Hello, Little One (Closed)

The soft breeze blew through the air, barely even a whisper. Barely any prey was out, already hiding from the cold of the evening. The setting sun left an orange light glazing over everything. In the light, a single brown-furred figure was standing on the land near the gorge. Nutfur wasn't sure why she had come here. This place held only horrible memories that plagued her mind with guilt. Meeting Echopaw and Flowerpetal's death. Those were two of her lowest points, and they had occurred near here. Still, her paws had dragged her over here. The sound of crashing water and small breeze were the only noises in the air, making the place serene for some but lonely for the chestnut warrior. Maybe it was time that she got her guilt off her chest and told somebody. Sighing, she knew that she didn't have the courage to do that. The best she could do was just go to the gorge and face her past. Setting her jaw, she stepped up to the edge of the drop and looked across forlornly.
"Echopaw. I have to let you go. You weren't what was best for me, and now you're dead. I was wrong to see you. I hope I didn't ruin your life as well." She took a shaky breath, on the brink of having an emotional break down. "I'm sorry that I couldn't save you, Flowerpetal. You inspired me, and I never got to repay you. I should have been able to save you. Hopefully you forgive me." She let out a small whimper of grief, remembering her fallen clanmate that she hadn't been able to save. She sat down and curled her tail around her paws, gazing sadly into the water far below. StarClan may had forgiven her, but she still hadn't forgiven herself. For the most part, she had moved on from her painful past, but still it kept her up at night, haunting her. A wave a deja vu hit her, and for a moment she didn't understand why. She felt like she was an apprentice again, pacing near the gorge, scenting Echopaw. Realization hit her. She could smell a WindClan cat! She jumped to her paws and looked across the gorge, spotting a brown tom a little to close to the gorge for comfort.
"Hey! What are you doing so close?"

Hollowbranch was wandering, and he came close to the Gorge. He liked the rushing sound of the water, though he would never want to swim in it like a fish eater. "what are you doing so close to the water?" he called over the roar.

Edit- no motivation = short post

"Technically this is my territory, and you are closer to the border than I am. And I'm a RiverClan cat, I'm not scared of water," Nutfur yelled back, her voice no longer threatening, as she could tell he had no intention of crossing the border. A sudden jolt of worry reached her as she wondered if he had heard her confessing, but knew it was irrational. They had been separated by the roaring waters of the gorge, so a shout could barely be heard, let alone her whispers. Now that she was sure he hadn't heard her words, and wasn't trying to cross the border, she looked away. If she started talking to him to much, it would become like when she had met Echopaw, and she didn't want to have to think about that again. But then, even through the overpowering scent of the border marker, she smelled blood. And milk. In a few moments she realized what the smell was. An injured kit. She ran towards the scent, but it lead her to the bridge. She saw a small figure just across the WindClan border. It looked like she would need the other warrior's help.
Padding back closer to him, she shouted. "There's a dying kit on your territory, right across the border! Can I cross to see if I can help it? You can watch me every step of the way, and I hope you'll try to help it too."

Hollowbranch's ears pricked, following her gaze. "Yes of course!" he shouted, and bounded over to the kit. The kit was alone, covered in blood. It's eyes were so closed, and he was meweling and crying out. Immediately, the tall tom bent over and started licking the kit, the sharp tange of blood hitting his mouth.

Dampened with blood, the pathetic, tiny kit was little more than a scrap of gray fur and bones. His eyes still squeezed shut, he stopped crying as he felt the WindClan warrior tending to his wounds, although he gave the occasional whimper as his numerous bodily cuts stung. He was covered in scratch and bite wounds from head to toe. In addition to the scent of milk and blood, he also smelled of rodent.

OOC: About how old should the kit be here? Old enough to open his eyes and talk a little, or still too young to open his eyes, like a newborn kit?

Also, the last line hints that he was attacked by rats.

OOC: Probably about a moon old, having just recently opened its eyes and begun to speak, but gets tired really easily from doing those things. Probably right now he doesn't have enough energy to open his eyes.

