Oriolepaw saw the water every night now. The gray cat warned her away time and time again, waking her when he could, but he couldn't help when she was awake.
He tried, she knew. She saw him more often, a faint gray form standing beside her. She still didn't know his name. She hadn't asked. Somehow that wasn't as important as just knowing he was there, trying to help, even if he couldn't.
She asked him about the water every time she could, but he never had an answer. He had told her, after she had asked too many times, that the pond was located in Starclan. It was used to create prophecies, when necessary. But he didn't know how, or why, she was able to visit it. He said he was trying to figure it out, asking around, but so far nothing had come up. She wondered if he was lying, and then decided it didn't matter. Faux company was better than no company.
She almost wished she still woke up clueless, with the pond a hidden thought, but it was too late for that. It'd been too late the first time she saw the water when she was awake.
Fawntail was disappointed in her. Her mentor tried not to show it, kept trying to work with her, but.. She didn't get angry. Oriolepaw was grateful for that. Fawntail knew she was making an effort.
Still, the murmur of Fawntail talking to Batstar and telling him she was failing didn't feel very good. Oriolepaw heard assessment from the whispers drifting from the corner and sighed.
The whispers fell silent and Fawntail made her way over to where Oriolepaw was waiting. "Go catch three pieces of prey and bring them back," she mewed. Oriolepaw nodded, and Fawntail licked her head. "You can do it, Oriolepaw. I know you can."
Oriolepaw hoped she was right.
"How much longer do you think she'll need?" Marigoldpaw heard Darkpaw mutter to her sister. Lightpaw shushed her.
"Larkheart said as long as she needed, remember?"
"Yeah, but at this rate she'll never be a warrior, like us," Darkpaw mewed. Her voice was smug. Marigoldpaw wanted to claw the look on her face off, nevermind that she couldn't even see it. Instead, she just dug her claws into her nest and waited for them to leave. But Darkpaw didn't shut up. She mewed, "Do you think she's even going to come to our ceremony?" in a voice dripping with self-righteous annoyance.
"Darkpaw," Lightpaw mewed. Her tone was level, holding back a hint of anger. "I love you, but you need to Shut. Up."
There was a pause, and then a tiny "Sorry," from Darkpaw.
Lightpaw sighed. Thank you, Marigoldpaw wanted to say. She didn't. Lightpaw mewed, "Just.. go up top, okay? I'll be there in a little bit." Marigoldpaw heard pawsteps move away, and a moment later more towards her.
"Hey," Lightpaw mewed. She sat down. Marigoldpaw looked up. Lightpaw looked a little nervous. "I know that all you want to do right now is lay there, but.. It would mean a lot to me if you came to the ceremony. Will you?"
Lightpaw was right. She did just want to lay in her nest and not move for the rest of the day. But.. "Okay," she sighed. She pushed herself to her paws, immediately feeling like she wanted to lay back down, and followed the smiling Lightpaw out of the den and up to the plateau.
Darkpaw turned back around from where she was watching for them. Brightstar dipped her head at Lightpaw and glanced only a moment at Marigoldpaw from her perch.
"My dear Clan," Brightstar mewed as Lightpaw took her place by Darkpaw. "It's time to welcome two new warriors into our fold. They've worked hard to learn all our Clan has to teach them, and it's time to give them their names." She looked down at the two apprentices, and then turned her whole body. Past her, Marigoldpaw saw The Ascent, a steep, scalable rock a fair few tail-lengths from the camp.. "Ascend! Greet Starclan as warriors!" Brightstar mewed. Lightpaw and Darkpaw immediately ran down the slope of the camp, eating up the distance between them and The Ascent.
Darkpaw jumped immediately, landing on a tiny ledge that Marigoldpaw couldn't make out from the distance. Lightpaw followed her up, and soon both sisters were making their way up the rock, demonstrating the abilities that only Cliffclan had.
Lightpaw reached the top first. She stood still for a moment to catch her breath and let Darkpaw join her, and then a caterwaul rang out. "For Hawthornpelt!"
Marigoldpaw's breath hitched. A small murmur spread through the group of Cliffclan cats, but it didn't sound disapproving.
Brightstar stretched up on her toes, projecting her voice so that Lightpaw and Darkpaw could hear her clearly. "Know your names!" she cried. "Darkstorm! Lightcloud!"
"Darkstorm! Lightcloud!" the assembled cats roared together. Marigoldpaw tried to be the loudest, especially on Lightcloud's name, hoping her friend would hear her and know how grateful and glad she was for her.
The two new warriors scrambled down from the Ascent and bounded up the slope, back onto the plateau. "Who's who?" Darkstorm joked to Russetfoot, her mother.
"Isn't it obvious, Lightcloud?" her mother joked back.
Marigoldpaw turned away from that conversation, focusing in on the real Lightcloud, who was accepting a congratulations from her father, Grayface. But it wasn't Marigoldpaw who got to her next. It was Poppyface.
"Thank you," Poppyface mewed. Her voice was sad. "I think he really liked that."
