New Horizons

Chapter 1

"When will their eyes open?" mewed a voice. There was a chuckle beside her, vibrating through her little body, before another voice replied.

"Soon, Silverkit, soon," mewed the female voice. "Mistkit's trying to open her eyes." Suddenly there was a burst of colour all around her, as well as a bright light.

"Mistkit! Your eyes are open!" A silver tabby, who Mistkit guessed was Silverkit, exclaimed excitedly. "I'm Silverkit!"

"H-Hello," Mistkit mewed shyly. Silverkit started to bound around excitedly, grinning as Ripplebreeze, Mistkit's mother, ran her tongue down the back of the two-day old kit's head. "W-Who are you?" mewed the small kit.

"I'm Ripplebreeze," replied Ripplebreeze, watching as her other two kits, Featherkit and Nightkit, slowly peeled their eyes open. "Featherkit and Nightkit have opened their eyes!" she cheered, Minnowstripe rushing in to see his three kits.

"They're beautiful, Ripplebreeze," the dusky brown tom murmured gently, settling down beside his mate and chuckling as Dawnkit pounced on his muzzle. "Hello, Mistkit."

"Hello!" the little she-kit chirped, eyes shining as the duo looked into each other's eyes. Minnowstripe gently shook Mistkit off his snout and stood up, delivering a lick to each of his kit's heads before leaving the den. "Where did he go?"

"Minnowstripe's a warrior, Mistkit," Ripplebreeze murmured gently. "He has duties to serve our Clan, just like you and your siblings will one day." Mistkit nodded, curling into her mother's soft belly beside her littermates after glancing towards the entrance of the den.

"When will we be able to go outside, Ripplebreeze?" Featherkit asked, head tilted to the side in wonder. Ripplebreeze glanced around nervously before sighing.

"Tomorrow," she promised with a tone of finality. The light silver she-cat wrapped her tail around the three kits, blocking their view of the den's entrance. The night black tom-kit, the silver tabby she-kit, and the dusky brown she-kit all shared a glance, wondering why their mother was acting like this. All they asked was if they could go outside! They couldn't understand what was so wrong with that. "Go to sleep, you three." The trio nodded, curling around each other, and drifting off to sleep.

Golden rays streamed in through the gaps in between the bracken that created the nursery of RiverClan, awakening the three kits. As their eyes peeled open to see the scene they had become so used to over the past three moons. Ripplebreeze was missing like usual meaning that they wouldn't be able to go outside until she came back. Silverkit was gone as well, probably gone to see her uncle Oakheart or her father Crookedstar.

"Why can't we just go outside?" Nightkit whined, tail swishing from side-to-side as they waited for their mother's return. Featherkit kept her eyes trained on the nursery entrance, hoping to see their mother's light silver pelt. "It's not like we'd go outside of the camp!"

"I don't think Ripplebreeze trusts us," Mistkit admitted. "I mean, Silverkit can go outside on her own and she doesn't have any littermates. We can't and we have littermates. See what I mean?"

"You're right," Nightkit nodded, glaring as the three kits caught sight of their mother's silver coat. "I don't think she likes us either."

"Hey, why are you three in here?" Whiteclaw, a white warrior, asked as he poked his head inside the nursery. "Ripplebreeze has been frantic looking for you three. Were you in here the whole time?"

"We were," Featherkit confirmed. Whiteclaw sighed, moving his head to indicate the trio to come out of the nursery. "We're not sure Ripplebreeze likes us that much, Whiteclaw. She hardly pays attention to us anymore."