Again, I apologize for being absent! Finals and such for school were to be dealt with first and every time I thought I had free time, I didn't. SO! Now that I'm in the mood and have the chapter ready, here's the next part of Briarlight's Cure!
I will warn you right now! One character in this speaks in a style that would make him seem dumb, but he isn't. Not by a long shot. You'll just have to read and find out who it is~ Enjoy!
Review if you have anything to say or have a question! :D
I do not own the Warrior cat series. All original references, characters, ideas, etc. belong in the ownership of the amazing Erin Hunter.
Chapter 23
Briarlight groaned heavily, trying to grip the threads of consciousness. She opened her eyes slowly, expecting bright light to come on and blind her. But there was none. Even through the blurriness, Briarlight noticed that the room she was in was merely lighted by a fire. Shaking her head, the room became clearer slowly but surely.
It was a huge room, bigger than even Riley's bedroom. Bookcases stood tall and almost regal against the walls. They soared high till they literally touched the ceiling. Books filled inside the cases, some shelves more organized than others. In the middle of the room was a leathered sofa, and next to it stood a small, wooden table. Straight across from it was the fireplace, quietly burning wood and coal to a content warmth that filled the entire room with a sense of hominess.
And even then, books were sprawled all over the floor; some creating towers just as high as the bookcases themselves.
"Whoa…" She breathed softly. Where she lied was on a fluffy nest bed just for cats. She got up, only to grit her teeth in pain as she felt the dry blood from her shoulder reopen a little. She looked at it and grimaced. Though she had nicked her shoulder on the storm drain, it was a deep wound nonetheless. Dried blood had luckily stopped it from flowing out again. The warrior she-cat gave a few gentle licks on the wound to clean it up, when she heard a voice,
"Oh, look Mia! She's awake!"
Briarlight looked up in time to see two more she-cats enter the room. She instantly recognized them as harmless, for the innocence that glowed in their pairs of green jewels held curiosity, rather than anger and lust for death.
"Um...hello there...?" Briarlight spoke. She frowned when she heard her voice was hoarse.
The brown tabby walked up to her first. Appearing older than Briarlight, she gave a big smile. "Hiya! What's your name?"
"Um…Briarlight. What about you two?" She asked, much braver this time.
"I'm Mia, and this," She nodded to her dark gray tabby companion, "is Rayne. We are sisters of this nesthold!"
"Are you feeling okay, Briarlight?" Rayne asked softly. She was much quieter than Mia, but still held a tone of concern for the brown she-cat. "You fell pretty hard."
Memories flooded into Briarlight, causing her to gasp. "Oh my! I-I-I have to be going! I have to get to the barns before it's too late!" She began to make her way to the door, but was stopped by Mia.
"Wait! Slow down, kit! What do you mean 'you have to get to the barn'?" She asked, tilting her head slightly. "Do you mean you live in brother's barn?!"
"Wha-What? Who are you talking about? No! I visit a barn called the Starpoint Barnyard—"
Mia gasped loudly. "Did you hear that, Rayne?! She lives where Amy ruled! She lives with Katie!" The she-cat jumped around excitedly. Her sister, though she didn't do the same, shifted from paw to paw in anxiousness. Briarlight stepped back as Mia nearly tackled her over in happiness. "Then you must know Scar right? Because he's our brother! He and us lived with Amy before we were adopted!"
"Wha…you two knew Amy?!" Briarlight said in shock.
"Aye. They've known Amy since they's kits."
Briarlight looked over Mia's shoulder only to recoil in horror. A tom approached her, his nakedness almost too horrifying to look at. Every wrinkle shown, nothing was hidden from the eyes of onlookers. His around his nose was crusty mucus, as if he hadn't cleaned himself well in a while. Yet with all the hideousness that cloaked his wrinkled form, the tom didn't alarm Briarlight any further. He walked like he was on the verge of collapsing for several seconds, but he still held his chin up in a proud stance, wisdom sparkling in his deep, semi-foggy blue eyes.
