Aspenwhisper's War

Part 2

       The ShadowClan camp was huge! Huge and filled with so many scents, sounds, and cats, overwhelming Aspenkit's senses until he felt Brackenkit nudge his shoulder softly.

       "Aspenkit, Pinekit and our father are over here." Brackenkit's gentle voice brought the overwhelmed and anxious tom-kit back to Earth. Aspenkit shook his head slowly to clear it, and followed his brother over to where a mottled gray tabby tom and a light brown tom-kit with darker stripes of gray and a black tail sat. The kit had deep green eyes like their mother, their depths alert and focused, but they contained none of Gingerfall's warmth, which unnerved Aspenkit a little.

       Aspenkit recognized the softer scent of the kit from his first days in the nursery, and assumed him to be Pinekit, but the large mottled tabby didn't spark quite as much familiarity at that moment. However, he noticed the tom had the same spark of loving warmth in his curiously colored eyes, as well as the same tuft of fur between the ear that he himself had.

       "Hello, Aspenkit." The mottled tabby leaned down to lick his son's ears in greeting. "It's so good to see you've opened your eyes at last. I'm Shadecreek, your father." Aspenkit immediately felt himself warm up to his father, and he purred.

       Pinekit gave a small sniff, his deep green eyes cold and filled with scorn. "Yes, it's all very nice and all, but I find it just a bit difficult to believe that he was born first, seeing as he was the last one out of the three of us to open his eyes. Kind of sad, really." His gaze gleamed with the challenge, almost as if he was silently daring Aspenkit to rise to the indirect, but perfectly clear challenge.

       Despite flinching at his brother's harsh words, Aspenkit did, indeed, rise to his brother's challenge, fluffing out his fur. "I opened my eyes only two days after you and Brackenkit!" He snapped defensively. "Besides, the order in which we opened our eyes doesn't matter; our parents will still love the three of us equally!" He stood in a defensive position, though some part of his mind was chilled by the disbelief that a cat so young could be so harsh and mean with his words

       Pinekit stood, smoothing his sleek fur with a few licks, and padded away with a disgusted scoff, his tail swishing behind him.

       "I'll go talk to him." Brackenkit murmured, brushing against Aspenkit gently as he stood. The dark ginger kit trotted after Pinekit, his one white paw sticking out like a full moon against his other three dark brown ones. 

       "You handled that well." Shadecreek praised his son. "Pinekit, you'll soon come to realize, is a difficult cat to get to know, but the way you rose to the challenge in a direct but non-threatening way shows you have great potential to grow into a wise warrior." Aspenkit felt his pelt heat up at the praise, shuffling his paws. He searched for words to say in response, but he came up with a blank. Shadecreek purred softly, nuzzling his kit's ear lovingly. "I'll show you and your littermates your birthplace in a few moons, when you're a bit bigger, I promise."

       The small kit nodded excitedly, returning his father's nuzzle, before shaking his pelt out, trotting over to his mother, fatigue beginning to weigh down his paws. What a weird first day outside. He thought as he snuggled into his mother's belly. I wonder what I'll see tomorrow...