Rifka awoke to find her stomach rumbling with hunger.
"I'll go hunting." She mumbled to herself with disinterest.
In no time, she had cornered a squirrel, and just as she was about to sink her teeth into it, it darted into ThunderClan land.
"Damn." she hissed.
She stood there for a moment, and then she saw a ThunderClan cat take out the squirrel with one quick blow.
"They're fast. I'll have to remember that…" Rifka noted.
The she-cat looked over to her with a friendly smile.
"Hi." The white warrior greeted her.
"You're very fast." Rifka complemented her.
The white warrior smiled:
"Not as fast as the WindClan cats." She said, and walked away with her squirrel.
I didn't know the Clan cats were so friendly, she pondered. Perhaps they aren't so hostile.
Rifka decided to patrol the border. It wasn't a set border, just what separated the land between the Outsiders and ThunderClan. It was then she realized that her and Sky's land was such a small area, for such a growing number of cats.
"Sky, I need to talk to you!" Rifka announced as she entered the Outsiders' camp. Shy, a large white tom, padded out from under Crystal Rock.
"What is it?" he inquired, for Rifka always had interesting things to say.
"It's about our land." She sounded concerned as she padded nearer to Sky.
"We are growing so large," she whispered to him," but we have such little land."
"That does seem to be a problem." Sky commented.
Tasha overheard their conversation and remarked,
"We'll just steal ThunderClan's land!"
rather loudly. Hidan padded up and noticed Tasha's crude comment.
"You're such an ass." he and Rifka said in unison. Tasha scowled at his comment.
"But for once, and ass has a good idea!" Rifka laughed.
"Asses don't have good ideas." Crescent growled rather rudely, suddenly appearing in the picture.
"Well this one just did!" Rifka returned.
As Sky listened to this conversation, he rolled his eyes. Did Rifka really think they should take over ThunderClan's land? Before he could think about it any further, he heard the familiar call:
"Defenders, Trainees, follow me!" from Rifka as she padded out of the camp with Tasha and Hidan close behind. Soon, Sky was right beside her, listening to her explain her thoughts, which she was always very honest in doing so.
"Sky, I went hunting this morning," she began, "because I was hungry. I chased a squirrel, but it ran over the ThunderClan border. That gave me the thought to patrol the border, which was when I realized how small the piece of land we own is.
Sky nodded, showing Rifka that he was listening.
"We can't expand any other way, for to the south and east, nofurs command the land. To the west is the Great Water, which is far too salty to drink. Our only option is death, or to expand to the north; to ThunderClan's land." Rifka concluded.
"Do you understand my reasoning?" she asked Sky for his consent and approval.
"Yes. We must expand, but not by violence. Perhaps we should try and talk to their leader. Maybe the leaders of the other three Clans as well." Sky suggested.
"Aaah…" Rifka was deep in thought. "That is what we shall present to our members."
With that, she leaped up into a gnarled old tree and commanded to the Defenders and Trainees: "Halt!"
The cats looked up to where the command came from and gave full attention to their leaders, for by this time Sky had joined Rifka on a high branch in the old tree.
"Cats of the Outsiders," he began, "I would like you all to run around our territory."
The cats looked up and gave meows of confusion.
"Now!" Sky commanded, and the cats took off running.
"Why the heck do you think Rifka and Sky are making us do this?" Elviria grunted to Blue as she sniffed the air and easily hopped over a branch that was in her path.
"It sounds pretty dumb to me." Blue retorted in his usual stubborn way.
"You're both wrong!" Tasha butt in, startling both Blue and Elviria.
"We di--" Blue cut himself short, as it was no use arguing with Tasha.
"Good choice." Elviria whispered to him, "But what does running around our territory have to do with anything?" she asked, a little louder, and directed towards Tasha.
"I guess just to see how small it is." Tasha replied.
Elviria and Blue realized they were about halfway around their territory by now.
"I'll let you two in on a secret," Tasha told the secretively, "we're going to take over ThunderClan's land!"
Tasha didn't do well with meowing quietly, and plenty of furry heads turned. They quickly turned back to their groups, and meowed eagerly about Tasha's notion.
Then, without a word, Tasha smiled slyly and padded away; probably to explain the ThunderClan-take-over to other cats that were now mewing about it.
"Wow…" was all Elviria could manage to say.
"Um…" was all that Blue could muster to get out of his mouth.
