A/N: Dancing Crane, Burning Sea (the sequel to this story) is on hiatus until I finish this story!
I yawned, then bounced up, nudging Strawberrykit.
"Come on, let's play!"
Strawberrykit stood up and shook the moss out of her fur. I shook the moss that fell on me onto Strawberrykit. Strawberrykit shook herself again. I shook myself again.
Wingkit growled at us. "Stop that! I want my pelt to look nice for my apprentice ceremony."
I giggled, and pounced on her tail. Wingkit was three moons older than me, and very responsible. She was also prim at times, but always my best friend.
"Stop it! My tail isn't a mouse." Wingkit began to pace the ground, then stopped and pawed at a clump of thistle. "Go bother Snowkit if you must."
I didn't say anything as I curled back up in the moss. Inside I was feeling queasy again. For the past week I'd tried to suppress it, but now that it was so close to the ceremony I couldn't help letting it through. After the ceremony, Wingkit wouldn't be Wingkit anymore, she'd be Wingpaw. Then she would move to the apprentice's den, and make new friends. What if she thought that being friends with a little kit like me was embarrassing and abandoned me? I burrowed my nose deeper into the moss.
"(Insert ceremonies here)"
Wingpaw did not forget me. She and Snowpaw visited often, both keeping us laughing and laughing about her mistakes, which she spun into amazing stories. Forestpaw and Pantherpaw would drop by to bring moss and such to the queens and us. Sweetpetal became a queen. And so two moons passed by.
"Nya, no one can beat Strawberrystar!" Strawberrykit growled at me from the top of a boulder.
"Except Starstar!" I took a running leap and knocked Strawberrykit off. "Who's leader now?"
I smirked. Relations between me and Strawberrykit had grown cooler when Wingpaw, our peacemaker had left.
Something began to drift down from the gray sky. Drifts of white began to billow down. The weather had been increasingly icier the past moon, but when the white powder dusted my nose, it was even more frigid. Wingpaw saw me staring up, and snatched me up by the scruff. She ran into the nursery and dropped me down, then ran back out for Strawberrykit. Outside, Crystalstar had padded out of her den and sat staring at the particles.
She did not look happy.
"I'm sorry that I have to use up so much freshkill," Sweetpetal poked the scrawny rabbit between her claws. "I should be hunting to support the rest of my clan. You are all working so hard too feed me."
Wingpaw's half- smile didn't reach her eyes. "It's all right."
I knew it wasn't. Even before the first snow, the temperature and number of prey had been decreasing. The past half moon had seen it go down even more drastically. Greencough had been reported from Cloudclan last gathering. The warriors were all thin and weak. The medicine cat, Spottedheart hadn't been feeling too good recently.
In shame, I looked down at myself. I was still relatively well fed. I, who did no work. Wingpaw, on the other hand looked exhausted and didn't have more meat than the rabbit she had given Sweetpetal.
Two suns later, the first of our cats caught greencough. Though there was still a half moon before I was six moons, Crystalstar made me an apprentice the third day. She would be my mentor.
(Insert ceremony here)
The river was frozen. How would I learn to catch fish? There wasn't a single sound elsewhere.
Silently, I yowled inside. Crystalstar hadn't had time to train me, for she had caught greencough as well- the very day after the apprentice ceremony. The other warriors had too many duties too. Judging that I was really still a kit, Crystalstar let me stay in the nursery. But I didn't. Instead, I sneaked out to the river.
Mournfully, I stared at the frozen glass covering our food source. Then I looked around.
I smelled the air. There was a scent.
A terrible, horrible odor.
My head swung in it's direction. It was fresh. It had just headed over, unaware of me. The scent of fear clung to its wet red fur- streaked with brighter crimson blood.
Despite all of that, it smelled delicious.
Review!