A full moon shined on the rooves throughout the neighbourhood. The only sound was the whisper of the trees in the forest nearby. Princess stepped out of the cat flap to find rain lightly falling onto her fur. She shivered at the sudden cold, and quickly ran up to the tree and climbed it. This tree was in Princess's front garden, and it was her favourite spot to sit during the night, where no cat or housefolk could bother her.

The best part was the view, she could see every house in her area, and when she turned around, she could see the forest. A great expanse of trees as far as she could see, which was right in front of her house. As Princess was sitting on the branch, a bunch of leaves scraped across her pelt, that had water all over them, and it spooked her, so she quickly climbed down.

After landing on solid ground, she stalked up to the fence separating her garden from the other, before shaking her haunches, and springing up onto it. From this point she could see right into the neighbouring gardens as well as into the dark, green forest across the road. Princess could never sleep during the night lately, because of the workfolk activity in the forest.

Trees would fall and crash, as well as the sounds the huge monsters made. Princess was surprised, for tonight there was no sound, and even though the noise had stopped, she still couldn't sleep. Something was bothering her, and she couldn't quite figure out what it was.

It was very dark, and Princess could scent cats around her. She could only find two different scents though. They were very familiar scents, but she didn't know what cats' they belonged to. She scanned the undergrowth and her eyes fixed onto a bush, which was rustling as something moved inside it.

Suddenly a flash of white raced past her, and she got knocked off her paws. As she was recovering from the fall, a ginger cat raced past her, which then knocked her off her paws yet again. The cats ran back into the undergrowth and Princess started to chase after them. They could be rogues for all she knew, but there was something about them that made her want to be close to them.

She chased them for what seemed like a moon until she finally stopped. Then there was silence, they had out run her. Princess called out into the undergrowth for the strange cats many times, but got no response.

Princess opened her eyes. She was inside the kitchen, and her housefolk were preparing food. She looked out the window to see the morning sun just showing over the horizon. She put her head on her paws and recalled the dream in her head. A ginger cat and a white cat, and by the scent, the ginger one was older. The white cat's scent was similar to Princess's, and she thought of where she had seen a white cat before.

Which then made her realise. How could she have not known? Giving birth to the white cat, nursing it until it was old enough to go with his uncle. All the visits from the cats, the joy of speaking with them, the feeling of being with her own kin ΜΆ Firestar and Cloudtail hadn't visited Princess in a few moons , at least, and now she knew why the noises of the monsters had bothered her more than all the other cats. It was because her kin were in that forest. She thought she would ask soome cats in the nieghbourhood what they knew about the workfolk.

Which would give her information to know if Firestar and Cloudtail were safe. They might have found a new place in the forest to live, away from the monsters, and they couldn't risk going to see Princess. But it didn't matter how much she convinced herself that was true, she still believed that something was wrong in the forest.

When Princess stepped out of her flap, she caught a glimpse of a blue tail disappearing over her fence. Storm must have come to visit her, but she was inside. Storm was one of her best friends, who moved in a few houses away about a few moons ago. He knew a lot about the forest cats, and might be able to tell her what was going on. Princess quickly jumped on to her fence and found Storm just about to jump over the next fence.

"Hey, Storm!" Princess yowled.

Storm turned around, surprised, and then relaxed when he saw Princess.

"Good morning Princess," He purred happily. "What's up?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary," She meowed casually, "Actually, I'm worried about the forest, what are the workfolk doing inside it?"

Storm tipped his head to one side. "Why would you want to know?"

"Oh, er, no reason, it's just been bothering me that's all"

Princess didn't want Storm to know she had kin in the forest, and she especially didn't want him to know that she had given one of her kits to the cats there.

"Well, you've asked the right cat," He mewed, " I have talked with a cat who has come from the place where the workfolk are. She actually happens to live around the corner in the other street, would you like to go see her?"

"That would be great," Princess meowed hopefully.

After a while of silent walking, they came to the house, she and Storm jumped over the fence and to their surprise, the ginger she- cat was sitting right in front of them.

Storm appeared next to Princess. "Flare, this is Princess, she came to talk to you."

"Hi Princess and Storm!" she mewed, before turning toward Princess. "What's bothering you?"

Storm answered her question for her. "Princess wanted to talk to you about the forest and what the workfolk are doing."

Princess saw a wave of sadness suddenly flash in Flare's eyes.

"Well, Princess," She started. "First thing's first. I want to tell you that my brother died while we were in that forest."

Princess gasped. "What happened?" She asked.

"A workfolk monster." She growled. " It didn't even see him, just ran right over him."

"That's awful! I'm so sorry!"

Flare then shivered, as if dismissing the memory.

"It's fine," Flare mewed, " But now would you like to know what is going on?"

"Yes, thank you." Princess answered.

"It's bad." She growled. "Trees falling, rocks crumbling, nothing could live there without being harmed."

This made Princess almost wail out loud, but she held it in.

"The workfolk have a shelter where they keep captured cats," Flare meowed, "But there were none there when I was."

Princess sighed in relief. Firestar's clan had escaped the monsters. But one question still stood in her mind, and that was if they were even in the forest anymore.

"They are making a new road, going straight through the forest," She continued. "I just can't believe they would destroy so much just for their benefit."

Storm growled. "That's workfolk for you."

Flare nodded. "That's about all I have to tell you, I'm sorry I couldn't give you any more information."

"No, no, it's okay," Princess mewed. "I was just curious about what's going on."

Flare narrowed her eyes, as if in disbelief, but then nodded.

She waved her tail. "Goodbye Princess."

"Bye! And thank you!"

Princess stepped through the cat flap, after saying good bye to Storm. Everything Flare had said, has given her bad images and thoughts that she might never see her kin again. The workfolk didn't make any noise that night, and she still couldn't sleep. Princess licked her lips. She could smell the odour of the food her housefolk had given her a while ago, but she had refused to eat.

She stepped out of her basket and stretched, before eating her meal. she knew she wasn't going to get back to sleep, so she went into her garden. The moon glowed onto the lawn making it shine. After making dirt behind a bush, Princess cautiously padded onto the dark road, before racing across it, the forest in her sights. Now she knew what she had to do, and that was to find her kin.