"Look! I think she's waking up, Mama!"
Rustling leaves. The crinkling of dried plants. The scent of some strongly smelling herb filled her nostrils and she drew back, her nose wrinkled.
"Ah, there she is. About time."
She was dimly aware of the things going on around her, but her exhaustion was trying to pull her back into slumber. The urge to ignore the voices around her and go back to sleep was strong. She would have willingly complied with her body's wishes.
Except it was quite impossible with paws prodding her in the side.
"Come onnn, Zinniakit. Dawnberry said your fever is gone and you aren't colicky anymore, whatever that means." A loud, high pitched voice whined in her ear.
Zinniakit flinched away, squinting through the bright rays of light filtering into the medicine den. With the sun in her eyes, she could just barely make out the figures of her littermates, Asterkit and Dhaliakit. Her mother was sprawled across a moss bed nearby, watching her kits silently.
"We all know you're waking up, so do it already!" Dhaliakit chimed in, head-butting her shoulder. Zinniakit let out a squeak as she flopped onto her side upon impact. Her ears flattened against her head and she stumbled to her paws.
"Cut it out!" Zinniakit complained. "I'm still tired and you're not helping my headache, stink-brains!"
"Zinny, be nice." Her mother spoke at last, her tone chiding. "They've been waiting for you to get better so they could come see you. I'm sure they're just really excited to be able to play with you again."
Zinniakit said nothing, only glowered silently. It was no use arguing when Speckleshadow wasn't going to listen anyways.
With a small huff, Zinniakit turned away from her mother and settled back down in the little nest she'd been sleeping in for the past several days. The season was right at the end of leaf-bare, and Dawnberry told her that it wasn't uncommon for cats to get sick around this time. Zinniakit was no exception. She'd started feeling ill last week. Her throat became hoarse, she had constant headaches, and had trouble breathing. Fangwhisker had brought her into the medicine den, given her a thorough checkover, and pronounced her with greencough.
She remembered how horrible she'd felt while she was sick. Not being able to breathe well was scary. It was like her chest was being squeezed and pricked with thorns at the time. She hoped she never caught greencough ever again.
"Let's go play, Zin. Please?" Asterkit asked, coming over to nose her forehead. Dhaliakit gave her a matching pleading look, her ears perked hopefully.
"Hide and seek isn't as fun with only two cats, and Sagekit and Singekit don't want to play." Dhaliakit reasoned.
Zinniakit internally groaned. They played hide and seek constantly. It was the only game her littermates wanted to play, besides fake fighting. It was no surprise to her that the other two toms in the nursery had denied their persistent invitations.
Well, maybe there was a way out, if she played this right.
With a sigh, Zinniakit flicked an ear and looked up at them. "Alright, I'll play. But Dhaliakit has to be the seeker."
"Deal!" Dhaliakit said happily, bouncing on her toes.
"If you three will be alright playing around camp, I'm gonna go hunting with your father." Speckleshadow nodded with a satisfied smile, rising up after a quick stretch. "Runningbreeze said she'd look after you three, so if you need anything go talk to her. And Zinniakit, if you start to feel ill again or if anything's wrong, go find Dawnberry or Fangwhisker."
Speckleshadow gave each of her kits a quick lick on the top of their heads before slipping out of the medicine den. Her scent, which was like blueberries and fresh grass, lingered in the den where she'd been lying. Zinniakit, whose headache was still present, wished her mother would come back so she could curl up against her warm fur for comfort.
"I'm gonna start counting to fifty in here. Starting... Now! One, two..." Dhaliakit exclaimed, immediately beginning her counting.
Before she could even move a paw, Asterkit had already skirted out of the medicine den. She was sure he already had a hiding spot planned ahead of time. Asterkit was just like that. Always prepared with a plan. Zinniakit wasn't nearly as smart as he was.
Behind her she heard her sister reach the number ten. StarClan, she'd better hurry. Dhaliakit rarely counted in full seconds, preferring to speed up at random points. If she was to hide, she would have to be quick.
Zinniakit scrambled up out of the medicine den tunnel and into the sunlight. The air was pretty chilly, but not nearly as cold as it had been a week or two ago. Thank the stars it was nearly newleaf. She wasn't sure how much more snow and freezing winds she could have handled. While it was still kinda cold, at least the snow was all melted and no longer fell from the sky.
She quickly scanned the camp for her hiding spot. There were many places she could have chosen to hide in, but a few in particular were foolproof.
From where she stood, she could easily see the leader's rock. A cluster of boulders in the center of camp with one or two round bushes around them. That was where she would hide.
She scampered quickly and quietly across the camp, ducking under the body of a passing warrior who was very confused by her actions. A pair of tall apprentices charged by, laughing wildly and chasing each other. Zinniakit had to leap backwards in order to not be trampled.
She finally reached her destination. Glancing around to make sure nobody noticed, Zinniakit squeezed under the low branches of one of the bushes. A couple twigs sharply poked her ribs and she winched, but pressed on. Right under the bush among the roots, there was a hollow in the dirt just big enough for a pawful of kits to duck into. It was impossible for anyone the size of an apprentice or bigger to fit in. She was just the right size.
