Breezekit gazed solemnly up at the cloudless night sky, the sea of countless twinkling stars reflected in her wide eyes. Each star represents a fallen warrior, Moonwing had told them, so which one was hers? The young she-cat ached to feel her mother's warm pelt curled around her again, keeping her safe and protected from the dangers of the world. But that time had passed, and she would have to wait until she joined StarClan herself to see her again, like Dawnlight had said. The grief that came with actually accepting that reality weighed heavily in her mind, but Breezekit did her best to stay strong and look at the positives; they had really made it to WindClan!
After the sisters had been checked over by the medicine cat earlier that day, Larkstar had formally announced their arrival and Moonwing's death to the whole Clan. The mood afterward had been a somber one; the she-cat really had been loved here
Lowering her gaze, the black tabby looked at the rest of the cats gathered around her in the wide camp clearing sitting vigil for Moonwing. Her body may not be here for them to mourn with, but the leader declared they would honor her that night regardless.
After the sun had set, warriors had taken turns speaking; paying their respects and telling stories of her life here, a time cut short by Eaglestar's anger. Breezekit wanted to be upset with him for what he'd done, but it was no use being mad over the past. What is done is done, and there was no way to change it now.
Beside her, Snowkit let out a yawn, clearly struggling to stay awake after the long day they'd had. They had napped in the nest Sunnypaw and Flamepaw had made for them in Dawnlight's den for a while, but dusk had come too soon for them to really get the rest they needed.
"No cat will think badly of you if you went to sleep now," Larkstar's gentle meow came from where she was crouched on Breezekit's other side. "You've already stayed up most of the night, you must be exhausted."
Snowkit just shook her head, sitting up straighter with a determined gleam in her blue eyes. "I can sleep when the sun rises."
The leader gave a soft purr. "As you wish."
"Stubborn, she must get that from her mother." Cloudfoot, an older black and white tom-cat who they had learned was Moonwing's own father, was laying a tail length away, watching Snowkit with a sort of amused approval. He had burst into the medicine cat den that afternoon after Patchnose had woken him from a nap to tell him of their arrival. You look so much like your mother, he had told Breezekit sorrowfully. You have her eyes. Green eyes that he himself had, as well as Patchnose. Snowkit had flattened her ears self-consciously, knowing she stood out in terms of looks in their newfound family, but Cloudfoot was quick to shower her in affection too and she seemed to warm up to him after that.
"And I wonder where Moonwing could possibly have gotten it from," Patchnose gave a little snort as his father turned to him with a look of faux innocence.
"Well not from me, certainly."
Breezekit watched them bicker, her own amusement clear on her face. She liked these cats already, everyone had been so kind to them since their arrival. As devastated as the toms had been to hear of Moonwing's passing, they seemed to take comfort in having her kits back in WindClan in her stead.
Most of the cats sitting vigil had already retreated to the outskirts of the clearing, curling up to sleep where apparently most of the Clan prefered to when the weather was nice, with only a few other than them who planned to sit up all night.
There was Larkstar of course, with Foxflower and Redclaw crouched together not far away. The deputy Swiftfoot, a huge brown spotted tom, was crouched outside the nursery with a silver she-cat dozing beside him, and two tortoiseshells were awake near them as well; the younger one laying down with a miserable look on her white face while the other licked gently between her ears. Dawnlight was the last, just sitting silently outside her den watching the sky.
It was peaceful, despite everything, and Breezekit found her eyelids grow heavy as her exhaustion caught up with her. She fought it for as long as she could, but soon enough she rested her head on her paws and fell into an easy slumber.
When she finally woke, her eyes opened only to immediately meet the amber gaze of a tiny brown and white tom-kit who was leaning over her with three other kits hovering close behind him.
Meeting her gaze, the young tom squeaked in alarm and leaped backwards, tumbling messily into his littermates. "She's awake!"
Whiskers twitching in amusement, Breezekit sat up, stretching. "Hello!"
Huddling together, the four kits blinked at her with wide eyes. While she was still a kit herself, these were much smaller and younger than her, probably only around two or three moons old at the most.
