Goldenshine's POV

A growl slowly began to rise in my throat as I saw the fox slowly start to approach Swiftkit again. It was clear he had already inflicted some damage.

But I'm not going to let him lay one more hair on my son!

Just as I was about to pursue the large, lean creature, it leaped at Swiftkit again, its jaws wide open. Swiftkit let out a fearful squeak, too much in shock to move. I let out a battle cry and leaped out at the fox, claws unsheathed.

I landed onto its back and raked my claws into its flank as hard as I could. It let out a screech, clearly in pain. It thrust its head back, and from that I was able to see that it had managed to get Swiftkit in its mouth.

I gasped at this sight, but from that I was only able to gain more fire. I reached forward to claw at the fox's neck. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the other cats on the patrol batting at the fox the best they could.

"Let go of me, you mange-pelt!" I heard Swiftkit yowl weakly, still being thrown around in the fox's mouth as it tried to manage being attacked and holding its grip on Swiftkit.

Suddenly, I was thrown off of the fox. I seemed to fly in the air for a heartbeat, and then my back slammed into a tree. My breath was knocked from me, and I fell to the ground, panting. I looked up to see that the fox was now facing Lilypetal, Mousewhisker and Dusty, Swiftkit still in its mouth. It let out a growl, and its teeth went tighter around Swiftkit. He let out another weak squeak.

As I was finally able to stand up, I heard Dusty hiss fiercely and then leap straight at the fox. My heartbeat doubled its pace. What is he doing? Does he even know how to fight a creature like this? I ran up to stand by Lilypetal and screamed, "Dusty, no!"

Either he didn't hear, or he didn't listen, for he didn't turn back from what he was doing. My mouth dropped as he managed to bowl over the fox. Swiftkit flew from the fox's mouth and landed into some shrubs. I immediately ran over to meet him as quickly as I could. I licked him profusely and wrapped my tail around him.

That fox is not going to get anywhere near him again!

Seeing the way that Dusty was fighting made me feel even more sure of myself. Dusty was quick and swift as the fox snapped and lashed its claws at him. Lilypetal and Mousewhisker were right behind him, backing him up.

Finally, Dusty had given the fox enough wounds to get the tawny creature to give up. After Dusty raked the fox's flank one last time, the fox wriggled away and then pelted out into the forest, whimpering. Dusty stood in the same place, breathing heavily.

There was silence for a few heartbeats as every cat recollected themselves. Then, Lilypetal lashed her tail and turned to Dusty. "Wow, that was amazing!" she exclaimed, nudging Dusty's shoulder with her tail. I stood up and walked towards the other cats, picking Swiftkit up as I did this.

Dusty shyly looked to the ground as I approached. "Eh, it was nothing at all!" he began, humbly, "Foxes would come around the house every once in a while, and someone would have to fight them off!"

I stared admiringly at Dusty as he explained himself. Wow, he's going to be such a great warrior. I can see it already.

Lost in my thoughts, I hadn't even realized that my gaze hadn't left Dusty. His head turn towards me and his gaze caught mine. His eyes almost seemed to glimmer with shock for a heartbeat as he realized I had been staring at him. Then a sweet smile emerged on his face.

Suddenly, my ears grew extremely hot and my eyes went down to Swiftkit, where I had put him down. What am I doing, letting myself get caught up with Dusty right now? Swiftkit was just attacked by a fox!

I picked Swiftkit up in my mouth again and began to bolt towards camp. Through my full mouth, I meowed, "We have to Swiftkit to Jayfeather immediately! Let's go!"

Every cat nodded in agreement and followed behind me as I ran through the forest as fast as I could. Frustration was gradually starting to bubble up inside of me as I began to process what had just happened, and what had been happening over the past moon.

Foxdung! What's next? Swiftkit might as well live in the medicine den until he becomes a warrior! I was still so confused as to how Swiftkit managed to get hurt and get himself into trouble so often. He had managed to sneak out by himself and be attacked by a fox, and he had woken up every once in a while with mysterious injuries.

Is this maybe not the first time he's snuck out? I wondered. If so, why?

I shook my head quickly. Who knows? All that matters right now is getting him back to camp.

Swiftkit, still in my mouth, sighed and muttered, "Great StarClan, Goldenshine, I'm fine! You don't need to carry me."

I rolled my eyes. "Nice try. I'm not buying those words ever again!"

