Tigerclaw pushed his way into the nursery, carrying a small thrush in his jaws. On the opposite side of the den, he saw Fireheart lift her head at the sound of his pawsteps, blinking sleep from her eyes. Stormkit was still sleeping soundly at her mother's belly, her tiny flank rising and falling beside a yellow flower placed delicately between Fireheart's paws.

"Is that for me?" Fireheart asked. A few nests away, Bluefur peeked one eye open, perhaps roused by the sound of voices. Mistykit, Stonekit, and Mosskit, who had been born just days before, purred contentedly as they suckled away.

"It is," Tigerclaw meowed, placing the thrush down beside the flame-colored molly's paws, careful not to disturb the flower. "Sorry, I know it's a bit small, but this was the best I could find."

"That's okay. The bird is very welcome anyway," Fireheart purred. She nudged the flower with her nose. "Look at what our daughter gave me."

"It's beautiful," Tigerclaw murmured, giving his mate a gentle lick between her ears.

"She's a sweetheart, even if she is a troublemaker," Bluefur meowed from her own nest. "Do you know how many times she's woken me up at the crack of dawn to ask if she can play with my kits?"

Fireheart's eyes gleamed with amusement. "Well, I did promise you," she replied.

Bluefur rolled her eyes and chuckled. Tigerclaw looked back down at his daughter, still fast asleep. She was tiny, not that most kits her age were particularly large in general, but this was smaller than he had expected. But her orange and black fur shone like stars on a clear newleaf night, and her frame gave hint to the lean build she would have one day. Briefly, he wondered what she was dreaming about. For that matter, did kits even have dreams?

Suddenly, Stormkit gave a yawn, her tiny paws hitting against Fireheart's flank as she stretched them out in front of her. She blinked her eyes open sleepily, turning her head to look up at Tigerclaw. Her eyes were still blue, but the dark tabby thought he could see the smallest hint of green in them.

"Hi," Stormkit meowed loudly. Fireheart quickly hushed her, and the little tortoiseshell repeated again in a whisper, "Hi."

"Hello, Stormkit," Tigerclaw meowed gently, touching his nose to his daughter's ear. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yep!" Stormkit replied cheerfully. "Can I go play now? I want to explore the camp some more today!"

"That's up to your mother," he meowed, glancing over at Fireheart.

At that, Stormkit practically pounced on top of her mother, staring up at her with wide, pleading eyes. Tigerclaw chuckled, remembering when he used to make the same face at Leopardfoot whenever he wanted something. Of course, she always ended up caving eventually.

"Please?" the little molly begged.

Fireheart shook her head. "Not right now, sweetheart," she meowed. "It's still early, and I don't think the rest of the Clan will be too happy if you wake them up. Besides, weren't you going to play with Mistykit, Stonekit, and Mosskit today?"

Stormkit's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah!" she chirped. "Maybe when they wake up, we can all go exploring!"

Fireheart glanced over at Bluefur. "Do you mind...?"

"Not at all," the older queen reassured her. "I'm sure they'll be thrilled to play with Stormkit."

"Thanks, Bluefur," Fireheart meowed. Turning back to her daughter, she continued, "Alright, you can go exploring with them when they wake up. But you must wait for them, and when I say wait, I mean it."

"Okay," Stormkit agreed, nodding fervently. "I can wait. I'll be better at waiting than everyone else."

She got to her paws and padded over to sit a tail-length or so away from Bluefur and her kits, tucking her paws and tail in neatly, or at least as neatly as a half-moon-old kit could manage. Once she had gotten herself settled, she turned to look at Fireheart with a proud gleam in her eyes.

"See? Look at me," she meowed happily. "I'm waiting!"

Fireheart purred, her whiskers twitching with amusement. "Keep up the good work, Stormkit."

She turned to look up at Tigerclaw again and meowed, "Well, I think we have everything under control here. I don't want to keep you too long."

"You could never," Tigerclaw murmured.

The flame-pelted molly chuckled. "I know, but you'll probably be wanted on a border patrol soon. You can't afford to miss that. Besides, Thrushpelt will be here to visit Bluefur soon, and with your size, we won't have enough room to breathe if both of you are in here."

Tigerclaw glared at her playfully. "Are you trying to say something?"

"Why no, why would you ever think that?" Fireheart asked, a little too innocently. "Look, there might be other cats in the Clan who say you have massive paws that make you too clumsy for your own good and that you're too big to fit inside any of the dens, but I'm not one of those cats. I'm a nice cat."

"I see," the dark tabby purred teasingly. "Well, I'm glad to have someone as kind and thoughtful as you."

Bluefur rolled her eyes. "Oh, knock it off, both of you. Your flirting is grating on my nerves."

"Like you're one to talk, Bluefur," Fireheart scoffed, though her eyes were gleaming with laughter. "You and Thrushpelt are absolutely disgusting."

"Fireheart, my dear friend, I'm afraid you're very much mistaken. I would never act in such a way," the blue-gray queen meowed haughtily.

"Sure, Bluefur. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"Oh, believe me, nothing helps me sleep at night. Not with that little monster whom you claim is your daughter."

"HEY!" Stormkit and Fireheart protested.

"I'm not a monster," the little kit meowed, pouting.

"Says the one with three kits," Fireheart pointed out. She glanced fondly at her daughter, and added, "And she's right, she's not a monster."

Stormkit's eyes lit up. "See? My mama is on my side."

Tigerclaw shook his head and left the three cats to banter amongst themselves. As he walked out of the nursery, he nearly bumped into Thrushpelt, who was bringing in a snow-covered mouse for Bluefur. He nodded briefly to the older warrior before continuing on his way, shivering slightly as the snow chilled his paws. Almost instinctively, he felt his eyes wandering over to the nearly-empty fresh-kill pile.

Leaf-bare had hit them hard and early that year, and the Clan was already short on food. To make matters worse, Larksong, Mumblefoot, and Weedwhisker had all passed away from colds. Tigerclaw was surprised that a simple cold had killed them, but he figured that because they were so old, it had been harder to fight off illnesses. In any case, he was more worried about Fireheart and Stormkit. If Fireheart died, there wouldn't be anyone left to feed Stormkit. She couldn't manage solid foods yet, and Bluefur was the only other queen in the nursery. There was no way she would be able to manage to feed another kit during a leaf-bare as bitter as this one. The possibility of losing his beloved mate and daughter caused his stomach to twist painfully.

Don't think like that, he scolded himself. They're going to be just fine.

Shaking his head, he turned away and headed for the gorse tunnel. He needed to do something to take his mind off the leaf-bare weather threatening his family, and hunting seemed like the best option. After all, it wasn't as though he could afford to take anything from the fresh-kill pile at the moment. There were cats weaker than himself who needed food more than he did and there wasn't nearly enough to go around. He would have to be sure to catch a few pieces of prey.

Unfortunately for him and everyone else, StarClan had a way of never sending luck when the Clans actually needed it.