Sorry for the late update, here's a longer chapter in repayment! ^^ Just over 4k words, I believe. I will defend my late update, though, by saying it was actually semi-on purpose. Since my weekend activities seem to be dying down in frequency, I was thinking I'd try to update on the weekends instead. Sound good?

Also, happy Easter to those of you who celebrate! :D And if you get a Spring Break or other vacation, hope you're enjoying that! Mine's actually not until next week, unfortunately, but as I'll hopefully not be too busy then I'm hoping to get some quality writing and art done.

Anyway, on to the review replies~

Night: You changed your username! I guess I'll call you Night from now on, as it's a shortened version of your new username? Haha, yeah, Ivy-Ravenkit is great. XD

QLKwriter: I agree, munchkins are super cute! When I was planning this story I actually went through my old Bella Sara cards for some inspiration, though I also stole a few human names and I believe Shaq is from Legend of Zelda.

SoWW: Yep, Royce is pretty hilarious, he's fun to write about. :) Though I agree, I just can't decide on my own favorite, though I'll have to pick by the time I get to my AOTD!

Shadow: Shadow like Asteria? ;D Haha, she gets a lot of characterization in this chapter, hope you'll enjoy that!

Leafy: I think I just honestly wanted a character named Bug and somehow he got to be mute. XD I wonder what this story would be like if it was from his point of view? And I actually did know about munchkins being normal, but I'm afraid Royce is being a tad bit racist. I have a more major munchkin character planned to appear in a few chapters, and this'll get developed more. But I'm glad you pointed that out! ^^

Leopardstar: Yeah, Seneca's pretty cool. I'm afraid she won't appear again for a little while, though, sorry about that. ^^; I do have another munchkin character planned for a larger role, though, so I hope that'll make up for it!

Willow: A different munchkin cat, actually, but yeah, I did draw a munchkin a little while ago! ^^ I'm surprised you remember that!

Cosmicjade: Munchkins are super adorable, agreed! XD I wish I could meet one in real life, but I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon, unfortunately.

Rowankit spared a glance at me as I caught up with him and Asteria, laughing at how out of breath I was. After treading on his tail to get back at him, I drew level with his shoulders and hissed in his ear, "Know where we're going yet?" I glanced over my shoulder at the retreating forms of the run-down Twolegplace, Thalia's words resurfacing in my mind. I'll be back at nightfall to pick you up.

Rowankit shook his head. "Nope," he whispered.

My eyes drawn forward again by the grumble of my belly, I wondered aloud, "Where would she find enough prey for both of us?"

He shrugged. "Dunno."

"I mean, prey's hard enough to come by. Why's she feeding us in the first place? Why didn't she let us go off with Royce, it sounds like he's got plenty of food!"

"Yeah."

I stared at him shrewdly, then headbutted him so hard he almost tripped over his own paws. "When are you going to quit giving me one-word answers?"

"Never," Rowankit laughed, regaining his balance.

Growling playfully, I crouched, stalking along behind him, ready to pounce. Rowankit, his eyes glimmering over his shoulder, waved his tail jauntily in the air, taunting me with a smirk. Watching his gaze, I realized he was glancing back at me every time I moved, ready for my attack. I'd have to be sneaky about this one.

Asteria glared over her shoulder at us and I froze. Rowankit blinked, looked around at our leader, and shrank away like me at her sparking eyes. "This is no place for kit-play," she growled. "Where I'm taking you, it's safe and there's food if you know how to get it. But the path there is dangerous. Stay close. Nose down, eyes up. No sudden movements and no talking."

I blinked, confused. Where was she taking us? Would Thalia be mad?

Rowankit seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "Um, we kind of have to be back at the Enclave by sundown," he said uncertainly.

Asteria nodded impatiently. "Yeah, yeah, you'll be back in time. That is, if you keep moving now. You're wasting time and it seems you've forgotten what I just said. Shush."

