Through the Dark

Chapter Three

The next day...

Exhausted, Silverlight curled up among the moss of the nursery den, gazing lovingly at her two kits; one was a dark brown tabby with green eyes and the other was a silver tom with amber eyes.

I wish their father could see them. The dark brown she-kit, that one, she looks so much like him.

Just thinking about her mate made her throat well up with grief. A few days after she and he had left the Clan together, they had run into a couple of hungry badgers. Silverlight had gotten away safely, but her mate...he didn't make it.

A rustle of the brambles that covered the nursery entrance snapped Silverlight out of her thoughts. She looked up to be facing Emberleaf and Brightlight.

"Hi," Silverlight mewed, forcing a smile.

"Hello," Brightlight mumbled, looking down at her paws. "Darkstar wanted us to check on you. And since I'm the medicine cat, I guess that's what I'm supposed to do." She looked at Silverlight with a surprisingly sour expression, causing Silverlight to feel anxious at what might've happened to their once-close relationship. "Even if that cat is you."

"So what do you want, Silverlight? Water? Prey?" Emberleaf asked. "A new mate so you can go break the warrior code again??"

Silverlight raised her head to stare sharply at Emberleaf. "Is that why all of you are resenting me? Just because I broke one measly rule of the warrior code?"

"I wouldn't say just," Brightlight objected. "What you did was big. Huge. I looked up at you all the time, Silverlight, when I was your apprentice. You were my hero. And then...and then you did this."

The brambles rustled from behind Brightlight, and an apprentice hopped into the den, a few borage leaves in her jaws.

"Thank you, Redpaw," Brightlight said, taking the borage leaves from him and setting them down in front of Silverlight. "For you. It'll help more milk to be produced for your kits."

"I know what they're for, Brightlight," Silverlight muttered.

Brightlight turned on her so suddenly that she flinched. "No you don't," she snapped. "You're not a medicine cat anymore, Silverlight. And you will never be one ever again."