"Hi, Grandpa Anubis! Did your sleep well?" Rayne asked kindly, clearly unfazed by his body or stare.
The older tom chuckled lively, settling down in the nest bed that Briarlight was just in. He grunted a little when his body had to slowly lie down in the fluffy nest, giving a sigh of relief when he was completely down. "Ahh~! That's better…" He eyed Rayne, then Mia, and finally landing on Briarlight, who shyly looked away, unsure what to do. He blinked slowly before answering abruptly, "It was well, my kit. Though those pesky rogues have been destroying my sleep patterns as of late."
The warrior's ears perked up. "You know of the alleycats?" She asked.
He glared at her annoyingly. "Did I ever say that I didn't, fox-breath?!" He growled. "And what's with not looking at your elders straight in the eyes, young lady? Surely you are not one of the low-life, pieces of crowfood scraplings that call themselves 'cats' from out there?!"
She winced, his voice instantly reminding her of Mousefur's sharp tongue. 'Some things are just the same.' She thought as a side-note. Briarlight stood up straighter and looked at the tom in the eye like he had advised.
The tom smirked, revealing unexpectedly sharp fangs. "That's more like it, missy. Though I was just kiddin' with ya!" He laughed. A moment of silence filled the air before he spoke again. "So…why did ya drop n' so rudely if I's ask kindly?"
She gulped but said calmly, "I fell in on accident, um…Anubis? I was actually running away from those alleycats. They were chasing me to kill me off in order to keep their secret…well, a secret still."
Anubis nodded. "Very well. Why's a fine she-cat like ya in the sewers in the first place?" He asked bluntly.
The question took her off in surprise. "Pardon me, Anubis, but how do YOU know about the sewers?"
He narrowed his eyes in disgust. "I's known of that retched place for far too long. Ever since I's a lil' kit adopted into 'is fine family. I's the former leader of them stupid, lust-driven fools I's once callin' friends; family practically," He paused again, his wrinkly ears folding backwards. "Answer ma questin', young lady. It's all about respect."
She bowed her head in apology. "I was going there with two of my friends—Maple and SJ, they are sisters—in order to find out who was killing off all the cats in the barn. I…I just didn't think until now that Rover and Hansel would be behind it—"
"Did ya just say 'Rover and Hansel', missy?" Anubis now stood up from his lying position. His eyes shone brighter than before, as if they had caught onto a fresh prey. She took a step back in surprise. "How does ya know about 'em kits? Hansel would never stoop so low…but his brother…now that's no surprise in the least…" By now, Anubis was mumbling mostly to himself.
"Forgive me, Anubis, but…you also know about Rover and Hansel?" Briarlight said cautiously.
The naked tom looked at her sharply. For several heartbeats, neither one spoke; even Mia and Rayne, who both had been sitting beside Anubis, were silent in awe.
Without warning, Anubis, turned and nodded to the sisters. They smiled in understanding and raced over to a bookcase. They expertly climbed up it, like they had done a million times before. When they reached up to the high shelf, it was Rayne who pulled out a book carefully, moving out of the way as she pushed it down off the shelf.
Briarlight jumped back in time to avoid the book from hitting her front paws. The book landed with a muffled thump on the rug ground, opening up upon landing. She moved away from it when Anubis flicked his thin, naked tail through the pages till he reached the first one; the beginning of the story.
Anubis nodded for Briarlight to sit by him. She obeyed quietly. "I's known those toms since they were kits. Oh how shameful it was how their lives turned for the worse, and how that quickly came to destroy others as well…" He sighed gravely. He placed his paw on the page, causing Briarlight to look at it. Underneath his scrawny paw was a picture much like the ones Riley had framed in her bedroom or in the living den. It held a picture of a beautiful kitten, one that was a silver gray tabby she-cat, smiling happily as she pounced on her companion, who was a pure white tom. Below the picture it was labeled with two names she would've never thought of.
