The Burning- Book One: Blossom [DRAFT]

The Fishing

Or, in her case, two.

That, of course, raised another question: were they Kestrelwing's first litter of kits? All she knew was that her mother never told them who their father was...leading her to believe it was a temporary claim.

A splash interrupted her thoughts, and she saw Kestrelwing brandish a fish proudly in her jaws, killing it with a swift bite. She dropped it beside her, then returned to the water.

Kestrelwing has an unusual way of fishing, Robinear noted. She catches the fish with her mouth...

Wait.

She should probably actually hunt.

Robinear scoured the river, looking as far upstream as she could. A gleam of silver caught her eyes, and she snatched brought it out of the water quickly with her paw. She picked it up as it still wriggled and whacked it solidly against the ground.

It went limp.

Glancing at her mother, Robinear was gratified to see a look of approval there-- something she'd never seen for her in the 21 moons she'd been alive.

Her thoughts returned once more to the theory.

Thinking on it, perhaps Kestrelwing had lost a kit before. That would explain why she was so distant now.

But then why didn't the Testers make it safer...?

Pushing her thoughts aside once more, Robinear scanned the river again. She glimpsed a fish, but it sped by before she could react. Cursing silently, she continued her search and saw another fish.

Splash!

Robinear's paw entered the water and pulled the fish out in one fluid movement, sending it flying out of the water and landing on the soil with a wet splat. She brought her  paw down on its head quickly, feeling the skull crack.

Leopardpaw stared at her, gaping, and Kestrelwing gave her a nod of approval.

Somehow, that nod meant more to Robinear than an entire Clan of awe-stricken Leopardpaws would.

One more.

Just moments later, Kestrelwing snagged one fish, then another. The fish sat proudly on the shore at Kestrelwing's paws, and Robinear felt a surge of admiration for her mother.

Unfortunately, the ripples caused by her lunges had scared all Robinear's potential prey away, but now they swam back cautiously.

Her gaze focused on one fish, one slightly slower than the rest.

Now!

Her paw shot into the water, but only succeeded in carving a long gash into the fish's side. Robinear hissed and was about to give up when she realize that the fish had lost a fin and couldn't move properly.

Her paw darting down low and pulled the crippled fish out of the water with ease. She put it out of its misery quickly with a whack against the ground, then studied her catch critically. A bit messy, but not bad.

Upstream, she heard a jubilant cry as Leopardpaw caught his first fish and whacked it (a bit harder than needed in his excitement) against the ground.  "I got it!" he crowed.

"Good job!" called back Robinear. She glanced back down at her catch. The blood made her dizzy for a moment before she reminds herself it was fish blood, not cat blood.

She turned to face Kestrelwing. "Should we head back?"

Kestrelwing shook her head. "Let him catch one more fish," she replied, nodded toward Leopardpaw.