Hollyfrost and Hawkfeather's kits had opened their eyes a few days after their birth. The she-kit had beautiful jade green eyes so they decided to name her Jadekit. Quietkit still hadn't made a sound so Earthpoppy's theory was probably right. He has tried to meow, but it has come out in quiet croaks.
Hollyfrost watched as Crosswind's kits played with her's. Foxkit leaped at Deerkit, causing them both to roll. Deerkit growled reluctantly.
"I dare you Foxkit to try and take me on! I doubt you could even move a muscle once I have you pinned to the ground!" Jadekit growled boldly, her head held high.
"Jadekit! Watch the attitude!" Hollyfrost flicked Jadekit's head with her tail.
"She's got quite the personality already," Crosswind laughed.
"Yeah," Hollyfrost lowered her voice. "I'm worried about her..."
"What do you mean? She'll be fine!"
"No, I mean...I'm worried that Hawkfeather isn't actually Jadekit's father...," her voice was barely audible.
"You mean...? No... He has to be... That's impossible! Is it...?"
"I don't know. She doesn't really look like Hawkfeather... And...remember what happened that night...," Hollyfrost looked away. She couldn't imagine how heartbroken Hawkfeather would be if Jadekit wasn't his.
"I think it's just a matter of luck that she looks like that. There's nothing to worry about," Crosswind tried to reassure her, but Hollyfrost wasn't convinced. She's got his looks...his sand colored ear...a mix of both of our personalities.....
Hollyfrost was jerked from her thoughts by the sounds of screeching. Jadekit was squirming around on the ground, trying to free herself from Foxkit, who had her pinned to the ground.
"Who's the one who can't move a muscle 'cause I pinned you to the ground now?" Foxkit sneered. Deerkit laughed at Jadekit from behind them, next to Quietkit and Heatherkit. Quietkit has always been the outcast between all of the kits. He wouldn't really participate in any of their little battles, just sit behind and watch.
"Are you okay?" Hollyfrost asked concerningly. Quietkit just nodded without even looking at her.
"Whatever is on your mind, you can always tell me. In your thoughts," Hollyfrost sent a message to her son. He jumped and looked at his mother with surprise in his yellow-green eyes. Hollyfrost just laughed.
"What?" Crosswind laughed with them.
"I talked to him, through thoughts," Hollyfrost smiled lovingly.
Crosswind gasped, then smiled. "That's sweet. I never thought of that."
Hollyfrost reached over to Quietkit and licked his head then whispered in his ear, "I'll always be here for you; you can always talk to me."
Just then, Hawkfeather and Thunderstorm walked together into the nursery. All the kits shouted "Father!" and ran to their fathers, except for Quietkit, who stayed by his mother. Hawkfeather and Thunderstorm both greeted their kits before walking over to their mates.
"I almost can't tell you two apart!" Hawkfeather laughed to Hollyfrost and Quietkit.
"Oh, come on, I'm not that small!" Hollyfrost joked.
"I mean looks, not size."
"But still, we have very different eyes."
"Alright, Hollyfrost, I'm just joking," he looked down at Quietkit and whispered in his ear, "you are secretly my favorite kit." which made Quietkit smile.
"He's the favorite? You mean I'm your favorite kit!" Jadekit tried to tackle Hawkfeather.
"Feisty little one, huh?" Hawkfeather grabbed her by the scruff and put her back on the ground.
"One day, I'll be leader of this clan, and all will bow down to me!" Jadekit squeaked boldly.
"Don't talk like that, Jadekit. You know, the bad guys always lose. And someday, you may end up like the baddest of all cats: stuck in a nasty relm full of dead, creepy rebels, rather than being in nice, peaceful, and beautiful Spiritclan, surrounded by your family and friends," Hollyfrost scolded her. The thought of being surrounded by dead, beaten up cats scared Jadekit.
"If you are good, and behave like you should, then you won't have to go to that terrible place," Thunderstorm added. "And that goes to all of you kits."
*****
"Hollyfrost, can I talk to you for a moment?" a voice whispered as it prodded Hollyfrost in the side to wake her up. It was Mooncross standing over her.
"Oh, sure," she got up quietly and carefully so she didn't wake her kits. She followed Mooncross out into the forest near the shore of the lake. Once they arrived, Mooncross just hesitated and stared out into the lake.
"I wanted to ask you something," he said quietly without looking at her.
"What is it?"
"Am I Jadekit's father?"
The question turned Hollyfrost's blood cold. She didn't have an answer.
"I don't know... She looks just like you..."
"That's why I'm asking. I know that Deerkit and Quietkit aren't mine, but that one night..."
"She could be... Hawkfeather will be so heartbroken..."
"I can't stay here anymore," Mooncross said without emotion.
"What?"
"I told you I can't stay here anymore."
"But...you have to stay! A kit is gonna need their father," Hollyfrost felt her eyes welling up with tears. He can't leave... Jadekit will need him... I will need him... She told herself. Mooncross didn't respond, just walk back to camp, his head hung low. Hollyfrost sat there, staring up into the sky, tears streaming down her face.
