The Springclan leader sat sitting tall, watching with a glimmer of pride as his kits ran around the peaceful camp. Finally, his schedule had cleared up with the help of his newest deputy and Trusted and he was quick to return to his mate's side and spend time with his family. It was refreshing, more so than he had anticipated, to take an early retirement from his responsibilities to spend time Beedust and the kits. At his side sat Meadowkit, whose sweet, innocent deposition radiated so much so, it calmed the dusty tom. His expression, though stern, was softer thanks to a small smile that was plastered across his expression. Life picked up faster than Thistlestar had anticipated. One night, the kits were born, small and helpless and the next, weeks had suddenly passed and they were running around with energy only the leader could ever dream of.

"HE-YAAH!" Sunnykit yowled loudly as he lunged forward from a low stalking position, targeting his brother, Juniperkit as he batted distractedly at a feather. The fiery orange tabby crashed heavily on his older brother, sending the two tumbling forward. Despite being the youngest, Sunnykit had grown to be rather strong and large, one of the largest kits of the litter.

The sight of the two kits left Thistlestar chuckling under his breath. A small and gentle touch on his shoulder snapped the Springclan leader out of the content trance he was in, turning down to take in his mate. There was something different about Beedust since having their kits. The she-cat glowed despite her usual tiredness. Having kits seemed to have brought out a gentler side of the warrior, one that Thistlestar had only really seen in their most private times together. His head dipped towards her, rubbing against it lovingly as a deep purr vibrated loudly throughout his body.

"Sunnykit, no" Juniperkit cried, curling up in a ball. He didnt like conflict. He didnt like it when his siblings tackled him. He was often a target to bullies for he never fought back. Usually, he just ran away and hid behind his mother. Juniperkit was very shy and was intimidated by a lot of things, including his own siblings. For being the second oldest, he didnt act like it. If a stranger were to view the kits without knowing much about them, they would probably assume Juniperkit was the baby despite being bigger than some of his siblings. After wriggling his way out from under Sunnykit, he ran and hid behind Beedust.

Juniperkit startled as Sunnykit jumped at him and cowered down, lowering his ears. Though, as he did so, he felt embarrassed that he was showing fear in front of his father. He glanced at his father as he was talking to Meadowkit and gave a hard swallow. Maybe if he showed bravery, that would impress his father. He looked back at Sunnykit who was taunting him. He shakily rose to his paws and faced his brother. "Stop it, Sunnykit! I dont want to play..." His voice cracked and quivered. As he neared the end of his sentence, his bravery began to ebb away and the last word came out in a tiny pitiful squeak.

Powderkit was lying on the ground, watching intently as her adoptive siblings interacted. While she knew that she was adopted, the word didn't mean anything to her. These other kittens were the only family she knew. She could recognize that her father was an important cat, but she was so young - this didn't mean much to her. The tortoiseshell whipped her fluffy head from one cat to another, trying to decide which to involve herself with. She loved talking, and it seemed like Sunnykit and Juniperkit were much too busy to chasing and being chased to chat with her. Powderkit made her decision fairly easily. She stood up and gave herself a shake to knock off anything stuck to her fur and bounded over to Meadowkit and her parents.

"Meadowkit!" she wheezed, out of breath from the quick dash over. "What are ya - wheeze - lookin' at?" The chubby kit stared up into the sky where her sister had been focused, but she didn't see anything strange.

Meadowkit listened to her father with starry eyes, entranced by the notion. “So one of those clouds is my dream for tonight...” she said, her attention pulled away from Thistlestar by her sister. “I was looking at the clouds,” she told Powderkit brightly, the corners of her honey colored eyes crinkling as she smiled. “Dad says they’re dreams that Starclan sends out to cats.”

Beedust stuck out a gentle paw, playfully batting at Sunnykit. She loved all her kits dearly, but she related the most to Sunnykit, who took after her more than the others. “Let Juniperkit rest, love. I’ll wrestle with you, if you want.”

Powderkit's green eyes opened wide. All of those clouds up there... all of those dreams! Powderkit was usually dreaming about food. Maybe the clouds were full of food!

"Really?" she meowed, tail flicking excitedly at this new information. "I dream about fat mice all the time! How do you think they get all of those mice in the sky to send to me?" Maybe they chased them up into the air. Starclan cats could probably do that, right? But did they have to kill the mice and then chase them into the sky? There were so many questions to be asked.

Beedust chuckled as Thistlestar nudged her, remembering briefly how strange Starclan had seemed to her at first. However, she had seen their presence shortly enough- her mate's nine lives were proof of that, as well as the fact they had been brought together not once, but twice. While she wasn't as knowledgeable about their ancestors yet, she was proud that her kits would be raised to know about them. Her attention refocused on her youngest, and she twitched her whiskers in amusement. Not bothering to answer, she simply pounced, carefully controlling her larger, stronger frame as she knocked Sunnykit down and pinned him lightly under her front foot. "Try to escape," she said, aware that these fun games they played now would lay the foundation for his strength and cunning as a warrior.

"I prefer fish. They're salty in a good way," said Meadowkit serenely, casting a worried glance over at Berrykit. Her poor, ball of energy mom had gotten four less active kits, herself included, but Berrykit always seemed down on himself. "What about you, Berrykit?" Her tone was colored brightly with invitation to join their conversation- while she wasn't any good at fighting, her talent at reaching out to the seemingly isolated was already developing.

"Um," Berrykit replied, surprised by the conversation. He loved his siblings but never talked much. "I think I like fish more. But I wanna try a rabbit, Beastpaw said the white ones taste the best." The apprentice had been frightening to meet, but the comment about the rabbit had interested him. "I wonder if fur color really makes a different. Or scale color, cuz aren't there different fish?" He looked to his parents for confirmation on that.

The way Thistlestar said 'interesting' made Berrykit think he'd be better off avoiding fish in the future. When Thistlestar stood over them Berrykit also stood, watching his father as he collected the prey. His brown tail twitched and his eyes sparkled with sudden excitement, "are those rabbits? They're huge!" Not to his father, but to small Berrykit they were bigger than he'd imagined. "I can't believe cats can catch those." He stepped forward eagerly, sniffing at the pelts as they were laid down.