Snakeheart turned and gazed at Kedi. She was looking at her paws as she brushed them shyly over the dirt that covered the ground. She looked almost... bored.
Snakeheart's shoulders slumped and he sighed as he padded over to Kedi. He sat down right in front of her. She looked up at him with those big, gray-colored eyes. "So what you wanna know?" she asked him.
"Where do you live?" Snakeheart asked her, hope flaring inside him- the thought that she might cooperate if it's just him.
"I dunno."
Snakeheart hissed in annoyance. She's just playing with us! he thought to himself. He glared at Kedi, who was holding back a smile at his annoyance. "HOW DID YOU GET HERE?" Snakeheart asked, on the verge of erruption. StarClan let her answer this one!
"I dunno."
Snakeheart was bubbling over now. I'll get her to tell me where she lives... "Listen! If you don't tell us where you live, we'll just drop you in the Lake, since you're such a useless ball of fur that won't tell us anything about you!" he yelled at Kedi.
Kedi shied back, her big gray eyes wide with fear. Snakeheart didn't budge. He was still furious, no matter how innocent or cute Kedi might look. She's just playing with him!
"Tell me where you're from!" Snakeheart demanded. "If you tell me where you're from, then we can get you home," he added more gently.
Kedi just stared at him, wide-eyed and heart racing.
Snakeheart's shoulders slumped hopelessly. I'm not getting anywhere, he thought to himself. "What is it going to take to tell me where you've come from?"
Kedi looked around the clearing, as if checking if anyone else were watching them. Fortunately, everyone was too busy dealing with their own tasks to notice Snakeheart yelling at a tiny kit that know one knew. "Come closer," she whispered.
"What?" Snakeheart asked the kit questioningly.
"Come closer. I need to tell you a secret," she said, still glancing around the clearing nervously.
Snakeheart leaned down to Kedi's level. Snakeheart didn't notice before, but now he saw that he could see every one of her tiny ribs. Her tiny paws were about the size of his eyes.
Kedi leaned over to Snakeheart. "I do have a mommy and daddy.," Kedi whispered in his ear. "And two brothers and sister. I lived in Twolegplace with them." She took another nervous glance around the clearing. "About twenty of us... We all lived together. But one day I fell in the river and it carried me down here, where I got out just before the river emptied into your lake. I followed the wolf here. I was so quiet it didn't even notice me. When I saw all of you, it reminded me of my family and friends that I left behind on accident." She pulled away and looked down at her paws. "That's why I was crying when you found me."
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" he asked her. His face scrunched with the thought of questions he dared not ask the little creature.
"They wanted to keep our whereabouts as much a secret as they could," Kedi explained. "The more creatures who knew where we lived, the more predators we had to worry about. My dad- he's the 'leader' of all of us- he didn't want to have to deal with any more predators, so he decided to keep our little group a secret."
"'Any more'?" Snakeheart asked her.
Kedi looked down for a minute, trying to think of what to say. She looked up as the warm sun was just above their heads. She looked in the direction Twolegplace is. "There's this group of cats... they're really strong, and they kinda terrorize the rest of us. We lived in an old twoleg house. Sometimes they would steel the kits if they were short on cats. They were- are- blood thirsty creatures. They thought they could control us, but my dad... he-he wouldn't let them." A tear tried to escape the corner of her eye.
"If you don't wanna tell me the rest-"
"No, I do," Kedi interrupted Snakeheart. "Someone needs to know." She took a deep, brave breath. "The evil cats tried to take my brother Akane, but my dad didn't like that... They killed my dad, and still took my brother. I haven't seen him in a very long time." Kedi's head drooped. Snakeheart could see the growing pain in her eyes.
Snakeheart looked around. Knowing all this, he had to let Crowstar know. Snakeheart spotted Crowstar still talking with the warriors. Snakeheart turned back to Kedi. "Stay right here." He started to where Crowstar was.
"Crowstar!" Snakeheart called out when he was within earshot of the WindClan leader.
Crowstar's head shot straight up, ears pricked. He said something to the other warriors and started walking towards Snakeheart. "What is it?"
"She told me everything!" Snakeheart began telling Crowstar everything Kedi told him. Crowstar's expression became furious by the time Snakeheart finished.
"This isn't right," Crowstar said, looking around the clearing at his Clan. He rested his gaze on Snakeheart. "Do we know how old Kedi is?"
"I'm not sure," Snakeheart admitted. "She's real scrawny. There's no telling for sure unless we ask her."
"Go ahead and ask her," Crowstar told Snakeheart, nodding in the direction where Kedi sat, laying on the ground and fiddling with her paws and occasionally chewing on a blade of grass.
"Alright," Snakeheart said, turning to go.
"Kedi, how old are you?" Snakeheart asked Kedi when he reached her.
Kedi looked up from her blade of grass and sat upright. "I'm about eight moons old," she told him.
Snakeheart's eyes widened in astonishment. Eight moons old! But she's so tiny! "I'll be right back," he told her.
"Take your time," Kedi said miserably, swiping at the grass with her tiny forepaw.
Snakeheart turned quickly and trotted across the clearing. Crowstar saw him coming and immediately went to meet him.
"So?" Crowstar said. "How old is she?"
"You'll never believe me," Snakeheart said, shaking his head.
"Just tell me."
"She's eight moons old," Snakeheart almost whispered to Crowstar.
"Eight... eight moons old?" Crowstar's jaw gaped. "She's gotta be the smallest eight moon old I've ever seen," he added to himself loud enough for Snakeheart to hear.
"That's what I thought," Snakeheart said. He glanced back towards Kedi. She was torturing a butterfly by pinning the tiny insect with one claw. She looked at it hungrily- not for food, though. It seemed as if she wanted something different... blood, maybe? Snakeheart dismissed the thought. She's just a kit- or apprentice, he thought to himself. What would a kit want blood for? Then again, he winced at the thought, she's... she's ripping that butterfly to pieces! What is she doing?
Crowstar saw the look on Snakeheart's face and looked toward Kedi. "She's quite..." he swallowed hard. "She seems quite angry at that butterfly."
By now, the once beautiful orange and black butterfly, was now torn to shreads. Small bits of green goo covered Kedi's claws and fur like blood.
Snakeheart started padding towards Kedi.
"Why did you do that?" he asked Kedi once he stood next to her. He was sympathetic, yet confused at why a kit- well, apprentice- would want to hurt, let alone kill, such a beautiful creature.
"It didn't deserve to live!" Kedi spat at him. "It's useless! It doesn't do anything, but fly around until it dies!" She started ripping at the grass beneath her paws angrily.
Snakeheart was taken aback with her anger. Such a small creature, yet so much anger...
"Kedi, what would you say if-" Snakeheart looked around him. "What would you say if I helped you get home, and maybe even help your brother back to your home?"
Kedi looked at Snakeheart, eyes wide and jaw gaping. "You would do that?" she asked him. Kedi searched Snakeheart's expression. He was only smiling.
"Of course! I want to try to help- I will help you."