Moon 33 Part 2, POV Lester
Cats: Lester, Palethicket, Leafkit, Chickkit, Whimsykit*, Goldstar, Jackdawnudge
*More forgotten baby pics, yay...
TW/CW: Monsters, animal death
In the half-moon since she had joined Hyacinthclan, Lester had had a good life. The clan was welcoming and the cats banded together to take care of each other, young and old, old clanmates and new. Truthfully, so far Lester had bonded best with Amberpaw, of all cats.
And she hadn't really bonded with him- he didn't like to talk- but his silent company was appreciated when he came to help with things in the den. Wasp was nice and Jackdawnudge intimidated her, and Plumsong, well, he ruffled her fur.
But it had only been half a moon, and she planned to at least settle peacefully in her new home.
Today was a sort of test for her, set by Plumsong, to gather herbs by herself. To see if she remembered what she had been taught so far, about herbs and the territory. Truth be told, while the clans cats had been teaching her things she hadn't known before, she had already known a lot, from what her mama had taught her. So the little tests were annoying, but Lester did them.
She was coated in protection and had a conch slung across her body, in case of a killfall, but they were so unpredictable it was just likely she wouldn't encounter one as it was that she would.
Sniffing around, searching for catmint, Lester knew she was toward the far edge of Hyacinthclan's territory, toward where the land was unclaimed and bumped with the end of Weedclan's territory. Of the four other clans out there, Weedclan was Lester's least favorite. They hadn't been very friendly toward her.
Definitely not a fit for her.
But she was liking Hyacinthclan very much and was certain she could make her home here, even if she didn't make friends. She only needed a few cats she was on good terms with, after all.
As she wandered, Lester became aware of noises in the trees and she paused, watching as prey flew and scurried by her, all heading in the same direction-
Fuck!
A killfall was coming.
Scrambling awkwardly with the conch slung across her body, Lester faced the direction of camp and blew like Flintfur had showed her, the tone that would carry across huge swaths of land, that would alert the clan and any other cats out. Then she ran, seeking shelter.
An old burrow or den of some kind, no alarming scent around it, provided shelter, and Lester dove into it, thinking maybe it had been a fox den, because it was perfectly cat-sized.
She had only paid attention to the lack of badger, fox, and other things, so she nearly screamed when a paw suddenly slashed out at her.
"Get out of my den!" a familiar voice yowled and Lester stumbled backward hastily, eyes adjusting to the dim light.
A pinky-orange she-cat was standing in front of her, fluffed up, claws unsheathed, back arched, lips pulled back in a snarl.
Now Lester could smell milk and birth, seeing how the she-cat's teats were heavy with milk, and-
"Palethicket? Is that you?" she exclaimed, recognizing that pelt, that scent.
The she-cat paused. "Lester?"
"Yes! Yes, it's me." Lester said, purring as the she-cat began to relax.
"I haven't seen you in moons. What are you doing here?" Palethicket said, her fur lying flat.
"I- Oh, well, Ferretclan kicked me out. Or rather, I left before they would." Palethicket replied, her eyes sweeping to the rain visible behind Lester.
"Why?"
"Well... Well, the medicine cat didn't take kindly to the fact that my kits have a Weedclan father. And he's dead. So, I decided to strike out on my own before they ran me out." Palethicket replied, retreating further into the den.
That was when Lester saw the kits themselves, and she gasped as Palethicket curled herself around then.
"Oh, Pale! They're so precious." she said, approaching when the she-cat nodded.
Three little ginger bundles of fur, only days old, tiny, blind, and deaf, all toms, by the smells of them. They looked like darker versions of their mother and Palethicket beamed as Lester sniffed and cooed over them.
"They're named Leafkit, Chickkit, and Whimsykit." Palethicket meowed proudly.
Lester smiled; she wandered the clans' territories a lot (though she had never really made it as far as Hyacinthclan before) and had made friends with Palethicket; the warrior had always been kind to her, part of the clan her mama had learned herbs from. But as friendly as Ferretclan could be, they hadn't been the right fit for Lester.
"Where have you been, Lester? I haven't seen you around." Palethicket asked curiously, nuzzling her kits close to her belly.
Lester explained about joining Hyacinthclan and Palethicket told her about the warrior she had loved and mated with, and leaving Ferretclan before the medicine cat, who disapproved of half-clan cats and was prickly about loners joining besides, could rat her out or anything like that. And about delivering a little earlier than anticipated, before she had found a place she felt more comfortable with to kit and raise them.
"Well, Hyacinthclan is mighty welcoming. Wasp and Stoneleaf, they came from other places, and Stoneleaf had her kits in the clan. Jackdawnudge, all five of his were kits he found, and Gillfeather, she adopted a whole litter from Foggyclan, too. I'm sure, if you really want, Goldstar could find a place for you. Or at least a place to recover your strength." Lester said, and though she had only been in the clan half a moon, she was confident in the kindness of her clan.
"That would... A place to recover and for them to get stronger would be good." Palethicket admitted.
That was that, and when the killfall had finally stopped, Lester picked up Whimsykit in her teeth, Palethicket bundling the other two into a scrap of Two-leg material that she held in her mouth, creating a little sling.
