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He didn't want to scare him

Storm woke to the sun shining through the leaves of the Fledgling den. Birds chirped occasionally, though not nearly as much as they did most mornings. He raised his head and looked around the mostly empty den The only other Fledglings in the den with him were Bone Ripple, and Tremble, the other Fledglings who had gone to the Meeting last night.

Squirrel pushed his way into the den and his face lit up when he saw Storm awake.

Squirrel tiptoed around the still-sleeping lynxes in their cuddle pile and came to lick Storm’s ear. “Good morning,” He purred quietly as he groomed Storm’s ears. “How was the meeting last night?”

Storm sleepily told Squirrel all about the meeting, even mentioning when he made new friends from the different tribes.

“Your new friends sound fun! BleedingJay sounds like he needs to calm down, though.”

Storm nodded. He was feeling more alert as his brain woke up. The day birds were chirping softly, way softer than the morning birds.

“What time is it?” Storm asked, standing and stretching. He took a moment to lick his fur and groom it down from where it stood on end, being pushed that way from how long and heavily he slept on it.

Squirrel purred a bit as he helped groom Storm’s fur into submission. “It’s noon. Ember made an announcement this morning about all Fledglings being trained in different tribes to build camaraderie between us and strengthen relationships. You wouldn’t happen to know what that’s about, would you?”

Storm paused for half a second in his grooming. He wasn’t sure if he was allowed to share the bad news with Squirrel. He didn’t want to scare Squirrel, but he had a right to know about the foxes and the crows. 


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