A New Dawn Rises [Eos/Dawn kits!]

Snow blanketed Asylum's camp, and all seemed quiet as the night slowly gave way to dawn.

A kit-mother-to-be curled in her nest, atop a fluffy fox pelt, gaze half-lidded as she dozed. A paw twitched restlessly, ears flicking back and forth at the faint sounds of other cats that drifted through the den walls as she attempted and failed to fall back asleep.

A sharp spasm of pain had her eyes snapping open, a distressed yowl carrying through Asylum's camp. It had been a couple of moons since she'd met Dawnhawk, and those moons had bourn consequences of their actions. Not... Entirely unwelcome consequences, Asylum needed loyal cats, after all, and Dawnhawk was far from the worst company she could have kept. But the scout wasn't used to being idle, and she certainly wasn't used to the amount of pain that currently wracked her body.

Her yowls had summoned a healer, and it didn't take long before there were four squirming kits at her belly. The fox pelt had been removed, the kits and Eos cleaned up, and Eos was exhausted. Sleep came quickly once the excitement had died down, the kit-mother carefully curling around the mewling kits.

---

Several weeks passed, and the kits had opened blue eyes and started to venture out of the den. Eos had sprawled at the entrance of the den to watch, managing to find a weak patch of sunlight to lay in. Snow still covered the camp, and she worried somewhat for the kits in the cold that she had never quite gotten used to. They were a lively bunch, and healthy, the healers had assured her, so she was content to let them play for now, watching over them with tired eyes.

"Look ma! Look at me!"

For the majority of Yew's first weeks of life, white, crunchy snow covered Asylum's camp. Him and his littermates were playing in the snow, but he was much more interested in trying to persuade his mother to join in. He ignore how it seeped through his short pelt, the kit-fluff on his legs hardly serving as a barrier to the chilly substance. A lump of snow lay in his paws, and he threw it in the direction of Eos. As he was only a kit, it missed by a fair few mouse-lengths, but a few small bits splashed upwards towards the she-cat's face. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm really, really, really sorry ma." He insisted as he rushed over as fast as his lanky legs could carry him. They were definitely too long compared to his little kitten body, but they didn't really slow him down too much.

"Do you like the snow? I do, I think it's fun and crunchy. Was it warmer where you used to live? Why is everyone always talking about 'clams'? Or is it clans?" Now that he had got her attention (even if it was by showering her with snow), he wasn't about to let her get away. His mother was so much more interesting than his siblings. Why couldn't she play with them? It was clear that she was tired, but he was always tired, and he played anyway.

Ivory tended to stay closer to her mother. She sat beside her paw, content to look out at the pale white world before her. She watched her brother Yew play with the snow and a part of her wanted to join him... but a bigger part of her wanted to stay close to Eos. It was as if something in her mind told her her mother would leave. Once Yew started throwing snowballs however... some of the snow smacked Ivory right in the face. The young she-cat shook it off of her nose with a startled mew.

"Yew!" She whined, but then she got to her feet. She charged, aiming to tackle her brother into the snow. Once she caught him, she was going to pile it on top of him as revenge. "Mom doesn't want you throwing things at her either!" She warned him, charging as fast as her legs could carry her.

Paisley huffed at the flying snow, falling by her carefully dug snow hole. “Hey!”

Her tail drooped down. She worked so hard on her little snow nest and then Yew had to ruin it. She frowned and looked toward her mother.

Ivory ran after him, and Paisley called, “Be careful!” Mom would be so upset if they got hurt. She skittered her paws underneath her, nervous about what would happen next.

A startled 'Yew!' escaped the kit-mother at the thrown snow, and her eyes narrowed slightly as she turned her gaze to the one who had thrown it. She was slightly miffed at the snow, and everything in her demeanor said that she hadn't enjoyed getting even a faint dusting of the white stuff even a little bit.

"Much warmer. This snow is miserable." Eos grumbled. She'd been shivering slightly, still not used to the cold or snow at all. Ivory hadn't seemed to enjoy the snow being thrown their way either, and Eos sympathized with her.

"They're clans, and once you're old enough you'll be assigned to one of them. We're helping them adapt to Asylum's way of life. There are five, and each inhabits a different territory, but they all share the same rigid, close-minded beliefs. Your father oversees Skyclan, while I help Riverclan." Yew's question deserved an answer. While raising the kits, Eos had been in contact with her fellow scouts. She longed to be out in the field once more. The kits needed to be raised, of course, but soon enough they would be off on their own assignments within the Asylum. They'd be split into the different factions, and assigned to one of the clans in turn. It was entirely likely that they could go for a while without seeing each other, or her, and Eos knew that allowing herself to get too close to them would only make it harder on them when she inevitably went back to her own duties.

Part of her felt a bit guilty about it, but the kits had been her duty, as well. When they were old enough, that duty was fulfilled. They would become productive members of Asylum in their own right.

For now, she'd watch over their playing, and ensure that none of them got themselves hurt. She offered Paisley a soft, slightly rueful smile as she watched the antics of the kits.

As Ivory tackled him, Yew tried to win, and get back at her. He was only a little bigger, but managed to sit on top of her. "Shhhh" He said to her, "I want to listen to what ma is saying!"

"Can I go to Skyclan? I wanna see if dad has a reason to never be here." Even though he loved his mother, an excited feeling came over him whenever he thought of his father. Since they had never met him, there was also an air of mystery. Anyways, his sisters seemed to care a lot about their mother, and he wondered if there was enough of her love to go around all of them. I'll just get all of dad's love, and then they'll be jealous.

Now that he was happy that he had heard everything important, he carried on trying to wrestle with Ivory. The white powder on the ground began to get caught in his pelt, making him look more like his mother.

Ivory was not thrilled about being sat on, but she relented, because she also wanted to hear what her mother had to say. Skyclan... she wondered if she would ever see it. Before she could even open her mouth, her brother was already talking again. She dropped her shoulder and lifted her rump to roll him off of her with a sigh. "I'd like to meet dad but what are the chances of us all going to Skyclan?" Not high, she guessed. Her brother tackled her again, and Ivory responded in kind by trying to grab his ear with her teeth. Maybe that would show him not to mess with her!