Finally, one of them said,
"Are you sure that this is a good idea? I know it's our leaders' idea, but I'm not so sure about this.
"I'm sure it'll make sense when Sky and Rifka explain it." Blue assured her, even though he didn't sound so convinced himself.
The two friends ran in silence for a while, staring at the luxurious territory they now had: tall pines, colorful flowers in every shade you could imagine, marshes and bogs (not the most beautiful part of their territory, but it was a good place to catch frogs), and the sandy beach that overlooked the Great Water. It was a beautiful place with soft sand, but the water was far too salty to drink.
"Look!" Blue was surprised, "We're already back at the tree!"
Elviria and Blue were the first to arrive back at the tree, and Blue half expected Rifka or Sky to say 'congratulations!', but they didn't. Instead, Sky leaped down from the tree, but Rifka remained perched on her branch.
"So," said Sky, casually, sounding intrigued, even though neither Blue nor Elviria had said anything, "Did you notice anything?"
"How beautiful our territory is!" Blue blurted out without thinking, as usual.
"And how small it is." Elviria added.
"Yes!" Sky complemented her, "Our territory is very small, and very beautiful." He added.
"Are we going to take over ThunderClan's land?" Blue inquired eagerly
Sky nodded his head slowly.
"How did you know that was the topic for our discussion?" He asked the Trainee.
"Tasha told us!" Blue answered.
"How did I know…?" Sky muttered. "Rifka, Tasha has told everybody about our plan, but I think that they all got the wrong idea about it!"
"Oh great Shadows…" Rifka swore.
Sky leaped back into the tree as the rest of the cats trickled in, conversing about the information that they gained from Tasha.
"Looks like they got the same information we did." Was all Elviria could say before Rifka and Sky started to speak.
"Cats, did you notice anything about our land?" Rifka questioned with authority.
"It's beautiful!" Kira announced.
"It's small!" Tasha shouted before anybody else could do it for her.
"Oh great Shadows…" Rifka swore under her breath again.
Sky looked at his "family" with concern. "Crescent before you say anything know, this is for the good of the outsiders. Think of Mona and your kits."
Crescent looked at the ground and let out a low growl of disapproval.
"Be a little more opened minded Crescent," Rifka said. "Our hunting land is small, If we don't get more some of us may have o starve. Of cores not the queens-" Crescent let out a sigh of relief glad that he would starve if anyone did before the queens and kits. "Probably the trainees first" Rifka said. Crescent stayed silent and continued to stare at the ground ambivalent.
"You don't want Cleo to starve do you?" Hidan said. "No of courss not."
"How will we steal it?" Tasha smirked.
Her brother Tip and a few others shot her a questioning glare. "We will invade them," Rifka said solemnly. "We will determine when is best then attack."
"Do we kill?" Tasha said her smirk wider than before.
"If necessary, but only then." Rifka said.
Crescent growled deeply, now facing the leaders. "No we can't."
"What why?!" demanded Tasha obviously eager for a thrill.
"What one of us attacks someone protecting the queens and kits and eventually a queen or so joins the fight?" he hissed.
"Stupid- queens don't fight," Copper said.
"They do if it's to protect their kits. Then what?!," Crescent growled. Hidan looked stunned and nervous.
"Then you kill the queen-duuuuuuuuuuuh!" Tasha said condescendingly.
"Shut up ASS!" Hidan demanded her. "Shadows damn you! You don't kill a queen! And like hell yeah a queen can fight!" he glanced over empathetically at the queens, specifically Carmen. "Shit you ever tried to touch Blue Tasha?" Hidan glared.
"No."
"I'll bet I know why, you're afraid Sakura and Gara will beat the hell out of you."
Crescent couldn't help but laugh and neither could the queens. Sakura glanced respectfully at Hidan.
"Fine then, we'll only drive them out," Sky said.
"Tasha shouldn't go," Carmen mewed, "She will undoubtedly kill."
"Shut up you damn wretch!" Tasha hissed at Carmen.
"How dare you?!" Hidan and Mona said in unison.
"You damn hell of an ass!" Hidan added, "You don't shut up and I'll rip you apart and feed you to a lion!"
"Hidan you meanie!" squeaked Willow. "Willow get back in the den!" Carmen instructed.
Only the kits weren't standing before the leaders to take part in the discussion.
"Once a moon the four clans have a gathering," Sky said." It's when most or at least half the cats per clan come together for a night of only peace. Then is our chance to survey the Thunder land and decide the best action for taking it."
