High Tide

Prolouge

                   A gray tabby and white molly looked at her kittens in the early morning sun. "Finally, some sun," she said to herself. It had been a gloomy new-leaf so far. Her mixed colored eyes drifted up towards the threshold to the hollow tree she laid in, curled around her three molly-kittens, as she heard the scraping of claws ascending up the trunk of the large willow. A muscular dark tabby tom leapt onto an overhanging branch and peered into the gap in the trunk.

               "Hello, my dear, Frost," the tom said to his mate in the tree. "Hello, Perch. Kittens, wake up, Father has come back." A dark brown molly-kitten opened her blue eyes and looked to Perch. "Father has returned!" shrieked the young female as she began to pummel her sisters awake. A dark gray tabby and white kitten opened her eyes and growled at the brown kitten. "Your'e really annoying. Go back to...." Her words trailed as she saw the handsome tom that smiled down at her. "Father!" she squealed as she leapt at him. He was barely nudged by the sudden force that hit him. A gray and white kitten hid behind her mother's bushy tabby tail and buried her face in it.

              "I think it's time we name the kittens," meowed Perch. "They need to be named sometime." "Yes, I agree with you. Kittens, come back! We're going to give you names!." The two molly-kittens scrambled back to their parents. "Okay, show them to me in the order they were born," suggested Perch. 

                 Frost gestured to the tabby and white kitten. "This is the first-born. She's the weakest, though. She looks like a mixture of both of us. We should name her Hollow after the place she was born, this hollow tree." "Good idea," said Perch, as he pulled Hollow closer to him. "Hello, Hollow. That shall be your name." "What is a name, Father?" said the gray and white molly-kitten as she peeked over her mother's tail. "A name is a word that will identify you forever. You will get one soon enough." explained her father.

                  The next one was the brown one. Perch named her, "She looks my father. I will name her Lake. After the beautiful view of the lake from here." He licked the kitten's head and said "I suppose we only have one more." Frost lifted her tail to the youngest's dismay. "No, Mother. I don't want a name!" she wailed. 

                  "We are going to have to name you, little one. Or you will be a bush tomorrow," teased her mother. The kitten immediately allowed a name. "I will name her Cedar after my sister. I really wish that that mouse-brained leader, Moonstar didn't kill her," meowed Frost. "Yeah, but that's a fact of battle," said Perch insensitively. 

                    "I'm just glad we didn't lose any more fighters. Soon, these kittens will be sent to war." "No!" said Frost in horror. "I refuse to lose my kittens, too." "Oh, you know it's coming. Soon, your precious kittens will be strong, battle-scarred warriors, and there is nothing you can do to stop it from happening," said Perch ominously. He turned to leave the tree and said in a low voice over his shoulder, "So you had better prepare for at least one to die at the paws of a SkyClan warrior."