My mother sat up quickly, waking both me and my sister from our nap. Leafdapple, a brown-speckled queen, hurriedly entered the nursery with our lanky deputy, Elkstalk, close in pursuit. The queen looked wary as Elkstalk settled and turned his pleading gaze to Snowcatcher, her tail wrapped around us. Forgetting to explain the situation to Snowcatcher, Elkstalk begged, "Please, one of you must take care of these kits!"

At the sound of the last word my mother's white fur flared, "Kits?! Where did you get kits from?"

Elkstalk, realizing his error, stumbled over his words before finally recomposing himself, "The dawn patrol found two kits huddled in a bush on the border. They had the damp scent of Abyssclan but it appears the two had been chased by said clan. Both are in bad health, bleeding from wounds, and there has been no sign of their mother."

Snowcatcher turned her gaze to Leafdapple, the brown cat closing more into herself as time passed. "And how come you have yet to claim these kits? I would myself if I didn't have my paws full with these two," she nodded towards both of us, my sister, Sparrowkit, chewing on my tail, "We both know these kits will have no place in the other two clans. Those foolish cats believe any cat related to those cave-dwellers is a walking curse! They'd be left to die regardless of them being kits."

The silent queen's eyes darted side to side, seemingly thinking of something appropriate to respond with, her tail still flicking with nervousness. She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again, "I just- I can't help but feel guilty, how could I know I'd be a good mother to them knowing what's happened to my own kits? They've already been hurt, how can I know I'll be able to protect them if I couldn't protect mine?"

She looked away, a sad mist clouding her eyes. In the chaos that occured moons ago before my littermate and I was born, apparently wild dogs broke into the camp. When they left they took with them Leafdapple's three kits. The clan deputy's gaze softened though still desperate. "I know you're worried but I know you're a very capable cat. They need a mother," Elkstalk continued to push.

Reluctantly Leafdapple eventually agreed after a few more words from our deputy. Elkstalk gave a relieved sigh before walking back out of the nursery. The two kits would be spending the next few days with Goldenweb, the clan's old medicine cat, while they heal up a little bit more. I feel a bit bad for them since the golden tabby has a bad temper with all cats, and in my experience, especially kits, but I also can't wait to see what they look like. A lot of the older cats like to talk about how Abyssclan cats come in an array of strange looks from hiding away in the darkness. Makes me wonder if one of them has large, jagged lizard teeth!

Sunrises came and went, the only time I didn't think of the new kits was when I was chasing a feather or when Sparrowkit tried to prove she was the better warrior. On a particularly chilly dawn, my littermate and I tried to get Dewwhisker, a newly made warrior, to play moss ball with us. Although we failed in our task, my mother called with words of something else to focus on. "Deerkit, come back over here! For a kit so excited to meet our new clanmates, you sure didn't notice them both being carried into the nursery."

My fur puffed with excitement, eyes lighting up, "They're there? They're in the nursery!"

I jumped my way into the nursery entrance, my sister scrambling after. The larger kit was a brownish-grey with a pattern similar to a raccoon. The smaller, fluffier one was a dark brown with reddish spots. In the warm darkness the two sets of eyes glowed my way although one looked different. The dark brown kit had an amber eye, next to it a dimmer, discolored one, shining in a murky white. I tried to get a closer look, curious as if it could be one of those weird looks unique to Abyssclan as the elders say.

As I got closer, the kit looked more and more uncomfortable. Their sibling eventually popped their head up to see what was disturbing their sibling, before launching themselves at me despite still having the remnants of a belly wound. Surprised, I was easily knocked down onto the soft bedding of the nursery den. Both queens were shocked, Leafdapple gently lifting the grey kit, still swatting their paws, away from me. She looked embarrassed before stammering, "I'm sorry, I didn't think either of them would feel the need to pounce."

"It's fine, I doubt anyone else expected it. It's not like he could do too much damage in his state," Snowcatcher replied.

The white she-cat reached out to flatten my fur. Still unphased by the attack I struggled free, asking for the names of the new arrivals. "Names? I guess you wouldn't have heard them yet, huh?," the speckled queen settled down again, "The feisty grey kit you've met is Mosskit, the brown one is named Sunkit. TBC...