small kits, a little older than Aspenkit and Willowkit, peeked from behind her legs.
"Leafclaw?" The queen's voice was short and curt. "Who are these…cats?" Brightfur was nerved by how scared the queen seemed of her and her companion. On second thought, it appeared that the she-cat was very young, maybe Drizzlestorm's age. And with three kits already?
"Wolfecho," the dark brown cat answered, bowing her head as if queens held some sort of ultimate respect in this Clan. "These cats are called Brightpurr and Sunlight…"
"Brightfur and Sunflight," Sunflight corrected as if automatically programmed to do so. Leafclaw glared at him in annoyance and continued, her tail flicking in pure exasperation. Brightfur had a feeling that this cat didn't like being corrected.
"Okay, whatever—well, anyways, they have the kits of Featherspirit's sister—"
But the brown MistClan cat was cut off once again, but this time not by Sunflight. It was a voice Brightfur knew, but only vaguely, from a hunting session so many moons ago…
"Ebonyflight's kits?"
A grey and white she-cat on the edge of the clearing came bouncing out of the fog almost immediately, her eyes wide with surprise as she stared at Sunflight, Brightfur, Leafclaw, Wolfecho, and then finally the two kits.
"Featherspirit!" the silver she-cat purred, looking at her mentor's sister with a pang of sadness in her heart.
"Brightpaw? Is this really the little apprentice who caught that juicy squirrel so long ago?" Featherspirit purred back, pulling her gaze off of Aspenkit and Willowkit and finally turning to face her sister's old apprentice. "Why have you brought Ebonyflight's kits here? They're beautiful, by the way. She never thought she'd have any…I told her she'd be a great mother, though." The grey and white cat rolled her eyes and waited expectantly for the answer.
Brightfur felt a twang of regret gather in her heart. "Well, um…you see…" she began, not quite sure how to break it to the sensitive she-cat. But Sunflight, who wasn't aware of Featherspirit's easily aggravated feelings and obviously wanted to break it to her as quick as he could, butted in.
"She has passed to StarClan," the golden tom blurted out.
The grey and white she-cat stared at them in shock. "What do you mean? She's not…she can't be…I…! No, no, you're lying! You're playing some kind of cruel joke on me! Well, it's not funny!" She looked at them with pure despair in her eyes. "Oh, Brightpaw…please tell me this isn't true!"
Brightfur's heart twisted into a large knot and she had to choke out the next words. "Oh, Featherspirit…I'm so, so sorry."
The grey-and-white cat's head lowered, and for a couple heartbeats she stared at the ground—but when she looked up next, her eyes were completely blank. Brightfur was reminded of how Eagletalon had looked the day Foxgaze had died.
"Why did you bring her kits here?" Featherspirit's voice was flat and completely emotionless. It scared the silver cat a little bit, but she wasn't going to let that show if she could help it.
"W-we thought that one of your queens could take care of them. Willowkit and Aspenkit are their na—" Sunflight started to say, but he was cut off by Featherspirit hissing and yowling so loud Brightfur thought every cat in MistClan could hear her.
"They'll just die! Like she did!" she screamed. "Just take them away! Get them out of my camp, out of my home! Go away!" On the last word Featherspirit's voice cracked and she darted off into one of the mist covered dens and began to sob.
Hope you liked!