It's a New Day and a New Start

[Stormeh]

The little gray tabby she-cat looked absolutely fearful as she
stepped into the medicine cat's den, her paws making only the
slightest of sounds. Her blue eyes kept looking this way and that as
she searched for her friend. Finally she spotted the tortoiseshell
she-cat curled up in her mossy nest.

The gray tabby frowned. She can't keep sleeping
so much these days! she thought exasperatedly. She
padded over to the she-cat ever so quietly and gave her a gentle
prod with her paw. "Tawnystone!" she hissed.
When this did nothing, she pushed against the tortoiseshell's small
body a little bit harder.

The young warrior couldn't help but to notice the ribs that her paw
touched so easily. Tawnystone wouldn't eat as much as she should.
She kept saying it was something...something about... Ashenwind
tried to remember what her stupid excuse had been, but she just
shook her head in despair. Right now wasn't the time for this! She
had to take care of herself...

"Tawnystone, wake up now! I need you!"
she added quickly, a tiny whimper following.

The tortoiseshell medicine cat's eyes slit open. The blue depths held
confusion at first, but then relaxed as they recognized the young
cat. She pulled herself up as Ashenwind kneaded the ground
anxiously. Tawnystone smiled at the young cat.
"What's the matter, Ashenwind?" she mewed
quietly. Her eyes seemed to hold a secret...as if she already knew
what was going on with the young cat.

Ashenwind let her blue eyes travel to the ground, then up
Tawnystone's thin legs and body and finally to her face.
"I've been sick, Tawnystone," she meowed, then
shook her head. "No, no, sick isn't the right word. I've
been eating less and I've had just a bit of stomach pain, I suppose,
shortness of breath...and..."

Tawnystone got to her paws. "Stand."
Ashenwind obeyed and Tawnystone circled the she-cat, scenting the
air slightly as she did so. "Now sit," she
meowed as she sat down herself. She waited for Ashenwind to do
as she had just asked and then smiled at the warrior she-cat.
"Congratulations," she meowed,
"on your new status."

Ashenwind stared at the medicine cat, eyes wide. "New
status?" she quipped. "But Tawnystone...there's
nothing to congratulate me for. I've not been appointed deputy or
anything...Ravenflight still is, silly..." She stopped suddenly
and her eyes widened even more. "Oh, no. No, no, no.
You're not going to tell me..."

Tawnystone nodded, the same sly smile on her face.
"Who's the father?"

Ashenwind sat for a moment without speaking, too stunned to
speak. Certainly they...hadn't expected the kits... She closed her
eyes for a few moments. "Pantherstorm."

"He's not a bad cat. Why do you seem so
worried?"

The young tabby queen let her eyes open slowly. "I'm
just worried about what he'll say," she murmured with a
sigh. "But I guess that doesn't matter."

Tawnystone nodded. "You're right. You'll be due soon,
Ashenwind. Very soon indeed. You'd better tell him soon before you
start to show more." She cuffed Ashenwind's ear with her
paw. "Mousebrain. Not only have you been showing for
a fairly decent time, but I'd think you'd be more excited to be
bearing kits than this! Take it as a blessing, young one. You'll grow
to appreciate what you have." Her words seemed to hold an
underlying meaning, and Ashenwind made a mental note to think
about what the medicine cat was saying more later.

The queen stood. "Well...thank you."

Before she could leave, Tawnystone had padded over towards her
herbs. "Come here," she mewed. She was
already picking herbs and berries off of her shelves to give to the
she-cat. "Although I can't give you all of this
now...borage leaves to increase your milk supply, as it seems as
though you've got quite a few kits on the way...juniper berries for
your breathing...feverfew for your temperature...thyme for your poor
nerves..." she ended up just muttering to herself, putting this
here and that there before finally giving her the borage leaves and
thyme.

Ashenwind made a face as she ingested the herbs. After she
swallowed, she heaved a great sigh. "Why me,
Tawnystone?" she muttered.

But Tawnystone seemed to be distracted with her herbs, though
she had stopped talking to herself.

Ashenwind's eyes narrowed as the sunlight hit her tabby pelt. She
picked a mouse from the fresh-kill pile and sighed. "I
suppose I'll tell Pantherstorm as soon as he gets up..." she
mumbled, raking her claw along the mouse's flank before taking a
minuscule bite.

Being pregnant was going to be horrible.