Lightcloud looked a little embarrassed. "It just.. Seemed like the right thing to do," she mewed. She glanced at Marigoldpaw. The movement alerted Poppyface to her presence. For a moment they looked at each other and Marigoldpaw dared to hope that-
Poppyface looked away and dipped her head to Lightcloud before leaving. Marigoldpaw watched her go, her stomach dropping. Beside her, Lightcloud mewed something that she didn't hear.
"Thank you," she heard herself say. "But I'm going to go now."
"Marigoldpaw?" Lightcloud mewed. She sounded far away and flat, though some part of Marigoldpaw knew her friend was worried. She took a step back, the feeling of the rock under her paws foreign and strange.
And then everything rushed back in at once and Marigoldpaw was running as fast as she could. She launched herself off of the slope that led out of the camp, hitting it without noticing the jarring pain in her paws and kept going, heedless of the shouts she could vaguely hear behind her.
She didn't know where she was going, only that she didn't want to stop. The wind rushing through Cliffclan's territory drowned out every other noise and sometimes, sometimes she could almost hear, fleeting and faint and impossible, Marigoldpaw, Marigoldpaw, driving through the wind, trying to reach her.
She didn't slow down to let it catch up. She ran until she left smears of blood where her paws touched the ground, until she was dizzy and couldn't breath anymore, but it was only when her paws went out from under her and she landed, hard, on her side that she stopped running.
She didn't bother trying to get back up, just concentrated on gulping air back into her lungs until her heart's pounding had lessened so she no longer felt it slamming in her chest.
When her breathing was even and her legs were shaking only slightly and she felt more in control of herself, she realized she had no idea where she was. Which direction had she run in from the camp? She couldn't quite remember, and everything around her looked unfamiliar.
She stood up slowly, feeling the sting of pain in her paw pads. Good, she thought, bitterness tinging the words. That's what I get. Slowly she began walking, not back the way she'd came but deeper into wherever she was. Maybe she'd ended up in the Outlands, the area beyond the Clan's territories. It didn't matter. Wherever she was, she didn't want to go back. Not yet.
The area Marigoldpaw had found herself in was much flatter than that of Cliffclan's territory. There was barely any rock formations taller than a few tail lengths, and they were few and far in between.
But the flatness of the land meant everything around her was visible, including something she could only just see in the distance. It looked like a smudge of black on the horizon but as she walked towards it, the shape gradually became clearer. It was a cat, she realized. They didn't move as she walked towards it, and for a moment she feared they were dead.
But that wasn't right. The cat was standing up, stock still. Even as Marigoldpaw moved closer they didn't move. Up close it was easy to them breathing, and- Wait. She knew this cat. She'd seen her at the Gathering, the split-faced tortoiseshell halfblood from Caveclan. Was that where she was, then? Caveclan territory?
"Hello?" she mewed. She wished she could remember the cats name. "Um, are you alright?"
The cat didn't move. Her eyes were closed and she swayed slightly, as if she'd been standing for too long. Marigoldpaw wondered if this was a trick. Was it? But something told her it wasn't. Somehow she just knew. She lifted a paw and gently prodded the Caveclan cat. "Um.. Wake up?" she tried, not really expecting it to work.
She reeled back in surprise when it did work. The cat jerked away, eyes blinking rapidly. She fell back on her haunches, obviously distressed. "No," she mewed, heartbreak in her tone. "Not again, I- Who are you? Where am I?" She looked around, a clear expression of confusion on her face.
"Um.. I'm Marigoldpaw," mewed the cat in question, feeling just as confused. "I don't know where we are. I think maybe Caveclan."
"How do you not know?" the Caveclan cat asked, but she stood up on shaking paws and turned in a circle. "Yes, this is Caveclan.. But you're not." She didn't sound accusatory, just tired.
"I.. I kind of.. Wandered here by accident, I guess," Marigoldpaw mewed, feeling a little ashamed of her frenzied run through the territories. "Who are you? I've seen you at a Gathering before."
"Oriolepaw," the Caveclan cat mewed. "Marigoldpaw.. Thank you. I, um.. Thank you. I don't know how you did that, but.." She looked troubled as she studied Marigoldpaw.
"You were just standing there.. Is something wrong?" Marigoldpaw asked. Oriolepaw looked so sad and tired.. She sympathized.
Oriolepaw laughed. It was a hollow sound, void of any true mirth. "Yes. I guess so. What would you say if I told you that I see the future?"
"I..I'd say, um," Marigoldpaw mewed, uncertainly. The drained look Oriolepaw had prompted her to say, "I guess.. I'm sorry. That doesn't sound like it's very fun."
"No. It isn't," Oriolepaw mewed. "I'd better get back. I haven't caught anything and.. I'm supposed to. The border is over there, by the way. It looks like you ended up just past it."
"Thank you," Marigoldpaw mewed. "I hope you feel better soon." Oriolepaw offered a small, tired smile at that. She waited until Marigoldpaw was safe back over the border and heading back before she, too, left.
And this time, as Marigoldpaw walked back to the camp, the wind whispered Oriolepaw. It was more unnerving, somehow, than hearing her own name. Oriolepaw. She picked up the pace, ignoring the way her paws throbbed, and tried not to listen.
Note: A reviewer asked a question I can't privately respond to! Oriolepaw is both Darkgaze and Astertail's child by birth. Astertail is trans and was able to sire her just as a cis tom would.
