It was the middle of the night, but oddly enough, Lostheart was woken from her sleep. She stretched her legs for a moment and carefully stood up. The other warriors were all asleep she noted, but her eyes stopped as they landed on Moonpaw's nest. Empty. Her scent was still strong though.
Lostheart weaved her way around the sleeping figures of her clanmates and stepped out into the camp, what she saw made her blink in surprise.
Moonpaw sat in the center of the camp with her back towards Lostheart. Her head was tilted up and she appeared to be watching the moon. It's glow illuminated her pale fur making her appear ghostly in the darkness of the night. Lostheart had never seen the she-cat so calm before.
Lostheart padded forward, not caring to try and sneak up on the she-cat. At the sound of pawsteps, Moonpaw's ear twitched and she turned in surprise. Her eyes widened at the sight of Lostheart and she opened her mouth as if to say something, but quickly snapped it back up.
Lostheart said nothing and padded up beside her, taking a moment to glance up at the moon as well.
"I didn't expect to find you out here." Lostheart meowed calmly.
Moonpaw was silent for a moment before shrugging offhandedly.
"I like watching the moon."
She spoke her words calmly, but Lostheart could detect a hint of sadness in her eyes.
"I know you didn't attack Mintpaw, and I want to know the real reason you were on our territory. You said you had a home with the tribe, why would you leave?"
Moonpaw didn't respond for a long moment, her eyes suddenly appeared more tired than they had before. She watched Lostheart carefully. Why did she care? Moonpaw normally didn't like to talk to cats, but something about Lostheart made her trust the she-cat.
Moonpaw sighed.
"...I've been searching, for a long time..."
Lostheart listened curiously, surprised that Moonpaw was deciding to open up to her.
"...for my father."
Her final words were said with great difficulty and her eyes developed a dull sheen.
"The moon reminds me of them, my parents."
'Her parents...' Lostheart mused.
Moonpaw eyes slowly slid back up to the moon and she smiled sadly.
"I don't have too many memories of them, and most are hazy...when I was a very young kit, my mother was killed by a badger, she was trying to protect me..."
"My father saved me, but he had to send me away..."
Lostheart could see Moonpaw's face was lined with confusion and sadness.
"Eventually the tribe cats found me and took me in, but I couldn't forget about my father. I finally decided I would go find him...so I left. I've been searching ever since. I remember the picture of a long grassy plain, that's what led me here. I saw the fields from the top of the cliffs and climbed down..."
Moonpaw sighed, closing her eyes. "I keep telling myself that he's out there somewhere, waiting for me..."
Lostheart could tell Moonpaw had suffered a lot of pain in her life, it was evident by the shields she always surrounded herself with.
"My mom died too...when I was young.." Lostheart meowed quietly.
Moonpaw blinked at looked at Lostheart in surprise. Lostheart had never spoken to anybody about her mother before, it was something she didn't like to think or talk about. The words were difficult for her to say and even as she said them, she could feel a great pain inside her.
"She protected me from a fox."
The two cats sat in silence, watching the moon and enjoying the cool night air.
"It's all I've focused on my entire life." Moonpaw meowed.
Lostheart was silent and closed her strange eyes.
"You are free to go."
Moonpaw's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"
Lostheart stood back up. "We would appreciate your help, but I won't force you to stay. If you escape now, the others will think you escaped while everyone was asleep. I'm glad we got to meet."
Moonpaw watched as the dark she-cat padded silently away, returning to the confines of the warriors den.
Despite her appearance and cold voice, Lostheart wasn't who she appeared to be, she was different. Moonpaw immediately felt bad for judging the she-cat when she first met her.
Lostheart said she could go...Moonpaw sat rooted to her spot in the clearing, eyes focused on the moon.
'...Maybe it's time...to move on.'
Lostheart's eyes slowly slid open, adjusting to the sudden light pouring into the warriors den. She yawned and stretched her legs before standing up and lightly shaking her fur. Her eyes instinctively glanced to Moonpaw's nest.
Empty.
So she had gone after all. Lostheart strode into the clearing eyes having to squint at the light. It was unusually bright today, despite the gray skies.
Her ear twitched at the sound of arguing, and she looked across the clearing.
