Snow Poffs

Flurryshine tried to call out to the three adventuring kits, especially after Sunkit's declaration, but they didn't seem to pay her any mind. Not wanting to leave the side of her newborns, she reluctantly stayed behind to tend to them. That was, until she heard Sootkit's high-pitched caterwaul. She leaped up, knowing that Palekit and Icekit would be safe with Splashwillow and Tinytip, and streaked out of the nursery faster than a warrior with a fox on his tail. She quickly inspected the hole in the warriors' den where Sunkit and Acornkit still stood, deciding to deal with them later, and raced through the entrance of camp and around to the river.

Her blood seemed to run cold when she saw Sootkit tumbling down the hill towards the river. Streaking down towards him, her paws barely touching the ground as if she were flying, she managed to lash her bushy tail out just in time to catch Sootkit from falling into the river. Panting heavily from the massive use of energy and the fear that still caused her heart to thud in her chest, she bent down and grabbed Sootkit by the scruff, then trotted much slower back into camp. She placed the kit down very gently as she had quickly noticed his twisted paw, gave a stern, "Acornkit! Sunkit! Nursery! Now!" she picked the kit back up and placed him down again at the entrance of the nursery.

Now that the fear of nearly losing one of Aspenstrike's kits had quelled, in its place burned a strong motherly fury. She glared angrily down at Sootkit, her tail lashing behind her. "Sootkit! You know better than to go running off without telling me first! The warriors' den is no place for kits to play in; they work long and hard to provide for you and any rest they get is well-deserved and must not be disturbed. And on top of that, you shouldn't have tried to sneak out of camp like you did. Now look at you: you have a twisted paw and you nearly fell into the river. What if I wasn't there to save you? Do you know how to swim? No, you don't! You could have drowned! Do you know how heartbroken your father and I would've been?"

Tears began to prick her green eyes as she vented her anger at the kit before her, and her legs trembled weakly. If she had been even a heartbeat slower she could have lost her kit. She tried shaking her head and blinking the tears away, but they only fell down her cheeks, and she hiccuped softly with a sob she struggled to choke back. "Don't you ever try to leave camp until you're apprenticed, do you hear me?"

Aspenstrike had been returning to the nursery with a medium sized fish in his jaws. Then he saw his kits streaking past him, a scream, and then Flurryshine streaking past him as well. All within about oh... forty seconds. He was about to drop the fish when he saw his mate coming back, kits in tow. She was fast.

He followed her back into the nursery, silently listening to her scolding the kits. He dropped the fish near her and proceeded to look at his kits. "Here's your fish Flurryshine." He directed his furious gaze to his two most rambunctious kits. "Both of you, never do that again. You'll be able to explore as much as you want when you're apprentices. You scared both of us half to death! Don't go into the Warrior's Den either! It's called the Warrior's Den for a reason." He sighed, knowing they had both been chastized enough. "Stay in the nursery for the rest of the day." He sat next to his mate, quietly cleaning his paw.

Sootkit kept on wailing. "It Hurts!" He cried and tears were falling down his cheeks. Blood started to drip from a slit in his paw that he had managed to get. He held his paw up and started shaking. Everything was a blur and the pain.. Oh the pain it was everywhere.

Sunkit and Acornkit soot frozen. Sunkit watched her brother in horror.

Flurryshine softly sighed, starting to feel bad for scolding him so harshly while he was in pain. She bent down and rasped her tongue very gently over the injured paw, licking away the trickles of blood, then picked him back up by the scruff and padded towards the medicine den, hoping that Fallowpaw may be able to tend to him. She placed him down by the mouth of the den and mewed inside to catch any cat's attention.

Sootkit cried and withered away as his paw was licked then he was picked up. Sunkit stood with shock. Was her brother going to die?! She began to pace and a tear dripped down her cheek. He can't die! But what if he does.. All those lone empty nights. How could she be a warrior without him?!

