Island Territory: Lost Stars (Warrior Cats)

Chapter 27

Photo up there is Icekit, after the Journey

It was almost like she had walked into a hive full of wasps. They all gathered around the trio in a matter of moments, and soon started whispering and cheering.
It was a blur; there were cats yowling out their names, and chatting in wonder and amazement at them.
Icekit's theories were true; most of the whispers thought they were dead, they had already held a vigil for them, thinking the kits could have never survived.
But as loud as the yowls were, Icekit was just glad to be home, where she was back where she was always meant to be.
Her littermates seemed utterly overjoyed to be home again, and Icekit could see Snowkit's reunion with the apprentices even from a huge group of cats blocking her way.
Icekit could see Mistytail gasping in surprise, and rushing to welcome her. Hollyfire was on her way; and Swiftwind cracked a rare smile that Icekit hadn't seen before.
Darkcloud was chatting away with Goldwing, on how this miracle could have happened, while Foxfoot was eagerly rushing forwards to greet her.
And, finally, there was Spottedheart, looking at his kits as if he saw Starclan cats there instead.
After a few astonished moments, he dashed over to them, and the crowd of cats lept out of the way as he came.
"Icekit! Snowkit! Sweetkit! H-how..." he stuttered, dumbfounded. Icekit purred happily, and dove her muzzle right into her father's fur, embracing the warmth and love that she missed the most.
This was what Icekit yearned to feel again, the feeling of being loved and missed, not just by her sisters.
Her littermates soon spotted Spottedheart, and rushed over to greet him excitedly. Soon, they had all had a chance to reunite with him.
Sweetkit looked nevertheless happy to see her foster father, and treated him as though he was her own parent.
And finally, finally! There she was, standing there; Crystalpelt, looking far better then she had when they last saw her.
She looked like herself again; the smooth silky fur and her eyes shined once again, like the moons altogether.
"My kits!" she suddenly burst out, racing across the camp to reach them. Icekit could only imagine what it must have felt like, to lose all three of your kits in one fell swoop.
Crystalpelt barreled into them all, knocking the family backwards, and licking Icekit all over, as if reassuring herself that they were real.
Everyone around them seemed to smile, except Ambergaze, who scowled at the sight of them.
But then, there were Riverkit and Longkit. They, of course, were snarling and sneering just as unpleasantly as ever, clearly disappointed that they survived the flood.
"How did you survive?" Crystalpelt whispered, through sobs of happiness. "We'll tell you, if you get... Off us!" Icekit heaved, wriggling out from Crystalpelt and scrambling to her paws.
Crystalpelt instantly moved backwards, letting go of Snowkit, and took a while to right herself, while Sweetkit gasped dramatically for air.
It was good, good, good to be home, and all the scents finally drifted back to her, the mint, the clan, the markers, it was suddenly spinning all back to her.
Just then, she felt like a true warrior returning to her clan after a vicious battle, and all her clanmates cheered her name as she stepping in, yowling, and smiling...
Icekit eagerly told Crystalpelt their story, emphasized a bit, but nevertheless, managed to finish, and Crystalpelt again, burst into sobs of relief.
"I swear to Starclan, if that badger had gotten you..." Spottedheart hissed slightly, shaking his head as though he was disagreeing with himself.
"It's ok, really, we're fine!" Sweetkit said ressuringly to Spottedheart, smiling hopefully. Crystalpelt finally managed to contain herself, and licked her foster kit's head warmly.
"You've all grown." Spottedheart praised, staring at his kits proudly, something fatherly shining in his eyes.
That was true; Icekit had gotten much taller, and her muzzle has broadened clearly. Icekit puffed out her chest triumphantly of her growth, and noticed her sisters each looked much taller and more mature than before.
Sweetkit's bow finally seemed to fit her size, and not that floppy pink thing that was on her head.
Snowkit's fur had lengthened, and her shoulders had squared, giving her a playful but calm aura.
In fact, they were almost six moons now; almost about to be apprentices. Perhaps they could start their apprenticeship earlier, because of their journey...
But before Icekit could dwell on it any longer, Treestar had appeared next to Icekit, glancing at her and her littermates solemnly.
"That was a hard journey, was it not? Some warriors might not have been able to make it. I know I wouldn't, at your age." Treestar praised, her voice solid and clear.
Icekit blushed, a bit embarrassed at Treestar's compliment. Although, it was hard to believe that Treestar herself wouldn't have been able to make it.
Sweetkit reacted the same way, looking away and ducking their heads. Only Snowkit seemed to keep herself poised, however her eyes darted away from contact.
"And, I suppose you, Snowkit, would like to train as a medicine cat apprentice? We'd be honored to have you, with your clear memory." Treestar asked suddenly, and they soon grew quiet.
A few awkwards moments passed, and Icekit remembered how Snowkit had told them she'd train as a warrior apprentice for two moons.
