Life is long. That, I will never forget[C]

She missed Hollowpaw.

No, not because she missed her littermate. Of course she did, but it was not Hollowpaw's presence she missed, but... the feeling of being whole. Of knowing that her family was still with her. Hollowpaw was the only one that was an apprentice now, but how much longer would it be before Frecklekit and Willowkit too joined her? Would they all just leave her behind? Her claws dug into the soft mossball, wondering if her sister had remembered to fetch her feathers like she had asked. Would Hollowpaw remember her at all?

She missed Hollowkit.

Why did they have to leave the nursery? She was still a kit, so it was fine that she liked making pretty patterns around camp with stuff. It was fine to devote her time to carefully tucking pebbles into the right place and layering them with feathers groomed to perfection and crinkled petals she stole from the medicine cat's den. But she knew that when she became an apprentice, this would no longer be her gift. Her clanmates were so cruel... she watched them pass each day doing the same tiring tasks. It seemed inevitable that she, too, would have to perform these same routines for the rest of her days until she grew too old to do anything. Or, perhaps, the warrior life would claim her first. That thought made her shudder. She didn't want to die, nor did she want to live this life. Why could she not stay in the present?

The kit cried to herself, feeling the restlessness tug at her heart. How many more days of peace would she have before she had to join Hollowpaw? How was she going to do it all? It felt impossible-- to speak in itself was a struggle, and now she had to destroy. Not to create, as seemed to be her only skill, but to rip something she couldn't have dreamed of making to shreds. Would she ever have to kill someone? Or watch someone get killed? Or be killed?

Her cries eventually fell to silence as she starred at the nursery entrance, waiting for her sister to return. How long had she been in this position? When the entrance finally shifted to reveal a cat, Juniperkit jumped to her paws, all too ready to leap forward and embrace her littermate.

It was not Hollowpaw, but someone with a lighter shade of brown and white adorning her paws like gloves of snow. Juniperkit scrambled to a stop, feeling shame wash through her when she saw the apprentice trip over her enormous load of moss. The she-cat has tried to completed her duties and brought fresh moss to the queens, just for Juniperkit to disturb her in her clumsiness, silly-mindedness. The black she-kit blinked tears out of her eyes as the apprentice sat down opposite her and tilted her head. Her vision cleared to reveal a pair of eyes a similar shade of green to her own carefully watching her with an air of... softness. This cat had no rough edges, that was for sure. She was asking if- if she was alright? Were her eyes still that puffy? Juniperkit rushed to duck her head, mumbling out an embarassed "i'm fine" while kneeding the ground with her paws. "Sorry, I- I didn't mean to crash into you. I thought you were my sister and wanted to run up to her. Sorry," She added an apology, then took a quick peek up at the older she's expression.