I clamped my jaws together, but as soon as I couldn't distract myself with talking, boredom rushed in on me like a strong wind. After a few moments, I'd almost keeled over sideways from the utter boredom of just walking. A couple of moons ago I'd be completely preoccupied with making sure I didn't trip (because if I did Rowankit would laugh for sure), but I'd mastered walking ages ago. But then I realized that, if I couldn't talk to Rowankit, I could entertain myself by staring around at our surroundings. Maybe I could even find my way back to wherever Asteria was taking us on my own.

We padded through a dingy alleyway, full of metal cans and black bags smelling like crowfood. I hopped between patches of dry ground to avoid the worst of the filth, imagining all the damp ground was empty air and if I touched it I'd fall like I'd done from the Twoleg den. I wondered if the raven would catch me again. Then I decided that the raven wouldn't be able to stand the stench: a blend of smoke and Monsters.

As the dampness ended and I was able to walk normally again, I stared ahead glumly at the alleyway. It was exactly like every other alley I'd been through. Not interesting at all. The hopping game had been fun, but I couldn't very well play it when the ground was completely dry. Maybe this wouldn't be so much fun after all.

I sped up, walking alongside Asteria. We aren't too different in size, I thought, stretching my neck and lifting my tail. My ears were as tall as her back. Have I grown? I thought excitedly.

"What?" Asteria snapped, breaking through my thoughts.

"Oh!" I suddenly realized I'd forgotten my question. Tracing back through my thoughts, I tried to find it again. "Erm… how much longer until we get there?"

Asteria rolled her eyes. "Kits," she muttered. "They're all the same." I paused, unsure of whether to take that as a compliment or insult, but before I could decide she raised her voice and meowed, "Not far. We're lucky to be so close to the edge of the city."

"City?"

"The thing we're walking through right now."

"Oh, you mean a Twolegplace?"

Again, she rolled her eyes. "You and your Clan lingo," she muttered. "It's so confusing. Birds have two legs, why don't you call them Twolegs too?"

"Clan?"

Asteria stared at me in disbelief. "You can't be serious. You have Clan names, you speak Clan, and you don't know what the Clans are?" She snorted and muttered something I couldn't quite catch, though I assumed it wasn't a compliment this time. "What's going on with you?"

"Um…" I glanced over my shoulder at Rowankit and he trotted up to pad alongside me. I stared at him, wordlessly expressing my confusion. What's she asking me? What should I say?

"We… our parents are from the Clans, we think," Rowankit meowed uncertainly.

"You think?"

"We were left as kits by a strange tom who claimed not to be our father. He said our mother sent him to drop us off with a caretaker who would raise us, said she couldn't keep us," I meowed, looking back up at Asteria. "He gave our names but nothing else."

"And the Clan-speak?"

I shrugged, grimacing helplessly. "It's what Thalia and Toby taught us, I guess."

"I suppose they talk like that because they expect you to rejoin the Clans when you're old enough," Asteria muttered. I glanced at Rowankit, wondering if she seemed so reclusive because she talked to herself so much. Did she do that around all cats or just kits?

"Um, I don't know about that," I said. "Rowankit and I were kind of going to stay here as long as we can, or at least until we get a lead on our parents. Right?" I glanced at him for confirmation and he nodded energetically.

"Right!"

Asteria fixed us with a calculating stare. "Well, if you two are going to survive here long-term you'll need to know how to pass yourselves off as loners. You met Pixie back in the Enclave?" I nodded. "She's not alone. Many of us have personal scores to settle with Clan cats. It's highly likely they'd take it out on you two, even if you're just kits. You won't be kits for long, you know."

My eyebrows drew together, automatically protective. What right did she have to attack me like that? "Why?" I asked, my fur growing slowly warmer. "I like who I am! I don't want to become a real loner, I want to find my parents!"

"Because some of these cats will be willing to slit your throat or… well," Asteria looked us over, hesitating. "How old are you?"

"Two moons," I said proudly, drawing myself up to my full height.

