Dovewing awoke before her kits the next morning. She was stretched out beside them, as opposed to being curled up into ball as she had been. Giving them a once over, she decided they could be without her for a short amount of time, and squeezed out of the nursery. Stretching, she reached as far in front of her as she could, her jaws opening wide in a yawn.

"Someone's tired," She heard the comment, before connecting the voice with Dawnpelt. She forced her fur to lie flat. Dawnpelt's brother, Flametail, had fallen into the ice. When the Dark Forest was getting ready to rise, Dawnpelt had accused Jayfeather of drowning Flametail, as opposed to trying to save him - as Jayfeather had actually been doing.

"Yes, those kits have been a handful, and they're only two days old." Dovewing let out a soft purr, though it didn't reach her eyes. Dawnpelt seemed to understand why Dovewing was cautious around her.

"I'm sorry," she mewed, sitting down and wrapping her tail around her paws. "I truly hope you understand that. I was drowning in grief, and I didn't know how to handle it."

Dovewing dipped her head, a grimace on her face. All she had intended to do was go see Tigerstar, in the few moments she had before her kits woke up again. Scooting around Dawnpelt, she slipped into Tigerstar's den. She slowed to a stop in the entrance of his den, watching him sleep peacefully. The strain that had been put on them during the Dark Forest battles were so stressful, it was very rare to see either one of them fully asleep and at peace.

She padded over to him, her feet touching the ground softly and quietly. She laid down next to him, curling her body around his, and she began to groom his pelt. He sighed, his whole body relaxing even further than it was before.

"Good morning, my dear." She purred between licks.

"Hello, my love," He purred back.

"I just wanted to see you before the kits woke up." He purred in amusement, and then opened his brilliant amber eyes to look at her.

"As much as I love this, I'm sure they're awake and hungry now. Go ahead and go back, I'll have to help organize patrols and then I'll come see you." She groomed his pelt for a few more heartbeats before she stood and made her way back to the nursery. As predicted, her kits were awake and ready to eat when she made it in there.

"Okay, my babies," she purred. "I'm coming."

A quarter moon later, her kits had finally opened their eyes. Foxkit had beautiful amber eyes, matching his warm pelt. Featherkit and Stormkit, however, go their mothers brilliant blue. A moon later, they were bouncing around with energy you wouldn't expect out of a kit so young.

"Featherkit, will you please stop jumping on your brother?" Dovewing rolled her eyes, exasperated. She'd had to scold Featherkit more than she even attempted to scold her brothers. It was quickly becoming apparent that Featherkit was the troublemaker.

"She's just excited." Tigerstar purred, padding up to his mate and kits.

"Excited about what? She's not even doing anything new!" Dovewing whined, an amused gleam to her eye.

"I'm sure you're ready for them to be moved to the apprentice den, huh?"

"Like you wouldn't believe." Dovewing rolled her eyes. "They're nuts. It's quite scary. Were we like that?" Tigerstar nodded seriously.

They sat back on their haunches watching their kits tumble and play fight. Suddenly, the breeze picked up, and the branches and leaves started to rustle. Dovewing stiffened, though she did what she could to keep her fur lying flat. "Your friendship with the moon shall shatter, and all that will be left is darkness," She pressed her ears flat against her head, hoping to close out the whispering. It was of no use, but it was an attempt none the less.

She was confused as to why she had heard the prophecy almost every day since the kits had been born. She hadn't even known about her own prophecy until she was an apprentice! Huffing, she raised her ears again cautiously. "Dovewing, what's wrong?" Tigerstar leaned closer to her. "You stiffen up, every single time the wind changes. What is going on?"

She glanced down at her paws before meeting his eyes, amber to blue. "It's nothing to worry about, my dear. I promise. Once you need to know, you will know. Until then, leave it to me."

"Is it another prophecy?" He asked, "Does it involve our kits?" He prompted, lowering his voice, regardless of the fact that there wasn't anyone else within earshot.

"Please Tigerstar," She gave him a soft smile that she hoped would calm his nerves. "Please leave it to me. I will tell you when the time is right."

Tigerstar's amber eyes narrowed at her, a glint of anger shining in them. "I thought we were done with secrets, especially with how it almost tore us apart after the Dark Forest," He hissed. "I was hoping you would have grown out of that. But I guess I was mistaken." He stalked off, heading towards his den. At the last moment, he waved hist tail to Dawnpelt and his deputy, Tawnypelt. His mother, and his sister. Dovewing sighed, shaking his head. Apparently they couldn't talk about it like warriors, they had to act like apprentices.

"Let's go, my babies. It's time for bed." She gathered her kits with a sweep of her tail, and began hearding them towards the nursery. Hopefully by morning, Tigerstar will have calmed down, and they could speak about it again. Until then, Dovewing was going to do everything in her power to snuggled her little babies, and ignore the prophecy whispered into her ear, as the night went on.

"Your friendship with the moon shall shatter, and all that will be left is darkness."

Hello, my darlings. Yet another short chapter. This one I wrote while sitting in a 1:1, watching my patient sleep. It was a wonderful time, until they woke up. Anyways, this is just the beginning, and hopefully I'll be splitting off, and beginning different POVs from here on out. Depending on how I feel. But I'm setting up an outline and planning everything else out, so it shouldn't be too long. I'll try to update shortly here. Remember, reviews and criticism is greatly welcomed and appreciated(:

~Ice