Rabbitkit runs past me, his sister jumping right over my head. I flatten my ears, purring in amusement. How did I ever live without my kits? How did I fill my days? My life feels like it's complete now. I purr, my tail curling around Snowkit.

Snowkit fluffs up against me, trying to keep herself close to my flank. I lick her, bringing her closer so she can suckle. The others have been off milk for almost a week, but I'm still weaning her.

"Hey! Bonekit! Get over here!" Rabbitkit jumps on his friend, a kit only a few days younger. The other kits, Dragonwing and Blazefur's, will be apprenticed in less than a moon. Their names are Flarekit and Sunkit, a she-cat and a tom. Even though they are not mine, I feel similarly affectionate for both of them.

Snowkit looks up at me, big blue eyes and dusted snow fur so much like me when I was a kit. "Mami, I don't have any friends... is it my fault no one likes me?" She asks, the slightest note of pain in her voice.

Feeling sorry for the little kit, and knowing how loneliness has a way of crippling the heart of young cats, I bend down and tell her, "Someday, they'll know how great you are. You have so much to bring to this clan, and I will defend your every pawstep until you are safely with me in StarClan. Someday, they will see that too, and when they know how amazing the cat inside your fur is, they'll all want to be your friend."

"Are you sure?" whimpers Snowkit, and then she nods solemnly, and runs off after her siblings.

Brightkit is preening herself, wedged between the two bigger kits. Flarekit is basking happily in the sun, while Sunkit (who ironically enough, actually hates sunlight) is sitting closer to the nursery in the shade.

Snowkit runs up to them. "Hey, can I play?"

"We're not really playing anything. It's too hot and stuffy." complains Sunkit, glaring up at the golden sun as if it'll go away if she stares hard enough.

"That's bad for your eyes!" I call, worried, and Sunkit pricks her ears and turns away.

"I want to play, but Sunkit's being a grumpy badger." Flarekit nudges her, hitting Brightkit in the process, who glares at him harder than Sunkit glared at her namesake.

"Hey!" Sunkit and Brightkit spin around, and both of them ready to pounce. With a swift leap, they're on poor Flarekit, who screeches playfully and flails his paws in the air like a dying mouse.

"I'll save you!" Snowkit joins in, not really helping but contributing a fair amount of mass to the terrifyingly large kit pile. Everyone's on each other now, until Snowkit flies out and falls on her face, and sniffles a bit.

Brightkit runs to her little sister. "Did you hurt her?!" She asks accusingly, looking at the other two kits as if they had suddenly turned into slavering, giant badgers.

I run to them, but Snowkit gets up. "Mami, I'm okay. Brightkit, that was really fun!"

I sigh in relief and then go out to meet with Dawnpaw, who's just returned from hunting with her littermate Cobrapaw.

"Hey, Icestorm!" Dawnpaw's eyes glitter. "I was using the technique you showed me earlier, the one with the jump and hold-" She demonstrates, leaping into the air and clawing down on dirt, which flies everywhere, leaving me coughing and sputtering for breath. "-Oh sorry! My bad!"

"She's too flighty. She misses every other time." Cobrapaw says dryly.

"But when I DO catch it, Blazefur says I make a very clean kill. And at least I don't trample down bushes like an angry bear."

Cobrapaw growls at her, and flicks his tail irritably, and then before I can stop them I hear a cry coming from the nursery.

"I-I-I have to go." I say, running off.

"Here, I'll come. We're both learning together! I learn how to be a warrior, and you learn how to be a-" She stops as we reach the nursery, the cozy stone den with vines coating it.

Outside it, Bonekit, his blue eyes slitted and his nostrils flared with pure fury, leers down at Snowkit, who's bleeding out on the ground.

"NEVER CALL MY MOTHER A FOX AGAIN!" Bonekit yells into her ear.

She whimpers, gurgling blood, and Brightkit yells back, "I'LL SAY WHAT I WANT! MY SISTER WAS STANDING UP FOR HERSELF, YOU PITIFUL DARK FOREST SPAWN! EVEN YOUR SHE-DOG OF A MOTHER DIDN'T WANT YOU! SHE DOESN'T EVEN TALK TO YOU, FOXDUNG!"

Rabbitkit sits there, trying to choose between kin and friend.

"What just happened?" I yell, forcing Bonekit away from the others. Ravenwing runs over, back from a border patrol.

"Are your stupid kits messing with Bonekit?"

"Your little badger hurt my daughter!"

"Not his fault. You're just like a kit yourself. Naive, annoying, and stupid. You didn't even ask what happened!"

"What happened?" I ask the kits.

"Bonekit told Snowkit she couldn't play with the big kits, so she said she felt sorry for him because he had a bad upbringing and he beat her up." Brightkit wails, "AND I DIDN'T EVEN HELP HER!"

I pick up my kit, now sure of what I suspected since Bonekit was born. I may just be learning, but I know that Ravenwing and her kin- even if need be, Hawkpaw- are bad news.