Restless

[sorrelpaw]

No, no, please!
The small white kitten writhed in her sleep, sweat dribbling down her brow, though at the height of leafbare the apprentices' den was full of an icy chill. The white tail thrashed from side to side and the paws lashed out at the bare air. The eyes rolled idly beneath the tightly shut eyelids.

There was darkness everywhere, everywhere, she couldn't see... Bubblepaw blundered through the shadows, though the darknes choked her and blinded and deafened her. She shook her head to rid herself of the clinging gloom but it clung on. She yowled in terror as icy coldness drenched her, then the burning heat of fire.

"Let me go, let me go!" Bubblepaw screamed, back in reality, though her screams echoed on. She scrambled to her paws, unsheathed claws kittling off of the earth. Sheshakily shook her pelt free of dust, then sat down. She desperately tried to calm herself down, but the dream still sang in her mind.

[spiritdream]

"Bubblepaw! Bubblepaw what's wrong?" Spiritdream dashed over to Bubblepaw, her face contorted in the dark shadows. She gave the apprentice a soothing lick, feeling her maternal instincts flare up. The apprentice probably woudn't want to be coddled. Spiritdream sat down a little farther away to give the apprentice space while repeating her question. Are you all right?

[sorrelpaw]

The white apprentice jumped as she heard the warriors' voice, then recognized Spiritdream. She relaxed, though the fur on her shoulders still bristld involuntarily and her claws remained unsheathed. "I... I had a dream," mumbled Bubblepaw, embarrased. She sat down and began to lick her ruffled chest fur to conceal her embarrasment. "I think I'm okay now, though."
The apprentice smiled weakly at the tortoiseshell warrior, then slipped out of the den. As her soft pelt brushed the warrior's, she was still shivering.

[spiritdream]

Spiritdream nodded and backed out of the den. She was hungry and her muscles were cramped from being couped up for so long. She stretched and hurried towards the fresh-kill pile. Feeling a little guilty for eating when she wasn't hunting for her share, the tortieshell warrior wolfed down a rabbit. She watched the sun rising its golden light flooding the camp. Spiritdream licked her fur with quick strokes. Her pelt was already so clean it seemed that there was nothing to clean off. Then she rose and headed out of the camp to hunt.

[siberiantiger]

Maplepaw had heard the two cats in his sleep. He woke up to see them slipping out of the den. The brown tom got up and stretched. He shook his pelt free from the clinging moss, then bounded after them. "Hey wait up!" he called.