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tallstars-rewrite · 3 years

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Chapter 1

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A chill had descended over the moor, cold enough to make the hardiest cat shiver. The waving grass and heather was quickly becoming stiff, brittle, and brown, weighed down with a shell of ice. When dawn broke, it revealed a thin downy layer of dazzling white draped around the WindClan camp. The first snow that had stuck that leafbare. It set the warriors on edge, but the kits took no notice, instead choosing to be distracted by the new world of sparkling white around them.

Long tendrils of grass were weaved around the cozy entrance into the WindClan nursery. Two dark brown tom kits with their kitten fluff puffed around them had already gone streaking out of the small den dug into the base of a hillside, with their mother quick to follow suit.

Tallkit remained behind, sitting alone inside the dimly lit nursery, impatiently shifting from side to side as tiny white flakes of snow danced in the air outside the warm burrow. Well, not completely alone. His mother was curled up behind him, but she was so soundly and quietly asleep, Tallkit felt he may as well be alone. Palebird was usually tired this time of day, but her kit was having trouble curling back up. Quietly as his wobbly paws would allow, he stepped tentatively over Palebird’s tail and padded closer to the den entrance. His thin black and white fur was ruffled and sticking up at funny angles but he couldn’t be bothered to smooth it down. Peeking outside, he had to flatten his large ears so they didn’t scrape against the grassy tendrils hanging down over the entrance, which were quickly turning into sharp icicles.

The world was so much different looking then the last time he’d ventured out, and his wide amber eyes narrowed against the bright glare of snow. His denmates Shrewkit and Briarkit were already out of view exploring the far side of camp, but although Tallkit looked after their tracks with longing to follow them, he had made a promise to stay close by until his father returned. A promise he was now starting to regret as his paws itched to dart across the expanse of camp and stretch his cramped legs. But as he caught sight of the sun's placement at nearly the highest point in the sky, a bright circle behind the misty white cloud cover, he knew he couldn’t go off running around the camp now. They’d be back any moment, and then Sandstone would come to fetch him. Until then, he just had to entertain himself somehow. As a kit born to be a tunneler, he probably wouldn’t be good at Shrewkit’s racing games anyway. It didn’t make the waiting any less boring, or the quiet of the nursery any less lonely in the meantime. Tallkit looked back to his mother, who slept with her back to him, a small pale white and black patched ball hidden deep amongst the soft mossy bedding. He thought about waking her and asking if she wanted to play, but Palebird wouldn’t want to be disturbed.

Despite his best efforts, Tallkit’s determination to keep his promise was quickly outweighed by his restless impatience. Surely he could step just outside, if he didn’t go too far. The positive side of being alone more often was that Tallkit was used to playing games by himself.

When he set his paws in the snow, he couldn’t stop the squeak of surprise as the cold hit him. The soft white cold went half way up his legs, and he backed up again closer to the nursery entrance where it had been padded down. But the uncomfortable cold aside, Tallkit looked around him in wonder at the dazzling brightness around him. When he had finally adjusted to the light, a soft fluttering object in the corner of his vision caught his eye. A familiar tattered red-brown chaffinch feather flitted invitingly in the cold wind, hooked onto a tangle of moor grass sticking out of the snow.

“You brought it back to me!” he purred, leaping after it. It was unmistakably the same feather he’d found the morning before. Brackenwing had asked him to put it back outside when he wouldn’t settle down to sleep, but now it danced playfully up and down, sparkling with flecks of frozen dew and the way it moved in the gentle breeze let Tallkit imagine it was being batted by an invisible paw.

Tallkit grasped it in his teeth. “Ok, try and catch me!” he squeaked to no one before bouncing away, clumsily sinking into the snow with each step in the divots where it was unexpectedly deep. When he fumbled, a soft breeze pulled the feather from his mouth and he turned to hook it again in his tiny claws, batting it to the side to an unseen waiting paw. He was so absorbed in his game he hardly noticed the soft brown lump he’d trodden over.

“Tallkit?” a stern but gentle voice said, “Should you be out without your mother in this weather?”

He turned to meet the molly’s soft blue eyes, looking at him with curiosity and amusement. Her cream and brown fur was a little damp with melted snow, and fluffed up against the cold. He’d nearly tripped over her crooked hind leg, which was stretched out limply in the grass.

“Hi Lilywhisker” he ducked his head “I wasn’t going to go far.”

She blinked at the feather under his paw “Who were you talking to just now?”

“I was talking to Finchkit.” Tallkit replied simply.

She frowned and looked at him with a mixture of concern and confusion. “Finchkit? Who’s Finchkit?”

“My littermate.” He mewed.

