#moon 3

solsticepaw stiffened. she understood.

"do you want to come with me? i have a hollow tree. it's really cozy." she offered.

"and you won't leave?" hazel asked.

"of course not. c'mon, let's go." she gently picked the kit up by her scruff, and brought her to the hollowed tree. solsticepaw plopped her down in a comfy area, then curled up next to her.

"why are you named solsticepaw? that's weird." the kit said bluntly.

"i'm from a clan. have you ever heard of a clan?" solsticepaw asked.

"a... clan? no. what's that?" hazel made her eyes really big.

solsticepaw paused. how could she make clan life sound less scary and awful than what she'd lived through?

"well, different cats do different things, but everyone helps out. and everyone has a special name that changes when they get older." she started.

"why aren't you with your clan? i wanna be in a clan! take me there!" hazel complained.

"uhm. my clan was mean. but... if you want, we could make a new clan that's nice." solsticepaw offered reluctantly. anything to help the poor thing feel better.

"ooh! ooh! how does that work?" hazel asked.

"well, you'd be called hazelkit for now. when you turn six moons old, you'd be called hazelpaw like me. then when you turn twelve moons, you'd get an even cooler name. and... i think the clan could be called... halfmoonclan. 'cause there was a half moon last night. is that okay with you?" solsticepaw leaned down to ask, getting on hazel's level.

"yes! we can be a clan, and you'll never leave, and i'll never have to be alone again!" hazelkit cheered.

solsticepaw hadn't really explored the forest at all. she was still reeling from being alone for what? three moons now? wow.

she'd found a nice hollowed out tree to hide in, a nest of moss and feathers becoming her new home. but she was awoken from her peaceful nap, by the cries of another cat. blearily, solsticepaw wiped her eyes and poked her head out of her tree den. a faint, pitiful mewing could be heard.

oh, stars.

she hurried towards the sound, then stopped in her tracks. a tiny kit was laid on its side on the ground, making weak cries. its side was deeply cut, blood coating it. solsticepaw tried to remember her time she'd spent trying to convince the medicine cat to take her on as an apprentice (to no avail). she knew a few things. she started to hurry away to find cobwebs.

"NNNOOOOO! NO! NO!" the kit wailed, making a much louder sound than she had before. solsticepaw turned around.

"YOU STAY!" the kit pleaded, tears in her eyes.

"i- i need to find- i'll be back, okay?" solsticepaw didn't know how to deal with this. but she did intend to come back- she wasn't heartless. she looked nearby for cobwebs, trying to shut out the kit pleading for her to return. once she'd amassed a decent glob of sticky webs in her paws, she came back.

"stay..." the kit's begging had quieted, as if she was giving up.

"i'm staying. i'm sorry." she approached carefully, and started to press the cobwebs against the wound. the bleeding wasn't so bad, some of it had closed up from time.

"ow! ow! nooo!" the little scrap whined.

"i'm trying to help- hey, what's your name?" solsticepaw asked, hoping to distract her as she worked.

"...'m hazel." the kit sniffled.

"i'm solsticepaw. do you... have anyone who's looking for you?" she asked carefully. something told her not to pry, perhaps her own experience.

This was the first big storm since Honeypaw disappeared. Although everyone kept telling him that the river was far away from camp, Darkkit couldn’t help but watch the entrance of the den in case dark flood waters came rushing in. So far, the only thing he could see was a few puddles outside that lit up with each lightning flash. 

Another crack of thunder sounded, and this time Darkkit couldn’t stop the squeak of fright that escaped him as he buried his head into his nest.

“Can’t sleep?” a voice said, just loud enough to be heard above the pouring rain. 

Darkkit peeked over the top of his nest to look at Tanglekit. At first glance, he didn’t look scared, but then Darkkit saw that his ginger fur was just a bit fluffier than usual. “Yeah…” he admitted with some difficulty. He knew he shouldn’t be afraid, that it was only a storm, but his pounding heart wouldn’t listen to his mind.

For a moment, he wished he was alone in the nursery again. It was much easier to hide his fear when no one else was around. 

A flash of lightning blinded Darkkit, and before the inevitable bang could deafen him, he buried his face into his nest and covered his ears with his paws. A few heartbeats later, a muted rumble slowly rolled over the sky instead of the ground-shattering thunder he was expecting. Hoping Tanglekit somehow didn’t see that, he slowly lifted his head, only for his fur to grow hot when he realized Tanglekit had gotten up from his own nest and was heading towards his. 

“I don’t need a kitsitter,” he protested weakly, even as the relief of having a warm body to press against threatened to make him purr.

“Freezekit’s basically living in Twigtooth’s pelt,” Tanglekit whispered as he got comfortable. Darkkit squinted at Twigtooth. Sure enough, if he looked hard, he could see Freezekit’s dark brown fur buried in Twigtooth’s side. “Besides, the wind is cold.”

It wasn’t that cold, but before Darkkit could point that out, another round of lightning illuminated the den, and he felt them both jump when this time the thunder immediately followed, sounding so loud it was like a tree had been struck down. Darkkit laughed breathlessly, but saw that Tanglekit was looking at another nest.

“Sparkkit, quit staring and get over here already.”

Darkkit blinked as Sparkkit got up and scurried over to join them. He hadn’t been aware that she was also awake, but the way her fur stood up and how much he could see her shaking even without the need for a lightning flash had him quickly scooting over to make room for her. It was a tight squeeze, but with a little maneuvering, they were able to find a comfortable position. In fact, pressed equally between Tanglekit, Sparkkit, and the outer edge of his nest, Darkkit felt his heartbeat slowly and finally calming.

More lightning flashed, but when the thunder came crashing down, he found that he was no longer quite so scared.

***~~***~~***~~***~~***~~***~~***~~***~~**