"I'm going to be the best warrior ever!" announced Snailkit. 
              "Well I'm going to be the best leader ever!" retorted Acornkit. "And Willowkit can be my deputy." Willowkit beamed with pride while Snailkit stuck his tongue out. 
              "Keep it down," Mintspot said tiredly. 
              "I'll be Acornstar, leader of WindClan," grinned Acornkit. 
               "I'll be Snailstar! Leader of WindClan!" retorted Snailkit. 
                "Hey," came a voice. Beetlejaw slipped into the nursery and nuzzled Mintspot lovingly. 
                "How are you?" he asked in a low gentle voice. Mintspot shrugged and licked him on the cheek. Willowkit watched, unable to peel her eyes off them. The love radiated around her. She imagined herself curled up between them. She smiled slightly. Beetlejaw turned and spotted Willowkit. He smiled.
                "Hey, how you doing?" he asked. Willowkit grinned and wiggled her tail. 
                 "Good," she said brightly. 
                 "What are you guys playing?" asked Beetlejaw. He padded over to them. Acornkit trotted up to him. 
                 "We're playing WindClan," announced Acornkit proudly. "And I'm Acornstar." Beetlejaw laughed, his eyes sparkled. Willowkit watched in awe. She had never seen him do that. Not with a kit. 
                 "Greetings, Acornstar, from WindClan," Beetlejaw said in a low voice. He bowed down. Acornkit grinned broadly and pushed his chest out in pride. 
                "I'm Snailstar from ThunderClan!" put in Snailkit. Beetlejaw did the same for Snailkit. Willowkit wanted to jump right in and join in but she could feel Mintspot's eyes on her. She opened her mouth to say something but her voice could not be found. Her mind ran through all the things that could go wrong. She sat back and watched as Beetlejaw chatted with Snailkit and Acornkit until he turned back to Mintspot. 
                "Have a good day and do go out for a walk," he told her firmly, licking her on the forehead.
                "Yeah," nodded Mintspot. "You too. Be safe." Beetlejaw turned to the kits, flashed a smile and trotted off. 
               "Let's go outside and play fight!" yelled Acornkit. 
               "Last one out is the fox!" shouted Snailkit before bounding away. Acornkit raced after him. Willowkit jumped to her feet, about to set off then quickly turned to Mintspot. 
              "Can I-?" she started. Mintspot wasn't paying attention anymore. Her eyes adjusted and landed on Willowkit as if she was just seeing her.
             "Huh? Oh yeah yeah, go ahead," Mintspot nodded not really paying attention. With a giant smile, Willowkit raced after her playmates. They were there outside, waiting for her. 
             "You're the fox," declared Acornkit. Willowkit didn't mind, as long as she got to play with them. She leapt at them and they growled. They rolled around in the dirt, laughing and snarling. A large paw pushed Snailkit. 
              "Do you want me to show you a few moves?" asked the cat. It was Fernspring. 
               "Yes please!" piped in Acornkit and Snailkit. Willowkit nodded and screamed yes in her head. She watched as Fernspring made Acornkit and Snailkit position themselves. She retreated to the shadows. She watched carefully, remembering the crouching position. Fernspring's eyes flickered to her. They reflected pity.
              "Do you want to come?" asked Fernspring gently. Willowkit almost glanced back to see if she was asking another kit but instead, she gave a feeble nod. Fernspring motioned for Willowkit to stand next to the other kits. 
              "Crouch," said Fernspring. Willowkit crouched. She kept her tail low and her stomach just above the ground. "Perfect! Now you are going to push off your back legs and swipe with your front paw like this." Fernspring crouched and swiftly leapt up, slashing at the air with her front paw.
               "Wow!" cooed Snailkit. "I bet I can do that."
               "I bet I can do it better!" cried Acornkit. He crouched and jumped up, throwing out his front paw. Snailkit giggled as Acornkit lost balance and tumbled to the ground. Willowkit couldn't help but giggle slightly as well then quickly glanced around to see if anybody had seen her. 
                "Try again," laughed Fernspring. "Don't jump straight up like that. Concentrate on swiping." Snailkit and Acornkit both started to practise the move. Willowkit eagerly tried it as well, watching her playmates and copying what was right from their movement. She kept doing it until she knew she had got it right. She didn't celebrate the way Acornkit though when he got it right. Nobody had seen her do the move effortlessly. Not even Fernspring. She didn't scream or shout in glee. Inside, she was bursting with happiness. But she had learnt to keep it inside. Not to bring attention to herself. To be invisble.