"No," Crescent said still resistant. "What if the only choices are to kill or be killed?" he asked.
"Then kill" was the reply from Sky and Rifka. "What if we have to kill a queen?" Cleo said also resistant.
"Then kill."
No one was sure who said it but it was assumed to be either Rifka or Sky.
"Wont her kits die without her?!" Cleo said, taking after her oldest brother.
"Then kill them then too," said Sky gravely. Mona pressed her face into Crescent and wept, he wound his tail around hers. "We can't do that…." He managed to choke out. "We have to" Sky answered. "It's that or let them suffer."
"Dismissed all of you!" Rifka said quickly. "Hunt! Patrol! Just leave!" everyone did so.
…
Many nights later at the full moon Hidan, Copper, Sakura, Tide and Gara were exploring 'Thunder land' as Sky called it. They had covered their scent with muddy water.
"I just don't like it," Sakura said. "What if one or more of us has to kill a queen?" "And her kits" Hidan spat. "Damn couldn't this be easier? And those apprentice cats" he said. "Aren't they like Blue's age? "
This made Sakura and Gara wince which Hidan had been trying to make happen. "It's a friggin' bad idea. Damn Tasha! Shadows, damn her! If she got killed the inner shadow world wouldn't accept her."
"Sorry, they have to." This was Tide. "They have to let all outsiders in."
"DAMN! I don't want to see that bitch's damn ugly face when I die!"
"You want to see Carmen's" Tide teased. "Shut up dammit!"
"It's obvious you li-" "Shut the damned hell up!" "Okay, okay. Yeesh."
"They have a great land, so much bigger than ours" Copper observed. "But we've no right to take it" Hidan said, "Uh, I'm uh, quoting Crescent."
"And look, food." Copper pinned a squirrel and offered some to the others.
Hidan kicked Copper hard on his back ankles tripping him. "You shouldn't steal from them."
"This'll be ours anyway," Copper said. "Shut up. You look like a pathetic ass stealing from a small clan."
After hours of observation they returned home to report to Rifka and Sky.
"Uh Hidan let the others report," Rifka said. "So far all I know is that Tide teased you about Carmen, the apprentices are supposedly about Blue's age and Copper ate a squirrel."
"Oh yeah- and Copper looked like a pathetic ass stealing from a small clan."
"They're small?"
Hidan realized he'd said the wrong thing. Now there was no chance of this not happening.
"Uh well not that small I mean, uh…….I gotta go." He sped off without another word.
Tide rushed after Hidan, and Carmen poked her head out of the nursery to see what was up.
"Hidan!" Tide called after him. Hidan kept running. "C'moooooon! Hidaaaaaaan!"
Tide caught up but he couldn't stop. "Ohh," he moaned after crashing. Hidan however had easily side stepped and took no damage.
"Hey," Tide said once he'd gotten up. "Don't be so down, I mean maybe Thunder would give us some land and we-"
"You're crazy." Hidan spat. "You really think a clan about the size of us will just give us their land? Where are they gonna to go?" he whispered.
"Uh," Tide didn't have an answer to this.
Without warning Hidan sped back to the camp. "Sky! Rifka!" he yowled as he bowled into them.
"What?!" Rifka said. "Damn it! Where is ThunderClan gonna go?!" he demanded of his leaders.
"That is not our problem Hidan" Sky said emotionlessly.
"But they have queens and kits and families!" Hidan yelled being sure to catch the others attention. "And that land is all they know!"
"Would they let us have just a bit of their land maybe?" Mona said tears brimming from her face.
"We need it all," was Sky's answer. "If we take any we should take it all."
"B- but Sky," Mona pleaded, the tears now streaming from her eyes.
Hidan spat on the camp's ground. "The clan cats are the kind'a cats who don't leave something important without a fight, possibly to all of their deaths."
"Then we shall enialate them all," Sky said.
A gasp rose from the Outsiders. Once again they'd all gathered before their leaders.
"What about their elders? Do we kill all of them too?" Carmina said.
"If they don't leave willingly then we have to destroy them all." This was Sky.
"Wh-what if there are some kits too young to remember anything?" MoonBeam said.
Sky looked over to her. "Then if any of the queens will take them in we can raise them as Outsiders. Mona, MoonBeam, Carmen….would you?"
"YES!" was the immediate mew from them.
"Then we can keep them."
Rifka looked around, nervous, and trying to avoid more conflict.
