Dark Skies- Book #2 in Sunrise

Chapter 18
Jadeheart nudged a squirrel in front of Starlight's muzzle. "Eat. Please," she meowed quietly. Starlight blinked at her and wrinkled his nose. "No thank you, I just ate." Jadeheart knew that he hadn't, he had only been hunting for the past few sunrises, neglecting the necessity of eating.

"Come on, it wouldn't hurt to eat a bit more." Starlight sat up and waved his tail in the air, grimacing. "I'm fine, and it would hurt to eat more. I can tell this Leaf-Bare's going to be a hard one" Jadeheart sighed, looking into Starlight's lake-blue eyes.

Starlight had been worrying her, and most cats in the Clan since Cloudwhisker's death. "Eat." Jadeheart growled, pressing the squirrel closer to Starlight's face. It was still warm; Beechpaw had caught it just for him. "Leave the cat alone," Scatfur growled from the warriors den.

"If he doesn't want to eat, he won't eat." Jadeheart felt anger boil inside her due to Scatfur's crushing attitude. "How about you wait until Lightningstrike's starving to make that statement," Jadeheart meowed harshly. Scatfur's brow wrinkled at the name Lightningstrike for a moment.

"She's your mate, for StarClan's sake!" Scatfur shrugged and padded away. Bristlefur hobbled outside of the elders' den, Yellowstone by his side. "Young cats. They can't even remember their own mates. Wait until you get old, you remember everything....."

Bristlefur raised his head at the sight of his son. "Watcha doing? Aren't you supposed to be doing deputy duties?" Starlight sadly shook his head. "No," he murmured. "No?" Bristlefur rasped, nudging Starlight's scrawny ribs. "Clawbark's the deputy now," Yellowstone reminded him gently, her black and yellow pelt sending sun reflecting back onto the ground.

"Well, why not Starlight?" Bristlefur argued as if Starlight wasn't lying right beside him. "He's a fine young cat. Why, if Pondnose were here, she'd force him to eat some good prey and make Flipstar appoint him as deputy!" Yellowstone shook her head.

Pondnose isn't here, Jadeheart noticed that Frostfang was watching from a few fox-lengths away, chewing on her lip. "What's wrong?" Jadeheart asked her. Frostfang's jaw twitched before settling on the word 'nothing'. Jadeheart narrowed her eyes into slits but said nothing.

Cleartail was slinking out of camp, but Jadeheart caught up to him. "Huh?" He asked wearily, his ears flattened to his head. "Can we talk?" Cleartail flicked his ears and nodded. "Go right ahead." Jadeheart steered him out of camp and sat down.

"Do you, er, remember what you said?" Cleartail's eyes brightened, but he forced himself to look neutral. "I've said a lot of things," he muttered. "Yeah, but, er....you know." "No, I don't know," Cleartail growled. Jadeheart forced her fur to stay flat. "Do you want to, um......"

"Have kits?" Cleartail finished her sentence hopefully. "Yeah." Cleartail's eyes lit up like all the stars in Silverpelt were being contained there. "Yes!" He yowled, bursting back into camp. Embarrassment and excitement bubbled up inside of Jadeheart as Cleartail yowled the same phrase to the whole of ThunderClan. "Yes!"
                                                                                     .  .  .
As every Leaf-Bare is bound to be, it was dark and gloomy. Starlight was growing thinner, and Sparkpelt was growing closer to having Drizzlespot's kits. Outside of the nursery, Blurkit and Snakekit were play fighting.

Blurkit was a gray tom with blue eyes, and Snakekit was also a tom with white fur and amber eyes. Goldenstrike watched proudly from outside the nursery, her tail curled around her paws. Blurkit dodged Snakekit's clumsy blow, his tail sticking up in triumph.

Twitchheart was expecting Clawbark's kits, and the whole Clan was buzzing with excitement. "Here, catch my tail." Jadeheart raised her tail not too far above Snakekit's head, waving it temptingly. She braced herself as Snakekit bunched his muscles and pounced. He wrapped his tiny paws around Jadeheart's tail and dragged it down a mouse-length before her tail slipped out of his grasp.