Thank you so much for the reviews and the support. Keep it coming! (Sorry this chapter is a little short.)

Chapter 12: Revealed Truth

Fawnfur made a move to run to her fallen mother but Spidersilk stopped her, placing his paw on her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" hissed Fawnfur, outraged, "let me go!"

"No, wait! What if whatever attacked her is watching?"

"I don't care!"

"Think reasonably," Spidersilk insisted, "if something or someone behind that waterfall is hurting cats, we don't want them to know we're here. Then when we do take action, they'll be surprised."

Fawnfur heard the sense in her mate's words but she couldn't just leave her mother bleeding on the rocky floor. Shooting a furtive look at the waterfall, searching for signs of movement, Fawnfur pressed her bloated belly against the smooth stone ground and inched along the rock walls that rose up around the clearing. The shadows cast by the moon's light hid Fawnfur as she crept closer and closer to the spot where Icy was lying, unmoving. Fawnfur couldn't hear any sounds coming from behind the waterfall; the crash of water upon rock was too loud. She smelled Spidersilk in back of her, his warm scent comforting her slightly.

Icy's pale body was stretched across a lumpy rock. Her chest was slowly moving up and down; Fawnfur felt a heavy weight lift from her chest. Her mother wasn't dead.

Glancing around once again, Fawnfur saw no other cats. The night was still again. Icy's blood was beginning to seep down on to the gray rock, a puddle of black in the darkness. Fawnfur HAD to get to her mother.

"Watch my back," whispered Fawnfur to Spidersilk. When her mate nodded, Fawnfur darted out into the moonlight and crawled over to Icy, her eyes open wide in fear that whatever attacked her mother would come back to finish her off.

Icy's eyes were closed and her breath was coming out harshly. Fawnfur didn't know if she was conscious or not but she seized Icy's fur with her teeth and set about dragging her over to the shelter of a scraggly bush. When Icy didn't struggle, Fawnfur assumed she had passed out.

"Spidersilk," hissed Fawnfur into the shadows, "come help me."

A black shape peeled itself away from the rock wall and padded over to Fawnfur. He quickly gathered mouthfuls of Icy's fur in his teeth and gently pulled her over the hard ground towards the bush. Fawnfur tasted her mother's blood in her mouth, the salty tang making her worry. How much blood had she lost? She was alive now, but for how long? Fawnfur desperately wished Longfeather, the medicine cat, was here with them.

When the two cats had finally gotten Icy underneath the thin, sheltering branches of the bush, Spidersilk snuck off to catch some more prey for when the white she-cat woke up. Fawnfur set about pressing leaves from the bush against her mother's wounds, trying to stop the bleeding. Fawnfur washed her mother's fur, licking away the red-tinged blood and making her fur shine as bright as the stars in the sky. A tenderness flowed through Fawnfur as she cared for her mother under the tiny bush. Who had done this to her? Fawnfur realized that even though this was the first time she had set eyes on her mother in real life, she loved her more than anything.

"How did I live without you?" murmured Fawnfur, keeping her paws on the gash on Icy's back.

Fawnfur still felt the twinge of regret and anger when she thought about how Icy had abandoned her but it wasn't paramount anymore. Fawnfur suddenly understood that she hadn't gone on this journey to find and chastise her parents; she had gone to meet and forgive them.

"Black..." Icy muttered, her eyes still shut, her paws thrashing suddenly.

Fawnfur stepped back, giving her mother space in case she woke up. She didn't think Icy would be very happy waking up face to face with a strange cat.

Icy's eyes flew open and she sat up, panting and looking around wildly. She suddenly seemed to notice that she was covered in wounds and the white cat calmed down a little, understanding that moving a lot would cause the gashes to reopen. Then Icy spotted Fawnfur.

"Who are you? Get away from me! I may be injured but I can still fight!" spat the she-cat.

Fawnfur felt a sadness coat her heart. Icy didn't recognize her.

Why would she, you foolish cat? Fawnfur thought, she got rid of you when you were only a kit.

Icy unsheathed her claws and growled deeply. For all her bravado, Fawnfur could smell the unmistakable fear-scent pulsing from her mother's pelt. What had happened to Icy that made her so wary of cats? And who had hurt her?

"Icy..." Fawnfur said in a soft voice.

"How do you know my name?" asked Icy, startled and hostile.

Fawnfur felt her throat close up. She couldn't say it. What would Icy think? What if she had forgotten about her? What if she didn't even care? Fawnfur squeezed her eyes shut, hoping to block out her thoughts.

"Fawnfur?"

Spidersilk was back. He placed two voles on the ground and draping his tail over her shoulder, glancing at Icy. "Have you told her?"

"I c-can't," whispered Fawnfur pressing her face into her mate's soft fur.

"You've come this far," Spidersilk said quietly, "don't give up now."

Icy was staring at them in confusion.

"Who are you?" she demanded again.

Fawnfur looked at Spidersilk, he gave her a reassuring nod. She took a deep breath and sat down across from Icy, her spine tingling with anticipation.

"I am your daughter."