seashells by the sea shore (except its a lake) [c]

Littlekit had tried not to bother the medicine cats as much as possible. It was hard enough to stay out from underpaw when stuck in the makeshift camp all day. He'd ended up making his own routine of checking the walls that were being built and tucking in loose fibers. Other times, he would search for little pebbles and other fun items to gift to his clanmates. Most of them were appreciative, some too sick to care much, or others constantly busy. Like Sandyshell.

In his early moons, Littlekit had suffered the infection that caused his eye to go cloudy, something that she had expertly cleared up and left him with no issues... other than the slight fade to his vision and the noticeable gray eye. But the she-cat's paws had been constantly working to heal their clanmates who had been afflicted with a mysterious illness. Not even Starclan had seemed to give any signs. If he was worried, Littlekit could only imagine how much weighed on her shoulders. The whole clan seemed tense.

Precious small moments where he could present someone with a break from the overwhelming burden of responsibilities felt like the best thing in the world. It was why he had ended up watching after the medicine cat's den, waiting for the right moment to present her with what he thought was the best gift he had ever found. Rooting around the dirt, he'd eventually discovered a tiny patch of sand in the direction of water. Likely a memory of an old shore. There, the kit had unearthed a shell. Still coated in remnants of its sandy home, the kit had quickly decided that based on it being a sandy shell, there was no more fitting cat to gift it too.

He anxiously waited in hopes that she would like it and that for at least a second or two, he would get to see the smile on her maw. After all she did for the clan, and for him, Sandyshell deserved it. The shell was spiraled and as big as his pad, twisting in an intricate circle with a wide opening where a creature might have once lived. As he picked it up gingerly between his teeth, the gray and white kit trotted towards the entrance, "Smdyshelff, Smdysheff!"

Speaking around the catch wasn't the easiest to do and so he placed it on the ground in front of her. From the opening spilled more sand. One of the grains was particularly large and white. Littlekit paused and tipped his head to the side while studying it. Then a grin widened his maw, "I meant to bring you a shell but it looks like I brought you two!" From the sand-coated shell had fallen and tiny white shell about the size of his claw. This truly was the best treasure he had found.

Nothing made it heart warm up more than watching another cat find joy in his tiny efforts to bring some spark of light to Riverclan in these times. His gaze bore into the medicine cat as he watched her expression, felt the genuine tremble of her words. Such appreciation from an important member of the clan meant a lot to him, especially knowing how hard she had been working all these moons despite struggling with the illness herself. As he relished in the moment, pride filled him up from his paw pads all the way to his ears. He couldn't heal like her. He couldn't hunt or fight like a warrior yet. But for these brief few seconds, he had managed to do something that mattered.

'Mrr?' His chirp was soft as she said his name. There was something curious about the way that she hesitated, drawing his attention. The tone had shifted so suddenly that the kit wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Littlekit straightened up and let his tail lay flat. Ears perked to listen attentively to what Sandyshell had to say next. You like taking care of cats, don't you? There was no hesitation in the emphatic nod. But when she doubted her own skill, the kit parted his maw to instinctively protest. Before he could, however, words were cutting through the air once more.

Slowly, Littlekit blinked. Once. Then twice. It took several replays for him to understand what was being asked of him. All this time he had been waiting to become a warrior apprentice. Naturally, that was the path set out before his paws. Poppyshine had promised he'd become an apprentice soon. He wasn't sure what to think. Everything seemed so surreal, out of nowhere. Yet as he looked up at the face of the clan's medicine cat, it was clear that this was happening and that she was quite serious in her ask. This was what Riverclan needed from him. Maybe it was what they had needed from him all along.

Sure, the uncertainty had set in, an anxiety as deeply rooted as the whiskers on his maw. Littlekit took a deep breath before nodding once more slowly. Claws kneaded the ground and gripped the earth to prevent him from falling over. What would the clan think of him? What would Starclan think? Not every cat got to face the ancestors and share tongues with them. There was a moment of stretching silence as his mind raced before he finally piped up again to meow softly, "I'll do whatever you need, Sandyshell. I want to help the clan. Just... show me how, I guess." Although there was a slight waiver to his voice, a doubt in himself, he trusted Sandyshell.

She spoke to the stars, after all, and soon he would too.