Chapter Three

Sunpaw was quietly strolling behind her mentor on their first ever hunting expedition. Sunpaw had stayed in her den only for part of the morning yesterday before she gave a - totally fake - speech on how she was willing to learn about this great cat and train in her memory. Twigstripe bought it, taking her apprentice out with Patchfur and Cloudpaw to tour the territory. Rosepaw had already gone with Seedspring.

Now, today, they were hunting. Twigstripe had been pleased when Sunpaw managed to catch a mouse one her second or third try yesterday during the tour. She had looked at it strangely though, as if it was calling up a memory that saddened Twigstripe.

"Alright, lets split up for a little while. Your too young to assess, but we'll cover more ground and bring back more fresh kill that way." Twigstripe told her apprentice. "I'll never be too far. Do you remember what I told you about hunting mice and squirrels?"

"Yes." Sunpaw said, rolling her eyes. They'd only gone over that a hundred times that morning.

"Very good, now, you go that way and and I'll go this way." Twigstripe said, signaling with her tail for Sunpaw to go to the left. She didn't wait, but dashed off.

'At least she's eager...' Twigstripe thought.

Sunpaw was very eager to be done. Rosepaw had told her siblings that she would try to meet them at sunhigh in a hollow tree just outside the camp to tell them something important. Sunpaw didn't want to miss that meeting.

She quickly caught a squirrel, then two mice. They were a strange catch because they were wrestling with one another and Sunpaw didn't realize she'd caught two so she'd killed the other one after it had already squeaked.

Oh well, two with one pounce!

Sunpaw buried her catch, then went after a strong scent of squirrel, but she heard a sudden popping noise and some song, like that of a bird, only much more complex. The squirrel darted up a tree, but the noise continued. Sunpaw followed its odd sound to its origin, or at least she tried. She found herself on the edge of the forest, right by a giant twolegged nest that had definately not been there yesterday when Twigstripe had shown her this place. Sunpaw stared at it wide-eyed.

Suddenly, a voice shouted, "hey you!" The scary thing was, she understood it! She wasn't supposed to understand twoleggeds! Sunpaw turned and ran with all speed into the forest. Her pawsteps seemed to go along with the thoughts in her head, making a chant.

'You're not crazy. You cannot hear and understand twoleggeds. You'll be fine once you get away from here!'

A large weight on her shoulders caused her to stop - not that she had a choice in the matter.

"You're awfully slow for what I imagined a forest-cat to be." Sunpaw heard. She had squeezed her eyes shut, and felt the weight lift from her shoulder. She peeked with one eye.

It was a cat!

Brownie had been exploring the boundaries of the twolegged place (after escaping from her parents) to see what there was to see. She wouldn't admit to wanting to see a forest-cat, but she did. She wanted to know what they were like.

So, when she caught a sight of a patch of ginger fur, what was she supposed to do? Let it get away? Maybe she was a little foolish to go running off into the woods, but really! As if she wasn't able to catch that cat pretty fast. She could find her way back... maybe.

She was surprised at how slow the cat was, as if she was weighed down by some unknown force. She had also squeezed her eyes shut when Brownie had pounced on her. What sort of fierce cat was this?

"You're awfully slow for what I imagined a forest-cat to be." Brownie told the ginger she-cat.

"You're- you're a cat!" The she-cat stammered.

"Well duh, I'm not a fish obviously!" Brownie exclaimed.

The she-cat got up and bristled. "Well how was I supposed to know, I thought you were a twolegged!"

"You run from twoleggeds?" Brownie asked in disbelief.

"Well of course!" The other cat snapped. "Don't you? Oh wait, you have their scent all over you! You're a stupid kittypet!"

Brownie growled and leaped at her. The ginger she-cat seemed taken by surprise. She yowled her fury as she wrestled to try to get Brownie off her. The two she-cats struggled until a newcomer pulled the ginger cat off of Brownie. Another newcomer, unnoticed until now, pulled Brownie away.

