What is This Place [Open]

This new place was strange. Coyotekit was often overwhelmed by the scent of what they called ‘Thunderclan’. Everywhere he looked there were more cats. For a couple days, he had not left the nursery for fear of getting lost. All of the moons spent underneath Reno had meant he was confined to the den and the little world around it. He had never gone far. He had never been without his mother. The queens here were nice, but they weren’t Wolffang. Often her shivered through the nights as he refused to seek heat from anyone but his mother. She had left him, though. All he had ever known was the world with her, but it was stripped away. He was left with this world that had only been spoken of in stories. Everything around the tiny kit was different and strange.

He woke with a start before the sun had even risen in the sky. Coyotekit could not bring himself to fall back into sleep. As much as he longed for the peace of forgetting, it escaped him. After a while of debating what to do, he poked his head out of the entrance. It appeared that cats were just beginning to stir. However, the majority of the rocky clearing was empty. Maybe it was time to explore the strange place he had been stuck in. Maybe his so called brother was around there somewhere. The brown tom was kind enough and Coyote had warmed up to him fairly quickly. Only him and Blizzardshine made him feel comfortable. They were the ones he knew. The kit’s tiny paws lightly scuffed the dusty ground just outside of the makeshift den. This wasn’t the usual camp, or so he had been told. The rocks reminded him of their den in the city, so that much was comforting. And the rush of the river helped too. In the city, sounds had been overwhelming. Here, there was far too much quiet.

His unusually small ears twitched as they listened to the sounds of the forest. Hesitantly, Coyotekit padded around, one pawstep at a time. He did not know anything well enough to navigate much of anywhere. He had never left the nursery. Staring up at the still standing tall trees, his eyes widened. Despite the bit of char, they were still impressive. It did not take long for him to become enamored with the scenery. After a moment of wonder, Coyotekit bumped into something roughly. His fur fluffed up instantly in shock. A cat that seemed so much larger than himself stood before the kit. With flattened ears, he stuttered up at them, “I- I’m sorry.” This was someone he did not know.

Leafpaw looked down at the small kit with a smile. "That's all right," He said, trying to make his loud voice a bit quieter. "You're Coyotekit, right? Welcome to Thunderclan! I'm Leafpaw," He said warmly.

Falconpaw felt miserable in the heat, stumbling along in it, the lack of leaves made the sun beat down on him and his blueish pelt. In all the misery of it, he didn't notice Leafpaw's bushy tail in his way, he stepped on it and slipped forward into the gray earth, tail in the air and his neck colliding with the ground. Scrambling up to his paws, fur raised in alarm as if he heard a dog he looked around for what he tripped over, spotting the tail only now. "S-sorry Leafpaw!" He said in a choked voice while he held back a cough.

Coyotekit stumbled back a few steps as he was found himself facing two older cats. His eyes widened in shock. He had no idea how to react to the Thunderclan apprentices. The one called 'Leafpaw' meowed a happy greeting and seemed to recognize him. That much was reassuring. He nodded stiffly in response to the question. In a moment of anxiety, he glanced around for Blizzardshine or Barkpaw, but neither appeared. It was up to him to face something on his own for once. The tiny, tabby tail twitched uncomfortably. Coyotekit glanced around the first apprentice to look at Falconpaw, who had not identified himself.

"And who are you?" The kit questioned, trying to be bold. Mother was always fierce when it came to facing other cats. He had to stop being pathetic like Reno expected. Coyotekit straightened himself up to continue to look at the Thunderclan cats. Despite the fact so many cats lived here, he had only meet a few. There would be so many new names to learn if he stayed her. However, the little tom still had hopes to not be here soon. He just wanted to go back to the den in the city with Wolffang. But if this was where he had to stay now, then he would have to try and make it through.