"Hi," the only she-cat among them eventually mewed shyly, her pale grey fur fluffed out. "Grasstail told us you're going to be staying with us now. Did you really come from outside all of the clans? "
Breezekit gave a friendly nod, purring. "Yes, my mama came from WindClan, but she left a long time ago. She told me and Snowkit all about it so we decided to come back here!" Glancing her sister's way, she saw the silver tabby still fast asleep a tail-length away, twitching as she dreamed.
"I don't blame you," the brown tabby kitten meowed, waving his stubby tail haughtily. "WindClan is the bestest place ever, so obviously you would want to come join us. I couldn't imagine having to live some place else."
"It wasn't so bad," she replied, trying not to think too hard about their peaceful time with Moonwing in their forest. "It did get a little boring sometimes; we didn't have a whole clan to keep us company. It was just us."
"That does sound boring," the third kit, a grey and white tom agreed, flattening his ears. "It can get boring here too, but we have all sorts of games! The warriors even play with us sometimes, but they're really busy a lot. Stormcloud always makes time to visit us though."
"He's the best!" The she-kit chirped, her light green eyes shining. "He's been helping me with my hunting crouch and he told me I'm going to be the best hunter in all of WindClan when I'm a warrior."
"Nuh-uh, that's going to be me, hare-brain," the last kit, a darker brown tom, scoffed. "And Sunnypaw showed me a battle move yesterday! I'm going to be the fiercest WindClan cat ever once I'm big. I'm going to be as huge as Swiftfoot and twice as strong!"
"You're the hare-brain," she grumbled back, jabbing at him with a paw.
"At least you'll get mentors soon," the first kit lamented to Breezekit. "You're almost as big as Flamepaw and Sunnypaw and they've been apprenticed for nearly a moon! We still have ages to wait."
"I hope so!" Breezekit did hope Larkstar would make her and her sister apprentices soon. They were almost six moons old so they were the right age, like the leader had said earlier. She just didn't want to have to sit around camp for moons waiting until the leader decided they were ready. "My mama taught us to hunt already, but said we were still too young to fight yet."
"You're so lucky!" The she-kit gasped, her littermates mewing their agreement. "We never get to leave camp to do fun things! Sandkit tried sneaking out once but he got caught and we all got in trouble, which was not fair." She shot the pale brown and white tabby a glare, and he shrugged.
"How was I supposed to know a patrol was on it's way back in?"
"Because you went right through the main entrance, where cats come in and out all the time!" She shot back, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "I told you that you should find some place else."
Sandkit just sulked, and Breezekit purred at him. "Don't worry, you'll be six moons before you know it. It isn't really too bad, even if it does feel like it's still forever away sometimes." She couldn't help but feel lucky that, if anything, she and her sister had been allowed out into their forest while they were still young to play and explore. Sure, always under Moonwing's careful supervision, but they hadn't been stuck at their den all the time. "I'm Breezekit by the way, and that's my sister Snowkit over there."
"I'm Mistkit," the younger she-cat mewed back.
"Dustykit," the dark tabby waved his tail towards his grey and white brother next. "And this is Smokekit."
"And I'm Sandkit," the brown and white tom puffed out his chest proudly.
"Grasstail is our mother and she lives in the nursery with us." Dustykit meowed. "Our father Stormcloud doesn't, he sleeps with the other warriors, but he always makes time to visit us!"
"Mossypelt lives with us too," Smokekit mewed more softly, seemingly the quietest of the bunch. "She doesn't have kits, but she watches us sometimes when Grasstail wants to go hunt."
"And Palestripe just had Swiftfoot's kits," Sandkit breathed, his amber eyes widening. "He's the deputy. But they're not big like him, they haven't even opened their eyes yet!"
"They're as small as mice!" Mistkit exclaimed. "All they do is sleep in their nest and eat! Grasstail said we were that small once but I don't think that can be right!"
Breezekit wondered if the newborn kits really were as small as mice. She had never seen any other kits before, other than her sister of course, but she didn't really remember anything from her first moon of life so she supposed it was possible. Maybe she would get to meet these kits later and see for herself.
