Maplestream's Autobiography

It was Otterkit who woke me up. At the words of “Come on, Mother’s asleep! Let’s get out of the nursery while we can!” I opened my eyes immediately, ready to get out of the familiar, and increasingly stuffy, nursery. I looked around. My sister, Aspenkit, was already awake, but Brightkit was still in her dreams, a ball of silver fur next to Rippleheart’s body. I watched, amused, as Otterkit dug his claws into her fur, pulling her up. Suddenly impatient, I steeled my nerves and dragged Brightkit outside.

As my eyes adjusted to the sudden warm sunlight, I looked around and gasped in wonder. Days ago I had thought the woven-reed-nursery was big. But now, seeing the camp, awash in golden dawn light, for the first time, my concept of big was completely revised.Yet I knew from Rippleheart’s stories that even beyond this territory there lay ThunderClan, WindClan, and ShadowClan, and that there were unexplored lands even further beyond those.

Brightkit’s stumbling movement tore at my wide-eyed gaze as she headed toward a gleaming pile somewhere to the right. Still dazed, I followed slowly, somewhat conscious of Otterkit and Aspenkit beside me, both in awe of the expanse of RiverClan’s camp, as I was.

As we neared the pile of glistening slender creatures sitting tantalizingly in the center of the clearing, Otterkit let out a delighted yelp. I looked at him, startled. “Fish!” he exclaimed, fur bristling like an overexcited hedgehog (another creature Mother had told us about). “The other day I heard Amberflare talking to Mother about fish, and I noticed the same smell on her paws,” he continued, gesturing toward the piles. Hearing the name, I recalled that Amberflare was the ginger queen in the nest next to ours, with two older kits, Pikekit and Minnowkit.

Curiosity aroused, I advanced toward the huge pile of fresh-kill, instincts urging me to crouch and creep quietly toward the fish. As I sprang toward a fish lying at the edge of the pile, I heard Brightkit chirping, “I’m going to be the best hunter yet!” Not with that voice of yours, I thought, and silently vowed, I’m going to be the best hunter.

As my salivating jaws closed around the slender minnow, my mouth was suddenly overwhelmed by a heavy scent. This must be the fish scent Otterkit was talking about, I thought dully, gagging. Though the smell may have masked my ability to think, it didn’t mask my curiosity and I bit down cautiously.

And suddenly I understood RiverClan’s craving for fish as a most heavenly taste flooded my mouth.

A deep voice boomed out, “You don’t even know the hunter’s crouch.” Spinning around, I dropped the minnow, craning to meet the narrowed eyes of black-furred Pikekit. Spotting Brightkit glance self-consciously at her own messy fur, I couldn’t help but do the same. She replied haughtily, “I will soon!”

Pikekit giggled, mimicking Brightkit’s high-pitched voice. Then he stopped and squinted at me. “Got a fish, haven’t you, Maplekit? Such a great hunter you are, look, you’ve caught the smallest species of fish there is. And it’s dead.”

Blood roared in my ears. I hissed back, “You shut up and just wait. Soon I’ll be able to hunt better than you ever could.” Without knowing it, this was my first encounter with a bully. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be the last.

Minnowkit interrupted her brother with a complait. “Stop being such a jerk.” Her bright blue eyes ran over my siblings and me. Relief spread through my body as I saw the compassion in those eyes. “Does Rippleheart know you’re out here?” she asked us.

“No, we snuck out.” I lifted my chin proudly at the fact that I was the first out of the nursery, purposely ignoring the fact that Otterkit was actually the one who woke me up.

“Oh, aren’t you proud of that,” Pikekit snickered. “As proud as you’re arrogant, you bully!” Brightkit retorted with a dangerous glare. I bristled with hate. Pikekit was a colossal idiot if he thought he was better than us.

A deep voice interrupted us. “What is going on here?” Aspenkit squeaked, making me turn around in time to butt heads with Brightkit. “Sorry,” I muttered. As I looked up to see a mountain of gray fur, I realized this cat was even bigger than Pikekit. Much bigger. The sight of Pikekit cowering under the big cat’s gaze gave me an intense sense of satisfaction as I realized that Pikekit was barely larger than his head.

The gray warrior spoke again, raking his piercing golden eyes over us four kits. “Does Rippleheart know you’re out of the nursery?” Surprisingly, his voice was gentle, though with the slightest hint of edge concealed well in it. Looking up, I was puzzled... was that amusement in his eyes?

“Yes, why, are we supposed to be stuck in that nursery for all six moons?” Brightkit demanded. “Yes, yes...” Pikekit muttered smugly. I glared at him, a red haze of anger masking my view.

“Shut up!” Otterkit spat, glaring at Pikekit as well. “Yeah, stop being such a-” Graystorm interrupted my sentence with a steely “That’s enough!” Then his eyes softened slightly. "I'm sure it's exciting to be out of the nursery for the first time, but Rippleheart will be worried to death if you're not there when she wakes up."

As if those words were a cue, I heard a yowl of “My kits!” behind me and turned around to see Rippleheart’s familiar face at the entrance of the nursery, which I now noticed was shaped like a dome. My shoulders sagged in annoyance and surrender, accepting the end of our first adventure. Looking at the other kits, I saw that their expressions were similar, and Brightkit had her mouth open as if she were about to say something. Then I looked back at Rippleheart. Fury, relief, irritation, annoyance, and love were written all over her tabby face. I sighed and watched playfully as Brightkit’s mouth slowly closed, then let my mother drag my back inside to the warmth of the nest.

At the comfortable edge of sleep, I realized one thing that gave me a sense of satisfaction: out of all the kits, I had spent the most time outside; I was the first kit out and the last kit in.

And next time, when we became apprentices, the whole thing would be for real.