[D a R K - R a H]

She had only just woken. The tabby pulled herself from her usual nest, shaking the moss from her fur. It was only once she was slipping from the den that she realized which den she'd ended up sleeping in. Frowning she cursed lightly. Of course, the nursery. She'd been working hard to break the habbit of always slinking off to the nursery, but it wasn't going well. Her kits would probably be apprenticed within a few days, if not that very day. With them moved into the apprentices den, she would no longer need to sleep in the nursery like a nursing queen. She could go back to her warrior duties full-time! A feeling of light excitement ran through her. Brackenwing had always felt she was better suited to hunting than mothering. When she'd first found out about her kits, she'd been filled with a sense of utter disbelief. Her, the macho, quick-to-disagree fighter was having kits? And before her warrior ceremony, at that! But it had turned out it didn't matter. Soon after her kits were born, Redstar had given her the warrior name of Brackenwing. At first, she'd found it a bit too... girly. But, as the moons had passed, the name had grown on her and now seemed to suit the small tabby she-cat well.

Shaking her head lightly to rid herself of her strange past-thoughts, Brackenwing padded lightly over to the fresh-kill pile, her short legs moving soundlessly. She paused for a moment, indulging herself in a debate over a vole or a rabbit... A rabbit was a bit much for her now, though. As a nursing queen, she'd been allowed to eat that much often, but now it seemed too much. Oh, well, the kits'll be up soon. So she took the rabbit, knowing all three of them would probably munch off her food before getting their own. Turning towards her favorite place to sit and eat (a little crook between some roots), her eyes caught on two she-cats, speaking to eachother. Even in the dim light of the copse, the tabby she-cat could tell it was Ashenwind and Tawnystone. A strange feeling of wonder and hope filled her. She'd made a bet with Deerkit that Ashenwind was expecting kits. Deerkit seemed to think that the gray tabby was too good of a warrior to possibly be carrying kits. But Brackenwing had just felt that there were kits moving about inside the younger warrior. Not to mention, she was obviously showing and her scent had changed. Deerkit was just too young and oblivious to notice.

Brackenwing watched, not touching her rabbit yet, as Ashenwind look horrified and Tawnystone looked somewhat excited. The tabby she-cat expected to be filled with a sense of triumph, but it was something else that filled her. Her light amber eyes widened, and her claws extended into the ground beneath her. Kits! She felt suddenly estatic. More kits! New kits! She didn't pause to comprehend that being a queen had really gotten into her. Instead, she grinned, taking a small bite out of her rabbit and trying to keep from jumping up and crying out in strange joy. Her eyes glanced over, seeing Ashenwind come over to the fresh-kill pile and get herself a mouse. Brackenwing snatched up her rabbit and quickly moved to the new queen's side.

"Kit's, huh?" She tried to supress a smile, but failed miserably and a grin spread out over her face. "The nursery'll be empty soon. That can get awfully lonely (believe me), so naturally I'll stay with you." Look, horrible habbit problem solved! "Of course, my kits might be in there for a few days, and they've gotten big and troublesome, but, don't worry, they'll be apprenticed soon." While the queen was spouting off at breakneck speed, she gave no noticed at all as her mottled-tabby daughter, Deerkit, came over and started eating her rabbit.

A sudden realization hit Brackenwing, and she fell silent, staring down at her paws. As excited as she was to be returning to warrior duties, she was going to miss having kits horribly. It would be strange not to have some one curled up close to her all night, or wake up to three little bodies bouncing about in early-morning energy. But it wasn't like she had a mate to have more kits by... Meteorcrash had been her first mate, but the brown tom hadn't been around in quite a while. Besides, that had happened once, an accident. Brackenwing couldn't imagine letting that happen again. Her mind fled back to another couple she'd met once. Along the Journey, the RavineClan medicine cat, a tom named Silverhawk, had spent lots of time around Brackenwing, making sure she was keeping strong and wouldn't kit too soon. (Now that she thought about it, it was thanks to him her kits had grown up so strong.) The silver medicine cat had told her about his brother and his mate, two cats who had fallen deeply in love before having kits. The thought of loving a tom was strange and new to Brackenwing, but strangely desirable. She glanced up at the younger she-cat, wondering if she loved her mate.