“You...don’t have a littermate, do you?”

Tallkit batted absentmindedly at the feather pinned under his paws.

“Well, I did, she's just not here now. But I went to see Fennelpelt before, and he told me stories about StarClan--the cats that live in the lights in the sky when it gets dark. He said all the cats who aren’t here anymore live up there in the sky and they come down and watch over us, even if we can’t see them. Finchkit comes down and plays with me. She’s invisible, but Fennelpelt says it’s just like that. This is her favorite toy, she brought it back after I lost it yesterday.” He eagerly lifted up the tattered feather in his mouth for her to see.

Lilywhisker blinked “Oh! Oh I see…”

“Finchkit said hello to you!”

Lilywhisker twitched her whiskers as if she were considering her words, but then she simply smiled softly and replied, “Well, hello to her as well.”

“Tallkit! Hey, you’ve come out!” Tallkit turned to see his nursery mates bounding towards him. Briarkit, a red-brown tabby with dark stripes curled around his face, waved his short fluffy tail in greeting as he trotted up in front of him, flecks of white dotting his ruddy fur.

“Well would you look at that!” Came the second voice as Shrewkit skidded to a stop, kicking snow into Tallkit’s face and making him sneeze. He was a shorter tom with messy dark brown fur and a wild mischievous spark in his kitten-blue eyes, “The nursery mouse has finally come out of hiding!”

“I’m not a mouse!” Tallkit tried to growl, but his voice squeaked.

Shrewkit snorted.

Briarkit shoved his brother. “Don’t be mean!”

“I’m not being mean.” Shrewkit retorted, rolling his eyes.

Tallkit tried to pounce at him, but he couldn’t manage to bound over the snow like the bigger kits without tripping. A wrong pawstep into the snow, and he found himself buried in a drift. He tried to sneeze as icy water got into his nose, and mewled in frustration as he flailed for a way out. Tiny teeth at his scruff made him squeak in alarm, and he immediately flattened his ears in embarrassment. Tallkit wished he didn’t squeak so much when he spoke, Shrewkit always made fun of him. He could hear him laughing now.

Briarkit was pawing snow off of his head. “Are you ok Tallkit?” The question was concerning but Tallkit could hear he was stifling a purr of laughter.

“He got lost in a mouse length of snow.” Shrewkit scoffed.

“I was just trying to take a short cut,” Tallkit said, followed by another sneeze.

“Shouldn’t you have been able to tunnel out of that like a worm?” Shrewkit continued “You don’t have to be as fast as moor runners, but you tunnelers ought to be good at that!”

“I could have if I got the chance!”

“Settle down Shrewkit,” Lilywhisker scolded, as she pulled Tallkit closer to lick the snow from his pelt. “I don’t want to have to talk to your mother again about prodding Tallkit.”

“I wasn’t doing anything!” Shrewkit mewed indignantly.

Tallkit grumbled to himself, “At least Finchkit doesn’t make fun of me.”

“Who’s Finchkit?” Shrewkit had heard him,

“You know, the other one.” Briarkit whispered, “Tallkit’s told us about her before.”

“Oh, the dead one.”

Lilywhisker hissed, “For StarClan’s sake Shrewkit! Don’t speak like that.”

“What!?” he cried “That’s what mother told us!”

Tallkit sniffed, “Just because she’s dead now doesn’t mean she can’t still be around. That’s what StarClan is, right Lilywhisker?”

Lilywhisker blinked at him and got that look again like she didn’t quite know what she wanted to say. “Well, yes, StarClan cats are still with us in a way, but it’s complicated.”

“Hawkheart sees StarClan cats,” Briarkit pointed out eagerly, “and he said sometimes clan cats see things from StarClan, because we’re special and we listen better than other cats. I thought I saw a StarClan cat once too-”

“No you just had a weird dream,” Shrewkit scoffed, “That’s not the same as seeing a StarClan cat in broad daylight.”

“Well I don’t actually see her…” Tallkit mumbled, suddenly feeling a bit self conscious, “I just feel like she’s here anyway. Why wouldn’t my littermate want to play with me?”

“I’m sure Finchkit is watching over you and your mother, Tallkit.” Lilywhisker said gently. But she didn’t sound like she really understood, it sounded like she just said what she thought he wanted to hear. Grown up cats always thought he couldn’t notice.

“You can come play with us too,” Briarkit offered. “We have less cats since Mistmouse’s kits are so close to their apprentice ceremony. Mother says Fallowkit and Fawnkit are too big to play with us. She’s looking for them now”

“Oh speaking of those furballs…” Lilywhisker sighed and stood up on her three good legs. “I’d better go help Brackenwing gather them up before Whitetooth finds them first and bites their noses off. You three go back inside if you start feeling cold, especially you Tallkit.”

