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Mousekit watched as the Clan busied themselves preparing for the Star Festival from her spot among the ferns, ear periodically flicking towards the noises of her siblings, Birchkit and Ebonykit, as they played with a mossball, tossing it back and forth. The little she-cat's eyes flicked around at so many interesting things happening around her. Duskblossom was weaving flowers around the tree trunks by their stems, colourful petals gently waving with a slight breeze. Mousekit really wanted to start pawing at them; they looked so inviting, but she knew the brown tabby wouldn't be very happy with her if she did that.
Shifting her gaze towards the bushes, she saw Bearpaw and Rosepaw putting pine cones covered in different kinds of berry juice in the lowest growing ones, they were going to need a lot of pine cones, Mousekit reasoned. At least ten.
A row of upside-down mushrooms was already set up around the edges, courtesy of Foxfire and Wisplight.
The festival was three days away, which Mousekit thought was a pretty long time but the warriors didn't seem to think so, a group of them having left this morning for a big hunt to bring in extra prey. They would ask Frostclaw, the deputy, to freeze the food until the festival, keeping it fresh.
The tom tended to have ice crawling all over his body which Mousekit thought must feel pretty cold but it seemed to make him happy.
Not for the first time she wondered what her magic would be like? Fire, like Foxfire and Flamestorm? Or perhaps something with water, like Minnowfin. Wings similar to Cloudwing, Sagetail or even Mosspaw!
There were just so many possibilities!
She had had a lot of late-night discussions about it with Birchkit and Ebonykit, speaking in hushed voices so as not to wake their mother, Daisyleap.
Recently however, the kits' interest had shifted to the Star Festival. It was all the older cats talked about now. Whether they were discussing the setting up of decorations or talking about the festivals of previous years, there really was nothing else they spoke about.
So of course, the kits wanted to know more. Mousekit had already pestered several warriors with a mountain of questions, her siblings only adding more to the pile.
The cream-furred she-cat was yanked out of her thoughts by a mossball sailing over her head, immediately followed by her rambunctious siblings. In a flash, she raced to join them in their game, reaching the mossball first and tossing it to Ebonykit who caught it in mid-air and send it back to Birchkit, the tom rearing up on his hindlegs to bat at the object.
Mousekit laughed as it smacked him right in the face instead, glancing over at Ebonykit who was snickering as well.
"Haha, very funny," he huffed, a mischievous glint appearing in his eyes.
Uh oh
Mousekit had just enough time to dodge as her brother lobbed the mossball at her head. It did not stop her from continuing to laugh at his disgruntled face.
"You missed~" Ebonykit sang before trying to make a break for it as Birchkit decided to launch himself at his sibling.
Mousekit met Ebonykit's gaze for just a moment and leaped after Birchkit, mossball forgotten in the chase.
It turned into an all out scuffle, ending with Birchkit somehow pinned underneath both Mousekit and Ebonykit, the latter holding this random stick they had picked up somewhere during the mock-fight.
Mousekit was not entirely sure where exactly it had come from, one moment they were busy wrestling with Birchkit and the next, Ebonykit was holding said stick proudly in their mouth, using it to poke Birchkit insistently, just to annoy him.
"I hate both of you," the tom grumbled, slightly bitter the two had teamed up against him.
"We love you too, Birchkit." The older and younger chorused at the same time, knowing that if they had truly upset him he would have said something. Just like their father, Spidereye, always told them to do.
"Can you get off of me now?" The white tom whined, wriggling a little and trying to stand up.
Ebonykit spat their stick out of their mouth, it landed a little ways away in the dirt. The black cat shuffled themselves off of their brother, jostling Mousekit in the process and causing the she-cat to roll off as well.
"Oof," she huffed and righted herself back on all four paws, shaking her fur out to dislodge some of the dirt that had gotten stuck on her pelt.
Unsure of what to do now, the three kits looked around for something fun to do.
All the warriors currently in camp seemed busy and not very likely to answer more questions. Occasionally one would come back from a hunting trip but they'd just immediately leave again after depositing their prey.
Mousekit sighed, a festival seemed fun but the days leading up to it were so boring!
Did they all love it so much they were willing to spend days doing nothing but gathering decorations, setting it all up and then also hunt extra prey on top of the food they already needed to get?
What if someone didn't like the celebration? Would they still have to help or could they just wait it out?
Now that's a interesting question, Mousekit thought.
The little kit decided to share her thoughts with her siblings, Birchkit coming up with a new plan.
Instead of getting underfoot and pestering more warriors, they could go to the elders! The older cats were usually asleep or resting in their den, and they always told the kits' stories.
It was genius!
Excited, all three raced for the elder's den, almost tripping over their own paws.