'Billie and Soul; kittens'
"The story I's about to tell ya is long…but it is the key to everything that has gone right n' wrong."
Briarlight eyed the picture once more, suddenly scared of the truth that would be given to her. 'The others are dying and confusion has been the cause from the start. Until no.,' A voice spoke in her thoughts. She closed her eyes and sighed, then looked at Anubis sternly;
"Tell me Anubis…"
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"This family that I's live with connects to the pain, love, and birth of everything that has happened as of today. And it begins with Billie, a sweet, shy kit that didn't know how to cope with living away from her mother, who had recently been adopted away from her kits. Billie's other siblings had been adopted away as well, leaving her truly alone; or she thought.
"One day, the tom No-Collar had brought home a kitten who he had discovered in the alleyway of this condo. The skinny tom was older than Billie—perhaps a good five moons older at most—but that never stopped them from growing so close. Billie loved him as a brotherly companion, playing with her whenever possible.
"She had come to naming him 'Soul', for he was what brought her heart and soul into the light; and she had done the same for him as well.
"Over the moons, they stayed by each other side, living happily with the No-Collars that had come to protect both of them. When Billie had reached a full season, Soul had taken her to the alleys, to show her how a cat should hunt in times of peril. She learned fast, and became quite the hunter. Soon, she loved him as a mentor and guardian, teaching her how to live and protect herself.
"When they discovered many cats without nestholds or warmth, they grouped the cats together and created a clowder that lived in the sewers, mainly for protecting against harsh and cold winters, with meetings that held equal opinions.
"They had grown into the leaders that any cat would dream of following. Leaders that would do anything to protect anyone with a good heart.
"I had been born in the sewers, my mother had died from a horrible illness, while my father was never seen again; leaving me and my siblings without a true home, it seemed. For some reason—a reason to this day I have yet to understand—Billie took us to this nesthold and raised us with great love and motherly wisdom. Soul had been the father-figure that we needed and loved us just as much as she. They had been four seasons old.
"Billie quickly realized that she loved Soul more than a brother, more than a mentor and guardian; she had fallen in love with him for who he was. She loved him because he loved her back more than a sister, more than a student and pupil.
"It wasn't long afterwards that they became mates.
"I had grown up into a strong and respected tom, my 'father' teaching me how to fight for equality and love, my 'mother' advising me how to scout and protection. My siblings, as expected, had been adopted away, leaving me with Billie and Soul. I's about two seasons when Billie revealed to the two of us that she's with kits.
"We's all excited that new kits would be coming into the nesthold. I's especially; I knew I would be able to teach them the wisdom that Soul and Billie had taught me, hoping that the kits would do the same for their kits, and so on so forth.
"Oh, how that was the true start of everything going downhill.
"Billie gave birth merely a few days before her true due date. But it mattered neither to Soul nor I. She birthed three healthy kits; a black she-kit, and two toms, one being a rare tortoiseshell, while the other was gray. Thus, the birth of Metilda, Rover, and Hansel was gifted upon us.
"But everyone could tell that something was horribly wrong.
"Rover was strong and very much independent from anyone, including his mother. But he loved her the most; he loved his father, yes, but I would always see a rivalry burn in that pesky gray kit's eyes whenever he saw his father around. Like he believed that he would become so much better, so much stronger than Soul himself.
"Metilda was shy but had a sharp tongue, whether it be in a good term or bad. She was nowhere near adventurous like her oldest brother. In fact, she constantly was trying to stop him from getting himself hurt or leaving the condo.
"Hansel was the calmest of them all; he had everything that his brother lacked, and quite literally. Hansel was strong, proud, but never liked to show it off unless it was necessary. He had a voice of consideration, a heart of love and equality, and I could tell that he would be a great resemblance of Soul and how well he had been as a fighter and defender. Hansel, though the middle kit of the litter, would always be herding his siblings around quietly, like he knew when and when not to leave the nest. And he was right most of the time.