When she’d limped away, Shrewkit leaned in and whispered, “I actually know where Fallowkit and Fawnkit are. They’re hiding out in the long grass behind the warriors' den. Fawnkit said they were going to pull a prank on Cloudrunner. Want to go watch?”

“I can’t go anywhere,’ Tallkit said. “I’m waiting for my father to come back.”

Shrewkit gave an exasperated groan, “Again? That’s always your excuse! Is he going to get mad at you if you have fun? Sandstone gets mad about everything.”

“That’s not true,” Tallkit said defensively, “He just doesn’t like you, because you’re a mouse-brain.”

Shrewkit promptly shoved Tallkit right back into the snow drift he’d just clambered out of.

“Don’t think I didn’t see that Shrewkit!” Brackenwing’s voice called out. The tall earthy brown tabby queen was there in an instant to lift Tallkit back out of the snow pile, who immediately spit cold water pointedly into Shrewkit’s face.

Brackenwing gave Shrewkit a stern look as she set the now very damp Tallkit down. “I can’t take my eyes off you two for a moment!”

Tallkit suppressed a shiver as a cold breeze blew through camp and quickly ducked back inside the nursery as Brackenwing scolded her son. He perked his ears at the faint stirring from the back of the nursery and saw the white tipped outline of his mothers ears as she groggily lifted her head. Tallkit forgot about his chill and damp fur and trotted up to her with an excited bounce in his step.

“Mother,” he mewed, “it’s snowing for the first time today, come and see!”

Her tired pale eyes blinked slowly, as they focused blearily on her kit. “Tallkit, sweetheart, I’ve only just shut my eyes, why would you want to go out now?”

“Nu-uh the sun's up now, see? It’s been up for ages.”

She blinked again at the milky white daylight pouring into the nursery entrance, clearly surprised to see it. “So it is…” she murmured. Palebird flinched and hissed when Tallkit went to nuzzle her chin. “Tallkit! You’re soaking wet!”

“Sorry,” he said, quickly stepping back.

“Oh Palebird are you up, dear?” Brackenwing poked her head inside “I hope my little one's scuffling didn’t wake you.”

“No it’s alright Brackenwing, I promised to be up by now,” she stiffly stretched out her legs and yawned again. “Tallkit didn’t sneak outside alone did he?”

“Shrewkit and Briarkit are big enough to go out in the cold I thought that meant I could too.” Tallkit argued.

“Briarkit and Shrewkit are more than a moon older than you, Tallkit.” Palebird pointed out, her voice still thick and heavy with sleep. She still sounded as if she were still half dreaming.

Brackenwing purred down at the little scrap of fur. “Tallkit will be alright, it’s much warmer during the day, and the snow has been melting fast since the sun came up. Besides, me or Lilywhisker are always around to look after him too.”

Palebird shifted uncomfortably and looked down, as if she were ashamed. “I don’t want to ask that of you both so often”

“It’s nothing to worry about love, that’s why we’re all here after all. You should stretch your legs with me for a while.” Brackenwing purred.

“I won’t get in any trouble, promise.” Tallkit pleaded.

Palebird looked doubtfully at her small kit, who tried to stand tall on shivering twig thin legs. “Alright but...You don’t want to be out too long, and stay where the snow padded down or melted. You remember what Hawkheart said about the cold not being good for you.”

Tallkit nodded, keeping his irritation at the mention of the medicine cat to himself. Hawkheart had been to visit him plenty of times. When Tallkit woke up racked with coughing fits that frightened his mother, the bad tempered old tom always came in and made him swallow bitter leaves. It was hard to like Hawkheart, and Tallkit didn’t think Hawkheart liked him much either, but he’d been very firm that Tallkit needed to stay in as much as he could. Something about ‘bad luck having so many kits born in the cold.’ He hadn’t been out of the nursery very often until recently.

“You know, father’s patrol is coming back soon,” Tallkit mewed hopefully to his mother. “You could come out and meet him with me?”

Palebird gazed out for a minute, still looking distant. “You go on ahead, Tallkit. I’ll catch up later.”

Tallkit swallowed his disappointment and didn’t press further. Maybe she didn’t want to sit still in the cold snow. It was certainly true that none of the warriors were as excited about it as he and the other kits were. Briarkit and Shrewkit had already run off again when he got back outside. Remembering what his mother said, he didn’t stray more than a few steps from the entrance, but to his immense relief, before the boredom could set in again he heard heavy pawsteps making their way down the slope into the camp, and a familiar booming voice loudly announcing their arrival. They were back at last!

