The Kit that Could
"Today is my apprentice ceremony," Treekit said with faint realization and a yawn while blinking sleep from her green eyes.
"Yes, yes it is," her mother nodded, standing up from the soft nest to stretch.
It had been over two moons since Leafkit and Brackenkit drowned. It had been over two moons since Treekit had started to feel empty inside.
The young she-cat looked up at the queen. "Willowtail, do you think they're mad at me?"
Willowtail looked deeply into her daughter's eyes. "Do you mean your littermates?"
"Yes,"
"No, I do not think your siblings are mad with you. They are happy you are alive. They are happy you will become an apprentice today."
"Okay," Treekit sighed sadly.
"Come," Willowtail padded out of the bramble-woven nursery and beckoned to her daughter with the flick of her tail.
They walked over to the fresh-kill pile. Treekit picked up a vole with her small jaw. She, Leafkit, and Brackenkit always shared a vole if one had been caught. It was their ritual. She carried it to the soft fern patch by the nursery. She chewed at it slowly. Her appetite was waning, and she couldn't finish it. Or maybe she just wasn't used to eating a whole piece of prey by herself.
From the shade of the ferns she watched her Clan awaken with the morning sun. The apprentices met up with their mentors. The warriors left for dawn patrols, and the deputy watched them leave. The medicine cat walked about with flowers hanging from the side of his mouth. The leader, her father, sat above ThunderClan and watched all of the cats move about just as she was doing.
Treekit left the half-eaten prey for Pinekit and Dustkit to share with their mother Smallrose. The gray cat slowly went back to the prey pile and greeted her mother who was sharing tongues with Snowdapple, the other queen who stayed in the nursery even after her kits were apprenticed.
"Hello, Mother," she said. Glancing at the white queen who sat beside her mother, she nodded. "Snowdapple,"
"I am sure your father will call your ceremony at sunhigh," Willowtail meowed. "Let us get yourself ready."
Sitting below Barkstar's den that was carved into the Highrock, Willowtail groomed her daughter carefully making sure to get every tuft, every whisker, fluff, patch, and lick smooth as a pool of water. Her gray dappled pelt was shining like the sun by the time the queen had finished.
"You look beautiful. I am proud of you, Treekit, for being so brave." The queen sighed like an abandoned oak hollow filled with wind. Like her daughter, her once-full heart was now ringing with an empty echo.
Treekit looked down at her paws. "I don't want to be an apprentice." She muttered gloomily. Her mind was clouded like a thunderstorm had blown into her head though the sky that day was so blue and clear. "I want to die."
"Shut your mouth before I claw it off!" Willowtail snapped, her green eyes narrowing into shard-like slits. "You can do this! You and your siblings waited your entire little lives to start training. How would they feel if you killed yourself on purpose right before you made it to your dream?"
Treekit flicked her ears and looked away.
"Willowtail!" A dark tabby meowed to the silvery black she-cat, startling both queen and kit. "Is my daughter ready to start her training today?"
"Yes," the queen bowed her head to him. Treekit did the same, although her heart screamed in deniability.
"When the hunting patrols return we will hold the ceremony." Barkstar nodded to them. "I'm sure you will love your mentor, Treekit. Willowtail picked her out just for you."
Treekit looked up at her father. She had entertained the thought of him being her mentor for a brief moment, but he had just ripped it to shreds with sheathed paws. Treekit honestly didn't care much for the she-cat warriors. Most were pudgy queens or mediocre warriors. She had decided to be the best she-cat warrior since most she-cats in the Clans were lazy queens, all but her mother of course.
"You gave her a hint and now she's looking for her mentor," Willowtail swiped at the tom's nose.
"I hope you're ready," Barkstar laughed before padding away.
"I'll never be ready," Treekit sighed, giving up on figuring out who her mentor was going to be.
"Would a story cheer you up?" The queen asked. She hadn't needed to tell a story for moons with Treekit being too sad to get into trouble. No, she still got into trouble. The muse of stories just left them leaving only punishment as a way for her to learn her lessons.
They slipped back into the nursery quickly as if they needn't be there. Willowtail laid down with her paws crossed. Treekit sat hunched over beside her. She waited for her mother to start, and she imagined a brown tabby tom and silver-black she-kit beside her.
"Once there was a kit. A kit that could." The queen began.
"A kit that could what?"
"A kit that could. She just could. When she met a challenge where she couldn't, she told herself she could, and so she did. She could."
Treekit sat up straight as if a whip of lightning had struck her whiskers. "I understand now. Thank you." Treekit meowed.
She licked the fur between Willowtail's green eyes and ran out of the nursery. Treekit finally let go of her siblings. They were watching her from StarClan. It was as of a weight was lifted off of her tiny shoulders. Resolution shined in her heart like a lit up firefly in the darkest green-leaf night.
She could because she could and she did because she could. She was one of the kits could.
The end.