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"Hey Silver! SILVER!" A screechy yowl drifted across the forest, shooting into Silver's ear and made him wince. Ivy sounded excited. Supressing a sigh and roll of eyes, Silver walked back to their den in the willows, a vole and a pigeon hanging from his jaws. Silver dropped his prey in the makeshift den and opened his jaws to scent for his friend. Hmm… I can smell fresh kittypet. Streak must have arrived. That explains why Ivy's screeching especially loudly.
Silver padded in the direction of the growing scent of cats, away from the trees and towards the direction of Twolegplace. As he got further away from the den, he heard the buzz of chatter, mostly in Ivy's excited meow. He broke into a trot and found Streak, Twist, Gloss and Tufty standing with Ivy, who was excitedly telling some exciting story, gesturing and waving her tail excitedly. Not sure what to say, Silver took a step towards the group of cats and cleared his throat.
"Ahem." All four cats and turned, before Streak blinked in recognition and greeted him.
"Hey, Silver! I know, we're a little early, but we were heading towards your den and Ivy was heading towards us, so we thought we'd wait here." Silver nodded.
"Yeah, that's fine, don't worry." Turning to Ivy, he spoke again. "Ivy, have you hunted and eaten? I need to go back to the den and have a meal; I haven't had any prey yet."
"Oh, don't worry about that." Ivy waved her tail in dismissal. "We can have some food at Gloss' nest, right? She says her housefolk always give other cats food, like cream and milk and salmon!"
"Err, I don't think so, Ivy. It is a very kind offer, Gloss," Silver turned and nodded to the tawny gold she cat, who just turned up her nose in reply, "But we aren't kittypets, so we should go back to the den and eat." Ivy opened her jaws, a stubborn expression set on her face. "Now." Silver meowed sternly. Going back to Streak, Twist, Tufty and Gloss, he meowed, "You can come back with us if you want, or wait here. We'll be back before the sun's moved a mouse length."
"That's fine. We'll wait until you get back." Twist meowed placidly.
Silver turned to Ivy as they walked back to the willow trees.
"You know Ivy, if we are still going to be Clan cats at heart and look to StarClan, we can't take food from Twolegs. Not even one mouthful. It goes against the warrior code," Or whatever's left of it after Shimmerstar broke it into dust he thought vehemently.
"And it goes against everything we've been taught. Okay?" The two cats had reached the willow tree which their den lay under.
"No, Silver. That's just narrow minded!" Ivy argued. "We shouldn't just have to hunt. If we're living on our own, we should take every opportunity to get food, even from kittypets. Anyway, the warrior code says we reject the life of a kittypet, not their food!"
Silver swallowed back a yowl of frustration, restraining himself from unsheathing his claws and raking them through Ivy's stubborn expression. All the compassion he had felt for the young silver-and-black kit before had evaporated like dew in sunshine. He forced himself to stay calm, and spoke again.
"Ivy, if you go and take food from a Twoleg nest, you will know how easy it is to not find your own food."
He bent down to take a bite of the pigeon he caught earlier.
"Then, you'll not want to hunt more and more often, and you'll just become lazy, then some Twoleg will come and sweep you up and take you, like Cloudtail. I do not want that happening to either of us."
Ivy just ripped into the vole on top of her nest with a sulky manner. I don't care if she thinks I'm being boring or overprotective. I am NOT going to let her turn into a kittypet.
Silver and Ivy walked back to the kittypets in silence. How could we fall out so easily? Silver thought despairingly.
Streak and Tufty were talking together in hushed voices together, while Twist was seemingly trying to make conversation with Gloss, who was just vacantly nodding at everything the grey tabby said. Stepping forward into a pool of sunlight, Silver asked mildly, "So, are we going to your Twolegplace?"
"Yes, sure! Let's go!" Twist waved his kinked tail madly, obviously madly excited at showing new cats around his home.
The four full grown kittypets and two silver kittens trekked through a thick cluster of broad leafed trees and thick, lush patches of grass. Silver fell in step with Tufty as the air warmed, encouraging new growth on the skeletal leaf bare trees.
"So, Tufty. Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Silver asked casually. This question made Tufty start nervously, then twitch his ears and reply quietly.
"I have- I had a sister. She was called Ivory. She was a beautiful young cat. She looked a bit like your friend Ivy actually, but white and silver instead of black and silver. She… sh- she got taken by some Twolegs that live on the other side of the Twolegplace." Tufty stuttered out. "I have a brother too, Prickle, but he just hates me, and he hated Ivory." There was plain bitterness in his mew. That must be why Tufty's always so withdrawn. Silver realised. After that, he and Tufty walked in a more comfortable, understanding silence.
Silver heard Ivy ahead of him making eager conversation with Twist and Streak, even managing to get a few friendly words out of Gloss. He felt a pang of loss. She's usually talking to me like that. Wait. Am I jealous? Silver asked himself with a start. No, I can't be. It's just because she's been my only companion these past couple of days. That's all.
The thick green grasses gradually thinned out to hard stone as the Twoleg nests thickened into a messy cluster of nests like cobweb. The harsh roar of Twoleg monsters streaking past on their Thunderpaths threw waves of foul wind in Silver's face, buffeting his fur with murky water and sharp grit. Everything was so noisy, with Twoleg kits shrieking and shouting as they played in their enclosed squares of grass, their parents chattering amongst themselves, dogs yapping and barking and howling until Silver flattened his ears onto his head because they were buzzing like a swarm of wasps.
"How can it be so noisy here?" Silver tried to speak without yowling to the four kittypets, who looked perfectly at ease in the alien surroundings, heads high and tails lifted, walking confidently on the hard stone. "How does it not deafen you?"
"I guess we're used to it." Streak meowed. "When you grow up with this racket, it just fades into the background and you don't notice it anymore." Silver tried to imagine ever being used to the constant din, and failed. Oh, well, each cat to its own.
Ivy was deliberately walking several paces ahead of Silver, keeping her head carefully turned towards Twist, whom she was having a quiet conversation with, their heads tipped towards each other, ears twitching. Silver felt that twitch in his belly again. He couldn't be jealous, could he? What were they talking about? Surely just about Twolegplace, right? Silver angled his ears towards the cats in front of him, blocking out all of the havoc of the place.
"…can I go there? Oh please, I want to see!" Ivy was pleading in a whisper to the light grey tabby.
"What about Silver? …won't… he didn't want… prey instead of food…" Silver couldn't catch all of his words. They were talking about him! And to the sounds of Twist's tone of meow, they weren't discussing how good he was at hunting. Straining to hear more, Silver listened again.
"Oh, leave him… won't mind… not bothered anyway… he won't want to… just me?" Ivy was still trying to win Twist over about something that obviously Silver didn't approve of. He stiffened. She doesn't want to go and eat kittypet food in a Twoleg nest, does she?
"Okay… won't be long… I'll take you when they… for kittypets… beavers." Twist wanted to take Ivy somewhere when Silver was looking around for kittypets who knew about the beavers! I'm not going to let that happen!