There was a strangely worrisome, sad look on the young, gray-tabby's face. Brackenwing smiled softly. Without looking, her rightpaw shot out and pulled Deerkit to her side. The mottled-tabby kit sat there for a moment, glaring up at her mother. "Don't worry, Ashenwind; the idea'll grow on you. By the time you start kitting, you'll love your kits already." She chuckled lightly. "Unfortunately, it's all downhill from there." She lifted her arm, allowing her daughter to slip away. Deerkit pulled the rabbit closer and settled down, sitting with her back resting against her mother's shoulder. "Soon they open their eyes. Then they're walking. After that, it's talking! Pretty soon they'll be your entire world. And not just because you won't have time for anything else!" She smiled fondly over at her daughter, who had paused to clean her face. Brackenwing's pale amber eyes turned slowly back to Ashenwind. "And don't worry about Pantherstorm. He is the father, right? Mmm-hmm, I thought so. I'm sure he'll love having kits. He is Clearpool's son, after all." Her face darkened with a strange playfulness. "Plus, he knows Auntie Brackenwing will give him a good clawing if he so much as frowns about having kits." She let the teasing look fall away, replaced by a gentle smile. "Everything'll be alright. You'll see."

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Stormeh]

Ashenwind sat, blue eyes wide, as she watched Brackenwing speak.
She couldn't get a word in edgewise, as the she-cat seemed to be
speaking some foreign language almost, one Ashenwind barely
recognized. As her speech slowed, however, the tabby began to
understand what she was saying more easily, and she hung her
head for a moment.

She had seen Brackenwing's little kits running around camp. She
had enjoyed watching them grow, but she had also decided that
she didn't want kits for herself. Ever. Now that they were
coming, she felt like they were going to be too much for her to
handle.

She smiled her first smile since she had found out for sure that she
was pregnant. "Kitting surely didn't do anything to
you," she purred. "You're none the worse
for wear. But...I'm not cut out for this! I'm a warrior,
through-and-through. I was made to protect the kits, not
bear them." She gave a small sigh and remembered
what Tawnystone had said.

There would be more than two or three kits, she was sure of it. How
could she possibly deal with so many kits in such a small den?
And almost all by herself? She was beginning to wonder what was
going on with Brackenwing; she hadn't ever really spoken to the
she-cat (not that she had spoken to many cats besides
Eclipsedmoon as a kit, Ravenflight, and Tawnystone) and she was
already being extremely kind and generous to her...or so she
wanted to believe.

Suddenly, Ashenwind's eyes widened. "Your kits
couldn't...hurt mine, could they?" she meowed fearfully.
"And do you truly mean that I won't have time for
anything else? I won't have time to go hunt, or watch the
apprentices train, or help to train the apprentices, for that matter? I
can't go walking or relax out of the camp? I just have to watch them
all the time?" She shook her head as if to clear away
these disastrous thoughts. "You've surely got to be
kidding me."

What many cats forgot was that Ashenwind was still fairly young,
especially fairly young to be having kits. The she-cat couldn't stand
the thought of being cooped up all day with four other little bodies
day-in and day-out. She shivered as she thought of it, then gave a
sigh.

"Are you sure Pantherstorm will really be
happy?" she murmured, with a look at Brackenwing.
"And...erm...Brackenwing? Could I ask you something
kind of...personal?" She paused for only a moment before
going on, not waiting for a reply. "Did you love your
mate? The father of your kits?"

She couldn't quite decide if she really...well, loved Pantherstorm
yet. The tabby was still borderline about whether or not this whole
thing had been a mistake or of the will of StarClan. Whichever it
was, she was having kits...that's all there was to it. But she would
have preferred to have honestly loved the cat that was her mate
before having kits, though she believed he would grow on her... She
really just hadn't had that much alone time with him and
wanted to get to know him better before claiming that she actually
loved him.

And what did it matter? Ashenwind couldn't much decide what
love was, anyway....

She sighed. "I'm really just going to need some
help," she finally mewed, exasperated.

[D a R K - R a H]

Brackenwing winced lightly, hoping she hadn't said the wrong thing. Perhaps she shouldn't have mentioned how much time kits took up... But she felt a glint of satisfaction that the young gray she-cat felt so worried that her unborn kits might be injured. That was a good sign. See, they were growing on her already! But Ashenwind still didn't seem completely taken with the idea just yet. Brackenwing glanced down at her paws, realizing that all the thoughts going through the new queen's head had all run through her own mind when she'd first found out she was having kits. Luckily, Brackenwing had had Clearpool to guide her through it. That's what Ashenwind needs... Clearpool. A twinge of bitter sadness bit at the small tabby she-cat. StarClan had taken the beautiful queen before she'd had the chance to see her grandkits born. Brackenwing quickly pushed all thoughts of the dead queen from her mind. There are new lives coming, don't linger on those lost, she told herself, nodding ever so slightly.