But now that she had been asked by the leader of Cloudclan, Icekit wasn't sure what would happen next. Another beat passed, and Snowkit finally managed to say something, at least.
"Well, I..." Snowkit started, unable to bring herself to her conclusion. "I-I'd like to train as a warrior apprentice... Just for two moons..." Snowkit said quietly, almost inaudible.
"Really?" Treestar asked, her eyes raising in confusion. "From what I've heard, Dapplefang said that you've been messing around in the nursery since you could open your eyes."
At this, Snowkit blushed furiously, and turned away, however still not accepting Treestar's offer. "Just for two moons. Then I'll be a medicine cat apprentice."
Treestar gazed at Snowkit hesitantly for a brief moment, but soon nodded in respect and padded away to the medicine den, likely to tell Dapplefang about it.
Snowkit sighed and padded to the nursery, although glancing around a bit to make sure she was going the correct way.
"Hey, you three back already? What, thought clan life was too hard and ran away?" Riverkit's mew broke the the clearing, sneering at the trio with beady eyes.
"Go away Riverkit." Icekit hissed, glaring back at Riverkit, almost having a duel just with her sight.
Riverkit scoffed, and puffed out her fur proudly, and soon Longkit had appeared beside her, smiling wickedly. "Call me Riverpaw now. I'm an apprentice, unlike some cat. Or should I say, some cats."
Laughing stupidly, Longpaw jeered at Icekit tauntingly, flicking his tail as though it were royalty.
Grunting angrily, Icekit stormed off, after Snowkit, into the nursery. "What? Am I being too hard on a little kit like you?" Riverpaw mocked, blinking her eyes innocently.
A great laughter echoed from behind her, Riverkit's cackling soon drifting away, as Icekit raced off to the nursery, her paws aching a bit.
It was then that she realized just how tired she was. Her nest was already moved in the nursery, loaded off in a small pile beside her.
Her prey had of course, been moved to the prey pile, even though most of it was stale, compared to the fresh-kill that lay beside it.
Other then that, everything was still there, in a small bundle next to her little nest, newly placed in the nursery, as well as her sister's.
Icekit had been travelling for days; and never got the relaxing comfort that she always used to have, instead of worrying every single day that they weren't going to make it.
But it was very relaxing to finally be back, despite the constant whispering that went with her as she went from place to place.
Her nest was crumpled a bit, rugged and dirty compared to the other ones in the nursery.
The nursery was nearly empty, which was bad, but there were still some nests lying around that looked much better than Icekit's, without any effort.
Which was reasonable, since her nest had been dragged across the whole island, it of course would be covered with dirt and mud.
But it seemed as if Snowkit had repaired it a bit, since the top was replaced with new strands of longrass, reminding her of her journey.
As she expected, the camp was entirely different, and there were still some cracks and dents in the nearby trees.
The nursery was a bit different; the overhanging rocks were renewed, and only a few remnants of Sweetkit's training track survived the disaster.
Icekit suspected that Crystalpelt, once she had gotten better, kept the training track, as a memento of her kits that had disappeared.
Then she remembered the relief of Goldwing's face when she got back. Perhaps she felt guilty for losing the three kits, or maybe it just stuck with her.
Whatever it was, Icekit was too tired to guess, with her paws hurting like they were jabbed with thousands of thorns all at once.
Icekit collapsed onto her den, trying to rest her paws. It was about time for Icekit to sleep anyways, although she just couldn't bring herself to do so.
Along the journey, Icekit hadn't been sleeping well; she was always disturbed at the thoughts that usually came to her before she slept, and all the memories that washed up when she closed her eyes.
It was still very hard to sleep, even though she knew everything was going to be alright. Snowkit had easily drifted off beside her, twitching a bit in her sleep.
Snowkit usually did this, as though she was having the strangest dreams at night. That wouldn't be too surprising; she had admitted to having those dreams when she was only three moons old, though she had one when she was only two.
It was, as she had said a few days back, a common trait of the medicine cat; all of them had dreams with Starclan, but Icekit refused to believe it for a while.
It was no use, her plan had already been set in stone. Two glorious moons of being a warrior apprentice alongside her, and then she'd go back into the medicine cat den, never to be seen again.
Although, Snowkit had mentioned that Dapplefang said that medicine cats still had to learn self defense, so there was one thing they could train together about.
Thoughts swirled around Icekit's head, as she finally managed to screw her eyes shut. Once again, she tried her best to sleep, thinking about peaceful things, and not the dreadful flood that had lost them.
Soon enough, she thought of the meadows, and the camp she was reunited with. She remembered the skies she had journey under, and all the stars in the sky.
Finally, she was able to breathe freely, and escape into sleep, which gently drifted over her, like a blanket to protect against the darkness.