Come Little Children....

Gingerkit yawned as he lifted his head. It was weird to be here, amidst the reeds and moss. It was quite the difference than the soft bedding of his mother's nest, and the smell of their housefolk surrounding them. Hmm, he remembered Redfall calling housefolk, 'twolegs' before. Ginger supposed it fit the housefolk's appearance - and it wasn't like these wild cats had ever lived in a house to know what one was.

He hadn't seen his so-called 'father' since they had come to the Riverclan camp. Apparently, Redfall was not a Riverclan cat, but a Skyclan cat. Skyclan's territory had been through a big fire recently, and so Riverclan was allowing Skyclan to stay in their territory while the fires died down. Gingerkit remembered the cats who'd 'welcomed' them, saying something about him and his siblings being welcome, but maybe not Redfall. So perhaps Redfall had abandoned them to Skyclan, just like their mother.

Ginger hunched down, his ears flattening as he thought about his mother. Why had she let Redfall take them away? Hadn't she wanted them? Why hadn't she come with them, if she loved them? Redfall wasn't even here, either, so leaving them with him had meant nothing in the end, as far as Ginger was concerned.

He felt a lump in his throat grow until it was nearly choking him. He didn't know what to do; his mother was not here, and nor was his so-called 'father'. He blinked, and then got up, looking behind him at his siblings. He had to find the way back. He'd be back for his siblings.

He walked around the other cats, and emerged from the den of reeds and bush, and then looked out over the camp. So many cats milled about, but none were paying attention to him, as far as he could tell. He started creeping along the reed wall, sniffing the air for his and his siblings' scents, trying to find the way back.

Primrosepaw rose from her seat as she scented a small SkyClan kit walking slowly past her. By the sniffing of his nose and slowness of his paw steps, she guessed that he was a little lost, so she padded towards him. It was lucky that her nose was so sharp and well trained; the mixture of clan scents in Riverclan's camp made it difficult to tell cats apart. "Hello, little kit," she said kindly, "Are you lost?" She hoped and prayed with all her heart that she was, in fact, facing the kit. Her direction was a little off, but enough that it made it obvious that she was addressing him. "Who are you looking for?" With the camp so packed with warriors and apprentices, this little kit could easily be tripped over or stepped on, and Primrosepaw knew first hand how annoying it was to have something under your feet that you couldn't see.

Ginger crept past several cats, none of which seemed to notice him, so he was a little startled when a pale cat with orangeish stripes padded up to him and spoke. Though her head wasn't quite facing him, there was no other cat close enough for her to have been speaking to anybody else. She was asking who he was looking for. He cocked his head to the side. He wasn't looking for anyone - just the way back home.

"I'm looking for the way back home," He said. He wasn't sure why the she-cat wasn't looking straight at him, but he hadn't known any blind cats before, so it was to be expected. "Um... do you know Redfall?" he asked hesitantly.

Now that she had heard the tom kit speak, she shifted her angle slightly. You were so close Primrosepaw! She thought proudly. She was about to question him on why he was searching for a way home when he spoke again. Do you know Redfall? Redfall's kits. Or course. The tom had been a friend of her fathers, but that friendship seemed to have dissolved after the recent events. After attacking Wrenspring, Redfall had fled the clan in shame, returning later with a litter of his kits. 

Primrosepaw held nothing against the young kits - her mother and mentor Smokefeather had taken them under her wing, and now so had she (at least this kit.) They needed someone to look out for them: their mother was unknown and their father seemed to have no interest in them. However, her view on Redfall was much more controversial, just like it had been with Spottedstar, at least among her family. She was well aware that what he had done was wrong, but the apprentice always believed in second chances, whether they were earned or not.

"Oh yes, I know Redfall. I met when I was probably about your age." That day felt so long ago now. They had been in SkyClan camp, and it was fully intact like the forest surrounding it. Even though she couldn't remember it visually anymore, she could still recall the scents and sounds of it. "I'm Primrosepaw, but the way, and who are you?" The kit may've been searching for a way home, but it was something the apprentice couldn't help him with, so she decided to make friendly conversation instead.

Primrosepaw hadn't been the only one to spot the wayward kit, and Smokefeather made her way through the throng of cats towards the pair, affectionately bumping her daughter's shoulder with her head, a purr making it's way from her chest.

"Hey, Gingerkit, you okay?" Smokefeather mewed, gray-green eyes scanning the kit's face instinctively for signs of distress. It hadn't been long since they'd been brought to camp, and they were... adjusting. Smokefeather couldn't imagine a life outside the clans or being ripped away from the only home she knew, but she'd do her best to make the kits feel at home here. As much as Riverclan's camp would ever feel like home.

"Redfall's out hunting..." She said softly. At least, Smokefeather thought the tom was out hunting. Stars knew none of the Skyclanners were happy in the overcrowded camp. Smokefeather had hardly seen the former rogue around camp since he'd returned with his kits, probably because she'd been splitting her time between her own duties and helping with the kits. Someone had to, and if Redfall wasn't going to do anything, she would.

