River Ripples: The First Wave

Chapter 1

Ripplekit woke to excited mews and a surprisingly strong paw poking her in the flank. She blinked open her eyes for the first time, taking in the vast walls of the nursery. She lay curled up in her mother's warmth, exhausted. Looking around, she found the source of the disturbance - a tiny light gray she-kit, gazing at her expectantly with big amber eyes.

"Well?" the she-kit prompted. At Ripplekit's silence, she added: "What's your name? Mine's Wolfkit. Did you know that we were

born at almost the same time? That's so cool! And now that your eyes are open, we can both go outside! What do you want to do first? How about we go fishing? I've always wanted to go fishing!"

All this time Ripplekit was staring at Wolfkit's mouth, which was spitting out words faster than she thought possible. As she tried to wrap her head around all the questions she had to answer, a new voice spoke from behind her, a deep, comforting mew that let Ripplekit know that no matter what happened, everything would be okay - her mother's: "Slow down, Wolfkit! You're meowing quicker than a WindClan rabbit can run! Hold up and catch your breath. Besides, you can't go fishing; you have to be six moons old to leave camp, and you've barely been born for a sunrise!"

At Oakflower's words, Wolfkit's whiskers drooped and her fur started to lie flat again. Breathing an internal sigh of relief, Ripplekit went back to examining the den she was in. A bunch of brambles stretched high above her head, sunlight streaming in through the patches. Soon I'll be big enough to reach the top, like my mother! she thought excitedly. Looking behind her at Oakflower, she saw a pretty cream colored she-cat with dark brown splotches and shining green eyes. Ripplekit knew that she had just been teasing Wolfkit, but that was a secret that she would never tell her new friend. The other queen in the nursery, Ripplekit knew, was Owlfeather, the mother of Wolfkit herself. A light brown tabby, she looked nothing like her daughter, but then, Ripplekit looked nothing like her mother, either. She was playfully glancing at Oakflower, also aware of the joking game she was playing. Afraid to break their blue-to-green eye contact, Ripplekit instead crept forward and snuggled up close to Wolfkit. She smelled of Owlfeather's milk, just as Ripplekit smelled of Oakflower's.

"Hey, we may not be allowed to go fishing outside of camp yet, but I'd bet that there are some puddles we can splash in! Do you want to come with me and find out?" she whispered. "Maybe we can meet some of our Clanmates, too!"

Wolfkit jerked her head up suddenly and smiled real big. "You really think so? Cool! It sounds like a daring adventure to me!"

"But we have to keep quiet and sneak out, or our mothers might not let us go by ourselves," Ripplekit reasoned in a hushed mew. "Or they may want to spy on us to make sure we don't get into trouble."

"Like we would!" But that was all that Wolfkit had time to meow indignantly before Ripplekit's tail slapped over her mouth. Taking the hint, the light gray she-kit nodded and the tail receded. Slowly, the two kits moved into a crouching position and steadily placed one paw in front of the other until they were huddled outside the nursery entrance. There, Ripplekit pricked her ears and heard only the muffled murmurs of the queens, unaware that their daughters had escaped.

"And what exactly are you two doing out here without your mothers?" a deep meow questioned. Ripplekit and Wolfkit jumped in surprise and whipped their heads around to look at the tom that had spooked them. He was dark brown and had amber eyes that perfectly matched the midday sun. They studied the two she-kits quizzically, but not with a scolding manner. Quite to the contrary, the tom was gazing at them with a mischievous but yet playful glint in his eyes. I hope he's not planning on telling Owlfeather and Oakflower, Ripplekit thought. If he does, they won't let us out on our own for moons!