#palekit

It's watching him, peeking from underneath the ground. It creeps a little closer every day.

The sun was shining on Sunsplash's black fur, as Fringehowl entered nursery. Longbellow shot him a quick look as she left, giving them some privacy. The nursery was warm and he could still catch the milky scent of newborn kits and dry moss.

"Can you believe it? Cresspaw was so excited about our kits that she'd— oh."

The ginger tom straightened, as he looked at five kits, curled up around one of his mates. For a moment, he went silent, forgetting Cresspaw entirely.

"They're— For StarClan, Sunsplash, they're beautiful" he said, looking at his kits with delight.

"They are," she agreed "almost as much as their dad, who missed their birth" there wasn't really a bite to it. She narrowed her eyes with a smile. The tom licked her forehead softly.

"Yeah, I was hunting with Sandwhisker. When Cresspaw came to get me, it was already late. And then she bruised her paw and we had to escort her here" he rolled his eyes at Heavymurk's apprentice.

"Well, you're here now" she said, smiling to him. "Fair warning tho, I already named them. You miss the birth, you miss the naming" she laugh.

"Yeah, sounds veeery fair" Fringehowl's tone was teasing. "Soo... Care to tell me the names, then?"

"This one here is Snowkit" she started, pointing at the light tom. "Next up we have Phloxkit, he's very similar to you" she said with a hint of affection, licking ginger kit. "And this" she looked at the blue kitten "this one is Leafkit. Next we have Eaglekit, another one who looks like you, not fair Fringehowl, not fair."

"Oh, come on" he laughed.

"Don't 'come on' me. I gave birth to them for what feels like a moons, and they still looked like their mouse-brained father". Fringehowl rolled his eyes, but he was clearly amused.

"And how about this one?" he asked, totally ignoring her sulking. Little white and ginger she-cat yawned in her sleep.

"Oh" she smiled "this one's name is Palekit."