"But then that night came…the night when it changed all of our lives…
"I's been out on a scouting group that night with Soul, leaving Billie alone with the kits. Something that had been normal for all three of us. But I had a vision that Metilda was dead, and Rover was standing over her in confusion, poking her playfully. I could hear Billie's crying, Hansel's mourning, but Rover was…suspicious almost…
"I, in puzzlement, left the group and went home to check up on my family. When I got back into the condo, however, I was met with what had been shown in my vision. Metilda was dead. And in that instant, another vision had exploded through my eyes;
"I saw Rover leaving the nestbed, but Metilda had waken up with him and was trying to get him back into the nest. She kept hissing at him that they weren't ready to go out into the alleys by themselves. She kept making him angrier and angrier, clearly hating that he was depending on something that he felt was foolish to be concerned over.
"In a rush, he had his sister pinned down; his massive form over her much smaller one. I remember hearing her crying to him quietly to get off of her, because he was choking her. But he wouldn't. In fact, he kept pushing down on her, as if he thought she was kidding with him.
"I remember hearing the last breath being exhaled by her. It wasn't a soft one; it was forced out of her accidentally.
"When the vision had disappeared, I remember looking down at her dead form, then feeling rage grow in my heart for Rover. He had killed his sister. And he didn't know it. Or so I's believed.
Soul had arrived back quickly when word had been spread. Metilda had been buried outside the city. She had only been two moons old. And I never told Billie or Soul what had really happened, according to my vision.
"But the bad luck didn't stop there.
"Shortly after Metilda died, our No-Collars had given birth to a baby tom. But the queen was scared that the kits, Billie, Soul and I would all hurt her child with our claws and even try to bite him. Sadly, Billie was the first victim; but luckily, at the same time, the only victim.
"She had visited the Healer of the city. She came back to reveal that she would no longer be able to have any more kits.
Not only that, but she had had allof her claws taken out of her paws. She would never be able to fight fairly again.
She told me that Soul and I had to take Rover and Hansel into the sewers for safety. I didn't want to, but we all knew that she was right. None of us wanted to go through what had happened to her on that horrid day.
"We obliged, but I could tell that Rover was horrified and extremely furious. Everyday for two and a half seasons, the burning of his hatred only grew more and more. Soul would practically drown himself in leadership duties, for his mate had to step down. He had been angry too, but he had the courage and immense heart to let go. Hansel had maintained a steady beat with everything, whereas I was focusing on making sure Soul wouldn't overdo anything.
"To this day, I's wish I's had been a lot more cautious of Rover's tactics.
"He was merciless, strong, and lusted for battles everyday. Though I didn't think then, I ponder now if he only did those things to feed the hatred and anger he had for Billie's condition; or for her own self.
"Another day had gone past with little action. But that humid, summer night, I had another vision; Rover had left the sewers and killed our No-Collars' child.
"Instantly, I knew I had to do something; because I wasn't going to let him kill another creature again, cat or No-Collar. I left the sewers with Soul and Hansel, running back to the condo in time to hear screaming. I got ahead of them and managed to take Rover away from the child long enough for Billie to arrive and fight him.
"That was the night Rover received his first scar; by his own mother.
"He was confused, I remember. He couldn't understand why she would protect the No-Collars' child. He believed that the child was the cause of his mother's pain, his mother's loss. And he believed that he had come to make things all better again.
"But he was wrong; he was wrong on so many levels.
"Billie was disappointed in him, shocked that he would try to kill a child. He'd asked her why she cared about the child, to which her replying that she had looked past her pain and had seen life and a path of happiness. She had come to love the child like she had come to love her blood kits and I.
"The No-Collars had come up the stairs after Hansel and Soul had forced Rover out of the condo. I stayed to give my mother comfort, as well as try cleaning up the small scratches that had been dealt on the No-Collar child's naked face. When the parents saw the blood on him and Billie, I knew my dread was speaking the truth;
"They thought that Billie tried severely hurting their child, not Rover.