"Uh, everyone dismissed!" she said quickly.
Elviria and Blue padded out. "Hey guys!" Hidan said dashing after them.
"What do you want Hidan"? Blue said. Hidan put on his best fake kindness act. "Well uh Blue, I wanted you to meet the neighbors. And uh, you too El."
EL?! Elviria wondered. What is he up to? "What's with the bad acting Hidan?" she mewed. "You're never friendly. Well except to Carmen."
She could see he was biting his tongue trying not to call her a "damn ass" or something.
"Uh, I want you to meet some of ThunderClan before you decide whether or not to help kill them."
Blue and Elviria weren't sure what to make of this, as Blue was about to respond something stopped him. "Can I come too?" Cleo asked from behind Hidan. He spun around startled.
"Wha? Uh sure kid."
"Um, maybe we could bring Crescent and Sakura too?" she said hopefully.
"Uh," Hidan said counting. "That's six of us. Wont it-"
"Pleeeease Hidan?" she piped.
"Uh, well" "Pleeeeeease?"
"Okay kid, but you have to convince them to come."
"Oh okay."
This wasn't going to be easy for Cleo. She was never much of a talker and always easy to win an argument against. However Crescent immediately agreed. And it didn't take long to convince Sakura with the help of Blue.
Hidan led them through their land and onto Thunder land. Soon they were spotted by a patrol.
One of the Thunder cats was pure black one was smaller than the others and grey and one was a ginger tom. Then the saw a golden ginger cat behind them who was about the size of the grey one. She ran at them only to trip over something unseen.
"Who are you?" the ginger tom said warily.
Hidan gulped. "Uh we're a few of the Outsiders, uh y'know the cats who live uh that way-" he motioned towards where they'd come from. "We uh, wanted to meet ThunderClan," Hidan said respectfully.
The black tom sped forward stopping right next to his ginger comrade.
"FrostPaw, TawnyPaw," he called in a velvety voice.
The grey cat shuffled towards them and his golden ginger friend followed close behind.
"I am NightPool" the black tom said. "This is SnakeScorch, FrostPaw and TawnyPaw," he motioned to the cat next to him, then the grey one then the golden ginger she-cat beside him.
"Who are you? What do you want?" NightPool said much less friendly than before.
"Uh" was what Hidan could manage. Crescent nudged him. "Oh were sorry to intrude," he said humbly.
"We six never got a chance to meet our neighbors, so we wanted to."
NightPool gave him a suspicious glare.
Crescent then took a moment to introduce himself and the other Outsiders.
"You're Blue's mother Sakura?" NightPool said suddenly.
She flushed slightly, and said,"Um yes. How--"
"They way you look at him caringly and the certain features you have that I see incorporated in him."
The black warrior glared at them.
"Now what?" Hidan said.
NightPool growled. "Do you think you're getting any further onto our land?" he said rather unfriendly.
"N-NightPool, you don't have to be so hostile, they seem like friends," TawnyPaw mewed.
Just then a white warrior ran up to them. "Hi guys!" she mewed in a very friendly manor. The black warrior rolled his eyes. "Hello SagePelt," he said warmly.
"Oh, hi!" The white cat mewed excitedly. She sniffed them, "You must be the Outsiders," she concluded, still beaming.
"This is SagePelt," NightPool said.
"She's uh," FrostPaw said, "a lot friendlier than some of us."
NightPool 'harrumphed' under his breath but said nothing for anyone to hear.
SagePelt grinned. "So why uh are you guys here?" she said still bubbly.
NightPool scoffed, "they wanted to meet the neighbors," he said.
"Well don't be hostile," she laughed.
"We aren't SagePelt," FrostPaw said. "NightPool is, SnakeScorch isn't helping and TawnyPaw is just plain shy."
"NightPool," SagePelt said.
He wasn't paying attention.
"Well this way Outsiders!" SagePelt grinned leading them towards the camp.
SagePelt ran like the wind, a kind happy bubbly wind. But she didn't always see where she was going.
Hidan saw her before anyone else, "Oh no! SagePelt look-" he yelled too late.
There was a mess of tangled fur after the crash. Next to SagePelt stood a beautiful grey she-cat with brown stripes and stunning green eyes.
"Who are they SagePelt?!" the beautiful cat hissed.
"Uh the Outsiders," SagePelt said. "They're friends. Uh guys- this is-"
"Rachel," the grey and brown cat hissed.