Greysight and Moonpaw appeared to be arguing over the last piece of fresh kill, both cats glaring venomously at each other. Lostheart smiled inwardly as she laid eyes on Moonpaw.
'You decided to stay after all.'
Greysight perked up and immediately Lostheart fell Greysight calling over to her.
"Lostheart! You're the deputy, tell Moonpaw here that I get the last piece of prey because I am her superior."
Moonpaw's tail lashed from side-to-side. "That's a load of foxdung! I saw it first!"
Both she-cats turned to Lostheart expectantly. Inwardly, the black she-cat sighed. She really hated making decisions.
"Mintpaw needs to eat, she hasn't eaten anything yet! You're an inconsiderate rogue!"
Lostheart could see Moonpaw's eyes flash in anger. "You never said it was for Mintpaw! If I knew that then maybe I would've let you have it, did you ever think of that?"
Sniffing disdainfully, Moonpaw padded away leaving the squirrel with Greysight.
"I'm going hunting!" she called.
Greysight hissed at the pale she-cat's retreating form before grabbing the squirrel and padding off to the medicine cat den.
From across the clearing Darkpelt and Browneyes watched the exchange with opposite expressions. Browneyes smiled, "Well, they certainly seem to be getting along well enough."
Darkpelt gave his brother a look that clearly said 'you're an idiot' and stalked away for his daily patrol leaving Browneyes to roll his eyes.
'She-cats.' he growled.
Greysight walked into the medicine cat den and gently set the squirrel down. Roseclaw padded out from the back, grinning at her friend.
"Oh Greysight, you shouldn't have." Roseclaw meowed, eyeing the squirrel.
"I didn't." Greysight replied. "This is for Mintpaw."
Roseclaw's eyes narrowed, "FINE. Let me starve!" she meowed dramatically.
Greysight rolled her eyes and focused on Mintpaw as the young she-cat approached them. "Thanks Greysight! I was really hungry." Mintpaw meowed, practically beaming up at Greysight as she picked up the squirrel and padded out of the den.
"I'm gonna go eat this with Mom, I have to give this medicine to her anyways, I'll see you later!" Mintpaw called as she raced out of the den.
Roseclaw watched her apprentice go and shook her head in amusement.
"So how is she?"
"She's fine, as you can see, she's full of energy." Roseclaw meowed.
Greysight smirked, "Remind you of anyone?"
"You mean you? Yeah."
Greysight rolled her eyes and jabbed Roseclaw lightly in the shoulder.
"Tonight's the Gathering, where we get to introduce Moonpaw to the other clans. Do you think they'll question us about her?"
Roseclaw shrugged, "Who knows. I'm sure Sunstar will be able to handle it either way."
Greysight gave Roseclaw a doubtful look to which the white she-cat only shrugged.
Moonpaw padded into the clearing and set down the rabbit she caught onto the nonexistent fresh kill pile, she looked up when she noticed Lostheart padding over to her.
She wondered if the black she-cat would say anything about last night, but was surprised when Lostheart didn't show any sign of ever speaking to her.
"You already know about the four clans here and the code, but tonight during the full moon we all meet at a Gathering. There, we will introduce you to the other clans, and I can now tell you that you've earned your warrior name."
Moonpaw watched Lostheart in disbelief, "Really?"
Lostheart nodded, "You have already been well trained by the tribe and are greatly suited for warrior life. That and we have decided that we can trust you. I hope you will honor that decision."
Moonpaw blinked and nodded, "Does this mean I get a new name?"
"Yes. Your new name will be Moonfur. Normally we have a ceremony, but Sunstar isn't as...dedicated as he used to be. Many of our rituals have been skipped over. After the Gathering you can guard the camp and sit vigil."
Moonfur nodded, "What do I do at the Gathering?"
"Nothing. Just talk to the other cats if you want and wait for the leader's announcements. Although I warn you, you can't reveal anything about the inner workings of our clan to the other cats, we are already in a tight spot with TreeClan."
"I know." Moonfur meowed. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Ok as for the allegiances i can upload them, but there wont be any pics because my computer is being dumb. My photoshop hasn't been working recently either, so if I do get the pic uploader to work some of them will be old. But for now i'll upload the words.
Lost Out