Gingerkit wasn't sure what he had expected from the other young cat. Maybe a miraculous pull of Redfall out of somewhere, and Redfall would take him and his siblings back to their mother? No, that was ridiculous. He felt his tail fall. He wasn't going home, not now, not ever. At least he had his siblings, still. He wasn't alone. And this cat seemed friendly enough, at least. "I'm Ginger! Uh, Gingerkit." He corrected himself. They still sounded like silly names to him, but it was the way they did things, he supposed.

When Smokefeather came over and affectionately bumped her head into Primrosepaw's, Gingerkit felt jealous. He'd never get that from his mother again. Nor was Redfall likely to do such a thing, if he even noticed Gingerkit or his other siblings. He looked down as Smokefeather asked him how he was doing. "I'm... I'm fine," He mumbled, his tail sweeping across the ground to curl around his forepaws.

He looked up as Smokefeather commented that Redfall was out hunting. "Hunting? Like mice and stuff?" His ears perked up. Redfall had caught them a mouse on the way to Riverclan, and it had been the best thing Gingerkit had ever tasted; way better than the soft food that the twolegs had fed them.

Primrosepaw purred as her mother gently brush her side, notifying the blind she-cat of her presence. "Hi mum," she said quietly as to not disturb the flow of the conversation.

"Yes, probably mice. Have you ever tried mouse?" She had no idea when kits moved onto solid foods, or how old Gingerkit actually was, but conversation was conversation. Remembering how much kits loved learning new things, she took a few steps backwards and dropped into a well-practised hunting crouch. "Look, this is a hunting crouch, and then you leap forward to catch your prey." After feeling Smokefeather's tail brush her as she walked backwards, she had managed to pinpoint. She hoped to StarClan that the fluffy she-cat hadn't moved her tail, then leapt. Much to her luck, her paws landed gently on her mother's tail fur.

"Do you want to have a go?" She said. Then a thought came to her. How would she be able to train an apprentice? She couldn't tell them if their technique was right, or if they were in a good position. I'll find a way, she told herself, just like I did with everything else. This isn't the time to worry about the future. Her talk with Silentwhisper returned to her mind, just like it had many times recently. Focus on the future. Quietly, she whispered to Smokefeather as she sat up. "Is he doing it?" She hoped that the little kit wouldn't hear her - she knew that most cats didn't have as strong hearing as her. Sighted cats tended to rely a lot on their sight, so Primrosepaw had to mostly use her nose and hearing.

Gingerkit nodded at Primrosepaw's question. "Uh-huh. It was pretty good," he meowed shyly. He watched with wide eyes as she dropped into a crouch, but it was a little different than a regular crouch. She held her belly off the ground, and moved her paws lightly as she sprang forward and landed her paws on Smokefeather's tail. "Wow! I wanna do that!" he squeaked. He dropped into a crouch, but it was off-balance, for he had never practiced such a thing before, of course.

He toddled a little, before over-correcting himself and sending himself tumbling to the side. "Whoops!" he said, giggling. "I didn't do it right, did I?" he got back up and tried again, this time without over-balancing. He was still too close to the ground, though.

Smokefeather's whiskers twitched at the kit's curiosity over what they hunted. If any of the Skyclan hunters knew what was good for them, they'd definitely stick to squirrels, mice and birds. Riverclan could keep their nasty fish and frogs to themselves.

"Mice, birds, squirrels too. The Riverclanners prefer fish, though." She answered. A quiet laugh escaped her as Primrosepaw used her tail to demonstrate how to catch prey, and she twitched her tail, feathery fur brushing the she-cat's nose briefly.

"It gets easier with practice." Smokefeather mewed. "It's important to keep your balance, like this." She added, slipping into a crouch just as Primrosepaw had, with her shoulders, hips and tail carefully aligned in a straight line, belly held carefully above the ground.

"That, and the swimming of course, is what makes Riverclan so different from us. Our territory..." Primrosepaw's voice faltered slightly as she remembered the smouldering pile of ashes they had left behind when they had evacuated their old camp, "Our old territory was much more foresty, and we didn't have nearly as many streams or rivers." She said. "I think that you'll make a great apprentice Gingerkit! I mean, you already have some practise." The first time the cream apprentice had hunted with her mother, a goose had attacked them. Her first hunt had suddenly become her first battle, but now she could look back on the memory with a smile. It was undoubtable that her hunting skills had improved since then, even if more recently she had only been able to use them in Twolegplace and Riverclan's territory.

Voices caught Swansong's ear, and she glanced over curiously as she dropped her catch from the recent patrol onto the prey pile. A little kit was talking with Primrosepaw and Smokefeather - one of Redfall's kits. A small smile edged at the corners of her maw, and she wandered over, watching curiously as the kit tried to pounce, and Smokefeather demonstrated the hunting crouch.

The soft smile stayed on her maw as she listened, tail curled over her paws. Primrosepaw is right, he will make a good apprentice. A shadow passed over the warm thought, and a chill grew on the quiet scene. If only Redfall thought the same - or thought about them at all. She resisted the urge to sigh and flick a look around for the tom, firmly shaking the thought free. Whether or not their father cared, the Clan would still raise them to the best of their ability.

She spoke up, her head tilted to the side, "Have you tried eating bird yet?"