"Yeah, okay. Let's leave it at this, then; some of these cats fell in love with Clan she-cats, but when the she-cats gave birth they insisted on keeping all the kits for themselves. The toms feel cheated out of their kits and might feel the need to take some kits from the Clans as repayment. When you get older, they could force you to have their kits and steal them to get their revenge."

I almost stumbled over a loose stone, staring up at Asteria with my mouth open. "You… you mean…" I tried to grasp at my vocabulary, almost stuttering. "You mean… toms can force—"

"You'll learn about it later," Asteria said swiftly, her eyes fixed ahead as she navigated past a spilled metal can, holding her breath as she leaped over the Twoleg crowfood. "I'm not the one to tell you. Ask Thalia, maybe."

She paused for a heartbeat, then stared back at Rowankit and me as we struggled to make it past the spilled garbage. "Anyway," she said briskly, "since you may need to pretend to be loners at some point, I'm going to teach you some loner vocabulary."

As soon as we caught up with her, Asteria set off again, her eyes fixed on the Thunderpath that appeared as we turned a corner and emerged onto a side-path. "This is a street," she meowed, "also called a road." She turned her usual fiery gaze upon us. "Repeat!"

"Street. Road," Rowankit and I chanted. The words felt strange on my tongue, like I was saying my name backwards. Tiknevar. Very strange.

"These are skyscrapers."

"Skyscrapers."

"That's a car."

I flinched away as a Monster roared past and my echo was a little late.

"Car."

"C… car."

"This is a Human."

"Human."

Asteria looked at us approvingly, the first expression of hers I'd yet seen without a scowl or grimace. Maybe Royce was right about her having a sweeter side. "You two are fast learners."

Not really, I thought. We just repeated what you said. Doesn't take a genius to do that.

"Your names are another big giveaway," she continued, looking at us thoughtfully. "You could just drop the second half of your name, the part that changes, and keep the first part."

My first part changed, I thought, suddenly proud I'd been able to disprove her theory.

"So you'd introduce yourself as Raven and Rowan. Yes, that would work." She smiled to herself, a brief glimmer of self-satisfaction, before her expression fell into one of disinterest once more.

"This is a bridge," she said a moment later.

"Bridge," Rowankit and I echoed automatically.

As we stepped off the bridge, which had stretched two whole Twoleg d—or, rather, Human dens—wide, I gasped. "What's that?"

Asteria stared at me incredulously. In the back of my mind I realized it was almost the same expression she'd used when she found out we didn't know what a Clan was. "Don't tell me you've never seen grass before!"

"Grass," Rowankit repeated rather unhelpfully.

"Stop that," Asteria ordered, shooting him a glare. "We're out of the city. Everything out here is common knowledge to all cats. Or at least it should be," she added with a dark growl.

"Well then how about you show us around instead of complaining?" I shot back, my temper rising.

Asteria rolled her eyes. "Fine. If you insist." She padded forward, crouching, her ears pricked to pick up the slightest sound. When she stood like that, I was just about as tall as her, and I straightened, stretching my neck, trying to crest the top of her head. I'd met a cat who was about ten moons old before and she was right around their size, although she looked much older than him.

"This is called the Hunting Stance," Asteria explained. "Thalia, did you say? She'd probably call it a Hunter's Crouch." She shrugged. "Same thing. You catch prey with it."

I looked at Rowankit quizzically. He stared right back, one eyebrow raised. "Catch prey?" he asked.

Asteria sighed. "Where do you normally get your food? I'm guessing Thalia doesn't catch it for you?"

"From the metal cans beside our den," I supplied.

Asteria wrinkled her nose. "Gross." She swept her tail around, indicating the great expanse of hills. "This is where real food comes from."

I glanced around, horrified. "We're going to eat grass?"

Asteria whapped me on the back of my head with her tail. "Don't be dumb," she scolded. "Cats don't eat grass."

"I've seen kittypets do it before," I countered.

