Nightfeather

Nightpaw had been wandering for days, hunting and resting when necessary, when she came upon a clearing. Towards the edge of the clearing, not far from her, she saw three kits, not much smaller than herself. Two of the kits were playfighting, while the other watched, cheering them on. Then, suddenly, the spectator kit glanced in her direction, tensing slightly when its eyes met hers. Not wanting to appear weak, Nightpaw headed straight for the kit who had seen her. Slightly alarmed, the young kit alerted the other two, who had stopped what they were doing and went to sit on either side of the kit, who, Nightpaw noticed, seemed to be the runt of the bunch.

Nightpaw walked straight to the three kits and said, in a friendly tone, "Hi."

The other kits, seeming to realize that she meant no harm, said, "Hi," back. The one to the left of the smallest one said, "What's your name?"

Not knowing how to answer, Nightpaw stuttered, "I-I-" and stopped. Then she composed herself, took back her dignity, and proclaimed, almost proudly, "I don't have a name. I was abandoned by my parents. I don't know who they are, I don't belong to any clan, and I don't have a name."

The kits, astonished by her proclamation, as well as by the tone with which she said it, just stared at her. Then, shaking its head, the biggest kit introduced the three kits, smallest first, itself last, and asked, "D'you wanna play?"

Relieved at having been accepted, Nightpaw smiled and said. "Sure."

The kits started playfighting, Nightpaw against the biggest, the smaller two left to fight each other.

The kit that Nightpaw playfought held back, thinking that, after being left to wander for so long, Nightpaw might be weak. But the kit quickly realized that this wasn't the case, as Nightpaw quickly gained the upper hand, and had her opponent pinned the the ground in moments.

Astonished, the other two, who had been wrestling, stopped to watch. Deciding to go full strength, the kit that was still pinned beneath Nightpaw challenged, "Rematch," and pushed Nightpaw off of her, squaring her shoulders and meeting Nightpaw's excited gaze. She pounced on Nightpaw, no longer holding back even an ounce of her strength. But Nightpaw still had the kit pinned in just a few moments. Not wanting their litter-mate to be shamed, the smaller kits jumped in, and they all fought, Nightpaw against the three clan kits. But it still only took a few minutes to pin them all to the ground.

*****

Hiding inconspicuously nearby, the clan Warrior, Firefern, had been watching the four kits as they playfought. Firefern had had every intention of intervening; of sending away the mysterious new intruder and scolding the three kits of the clan---Fireclan---for talking and playing with an outsider. But then he had seen how well this new kit had fought off the other three, and couldn't help but watch, intrigued be how good the kit was.

Having seen enough, Firefern went to the leader of the clan---Specklestar---to tell of the wonders he had just witnessed.

Specklestar, who had been in her den, listened to what Firefern had to say, intrigued by the mysterious young newcomer. Wishing to see exactly what Firefern was talking about, Specklestar followed Firefern to the nursery, where the four kits were still laughing as Nightpaw pinned the other three, in turn, to the ground, belly-up.

Specklestar stopped a few feet from the edge of the nursery at first, watching in wonder as Nightpaw took each of her opponents with ease.

After a few more moments of this, Specklestar intervened.

"Kits of Fireclan," she announced, in such a way that made obvious the fact that she was Fireclan's leader, "please step back from the newcomer."

The kits did as they'd been told. Nightpaw, surprised and a little frightened, squared her shoulders and stood tall and proud under the eyes of this new appraiser.

"Young kit," Specklestar started, "what is your name?"

One of the kits, the smallest, started to speak, "She-" but was immediately silenced by a quick glance from Specklestar.

Throwing her head back in a dignified manner, the new kit answered, "I have no name."

Specklestar, disbelieving, asked again. "What is your name?"

Again, Nightpaw replied, "I have no name."

Specklestar started to protest, but before she could make a sound, Nightpaw continued, "I was abandoned at birth. My parents never gave me a name."

Specklestar, slightly taken aback, said to Nightpaw, "So, you have no name and no parents. But to which clan were you born?"

As before, Nightpaw calmly, almost proudly, said to her challenger, "I belong to no clan. I take care of myself."

Specklestar paused, considering. She had liked what she'd seen before, and the new kit's skills could come in handy. Besides, she didn't belong to any clan, and even the toughest cat couldn't last very long on its own.

Having made her decision, Specklestar raised her voice, squared her shoulders, met Nightpaw's gaze directly, and announced, "By the powers invested in me by the cats of Fireclan, You are hereby adopted as a Fireclan kit. Because of the darkness of your pelt, I will call you Nightkit. I want you to observe the clan, and to learn our ways. This is a once in a lifetime offer. Do you accept?"

The black kit--Nightkit--thought about this offer. She had, on one hand, made it thus far on her own, and she thought she did well for herself; but on the other hand, she often felt lonely. And, she thought, it might be kind of fun to have the other kits around to play with. Plus, she was tired of sleeping in a different place every night--places that were often cold and, sometimes, wet. And, most of all, of having to spend most of her time hunting--and all of her time alone.

Squaring her shoulders, she looked straight into Specklestar's eyes and said, "Yes, I accept your offer."

"Good," said Specklestar. She lightly place her right paw on Nightkit's left shoulder and, still gazing into her eyes, announced, "You are now a kit of Fireclan." She dropped her paw. "You shall take the next few days to get acquainted with the others and to learn our ways. Then, once you've settled in, we'll see what your strengths are, we'll establish your weaknesses, and we'll go from there." Her expression softened from a formal gaze to a friendly smile as she adopted a nurturing tone and said, "Welcome to Fireclan, Nightkit. You are no longer alone. We are your family now. Please don't hesitate to take advantage of this."

Nightkit closed her eyes and bowed her head briefly in gratitude, and Specklestar turned toward the rest of the clan, all of whom had gathered to see what all the excitement was.

"Alright. Now that the situation has been resolved, as you were, all of you." And she and all of the other cats returned to what they'd been doing, as the kits returned to their playfights and Firefern went back to where he'd been watching them before. He continued to be amazed at this new kit's agility and speed. It was as if she had been fighting all her life.

Of course, he thought to himself, she probable has. She probable had to teach herself how to fight after her parents abandoned her. That's probably how she's managed to survive all this time.

After Nightkit had pinned all three kits to the ground another time or two, Firefern went to his favorite spot to think.