- Aug 1, 2022
- 214
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A S H K I T
it's a long way forward, so trust in me
Ash just wanted to be good.
Cicadastar told her she was doing a good job, and that had filled her with such a rush, had flooded her chest with hot relief, had left tears prickling in glass-green eyes. She was being good, she was doing a good job-- everything was going to be okay.
She just had to keep going.
Keep staying in camp, keep helping-- or staying out of the way, whichever was better. She couldn't tell sometimes, and that made it harder. But she was trying. (And Cicadastar said she was doing good.)
She was never going to make her clanmates shout and sob like that again.
This morning Ash busied herself by collecting reeds. She took their tough stems in her little teeth and pulled till they popped free, taking as much as she could carry from the edge of camp, where they grew thick and wild. She'd listened in on Buck's weaving class the other day-- it was one of those times she'd elected to stay out of the way, rather than try to help. But she'd listened. And now, with no grown-ups around (at least not yet) it was Ashkit's turn to make herself useful. (To be a good RiverClanner.)
The little orange fuzzball dragged her reeds into a messy pile behind the nursery-- she'd heard some of the warriors speaking in low tones about flooding, about the waters that might rise and sweep tiny landbound kits into its depths, gone forever in only moments. Ash knew all about gone forever. She'd seen her share. She was growing up into a big kid, and that meant she could help now; no more clanmates gone forever. Glass-green eyes narrowed as Ash zeroed in on the weaker-looking patches of nursery wall, took reed stems in little orange paws. They weren't deft and flexible like Buckgait's paws or Willowroot's, cats who'd been doing this for moons and moons. She wasn't gonna give up though. (Good job. She was doing a good job. And she wasn't a quitter.)
So Ashkit sat, determined if uncertain, remembering Buck's words and subtle motions, clumsily trying to replicate; the river just behind her, lapping at her back paws.
i'll give them shelter like you've done for me
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pls help her
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- three moons old
- will bite you
- will put nettles in your nest
- latches onto anyone who shows her affection
- she's trying her best, i swear