A Welcoming Figure [c]

For once, she was coping with the apprentice's death. Of course, it didn't come as easy to achieve, although at least.. for now, her mind stood away from the horrific event. Laying by a rock, ghostly appearances casually making their way through the dens were... more than odd, though at least, they wouldn't harm any more cats. Yet, that was.  Pawing the snow by her front legs, her thoughts kept her occupied. Well, that was until a certain figure, a small one, caught her attention. It was.. one of Mallowmist's kits. Though she'd never really known the queen that well, the clan grieved her death, and so did she. Poor kit...

Sitting up straight, she offered a small purr of inquiry to the little one, tilting her head. 'Be careful of your steps, young one. What are you doing out here alone?"

The fuzzy kitten with a bobbed tail didn’t mind the cold; she wanted to explore!

Duckkit managed to waddle out of the nursery while everyone was sleeping. It didn’t bother her much that they didn’t notice her leaving. That was part of the fun.

She was stopped in her tracks by this warrior. “Hi! I’m Duckkit. I wanted to look around. Everybody is sleeping. It’s boring!”

"Duckkit, I see," She smiled, "That's understandable. I used to be curious of my surroundings as a kit, too." Hollyleaf chuckled. Perhaps... the innocence of kits would've just brightened up her day. She wished for a moment how she could return to it, though time couldn't possibly be reversed. It could only move forward, not back. "Say, how about we find you something to play?" She'd insist, eyes scanning around camp. Spotting some moss by the entrance, she rose to her paws. "I'll be right back."

Leaving the kit to go get the moss, she'd take it in her jaws, then attempted to curl it into a moss ball. Though she couldn't quite understand how Cloverheart or Ebonyhaze managed to keep them like so, the warrior finally was able to make it into a similar shape, returning to Duckkit. "Here," she'd purr, gently rolling the ball over to the she-kit. "We could play moss ball if you'd like."

“Hey, where are you going?”

When the warrior returned with a moss ball, the kit made a squeaky trilling sound. “That’s so cool! Will you play with me? Please?”

She couldn’t help herself; swatting the ball back and forth between her paws, and sending it back towards the warrior.

She offered a small grin at the kit's delight, and even Hollyleaf couldn't help herself at Duckkit's excitement. "Sure, I will." As Duckkit passed the ball to her, she repeated back, gently pushing the ball just enough so that it wouldn't hit the kit too hard. She smiled at the kit's joy, nostalgia overcoming her as she looked at the she-kit. Though her kithood wasn't anything too special, it still served as a pleasant memory to remember, even if things were different now.

"Pass it back, young one."