EverPath's Secrets

Prologue

        A pale she-cat woke up, the newleaf sun shining brightly on her face. She got up and lifted her paw up to her mouth and began to groom, she thought about all the prey she would hunt today, mice, voles, birds, and her favorite, fish.

Once she had finished grooming her fur, she got to her feet and fluffed it out. EverPath turned around and looked behind her, some of her bedding had gotten ripped apart while she had slept. She turned around and and moved her bedding back into place with her paws, the freshly gathered moss tickling her paw-pads. She got back up and trotted away, the ground was warm, she was used to having cold hard snow on her pads. Some of the snow was still left over from bareleaf, and she could see kits playing in the fluffy snow from her nest.

A few of the kits were playing around, they sprayed the snow into their siblings' faces. One of them, a black spotted kitten with white paws, was sitting near the entrance to the nursery. Her mother came over and guided her into the medicine cat den, EverPath's ears pricked with interest as she spotted this, and she followed them.

She came into the den and looked at the kits paws, one was twisted sideways with some scrapes and nips. "How are you feeling CloverKit?'' EverPath meowed, she sounded joyful but a hint of concern and guilt in her voice. The little kit was grooming her unbroken paw with long licks of her little pink tongue. When she turned to groom her twisted paw, the medicine cat, DancingFeather, stopped him and meowed, "Don't lick that paw unless you have honey on your tongue!"

Whenever people meowed to her it was happily, but with concern edging their tones. She didn't deserve this disability, one day she was out and about in camp when her sisters and brothers where playing. She was never the restless type, and was heading to hear a story from the elders.

Her siblings were playing 'catch the falling leaf' and her brother tripped and fell on her. Her paw got tangled in some roots and got twisted badly. She yelped in pain and EverPath ran to help, she used her claws to scratch the root apart and let her paw free. She desperately carried her by the scruff to the medicine cat den.

After that, CloverKit barely ever talked to her siblings. Her brother apologized, and she accepted that. But the mourning feeling of not being able to walk without pain still grew inside her. After that, she received lots of care and help from the older cats in the clan (even the apprentices) but it never helped. EverPath loved the kit, she devoted her time in camp to helping her walk. She eventually got it, but still has pain and limps.