At the WindClan warrior's words, Nutfur immediately bolted across the Twoleg bridge and towards the kit, who was more red than gray from the wounds. As soon as her paws reached the small creature, the scent of rat hit her nose. Her eyes softened even further with pity. Seeing what the other warrior was doing, she also began licking the kit, until enough of the blood was gone to identify the scratches. She could now clearly see that he was a tom. She was no medicine cat, but she knew that cobwebs usually stopped bleeding for a least a little bit. Though she was usually cautious enough to not get injured, she had needed to see a medicine cat three of four times. Looking around, she spotted some cobwebs at the corner of the bridge.
"I'm going to go get the cobwebs over there! You keep licking him!" After saying those words, she bolted over to the said webs and started gathering them.

Hollowbranch completely forgot of the other cat's origins as he licked to clean the kit gently but with urgency. The kit had stopped crying, and he wasn't sure if that was good or not. He nodded to the RiverClan warrior as she rushed off for the cobwebs. Hollowbranch gently nuzzled the kit over onto their otherside to clean the wounds there. As he did so, he could start to feel gentle drops of rain alongside his back

The tiny kit, who was no older than 1 moon, heard one of the adult cats say something, but he couldn't understand and kept his eyes screwed shut. He knew it wasn't his mother- that cat sounded different, and the cat who was tending to him didn't smell like her, either. Rolled over onto his back by Hollowbranch, the small kit lay quietly, only kicking and mewing occasionally when his wounds stung. The rain began to wash the blood that had dripped onto the ground away from Hollowbranch and the kit. His fur was becoming more gray and less red by the moment.

He didn't understand why those animals had attacked him, why his mother, his only source of comfort, was gone, and why there were these other cats here. Wanting his mother badly, he whispered so brokenly that only Hollowbranch could hear, "Ma... ma..."

As soon as she had torn every speck of cobweb off the corner of the bridge, Nutfur raced back towards the the bloody kit. As she arrived, nearly out of breath, she saw that the WindClan warrior had licked most of the blood off of the tiny tom. She just realized it was raining as the scarlet liquid mixed with the rainwaters, flowing over the side of the cliff and into the gorge. That amount of blood lost could easily kill a kit of his age, she realized. That just made her even more determined to help save his life. Setting her jaw, she laid the cobwebs over the cuts on the small body, hoping it didn't hurt too much. After three or more layers of the webs had been applied, the blood stopped flowing through, and she couldn't help but sigh in relief.

Hollowbranch moved to the side to give the RiverClan cat some room, but attempted to shield the kit from the rain. It did good, until the rain started to come down furiously. Soaked to the bone, the warrior began to freeze to his pelt. "We need to get them dry! There's a small cave a few feet from here in the side of the gorge! Follow me!" the Warrior gently picked up the small cat, and briskly rocked to the clump of rocks. He shoved himself against the side of the Gorge, and slowly picked his way down the narrow trail. Only a cat could get here. With relief, the warrior made it to the cave and gently put the kit down inside, the rain mixing with the thudding of the river. He began to dry the kit, gently crouching down next to the small thing. After the kit was as dry as could be, he looked down at the kit. "Hello little friend." he whispered softly, completely forgetting the RiverClan warrior.

The bedraggled kit initially struggled against Nutfur's wrapping motions, squirming in her grasp. He didn't understand what was happening to him, nor who these cats were. Eventually, however, he lay still from exhaustion more than anything, his only movements being the rising and falling of his chest and his panting. Once Nutfur finished affixing the cobwebs to him, the now bandaged kit continued to let the adult cats to have their way. Skinny from malnutrition and still worn out from his ordeals, he was in no condition to move much at all on his own, much less with heavy bandages inhibiting his motions.

