**OLD** Valley Cats: Of Sky and Stone 1- Daughters and Darkness

Chapter One

 In the icy winter air, Twisterkit shivered. She watched her siblings fighting over a ball of moss in a shallow puddle of half-frozen mud. Her younger brother Galekit was hanging back, leaping out of the way any time they rolled near him. He quickly tired of the game, trotting over to join Twisterkit. "You're being rather quiet. Are you planning another heist?" he said breathlessly.

 Twisterkit stood up and pawed at a scrap of moss on her brother's shoulder. "Shh, don't say that  out in the open! Someone could hear us!" she hissed.

 She glanced over her shoulder at the elders. They were chatting with Ravenflight, the senior medicine cat. Twisterkit turned her head to look at her mother, who was busy scolding Mousepaw about the half-hearted job he had done in the nursery. Snowspirit left him to redo it and made a beeline for her kits playing in the mud puddle.

 The white she-cat loomed over her kits. "Did you absolutely have to roll in all that mud?" she said through gritted teeth. Brightkit and Magpiekit stopped in their play and looked up at her innocently. Snowspirit bared her teeth. "Now I have to wash all that off. And just when I thought I could get some rest." she said irritably. 

 Just then, two more kits raced out of the nursery. Finchkit and Sparrowkit leaped into the mud alongside their playmates. Dovetail followed more slowly. She paused when she saw Snowspirit glaring at the kits.

 "How about you get some rest? Mousepaw will be done with your nest soon. I'll watch your kits for you." she offered.

 Snowspirit turned around to touch whiskers with her. "Thank you, Dovetail. You always know just what a cat needs." she said gratefully. Snowspirit brushed past her and ducked into the nursery.

 Twisterkit watched as her mother's fluffy white tail disappeared through the vines.  Dovetail sat down on a flat rock and washed her paw, glancing over at the kits every once in a while. Twisterkit nudged Galekit behind a bush, where she continued the conversation.

 "I'm waiting for the border patrol to come back. Once they get here, we can sneak out without worrying about running into them. But we should probably get dirty first, so our scents will be hidden. Plus, we'll blend into the ground." she explained. 

 Galekit looked confused. "Why would we need to be camouflaged?"

 Twisterkit grinned widely. "We're going hunting." she whispered.

 Just when she was poking her head out from behind the bush, Sandyfur and Robinsong entered the camp. Squirrelpaw and Daisypaw stepped in behind them. The border patrol was back.

 Sandyfur wandered over and struck up a conversation with Mothtail. The two sisters had their backs turned to the kits' corner of the camp. It was the perfect distraction. 

 Quickly, Twisterkit pounced on Galekit. He flopped over into the mud, not putting up much of a fight. Galekit pawed at her while she rolled away before standing up and shaking out her mudstained fur, splashing a few final drops onto her brother. Galekit was absolutely covered in dirt now. Twisterkit could hardly recognize him.

 Only a few tail-lengths away, the two sisters were still talking. Poppystar strode over to join her deputy. While the two seemed to catch up, Mothtail glanced over her shoulder at the kits before turning back to the conversation.

 Twisterkit padded over to her siblings, who were rolling around in the mud with Mothtail's two tomkits. She pulled her little sister Magpiekit away from where she was watching her older brother Brightkit wrestling  with Sparrowkit while his older brother Finchkit sat to the side.

 The younger she-kit jumped, whirling around to face her older sister. "Oh, hey, Twisterkit." she mumbled, looking embarrassed. 

 "We're going out. You wanna come with us this time?" Twisterkit asked cheerfully, omitting the 'breaking the rules' part. 

 Her sister looked around nervously before leaning in. "Where are we going?" she said in a low tone. "We're going hunting!" Twisterkit said passionately.

 Magpiekit looked sad for a moment. "Oh, I probably won't catch anything. You guys go ahead, though." 

 Brightkit stepped over to give her an affectionate shove. "Oh, come on, Magpiekit. Stop being such a wet wad of moss and come with us this time." he encouraged.

 His sister just shied back and shook her head. "I'm gonna go lay down. I'll see you guys soon though, right?" she said, solemn as ever.

 Brightkit looked annoyed. "Why not? All we did last time was go look at the sand pit, but all you did was stay here to listen to the elders' stories." he complained.

 Magpiekit shrugged. "It sounded really far away."

 Brightkit gritted his teeth in frustration, but Twisterkit smiled knowingly. "That's all right. We'll see you soon."

 She turned to her two brothers. "Let's go," she commanded.