After She's Gone

Eaglekit yawned, lifting his head. His nest was cold, and far too big for himself. He nuzzled the empty spot where his mother used to sleep, then rose to his trembling paws. He looked at all the other kits, sleeping with their mothers. Despite the stuffy air and the crowded nests, the nursery felt empty and barren. Picking his way out past the others, he walked into the cooling air of the green-leaf sunset and inhaled deeply. The scent of the camp just beginning to stir under the growing night was welcoming, and he padded towards the fresh-kill pile in silence.

Nightcloud gently chewed on a toad from her spot next to the fresh-kill pile. She paused as she became aware of pawsteps, and raised her head to see Eaglekit. Her heart quickly sunk as she shook her head sadly. Everybody knew what had happened to his mother and the kit had barely spoken since. Just seeing the sad kit caused her heart to ache. With a gentle sigh, she flickered her tail toward the young kit. "Hey, Eaglekit," she said softly, glancing at the fresh-kill pile. "Uh, want to eat with me?" It felt a bit odd asking a young kit to eat with her, but she had a feeling that maybe Eaglekit needed it. He had been spending a whole lot of time alone and that could never be good for a young kit.

Eaglekit slowly lifted his head, staring at her for a long time after she'd spoken. It seemed he didn't know what she'd been saying, but after a while he slowly nodded and padded over, laying down across from her with a light thump. He seemed to not even notice the frog in front of his paws as he stared blankly at the waking camp.

Nightcloud frowned sightly as Eaglekit just laid down across from her. She shook her head, clearing her throat sightly. "Eaglekit...We all are feeling the same lost as you. Your mother was a great warrior and the Clan won't be the same without her...but she would want you to be strong and brave for her." Her tone was soft and full of worry. Part of her just wanted to get up and cuddle up next to him and say that everything would be alright, but she had a feeling he wouldn't really like that. But it was just painful to watch him be so cut off from the world.

Eaglekit glanced at her as she spoke and stared, his tail-tip twitching across the ground. Swallowing hard, he began to speak, his words strangled as he spoke past the lump in his throat. "R-Really? She would?" he whimpered, staring at Nightcloud sadly.

The warrior nodded, her eyes showing the sorrow she felt for the kit. "Of course! She loves you, even from StarClan and I am sure even now she is watching you and cheering you on, Eaglekit." With that, she got to her paws and padded around the toad and laid down next to the kit, gently nuzzling his forehead. "She would want you to become the best warrior in ShadowClan for her, and I am sure you are up to that. I know you will make her proud and won't let her down."

Eaglekit nodded slightly, pressing close to Nightcloud's shoulder and thinking on that. "Okay." he answered, pressing closer to her and feeling comforted in her presence.

Nightcloud paused as she used one of her paws to pull the toad toward her, glancing at Eaglekit. "You know, you should eat something. I doubt I can eat all of this toad by myself."

Eaglekit looked up at her, blinking slowly then looking at the toad. He hesitated for a moment, then took a bite of the chewy prey.

Ugh... Thrushpaw didn't want to get up. It was too early. The sun was still setting in the sky. Trudging out of the apprentice's den, he took a short look around camp only for his eyes to land on the small kit and Nightcloud. He had heard about what happened to Eaglekit and he quickly felt bad. Although, the apprentice knew exactly what it was like to lose a parent. Granted, he wasn't exactly close to Cedarfur, but it didn't mean that he didn't feel the same pain and sadness from it. Slowly, he padded over to the two while dipping his head slightly out of respect. "Hey there Nightcloud, Eaglekit. How are you guys doing?" He asked with a little bit of concern in his voice. He didn't know how the small kit was feeling this morning, but at the looks of it, he guessed it was a good sign that he was eating.

Looking up Eaglekit stared at Thrushpaw. "I guess I'm okay as I get.." he answered dryly, taking another bite of the frog.

Nightcloud looked up with a small smile, her tail flickering. "Oh, hello, Thrushpaw. I am doing fine. Just trying to cheer Eaglekit up. Want to grab something and eat with us?"

As soon as Nightcloud mentioned something about food, his stomach growled embarrassingly. "Actually, I think that might be a good idea!" he mewed as he quickly grabbed whatever he could off the the freshkill pile. He just ended up grabbing a pretty fat frog as he sat down with the warrior and small kit. Taking a small bit out of it, he remembered just how great it tasted. he hadn't actually eaten a frog in a while and even though it was fairly slimy, it was wonderful! But after taking just a few bites, he looked at Eaglekit once more. "You know, you'll be a great warrior one day. You're mother will be proud of you! I'm sure my father is proud of me, and I'm not even a warrior yet!" He told the kit, hoping to try to make him feel a little bit better.

OOC: sorry D: forgot about this topic..

Eaglekit tipped his head to the side. What did Thrushpaw mean, his father would be proud of him? Wasn't his father off doing his duties by now. "What do you mean? Where's your father?" he mewed, twitching his ears.

Nightcloud smiled softly as Thrushpaw joined them, but grew silent as the apprentice brought up his father. She recalled the night they had brought in Cedarfur's body; hearing the horror that he had been killed on the Thunderpath. She had never really met the warrior, but she knew that he had been a strong warrior, and the fact that a Monster easily took his life had terrified her. She shook her head, feeling a bit sorry for the apprentice as she awaited for his answer, figuring that Thushpaw should be the one to talk about Cedarfur's death seeing how it was his father.