"Kittypets are dumb," Asteria shrugged. "They yak it back up again when they're safely closeted inside their Human's den."

I wrinkled my nose. Rowankit had thrown up once after eating some crowfood on a dare. It had been gross.

"So what will we eat, if not grass?" I asked uncertainly. There didn't seem to be much else besides the grass out here.

"Birds, probably," Asteria said, "maybe a mouse or rat, though those tend to taste like dirt." As I began wrinkling my nose again, she added, "But, trust me, even a rat tastes better than crowfood."

"What does it taste like?" I asked

Asteria crouched again, scanning the hillside. "Wait here," she instructed. "I'll be right back with something to eat. Then you can see for yourself, yeah?" She darted away, vanishing between waving stalks of grass.

I waited two heartbeats after she left before grinning mischievously and sidling up to Rowankit. "Whoooooo's up for an adventure?" I asked, prodding his ribcage with a paw.

To my surprise, instead of leaping into the air in excitement, he scowled. "Knock it off," he growled. "Asteria told us not to go anywhere."

"So?" I challenged, lowering my eyebrows. "It's never stopped you before."

Rowankit turned away resolutely. "So what? There could be dogs out there."

"Well how will we know until we see for ourselves?" Rowankit didn't answer, staring out over the hill in the direction Asteria left. I circled around him, beginning to grow confused. If he'd been messing around he'd have quit by now. Was he serious? But no, he couldn't be. He'd always loved adventures, dragging me along on his exploration trips and midnight dares, and I'd followed, even while endlessly complaining. We both knew I'd never really meant it. Did he really mean it this time?

"But… if there are dogs out there, we can just come back, easy peasy. I bet they'll never see us in this grass." I gestured around with my tail. "We'd be completely hidden anywhere we go!" I waggled my eyebrows excitedly.

Rowankit wasn't impressed. "No," he replied stoutly. "No exploring."

I groaned. "But Rowankit!"

"No buts! We aren't exploring!"

I stuck out my tongue at him. "Fine. Then I'm going by myself." Turning, I made as though to bound away. Surely he'd come with me now, if only to protect me from his imagined dangers. After all, only yesterday he'd used almost the same tactics to get me to climb the den with him. But instead of following, he tackled me.

My chin hit the ground with a thump and I huffed out a breath, coughing as Rowankit's full weight hit me like one of Thalia's disapproving glares. "Don't you dare run off by yourself!" Rowankit growled in my ear. "I won't let you!"

I rolled over, pushing him off. "You won't let me?" I stared at him incredulously. "Who are you to order me around?"

"I'm your brother." He stepped on top of me again, pressing me into the ground as I tried to get up. "I'm not gonna let you get hurt again."

Growling under my breath, I realized I wasn't strong enough to overcome his body weight. I glared up at him. Was this obnoxious tom really my brother? "I liked you better before you changed," I hissed. "Maybe I should start going by Ivykit again, maybe that'll bring Rowankit back."

"I'm right h—"

"No." I finally succeeded in pushing him off. "I don't know who you are, but you're not my brother. I think… I think I'm going to call you Thaliakit from now on."

I was about to stalk off dramatically into the grass when I heard pawsteps and the rustling of grass. Glancing around, I saw Asteria's undersized figure emerging from the tendrils of grass, something huge and brown dangling from her jaws. "Oh, good, you're still here," she meowed after setting the thing down. "I half expected you to run off on some sort of adventure."

I felt Rowankit's eyes on me but I ignored him, staring instead at the furry bundle lying at Asteria's paws. It smelled delicious. "What's this?" I asked, swiping a paw at a fluffy bob hanging off one end.

"A rabbit."

"What's a rabbit?"

Asteria shot me a vaguely annoyed glare. "This," she said, pointing a paw at the lump of brown fur. "Like I just told you."

"Is it food?" Rowankit asked, cautiously approaching the rabbit.

Asteria rolled her eyes. "No," she said sarcastically, "I brought you here to get food and I bring you a rabbit, but it's not food. Of course it's food!"

