Flowerpaw buried her head deeper into her fur, making herself into a tighter ball. She was dreading training that day. Foxclaw would surely not take it easy on her, especially since she had taken a day off to "help" the medicine cat. She sighed and tried to get herself to fall asleep. There were only a few hours left before she would have to wake up.
When the time came to go training, she didn't wake up herself. "Flowerpaw, hey, Flowerpaw!" The white cat stirred, opening her eyes only a little. It was another apprentice, Nightpaw. "Hey come on, we get to train together today!" Her heart seemed to skip a beat. She wasn't going to be alone? Finally! Today would be a good day after all!
"Oh, that's great! I'll be up in a second." Flowerpaw purred. She stretched and yawned, before taking her time to leave the den. "Good morning Foxclaw!" She meowed, still purring. If that day went well, there was a possibility that she could train every day with Nightpaw. It wasn't unusual for mentors to do that.
"Hello, Flowerpaw." Foxclaw said reluctantly. She felt triumphant, as he couldn't mistreat her in front of others. If he did that, he could get in trouble, even exiled. She could never figure out why he did it, or why he chose to do it to her, though.
"Alright everyone, let's go training!" Nightpaw's mentor, Sparrowheart cried.
The cats padded deeper into the woods, with Sparrowheart in the lead. When they reached the river, they stopped.
"Today we're going to be fishing." Nightpaw's mentor announced. Flowerpaw froze. That meant they were going to have to look into the water, which meant risking seeing Riverspirit. She took in a slow breath, trying not to show her anxiety.
"Alright, let's get started." Foxclaw snapped. "Both of you position yourselves at the edge of the river." As the mentors went through the instructions, Flowerpaw stared into the water. A moment later Riverspirit's face appeared. She stiffened.
"No, relax, Flowerpaw." Sparrowheart spoke softly to the apprentice. Flowerpaw looked into the river again and saw that Riverspirit had disappeared. She felt relief that he was gone, although she wasn't sure why he left, or how.
Riverspirit nuzzled his daughter, River, fondly. "I'm so glad you're here. I've been so lonely!"
The silver cat purred. "I'm so happy you're here too. I was so scared that I would be alone after...after I was murdered." She raised her head. "What's wrong, dad?" He had stopped purring.
"Oh, nothing, I was just thinking about Spirit. I'm sad that she had to outlive you." He meowed. "I'm sorry, that didn't make any sense. I just meant, usually the kits live longer than the parents."
River gasped. "You mean that she was still alive?" She drew back from her father for a moment. "If only that horrible cat hadn't poisoned me." She stopped. "Not that being with you is bad, I just hadn't seen mom in so long."
Riverspirit nodded. "Yes, I haven't seen her in a while either. But you know what? If she's by a pond or some sort of water, we could see her!"
River tilted her head in confusion. "What?"
"Look up, to where the stars are supposed to be." She did so, expecting to see the darkness surrounding her. Instead, she saw faces of cats, tails, and ears. It was like she was looking through water. Was she? She turned slowly, trying to take in all of the different cats. Each image was separated by a line of darkness, so she was able to tell that they were cats in different places.
"What is this?" River asked, enchanted.
"This is how you communicate to others from StarClan."
Spirit groaned, every breath causing her pain. She had grown so old, yet she had no one to care for her. Her bones ached, and she knew she couldn't hunt on her own. That would be impossible. She had a feeling that she would die soon. She couldn't keep scavenging like she had been for the past couple of days.
She felt another pain in her chest, a different sort of ache, from thinking about her kit and mate. She missed them so much. After River died, she named her kit River. She thought it would help her cope, but instead it had brought more pain.
Spirit shuddered when she thought about River falling into a stream.
All of a sudden she started coughing. Pain shot through her, causing her to cough even more. Spirit fell limp, and could not stop coughing. She felt horror when she saw that she was coughing up blood. This really was going to be the end. She hadn't wanted to die with so much guilt.
"I'm sorry, River." Through coughs she was able to mumble only three words before the darkness consumed her.
That was what death was like, it seemed. An endless darkness, swirled around Spirit, lifting her into the sky.
Suddenly, the aching in her bones left and the coughing stopped. She was able to breathe again. Death was such a relief.
"I'm so sorry, both of you." She murmured.
"My dear, there is no need to be sorry." Spirit lifted her head in surprise. Her eyes widened. In front of her stood both rivers.
"River! My kit!" She ran forward and nuzzled her daughter. "I feel so awful for what happened!" She turned to the other River. "My mate, I'm so happy to see you! I'm so glad you haven't been alone. But we're together again."
Riverspirit nodded. "Yes. I'm Riverspirit now. I changed my name because I missed you." Happiness coursed through her. They were finally together again.