"They're not bothering you, are they?" A teasing voice called out suddenly, and Breezekit looked up to see a brown tabby queen padding out of the nursery, her brilliant green eyes glowing warmly as she looked at the kits. She guessed that this had to be their mother, Grasstail. She seemed nice.
"No!" Breezekit called back, waving her tail in greeting.
"I'm glad," Grasstail purred as she crossed over to them. She wove between her kits, nuzzling each of them, before turning to Breezekit and touching their noses together. "Welcome to WindClan, young one. I'm sorry to hear about your mother, but I'm glad you were able to find your way back to us. The world is a dangerous place for young cats on their own."
"It was pretty scary," the black tabby agreed, flattening her ears as she recalled their trek through twolegplace especially. Full of twolegs and moneters and dogs…
"Well I wouldn't have been scared," Sandkit boasted hotly.
Grasstail rolled her eyes and flicked him in the nose with the tip of her tail. "You say that now my little warrior, you haven't even left the camp yet."
The tiny tom just scoffed. "Well maybe if you would actually let us…"
"Yes, go ask Larkstar if you can go to see the territory. If she says yes, I'll give you the tour myself."
Breezekit purred in amusement at the way all the kits brightened up at their mother's words, quite sure she wasn't actually serious about letting them do anything of the sort.
"Now," the tabby queen meowed. "Why don't you take your new friend around the camp and show her around. You wouldn't want her getting lost, do you?"
"Oh no," Mistkit's eyes widened in alarm at the possibility. "Of course not!"
"We know all the best spots to play too!" Sandkit mewed. "We'll make sure to show you all of them."
Breezekit hesitated, glancing back towards where her sister was still sleeping soundly. As much as she wanted to explore the camp, she didn't want to leave Snowkit here alone or have to wake her up and interrupt the rest she clearly needed.
Grasstail followed her gaze and purred gently. "It's alright, I'll keep an eye on your sister for you. I'll tell her where you are when she wakes up."
"Oh thank you!" This must be what it was like to have a whole clan of cats around, like a big extended family helping each other. She could get used to that.
"Come see the nursery first!" Dustykit exclaimed excitedly, bouncing across the clearing towards the den with his littermates and Breezekit following behind.
Pushing her way inside she saw it was similar to the medicine den, dug slightly into the ground with dense brambles overhead. Several soft looking nests were laid out across the space, the farthest two currently occupied by a pair of she-cats. The silver tabby who she guessed to be Palestripe had three mewling kits pawing at her belly, and upon seeing them Breezekit concluded they were not quite as small as mice, but they were still the tiniest cats she had ever seen. The other she-cat was an older tortoiseshell that she recognized from the vigil the night before. Mossypelt maybe?
"This is our nest!" Sandkit announced, nodding to the vacant patch of moss and feathers that seemed just big enough to fit the four kits and their mother.
"We're not old enough to sleep outside yet," Mistkit meowed bitterly. "Grasstail told us it's because an owl or hawk could snatch us up, but I'd claw any that tried!" The small she-cat slashed at the air in front of her as if to prove her point.
"We're not old enough to do anything," Dustykit muttered.
The tortoiseshell gazed at the kits with a sort of exasperated fondness. "Young cats are always in such a rush to grow up," she meowed. "They don't know how easy they have it."
"I don't want easy!" Mistkit protested. "I want to be a warrior!" Her brothers all nodded along in agreement, and Breezekit couldn't help but purr in amusement.
The silver queen turned her gentle blue gaze towards her then. "You're Breezekit, right?" At the kit's nod, she continued. "Welcome, I'm Palestripe and this is Mossypelt. I'm sorry to hear about your mother; Moonwing was a good young cat, one of our best."
A part of Breezekit wished these cats would stop bringing her up, but she knew that wasn't really fair to ask so she just bowed her head. "Thank you, and she was. The very best." Wanting to change the subject, she glanced towards the three scraps of fur at she-cat's belly. They hardly even looked like cats yet; round bodied with stubby little limbs, and ears and eyes still firmly closed. They seemed so puny and helpless, it was hard to believe she had looked like that once. "These are your kits?"
Nodding, Palestripe turned to them and pointed to each with her tail. "Finchkit and Jaykit are the toms, and Wrenkit is the little she-cat."
