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"Now get off her! You're almost crushing her!"
Amberpaw stepped aside, ears flattened. "Sorry," she squeaked, addressing Starlingtalon.
Larkpaw straightened up, still a little dazed. Purring, her littermate jumped around her. "One night you just disappeared! Where were you?"
Larkpaw flinched. She knew she had to tell the truth, especially to Amberpaw. It also felt wrong. Still, she couldn't get a word out.
Without responding to her hesitation, Amberpaw turned towards the Birchtunnel. "It doesn't matter for now. Let's go to camp. I'm sure the others will be happy to see you again."
When Larkpaw looked at Starlingtalon, the dark brown she-cat nodded in agreement. "I'll wait here for the rest of the battle patrol. I'm sure they'll be here any moment."
Heart pounding, Larkpaw entered the RoseClan camp for the first time in a quarter moon. It was strange to be back here now. Somehow it felt as if she had been away for many leaf-changes, it seemed so strange to her.
I'm sure that will soon pass, she told herself.
At first, everything was quiet in the clearing. Not a cat was to be seen, so Larkpaw almost feared that the others wouldn't care about her return.
Then the undergrowth in front of the nursery shook and a small, grey-brown tabby cat stormed out.
Owl. When his gaze fell on Larkpaw, his eyes widened and he whirled around to stick his head into the bushes.
Shortly afterwards, Blossom and Nettle climbed out in a wild scramble and the three of them charged towards Larkpaw.
"Where have you been?" Blossom meowed, protesting. Her red tail twitched.
Nettle stuck his muzzle out and looked up at Larkpaw suspiciously. "Have you been on an adventure without us? Why didn't you take us with you?"
At the sight of him, Larkpaw couldn't help but purr. "Well, you couldn't call it an adventure," she corrected. When the kits hung their heads, she quickly added, "You'd better be glad you were here. I almost thought I'd never go home again!"
This seemed to have had an effect, because suddenly the sad expression on the kits' faces disappeared and was replaced by fear.
Larkpaw immediately noticed an approaching feeling of guilt. It wasn't my intention to unsettle them.
Just as she opened her mouth to reassure them, Nettle crowed in between, "Do you know the latest news yet?"
Larkpaw shook her head in confusion.
"We all have Clan names now!" Blossom announced, who could hardly hide her excitement. She pranced around jubilantly. "You have to call me Blossomkit now!"
"Really?" Larkpaw backed away in surprise. "But I thought Flutter wanted to leave again."
"Flutterflight!" Owlkit meowed with a slightly annoyed tone. "But we all managed to convince her to stay here and take on a Clan name."
