[Deleted]

I C E K I T

The white kit jumped at the sudden poke, but blue eyes blinked gratefully when it just turned out to be his brother. Rushkit always seemed to know what was going on, and while occasionally Icekit was jealous of his brother for being smarter than he was, today he was thankful. The next shove was not nearly as appreciated as the first, but it seemed to be the direction every other cat was going, so Icekit didn’t swat his brother. Still, the idea of leaving the nursery during a time of… danger -yes that was what was happening- made his fur prickle. Usually, the nursery was the place to run to during danger, not from. Blue eyes glanced back into the nursery wistfully, but the snow-melt-ground seemed to have covered much, much more of the nursery floor when he hadn’t been watching. Maybe it was alive after all?

A flash of white caught his eye, and Icekit watched in near amazement as the large, thick-coated, all-white tom picked up his sister and carried her among the other cats. Icekit hadn’t formally met his father before, but the warrior always seemed to be around his family, so he wasn’t too concerned about his sister. His mother had handed her off, and she wouldn’t have her go with a mean cat, right?

Icekit purred when his older sister nuzzled him, but mostly out of habit; his fur was still too prickled from the tense air all the adult cats had. The lift took him by surprise, and instantly, the kit squirmed. Being picked up was never his favorite thing, especially now during the danger time. Without all four paws on the ground, how was he supposed to go places or do, well, anything?! The deaf kit protested, “!!!” but fortunately for the hearing cats his meow was far quieter than his earlier meows. It was barely louder than a whisper. Also fortunately, Icekit was distracted before he could complain again. The first distraction came in the form of his other older sister, who the white kit managed to paw at before she picked up his brother. Oh. Guess she wouldn’t be much help in coaxing Peachpaw to let him go.

As her kits walked away, Eelpebble trailed them, watching carefully if any one of them looked to be having problems. The older kits were just apprentices, after all; they might have a hard time carrying squirmy kits the entire way.

The second distraction happened after Peachpaw had started the trip out of camp. When her paws went into the muddy floodwater, some of it inevitably splashed up onto Icekit, distracting him from the panicked cats in the line out of camp. The snow-melt-ground was almost up to him, and, still curious as to if the water was alive or not, the white kit swished his tail in the stuff. It didn’t bite him, although it was cold, and some of it stuck to his coat, turning his white tail brown. Not too bothered by the thought of getting his coat dirty, and bored with being carried and the crisis the Clan was having (he couldn’t do anything about it anyway, and he was sick of just staring at everything in confusion), Icekit pawed at the water with his hind legs, as his front ones wouldn’t reach. It didn’t feel too dangerous, if only a little cold. Maybe the cold part was the dangerous part? Would they set up a new nursery somewhere warmer? At any rate, the three-moon-old kit didn’t seem anything dangerous about the floodwater now, and he was sick of being carried when his legs worked just fine. White paws tapped the apprentice carrying him, informing her that he was sick of this and wanted to walk. He wasn’t some newborn that couldn’t walk or run or jump!

[Fawn]

She felt him ghost right past her so quickly, by the time she had turned her head to see who it was, Razorfang had nearly gone, Roselight's cerulean gaze matching up with his green-gray ones for a split second, the she-cat smiling back subconsciously, the flood momentarily forgotten. For a heartbeat, something had passed between the two RainClan warriors, but a cry from behind her of an elder stumbling shattered that moment to pieces, and Roselight snapped back into action. Giving Gingertail a shoulder to lean against, she helped the aged feline in the direction of the StoneClan border, Razorfang's voice still echoing in her sensitive eardrums, a flash of ruddy fur signaling that Russetpaw was also close by. She would circle back for him in a moment.

~*~

Brookrun and Snoweye! What was taking them so long?

The gray she-cat in question - and also the mother of Russetpaw and the unborn litter in her belly - had paused to take in a few gulps of air, belly swollen, Snoweye refusing to leave her behind. Russetpaw had circled back to help his mother to her paws, determined not to let them be the stragglers that fell behind - before a piteous wail erupted somewhere back at the rapidly deserting camp.
Was that a kit?

"Try and find Razorfang, he'll make sure you get across!" Called the ruddy tom as he doubled back into camp, ears swiveling forward and to the side as though he might pick up another pitiful mewl - and he did, keen green eyes locking onto an unusual sight. On an old rotted piece of a log that had likely drifted in from when the river had burst, was a RainClan kitten - Fleetkit? It looked like Fleetkit, with his brown tabby markings and rounded eyes - and an assortment of odd stones and feathers and clumps of...fur?
Russetpaw didn't ask, he didn't have time for that - the drift wood was floating away, with Fleetkit unwillingly along for the ride! Sliding into the now very high water, Russetpaw waded through it, strong legs churning through the brown, murky depths, his features twisting into a wince as he stepped on a sharp rock, unable to see the bottom. As Fleetkit continued to wail and scramble from one end of the drift wood to the other - which probably wasn't a good idea, but if he stayed in one spot, he might cause it to tip over - Russetpaw kicked off from what had probably been the river stone at some point, lunging forward, neck muscles straining until he seized the piece of drift wood in his teeth.
"Ihgotyew." He announced through the saturated bark. "jusholddon."

Paddling through the slight current, Russetpaw was having a little trouble figuring out where in camp he actually was, as all of the familiar landmarks were either half-submerged or just...didn't look the same as before. Deciding where didn't really matter so long as it was dryer than where they currently were, Russetpaw drove the piece of drift and the kitten on top of it to the nearest bank, the sand working against him as he shoved it up and out of the water, grunting with the effort. The almost-warrior shook out his coat, paws still semi-submerged as he gently nosed the kit, checking for any injuries.
"Are you okay?"

Before his questioning to get much further, a frantic-looking queen bounded over to them to retrieve her sopping wet little hoarder, Russetpaw flicking water out of his ears just in time to hear her gushing thank you. He nodded amicably before turning around to find where the others had gone, his heart sinking a little as he spied the RainClan deputy but not his parents.
"Have you seen my parents?" He called above the sound of sloshing water, fur clinging to his body as he approached the camp stream Roselight had been helping the others cross earlier. They hadn't fallen in, had they? After a careful glance around, the ruddy tom crossed it - which was difficult, even for a strong swimmer like him, Russetpaw accepting the help of Roselight who had hung back for him, her teeth clamped around his scruff to help haul the younger tom free of the flooded stream.
"I haven't seen Brookrun or Snoweye either - they aren't with my parents," she mewed, casting a slightly worried look in Razorfang's direction.

They couldn't have fallen behind, could they?

OOC: Insidious, feel free to have Razorfang spot them further up the stream trying to cross.
Roselight. fdc1c1. Russetpaw. d13e0f