"A few days later, they took Billie to a shelter. That was the last time I saw her in the city. It was the last time we had a mother-son time to ourselves. I stayed behind to watch over the No-Collar child in her place. I'd known she would've been proud of me for doing so. I left the sewers with a new aspect on everything; both good and bad.
"Not four moons later, I was called back into the same sewers by Soul. By then, Hansel and Rover had both reached a point where they were amongst the toughest cats of the group. My father told me that he needed my help in the sewers during spare time. I happily obliged, taking my position as second group leader alongside him.
"That was my mistake, because I had known then that Rover wanted that position of leader, just like his father.
"He cornered and fought me very unfairly, knowing that my ultimate weakness was my naked fur coat, thus my skin was wide open for deadly claws and fangs. He knew I could either walk away severely hurt; or never walk away ever again.
"And he took the chance.
"I fought him hard and bravely, knowing that he would haunt my dreams and visions if I didn't walk away safely from that fight. It was the day he received more scars, only this time, by me.
"Hansel intervened in time to save me, and I am forever grateful to him. Rover was irate, but he could never fight his brother and come out of it proudly. He loved him too much it seemed. But me, I was another cat that didn't appreciate his views. Soul never found out about that battle. I knew it would crush his heart to see two of his sons fighting so unfairly. And basically right after he had lost his mate and only daughter so early.
"Several seasons pasted, and I grew more and more afraid of the sewers. Everyone had suddenly grown more aggressive, but it was never shown around Soul; they loved and respected him far too much. However, they did show it around Rover, who they started looking at in a different light; or darkness, as I view it. One day, I left the sewers to come home and see that my No-Collars had brought home two kits.
"By this time, I was nine seasons old. When their son was alone with me, he had told me excitedly that the kits were from a family that had to give them up because there were too many cats at the house. He had visited the home and told me had seen a beautiful she-cat that reminded him of a cat he vaguely remembered from when he was little. I knew instantly that it was Billie, and that those kits had come from where she was; she was alive, and she was happy.
"Those kits, Mia and Rayne, told me stories of how an aging she-cat had kept her distance from them and their brother, Dakota. It was saddening to tell them everything that had happened up until the point Billie went to live at that new nesthold. She would've loved the kits, had they not reminded her so much of her own kits. A new strength grew inside me, and I went back to the sewers and told Soul, Hansel, and Rover about our mother.
"Soul didn't believe me at first, but I could see in his eyes that he knew I was telling the truth. Hansel and Rover, both still relatively young at that point, urged their father and I to visit where our mother would be living in. However, I knew that it was almost a lost cause, with the city being so big, and the suburban areas being even bigger! But Rover was persistent, until Soul said yes.
"Unfortunately, he had placed me as leader in replacement of him when he and the toms left. The sewers had grown into a dark pit of lust for death and battles. I had no control over the group; it was no longer the group I had come to love. Every cat I remember, the ones I trained, hunted, fought, and scouted with, had all left earlier in the seasons. They had acted quicker and smarter than I.
"By the time I fled from the sewers, the group of equality cats was gone. In replacement was a rogue group that could only be dictated, not equally shared.
"Visions soon flooded my dreams day in and day out. Soon, it was throughout months, then seasons. Each one was a story that told so much every time they happened. Soon, they became like a giant book, with me turning the pages like a keen reader.
"Soul had never found our mother on time. Three seasons of looking for her and he hadn't successfully achieved his goal. Instead, he found another she-cat, one that he felt connected to. He was afraid to fall in love with another she-cat when he believed his current mate was alive. But a part of my visions showed me my mother, dying slowly because that she-cat had beaten up on her too hard.
