"Does mama swim?"
Graystripe looked down at Featherkit, her curious eyes meeting his own heartbroken gaze.
Graystripe looked away, turning his attention towards the sunset. It cast warm hues of orange, yellow, and pink across the land as its light danced upon the surface of the river. He liked to take Featherkit and Stormkit out here, where the river was wide - where Silverstream would take him - now that they were old enough to leave the nursery with supervision.
Stormkit was not with them now. He was fast alseep.
Featherkit only knows her mother as a cat she will never see. Knowing that felt claws being raked down his pelt. Graystripe dreaded the day where she truly understood what cats meant when they said her mother was gone.
Dreaded the day where she realised the only time her mother gazed upon her kits lovingly was also the last.
That day was not today, however.
Swallowing the lump in his throat, he answered.
"She does, and that's probably all she does now."