"They're kinda cute," Breezekit meowed, padding closer to get a better look at them. "I'd never met any other kits except Snowkit before."
"Oh you'll be seeing plenty of them soon enough," Mossypelt teased. "As soon as their eyes open, kits always find a way to end up getting under-paw at every opportunity."
"We do not," she heard Mistkit mutter to her brothers. "Do we?"
The leaves covering the entrance rustled then as a young black tom pushed his way into the den with a rabbit hanging from his jaws, and his amber eyes widened as he met her gaze, looking surprised to see her there.
"Is that for us?" Sandkit demanded, scurrying over to the newcomer excitedly.
The tom blinked, glancing down at the kit with a purr as he shook his head. Instead he moved forward to drop it between the two queens, flicking the little tabby's nose with his tail as he passed, making him sulk. "You just ate, hare-brain. I saw you."
"Ah, thank you Darkpaw," Palestripe purred, stretching her neck out to touch her nose to his. "The kits have hardly stopped fussing all morning, I haven't had a chance to eat yet."
"You should have said something," Mossypelt scolded her gently before giving Darkpaw a grateful look. "Thank you."
"Not a problem," he meowed easily, sitting back and wrapping his tail neatly around his paws. "Before he left on patrol, I heard Swiftfoot tell Shadepaw to make sure she brought you something when you woke up, but she's been sulking around camp all day so I doubted she did. I guess I was right."
The silver queen sighed, not looking surprised. "Yes, your father told me she wasn't pleased about our newest additions."
"I thought she would claw me earlier for so much as mentioning them." Rolling his eyes, Darkpaw turned to Breezekit and looked her over curiously. "You're not the one she did claw, are you?"
The dark tabby shook her head, tail twitching anxiously as she thought of how Shadepaw had acted towards them the day before. It didn't seem like she had warmed to the idea of them staying yet, unfortunately. "No, that was Snowkit."
"Well try not to let her bother you too much," Darkpaw meowed. "She's always been a bit of a fox-heart, but she grows on you. Eventually."
"Darkpaw," Palestripe sighed.
"What?" He blinked at the queen innocently. "It's true!"
"Is she your sister?" Breezekit wondered. Sunnypaw and Flamepaw were littermates, as she had learned the day before, but Shadepaw and this tom both seemed to be several moons older than them.
Sure enough, he nodded. "StarClan really blessed me, huh?"
"Darkpaw," Palestripe repeated more sharply.
"Sorry," he rolled his eyes, not looking sorry at all. "Anyway, Patchnose is waiting to take me hunting. It was nice to meet you!" Giving Breezekit a friendly wave of his tail, the tom turned and quickly exited the nursery.
Palestripe sighed in exasperation once he was gone. "I don't know where I went wrong with those two."
"You did fine, dear," Mossypelt assured, though she too sounded amused. "They're fine young cats. Even if they can both be a bit… strong willed at times."
"You're their mother too?" Breezekit mewed in surprise.
"I am," the queen meowed wryly. "Though StarClan knows how much of a pawful they were as kits. I imagine this lot will be much the same." From the fond glance down toward the kits at her belly, Breezekit doubted she really minded too much. It was the same look Moonwing used to give her and Snowkit, but she quickly shut that image from her mind before it could upset her.
"Okay kits, I think it's time to let Palestripe eat in peace," Mossypelt meowed, turning her amber gaze back to them. "And her kits need rest."
"Yes Mossypelt," Mistkit and Sandkit chimed together.
"There's still lots of camp to show you," Smokekit mewed more quietly to Breezekit.
Dustykit was already scampering back out to the main clearing, his littermates following close behind. "Let's go!"
Breezekit paused for a moment to look back at the queens and dipped her head. "It was nice to meet you!" And with that she was chasing after the younger kits, whiskers twitching as she heard them bickering about what place to take her to next. Yes, she did quite like it here.
Okay, that's all you get for a bit. I'm serious this time xD
Please, please, PLEASE tell me what you think. Obviously these first few chapters are just setting up the scene before the REAL plot can get going, but things will start picking up in the next few chapters once they're apprentices :)
Thank you for reading!