He looked at me with a strange expression in his eyes. "I… I believe I will," he said finally. "I am LightningStar, leader of ThunderClan," he purred with obvious pride.
"I have… heard of your Clans. You will have to explain some of your ways, but I swear to you by StarClan I will try my very best," I said confidently. He nodded, believing my words. I looked around, ready to thank CloudFur, suddenly noting he was gone.
"Back to the hunting grounds…" I murmured. LightningStar looked at me quizzically. "Are… are we home, Mantha?" asked Tori, waking up slightly. "No, dear, hush now. We will be home soon," I murmured comfortingly.
LightningStar looked at me again as I picked up Tori again and began to walk beside him. He saw I was exhausted, and my head was drooping.
"Can… can I carry her?" he asked tentatively. I shook my head slightly, she was my sister. My daughter. I gained strength from this knowledge. She was mine, and I wasn't going to let her go anytime soon.
He nodded, understanding, and said "It's not far. We'll be there soon." I just padded quietly behind him.
We reached the edge of a rocky ravine, and two thoughts popped into my head: one was it looks so different than I thought it would! and How am I supposed to carry Tori down there?!
Seeing my expression, he said, "You need to let me carry her this time," and I nodded. I didn't want to drop her, or fall myself.
"Just follow me," he said, taking Tori in his jaws. Pawstep by pawstep, we made our way into the riverbed of the ThunderClan camp. He pushed his way into the brambles in front of us. This, I knew, was the entrance to the ThunderClan camp. I followed, nervous.
As we broke through the bramble barrier, I spotted two cats sitting in the middle of the clearing. One was a dark gray brindle tom, the other a dark ginger she-cat, and neither much older than myself.
"Who are they?" I asked curiously. "GingerFur and JayFeather," he said. "Oh, are they sitting vigil for their warrior's ceremony?" I asked. He looked at me, surprised. "Yes," he said. Realizing what I had said, I quickly added, "When I said I had heard of your Clans, I meant it," with a smile.
"So JayFeather and GingerFur are littermates?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood. "Yes. Actually, they aren't allowed to speak until dawn, and then they will be full-fledged warriors," LightningStar said with pride. "Good, then your Clan must be very strong," I said quietly. He nodded to me.
Walking tentatively into the middle of the clearing, towards a lichen-draped den I assumed was the leader's den under Highrock; the two cats watched me but said nothing. I was with leader, and they were on vigil. No, not a word was said.
We headed under the lichen and into his den. "This is my den," he said, confirming my earlier thoughts, "and you will stay here tonight. We can't have a stranger in here at night." Noticing there was no moss, I shrugged and gently laid down Tori, curling around her, and placed my tail over my nose. Tori curled closer to me. I fell easily into a dreamless sleep in a few moments.
Waking up the next morning was a bit of a surprise. I realized I was awake, but I didn't move. I didn't want to spoil the wonderful dream I had just had. Then, slowly, I realized I was sleeping… differently, and there was a smaller body breathing steadily beside me. This must have been Tori, and she felt so small, and furry.
Could it be that it wasn't a dream? I asked myself this question. Only three answers came to me. One, it was a dream and I needed to forget about it. Two, it was real, and I was now a Clan cat. Or three, the most likely, I was crazy.
I decided to believe one and slowly opened my eyes. What I saw convinced me of two. I saw the tan cave walls of what I knew to be the ThunderClan leader's den. I saw the little silver kit, the same color as my tail, beside me. I saw the world for the first time that day, the way it should be seen. In a simpler way.
Gently nosing the kit, I purred to Tori, "Wake up, little one. You're a kitty now." She gently opened her eyes. They were the color of liquid gold.
"Where… where are we, Mantha?" she asked, shrinking back in fear. "Do not fear, you are safe now," came a new, soothing voice. I did not recognize it, so I wrapped my tail protectively around her.
Looking up, I saw the gray tom from the previous night. "Umm, Samantha, right?" he asked. I nodded. "JayFeather, right?" I countered. He nodded as well.
"I'm here to feed you, and then show you around camp," he said, motioning to her to come with his tail. "We will come when we finish. We did just wake up, you know," I purred. He nodded and left them.
"Well, time to get cleaned up," I said briskly to the kitten, stroking her fur with my tongue. She shied away from me, saying, "Mantha!" as I continued to stroke her lovingly, purring.
"Listen, Tori," I said when we had both been properly groomed, "we can tell no cat where we came from. Do you remember Ms. Delilah?" I asked. She nodded. "Well, Ms. Delilah can't find us now," I said in a cheerful whisper. "But if you tell any cat about the people, we could be in trouble," I warned. Tori nodded again.
Leading Tori with my tail on her shoulders, we followed the cat JayFeather out of the den and into the encampment.
As we passed the lichen, what I saw surprised me. I noted it was a little bit before Sunhigh, but I saw the camp with such clarity, and such brilliance that I couldn't have seen in the city that I was momentarily stunned. JayFeather saw me, and trotted quickly over to us, carrying two mice.
"Here," he said kindly, "I've already eaten." I nodded gratefully to him; Ms. Delilah hadn't fed us the night before and I had been so exhausted I hadn't even thought about it.