"You sound just like I did when Tawnstone told me about my kits." She let out a soft purr, smiling. "Clearpool was my best friend since I was a kit, but I'd never imagined having kits of my own like she did. She was always a natural with kits of any kind or any clan. I would have much rathered spend my days out in the new territory, setting boundries and fighting off threats. But being a mother really does make you a better warrior. Not only will it help you become closer to all of your clanmates, but it teaches you to respect all aspects of life, even those in other clans." She smiled again, staring almost blankly out accross camp. She would have stayed like that for a while had Deerkit not suddenly caught site of a grasshopper and leapt noisily after it. "Remember to watch your tail!" the queen called after her kit. "Don't trip over it like last time." Deerkit purposely pretended not to hear her, but Brackenwing saw her ears twitch in embarrassment.

"I wouldn't worry, Ashenwind. These three'll be apprentices by the time you kit. Besides, they'd be too fascinated with the tiny kits to be too rough in the nursery." A small smile spread accross her face as she glanced over to see Deerkit miss the bug entirely, but roll around, pretending she had caught it between her paws. What she didn't realize was that she'd actually landed on the bug when she'd rolled over. So now, as she stood back up, there were bug guts on her pelt, dust also sticking to it. Brackenwing supressed a laugh. "Oh, yes, they'll definitely grow on you. And I'll help you keep up with at least some of your warrior duties." She blushed lightly, staring down at her paws. "Truthfully, I'm not sure I want to return to the warriors' den just yet. I'm gonna miss spending time around my kits all the time. Kitsitting yours would be like doing me a favor." She smiled, looking up. "They'll be weaned within two moons, at which point you could probably leave them with me a whole lot more often. By the time they're apprentice age, you'll be back to warrior duties full-time already."

Her next question took the the small tabby by surprise. She hesitated, her tabby ears angling around and wondering what to say. Finally, she decided to just tell the young queen the truth. She glanced over to be sure Deerkit wouldn't hear her, but the young tabby she-kit was trying to rub the bug guts off on a nearby bush-tree branch, only succeeding in spreading it around. Brackenwing turned her gaze back to Ashenwind. "Truthfully, no, I didn't. Meteorcrash and I... Well, let's just say, I never intended to have kits. It was an accident. More of a blessing, I'll suppose, but certainly not a purposeful blessing." She paused, a strange look on her face. Brackenwing felt sure Ashenwind wouldn't have to go through what she had: raising her kits alone, without a father whatsoever. It was no wonder her kits were all extremely close to their mother. [Perhaps that was why all three of them looked just like Brackenwing.] "I know Pantherstorm will help you raise these kits. He always was very much like his mother in personality. I can't see him staying away from them for more than a few hours. I think we'll end up having more trouble keeping him away from the nursery than in it." She paused once more, her whiskers twitching as she glanced over towards the den's entrance. "This den's only ever seen one queen in it before. We'll have to have a few warriors help us enlargen it. It'll have to be much bigger to fit two queens and a few kits."

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Stormeh]

Ashenwind couldn't help but smile. This young she-cat was helping
her feel better already. Maybe the kits would be good for her,
and maybe they would be amazing warriors when they grew up.
The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea that
they would slide into the heart of the Clan and make it even better
than what it was today, and that, she knew, would take quite a bit.

The tabby she-cat nodded as she listened to Brackenwing talk
about her warrior duties when they first arrived as she remembered
hers herself. She couldn't forget how everything had seemed
so...so...strange. How she had been alienated, particularly by the
stubbornly loyal Ravenflight, the tom who hadn't wanted any
BrookClanners in CherryClan at all. And why should he? They were
fine the way they were, he had thought, she was sure. But she had
grown on him, just like Redstar and the other BrookClanners had.
She still felt like an outcast, though; being accepted by the Clan's
deputy and medicine cat and another Clan's younger warrior didn't
seem like the best way for a cat to live.

So this was her way of opening up. She wanted to open up to some
cat other than Tawnystone. She wanted to open up to a queen;
what did Tawnystone know about kits? She hadn't ever had any of
her own, and Brackenwing had.