"Whats this?" Hissed a striped tabby who had pulled the forest-cat away.

"Twigkit?" Asked another voice in disbelief. Brownie saw it was her father who had pulled her back, while Sunny was emerging from the bushes. It was her mother who had spoken.

"Twigstr- Sunlight!" Twig-whatsit exclaimed, leaping forward suddenly.

Brownie and the younger forest cat stood to one side as the striped cat and her mother got reacquianted. Sebastion looked equally interested in the news that was bubbling forth from the cats mouth, but didn't interrupt as much.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" The striped cat suddenly exclaimed. "I totally forgot about Cherryfurs kits!"

"Kits!" Sunny's eyes widened. "With Whitewhisker?"

"Yes, this is one of them... Sunpaw." The she-cat flicked a tail towards the cat standing next to Brownie. She looked over at the she-cat, who was bristling.

"She looks a lot like..." Sunny stopped midsentence.

"You." Sebastion filled it. "Is she all?" He asked, turning back to Sunpaw's companion.

"No, Rosepaw and Cloudpaw are somewhere. Whose this?" She replied, looking towards Brownie.

"My kit, Brownie." Sunny replied.

"Hello Brownie." The striped she-cat said. "I hope my apprentice didn't do any harm..."

"Nothing I can't handle." Brownie replied coldly. Her parents seemed too excited about their friend to reprimand her.

"You must come back to camp with us!" Sunpaw's companion announced.

"Well, alright, what did you say your warrior name was?" Sunny asked, falling into step beside the striped she-cat.

"Twigstripe." Trigstripe said. Sebastion fell behind the two she-cats, leaving the two cousins to walk together at the tail end of the group.

"Wait, Twigstripe, I left prey back there!" Sunpaw suddenly called to her mentor.

"Well, go fetch it." Twigstripe said, sounding annoyed at being interrupted in her lively chat with Sunny.

Sunpaw turned around and darted away. Brownie, curious, followed the she-cat. Sunpaw didn't seem to notice Brownie, or ignored her. She watched Sunpaw dig up some prey in awe.

"You caught all that?" She asked in disbelief.

"Yea, why?" Sunpaw asked, sounding surprised at the question.

"I haven't caught so much as a mouse." Brownie admitted.

"No wonder you live with twoleggeds." Sunpaw said. Brownie narrowed her eyes.

"I happen to eat better then you I bet." She retorted.

"I at least work for my food. You'll become fat and lazy." Sunpaw said.

"I work for my food, just not the same way you do!" Brownie said, refering to the preformances she did. She did a little bit of everything, not knowing what her specialty was... yet.

"Common, we'd better get to camp." Sunpaw said, leaping forward to start moving. Brownie followed warily, looking at every little thing that moved. Their could be bigger things out here, she reasoned, after all, the cats who live here must have some enemies...

To her relief, they met none on the way back to the camp. Brownie almost walked right past the entrance until Sunpaw pointed it out to her. Brownie was amazed at how well hidden it was, besides scent of course. She was even more amazed when she got into the camp. There were so many cats! There were more cats then Brownie had ever seen all together in her entire life! Some looked over at her, but four, including her parents, came rushing towards her. A white cat and ginger cat followed them.

"I was worried about you, you should've told me you went with Sunpaw." Sunny told her daughter.

"Sorry, you were busy." Brownie said, shrugging.

"Anyway, these are the two cats I told you about, Cherryfur and Whitewhisker, remember?" Sunny asked. Brownie knew all too well what her mother wanted to hear.

"Its so great to finally meet you." She said. What an absolute joke!

Then it was Sunpaws turn to be introduced to her parents. Other cats came over to say hi to Sunny and Sebastion, one of them was a very grizzly old tom who asked a great deal about Milkyeyes. Sunny finally told him he could 'come and visit your old companion,' at his leisure.

"Sunlight!" Squealed another striped cat who came out of a den, followed by a tortoiseshell she-cat.

