Pebbleshine's Kits/Chapter 9

==Chapter description==
:Micah brushes his cheek against Pebbleshine's as the rest of Pebbleshine's deceased Clanmates and Billystorm bid her good-bye, Duskpaw coming bounding up to say farewell, licking her ear affectionately. As rest of her former Clanmates walked away, Micah instructed Pebbleshine to step forward into a pool. She shivered at the touch of the water, but finally slid in. Colors faded before her, and, spotting an exit, she began to swim toward it. But when she reached the end of the tunnel, Pebbleshine realized her paws weren't even wet. 
:Realizing she was standing by a Thunderpath, Pebbleshine felt an urge to search for her kits, but before she could, she heard inaudible voices up the tunnel. Pebbleshine swallowed a cry of disappointment when she saw a ginger tom and a silver-gray she-cat that Micah had shown her in the pool. The two cats were heading in her direction as Pebbleshine attempted to hide, but realized that the living couldn't see her. The two young apprentices then stepped so close that she could stretch out her tail and touch them. 
:When the ginger tom mentions a cat named Sandstorm, Pebbleshine notes that Sandstorm is a warrior name, and that these cats must be from the Clans, and hopes that the two young cats would rescue her kits. When the silver she-cat looked straight in her direction, puzzled, Pebbleshine's pelt stood up, she wonders if the former could see her. 
:Pebbleshine whispers something in her ear, but the she-cat doesn't react. She imagines her kits alone, and silently begs the gray she-cat to find them. 
:Suddenly the she-cat yowls from down the tunnel. The ginger tom was reluctant to follow his companion, but the silver she-cat urges him to follow. Pebbleshine fights the urge to shove the tom, but stays put. But hope sprang up inside her as the tom sighed and followed his friend. Pebbleshine began to race down the tunnel after them, but can only hear the sounds of the two Clan cats, and fear grips her. 
:As Pebbleshine's anxiety increases, she feels a wave of relief as she hears the cry of a kit up the tunnel. The gray she-cat didn't notice the kits, but the ginger tom's ears prick as he approaches the nest. Pebbleshine exclaims that her two kits are alive joyfully as she finds them in the nest, noting how frail they looked. The ginger tom's friend arrives beside him, realizing in shock that there were kits, asking where they're mother was. The she-cat's gaze swept around the tunnel as Pebbleshine thought the silver cat might have seen her. 
:The two cats notice how delicate the kits are, and the gray she-cat bounds off to find their mother, but the tom dismisses her and orders her to catch something for the kits to eat. Pebbleshine is relieved that the ginger apprentice had some sense to realize that the kits needed food, and adds to herself that they'll need another she-cat to nurse them. 
:Pebbleshine curls into the nest with her two kits. She knows that they can't feel her, and wishes Hawkwing were there to keep them warm. Her heart aches at the thought that she could never be close to him again, but pictures her mate vainly waiting for her to return. Pebbleshine hopes that she would watch over her newborns, and how she was following her own path, being close to her kits. Pebbleshine thinks about how she would never see her home again, or sleep next to her Clanmates again, but she promises her kits that she would stay with them. 
==Characters==
===Major===
===Minor===
===Mentioned===
*Hawkwing
*Sandstorm
==Trivia==
*This chapter aligns with chapter twenty-two of The Apprentice's Quest.
==Notes and references==
Category:Chapter subpages
Category:Pebbleshine's Kits
Category:Novellas