"Hey."
Frostkit glanced up to see a familiar gray tom-kit standing in front of her.
"Go away," she growled, burrowing her muzzle into her paws. When she didn't hear him leave, Frostkit lifted her head again and narrowed her eyes at him.
"Snowfeather's looking for you," Smokekit mewed softly, ducking his head slightly.
"And she can keep looking," Frostkit retorted. A stray leaf suddenly caught her attention, and she started slowly slicing it into strips. Smokekit eyed her nervously and scuffed his paws in the dirt.
"What are you doing?" he asked timidly. Frostkit felt a surge of frustration as she looked back up at the gray tom-kit. Why doesn't he just mind his own business?
"I could ask you the same question," Frostkit replied smoothly. "Why do you care if Snowfeather's looking for me?"
Smokekit shrugged half-heartedly and mewed, "I was just trying to help." I don't need help from anyone, let alone you.
"Then go away," Frostkit sighed, putting down the leaf. "I just want to be alone," she murmured miserably.
"What is going on here?" Snowfeather shrieked, appearing from around the corner.
"I-I was just-" Smokekit stammered, cringing in fear.
"Just leaving, I hope!" the white queen interrupted.
"Y-yes," Smokekit squeaked, slinking away slowly with his head held low. As he left, he looked over his shoulder a few times, before ducking his head again to avoid Snowfeather's cold glare.
As soon as Smokekit was out of sight, Snowfeather visibly relaxed and licked her chest fur a few times. Frostkit observed her in silence for a few moments, suddenly curious about how she had gotten Smokekit to leave so quickly. She was just about to open her jaws and ask when Snowfeather spoke.
"Frostkit," she started sternly, "I don't want to see you near him again. Not him, or any other tom. They're just trouble. Understand?"
Frostkit sighed and nodded. All of sudden, she remembered Mudpool. "But what about the medicine cat?" she asked.
Snowfeather narrowed her eyes. "What about him?"
"Well, uh," Frostkit mewed uncertainly, "he taught me stuff, and I kinda like him. It's not like he's my age or anything."
"We already have a medicine cat apprentice," Snowfeather pointed out.
"But I still want to learn from him," Frostkit pleaded. Mudpool's really nice, she silently added. Her heart sped up hopefully as she saw her mother's thoughtful expression. Please say yes-
"No."
"What?" Frostkit exclaimed indignantly. "Why not?"
"He's still a tom, and I don't see why you need to be hanging around one when there really is no point in having to trust him to look after you," Snowfeather explained, flicking her tail agitatedly.
"But-"
"But nothing," Snowfeather interrupted, eyes flashing dangerously. Frostkit bit her lip to stop herself from arguing further and turned her head away. "Don't try and talk to any tom, because I will find out."
"What if they talk to me?" Frostkit asked slyly, thinking that she'd got her mother cornered. "I can't just stay mute around them."
Snowfeather answered, "Then make sure they go away. If you keep giving them the message that you aren't going to talk to them, they'll stop bothering you."
"How do I do that?" Frostkit mewed curiously. This might help me get rid of Rainkit . . .
"Well, the first way you can do this is by changing the way you walk and look to others," Snowfeather started. Is this going to be an actual lesson on how to look scary? the orange she-kit thought, slightly amused. Oh well. If it makes Mama happy, I'll do it. "Number one, get rid of the 'happy' walk and replace it with the 'don't talk to me' walk. Shoulders square, chin up, striding gracefully."
Snowfeather demonstrated this 'don't talk to me' walk for Frostkit, and the orange kit was amazed by how much more intimidating she suddenly looked.
"You try," Snowfeather intstructed.
Frostkit hesitantly inclined her head and hunched her shoulders. She started to pad towards her mother, but Snowfeather just sighed.
"That's . . . not quite it." She moved towards her daughter and used a paw to push her shoulders backwards. Frostkit found that that made her feel a lot taller, and she probably looked taller as well. "Okay, now wipe your face of all emotion," the white queen ordered.
