windclan kittens!

A tiny white shape emerged from out of the gorse, flinching a little as the wind buffeted her. Dandelionkit’s fur was short and wispy and kittypet-soft, and it didn’t keep her very warm on a crisp leaf-fall morning like this. But she was too excited to play in the clearing after her time learning with Softbreeze and her little tail was bolt upright before she had even made her way out of the gorse. She was so small not even at it’s tallest did her tail reach the lowest branches of the bush and she came out from under it without a single leaf or thorn brushing her fur, skittering after a leaf dancing in the wind, she had little legs and she had to practice her running if she was going to become a good warrior for WindClan. But the breeze caught it and batted it high up out of her reach, and she finally looked across the grassy clearing.

As the sound of another cat caught Amberpaw's ears, the she-cat raised her head from where she was seated, a small distance away from the fresh-kill pile. She had been challenging herself to identify as many pieces of freshkill as possible without the use of sight, and so far it was working quite well.

Amberpaw saw one of the new Kits of WindClan. Dandelionkit, she recalled. It seemed that she was chasing a leaf, which stubbornly fluttered out of her reach.

Curious, Amberpaw settled down to watch Dandelionkit.

Shrikekit was just coming out of the nursery: a new step for him. After learning about how to be less scared of the outside, he was taking his first steps outside the nursery on his own. Of course, his mother was close behind to make sure he didn't get hurt, but that was a mere background detail to him. As he stepped out into the open world, he saw a fellow kit chasing after a leaf. He slowly approached her, figuring that it would be silly to be scared of someone who was about the same age as him. They were both kits, after all.

"Hey there. Do you need help catching that leaf?"

“Yes!” mewed Dandelionkit softly and a little breathily, her blue eyes shining at having interpreted what the other kitten had said. A little light brown tomkit - someone her own size!

“Shall we make a leaf patrol? I’m Dandelionkit, what’s your name?”

"A patrol?" He had heard about those, and he had seen cats coming back from them pass by the nursery. This would be his first patrol! Sure, it was just to catch a measly leaf, but it was his first time outside on his own. That was exciting enough. "Okay! I'm Shrikekit."

"Softbreeze goes out with mum to hunt leaves all the time," mewed Dandelionkit seriously with careful enunciation.
She gave it some thought, breaking off into a mumble. "The ones that fall from the sky aren't the right ones, though..." 


Dandelionkit brightened, "We can practice!" 
But her enthusiasm fizzled out when she saw that a gust of wind had blown the few fallen leaves in camp into one corner.
Her tail drooped, then twitched mischievously. "You lead the patrol, Shrikekit, and I'll..." She took off at full pelt, leaping into the leaves and scattering them sky-high for Shrikekit to catch.

Unfortunately, she couldn't stop and tumbled across the clearing – and almost into a ginger-and-white she-cat sitting watching by the fresh-kill pile. "S-Sorry," Dandelionkit mewed timidly to Amberpaw. Her mum had been pointing out the apprentices to her so she wouldn't be nervous when she moved into the den.

Amberpaw lifted one leg to stop Dandelionkit from running into her. A faint look of amusement appeared on her face, quickly replaced by her usual icy stare.

Say, what are they trying to do? Amberpaw knew they were trying to catch a leaf, but...why would anyone go to such extents?

Oh well, none of her business. Amberpaw kept to the side, staying as an observer. An ear twitched gently in curiosity, but otherwise she showed no emotion on her face, merely a plain, emotionless gaze.

Shrikekit didn't know what Dandelionkit was planning to do until she took off, leaping into the pile of leaves and sending them flying. He hurried over, realizing that he was supposed to catch them before they hit the ground. Jumping for the closest one to him, he was able to snag it with a claw before tumbling to the ground with an 'oof!' While laying on the ground, he looked at his paw, elated to see the leaf was still speared by his tiny claw. 'Yes!'

It was then that he noticed Dandelionkit a short distance away, having nearly rolled into an apprentice. The apprentice was bigger than they were, and didn't seem particularly happy to have two kits messing around near her. It was a bit intimidating, and he felt too nervous to go over.

Dandelionkit picked herself up and as she bounced back over to Shrikekit her snowy tail waved in thanks to Amberpaw, grateful she had simply stepped out of the way and not scolded her. The apprentice seemed serious, but not too scary.

"Yes!" Dandelionkit squealed when she saw the leaf Shrikekit had speared on his little claw. "You caught one! You caught one!" She was glad Shrikekit seemed to understand her slightly unusual and mumbly mews, it made her unusually confident, and she bumped noses with him excitedly.

Lilackit waddled outside of the nursery for a tiny walk when she heard Dandelionkit squealing. She didn't need to ask for an invite, she simply gave herself one. It seemed like fun, and she liked fun. And you couldn't have fun by yourself!

"Hiya!" She called, greeting the pair of kits. "What are you two doing? It looks like a lot of fun!" With her tabby tail flicking behind her, she gave a toothy grin. "Would it be okay if I played? I love playing! Well, I guess every kit does, but I especially love playing! And it's so boring in the nursery! I need to do something or I might go crazy and start bouncing off the walls, or so my mom says."

It was just a leaf, but having caught it made Shrikekit feel like a real hunter. Someday that leaf on his claw would become prey that he would carry back to camp. It made him excited! Dandelionkit seemed excited too, as she celebrated his catch with a cheer and a bump of their noses. He was surprised at first, letting out a little squeak, but he was smiling quickly after getting his bearings back. Smallbean had been right: the camp wasn't such a scary place.

Then a new kit entered the fray. Shrikekit's attention bounced between the two kits, assuming that, since Dandelionkit had started their play hunting, she would be the one to allow or disallow others to join.

Both kittens were looking at her and Dandelionkit struggled to find her voice. She hadn't caught all of the tabby's words, but a smile crept across her mouth. Sometimes you didn't need all the words. "Y-you can play too, L-Lilackit!" she purred, excited to have another playmate. "Shrikekit was helping me catch a leaf, did you see!" Her eyes shone and her mews tumbled over each other, "with all of us playing we can make a whole patrol!"

She titled her head to one side, bright blue eyes alighting on the other two kittens, and spoke this question more carefully, “what should our patrol do first?”

"Yes I did see Shrikekit catch the leaf! It was so awesome!" The she kit squealed, delighted at having been accepted into the group. And they were going to be a whole patrol! It was perfect!

She grinned as she thought about what the patrol could do. "I have an idea! We could keep the territory safe! Get the enemy warriors off of the territory! Just like real warriors!" This was going to be so much fun!

Shrikekit felt a bit of embarrassment at the praise, but he was secretly happy to hear it. It was a good catch, huh? Now the three of them could be an entire patrol! Still... "Enemy warriors?" A leaf was one thing, but warriors? That seemed like quite the jump from the 'prey' they had captured.

Lilackit seemed delighted, Shrikekit glowed shyly, and Dandelionkit felt a warmth like sunshine wash over her fur.

This time after Lilackit spoke she turned to Shrikekit for help. She didn’t really know words like territory and enemy yet, and she wished not for the first time that she could hear. She was used to practicing her speech by babbling to Morningdove every day in the medicine den while Softbreeze and Wildflower and Smallbean were busy – she was less used to cats speaking back.

Dandelionkit didn’t want her new friends to think she was dumb and she went quiet, blue eyes round, her little pink mouth imitating what she had seen on Shrikekit’s lips. What Lilackit had said seemed to alarm him a little and Dandelionkit’s tiny white tail twitched uncertainly.