Goosefeather's Judgment--Ch. 2

"Can I go play outside with Poppykit and Adderkit and the others?" Moonkit asked, pawing at her mother's shoulder.

Silverheart smiled, looking down at her other kit. "Why don't you take Goosekit with you?"

Moonkit threw her brother a disparaging look. "But Silverheart, he doesn't even play the games right."

Goosekit was curled up between Silverheart's paws, his head resting against her leg. He lifted his head and scowled, his brow furrowing as it so often did. "I do try, you know!"

"It's not my fault if you're no good at it." Moonkit sniffed.

Goosekit's face crumpled, and immediately his sister hopped over, hurt. "Oh, Goosekit, I'm sorry." She mewed, nudging his head. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."

"Yes you did. I'm terrible at your games." He said bitterly, turning his head away.

Moonkit was obviously torn between having fun and being kind to her brother. She looked out towards the entrance. It was a beautiful day—the sun was bright, and she could see Pinekit and Poppykit playing with a ball of moss. The two of them had red fur, like their father, Leafclaw. Their mother Sweetbriar had tortoiseshell fur and bright blue eyes. Goosekit thought she was nice enough—a little pricklier than Silverheart, but not as strict as Ashstripe.

"Be careful," The dark gray tabby queen warned, flicking her tail, as her three kits bounded out to play with Pinekit and Poppykit. She was the mother of Adderkit, Tawnykit and Yellowkit. Adderkit bounded towards Pinekit, bowling over the older tomkit. Even though Pinekit was four moons older than him, Adderkit was almost the same size. Ashstripe was saying he would be the strongest warrior in the Clan someday. Moonkit disagreed with that statement. She disagreed with a lot of things. She was stubborn as a badger.

She watched Pinekit and Adderkit wrestle, nipping each other playfully. Her pelt bristled restlessly. Poppykit was cheering for her brother, while Yellowkit and Tawnykit cheered for theirs. The moss ball was forgotten for this new game. "Grrr! I'm a ShadowClan warrior, I'm going to eat all of you!" Said Adderkit, giggling as he batted at Pinekit's nose.

"The mighty Pinestar will stop you!" Pinekit growled, rolling over and trying to pin Adderkit.

Goosekit watched them wrestle with disinterest. Why did they want to roll around in the dust like that? It looked tiring and pointless. But Moonkit was itching to join in. "I could beat both of them with my eyes closed!" She chirruped to Silverheart. "I'm going to be the best warrior ever!"

Sweetbriar laughed, and Silverheart smiled. His mother looked down at Goosekit. "Goosekit, why don't you go out and play with Moonkit?"

Goosekit was silent. He knew that Silverheart worried about how he wasn't as outgoing as his sister. He liked keeping to himself, mostly. But he nodded. Moonkit whooped happily, licking his cheek, and darted outside. Her silver striped pelt gleamed in the sunlight. Goosekit's pelt was terrible by comparison. It was scruffy and gray, speckled with darker flecks, and he could never seem to get it groomed completely. He clambered over Silverheart's leg—she nudged him helpfully with her muzzle. "Go on." She purred. "You've hardly been out of the nursery since you opened your eyes."

He tried to smile, then bounded awkwardly over to Moonkit on his stubby legs.

Sunshine made dappled shadows on the floor of the camp. Goosekit looked around, still marveling at how big everything was. It had been a quarter-moon since he had first opened his eyes. He had seen his mother, Silverheart, with her lovely silver tabby fur, almost the mirror of her daughter. He looked around for his father Rockpelt. He was very recognizable, with his square jaw and spotted black and white fur. Rockpelt always knew how to make Goosekit laugh. But he knew that Moonkit sometimes wanted their father to be more like Leafclaw or Thornfur, the other fathers of kits in the nursery. Both of them were strong, fierce-heart warriors. Moonkit loved Rockpelt as much as Goosekit, but she wished he were more warrior like.

He toddled over to where the other kits were playing. Moonkit had dove into the play-fighting, declaring she was a RiverClan warrior, and had thoroughly boxed Adderkit's ears. Now the six of them were dividing up into teams to play "battle". Moonkit lifted her tail as straight as a stick behind her head. "I'll be the leader of RiverClan." She said, lifting her chin. "And we'll pretend that me and my warriors are attacking Sunningrocks again!"

"Why do you get to be leader?" Yellowkit asked, frowning.

Moonkit looked down her nose at the small brown tom. "Because I'm the best warrior!"

"Nu-uh!" Adderkit crouched down, sweeping his tail back and forth. "I am!"

"No, I am!"

Goosekit rolled his eyes. "Can't you both be the best warrior?"

The two looked at him, as if noticing him for the first time. Finally Moonkit shrugged. "Okay, fine. Adderkit, you can be ThunderClan's leader. Poppykit and Tawnykit can be RiverClan warriors. And Pinekit and Yellowkit can be ThunderClan warriors."

Goosekit's ears drooped slightly. "What about me?"

Adderkit looked at him and frowned. "I guess you can be a ThunderClan warrior…since ThunderClan always wins, so we can have more warriors."

Tawnykit crouched down, waving his striped gray tail excitedly. "I'm Tawnyslash!" He squeaked. "I'm a scary RiverClan warrior!"

Moonkit shook her head at him. "No, silly, you can't have a name like that. We're the bad guys, remember? You have to have a RiverClan-y name. Like…er…Tawny…" She frowned, thinking hard.

"Tawnysplash?" Goosekit suggested tentatively.

"Sure! You can be Tawnysplash." She smiled at her brother.

"What about me?" Asked Poppykit, eyes round. She was milder than her older brother.

"You can be Poppyfish."

"Ewww!" She mewed, wrinkling her nose. "Poppyfish?"

"It's a RiverClan name!" Moonkit explained. "And I'm Moonstar, leader of RiverClan!"

Adderkit strutted in front of his "warriors", grinning. "Well, I'm Adderstar, leader of ThunderClan. And you guys can be Pine—um—Pinefang, Yellowroar, and—" He paused, appraising Goosekit. Then he pronounced matter-of-factly, "Goosebelly."

Goosekit wasn't pleased with his new warrior name, but he didn't feel like arguing.

"RiverClan, attack! Let's get Sunningrocks!" Moonkit yowled, and she jumped forward. Adderkit and Yellowkit jumped to meet her, jumping on her, growling ferociously. Pinekit and Tawnykit bowled each other over, kicking and pawing, biting and giggling. Goosekit watched, caught off guard, and suddenly Poppykit slammed into him. He hit the ground—hard. "OW!"

Poppykit's face crumpled. "Oh, sorry, Goosekit, did I hurt you?"

He shook his head dizzily. "Er—no—I'm okay." He got up, and tried to jump at Poppykit. She was much bigger than he was—she was several moons older. She let him hit her, but when he tried to swipe her, she easily knocked his paw away. "Here, try to go a little faster." She said kindly, showing him with her paw. "I saw the apprentices do this."

He tried again to hit her, and missed, falling flat on his face. "Ow!" He got to his paws and grimaced. "I don't want to play anymore!"

Adderkit was busy fighting Yellowkit. He threw him off and shrugged. "It's okay. We still have even numbers." He raised his voice. "Come on, ThunderClan, let's beat those mangy fish faces!" Poppykit and Moonkit threw Goosekit an apologetic look, but then they returned in earnest to the "battle".

Goosekit sat back and watched a minute or so more, then shook his head and walked away.