Frostkit obeyed, trying to relax her facial features as much as possible. She set her mouth in a firm line, only to break into a smile as Snowfeather nodded approvingly.
"Uh, sorry," she mewed sheepishly, making her expression blank once more.
"Try it all together," Snowfeather suggested, gesturing with a paw.
Frostkit nodded and focused on what her mother had told her. Shoulders square, but back a bit, chin up, blank face, deliberate steps. Experimentally, the orange she-kit tried walking a fox-length. She focused on the air in front of her muzzle and didn't let her eyes wander.
"Good!" she heard Snowfeather praise.
Trying to keep with what she had been doing, Frostkit gave a small nod of acknowledgement and sat in front of the white queen, neatly wrapping her paws around her tail. Snowfeather beamed happily, making Frostkit feel a surge of accomplishment and warmth.
"Just stay like that and you'll be fine," Snowfeather assured. "Now let's go back to the nursery." With that, she started walking around the corner of the den, so Frostkit shrugged to herself and followed. Once she was inside the nursery, the orange she-kit glanced around to see who was inside. Palefur, of course, was in her nest, along with Nightkit. Surprisingly, the black she-kit was awake.
Well, at least she isn't a tom, Frostkit thought. Maybe I can go and talk to her. Aware of her mother's eyes boring into her back, Frostkit mimicked Snowfeather's walk from a few moments before as she approached the she-kit.
"Hello Nightkit," the orange she-kit greeted levelly, sitting down neatly in front of her Clanmate's nest.
"Hey," Nightkit replied, inclining her head as she did so. The black she-kit was still lying down, her paws dangling over the side of her nest. She seemed tired, although Frostkit had no idea why when all she did was sleep all day. Seeing her eyes wander, Nightkit added, "Don't worry about waking Palefur up. She sleeps like a rock."
Frostkit nodded absently, not sure what to say next. Luckily, her companion didn't seem to mind as she continued on.
"We all do, really, although Rainkit and Smokekit are able to wake up in the morning. Okay, well, I do too, but I kinda just think to myself 'if when I'm an apprentice I'm going to have to train all of the time, then I might as well get some sleep now' and go back to sleep. There's really no point in going outside if I don't have to, and everyone just thinks that we get under their paws anyway. You know what I mean?" Nightkit asked vaguely.
Frostkit blinked confusedly, before answering, "No, not really." Nightkit nodded slowly, unfazed by her honesty. She started talking about something else, but Frostkit was only half-listening. Her constant chatter was relaxing, in a way, and let Frostkit distract herself until her mother fell asleep. Despite what the white queen had said, Frostkit still wanted to learn from Mudpool. She waited patiently for a while longer, listening to Nightkit ramble. After looking over should once more, the orange she-kit was glad to see that Snowfeather's eyes were closed and her breathing was steady.
"Hey Nightkit, can you do me a quick favour?" Frostkit asked, interrupting something about 'honestly, he just needs to chill and stop worrying about others' opinions so much'.
Nightkit nodded, ears pricked.
"I need to go somewhere, but I can't let Snowfeather know," Frostkit started, the plan that had been stirring in her mind finally coming together in words. "Can you keep talking as if I were still here? And when she wakes up, stop talking. She'll get worried about where I am, so tell her that I went to the dirtplace but that you'll go and get me. I'll be in the medicine cat den, but I don't want her to know that. So you come and get me, and then we go back to the nursery. Got that?"
Nightkit nodded again, mewing, "Talk until your old cat wakes up, then don't talk. Offer to go find you, say that you were at the dirtplace, get you from the med cat. Got it."
Frostkit sighed in relief, trotting to the nursery entrance. "Thank you," she threw over her shoulder, nodding when she saw Nightkit wave in reply. With one last glance to make sure that her mother was asleep, she set off towards the medicine cat den.
I'll help you Mama, just hang on.