“Not yet.” Leafpool rested her paw beside Jaypaw’s as the spasm subsided. Calm radiated from the medicine cat like moonbeams. Jaypaw was impressed. His own heart was pounding so hard he was sure the others must be able to hear it.

“Now!” A new spasm gripped Millie, and Jaypaw felt the queen tense and tremble as she pushed with all her might.

“The first one’s coming,” Leafpool encouraged. “I can see it.”

Millie pushed again, and Jaypaw smelled a new scent, warm, both musky and fresh at the same time.

Leafpool shuffled along until she was crouched at Millie’s tail. “Look,” she whispered to Jaypaw. He leaned over and sniffed the damp bundle wriggling under his nose. Leafpool’s cheek brushed his as she lapped at the newborn kit. “I’ve opened the sac so it can breathe air for the first time.”

Millie gasped.

“The next one’s coming,” Leafpool announced. Daisy pushed past Jaypaw and dragged the first kit out of the way. Jaypaw could hear her tongue scraping the kit’s soggy pelt. “Are you washing it?” From the sound of it she was licking the fur the wrong way.

“This will warm it and help it start breathing,” Daisy told him. Jaypaw leaned in close and heard a tiny gasp as the kit drew in its first mouthful of air.

Millie gave a low moan, and another damp bundle fell onto the moss. “Here.” Leafpool nosed Jaypaw toward it. “Nip open the sac to release it.”

Suddenly feeling nervous, Jaypaw licked at the wriggling mass, feeling the membrane slimy on his tongue. Careful to avoid the soft flesh beneath, he nipped at the delicate sac. It split between his teeth and tore open so that the kit tumbled out, squeaking and struggling. “This one’s breathing already,” he told Leafpool.

“Good,” she mewed. “Now lick it like Daisy is doing.”

Sniffing first to find the kit’s head, he began licking it from tail to ear. Soaked to the skin, it had grown cold quickly, but it soon began to grow warm and dry beneath his tongue.

Millie shifted behind him, and her nose pushed past to sniff at her kits. Then she fell back again with a groan.

“Another one’s coming,” Leafpool announced.

Millie yowled, softer this time, as though the pain were easing.

“There we go,” Leafpool murmured as a new bundle plopped out. “That’s the last one.” Millie turned and released it from the sac. She started to purr, lapping at its wet body.

“One male and two females,” Leafpool told her.

Millie sank back into her nest, still purring, and Leafpool lifted the two female kits and laid them at the queen’s belly. “They need milk,” she explained to Jaypaw.