chosen option: go right, towards the mountain peak.

'let's go to the mountain peak, i've heard papa talk about how pretty it is!' littlekit mewed, eyes gleaming.

'i don't know, that could be dangerous.' kestrelkit hesitated, jumping at the sound of wind rustling a bush.

'we're already out of camp, why waste the opportunity?' grousekit rolled his eyes, beginning to march off towards the peak and trying to subtly look back to see if they were following.

littlekit, albeit unsure, began to follow after him. she couldn't let the tom wander off alone, it'd be safer if there was a group with him! reluctantly, the other kits began to follow in her trail.

noticing them following, grousekit gained a bit of confidence and picked up the pace, eyes fixing on the peak in the distance.

after a lot of walking, they finally arrived at the steep slope leading up to the peak. it was the biggest thing they had ever seen! the kits had to tilt their heads all the way back to even see the top!

'papa was right...' littlekit whispered, her jaw dropping. the enormous mountain was wonderfully framed by the starry sky and had white patches of snow that became more frequent the higher it went. the moon was barely visible above the summit, beaming dimly and casting a single, massive shadow from the mountain.

littlekit was too absorbed in the magnificent view ahead to notice as kestrelkit crept forward, away from the group. the foliage near them rustled, and big spruce trees waved softly in the breeze.

littlekit returned to her senses and sniffed the air, recognizing the scents of nature, the other kits, and... something else?

littlekit turned swiftly in the direction of a scrappy-looking white creature approaching quickly in the distance. it had short pointy ears, beady black eyes, and something blue wrapped around its neck, trailed by something that looked like a vine that seemed to be attached to the blue stuff.

she winced as the creature made a horrible yapping noise, and turned to cry out at her littermates, 'run!'

reacting quickly, and probably noticing the yapping creature running towards them, grousekit and otterkit hurried behind her, their paws disrupting the peaceful nighttime ambiance with every frantic step.

as they ran, they heard yowls of pain behind them, much to the horror of all three kits, and littlekit didn't have time to glance back to see what had happened because her attention was set on getting out of there.

as they arrived back at camp, they heard a warrior shout, 'hey! what are you three doing?!'

littlekit turned and saw marshfox, and was quick to tell her what happened, even if it meant getting in trouble, 'we went to check out the mountain peak and we saw a thing and i think it got kestrelkit!'

'what? what was it?!' marshfox asks, her typical feisty attitude abandoned. littlekit didn't know what it was, so she decided to try and describe it, 'it was white and made a weird noise!'

marshfox seemed to take a second to think, then spoke, 'get back in camp, i'll gather some cats to rescue kestrelkit with. do not,' marshfox narrowed her eyes, 'do not leave camp again.'

as marshfox nudged them into camp, she continued speaking, 'i will be telling falconflight and flyfire, now go!'

littlekit followed her brothers back to the nursery, where condorkit sat, her patched pelt visibly fluffed, 'where is kestrelkit? is he okay?'

'he's... warriors are looking for him! they'll make sure he's okay!' otterkit tried to reassure her, but it was obvious to littlekit that it didn't work.

condorkit seemed to just get more distressed, with her breathing speeding up and her voice getting louder, 'why do they have to search for him?!'

a tired queen poked her head out of the nursery, 'kits, please, are you trying to wake the whole clan?' flyfire scolded them quietly, 'get back to your nests.'

flyfire shushed the kit's protests and all four begrudgingly returned to the den. none of them managed to get much sleep that night, minds clouded with worry about their denmate.

.~.~.~.

soon after sunrise, marshfox poked her head into the den, with two silhouettes of warriors behind her. she called for flyfire and falconflight a few minutes ago, and littlekit could hear murmuring outside the den.

she noticed that grousekit and condorkit were sitting by the entrance, obviously listening in on the warrior's discussion, while otterkit was still curled up beside her, not asleep, but still resting.

she noticed that kestrelkit was nowhere to be seen... not a good sign. hopefully, he was just outside of the nursery, and not...

littlekit shook her head and padded over to grousekit and condorkit, her curiosity had grown about what the warriors were talking about... she had an idea.

taking her spot to grousekit's left, she was about to start listening in when she noticed condorkit staring at her, eyes owlish and wide. she probably wanted to speak with her...

will you...

A, stay by grousekit and eavesdrop.
(1 vote so far.)

B, go speak with condorkit.
(1 vote so far.)