Chapter 1:
Sapkit sleepily opened his eyes. He looked around him, in an unfamiliar land. He hadn't ever opened his eyes, and now that he had, he wished that he would never close them again. It was so vibrant and colorful, shadows casted by leaves onto his floor. He breathed in the scent of his new home.
He was still too young to know any catscratch, so he couldn't ask his parents if he could go out to play, but he was filled with curiosity. And it would be hard to stop that. His mom was dozing off in the sun, and he quietly squirmed out from under her belly. He bounded across the nursery and stepped out into the sun. Cats of all sizes and colors surrounded him. Silver, grey, white, yellow, even green. Sapkit took in the air of the camp. He could smell the freshkill pile, and the scent of all the cats. He looked around in amazement, at holes in mounds of dirt and boulders, covered by vines, which led to dens. He looked behind him, and saw a simple hill with a small hole covered in brambles. He noticed one that smelled of plants. Another smelled like sweat and blood. He would come to learn the names of these two dens, and all the others. He would come to know the swamp as he knew his own mother. He would come to learn these cats and their names. But now, taking in the surprising air of excitement, the aura of activity, Sapkit felt the first joy in his life.
"What are you doing here?" A cat asked Sapkit. It was no use. Sapkit didn't understand the language of catscratch quite yet, so he wouldn't even begin to understand what the cat behind him had said. Still, it startled Sapkit, who lept away with a tiny yowl. He scampered back to the nursery, and curled up next to his brother under his mother.