Looking again, I realized what he was asking me to do: eat a mouse! Raw! I wrinkled my nose at the thought. Luckily, he had been bending over to place them down in front of us, and didn't see. I unwrinkled my nose quickly, and purred in thanks. He responded with a small smile.
"Listen, I hate to do this to you, but… I'm kind of here to watch you, make sure you don't do anything stupid or get lost," he said tentatively. I nodded, it was best. I knew no one but Tori, GingerFur and JayFeather, and I didn't want to do anything to embarrass my new Clanmates. He sighed in relief.
"I'm also here to show you around camp when you're done," he added. Looking down at Tori, she was as excited as I was. However, while in the orphanage, we had been taught to obey the one in charge and never show emotion, so I could only see it in her eyes. Turning back to him, I nodded, and bent down to pick up the mice.
Letting go of Tori with my tail, I dropped it in front of her and whispered, "Just eat it, ok? It tastes like chicken," I promised. Tori nodded, trusting me. Sniffing it nervously, she took a small bite, then, as if realizing her hunger, quickly ate all the rest of it while I tried it as well.
Sinking my teeth into the small brown mouse, I tasted new, exotic flavors to me: pure, untainted, light, almost beautiful. It was like tasting what I had seen earlier, and I had to admit it: it was delicious.
I looked, surprised, at JayFeather, only to realize he was staring at me. He quickly looked away, embarrassed. "It's delicious," I assured him, taking another bite of the delicious food.
"Can we go explore the camp now, Mantha?" asked Tori quietly in my ear. Nodding as I finished the last few bites of the mouse, I stood up. Taking my tail and rewrapping my silver tail around Tori's little silver body, we stood up and I said to JayFeather, "Can we take a look around the camp now?" He nodded. "Would you like to meet the cats first?" he asked. Tori nodded when I looked to her, so I nodded as well. "Sounds great," I said enthusiastically.
As our hunger was satisfied, I began to notice the cats in the clearing. A dark brown cat, sharing tongues with a cream colored cat, she may have had stripes. I was too far to tell. I also saw a pale gray cat sharing tongues with a light and dark patched cat, as well as a pure white cat, a dark red cat and a brown tabby cat all sharing tongues. Most were conspicuously looking at me and talking.
Ducking my head, I tried to look invisible. Hah, no such luck. Seeing this, JayFeather said, "Don't worry. Clan gossip is few and far between. You're big news, so you'll be stared at for a while. LightningStar ordered all apprentices out of camp today, though, so all the cats you see are warriors," he said.
"I'm a warrior today, both my sister and I," he added proudly. "My other sister, LillyPaw, is the medicine cat's apprentice. She will not get her full name for a while," he explained. I nodded, although I already knew this. I purred, I was happy for him.
"That's cool. Can we meet her?" I asked. "We're going to right now," he said.
We padded through the fern tunnel, and I was admiring the way the sun was dappling on JayFeather's pelt through the ferns. It was very pretty… I shook my head slightly.
As we broke through the fern tunnel, a beautiful dappled she-cat came hurrying up to us. "Oh no, are you sick now?" she asked worriedly. "No, no, LillyPaw, we're fine. I'm just here to show her around," he said quickly, pressing his paw to her shoulder and sitting down.
I came out from behind him, realizing I couldn't be seen, and she gasped. "Who are you?!" she asked. I must have looked uncomfortable, because JayFeather quickly said, "This is Samantha, and her kitten is Tori."
I had sat down next to JayFeather, my fur gently brushing his and drawing comfort, and pulled Tori between my forepaws, wrapping my tail around her. I dipped my head in respectful greeting. "Hello," I said politely.
Her bristling fur smoothed some, but not completely, and she sat down in front of her brother and me. "So where do you come from?" she asked, sounding forced. Brushing my tail casually over Tori's little mouth, I responded, "The twolegplace. Life was hard there, but a white cat called CloudFur came to me in a dream and told me I belonged here," I said simply. She nodded.
"You know," she said thoughtfully, "I have dreamed of a cat called CloudFur. He-" LillyPaw was cut off by cloudy gray tom padding towards her. "LillyPaw? What are you doing? We have no time for idle chit-chat; GoldenFire has a rather nasty case of running nose. He sneezed on some of the poppy seeds, we will need more," he said, looking at her sternly.
Unfortunately, my body chose to sneeze at that exact moment. "Ah… Ah… CHOO!" I looked down in embarrassment as he finally noticed us.
"Oh, talking to your brother, I see, and… who is that…" he said, and it dawned on him he had no idea who we were. "I am Samantha, and this is Tori, my… daughter," I said, after a pause where his eyes dark green eyes widened in shock. "We came last night with LightningStar, here," I said quickly before he could react.
Shaking himself slightly, he turned back to LillyPaw. "Well, get them out, we have work to do," he said briskly, shooing both JayFeather and myself out of the medicine cat's den. "AshLeaf…" we heard her mutter as we left.
We walked back through the fern tunnel, and I couldn't help but admire JayFeather's pelt again in the now green sunhigh light. The way his muscles moved under his fur and the sun worked perfectly with him, especially with his brindled fur.
We padded back into the center camp as a loud cry was heard from above, on the Highrock. "Let all cats old enough to gather their own prey gather here beneath Highrock for a clan meeting!" he roared.