"Her new No-Collars were kind, a child that was weeping painfully over Billie. She held her with such caution, I remember thinking that she thought Billie was a china doll rather than an aging she-cat. The mother was upset too, and she took it out on her daughter harshly. The vision showed me how my mother had to be given to a Healer in order to put her from her misery. It pained me to watch not only my mother pass on, but rather the kit—whom I recall her mother calling her 'Riley'—crying for Billie, crying for her warmth, as well as crying for Billie to stay in her heart forever.
"My mother was eighteen seasons old in my vision when she died. But I knew she had died after living with a family she had come to love possibly more than herself.
"Soul never discovered that his mate was dead. The same went for Hansel and Rover.
"Instead, the she-cat my father fell for came into their life. A tortoiseshell she-cat named…Amy.
"She was fierce, cold, but in her eyes—from what my visions showed me over the years—she was a good cat that had lived a life in the shadows. Every aspect of her reminds me to this day of my little sister, Metilda.
"Amy and another cat—a black and white beauty with piercing, tiger gold eyes—grouped up with Soul and my brothers. They travelled to a barn, one that was big and appeared deserted. But a farmer worked there! He allowed them to live in the barn to get rid of plump mice. It was then that Amy decided to create a group in the barn. Rover argued over her that he should be leader, but she easily outmatched him in his harsh words and battle tactics, even without foreclaws. Soul was uncertain, but Amy agreed that he could be second-leader. Oddly enough, the black and white she-cat she hissed at constantly—revealed to be named Katie—would disappear more times than not to a barn closer to their nesthold at the time. Nonetheless, Soul and Amy became the leaders, with Hansel, Rover, and Katie as their top cats.
"Thus, Starpoint Barnyard was created.
"My visions had stopped there for several seasons—four to be exact—but they came back to me again. Around two seasons after Starpoint had been created, Rover had encouraged Amy to become his mate, saying that they would make the best kits in the barn. However, she harshly objected him, saying that he was too cold for her, and instead went to the one cat that he thought she had no feelings for anymore;
"Soul. Our father.
"Rover finally snapped. His anger finally swallowed him up whole.
"Though he showed no one he was hurt and furious, he and Soul disappeared for several days; many of the newer cats wondered if they had gone on a long hunting trip. But Rover came back, saying that a badger had killed Soul.
"I knew it was a lie. It was a lie through and through, but only I—through my visions—could tell.
"Soul had been murdered by Rover, his own son. In cold blood. His body was never found.
I had a gut feeling that Amy knew Rover was up to something, for after Soul was 'killed', Rover would disappear nonchalantly from the barn, though it was so infrequent and random to the others, they didn't know where he would go. And yet, everytime he came back, bodies would be appearing around or in Starpoint's land. Even when he was at the barn for long periods and never left, they continued to show up.
"I knew Rover had killed the bodies. And the times he didn't, he would have cats that served him so loyally in secret kill the cats to confuse the other barn cats and not suspect it was he.
"The final few visions I had been showed told me the worst of his insanity. Around three seasons later, Rover had gotten into another fight with Amy, where it ended up shedding blood and fur. His face was so scarred by her, he couldn't see straight for days on end. He was beyond angry with her again; but this time, he was seeking death again.
"Another vision showed him rubbing his paws on a plump mouse before giving it to Amy. It had been days after their argument-turned-bloodshed fight. She accepted it, though very reluctantly. She was so beautiful, smart, and elegant.
"Sadly, that one time, she didn't know what he had rubbed on her mouse was her death wish.
"Several days later—according to the vision—Amy was in a Healer's nesthold. The No-Collar Healer had pictures up with various large lumps growing inside of Amy's body. He dropped his head in sorrow, before injecting a fluid into Amy's body. I remember watching through my vision eyes as the beautiful, young tortoiseshell took her final breath…and died.
"The true leader of Starpoint Barnyard had been killed. By Rover.
"No longer did my visions hold hope for Rover.
"He was no longer the brother I had come to love when our mother birthed him. He was no longer the friend I had talked to on sullen days. He was no longer Rover.
