Mossdapple's Faith

Chapter 4

   Mosskit pressed against her mother's belly, breathing in the warm scent of milk and the faint scent of the woods.

"Come on, Mosskit! Open your eyes!" Mistykit whispered. "Bluefur won't let us go outside until you do."

"She'll open her eyes in her own time," Bluefur mewed softly.

Yes, she thought. In my own time.

She heard pawsteps coming towards the nursery. The crunch of the snow caused her to nuzzle closer to her mother. It's too cold outside. I'd much rather stay here.

"Oakheart!" Stonekit mewed excitedly. "Have you brought us a toy?"

The scent of fresh-kill flooded Mosskit's nostrils, as well as the mixed scents of ice and forest.

"C'mon, Mosskit!" Stonekit urged. "Oakheart brought us something to play with, and it would be more fun to play outside."

"This isn't a toy," Oakheart mewed sternly, dropping the prey by Bluefur's head. "This is for your mother to eat."

"Can we eat it?" Stonekit mewed. Mosskit heard him pounce towards it.

"No, you're too little," he mewed gently. "When you're older, you can even hunt it for yourselves."

"I'm going to be the best hunter!" Mistykit claimed proudly.

"No, I am!" Stonekit protested.

They tussled together, knocking into Mosskit. She adjusted slightly to move out of their way and snuggle closer to her mother.

I'd just like to stay right here.

Mosskit woke up surrounded by her littermates. Slowly, she opened her eyes. The nursery was bigger than she expected. The brambles hung high above her head, covered in an insulating blanket of snow. Moonlight trickled through some spots in the roof, letting in peeks of soft light.

Mosskit looked at her mother and littermates. They were all dark and blue-gray. Her brother and sister had soft, sleek pelts, while her mother was slightly more fuzzy. She looked down at her own pelt, and it was white and sleek, and covered in gray splotches. She wondered if she looked like her father.

She took a step forward in a long stretch before slowly stepping towards the entrance. She set a paw in the snow, and was startled by how cold it was, but didn't mind getting wet.

She slowly set her paw back on the snow, followed by another. The sky was dark and clear, covered in small, glowing white dots, and one giant white dot with a sliver off the side of it in the center of the sky. She stared at it, captured by the beauty. The rest of the camp was a blur.

"You opened your eyes!"

A voice broke her from her trance. In front of her was a pretty, dark tortoiseshell she-cat with a white muzzle. Mosskit looked up to meet her amber eyes and froze. Was she going to get in trouble for leaving the nursery?

"I just wanted to look outside," she squeaked. "I wasn't going to go anywhere!"

The cat purred. "Admiring Silverpelt?"

Silverpelt! "It's amazing!" she mewed.

"Each star is one of your warrior ancestors," she explained, sitting next to her. "Many of your kin are there, in StarClan."

"What's StarClan?" Mosskit said, a puzzled look forming on her face. So many new words! "Is that our warrior ancestors?"

"That's right," the cat said. "They watch over us from Silverpelt."