I heard Swiftkit sigh in frustration.

You're not the only one who's frustrated. I said to myself. Oh, the scolding you'll get once Jayfeather gets a hold of you!

Finally our patrol arrived back in camp and ran through the entrance. I immediately heard sighs of relief and cats calling out Swiftkit's name. Some cats started to ask questions to me, but I left them for the other cats on the patrol to answer. I needed to get Swiftkit to the medicine den as quickly as possible.

Before I even got to the den, Jayfeather peeked out, his nose up in the air. He turned towards me. "Swiftkit is back?" he asked in disbelief. "Where did you find him?"

I put Swiftkit down and shook my head slowly. "It's a long story that I will recap once you get working on him!"

Jayfeather snorted and then beckoned us inside the medicine den. Swiftkit and I walked through the entrance, and I watched as Swiftkit slowly padded over to his same nest he had been tended on before. He exhaustedly let himself fall down in the nest as Jayfeather walked over to him with some cobweb.

I sighed as Jayfeather started to dab the cobweb on Swiftkit's wounds. This better be the last time that he is in the medicine den for a while, I thought. I can't let this happen again. I'm never letting him out of my sight.

For some reason, right after I made this commitment in my head, I heard Jayfeather quietly snort. I narrowed my eyes at him but I didn't say anything. He's probably amused at the fact that a mother could let this happen.

Jayfeather shook his head slowly as he continued with the cobweb. "You idiot! What were you doing out there to get this many injuries?"

I finally decided to explain the situation to Jayfeather - how Swiftkit had snuck through the dirtplace, wandered through the forest and had found the fox, who had given Swiftkit a few scratches to remember it by.

Jayfeather snorted again. "Stupid kit," he muttered half to himself. He bent his head down and sniffed the injuries more closely.

"You're lucky," he commented, "That fox gave you a lot of scratches, but they're not deep."

I let out a loud sigh of relief. Thank StarClan!

Swiftkit rolled his eyes and let his head drop down on his nest. "So, what does that mean?" he asked. "How much longer will I have to be in here? I don't want to be here all of the time!"

"You should've thought about that before you went chasing after a fox!" Jayfeather snapped.

My eyes narrowed at him. Had he just accused Swiftkit of going out of camp to look for a fox? Or does Jayfeather somehow know something that I don't?

I shook the thought away, realizing that some lecturing needed to be done at the moment.

"The next time you'll be in the medicine den is when your mother claws your eyes out because you snuck out again!" I scolded to Swiftkit. "Don't like that idea?" I asked, sarcastically, "Then don't do this again!"

Swiftkit didn't say anything, and only sighed in exasperation. Hopefully being attacked by a fox is enough for him to learn for next time.

I still wondered though why Jayfeather had assumed that Swiftkit was purposely going after a fox. How would Jayfeather assume that Swiftkit knew that a fox was out there?

I continued to watch Jayfeather with narrowed eyes as Dusty walked into the den. "Hi," he meowed, smiling at me. Then he looked to where Jayfeather was caring for Swiftkit. "How is he?"

I wrapped my tail around my paws as Dusty walked up to sit beside me. "Jayfeather said that he will be fine," I explained. "None of the cuts are deep!"

Dusty let out a sigh of relief as I had when I had been told the same report. "That's wonderful! Thank StarClan!" he meowed. I let out a quiet purr of amusement as I thought about how Dusty and I had had the same thought process in that moment.

Dusty then tried to meet my gaze. "Well, how are you?" he asked in a voice that made my heart skip a beat.

I sighed and met his gaze, giving him a weak smile. "I'm okay, as long as I know that Swiftkit is."

I heard Swiftkit snort at this comment.

Dusty then touched his nose to my cheek. "He'll be just fine," he reassured me. In a softer voice, he then said, "He's lucky that he has a mother as awesome as you to keep him safe and look after him."

I shook my head slowly as he said this. "But I didn't keep him safe!" I whimpered, "I let him sneak out of camp, and he got hurt!"

Dusty then ran his tail along my flank to try and calm me down. "As we've established, this wasn't your fault, or anyone's fault," he meowed to me, still softly. "Like I said earlier, Swiftkit clearly tried the best he could to make sure he wasn't seen, and he succeeded."

I nodded to show Dusty that I was listening, but I was still overcome with guilt. I lied my head on Dusty's shoulder as a gesture to show my appreciation for his support. Also, I was just exhausted.

