Beneath an Oak Tree (closed for now)

The harsh crack of broken sticks disturbed the tranquility of the forest. Newly revealed dirt scraped by a rough sole of a hard boot. Snow still lay frozen over ancient logs and tenacious bushes which refused to shed their leaves in winter. Around a heavily cloaked figure, the wildlife sat in silence. Unwilling to draw the attention of the large lumbering twoleg.

A grunt, then a thump when a dark cloth bag was dropped onto the forest floor. Old worn handle straps tied firmly together. It squirmed on the frosted ground, seemingly of its own volition when the twoleg muttered something hard and foul. Its words seemed unnatural amidst the soft rustle of leaves and taps of melting snow. As abruptly as it came, it turned to retrace its steps. Furless pelt shivering beneath its strange protection.

“Mom?” A soft plaintive mewl rose from the brown lump. Something was wrong. He felt it in his tiny bones. Milky amber eyes barely opened, ears still soft and claws no sharper than rubber. The world felt strange. The familiar scents of warmth and milk, the soft sensation of comfort and the pelts of his siblings was replaced by something that wasn’t half as warm or comfortable.

Cold.

The darkness around him was cold and hard. His little body wriggled. The knot at the top of the bag untangled slowly with each attempt. Strange sounds began to fill the little sack. Cold scents, wierd ones. One smell stung his nose, another was better. Nothing was comforting though. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t smell his siblings or his mother. The soft warm bedding they had together, or the strange warmth that flowed behind the strange hard strings. A final shove, and the bag opened. Only to reveal a world of white and brown. The rush of cold air into the tiny space made him squeak and burrow deeper into the wierd bag.

As much as she tried, Batbite never could shake the itch in her paws. She hated keeping still, keeping to one place - but she'd chosen this life for herself, the second time, and she had long since run out of excuses. Long walks would never be a perfect substitute for adventures in distant lands, but they would have to suffice.

She paused in her tracks at an unfamiliar sound, something sudden and out of place. There was a scent she couldn't quite identify, unless-

No. That couldn't be right, could it?

But there was nothing else she'd ever come across that carried that particular scent.

For once in her life, she chose caution, if only because she'd already experienced the consequences of recklessness. Slowly edging her way toward the source of the scent, she only stepped forward from the shadowed undergrowth when she was certain the source was gone.

What she found, though, was downright bizarre - so she'd correctly identified the scent, then. Only a twoleg contraption would be quite so strange. What she hadn't realized, though, was that the stench of twolegs - strong and rather unpleasant at the best of times - had masked something far more important.

A small lump of brown, a size and shape she knew all too well. Stars, what kind of cruel and wicked creature would leave a kit so young to fend for itself? Too many, she knew - her own mother among them - but that didn't make it right.

She settled close to the kit, wanting to see exactly what she'd stumbled upon before taking action. Though her mind was made from the moment she'd found it: there was no way she was leaving it to fend for itself any longer. Nettlestar would understand, she was sure - ThunderClan was certainly no stranger to lost and abandoned kits.

"You'll be alright," she murmured. "I promise."

(She had broken a great many promises in her life. This was one she intended to keep.)

Something was coming.
Oakkit trembled in his hiding place. Ears flat against his head and little body hunched up as far as it could. Darkness appeared, followed by a strange scent. A whimper slipped from his lips while his body shivered and fluffed. When yellow eyes appeared in the dark, he closed his own. This wasn’t his mother… that wasn’t her voice or her scent. It was too big to be his siblings. The larger body pushed aside his cover. The protection from the cold suddenly gone, and left him cold for only a moment.

Then, there was warmth. His eyes opened slowly, his pale amber gaze observing the features of the cat next to him. The scent, the warmth. He mewled softly, then tucked his body against hers.
“Where am I?” He mewled softly into that warm black pelt. “Why’s it so cold?” Why was he out here? What did he do? He didn’t think he’d made his mama mad. His siblings wouldn’t have thrown him into this weird place. The fur on his spine lifted a little in fear. He hadn’t recognised the large creature that visited, with large pink paws that lifted his body with ease. She hadn’t protested though.

“Why’d mama hate me?” She hadn’t come to save him. Let him be taken away, hadn’t even raised her voice. One moment, he had a home, a family… and the next… now all he had was a stranger. One who whispered soft promises he wasn’t sure she could keep.

"This is ThunderClan," she sighed, "and I'm Batbite. It's cold because we're not quite all the way into newleaf, I should think."

The last question gave her pause. It was the sort of thing she'd asked herself when she was small and near-frozen, she was sure, but she hadn't been left alone to ponder her fate. She'd had her siblings to lean on, for some semblance of warmth and company amidst the cold.

(What had led a twoleg to leave a kit, and their strange-scented contraptions, in the forest?)

"...I wish I had an answer for why your mother might have left you." I wish I knew why mine left me. "But you'll be safe here. I can promise that, at least - the warrior code won't let any harm come to kits, and I won't let any harm come to you. Will you let me take you back to our camp? It's much warmer there, and you won't be alone anymore."

(Regardless of his answer, she wasn't going to leave the freezing kit on his own. But it would certainly make things easier if she didn't have to fight him over it.)

“T-Thunderclan?” The little kit mewled in question. His little dark tabby body hunched together, desperate to keep every bit of warmth the black she-cat was willing to offer. “Warrior code?” what was a code? What were warriors? The little kit whimpered. His head ached from all the new words. Spoken like he could possibly understand it.

Her last question drew a soft whimper. A son from his throat while his head ducked down in misery. He didn’t really have a choice. This place was big, and cold, and scary. She had been the only thing to offer warmth and even a little comfort. Have him a sliver of a reminder what being with his mother was like. Maybe she’d even find him someday!

He stood on his tiny legs. Barely up half as tall as the black she-cat’s leg at his highest point before he fumbled a step and landed in cold snow. His body curled up immediately, trying to conserve every ounce of heat but not understanding that more would come if he could travel. It was so cold though, and so dark and strange. Every sound from the place around him made him uneasy and terrified.

Batbite was careful as she lifted the kit, realizing that he certainly wouldn't be able to walk himself back to ThunderClan's camp. He was confused by the clans and the code - she wondered if that would fade in time, or if it was something that would stick, the way it had stuck to her even when she hadn't been quite old enough to remember a world without it - but he wasn't protesting, and he wasn't fighting. It was progress.

Today was a day to exercise caution, it seemed, and it felt strange. But it wasn't herself she'd be placing in danger if she chose to be reckless, or at least not as much as the poor kit. Still, regardless of the reason, her approach to the camp was slower than it usually was. She stepped through the entrance with silence - she knew from experience that it wasn't easy to speak while carrying anything, least of all a kit that could be seriously injured if they were dropped - and carefully set him down.

(The kit would need a name. She already had one in mind.)