Aspenkit woke up to a loud call, "Get up!"

Aspenkit lazily rubbed his eyes with a paw, "What time is it?"

Ripplekit was prodding Aspenkit's fur with a stick, with Shinekit by his side. "Noon."

Aspenkit leaped out of his fur, "What! Why didn't you or Waterkit wake me up!"

"Mommy told us not to!" Shinekit chortled, looking at Mistleaf, who was busy chatting with a nearby queen, Duskwater. Duskwater was a kind she-cat with golden eyes and a slick ginger pelt, she was close to birthing, so she stopped her warrior duties a moon ago.

Aspenkit shook his head and grumbled, "Mistleaf..."

Just then, Waterkit bounced towards kits with a ball of moss, "Want to play moss ball? I found a clump of them near the thorn barrier."

"I do!" Aspenkit replied with his eyes shining, batting the moss ball towards Ripplekit, who sped away to catch the ball. Shinekit saw the moss ball shooting from Ripplekit and leapt into the air, catching the ball between his teeth.

"Pah!" Shinekit spat out the moss ball with a huff, "Moss tastes horrible!"

"You should have seen me when I accidentally ate some herbs in Deertuft's den, the herbs tasted so bad that I had a fever for a day." A voice chuckled.

The brown tom turned around to see his mother looking at them. "Mother!" Shinekit squealed as she rushed towards Mistleaf. "I want a badger ride!"

"Aren't you too old for that?" Mistleaf asked, "You're three moons old now!"

"I will never be too old for that! I want a badger ride!" Shinekit argued.

Mistleaf sighed and crouched down, allowing the four kits to clamber on her back. She lumbered all around in the nursery as the kits squealed with delight, waving their paws in the air happily. Up on Mistleaf's back, Aspenkit could hear the welcoming song of the jays and the beautiful chorus of the songbirds. He always wondered how birds can fly, somehow they flapped their wings then rose into the air. He'd try to do that once, flapping his paws madly, but that only got him in trouble, not to mention didn't fly. He could also see the brambles, covering up the ceiling. Rays of light were shining through the heated brambles, lighting up the whole nursery. Through the vine wall, was the prey pile, seeing the feathered jays, and the fat furry squirrel, his mouth started to water... "You're too young for that squirrel, you'll surely choke on it." Mistleaf scolded, as she saw what he was staring at.

A mottled tortoiseshell padded into the den, "Mistleaf, Icestar wants to see you right now." She announced, looking at the white queen with grey splotches.

"Don't go!" Ripplekit whined.

Mistleaf patted the silver kit gently and padded outside, "Coming, Waverwind. Kits, go out and explore in the camp, just don't get in trouble or trip over elders."

"We won't," Aspenkit assured his mother, excited.

Aspenkit stepped out of the nursery along with his littermates, taking in the green sight. The camp was withed with vines and mossy rocks, there are a lot of warriors here and there, some are sharing pieces of fresh kill and some are sharing tongues with different clanmates including the deputy, Dawnsplash. An apprentice suddenly popped into view, "Hello! I suppose you are Ripplekit, Waterkit, Shinekit and Aspenkit?"

"Right! Lunarpaw!" Shinekit yowled. "Can you teach us the hunter's crouch?"

"Well, if you really want to." Lunarpaw answered, "First crouch down."

Ripplekit, Shinekit, Waterkit and Aspenkit hurried to crouch down, all hoping to impress the silver apprentice. "Ripplekit, your whole body is fluffing, can you flatten your fur, it will make it harder to brush against anything." Lunarpaw suggested, "Waterkit, your tail is sticking out, it will knock over sticks and leaves, I know we fight with our tails and pelt bushed out, but it is different for hunting, you need to be quiet and soft."

Ripplekit and Waterkit shifted to make amendments to their crouch as Shinekit and Aspenkit practice pouncing on a dead leaf that has been shredded into pieces.

"Watch me!" Aspenkit yowled as he leaped into the air, and slashed the leaf.

Shinekit teased, "I can do that too! I bet you can't catch that leaf." As he threw it into the air. Aspenkit's whiskers twitched with indignation while he chased after the leaf, twirling madly in the air. He didn't see the paw in front of him and tripped over the unseen obstacle.

"Hey!" A gruff voice shouted, "What do you think you're doing? Tripping over elders like it is a game? Elders these days can get no quiet or silence."

Aspenkit shrunk back in shame and apologized, "Sorry, I was too focused on chasing that leaf."

The elder snorted and padded away. That was a close one. Shinekit hurried towards Aspenkit, "What happened?"

"Some elder scolded me for tripping over his paw, but I suppose it was my fault for not looking close enough." Aspenkit replayed the scene in his mind. "What should we do now?"

"I think we should just explore some dens in the camp," Shinekit said as she rushed into a random cave.

The cave was dark and the air was damp, leaves littered the ground as Aspenkit padded in further. There was a bed of fresh damp moss, and the scent of leaves and flowers lingered in the air, mixing with an unfamiliar smell of fur. "Cool!" Shinekit gasped at the surrounding. "I wonder what kind of den this is?"

Maybe it is a cave that is not in use? Aspenkit kept his thoughts to himself. Or maybe—

"Perhaps you don't know, but this is the leader's den." A smooth silky voice interrupted Aspenkit's silent thoughts. Both kits turned around and found a silver-blue she-cat with blue eyes as deep as sapphire. "Icestar?" Shinekit and Aspenkit looked at Icestar in shock. "This is the leader's den?" Shinekit asked.

"Yes, it is," Icestar responded with a flick of her long tail.

Aspenkit wailed, "Oh no! We are going to be in so much trouble."

"Nooooo...." Shinekit joined in the wailing.

Icestar looked faintly amused, "Now off you go, be sure not to stumble in here again, or else I am going to tell Mistleaf." Then, without waiting for a response, she padded deeper in the den and lied down on the soft moss.

"Don't tell her, please don't," Shinekit begged as she padded outside.

"Tell me about what?" Shinekit and Aspenkit looked up and found Mistleaf towering over them. Doom. That was the only word Aspenkit can think of to describe this situation. "Um... We were...um...exploring the camp and umm... we accidentally well... stumbled on um... the leader's den." Shinekit stuttered.

Mistleaf's eyes flared. Uh oh, this is definitely not going to end well. "What do you think you are doing, going in the den without permission? Do you think this is a joke?"

Both kits hurried to shake their heads, "No... I'm sorry." They mumbled in unison.

"Go back to the nursery now!" Mistleaf said, "IMMEDIATELY!"

Aspenkit and Shinekit scurried back to the nursery as fast as they could and told Ripplekit and Waterkit about their terrible experience.

"You went to the leader's den?" Ripplekit's shined with admiration, "I wish I can go there, you're so lucky!"

Aspenkit glared at Ripplekit, "That's not the point."

Waterkit rolled his eyes, "I think what Shinekit and Aspenkit were saying that they got in trouble, right?"

"Finally!" Shinekit made a dramatic pose, "Some cat knows what are we talking about."

Waterkit and Aspenkit giggled uncontrollably, rolling over the ground as Ripplekit huffed with annoyance. 

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