Then, she felt something rub against her. It was Quietkit at her side.
Hollyfrost jumped. "Quietkit! What are you doing here? You should be asleep!"
Even without a voice, Hollyfrost knew what he was asking.
"It's nothing you need to worry about, my son. Everything is alright," Hollyfrost wrapped her tail around him and licked his head. Together, they just looked like a big ball of black fluff.
"It's pretty late; we should be getting back to camp before anyone realizes that we are gone," Hollyfrost released him and lead him back to camp. When they approached the nursery, Jadekit and Deerkit jumped up.
"Where have you two been?" Jadekit asked with sass in her voice.
"Why are you two up?" Hollyfrost back talked.
"We noticed that y'all were gone, so we started to worry," Deerkit responded.
"Yeah, we started to think that you were one of those creepy cats from that place that's the opposite from Spiritclan and took Quietkit out to murder him," Jadekit added.
"I would never murder Quietkit, or any of you kits! Well, maybe some cats who can't keep their trap shut," Hollyfrost eyed her daughter. Jadekit gasped, then scowled.
"Let's all get back to sleep," Hollyfrost laughed. "It's getting late."
*****
Hollyfrost woke up to the kits talking with each other.
"I hear that there's an ancient cat who can go inside your head and make you do bad things," Jadekit whispered in a suspenseful voice.
"Who you should never listen to," Crosswind interrupted them. The kits jumped.
"How could you hear us?" Jadekit grudged.
"I have better hearing than you think. It sounded like you were talking right into my ear!"
Hollyfrost lifted her head and looked at the gathered kits. Quietkit was still at her belly, listening to the kits talk. Jadekit, Deerkit, and Foxkit were the kits who were gathered. Heatherkit was at Crosswinds belly with suspicion in her eyes.
"Did she know?" Hollyfrost sent a message to Crosswind. She replied with "I don't think so." Hollyfrost looked at Quietkit and asked "did you know about this?" He just looked at her and nodded his head. She sighed."What'd they say?"
He tilted his head. She read his mind: I'm sorry. I should have woken you up sooner. Jadekit said that she wanted to talk to Shadowstar. Foxkit said that his father told him that Shadowstar once spoke to him. And Deerkit said that it's not a good idea. Then Jadekit threatened to tell you that they were the ones talking about Shadowstar.
"What are you going to do?" Jadekit asked with her head held high.
Hollyfrost thought about this for a second. "Jadekit, come with me for a moment. Deerkit, Quietkit, stay here with Crosswind, Heatherkit, and Foxkit." She led her daughter outside and into the forest. She had to carry her some of the way to the lake. Along the way they didn't talk. Just walked in silence.
When they got there, she had to put Jadekit down and they stared at the water for a moment.
"Why are we here, Hollyfrost?" Jadekit looked up at her mother.
"When your father and I first become warriors, we would come down here and watch the sunset and the stars dance on the water. He would say how he didn't want kits and that he only wanted me in his life. But when Crosswind had her first litter of kits, Hawkfeather and I played with them. Thunderstorm would say how we were good with kits and thought that, one day, we'd have our own. Look where we are now."
"I don't understand."
"My point is," Hollyfrost looked at Jadekit. "That we didn't have to worry about a lot of stuff back then. We didn't have the responsibility we do now. Our problem then was worrying about my brother, Wolftail, because he was getting attacked by Shadowstar. Same with Mooncross," she paused for a moment, feeling the breath like she couldn't breathe, just from saying his name in front of his daughter. "Wolftail was only an apprentice when he attacked a Breezeclan warrior. Killed him, actually. He was mad because all of us. Me, Crosswind, Thunderstorm, Hawkfeather, Lightningstrike, Boneshadow, Rockstone, and Mountainfern became warriors before him. One night, Hawkfeather and I were coming back to camp and Mountainfern was still awake. I was going to talk to him about something when we saw Boneshadow and Rockstone walked out the camp, tails intertwined. Wolftail, then still a apprentice, followed. He attacked Rockstone and killed him. That was right before Crosswind expected her first litter. Pebblesky is actually supposedly to be named after Rockstone."
Jadekit looked at her with shock in her eyes. "I didn't know. I'm so sorry, Hollyfrost."
Hollyfrost looked at her daughter. "It's okay. I was very protective of my brothers back then. Maybe you can, too."
"Okay!" Jadekit squeaked, liking the idea of getting to be in control of her brothers.
They walked back to camp together, and Jadekit walked the whole way there this time. They were both exhausted when they arrived in the nursery. Deerkit and Quietkit were sleeping next to each other, back to back in their moss bed while Crosswind, Foxkit, and Heatherkit were asleep in their moss bed. She and Jadekit settled down beside Deerkit and Quietkit. She saw a figure in the doorway as she closed her eyes and fell asleep.