"He had turned into a monster. A monster that killed Metilda, Soul, Amy, tried killing a No-Collar child, and murdered almost a hundred cats, many of which their bodies still haven't been discovered and never will be.
"Katie had to fight for the leadership that had been sent by a Meadow message from Amy, I believe. Rover lost, Katie won and became the new Starpoint Barnyard leader.
"That was four seasons ago.
"And no one has discovered the real truth at that barn…until now, my dear…"
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When Anubis finished his story, he opened his blue eyes and looked at Briarlight. The warrior didn't look back; her gaze was stuck at the last blank sheet of paper in the book. The pages before were all scribbled and written on by Anubis, his ability to write like No-Collars showed everything he remembered from when he was a kit.
It was breathtaking.
It was terrifying all the same.
Briarlight finally took her eyes away from the empty page and looked at the naked old tom. His age was profound now, every wrinkle seemed to have doubled, his legs scrawny and vulnerable to dangerous weather conditions if outdoorss His long, thin tail wrapped comfortably around his paws, as if trying to create some friction warmth for his form.
Her eyes met his for long heartbeats. She could see the desperation of her help, the exhaustion of holding in so much secrets for so long. She could see the fear that emitted from his features; fear that she would not believe him.
But it was hard to believe. Billie was the innocent starter of all this. The she-cat had bore Rover and Hansel; even more bizarre, she had been Soul's mate, his first mate at that. Amy kept so much from her, it nearly blew the warrior she-cat right off her paws.
Shaking her head, she gave Anubis a reassuring smile. "I believe you, Anubis. And…I thank you so much. For if I didn't know what were the cause of all this mayhem, none of it would be confirmed once I get back to the barn."
"But how will you get back, Briarlight?" Mia asked, her eyes wide and confused. "It's a long way's back to the barn. And even if you got there, won't it be too late?"
Briarlight sighed, realizing that the tabby had a good point. She tilted her head up and looked at the window above them. The same one that she fell through, she could see the dark sky, moonless and eerily empty, as if the moon was scared to come out and show itself.
'Like it, too, knows of what's gonna happen tonight, and it is the only one who can hide.'
Anubis placed his naked tail on her shoulder softly, causing her to look back at him. "There is one other thing I's must tell ya before ya go off on ya own, Lady Briarlight…"
There you have it! It was a lot to write and edit out, but I hope you all enjoyed it.
Yes, that is how the story of EVERYTHING came to be in the barns. Scary, cold, and happiness gone completely wrong. I hope my fair audience now understands how things fell into place as they are now in the barns.
Interesting Fact Time!
I totally didn't know this! And I don't think most of you knew this either! Without a specific kind of amino acid called Taurine, cats would go blind! Taurine is created internally by most animals, however cats especially need this in their diets to survive. In humans, Taurine is found in large amounts in the large intestines and counts for about 0.01% of the total body weight. Taurine is also found in several common energy drinks, such as Red Bull. This doesn't mean you should give it to your pets! Though for some reason, many cases have been found that cats can't synthesize the compound and thus need it in their diets. Without Taurine—as mentioned—a cat's body starts to disintegrate of heath, specifically in a cat's retina, further causing eye problems and (eventually) irreversible blindness. This is commonly called CRD—central retinal degeneration—though cats can also be conditioned with feline dilated cardiomyopathy which, unlike CRD, is actually reversible with the help of supplementation. Because cats are required Taurine to live, the AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) and any dry/wet food companies must have a minimum of 0.1% in dry food and 0.2% in wet food of Taurine, and also be mentioned in the labels. Many others have discovered that the lack of Taurine in a cat's body causes them to lose hair as well as tooth decay.
Overall, many street cats that are blind are that way because they don't have enough Taurine in their systems to see. It may not seem like an important acid or vitamin of sort, but it is.
The next time you go to any place for getting your pets food, check out the ingredients and see if it has Taurine!
Reviews are praised upon! Until next time~