A blue-gray she-cat padded across the open moor as the glistening rain made the grass dance and the insects flee. The air gave her a welcome calm, the kind she recalled feeling before a storm became rough and howling. The cat's fur became darker but shimmered in the quiet storm.
The wind howled gently and the she-cat's rounded belly combined with it made her stumble and sway with each long step. She felt a spike of anxiety, knowing her kits were to be birthed any minute, but all she focused on was the calming sound and the sweet scent of the rain that crashed down onto the open ground.
Nothing happened. All was calm and peaceful.
Until that one moment.
The she-cat dropped onto the damp grass in agonizing pain. She took deep, sharp breaths as the air around her grew slightly cooler.
The pain kept getting worse, as the storm began to pick up all around her.
The kits! the she-cat thought in a panic, The kits are coming and nobody is here to help me!
The now screaming winds barely quieted the queen's yowls of anguish. The rain grew harder, the drops starting to feel like tiny, blunt stones crashing to the ground.
The queen screeched and clawed desperately at the grass as the pain only grew and the spasms were coming quicker. She made a feeble attempt to calm herself but it wasn't much use. The she-cat curled her wet, blue tail around her belly so hopefully her kits would be safe from the raging storm.
Crying out in pain, the queen made desperate attempts to push and finally give life to her kits.
One kit came. Then another…
The queen paused to take a short break, panting, her feeble yowls barely making a sound now. She looked down at her newly-born kits. They had both taken the pelts of their father. She purred and licked them, curling her tail tightly around the two, trying desperately to keep the two mewling, freezing bundles warm. She felt her heart pulled with fear at the thought of her kits being cold.
The storm, on the other hand, was not getting any calmer. It kept getting worse, the rain even harder, turning to hailstones falling to the ground. The winds grew stronger and the queen fought with all her might to make sure her kits didn't slip from her warmth. The pain from the cold and labor bit at her like a starving dog, but she fought hard not to cry in anguish. She had come this far, and couldn't do much else other than fight the winds.
Finally, after what felt like days of pain in her mind, it was time for the last kit.
It was easier this time, and the she-cat grimaced from pain and joy as she saw the blue-gray kit. She nuzzled her and licked her to get her warm, curling her tail around the first two tight.
She lay part of her tail loosely around the third kit. Looking at her first kits, she beamed, the pain nipping at her grin. It fell, and she relaxed a little, examining her kits quietly.
"Graykit for the bigger one," she murmured, smiling at the newly-named tom, "and Cloudkit for the she-kit. I think they'll turn out to be perfect names."
The she-cat rested her gentle gaze on the last and smallest kit. She was a beautiful blue-gray she-kit with a white forepaw. The only one in the litter with the colour of her mother. She felt a tinge of hope as she looked proudly at her kits.
"And you'll be Shadekit," she mewled softly after a moment of thought, "to remember this dark storm..." she flinched, the winds picking up again. She held her kits close.
"Now, I should get you three back to cla—"
Her mew was cut off as a gust of unmerciful wind blasted by. The queen yelped and narrowed her eyes, flattening her ears. She tried to tighten her grip around Shadekit but the slick kitten slipped from her hold.
Shadekit mewled pitifully as she was picked up by the wind like a leaf and tossed away from her mother. She felt the cold bitter winds bite at her paws as she cried out for her mother.
"No!" the queen wailed, "Shadekit no! Come back!" The she-cat tried her hardest to raise herself to her paws, but her legs gave a great shudder as she collapsed back to the ground, her two remaining kits mewing at her questioningly
"Please," the she-cat began sobbing, "my kit!" Her wails of despair were lost upon the stormy winds.