Sandstone was a big and very intimidating tom, at least the other kits thought so. He had a wide noble face, broad well muscled shoulders, and patchy scars through his short pelt as testaments both to past battles and seasons of hard tunnel work. He radiated confidence and surety, and every cat around him felt it. Tallkit couldn’t imagine a more impressive warrior existing in all of the clans, and he was beyond proud to be his kit.

He saw his father plowed through the frosty grass with his tunneler patrol following close behind him as always. Sunlight lit his pale ginger fur in brilliant gold, almost glowing where melted snowdrops clung to him. Tallkit leaped to his paws, hardly able to contain his excitement as he bounded towards him.

Sandstone stopped his conversation with a large stocky gray-and-white tom when he heard his kit, and his dark amber eyes smiled warmly at him.

“Well look who it is! If it isn’t Tallkit, out and about on his own already?” He purred as he trotted forward to meet his son. Tallkit bumped his head on Sandstone’s legs as his father pressed his muzzle briefly to his in greeting, a warm purr in his throat that rumbled throughout Tallkit’s small body. He forgot the cold in an instant when he greeted him, as if Sandstone had finally brought newleaf warmth back with him.

“Hope it’s not too cold out for the little scamp.” The big tom beside his father meowed in concern.

“I-I’m not cold.” Tallkit insisted through chattering teeth.

“‘Course you're not cold! Takes more than a little leaf-bare chill to keep my son down.” Sandstone playfully ruffled Tallkit’s ears with his big paw. “So Tallkit, now that we all have the moment, it’s about time I formally introduced you to your future tunnel-mates!”

Sandstone talked of them all often enough, but Tallkit was confined to the nursery so often he’d never seen them up close. His father’s two companions were, like Sandstone, similarly stocky and broad. Muscles were visible beneath their dusty pelts from moons of working their forelegs to steadily carve out the burrows and tunnels that crossed under WindClan territory, a stark contrast compared to many of their sleeker and leaner moor-runner clanmates.

Sandstone gestured to the dark gray molly and big gray-and-white tom in turn. “That there’s Plumclaw, and here of course is Woollycloud!”

Tallkit dipped his head respectfully as he had been taught to do, but ended up getting kicked up snow in his nose.. Plumclaw he knew was his father’s old apprentice, who he often praised for her bravery, and Woollycloud his lifelong tunneling partner. The big tom was one of the best tunnelers in the clan. Except for my father of course. Tallkit thought to himself. Standing right next to them, Tallkit felt suddenly rather self conscious of his own scrawny, lanky frame, accentuated more than usual by his wet fur plastered to his sides.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you young one,” Woollycloud purred. “I hope to work with you in the near future. Your father tells me you’ve already got the makings of a great tunneler!”

Tallkit perked up a bit at the praise, and Sandstone nudged him playfully. “And he’ll grow bigger and tougher than ever, won’t you Tallkit?” he leaned down to speak softer to him, like he was telling a secret. “Between us, I’ve got plans to make sure Woollycloud here gets chosen as your mentor someday.”

Tallkit looked up wide eyed at the stout tom. He was bigger than any cat he’d seen, even bigger than his father and Hawkheart, but his face was so kind and sincere as he smiled down at him that Tallkit didn’t find him scary at all.

“If it all works out, I’ll greatly look forward to it!” Woollycloud said.

Tallkit felt a rush of excitement. His apprentice ceremony felt so far off, but his paws were itching with anticipation. “Can’t I start being an apprentice now?” He asked.

Plumclaw purred loudly in laughter “You’re nowhere near six moons, kit! We all had to wait our turn.”

Woollycloud nodded in agreement. “All good things to those who are patient, little one. Your time will come before you know it.”

The two cats then turned and started towards the prey heap.

Sandstone nudged him. “Your enthusiasm is just another sign of what a great tunneler you're going to be. In fact, I’d say you’re right. You may not be a full apprentice, but no time at all like the present to start learning.” He paused for a moment and looked around “Where’s your mother at? Did she come out with you?”

“She just woke up.” Tallkit replied, “I think Brackenwing said they were going to go out for a walk soon.”

He looked towards the nursery with an unreadable expression and then gave a dismissive flick of his tail. “I see...Ah, I suppose it can’t be helped. Well, follow me then Tallkit. You’ve got a lot to learn today.”

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#FRU1 #chapter 1 #chapter 1 was the *bane* of my existence i have rewritten 3-4 times and i still want to rewrite it again #not enough to actually do that bc im TIRED but omg #chapter 1 and chapter 47 were the worst to write

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