She felt better knowing that she didn't exactly have to love
Pantherstorm right now, that she could have the kits and trust him
to take care of them. After all, what could he do? Abandon them?
Say they weren't his? Ashenwind mentally shouted
Mousebrain! at the thought. No, he wouldn't do
that, especially after what Brackenwing had said. And she didn't
seem like a cat who would lie; she seemed to be telling all of the
truth and then some, even!

With a tiny nod of agreement, Ashenwind mewed,
"Tawnystone said I'd have more than three kits, at
least. That's a lot...right? So we'll need a pretty big expansion,
right?"

The young, new queen decided that she didn't need that
whatever-leaf or root or stem or something that would cure her
fraying nerves, after all. Brackenwing seemed to be a fine substitute
for whatever it was, if not a much better one.

[Raven-chan]

Pantherstorm awoke suddenly, as if he were poked or prodded or jabbed, when in reality it was just a leaf falling on his head. He mentally groaned, sometimes hating his lightning quick reflexes. He rolled over onto his back, shaking the leaf off of his head and stretching his long, lean body luxuriously.

Quick as you can blink, he leapt onto his paws again, kneading his sharp claws into the dirt, slowly waking himself up. His dark gray pelt brushed against the side of the Warrior´s den, and he was once again reminded of how small this den really was.

He stepped out into the sunlight, graceful and feral, his light colored eyes twinkling in the morning. He yawned widely, pearly white jaws glittering and his pink tongue stretching almost comically out of his mouth. He closed his jaw with a satisfying smack before looking to the Nursery, waiting for a familiar form to step out.

The reality smashed into him like a brick wall: she wouldn´t come out of the den ever again. He would never get to talk to her, never become insanely overprotective of her, never get to merely watch her bless someone else´s life. His mother was long gone. Pantherstorm tore his gaze away, ashamed at himself for once again hoping that it was all a bad dream, that she hadn´t died, that she was still here. He was such a fool, such a fool...

He forced himself to pad serenely to the fresh-kill pile, grabbing a small rabbit and carrying it to a spot not far from the Apprentice´s den, near the center of Camp. He tore a chunk out of the rabbit, hunger gnawing at his stomach and chewed happily, knowing that Clearpool was watching, and was happy that he was happy with the rabbit.

Ashenwind was near the Medicine Cat´s den, talking with Brackenwing. Worry tugged at his mind, hoping that nothing was wrong, but he shoved it aside saying that maybe Brackenwing needed something for one of her kits. Leggy Stagpaw had probably tripped again...Pantherstorm smiled inwardly, loving to watch the antics of kits, and young'uns. He really did enjoy kits, even though he seemed to be such a secluded introvert. Thoughts turned back to Ashenwind over his morning meal. He didn´t know if he loved her, exactly, or what love really was. Clearpool could have told him, could have helped him figure it out.

But she was gone. The young warrior continued to eat, his tail flicking behind him, humming a song absently in his throat that Clearpool used to sing to calm him down. Today would be a good day...he could feel it, thrumming in the air, like a hummingbird who flits across the flowers.

[Stormeh]

Ashenwind felt her belly constrict
and felt a little kit move as she took in a deep breath.
StarClan, help me! she pleaded silently as
she got to her paws. The young queen turned to Brackenwing.
"Well, Pantherstorm's awake..." she mewed
awkwardly. "I'm...going to go try to talk to him...about
it."

She tried to pad over to him as gracefully as possible, but the kits
were beginning to kick harder than ever. As her heart pounded in
her ribcage, it seemed that it acted as a stimulus to them, making
them try to catch it, perhaps; maybe they were little warriors
already, trying to catch the bird whose wings were flapping,
battering their safe place in their mother's belly. They were trying to
quiet it, to make its wings stop hurting them. The tabby took
another deep breath, trying to quiet her heart and kits, though to
no avail.

She had finally made her way to Pantherstorm's side and her heart
was beating harder than ever. "Hey," she
mewed quietly before letting out a little cough to clear her throat.
Her blue eyes were trained on the ground. What would he really
say? Now that she was right here beside him, all of her previous
words that were shared with Brackenwing were gone, just past
kit-talk. She took yet another deep breath. Did all of the rest of the
queens have trouble breathing? And did their kits hurt this much,
too? She finally let her troubled gaze travel up to Pantherstorm's
face. He was handsome, that much she had to admit; but that
wasn't what she was to focus on right now. "I...kind of
have something to tell you," she meowed, her voice still
gently quiet. "I was speaking to Tawnystone,
and..." She gazed away, then back to the tom's face.
"Is right now a good time?" she asked quickly,
unsure about how to actually tell him the rest of her information.
This wasn't something for any cat to take lightly, queen or
father.