Fallowpaw stepped out of her den quietly when Flurryshine called, leaving behind the herbs that she'd been sorting for a later time. Without her even having to ask, her eyes flew directly toward Sootkit and his bleeding, twisted paw. "What happened?" She stepped forward and kneeled down at the small kits side, examining his paw more closely. "Did you fall, or twist it while you were walking? Or maybe you tripped?" She peered into Sootkit's eyes as her soft voice questioned the reasoning behind his injured paw. She lifted her head back to meet Flurryshine's eyes, knowing that no matter how much she adored them, a kits words weren't always true. "If I know how it happened, I'll be able to approach it better." Her gaze shifted back down to his tiny paw, her attention pulled to the little cut from which a small trickle of blood came out.

The young queen sighed and shook her head. "I caught him sneaking out of camp through a hole in the warriors' den. I didn't exactly see what happened, but I'm assuming he tripped over a rock and twisted his paw pretty badly. I caught him just before he tumbled into the river."

Sorry to keep all of you waiting. Thought I replied earlier! <3||

Sootkit shivered. "I tried to explore but I fell down a hill.. I hurt my paw." He lifted up his paw. With heaving effort he lifted it up and closed his eyes tightly and let out a soft whimper.

"Aww, you poor thing!" She crouched down, gently running her tongue over the split in Sootkit's paw to clear away the blood. "Come on, I'll take you to my den." Her paws trembled slightly as she parted her jaws to lift Sootkit by the scruff, not wanting to hurt him any further. "I don't mean to treat you like a baby, but I don't want you to put any pressure on your paw. So I'm going to carry you in, that way you don't have to walk." Then, she tenderly lifted him just slightly above the ground, turning to her den and ducking through the reeds with Sootkit in tow. Softly, she settled him down in one of the nests, careful not to put his bad paw down first. She looked to the entrance of her den, beckoning Flurryshine forward. She didn't mind her accompanying Sootkit while she worked, in fact, she encouraged it.

"From what I've seen, it's just a sprain. You should be okay, but I don't want to risk it, 'cause your bones are pretty fragile right now. So I'm going to put your paw in a splint, okay?" Her words were directed to both Flurryshine and Sootkit. She gathered a bit of Rush and Bindweed, placing it in front of him gently. "It won't hurt, I promise. It'll be a little annoying for a while, but you'll get through it. You're a strong little guy." Her deft paws pressed a small amount of ground Cobb Nuts into the cut on his paw, careful not to press too hard to avoid hurting him. Then, she carefully lined up a bit of Rush with his paw, wrapping it with Bindweed and sticking it in place as she went. When she was finished, she remained crouched to meet Sootkit's large eyes. "See, that didn't hurt a bit." She flashed the kit a little smile before lifting her body to a sitting position, curling her tail over her paws.

"You should be okay to stay in the nursery, just don't play too rough, got it?" Fallowpaw purred, winking at Sootkit as she turned to face Flurryshine. "If anything happens to the splint, just find me. He should be out of it in no time, and otherwise, he's perfectly fine." She nodded to the both of them, letting them know that for now, she was done.

Aspenstrike sighed softly when his kit began wailing about his paw. It was the tiniest slit he had ever seen, probably from a thorn he picked up rolling down the hill. Of course, it must hurt though. His green gaze flicked to Sunkit, who was now nearly as distressed as her brother. After his white coated mate had left with the dark gray kit he swept Sunkit close to him. "Sunkit, your brother only cut his paw. He'll be fine, Fallowpaw is the best medicine cat apprentice in the clans. She'll take good care of your brother. He'll live." His words were filled with a kindness only a parent could give to their child. Even as he was comforting his own flesh and blood, his still kept a keen eye on Flurryshine's kits, who were wriggling with annoyance at the absence of their mother.

Sunkit gazed her father, not at all affected by his kindness. "B-but his paw was twisted! It was in a loop-de-loop! What if he can't be a warrior.?!" She squealed the last part.

Sootkit, having a sharp sence of hearing, over heard his sisters wails. "I can't become a warrior!" He wimpered and cried. His dreams. They were going to throw him out of the clan! They won't like another mouth to feed. They are going to treat me bad! Maybe I should leave first. I'll be such a burden..

https://warriorclancats.forumotion.com/t37058-sunkit-and-sootkit-s-apprentice-ceremony#433594

APPRENTICE CEREMONY GO NOW!!! <3