Chapter Text
The droning sounds of cicadas rang out in the woods surrounding the den. The night was warm, humid even. The rainstorm a few days ago left its evidence in puddles and soaked grass. But she knew none of that. Only the warmth of her mother and littermates by her side. The faint murmurings of unfamiliar voices weren't important to the mewling she-kit as she demanded food, a brash and defiant form of proof she was alive.
"... they all seem to be healthy. R-right, Icyember?" A quivering voice spoke close to the kit. She was lifted in the air and dropped at what she assumed to be his paws, and felt a rough raking against her pelt as the tom groomed her.
"Mhm..." rasped an older cat. Far older, almost on the brink of collapse. "Skystar, congratulations on the litter."
Skystar, her mother, let out a weak purr. She felt it more as the kit was placed at the queen's side. She squirmed against her siblings, letting out a squeak as her sister pushes a paw against her face to be fed first.
The tom's voice sounded again, "You still seem weak, you don't have to get up!"
"Nonsense! Let her rise if she needs to," The elder cat retorted, "It's her first litter, after all."
"But-"
"Sunflash, I'll be fine!" her mother sighed. She felt Skystar shifted, weakly laying upright and nestling her head next to her litter. If the kit could see, she'd imagine it being of pure joy and wonder of the little lives she's produced.
"They need names," Icyember mewed softly, a quake in her otherwise even tone, "... you have ideas, don't you?"
Skystar nodded, a ting of grief in her voice, "I always thought he'd be by my side to name them..."
The shrill noises of her kits snapped the queen out of her thoughts abruptly. "Alright! I see, I see! You're father's not important!" she almost laughed, nosing one of them.
"The youngest looks just like you," Icyember rasped.
The queen nodded, "Hm, Sky? Nono, Cloudkit. Cloudkit suits her. The male..."
The kit's brother squeaked, and she let out the faintest retort as he shoved his sister away.
"You have your father's spite, haha! I'll call you Galekit."
Her mother grabbed the eldest kit, "And you..."
There was a long pause after she was dropped into her mother's paws. Why the hesitation? Her siblings names were so easy to choose, was she getting the short end of the stick?
Her mother finally spoke, "... Plume."
That was her name. An honor to carry the rest of her life.
Plumekit.