"Mom! Mom, mom, mom!" Wingkit squealed, as she and Snowkit barreled into a surprised Whiteheart.

Whiteheart looked down at her kit with amusement and said "yes, little one? You seem awefully excited."

Wolfkit rolled her eyes. "Wingkit forgot how many days until our apprentice cerimonies again, and wanted to ask you." Wolfkit sat down by her mother and sisters and began to lick her paw.

Whiteheart looked down at her oldest daughter with concern, then answered Wingkit's question. "Only three days, counting today, sweetie. Then you will become apprentices."

"YAY!" Wingkit screamed, throwing her paws in the air. "Did you hear that, guys? Only. Three. DAYS."

Wolfkit grinned a little. "Yup." Snowkit was thinking very hard, it seemed, for her little nose was all scrunched up in concentration. 

"Whiteheart?"

"Yes Snowkit?"

"How do you become a queen?"

"Um. Well." Whiteheart shifted awkwardly.

"Like, if you can choose to be a medicine cat, can you choose to be a queen?"

Whiteherat's face cleared with relief. "Oh, that. You see, you can be a Warrior and still have kits, you just become a Queen for the period of time when you have kits."

"Oh. That makes sense."

Whiteheart shook her head with amusement. "Alright, little ones, you go and play, alright? You still have an hour before you have to eat and go to bed."

"Kay kay mom." Wolfkit yawned, and stretched, then stood up. "So what do you guys wanna do?"

Wingkit smiled mischeviously, and once they were out of ear shot, she whispered "We should go to our secret den!" All three kits, even Wolfkit, squealed with delight, as they snuck around the icy camp to the tall ice walls that gaurded the camp from predators and the dangerous slope down into the valley.

Wolfkit was proud to say that she was the one to have discovered the secret den. She had been playing Hide from Fallensnow with her sisters when she found a smooth, flat rock leaning up against the Ice Wall. Witha  little shoving, Wolfkit had managed to move it aside, and was shocked to find a secret little icy den with an amazing view of the valley and a passege leading down the slope.

So far, she and her sisters had managed to resist the temptation of sneaking out of camp, but they visited their Secret Den constantly.

Now, Wingkit helped Wolfkit shove the stone aside and creep in, and the three played the game where they pointed out cats in the valley and made up silly names for them and what they were doing.

"Do you see that little black cat down there? His name is... Crazyeyes! And, he is, um, hunting rocks! Because he is crazy!" Wingkit said with a grin.

"And do you see the large grey cat over there?" Wolfkit started. "His name is Fatfeet, and he is--"

An eerie howling echoed around the valley, quickly joined in by more voices, all raised in a beautiful, alien song.

Wingkit and Snowkit both jumped, and Wolfkit smiled. "They are just wolves, mouse brains, and it's not like they are gonna come eat you in the night."

Snowkit shook herself. "Sorry, it's just that their howling is kinda..." She and Wingkit exchanged glances. 

"Creepy." Wingkit finished.

Wolfkit shook her head. "I wish you guys would just close your eyes and listen for a moment! It is beautiful. I almost feel like I can hear the words to their song... it's like... it's like a lullaby."

Her sisters still looked unconvinced, and Wolfkit gave up trying to make them understand, but that night, wolves walked in her dreams, and sung her to sleep.