Flame

Chapter Fifteen

Dove stood astounded. Kits? she had never thought of having kits before. The idea was totally new to her. Kits? It thrilled and scared her at the same time. Would they become warriors? Or would they become loners, like her? She shook her head, overwhelmed.

“We can’t have kits!” she thought out loud. “They’d have no future! Nothing to do with their lives!”

“Whoa, whoa. Calm down. Our kits will be fine, they’ll have a future, don’t worry.”

“Yes, but what kind? I don’t want our kits to suffer. A loner’s life is no life for a kit! If only we both lived safely in a clan…”

Flame sighed. “I promise I’ll get you to a clan. Our kits will grow to be warriors, they’ll get names like yours. I promise.”

Dove looked up with eyes full of love. “Thank you,” she stepped closer, and let his warmth seep into her pelt. “I wonder what they’ll look like?” she asked.

“I bet they will all be as pretty as you are. But,” he added jokingly, “then they’d all be ugly!” 

A comical growl rose in Dove’s throat as she pounced on top of Flame. Laughing, he easily shoved her off and trotted daintily ahead. 

“Come on, lazy bones!” he shouted. She puffed over to him and said, “We need to stop doing that! It must upset the kits!” 

“Yeah, I guess so. We do need to conserve energy for the mountains.” Just then his paw struck a stone, and he floundered to the ground. Both cats looked up. 

“Starclan help us,” prayed Dove. Because there, up above them stood the mountains. 

“They are so much bigger up close!” Flame exclaimed. And indeed they were. Towering high above their heads, they stood higher than Silverpelt and it’s brigade of stars. Flame looked up at the sky, it was getting dark.

“Lets sleep here tonight. Its almost dark out!” Dove nodded as if in a stupor. 

“We also might need to fill ourselves with prey, in order to have strength for the journey,”

“I’ll go catch some prey while you stay here and rest,” he glared at her to emphasize his point. “Got it?”

Dove lay down and smiled. “Sure,”

“Okay, well, I’ll be back,” he disappeared into the forest. Dove craned her neck to make sure he had gone. Tip toeing nearer to the wood, she tasted the air. ‘Nope, no Flame.’ she decided. She ducked into the forest and breathed in the scents. ‘Ah, nothing like the smell of trees,’ she thought. Creeping forward, she searched for more particular smells. Spotting some daisys she tenderly jerked them from the ground. She gathered the remaining sorrel, chamomile and burnet and headed back to ‘camp’. As soon as she stepped into the clearing, Flame bombarded her with questions.

“Where were you? You said you would stay in camp! Why didn’t you? You scared me half to death! I thought a badger or fox had, well, you know!”

“Flame calm down. I’m fine.” 

For the first time, he noticed the pile of herbs Dove had collected. “What are these?” 

“Traveling herbs. What did you think they were?”

“I don’t know. Where did you learn how to do that? I thought only Medicine cats know how to. Well?”

“My mother was a Medicine cat. She taught me a little. Any more questions?” as an answer to her own question, she lay down and began to chew a squirrel Flame had caught. Flame sighed and began to eat his own thrush. 

“What’s with your thrush?” Dove asked.

“What is wrong with it?”

“Usually they have feathers..” 

“Oh, well, look at our nest,”

Dove checked the feather lined nest and sighed. “Thanks,”  she padded over to it, and poked it. “Nice job, too. I’m going to turn in, okay?” Flame nodded, and joined her. 

“Good night, Dove,” 

“Night, Flame,” Dove closed her eyes to let kits dance in her dreams.