Chapter Text
The sandy hollow lit with a slow rising golden color, the low-hanging palm trees gently rustling in the warm breeze along with the soothing sounds of the tides running and retreating between the rockpools, making small craters of salt water in their wake. Notes of newleaf still somewhat littered around the sand, empty butterfly cocoons and baby pink blossom petals laid on top of one another. With the singing wind, a gull’s single white feather danced around between the airy waves, delicately falling on top of a black rosetted she-cat’s head, who was standing outside the small shell-keeper’s den, which was structured with stiff branches of driftwood. The molly looked up, pinching the feather between her reddish beans, examining it carefully as if it was the most valuable thing she’s ever seen, with subtle excitement, she trotted towards the nursery, where two water-mother’s, one large, heavily grey tabby, and another, a regular sized pale-ish grey cat curled around separate braided nests of palm leaves, two small kits gently pressing against the larger water-queen’s exposed belly, both of them vibrating a soft purr in unison.
The black she-cat smiled at the sight, making sure to watch her step from the forgotten, thin pieces of driftwood still scattered on the ground. Her hind legs sunk inconspicuously into the smooth sand, as she raised her stature to place the feather between a tiny hole where the driftwood missed. Though, not being watchful of the shifting water-queen’s, she got startled by the sound of a deep yawn. The larger she in the first nest had woken up.
“Nectarpaw-“ an accented voice called.
“AH-!” Nectarpaw yelped, but quickly placed her paw onto her maw, aware of the still-sleeping kits, “oh, sorry! Didn’t mean to wake ya, Bloomswoop…” the she apologized bashfully, slowly descending down. “Are the kits-?” she began to ask, peaking past Bloomswoop’s torso to check if the kits weren’t too jostled by her less convincing shriek. Thankfully, they weren’t, just one of them now laying on their back peacefully. “Nope. As calm as the waves,” purred the water-queen, her warm tongue grooming over one of the balled-up kit’s tiny body. “what are you doing up so early anyhow, it hasn’t even been sunrise yet and your already as jumpy as a sugar glider-?” questioned Bloomswoop, as she blinked, her eyes adjusting to the new sunny beams. “I’m just excited to watch the high-tide ceremony tonight!” Beamed the tiny shell-keeper, to which the other water-queen, Blueflame, butted in with mild annoyance. “You know those only start every moonrise, don’t you?” she softly questioned, her voice medium pitched and unintentionally smooth. Nectarpaw only slightly pouted at the sleepy reply, “I know… but this is like- my FIRST one in forever! I finally get to witness one of the most breathtaking moments in clan history!!” she mewled, her tail trembling with joy. As a kit, her parents have always kept her inside of the nursery at all times, even until she reached adolescence, and to the point where the water-mother had to kick her the den herself. This is a big milestone for Nectarpaw, even for a jumpy she-cat like herself, always finding the joy in every small gesture in her life. “And it’s MY mentor, you’d be buzzing with excitement too if your mentor was about to become the next high-tide!”
“Well, don’t hold your breath,” Blueflame continued, lifting her chin off her paws, “last night I talked to Honeyspeck about that, the ceremony, said Curlsnap might not even be up to it. Said she’s ‘ill,’”scowled the molly, as she impatiently ran her tongue over her side, the soft grey flattening smoothly. Nectarpaw frowned. “but it’s so obvious. Everyone knows that Curlsnap is away sulking in her den because her lovely Sparkstar got hung by a group of rouges. If I were her I would just—“ she was about to finish, but was quickly shushed by a glaring Bloomswoop, who was started to notice Nectarpaw’s dimmed expression. “Don’t mind her. She’s just grumpy because Panthertail kept her up all night with his flattery.” Bloomswoop’s answer made the shell-keeper feel — not better, but in some ways lighter. Nectarpaw had somewhat been aware of Curlsnap’s dead spouse, but she wasn’t aware of the real situation that lied underneath. She was always told the sugarcoated side of Sparkstar’s death, but never the real story. What? What she too young to know what really happened?? She’s a shell-keeper of Streamclan for starclan’s sake, Curlsnap once confidently told her that she would be a fitting high-tide for the clan in the future, she’s not a kit anymore! She can handle this kind of stuff-
“Where’s Nectarpaw?! We need her!!” Yowled a scratchy male voice from outside. Sounded like Panthertail, as soon as Nectarpaw poked her head outside the nursery, the clan was already buzzing with life from the newly awakened cats. They were always fast risers. The she turned her head over her shoulder to make eye-contact with the queens, before softly nodding her head in a gentle goodbye, her mannerisms still slightly bruised from Blueflame’s hard truth. Bloomswoop smiled back at her. Blueflame just curled back to sleep. In a fast-paced trot, Nectarpaw would quickly approach the small crowd of cats creating a half-circle around Panthertail, a midnight black tom with a tail thick like cattails. She manages to squeeze herself between her good friends, Lowpaw and Posypaw. Panthertail flicked his mean eyes towards the smaller cat’s new apperance, “there you are. Curlsnap was feeling ill, so the deputy ordered me to bring you along to the patrol.” he said with a subtle glowered expression, making Nectarpaw feel worse, but she was quickly cheered up by Lowpaw, who was silently mocking the tom cat’s every word, making exaggerated frowns that made his nose crinkled. Nectarpaw snickered alongside Posypaw.