"Mintpaw- er, what is it now?" Sunlight asked.

"Mintstripe!" Responded the cat. Was every cats name -stripe? And what was with the curious names?

"Good to see you both!" Sunlight purred at the pair of she-cats. They purred back and Sunlight was greated yet again by a cat.

"Sunlight?" A cream colored cat appeared, looking hesistant, like this was some sort of joke.

"Mom!" Sunlight exclaimed.

Mom? If Brownie hadn't have felt so curious, she would've yowled in surprise right there and then.

"It is you!" The cream colored she-cat yowled. Brownie could not believe this cat was her mom's mom. She looked too... unlike her mother and her mothers sister. Sunlight seemed to not notice though as she entwined her tail with this cat.

"They seem to have forgotten us..." Sunpaw hissed beside Brownie. Brownie looked over in surprise, not expecting to agree with this cat. Sunpaw didn't meet Brownies gaze though.

"Yes they have." Brownie agreed firmly.

"Want to have some fresh kill?" Sunpaw asked, turning to look at Brownie.

"Sure..." Brownie said, not wanting to make an enemy of this cat. She seemed just as frustrated with her parents as Brownie was with her own.

Sunpaw didn't know why she'd invited Brownie to share a meal, but she hated feeling so left out of the rest of the clans joy. Rosepaw and Cloudpaw hadn't shown up yet, so Sunpaw felt alone in the sea of cats- who all seemed to want to be around the newcomer, Sunlight. Well, Sunpaw was just going to enjoy herself without them.

She had Brownie choose some fresh-kill from the pile. It took the brown she-cat a lot of time to choose, but she finally settled on the mouse Sunpaw had caught. Sunpaw choose a vole for herself, then led Brownie to a quiet corner. It was a quiet meal as Brownie seemed to be focused on her meal, which she was enjoying emensely from the look on her face.

"Thanks." She finally mumbled around a mouthful of mouse.

"Welcome." Sunpaw replied, while watching Sunlight and Cherryfur eat a meal along with well over half the clan. It was unlike the clan cats to spend so much time together. Sure they hunted together, trained together, and played together, but besides the kits, all were independant too. They sometimes hunted alone, walked alone, went for a drink alone... They always found time to focus on themselves.

Well, the newcomers seemed to have changed all that. Sunpaw never realized how closely connected the whole clan seemed to be with Sunlight, and her companion. Sebastion...? Well, whatever his name, he also seemed to be known by a few of the older cats. Sunpaw also heard the name 'Brownroot' come up. Who was that? Whoever he was, he seemed to have been close to both Sunlight and her mate. Sunpaw had never heard about him before... Oh wait! That was the cat Twigstripe had said mentored Sunlight- and sacrificed his life for her!

Sunpaw suddenly realized something. "Were you named after Brownroot?" She asked Brownie.

Brownie looked up startled, as if she hadn't wanted that question to be asked. "Yea..." She said finally, sighing.

"Ha, thats sorta weird." Sunpaw said.

Brownie narrowed her eyes. "Why?" She asked in a challenging tone.

"Well, I'm named after your mom, and your named after your dads brother... Its almost like..." Sunpaw didn't finish her sentence. She did not want Brownie to think they were going to be sisterly to one another.

"We are the kits of sisters." Brownie pointed out, seeming to read Sunpaw's mind.

Sunpaw didn't reply. It was just too much to think about so soon after shouting at her parents that these kittypets must be stupid. This one obviously had shared similar (only reversed) views about her and her family. How amazing... Sunpaw laid her head down on the ground and watched the buzz of activity.

Then Patchfur came in dragging a wounded Cloudpaw behind him.

TBC

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Spirit of the Skies

P.S. Menina (our kitty) had to get shots, be declawed (wasn't my decision, don't get mad at me) and spayed (again, not my fault). She's back from the vets and is really groggy. Pray for her! I hope she recovers quickly, I hate how they shaved her...