Blue tensed and arched his back. Rachel looked at him, then without a warning- launched.
She had bowled Blue over in an instant, Sakura was quickly behind. Blue couldn't move; he hurt too much. "How dare you?!" sakura howled, Rachel kicked her hard in the stomach sending her flying.
"HEY!" Hidan spat and launched at her. He too was sent flying [though not as gracefully as Sakura had.] and crashed into a tree. Rachel dashed at a hurt Sakura stabbing thrusting her razor sharp claws into a side. But it wasn't Sakura's.
Crescent stood bleeding from his left side. "You alright?" he managed to say. "Rachel, please," he begged whatever we did we are truly sorry, but please stop. The Outsiders are willing to stop fight--"
Rachel didn't let him finish, another set of razor sharp claws flew into the air, and into Hidan. Rachel knocked him down swiftly and yanked her claws out of Crescent. "Alright," she said, she let Crescent lean on her and ask: "Why did you attack Blue?"
"He looked threatened and ready to spring at any moment."
"You have a hostile air about you."
"I do not like those who threaten the four great clans."
SagePelt and the others helped to get Blue, Sakura and Hidan on their feet and the Outsiders began for home.
"Sakura," Crescent said, "You heard what Rachel said about the four clans' right?"
Sakura nodded. "Do you any of you still want to try and steal their land?"
Sakura stepped in silence for what seemed like eons. She was carrying Blue, because he had passed out. She knew they needed a way to get to ThunderClan's leader.
But how? She thought. Rachel is too strong, but she does not smell of Thunder. Perhaps she is a loner. Loners aren't allowed at gatherings.
She wasn't sure of this, so she consulted Crescent.
"I doubt it. She's not a member if she's a loner, she's not allowed at gatherings, but she could be a new member." Crescent replied.
"But they're not like us," Sakura countered thoughtfully, "they don't take in new members like we do."
"True…" Crescent admitted.
"Maybe we could go to one of those gathering-full moon-thingies. It's s'pposed to be a time of peace for the Clans." Hidan offered weakly.
"That is actually a good idea…" Sakura noted.
Hidan gave a meek 'harrumph' to this, but was too tired and injured to argue.
Crescent seemed satisfied with these answers, at least for now, and was silent the rest of the way home.
Chapter 2:
Where in the name of Shadows have you been?!" Rifka was infused with rage, "And what in the name of the Inner World have you been doing?!"
When she saw their wounds she added:
"And what the hell happened to you?!"
"We, uh--" Hidan began.
"Nothing from you, smart-alec!" Rifka shouted at him.
She turned to Cleo and Elviria and gave them a look that told them to answer the question.
"I sawHidan asking Elviria and Blue if they wanted to meet our neighbors," Cleo started, "and it sounded like an adventure, so I asked if I could come along. Hidan said I could bring Crescent and Sakura, and after some pleading, they both agreed to come along."
"When we reached the border, a patrol soon spotted us. They were SnakeScorch, NightPool, TawnyPaw and FrostPaw of ThunderClan. NightPool introduced them; and Hidan introduced us. NightPool, after that, was really harsh and scornful and stuff.
"Then this white warrior, SagePelt, came up. She's also from ThunderCla--"
Cleo was cut off by Rifka.
"I saw that warrior when I was hunting!" Rifka realized, "she was friendly and smiled at me."
"Anyway," Elviria began instead of Cleo, "she was really chipper and sounded like she wanted to be our best friend—her voice that is."
"Hidan asked if we could meet some ThunderClan cats." Cleo offered.
Elviria nodded her head quickly and continued:
"Yeah, when he did, NightPool got really crabby, like Blue is in the morning sometimes."
"Hey!" Blue interjected, for he was now conscious, but is wounds were still bleeding freely.
"You--" Sakura said lovingly but in a harsh tone, "need to have those wounds bandaged."
Blue was trotted off to the herb patch by Sakura, and Rifka prodded Elviria of more information.
"So?" She said.
"Oh yeah. So when SagePelt came, she criticized NightPool for being so snappish. He didn't really like SagePelt's comment and grunted. SagePelt led us to the camp, but before we got there, we saw this loner called Rachel.
Rifka looked interested, and nodded as Elviria talked.
"So the she attacked Blue!" Cleo blurted
"So that's how he got hurt…" Sky whispered to himself.
"Yeah," Elviria continued, "Sakura tried to jump on her, but Rachel wounded her and sent her flying. Then Hidan tried to jump on her, but he went flying too and crashed into a tree."