I padded closer, sniffing it. It certainly smelled good—much more appealing than anything I'd ever gotten from our cans. Well, Asteria wouldn't give us something poisoned or anything, would she? Shaq didn't. Maybe I could trust her, too. Shrugging inwardly, I sank my teeth into the rabbit's haunches.

"Ravenkit!" Rowankit cannoned into me, knocking me to the ground, my bite flying out of my mouth. "It could be poisonous," he hissed, shooting a swift glance at Asteria.

As I glared at him, Asteria snorted. "Overcaution. Could be good, I suppose, when one lives in the city. But there are times when it just gets to be too much." She ripped off a mouthful of fur, chewing quickly and swallowing. "There. Happy? I wouldn't poison myself, now would I? I'd have to be pretty dumb to do that."

Rowankit hesitated a heartbeat, then backed off. I scorched his whiskers off with a glare and hissed, "Thanks a lot, Thaliakit," before settling down beside the rabbit again, tearing into it with voracious hunger. I was almost too angry to comprehend the taste—one of savory, salty meat, not too dense and conspicuously lacking the stench of Monsters. After a moment, Rowankit crouched beside me.

"Sorry," he muttered.

I didn't reply, turning away from him and continuing to chomp on my portion of rabbit. My bitterness seemed to be wearing off on the rabbit; it had become slightly sour closer to the center, tasting more of green than red. I definitely preferred the red.

"I don't want you hurt," Rowankit continued earnestly.

Still, I didn't speak. I thought I'd gotten a bone and busied myself with trying to work it out of the meat with my tongue.

"Ravenkit, quit being so salty! I'm trying my hardest to keep you safe!"

Spitting out my bone, I whipped around to face him. "I can look after myself too!" I hissed. "You don't have to do everything for me!"

Rowankit looked at his paws. "But if I can stop it…" he trailed off miserably.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Asteria watching us, pale blue eyes glinting. "Arguments speak truth better than normal conversations," she murmured. "Learn from each fight and you'll mature faster, growing closer to one another."

Smirking, I turned back to Rowankit. "See—?" I began, but Asteria cut me off.

"You too, Ravenkit."

I turned back to her, staring into her eyes. For a moment, I realized Wasco's words were reflected in Asteria's voice. You two stick together. Siblings are your closest ally in this world. Did I need to learn from Rowankit too, even if he was acting like Thalia?

Before I could come to a conclusion, I was distracted by a black shape over her shoulder. Blinking, I realized it was my raven. It had followed me here.

But apparently it didn't want to stick around. Wheeling in a tight curve, it dived off down the hill. My eyes followed it down, and after a moment I noticed a single black feather detaching from its body. It blew away in a strong gust of wind, following the undulations of the grass. The feather hanging from my ear was swept forward, pointing toward the single fluttering feather.

I leaped to my paws and started after the raven. Oddly enough, something told me I needed to follow it.

"Ravenkit!" Rowankit predictably called behind me. "Stop! You'll get lost!"

I paused, about to plunge into the tall grass. Part of me wanted to go ahead and disappear just to prove to Rowankit that he couldn't, in fact, control me, but the other half hesitated, remembering our argument and Asteria's words of advice.

"Come with me then!" I grinned, wheeling around (not quite as gracefully as the raven, but close enough) and pounding away into the grass.

The tall stalks were beginning to brown at the tips, dried out from the late Greenleaf sun. They closed around me, slapping against my face as I ran, but I was too distracted to wince at the scratches appearing on my face and paws. I gazed upward, trying to find the raven through the tangle of grass crisscrossing overhead, brushing the tips of my ears.

Rustling grass and thumping pawsteps told me Rowankit followed close behind. I grinned—maybe today we could have an adventure after all. I still remembered our first one, climbing the metal cans so we wouldn't have to rely on Thalia to get our food for us. Rowankit eventually made it to the top by climbing onto the heap of boxes beside it. Though I'd insisted he'd cheated, that early victory had inspired him to lead several more adventures. Then we climbed that den and he lost his nerve.