"Thank you, Dusty," I whispered to him. "And thank you for fighting off that fox!"

I lifted my head up as I asked him, "Were you scared at all?"

Dusty immediately shook his head, and jokingly began to feign overconfidence, "Nah, I may as well have leaped at a kit. It was nothing!"

I let out a purr of amusement and laid my head back on Dusty's shoulder.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lilypetal enter the medicine den. Her gaze looked overcome with relief as she saw Swiftkit being cared for.

She then turned to Dusty and nodded to him to get his attention. "Firestar wanted to see you and Mousewhisker," she told him. "He's very impressed with how you confronted the fox!"

Dusty's mouth dropped as he stood up.

"No way!" he exclaimed. He turned back to me and then touched his nose to mine. "I'll see you later, Goldenshine," he meowed.

He began to walk out of the den, and then stopped and turned his head back to me.

"Everything will be alright," he mouthed to me before leaving the den.

My ears grew hot and I tried to suppress a huge smile as Lilypetal came to sit beside me. She shook her head slowly as she watched Dusty go. "Now that is something special," she meowed, nudging me.

I looked at her with narrow eyes, knowing what she was getting at. "Yeah, yeah," I murmured, rolling my eyes and smiling.

Being my mother, Lilypetal knew that her teasing me about a tom wasn't going to get her far from how bashful and shy I was being, so she turned to look at Jayfeather and asked him, "So, Swiftkit will be okay?"

Jayfeather nodded, and then sarcastically said, "If he can manage to stay in camp, for sure!"

Lilypetal purred in amusement and then looked at me.

"Frustrating, isn't it?" she asked me, narrowing her eyes with a smirk.

I narrowed my eyes back at her. "What is?"

"Your own kit sneaking out of camp - isn't it frustrating?"

I tilted my head at Lilypetal, my eyes still narrowed. "What are you getting at?" I asked her.

Lilypetal shook her head slowly and then looked up, almost as if being pulled back into old memories. "Are you forgetting when you and Snowflight snuck out of the camp as kits?" she began, "Thornclaw and I had gone out looking for Ashfur, and you decided that it would be heroic to come and find us."

"Stupid furballs," I heard Jayfeather mutter, but I knew he couldn't have been completely serious, as I don't think he would ever think to call Snowflight such a name.

I then smiled, suddenly remembering what Lilypetal was talking about. "Oh, yeah!" I meowed. "I'm sure if Snowflight were still here, she'd still be holding a bit of a grudge!"

A chill then ran down my spine, realizing what I had just said wasn't a completely outrageous idea. Jayfeather seemed to catch this too, as I saw his blind eyes close for a few heartbeats before returning to Swiftkit.

I pushed away the thought and then returned to what Lilypetal and I had been talking about. Now that I was a mother, I could totally sympathize with what Lilypetal must have felt when both of her daughters left camp, especially when at the time Ashfur had still been lingering through the forest.

I suddenly felt a pang of guilt. "You must've been so scared and frustrated," I realized out loud. I then looked down to the ground and said shyly, "I suppose it's too late to say sorry?"

Lilypetal let out another purr of amusement and then touched her nose to my ear. "It's okay. It's rare that a kit doesn't form a mind of its own and not decide to sneak out of camp," she explained, "They grow out of it."

Lilypetal then wrapped her tail around my back. "They grow out of it," she repeated, "And become the best warriors that their mother could imagine."

I suddenly felt overwhelmed with love for my mother, and I nuzzled my nose into her neck fur.

After a few heartbeats, Lilypetal then said, "It's almost moonhigh. If I don't go to sleep now, I won't have any energy to go on patrols or check up on you and Swiftkit tomorrow!" she joked. "Good night," she murmured, touching her nose to mine briefly.

"Good night," I said back as I pulled away and Lilypetal left the den.

I watched her go and then turned back to look at Swiftkit, who was starting to dose off.

Lilypetal is right. I realized. Swiftkit will easily grow out of this. Every kit gets caught up in some shenanigans every once in a while. He'll be just fine.

Then, suddenly, my mind went back to the fox attack, then Swiftkit and the big gash along his flank, and then his tired eyes that never seemed to go away. These images filled me with anxiety.

He'll be just fine. I repeated in my mind to reassure myself.

Won't he?