The whole clan was preparing for an occasion that hadn't occurred in moons. Finally, there would be cats to change the moss beddings. Finally, there would be cats to pick out lice from Redbee's fur. Finally, Honeykit, Stonekit and Cloudykit would be apprentices.

"Stop overreacting!" chided Raintrickle to the hyperactive kits, "It's tomorrow! Not today!"

For once, Leafhover couldn't seem to bring herself to agree with her brother, "Same difference, Rain, same difference."

The grey tom sniffed, "You're only excited because they're your grandchildren."

Beestripe glanced exasperatedly between her mother and uncle. Honeykit was just as confused by this family dynamic.

Stormcloud was never around. When he was, it was only to compliment Stonekit on how much the latter resembled himself. 

Lilypad was expected to retire to the elder's den soon, but she spent her present time completely ignoring the existence of her grand-kits. The smallest attention they ever received from her was a glance of defiant dislike that was more or less thrown their way every week. 

Leafhover's ex-mate, Toadleap, seemed to take on the same method of quietly ignoring the kits. At the same time, there were rare occasions where he would offer them a kind blink of eyes that seemed to be all he had in him to express affection with. 

Leafhover and Raintrickle shared the same braincell, teaming up to criticise the kits' every mistake. Whenever there were the rare times in which they fought, the whole family just strayed quietly away. 

In fact, they were fighting a lot more now that Cream and her Berrykit had arrived at camp. There seemed to always be something to discuss and gossip, leading to something that triggered different opinions from the twins. Everything lead to a wild gossip cyclone that had to be squashed down by Hawkstar before it divided Skyclan in half.

This was all what Honeykit had noticed.

To be honest, she loved to notice things. She was obsessed with quietly contemplating all the factors that came together in this strange life of hers. The truth was, she didn't have anything else to do. Kit life was so ever boring, especially since she was usually disregarded as the runt. 

Honeykit never really had to do anything. So she sat there and observed. 

Slowly.

Slowly piecing together the puzzle in her head so that everything made sense.

So that everything clicked.

Honeykit's thought cycle was abruptly disrupted when Berrykit approached her and Cloudykit.

The brightly coloured kit flicked his ear light-heartedly at his counterparts, "Hello, Cloudykit and Honeykit, right?"

Cloudykit rolled her eyes, "Yeah, what do you want, kittypet?"

Hon duly noted that her sister disliked kittypets. It wasn't too uncommon, but it still shocked the golden tabby-kit that her own friend and sister could be so incredibly rude. But the love inside of her forgave her litter-mate, it rushed to do so. 

Berrykit, to her relief, was completely capable of defending himself, "Look who woke up on the wrong side of the nest today!"

Cloudykit showed her teeth in an attempt to seem fiercer, but Honeykit reached out with her tail, "Calm down, Clo."

They were only kits, after all. There would be no point in starting a fight.

Instead, Honeykit blinked politely, "Berrykit, you're very much welcome in Skyclan but I won't be surprised if you're simply discarded off later."

The tom-kit narrowed his eyes, "What?"

Honeykit realised her choice of words might not have been ideal.

Cloudykit nudged her sister, "You're being ridiculous, Hon. What do you mean by 'discarded'?"

Honeykit shrugged, trying to mend what she had accidentally cut, "Cream seems like a rather smart cat, is what I mean. She's probably taking advantage of being Berrykit's 'foster mother' to get into the clan."

She had been thinking about this a lot. There was something that didn't quite fit into place about Cream. Especially the glances she threw at Morningflower. Ones filled with warm love that mixed with cold hatred and something deep and dark that resembled grief. There were a lot of those glances. Some were slowly incorporated into long stares until the recipient noticed.

It was fascinating how such emotions could be put into a glance.

Berrykit dug in his claws, "Shut up! Cream saved me from my death! I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her. Do you not understand how I love her?"

Cloudykit groaned, "Buzz off already! We didn't ask you to come to us in the first place!"

The brightly coloured tom was quivering, "All I wanted was some friends. Is that so hard for you 'warriors'?"

Honeykit's eyes widened. How had she misread this tom-kit so badly? All along, she was wondering the purpose of him coming over, while it was absolutely clear now! There was no way she was missing out on the chance of a new friend. She would do anything for this kit to love her.

Honeykit stood up, practically bursting out of her fur, "Wait!"

When Berrykit stilled, she continued frantically, "I swear to Starclan me and Clo didn't mean all that! We're sorry!"

Cloudykit arched an eyebrow, "Are we?"

Honeykit nodded solemnly, "Yes, we are. In fact, we can be you friends if you want."

Berrykit stared at the sisters for an excruciatingly long amount of time.

Then he nodded shyly, "Okay."

Hon let the gears in her brain click and whir. How she wished it would be this easy with her own brother. But Stonekit was special. She had noticed that ages ago. It would take a lot more than one conversation to win over such a stubborn mind.

But Honeykit wasn't bothered.

She was in it for the long game.