Chapter Two
A soft paw gently poked Goldenkit's face. She squirmed around before laying still again. The paw poked her again. Goldenkit blinked and opened her eyes. The blurry shapes moved around her vision. She blinked again and her vision cleared. Gentle rays of light fluttered in the darkness. Woven brambles twisted around large holes, creating the roof overhead. Goldenkit stumbled around before collapsing back into her nest. The moss felt so soft and warm. She could sense some cat behind her. Whiskers tickled her back.
"Lightningkit! Get away from your sister!" A voice called from the other side of the den. Goldenkit turned to see a pretty cream she-cat sitting near the back wall, her paws neatly folded and her tail curled over them. Two other cats sat around her, one gray-blue, and one dark brown.
"Amethystlight!" A small kit mewled. Amethystlight stopped grooming her fur and looked up. A small kit padded up to Goldenkit. "What's wrong with her fur? It's all shiny!" The kit squeaked curiously. Amethystlight purred.
"Nothing is wrong. She gets it from her father." Amethystlight rested her gaze on Goldenkit fondly. Goldenkit lifted a paw and saw soft golden fur. She looked up and saw a dark tabby cat in front of her. Goldenkit squeaked in surprise and staggered backwards.
"Oh my! She is beautiful! Rainmist, come over here!" The tabby beckoned with his tail towards the gray-blue cat. She stood up and padded over.
"She is so cute!" Rainmist cooed. Amethystlight gave herself a few self-conscious licks. A small cream kit burst out from behind Amethystlight. He stared at Goldenkit.
"Hey! I'm Lightningkit! I'm your brother! That blue cat is Rainmist, the dark brown tabby one is Heathersong, and the light cream one over there, is Amethystlight, our mother!" Rainmist looked rather large for a cat, her belly was rounded and seemed as if there was something inside of her.
I guess she is expecting kits. Goldenkit stood up and started to walk towards Amethystlight, but Lightningkit jumped in front of her.
"You wanna go see the camp?" He was bouncing up and down with excitement. Her mother nodded.
"It's time for you to go out and see things little one." Amethystlight bowed her head. Lightningkit sprinted outside. Though reluctant to leave her nest, Goldenkit slowly followed him out. Butterflies fluttered inside her belly. The light shined brightly into her eye as she glanced around the camp. It was full of cats of different colours. Lightningkit stood in the center, beckoning with his tail for her to hurry.
Little impatient aren't you, tour guide? Goldenkit snorted. Lighningkit looked at the large rock, which had a cave carved into it.
"So over in that cave, there is the Leader's den, Owlstar stays there but I don't think he's in there right now… Oh and that's the Highrock. There are some cats near there, let's go and say hi!" He jumped over to the cats, who were sharing a piece of fresh kill.
"Hey Flamestorm, look!" Lightningkit mewed excitedly towards the tom. The bright orange cat turned and looked at Goldenkit. He immediately got up and padded to her.
"Hello" He gave her a lick between her ears.
"This is Flamestorm, our father!"
"Oh!" Goldenkit squeaked "Hello!" Lightningkit climbed on top of a small rock that gently emerged from the ground and jumped onto Flamestorm's back. He turned around and put Lightningkit back on the ground.
"Why don't you go and show your sister around the camp?" He pushed the two kits away with his tail. Lightningkit nodded and bounded over to a clump of ferns and stood on the tree stump next to it.
"So, here is the apprentices den, when we turn six moons old…" Goldenkit rolled her eyes
"I know already! I heard some other warriors talking about it." Goldenkit muttered, half to herself.
"Oh really?" Lightningkit glared at her "Guess I expected my sister to be a bit nicer! Whatever, I will just finish showing you around."
What does this furball take me for? A mousebrain?
"So over there is the warriors den". Goldenkit turned and saw a large bush close to the nursery. Nearby, there was a tunnel of ferns leading to a rock.
"What's up with that? What's the point of having a tunnel lead into a rock?"
"It's for the medicine den. There is a small cave on the inside" A russet colored she-cat purred "My name is Scarletpetal and I'm a medicine cat"
"A medicine cat?" Goldenkit's amber eyes glowed with curiosity and excitement. "What's that? What do you do?"
"I am responsible for healing our clanmates when they need it, and I interpret omens from Starclan" Scarletpetal smiled at the young kit's interest. Scareltpetal's eyes gleamed with pride.
"That sounds so cool! You know, when I got out of the nursery and learned what the warriors do, I never really wanted to fight. Only ruffians fight" Goldenkit shot a stare at Lightningkit, who rolled his eyes. Goldenkit continued. "This is the perfect opportunity! The things that you do sound really cool and important!"
Scarletpetal flicked her ears along with the tip of her tail. "When you turn six moons old" Scarletpetal promised. Goldenkit bounced up and down with excitement. Lightningkit pushed Goldenkit over. She stumbled and fell onto the ground.
"You want to be ThunderClan's Medicine cat?" Lightningkit snorted.
"Hey!" Goldenkit scrambled to get up then pounced onto her brother. The two kits fell over and scuffled for a little bit, before Goldenkit felt Scarletpetal's eyes watch her intently. She immediately tore herself off her brother and sat up, hot with embarrassment. She fluffed herself out to rid the dirt from her beautiful coat. She was interrupted when Lightningkit jumped up to his paws and dipped his head to three cats sitting near a fallen tree. They seemed older than the warriors, one looked pale and fragile. They were watching the two kits from across the camp.
"Go say hi to your elders. Feel free to come back once you're done" Scarletpetal stated, noticing the kits stares before she disappeared into the medicine cat den. Lightningkit and Goldenkit exchanged glances before Lightningkit took the lead, and the two trotted over.
"I seem to remember you saying you wish you were younger!" A light ginger she-cat poked a frail gray tom with a claw, amusement glittering in her soft yellow eyes.
The tom let out a sigh. "At least I can still do my duties" The tom replied. The ginger she-cat scoffed.
"Like what? Hanging around camp all day? Come on Cloudfang, we all know you were a valuable warrior. Aging is a part of life, and we all accept you as an elder" The ginger cat laid the tip of her tail onto Cloudfang's shoulder, who bared his teeth playfully. His teeth truly were as white as clouds.
"These are the elders, Gingerheart, Dappletail, and Cloudfang" Lightning kit explained, nodding towards each cat who gave a small meow of greeting. Goldenkit dipped her head, just as Lightningkit had earlier.
Gingerheart peered behind the two kits. "Look, isn't that your mother over there?" She rasped, her eyes fixated on something behind her. oGoldenkit could hear the gentle voice of Amethystlight, calling to them from across the clearing. She glanced up to the sky. The streaks of red and pink seemed to dance across the orange and yellow sky. She waved goodbye with her tail and ran across the clearing, closely followed by Lightningkit.
"Amethystlight! I figured out what I want to do in my life!" Goldenkit talked so fast, it was hard to make out what she was saying.
"Did you now? What do you want to do?"
"I wanna be a Medicine cat!"
"It's good to have an early interest, and I'm sure you'll make a great medicine cat. Come, it's time to rest now. You can explore more tomorrow." Goldenkit bounded over to her nest and curled up in the moss. Being a medicine cat sounded so excited with all that knowledge , and everyone seemed to respect Scarletpetal. Goldenkit tried to blink the tiredness out of her eyes. She was so tired from exploring just the camp, so what would the rest of the territory be like? Everything seemed so safe in the camp, inside the nursery. Goldenkit had no worries for the future. With excitement for the next day, Goldenkit closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.