His eyes still closed, the gray kit felt the rain soak his body before he was picked up by Hollowbranch. He hung relatively limp in the warrior's grip, and later felt himself being gently placed back onto the ground, this time on hard rock instead of damp soil. After Hollowbranch dried him and stayed close to him, the kit subconsciously moved closer to the adult. The kit heard Hollowbranch's whisper, and although he didn't understand beyond the words "Hello" and "little", he felt warmer and safer than he had when he was alone. Despite the kit's pain from his wounds and his discomfort due to the cobwebs and his starved condition, the kit's mouth moved into a position that looked to be a smile.

Nutfur shivered as the rain pelted down like stones. Not knowing exactly how to shelter the kit from all of this, she looked to the WindClan warrior. As he spoke she nodded, following after him to the edge of the gorge. As they started down the path, fear clenched her chest at the certain death that awaited them if they fell. Not as much for her own life, but for the little kit that seemed not be on the verge of death anymore. As they entered the cave, she sighed with relief. This was safe from predators and dry, the perfect place to wait for a little while. At the WindClan warrior's words, she smiled. He was like a tiny little friend. He had seemed to appear out of nowhere, where only they would find it. It almost seemed like StarClan's will. Looking at the skinny body, she shuttered. It would need to eat.
"I'm going to go catch something for him to eat," she promised, slowly inching up the path, before racing across the bridge. Her trained nose caught the scent of a frog, and she followed it to the warty green creature. Crouching, she padded up directly behind it, waiting until the last moment to silently pounce on the amphibian. She killed it in a single bite, before running back over to the gorge. Soon she had made her way back to the cave, frog still held between her jaws. Trotting over to the kit, she chewed a bite for him and placed it in front of him. A kit that age probably wouldn't be able to chew yet, especially at the state this one was in. After doing that for most of the frog, she sat up and looked over at the WindClan tom. "So what do we do with him? If I know anything about Ivystar, she would never let a kit into the clan that wasn't born into the clan. How about Ashstar?"

Hollowbranch thought as he helped the little kit eat. "I don't know. Ashstar doesn't take rogue kits either." He paused. What in the world could they do to help this kit? He stood up and glanced around the cave, taking in the barings. The waterfall roared at the entrance. After glancing down at the kit once more, he looked up. "Maybe we can raise him in here until he's strong enough to go out on his own. We can call him... Cobwebkit." Hollowbranch nodded, satisfied with his idea.

With his head propped up on his front paws, the malnourished kit heard Nutfur shuffling something around in front of him. He snuffled at the chewed bits of frog placed before his snout. He had never eaten frog before, but he recognized the general smell of meat from his time with his mother. His hunger hitting him, he gingerly lifted his head, pressed his nose forward, and sniffed again at the meat. He hadn't eaten since sometime before the large gray and black creatures had attacked him. He slowly took a morsel into his mouth and passed it around his mouth before swallowing. He then repeated this cautious process of eating a second time.

The third time, he reached forward more vigorously but then felt a twinge of pain from the exertion, which made him stop and whimper. Pressing close to Hollowbranch again, the kit laid his head back down and curled his body up slightly in a feeble attempt to make the pain go away. As he heard the adults talking, he tried to stifle his whimpering, with mixed success. After he had been attacked by the black and gray creatures, he vaguely remembered his mother coming and then going through the haze of his pain. In his still infantile mind, he wondered if he had cried too much, and maybe that was why she had not returned; he didn't want these new caretakers to leave for the same reason, and so he tried to quiet himself.

Disappointment filled her mind as the WindClan warrior replied. So a clan wasn't an option for the little tom. Looking at the kit with concern, she pushed the chewed up part of the frog toward him again, hoping he would eat and somehow manage to survive. Hearing the other warrior's voice, she sat up straighter, mind whirling. That would mean keeping it a secret from Iystar, which was technically against the warrior code. She could never make that mistake again. But it was also against the warrior code not to help this kit. When the warrior code couldn't decide something, she went with her conscience. She would help raise this kit. At the suggestion for the name, she looked at the newly titled Cobwebkit. His dressings definitely made the name make sense. Nodding in approval, she stood up.
"I guess we are raising Cobwebkit. My name's Nutfur, by the way," she replied.