[Raven-chan]

The rabbit tasted juicy and succulent to him, full of flavor and satisfaction. He munched softly before his ears caught sound, the familiar sound of a cat walking- one of his Clanmates. He could always distinguish a Clanner´s walk, let alone one of his Clanmate´s walks, from others, so he looked up, light-colored eyes looking for the source of who was headed his way.

Ashenwind. And she didn´t walk as she normally would, graceful as a rippling stream, but more pained, slow, like something was wrong...or at least, different. He couldn´t exactly place it, what it was, but worry caught him again. This time, it didn´t just creep into his heart but slammed into him, like a bird plummeting to the ground, unable to stop. He ruthlessly shoved all morbid thoughts away and looked at her, into her blue eyes, listening intently to her words.

Is now a good time? She asked, and Pantherstorm gave a small, wry smile, his light tenor voice meowing softly, "Of course it´s a good time." He swallowed, not visibly, but to clear his throat of constriction. Something was wrong...really wrong. What could possibly be wrong?! This feeling rising up in him, this monster roaring through him, he didn´t know what it meant. All he knew was that something was wrong with Ashenwind, and he didn´t quite know what it was.

He stepped a little closer to her, tail-tip agitatingly twitching behind him, his intense eyes looking into her own, his soft voice whispering, "Ashenwind, what´s wrong?" Was this love? This agonizing heartache at the thought of something wrong? He wasn´t sure. At the moment, he wasn´t thinking about it. All Pantherstorm thought about was that something was wrong...

ooc: Eeew...weird, nasty post. Sorry, luffs, tired today. x(

[Stormeh]

Always a good time? He didn't even know what she was about
to tell him! What she was going to tell him was going to change
their whole world, their whole outlook on life! Kits always changed
the queen, at least, and Ashenwind hoped that he would be
changed, too, though only in the best way.

The young tabby's tail tip flicked slowly. She mulled over everything
in her mind. What if he felt the same way that she did? What if he
didn't know what love was, either? Not truly, at least... Was this
lust, then? If it weren't love, it had to be lust...didn't it? He was
handsome, and she considered herself to be at least slightly on the
better-looking side... And the kits. If they didn't love each other,
could they possibly love the kits, then? Who would ever love
the kits if not them?

Ashenwind took a deep breath. "Okay," she
mewed, "I guess now is a good time." She
looked away for a moment, her blue gaze troubled. Her heart had
begun to pound again and she wondered how Pantherstorm
couldn't possibly hear it. It was thudding against her ribcage,
waking the kits, and making her hearing slightly less useful.
"Well, I kind of just went to talk to Tawnystone."
She gave him a quick glance. "But I'm fine," she
added quickly. "It's kind of...erm..." She was
repeating herself, repeating words. Her heart was beginning to
pound harder, faster, and the kits kicked like never before. It was
hurting, burning, practically, and she wanted to yowl her pain to the
world. "I'm...kind of having kits." She paused for
a moment. Mousebrain! she cursed herself
in her head. You can't kind of have kits!
She sighed. "And they're...kind of yours, I think. At
least, they couldn't be any other tom's," she added quickly,
afraid of what he could get from that. She didn't want for him to
think they were...some other cat's...though there weren't many
toms in the Clan who could match how he was. He was...different in
some way. She wasn't sure about how, but he was. The she-cat
finally turned her blue eyes up to him worriedly. "I don't
exactly think that this is the best time to ask if it's okay," she
mewed with the tiniest of grins, "but they're
ours..."

They began to kick again. How could kits kick this much? And how
could the queens put up with it?! It was driving her insane!

"So...um...I just wanted for you to know before any
other cat could tell you. Not that I've really told any cat," she
added, trying to get her words straight. "Just...well, of
course Tawnystone knows. I had to ask her. And Brackenwing does,
but I think that's okay..." She was rambling. She never
rambled. This had to be a nervous habit, thus proving that she was
never really nervous. Why was this so hard to do?!
They were just kits...

Who was she kidding? Just kits?

They were her new life. Hers and Pantherstorm's...if he even
wanted to take responsibility.

There are always consequences...and they had found theirs.

Or, at least, she had.