"Hidan!" Sky interrupted, "to the herb patch!"
Hidan obeyed and limped over to where Sakura was nursing Blue.
"Carry on." This was the reply from Rifka.
"And, um, then Rachel went for Sakura again, but Crescent came to her rescue,"
Crescent smiled and straightened himself up, but with a small struggle as he winced in pain. Sky noticed this too.
"To the herb patch!" he commanded.
"But--" Crescent protested, but surrendered when he received a complementary kick from Rifka.
She nodded at Cleo and Elviria, who were the only cats standing before their leaders, and signaled that they could resume.
"So Crescent came to her rescue, and Rachel stabbed him instead. Then he tried to protest, but she saw Hidan flaying towards her and whacked him with those razor-sharp claws of hers. Then she finally agreed not to injure us any further and said that she pounced 'cause Blue's back was tense and he looked ready to spring at any moment when Crescent asked her why she beat us up. Then the other warriors helped us up with a look that said 'she's not usually like this. We're sorry.' Then Blue passed out and we left." Elviria concluded.
"She also said she didn't like cats that threatened the four great Clans." Cleo added, "And Crescent asked Sakura if she thought we should still take their land. She said that maybe we should talk to the leaders at one of the full moon-gatherings., and also that Rachel wouldn't be there because she smelled like a loner and loners aren't allowed at the peace-gatherings. I think."
After a long period of silence, Rifka said,
"Maybe a meow with the Clan leaders would be better than just attacking them."
She was obviously rethinking her prior notions. Sky nodded his head in agreement.
"I now believe that violence is now the correct decision." He agreed with Rifka.
Cleo knew they wouldn't openly admit that they had been wrong, so she left the subject at that, and saw Rifka pad over to the herb patch. Cleo and Elviria followed her.
"What in the name of Shadows did you think you were doing?!" she flamed at Hidan when she got to the herb patch.
"Well, uh," Hidan stammered, "We don't need to mindlessly go steal the only land that Thunder owns, the only land they know!"
Hidan got more and more confident with every word he meowed.
"I thought you wouldn't believe me if I was the only witness, so I asked Blue and Elviria if they wanted to meet their ThunderClan."
Rifka looked at Blue and Elviria, and they both nodded, signaling that this was true, even though they had already told her the whole story. She glanced back over to Hidan and he continued.
"They said yes and we went--"
"Hidan!" Rifka looked firmly at him with her jaw set, "I don't want to hear the whole story over again. What I wanna know is why you thought it was appropriate to take these Trainees over to ThunderClan land!"
"I didn't know they were going to get hurt!" Hidan protested.
"But they did, did they not?" Rifka's tone was harsh.
"yes." Hidan surrendered, but he wouldn't go without the words:
"I thought is we met them and they were nice you wouldn't attack them… um, maybe talk to them… instead…?"
Rifka gave him a questioning glare that soon turned into one of disapproval. Hidan bowed his head, but to his surprise, Rifka said,
"Sky and I will discuss your idea of having a talk with the leaders."
But then to his dismay,
"And to decide your punishment."
Hidan knew this was coming, and he stared at the loose soil under his paws with resentment.
"Dismissed!" Rifka said sharply as she looked at him sternly.
Rifka turned back to Elviria and Cleo.
"He…uh… asked us if we wanted to meet our neighbors before we decided whether or not to kill them. Elviria tried to bring some humor into conversation, and received a snort of amusement from Rifka.
"Well," she said, still chuckling, "isn't that pleasant."
Elviria and Cleo giggled at this grim subject.
"Now," Rifka was suddenly strict, "go assist your comrades in aiding their wounds. Dismissed!"
Elviria was surprised at the formal speech that Rifka was using. Cleo had obviously been thinking the same thing, for she said,
"What was with Rifka and all her fancy words?" Cleo put it much simpler than Elviria was thinking.
They looked around the herb patch to find Sakura fiercely attending to Blue.
Well what else would you expect of her? Elviria thought, Blue's her son.
She padded over to Blue and Sakura, carrying some dock leaves over to Sakura. She chewed them up and spat them onto a big green leaf and offered them to Sakura.
"Thanks, Elviria." She took the pulp and applied it to Blue without looking up.
"You're welcome." Elviria replied.
