aying goodbye by WildCroconaw

Plot: this is I how I think Leafstar explained to her kits about lichenfur's death after the flood in the beyond the code magna. It is seen through Firekit's POV. I am putting Firekit, Harrykit and Stormkit's ages at about a moon and a quarter. I don't own anything mentioned.

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" when's mama coming back up " my gray brother Harrykit asked me . We had been trapped in the senior warriors den for what seemed like moons because of the horrible storm that had flooded the camp. My mom, Leafstar and some of the other warriors like Cherrytail, Patchfoot, sharpclaw, bouncefire, shrewtooth and Fallowfern had gone down to check if the coast was clear.

"dunno"

" is it safe to come down" my sister Stormkit fixed her amber eyes on Echosong who was waiting for a signal, the light coming in to the den from the opening shone on her ginger and gray fur.

I pawed the earth with my claws. What if mamma never comes back? What if they get swept up by the big river and we got to stay in here forever? There's no food or water! What if we got to stay here forever? The worry must have shown on my face because I felt my father Billystorm lick my head. "there is nothing to worry about, firekit" I looked up and saw his green eyes stare at me.

"but mama..."

"knows how to handle herself." he finished. "come here, my little ember, raindrop, and furball" he ended with his nicknames for us: Stormkit was his little raindrop, I was the ember and harrykit was the furball. My sibling bounced over to us.

"don't you three worry about your mother. She is able to take of herself. "

Sandypaw added "an' sharpclaw's out there with her. He's not gonna let anything happen to Leafstar. He's the greatest skyclan deputy ever"

His sister Honeypaw bopped his head with a sheathed paw. " mouse-brain! He's the only deputy we've known plus he's our dad"

"Honeypaw, be nice to your brother" Clovertail scolded her daughter.

She ducked her head. "sorry Clovertail"

We heard someone jump up to the cliff and Billystorm stood up, his fur sticking up. He relaxed when the familiar scent and form of Sharpclaw filled the den. As soon as he was completely in the den, Questions filled his ears: "is it safe?" "what's the camp look like?" "is everything alright?"

He had a sorrowful look in his eyes as he looked over us. he lifted his tail for silence. "come down. Honeypaw, you can carry Harrykit. Firekit, your dad can carry you" I purred with delight. " Stormkit-"

my sister went up to the dark ginger deputy and stated "I can jump down by myself, I'm a big cat". The clan chuckled.

"she's got your personality, Billystorm" tinycloud meowed.

" She's got guts" Shrewtooth remarked. sandypaw twitched his whiskers, amused.

he patted her head with his tail. " oh little one, if you were older I would, but your leg muscles aren't strong enough to make that large"

the hopeful look on my sister's face fell like a stone thrown into a river. "but I wanted to impress mama with how far I can jump..."

Petalnose came up front. "don't worry Stormkit. I'm sure that leafstar is proud of all your accomplishments." The nice pale gray she-cat purred kindly. " you're only a kit. A jump like that that could land you in echosong's den for a while"

She looked from the nice she cat to Echosong (who had moved to the side to let sharpclaw in),. She nodded. "okay, sharpclaw. I guess you know best"

he gave her a warm smile. "would you like me to carry you down"

she nodded. "okay, everyone follow me when I flick my tail" he scooped up Stormkit in his mouth as Billystorm picked me up. Harrykit jumped on Honeypaw's back. He gave us the signal and We left the cave.

I loved the feel of the air flying through my fur as Billystorm jumped. "wheeeee" I mewed.

As soon as my dad put me down on the ground I noticed something was wrong. Harrykit and Stormkit were standing still looking at something ahead- their jaws hanging. there was a semi circle of cats around a body- a familiar gray mottled body.

"LICHENFUR!" we all ran over to her and started nudging and prodding her.

"wake up, lichenfur" Stormkit mewed.

" why are you still sleeping" my brother prodded her

I touched her fur- she was cold and wasn't moving. Tears were in my eyes . I turned to Leafstar and Echosong, "mama, Echosong, she's not moving"

Leafstar motioned us with her tail to come over to her. She led us aside away from Lichenfur. "what's wrong , mama?" I asked.

She sat down and we followed suit. " here isn't an easy way to tell you this but ... Lichenfur has left us"

Harrykit looked at her with his amber eyes. "did she go hunting?"

She shook her head. " no dear. Remember how I told you about StarClan?"

I nodded. "isn't that the place where there's lots and lots of prey that never runs out? And it's always pretty?"

"and there are no rats or clumsy twolegs" Stormkit put in.

Harrykit was quiet for a minute. "isn't that where you said grandmama is?"

"yes dear".

The reality sunk in. "is that where Lichenfur is?" I asked. she nodded and all three of us buried our faces in her fur and cried.

" why mama?"

"is StarClan mad at us?"

"we n-never g-got to say goodbye" I sputtered.

"it's hard when you lose someone without saying goodbye. I should know. " Petalnose's soft voice fluttered over to us. We looked up and saw her next to us. My littermates and I got out of Leaftstar's fur and walked over to her.

I looked down at my paws. " we'll never see her again. "

Leafstar licked my cheek. "Not so, baby. She's watching over you from StarClan at night. Remember how I told you about Silverpelt? Each star there represents a fallen warrior-"

"or apprentice or kit, too, right mama?" Harrykit interjected.

"that's right sweetie"

"and now there is one for Lichenfur" Petalnose added. "She'll be able to watch over you as you grow like Rainfur watched over Sagefur and Mintfur"

" That's true Petalnose. If Echosong, Frecklewish or i see her in dreams or in the whispering cave we can tell her about how much you are growing" Leafstar gave the other she cat a kind smile.

"Mama, do we have to stay up for the- the um" Stormkit couldn't think of the word.

"Vigil, dear. No you don't have to if you don't want to"

I took a step forward and looked up at them . "I do, mamma"

"I wanna stay up too" harrykit added.

"then I will too"

"that's very kind of you three to do that." Petalnose remarked.

"I feel bad for disturbing her nap" I admitted. "can we do anything to help?"

"yeah" Harrykit nodded. "I wanna make her look pretty"

Stormkit gazed up at our mom. "please mama? Pretty please with fresh kill on top?"

Petalnose laughed. "what polite little warriors you have there, Leafstar."

She purred as we all got to our paws. "how can I say no to that face"

we cheered. "yeea!" we bounced at her heels as we walked back to the others.

There was a twinkle in her eyes as she looked at Petalnose. "would you three like to help me, Frecklewish and Echosong pick herbs for the burial?" the gray cat asked us.

"sure" Harrykit and Stormkit agreed.

"can I help pick flowers for her body?" I asked. "didn't Lichenfur say that she loved to smell flowers in newleaf?"

Leafstar licked my head. "of course you can dear. I think Lichenfur would really appreciate that"

The End.

author's note: sorry it ended like that. i couldn't think of a better way to end it

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