Alarm bubbled up in her as she came in contact with a body in the hollow. It was dark so she could hardly see anything, but she knew it had to be a kit like her. The other kit turned around, and by the bright green eyes she instantly knew who it was. Letting out a little purr of relief, Zinnakit shifted to the side to give them both more room.
"Fancy seeing you here." Sagekit flashed her a friendly grin. Zinniakit smiled back, a rare sight.
Sagekit was one of Runningbreeze's two sons. They were both the same age as her and her siblings, born just three days apart. Zinniakit didn't get along with his mean brother Singekit, but Sagekit happened to be her best friend. She typically liked her personal space and didn't make many friends, but Sagekit she could tolerate. Most days she even preferred his company to that of her siblings.
"Dhalia and Aster bugged me into playing hide and seek with them. But if you couldn't tell, I'm really just hiding." Zinniakit giggled. "Are you also hiding from my siblings?"
Sagekit laughed back, his eyes gleaming. "No, I'm hiding from mine. Singekit's mad because I took the sparrow he wanted from the prey pile. So now I'm avoiding his anger."
"I see. Well, we should both be hidden safely in here for a while. Seeing as we're basically the only ones who know about this hiding spot." She assured him.
"That depends. Who's seeking? Dhaliakit or Asterkit?" Sagekit asked skeptically.
"Dhaliakit, I made sure."
"Oh, we're good then."
Zinniakit snorted in amusement and rested her head on her paws. From where she was, she could see out from under the bush just a little bit. Large paws walked by, followed by smaller black ones.
Beside her, Sagekit was watching the outside as well. Probably for any signs of his brother, she thought. Flicking her tail, she said, "I can't wait for us to become apprentices and train together. We'll be great warriors. I bet I'll get the cooler warrior name."
"Nuh uh! Mine'll be all noble and awesome! It'll be WAY more awesome." Sagekit said indignantly. She rolled her eyes.
"I guess we'll just wait and see. It's only two more moons until we're old enough to become apprentices." Zinniakit shrugged. "Buuuut I'll still have the better name in the end."
"Yeah, whatever." Sagekit snorted. Zinniakit glanced at him triumphantly but didn't say another word.
She was very excited to become an apprentice. Then she'd finally be able to leave camp and explore, and her mentor could train her to be a better fighter and hunter than her littermates.
However, worry overshadowed her enthusiasm. What if she turned out to be a bad apprentice? What if her mentor didn't like her and because of that, didn't train her well enough? She may have been only four moons old, but she was observant. She could tell that most of the warriors weren't interested in her like they were her sister or brother.
Maybe it was because she was more quiet and calm than they were, and she didn't tumble around wrestling all the time like they did. She was sure she was unnoticeable to the warriors from the way they looked at her. Or rather, their lack of looking at her.
She couldn't help but think about how even her own mother was like this. Speckleshadow didn't very often make an effort to play with her like she played with Asterkit and Dhaliakit. They were just more rowdy and charismatic, drawing all of their mother's attention towards them.
At least her father, Blazerunner, cared about her a lot. Whenever he had some time, he came into the nursery and batted moss-balls back and forth with her, and crafted fun stories of adventures just for her.
She sighed quietly and flicked her tail around her paws. Hopefully StarClan would work things out for her. Fangwhisker told her that the dead cats had great influence over the living ones. She could only pray that they would favor her and guide her paws.
"READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!"
Zinniakit shrunk back away from the edge of the hollow, tucking herself away in the darkness. Her ears perked attentively and she waited. Beside her, Sagekit had also heard Dhaliakit's cry and huddled down.
A few moments passed, and Zinniakit wondered where her sister was. Maybe she should peek out to make sure she wasn't nearby? Just as she was creeping forward to check, Sagekit's paws yanked her back down.
Zinniakit whipped around, giving him a questioning look. "Hey! Wha-"
"Shh, look." He squeaked quietly, nodding towards the outside.
Zinniakit frowned and peered at the gaps between the branches. Sagekit was right. There went her sister, her cream colored paws padding (quite loudly) past the bush. She could hear Dhaliakit humming while she went along.
After a moment, the humming faded away and was replaced by the nearby thudding pawsteps. Most likely warriors galloping by on their way to go on a patrol, or bringing back the successes of their hunts.
She sat back, the tension in her body relaxing after a few minutes of silence. "Wow, that was close. Thanks!"
"Sure thing!" Sagekit beamed. "Although you should know I didn't just do it to keep you hidden, I'm saving my own pelt too."
"Way to ruin the mood, Sage." Zinniakit rolled her eyes good-naturedly. She was about to tease him again, when all of a sudden-
"Zinniakit! Sagekit! Come here RIGHT NOW!"
"Uh oh." Sagekit cringed, looking at her apologetically. "That's my mom. We'd better go before she gets more mad."
Well, so much for hiding.
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