That was clever, Lester thought, and together they ventured out, the sky now clear, and as they headed back the way they had come, they heard footsteps. Something began to shake the ground, just a little, and cold washed over them, along with a scent like snow and something foul mixed together.
Freezing, Lester held her tail up and they scurried beneath a bush with the kits, just in time to see pawprints beginning to appear. Not the kind Plumsong had told Lester about, not the lost queen and her litter, but it was certainly a monster. These pawprints, however, had little eddies of black in them; Lester could see them reflecting the sunlight.
"Don't move. Don't make a sound." Lester breathed in Palethicket's ear, tucking Whimsykit beneath her chest.
Palethicket curled protectively around the sling, eyes wide, terror wafting from her pelt, and Lester feared that the kits would smell their mother's fear and start crying.
They waited as the... The invisible thing sniffed and walked around, though according to the others, it was sound it was most sensitive to. It searched around, dangerously close, and then the pawprints began to head away, back toward the den, and Lester began to relax.
Until the kits, little and new as they were and not knowing the danger, began to wail.
The thing grunted and the footprints turned back toward them, Palethicket grabbing Whimsykit, stuffing him in the sling, and shoving the sling at Lester.
"Take good care of them, Lester. Please. I know you'd be a good mother to them." she said and before Lester could protest, before she could move, Palethicket had burst from the bush and was streaking across the ground.
She yowled a battle cry and began to draw the monster away, defending her kits, and Lester felt her eyes burn as she watched her friend.
She did have the better chance of getting away. She was stronger than Palethicket currently was, but that still didn't make this right. But she couldn't let her friend's sacrifice be in vain. Snatching up the sling in her mouth, Lester bolted from the bush and ran as fast as her paws could carry her over the damp ground, hearing Palethicket snarling, shrieking, yowling, covering her noise, her a monstrous shriek that told her Palethicket had gotten blows in.
The kits were being too jostled now to cry and Lester ran as fast as she could, eyes burning, her heart aching, hearing the cries of a desperate mother.
And then she heard one final shriek and nothing more, and she knew her friend was dead.
She felt the explosion when it came, flattening her to the ground as it spread out, and it was a thick silence of gray, no sound, no scent, just her, the kits, and the gray all around her. She waited, still, flattening herself over her precious load, and waited.
Waited until it had all faded, waited until she heard birds began to sing again, and waited until the sling beneath her began to wriggle.
Until a conch sounded off in the distance, the tone higher, different, signaling something Lester couldn't remember.
Then she picked up the sling and staggered home, meeting a patrol that had probably been sent to look for her.
They hurried her back to camp and she staggered into the medicine cat den, Jackdawnudge coming up to her instantly. As soon as she saw Goldstar enter the den, Lester found the words of what had happened came pouring out of her. She told them about Palethicket, the monster, her friend's sacrifice, all of it.
She was crying now, watching as Plumsong examined the kits with Wasp, all three pronounced healthy.
"Technically, I am still a queen. I can take them, and Jackdawnudge can give me herbs to bring my milk back, or we can go to Foggyclan-" Goldstar began and Lester sniffed.
"I'm raisin' them, Goldstar. We're not giving these little ones to another clan. Their mama asked me to take care of them as her last words, and I'm going to do just that. We ain't giving 'em to another clan." she said, curling around the litter protectively.
"I wasn't suggesting we give them away, Lester. But they need milk, and we have no nursing queens. If they're going to survive, they need someone to nurse them." Goldstar said gently, her tone reassuring.
She glanced over at Flintfur.
"Flintfur, Plumsong, go with Wiggity Wacks to Foggyclan, and ask if they have any nursing queens who can feed our kits in exchange for prey and herbs, or who would be willing to come here to do it." she ordered and Flintfur nodded, Plumsong slipping out after him.
"Thank you. Thank you." Lester said and Goldstar nodded.
She and Jackdawnudge convinced Lester to wash her pelt clean of the protection and then settled her in her nest in the medicine cat den, where she tucked the three squirming bundles to her belly to keep them warm.
The mewled, seeking their mother, and she tucked the sling around them as well, drawing her tongue over their ginger coats.
"Shh, little ones. Shh, little ones. Your mama, she's going to be watching you from the stars now. And I'll take care of you for her. You'll grow up knowin' what a brave warrior she was. I'll do my best for her, and for you." Lester promised, snuggling around them.
To her surprise, Jackdawnudge soon laid down beside her with a mouse, tearing into it, and he chewed it until the meat was liquid, flipping Leafkit over and drippling it into his mouth.
"Like this. I did it with my own litter; we didn't have queens at the time, and I couldn't feed them. Foggyclan, they sent us a nursing queen, so these little scraps won't go hungry if they can help it. And Gillfeather got lucky. Moon after she took in her kits, Stoneleaf came to us. She took care of Amberkit too, when he needed the milk." he told her as the kit swallowed.
He then squealed for more and Lester tore off a chunk of mouse herself, doing as Jackdawnudge showed her. For now, she was able to shove her grief aside, because right here, right now, three little lives needed her, and that was what mattered most.
8/28/2025-8/29/2025
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