#mintpool

coyotesplash thinks he may be dying.

well, he thinks he mightve died the day his mother did, really.

he's staring down at the fluffiest little kitten he had ever seen, curled up at his sister mintpool's belly. a single kit in her first litter.

mintpool had specifically told him a few days before the tiny kittens birth that she wanted another litter already. she just wanted to watch her litters grow, to shape them to be wonderful cats and even better warriors.

he'll never have kits. he knows that. he can't bear the thought of his kittens possibly seeing what him and his siblings had to so many moons ago. they were still just apprentices. they...

he's drifting back to that place again, he realizes suddenly. that dark, twisting place that ottersky told him to avoid when he could, where ottersky would lick his ears and feed him herbs he has no real memory of.

he blinks harshly, and crouches down to the kitten. mintpool purrs, eyes shiny. "isn't she perfect?"

coyote is inclined to think yes, she is. solid black with a single tip of red on her tail. a tortoiseshell, like her mother. like their mother, too. mallowtail was the opposite of the kit- white with a cream tail- yet so, so similar. he nods, pushing his nose into mintpool's shoulder with a deep purr.