green saplings (c)

“But I don’t wanna!” Cypresskit complained, unceremoniously plopped into the nursery by a tired queen. “I wasn’t playin’ rough! Not even usin’ claws! This isn’t fair.”

Ugh. The small she-kit huffed, curling up in her nest and tucking her nose under her patterned tail- at least until the queen left. As soon as she was no longer under scrutiny, Cypresskit leapt to her paws and immediately scurried out, intent on- well, she wasn’t quite sure. Being thrown into the nursery by the scruff of her neck was hardly good for her reputation, and if she wanted to keep her siblings in line, she needed to impress upon them that she knew best.

Cypresskit trotted back out into camp, keeping a wary eye out. Luckily, no-one seemed to know that she was supposed to be in time-out, and so the small kit started sniffing about, looking for something to do or someone to bother. Where were her siblings?

Someone called her name- with a small yelp, Cypresskit’s head snapped up, mismatched gaze scanning the camp for her opponent’s angle of attack- but the form approaching was no wrathful queen, just one of her sisters. The small kit relaxed, licking the fur on her chest back down and hoping against hope Sorrelkit hadn’t seen that. What was she doing? A leaf? Hmm… maybe it was a cypress leaf? Gramma had told the, about cypress trees, but they had weird leaves that weren’t shaped like leaves. Needles? The leaf Sorrel had didn’t look like a needle… at least, not like what Cypresskit imagined a needle should probably look like.

“Being awesome!” The tortie answered with a cheerful chirp, lightly swatting at the leaf in her sister’s mouth. “Where’d ya get that? Is it a sorrel leaf? It doesn’t look much like you, but your eyes are kinda green-like. Sometimes I think Mamma didn’t quite know what a bubble was, ‘cause Bubble doesn’t look much at all like it.”

She’d seen bubbles, once, when the rain came down hard and made the puddles bubble, just a little, but she hadn’t ever seen a bear, or a cypress or a sorrel. Gramma did say they could catch a plover sometime, though, so that would be fun! Maybe they could catch a bear, too, but the elders said those were big, bigger even than Birdstar herself! Wow…

“No way!” Cypresskit gasped, bouncing in place, just a little. There was no way So was his favourite kit! “I mean- yeah, me too! Except with cypresses, of course, ‘cause it’d be silly to look for sorrels. I betcha cypresses are cooler, anyways.”

Bitterly, the small she-kit flicked the tip of her tail- but in just a moment, she was whisked away by the prospect of an adventure. “Yeah! Betcha they’d have alla the leaves in the forest, so many leaves. They come back with them all the time. I dunno, So, my eyes are all different-coloured-like, and that’d be real weird leaves.”

“No,” Cypresskit said immediately, bopping her sister gently on the snout. “Da didn’t say sorrels are cooler! No way! You’re telling lies, Sorrelsorrel, lies lies lies. Kits who lie get taken by the Dawnhawk, remember? And then he takes them away to the Dark Forest! And they can never escape!”

Hypocritical, maybe, but kits were never known for remarkable self-awareness. “Prolly, but they’re special StarClan magic leaves, more’n’likely, leaves that are magic. Maybe they change colour alla t’ time, or somewhat like that.”