“Woah!” the black she-kit jumped around the den, “It’s so cool in here!” Mallow looked around as well, following his sister’s lead. Soon she was jumping back to the ones who brought her here, “My name’s Marsh and this is Mallow!” She hopped in place excitedly.

“Those names are perfect.” Flame giggled lightly, half to herself.

“Do they mean something?” Streak asked curiously.

“Mom says it’s a nofur thing.” Marsh shrugged.

“Marshmallows are a treat humans give themselves,” Flame explained, “It’s normally white but humans often burn them over fire to blacken before they eat it.”

“Humans?” Mallow spoke cautiously.

“What Nofurs call themselves.” Streak pitched in this time, Flame knew many things from the Nofur’s land that she taught the members. Every member must’ve suspected that she once lived with them when she was a pup, though no one seemed to have any interest in asking.

Within moments the kits had already moved on, “Your name’s Flame.” Marsh said as she pawed some of the she-wolf’s chest fur.

“Yes,” she confirmed, “Flameheart. Flame for short.”

“And you are?” Mallow turned to Streak, finishing his sister’s thought.

“Streakpelt; Streak for short.” A little flare of pride flickered in Streak, was this how the others felt when they introduced themselves?

“And I’m Burnpaw.” Streak looked across the den to see the calico, she hadn’t seen him or even scented him come in, she was too distracted with the bundle of energy that is Marsh, “And I’m not good with kits.” He stated, turning to head out of the den.

Soon he returned with Shine and Red behind him, Ash came from the side, apparently he was napping in his den which was made clear by the way he blinked hard and stumbled toward Flame.

“Awe~” Shine cooed at the kits, “Look at how cute you are!” Mallow looked down bashfully but Marsh ran towards the yellow molly and purred as she rubbed against her side in an extremely friendly greeting, only stopping when she saw Red.

“What are you?” Marsh pawed towards the vixen without fear.

“A fox.” Red said happily.

“Your fur is so pretty!” Marsh hopped over to the vixen and pawed her red fur.

“I’ll go get some moss for them to sleep on.” Streak excused herself.

“I’ll help.” Burn offered quickly, following her out of the den.

The air was cool and fresh, the moon was already fairly high in the sky. “You don’t even know where the moss is.” Burn retorted behind her.

“I think I saw some when I was with Red.” she explained.

“‘You think.’” He mocked, “Come on, I’ll show you.” he brushed his fur on her side as he trotted past her. She wordlessly followed, they went towards the poppies but stopped short of them by a distance and turned into the forest.

They only went a few paces in before she spotted a clump of moss on a tree root. If they’d gone too much farther they would’ve reached the edge of the ravine.

Streak bent down and began scratching to make the moss fall off. Burn joined her, he stopped after a bit to find some dried leaves on a dead branch that must’ve fallen from one of the trees days ago. “Aren’t you hungry?” he asked, “This’ll take a couple of trips, I can manage it.” he offered, setting his large stick next to her pile of moss.

His worried offer made Streak realize just how hungry she was, but she shook her head, “I’ll help you,” she said, “I can eat afterwards...” she watched Burn as he dropped to a hunting crouch, she noticed it just after him; a black bird. With a couple of smooth paces and a sharp pounce, Burn killed the prey. He nodded, stepping past her to carry the bird directly to camp.

They headed back with her findings, making a few trips to carry everything. “Did you catch that?” Marsh asked excitedly, Burn set the moss he was carrying down into a pile as Shine and Ash moved it into comfortable bedding.

“That I did.” Burn responded with happiness in his voice, he might not have been good with kits but it seemed like he liked how easily amused they were. Red picked up the bird and started pulling out its feathers, Streak did the same to a sparrow beside her. When they had finished, they both pressed the feathers into the bedding and left the bird in front of the kits for food. Marsh bent down to pounce onto the used-to-be-black bird but stopped herself before she took a bite, she hesitated for a moment but she soon shoved it toward her brother, taking the smaller sparrow for herself.

The sparrow had vanished with a few swift bites, after a while Mallow’s bird had a decent dent in it but he pulled away, he said something quiet to his sister. Her eyes glowed, “Are you sure?” he nodded to her in response and she gulped down what was left of his bird.

A purr of amusement came out of both Burn and Streak, Streak’s was from bittersweet memories of her and her sister flooding back to her as she saw the sibling kits looking after one another. She wondered if Burn was the same, longing for a sibling to be close to.

Marsh leaped into her bedding and Mallow followed, crawling in. “Are you going to sleep here too?”

“We have our own dens.” Ash replied, shaking his head, both kit’s ears drooped.

Marsh’s sad eyes tugged on Streak’s heart. Shine stepped towards them, giving Marsh a quick lick on the ear, “Well if you ask really nicely some of us might stay with you.”

“I’ll stay.” Streak quickly offered, instantly flustered as she did bring all the attention to herself, “Only if they ask nicely.” she reassured Shine who was looking at her skeptically.

“Pleeeaaase?” Marsh pleaded aloud, although her brother was silent he begged with his wide, blue eyes.

“I might as well stay too.” Burn said, trying to act like it was a punishment. Streak purred in amusement and went into Marsh’s bedding, pawing it to make it nice and comfy.

Burn did the same to Mallow’s lump of soft moss and feathers. “Rest well.” Flame cooed just before leaving for her cave with Red following, Shine went in one direction and Ash went in the other way, each going back to their dens.

Streak noticed that Mallow pressed quite close to Burn, and in response he showed a little bit of joy in the tom’s eyes, which went away as soon as he noticed Streak’s staring. She chuckled at his cuteness before laying her head on her forepaws, Marsh spread herself out next to the gray she-kitten, pushing her back into Streak’s side.

Sleepiness poured over Streak, allowing her to forget everything, even her stomach making soft gurgling noises begging for food. All that mattered was her and Burn and the two fluffy kits sleeping next to them. The last thought in her mind before she slept was much happened in her first day of being fully healed, her first day of being a full member of Firecamp. There were no dreams of the dark golden tom or of cats leaping into the sky, only of nice and solum sights.

Throughout her dreams, she felt content as though this was meant to be, that every creature was almost perfectly in place. Happiness and warmth swept over her and yet something felt off. Something gave a weak yet unwavering sense of dread, like something was missing, or something didn't belong. The feeling refused to cease till morning.