Starlit Silence

It was a quiet night. The kind of night that lulled many a creature into a deep sleep, tucked safely from the crisp chill that signaled the imminent return of Leafbare in their dens or burrows. Not even the wind itself dared disturb the peaceful stillness that had settled over the Shadowclan camp like a silken blanket. The moon had just begun to take its place in the darkened sky and the lustrous gleam of Silverpelt illuminated the marshland they called home. It was during such a quiet, clear night that two kits (who were barely old enough to be walking) snuck clumsily from the warm safety of the nursery and out into the open night air. The smaller of the two bore an expression of wariness and concern as she huddled nearer to her sister. Her big blue eyes flickered about the darkened camp, still new to the sights the world around her had to offer. In the shadows cast by the full moon everything seemed so alien... so frightful.

The pale kit fluffed up her white fur against the cold and shivered. The duo looked absolutely nothing alike, Silentkit's pelt seeming to mirror the silver light of the moon and stars as if forged by them, while Mothkit sported fur that appeared to absorb the light in much the same way as the deep ebon of the night sky. Silentkit timidly nudged her sister with her muzzle as they walked. "M... Mothkit, I know I said I wanted to s... see the sky but... what if we get caught?" she squeaked, but the night air seemed to greedily swallow up her anxious words as soon as they'd left her mouth. Thankfully, her worries didn't stop her from following her sister along the side of the nursery and to sit beside her, turning her eyes to the sky in a sort of spellbound wonder.

Even despite her worries, she had to agree with Mothkit... it was most definitely worth it.

Silentkit had never seen so many glittering, flickering lights before. It took her breath away, filling her with a sense of something... warm. Comforting. It seemed almost familiar... like when her mama tucked her long tail around her and her sister at night to go to sleep, or when Mothkit burrowed in closer to her for the warms. As she tried to place the soft, bubbly feeling, she couldn't help the soft smile beginning to bloom over her face. "They're so pretty... I wonder what they are." She mewed softly, leaning against Mothkit's soft fur. "I wonder if they're lonely... so far away up there. Do you think they can hear us from down here?" To a cat any older than she, the question would have sounded silly, but to her it seemed to make perfect sense. Maybe they had better ears than she did... Who knew?

Even despite Scorchstar's best intentions, he still managed to scare the tiny, stark white scrap of fluff that was Silentkit out of her fur. Immediately she began to stammer and stutter, fearing the worst. "W-we're s-sorry p-p-papa, we didn't m-mean it!" Wide eyed, she pressed further into her sister's side for comfort and protection and hoped they wouldn't be punished too much. She'd seen other kits get in trouble for far less things after all! But their father didn't seem angry at all with them, in fact he seemed... happy? Amused? She blinked at him openly as he sat down beside them and tucked his tail around the two kits. Were they not in trouble? Was he not upset? She watched their father turn his warm amber gaze up to the sky they'd been watching themselves just a heartbeat before.

Maybe this was okay?

Silentkit let her own eyes peel themselves away from her father to look up at the stars again. That warmth... that comfort from before welled up in her even stronger to ease her worries. Nestling further into Scorchstar's huge, bushy tail, Silentkit didn't even realize she'd spoken aloud when she murmured "What could they be...?"