Cleo was soon over by Crescent applying cobwebs to his leg, which appeared to be broken. He winced in pain as he tried to stand, and Cleo gave him a shoulder. The two staggered awkwardly over to a large flat rock on which the Defenders slept. Cleo helped him get into a comfortable position in his mossy nest.
"Wait one second." She whispered as she darted back over to the herb patch.
She grabbed some moss and trotted back over to Crescent. She dropped it next to him triumphantly and slipped some under his injured leg and his head.
"Thanks." He murmured, and seemed to have been drained of energy.
Cleo departed and arrived back at the herb patch to see Sky talking with Elviria. Hidan tried to look asleep so Sky wouldn't try to start a conversation with him.
"So you nor Cleo got hurt?" he asked.
"Nope." She replied.
"Well at least you two are fine." He said, glancing over towards Hidan.
He left the herb patch with that.
How can one moon, they're so furious with us, and then the next making sure there's not a scratch on us? Cleo wondered.
Hidan let out a sigh of relief that Sky hadn't come to converse with him, but gone to the leaders' den instead.
Cleo picked some dock and got some cobwebs and started tending to Hidan, who was silent. Just to be safe, Cleo grabbed a sprig of thyme and a couple of poppy seeds and ordered Hidan to eat them. He grunted, but swallowed them both. She asked:
"Can you walk?"
Hidan didn't reply, but got up and limped over to the flat rock and curled up beside Crescent. Cleo came soon after with a wad of mass that she propped his head and his wounded paw up with.
Back at the herb patch, Elviria had finished aiding Blue and Sakura. Rifka came over and ordered:
"Blue, stay in the medicine patch. You will sleep here tonight." She was stern again.
"Sakura, you can sleep with the rest of the Defenders." Sky told her.
It's like their in sync. Elviria thought.
"But--" Sakura protested
"No buts." This was Rifka's stern reply.
"We'll have a healthy cat look after Blue." This was Sky.
"He will be fine." Rifka concluded.
"It's so creepy, the way the finished each other's thoughts just then." Elviria said to Cleo once Rifka and Sky were in their den and out of earshot.
"Yeah." Cleo agreed.
The two cats walked back to the small patch of tall grass, where the Trainees slept, in silence. Kisa was sleeping calmly in her nest and Cleo and Elviria settled in beside her.
Not so long after she had fallen asleep, Elviria woke up and remembered Blue. He was alone in the herb patch when Elviria took a peek.
Rifka must have forgotten to send somebody to keep an eye on him during the night, Elviria thought, so I'll do it.
She padded over to him and, making sure he was asleep, curled up next to him. For a while, she lay awake staring at the stars.
"Shadows watch over him." She prayed, even though she knew his wounds weren't fatal, it made her feel better when she did this.
She soon fell asleep beside him, breathing evenly into his soft, blue fur.
Meanwhile, even at this time, Rifka and Sky were discussing Hidan's punishment in hushed mews.
"He broke the rules," Rifka started, "its only fair. Punishment is due to all who break the rules."
"Yes, but what?" Sky wondered aloud.
"Possibly tend to the sick for a moon when he's fully healed." Rifka suggested, "or he could pull ticks off everyone for a moon."
"I believe the ticks are a good idea." Sky consented, even though he did not feel that this was the right punishment.
"You do?" Rifka sounded surprised, as if the suggestion of pulling ticks was just a joke.
"Yes," Sky answered, " but not quite. But his paws would smell for moons!"
Rifka chuckled softly.
"Then it's settled." Rifka decided, "But make note of any other ideas."
"We should wait until morning to tell him but it must only start when he's fully healed. We can't have him reopening his wounds."
Sky settled into his nest and soon fell asleep, but Rifka lay awake, pawing at the soft moss that she was curled up on.
Why did he do it? Rifka thought before she fell asleep, He knew the risks.
When Rifka awoke she padded out to the sight rock [a big boulder by their camp].
Out of nowhere Hidan appeared and gazed longingly at the sky.
"It must be lonely," he said. "To be the sun. Yer all alone all day. But the stars, they have each other. They're never alone. Like the clan cats."
"Or us." Rifka said in a hushed growl.
She left Hidan to ponder the sky while she went hunting.
Rifka brought back a successful catch. She dumped most in their fresh kill pile and walked on.
Kira saw Rifka and immediately ran up to her. "Rifka! Rifka! Oh it's terrible! Imagine the trouble he could be in!"she mewed.
"What is it?" Rifka said.
Kira panted, "It's Hidan- he's gone!"