You Can't Know

You can't know
wouldn't know
couldn't know
what the future holds

Only StarClan has a glimpse
even then they don't know

If they could see
what would become of me

Why didn't they warn me
of where I would be?

I had started just fine
and became a warrior in the line

I vowed to serve my Clan
to the best that I can

Then one night I saw with my two eyes
a handsome tom in the moonlight

His fur was thick and glossed
and his shoulders were broad

His eyes were just as green
as a holly's small leaves

My own heart I had lost
to this unknown tom

He looked in my way
and I heard him say

"Hello, who are you?"

We talked before the leaders called from their place
But I still could feel my heart race

When all were dismissed to return home
we decided to make a choice quite bold

"Let's meet again"

I saw him again the next night
and for some reason, it felt so right

When the moon was up high the next time
we brushed pelts and locked eyes

After a half-moon
more about him I knew

As we groomed each other's fur
and we gazed at the stars

As our tails would entwine
and I knew that he would always be mine

He was a young warrior himself
named two moons ago along with a friend

He was popular in the Clan for his looks
(but why I already had known)

Several she-cats would chase him
but their chances were slim

How was I so sure?
He said this as his tongue ran over my fur

"Your heart belongs to me alone"

Then another moon passes
more stolen moments and glances

But at the border there's a battle
for which I felt baffled

It's just a set of stones
We don't need to break our bones

Yet both sides leaped at another
and I wished to not see my lover

He was there in the fight
just not in my sight

At least not until
he was accused for two kills

He had by accident shoved them in
to a river where they couldn't swim

It wasn't his fault that one washed away
and the other was pulled onshore later that day

But my Clan thinks he is guilty
as they retreated quickly

They just don't see who I see
the tom that walks in many dreams

The next night I wait by our tree
but him I don't see

I don't know where he could be
as he didn't warn me

The night after that
I go through the same act

The nights become a cycle of wait and pain
and I wondered if coming out was in vain

One day while in camp
I had first thought it was a cramp

But I still visited the medicine cat
and I could hardly register what he said

"You're expecting kits"

At first I was excited for us
and it was something we had discussed

But I must see him the next day
I had thought as I lay

The next night was the full moon
and I told him the news

He was happy but scared
I could see it in his stare

But I would raise him alone with my Clan
and without him I can

It would be alright
if I didn't see him every night

The day the kits came
I never thought I'd feel such pain

But they were so beautiful
(I suppose that statement is assumable)

Yet they inherited from their father
something that seemed to bother

They weren't built to be like my Clan
I thought I saw a cat deadpan

I took them out of camp to a river
but it didn't make them shiver

This was where they were built to be
unfortunately someone else had also seen

It was announced to all of camp
that my kits were half-Clan

And I was exiled from my home
the one place I'd known

Then I knew where'd we go
to the place were water flowed

Surely they'd accept me and my kits
They can't reject my in a state like this

But then like two others
the kits fell under

They washed away with the river
the thought makes me shiver

But I wasn't allowed in
but that wasn't it

My mate had another
another lover

I would strive for vengeance
for my kits' independence

Three lives I had taken
because they were forsaken

I had lost my own too
but as I died I knew

That it was all worth it
all worth it for my kits

But you can't know
that one mistake started a flow

from one thing to another
with a love of a mother

You can't know
wouldn't know
couldn't know
what the future holds

My name is Mapleshade
and I will never fade


Challenge Name: You Can't Know

Its Creator: Dragon

Word Count: 854 words

Start/Finish Date: 12/8 (or 9) - 12/10

Description: Nobody knows everything. They don't know others' secrets, for one. But most of all, they can't know the future. Only StarClan really has a glimpse of the future, and even that future could change. If a cat knew what the consequences of their actions would be, would they have done anything differently?

Signing out,

~Lauren