Well then, I thought determinedly, I guess I'll have to be the leader now. I grinned as I gazed around at the now-clear world. My eyes had changed color just in time, it seemed.

I glanced up, scouring the blue sky for any sign of the raven. After a moment I spotted it circling overhead like a Monster with a broken paw.

All of a sudden, I burst out of the grass onto a straight stretch of ground. Unlike the rest of the field, it had a well-cared-for feel, almost like a Twoleg regularly came to cut the grass shorter. A few tail-lengths away, raised above the normal ground level on a layer of pebbles and dust, lay two long metal bars, connected to each other by planks of wood, stretching endlessly off into the distance.

"What's this?" I asked, padding toward the rods.

Rowankit meowed, "It looks—"

"Dangerous. Yeah, yeah," I replied, rolling my eyes. Predictable Rowankit. Putting my paws up on the raised platform, I gazed along the path. I couldn't see where it ended, though it appeared completely straight.

"Um, Ravenkit? Could you come back here a moment?"

"What, is the metal going to attack me?" I asked sarcastically. "The raven led me here. I want to look around." I shot him a look over my shoulder. "Have you forgotten it saved my life?"

Rowankit bit his lip. Clearly, he didn't want another fight. Neither did I, but the prospect of adventure called to me. This could be my last chance to explore somewhere new for moons, what with Rowankit's new attitude combined with Thalia's occasional overprotectiveness. Rowankit wasn't going to take this away from me.

"It's just… it sounds like there's a Monst—I mean, a car coming."

Oh right, the new words. I hadn't been using them. Whoops.

I angled my ears to better listen. To my surprise, after a heartbeat of silence, I also heard the faint rumble. But it was strange, not exactly like a… a car, but instead almost pulsing, like blood.

A loud, high-pitched note sounded. Instinct took over and I fell backward, away from the metal bars, scrambling back to stand beside my brother at the edge of the tall grass. Maybe this time he was right; that blast sounded hostile.

In the distance, a grayish smudge appeared. It gradually grew larger, elongating like a rat's tail, constantly coming closer and closer, shooting along the tracks faster than the wind could blow.

Rowankit flinched as it reached us, buffeting our fur in every direction at once, but I couldn't bring myself to look away. It was absolutely terrifying, but at the same time oddly awe-inspiring. How could it move so fast? And how could it still be passing us? How long was this thing?

On and on it went, separated into smaller boxes, all somehow connected to each other. I glanced toward its rear, wondering how much longer it would be before it ended, and saw that one of the strange boxes was open. It sped toward us and I reared up on my hind legs, thankful for their length, aching to see inside.

It slipped past so fast, if I'd blinked at the wrong moment I would've missed it. In the fleeting glance I caught of the interior, I saw only darkness. Darkness and a pair of glittering, dark brown eyes.

Rowankit and I sat silently beside the track for a long time after. As the sun set, Asteria appeared out of the grass.

"There you are," she muttered sourly. "I've been combing the field for you two for ages." She glanced at the metal rods. "You saw the train, eh? Well I sure hope it satisfied your thirst for adventure, because you won't get to see anything else today. You said you have to be back by sundown?"

Rowankit nodded. "Thalia's picking us up back at the Enclave."

Asteria beckoned with her tail. "Come on, then. It's time to get going."

She led the way back into the grassy field. Rowankit and I padded after her, but before I vanished amongst the browning fronds, I glanced over my shoulder at the metal path.

"Train," I whispered.

I'm actually starting to get a little annoyed with the raven, so I wouldn't be surprised if you thought the same. Fortunately, though, it's going to disappear for a couple chapters at least. I just felt like it should be emphasized a little, as it will be a somewhat constant thing throughout and will be important later.

AOTD: As of right now I'm thinking I like Wasco the best. I have no idea why, but he's fluffy and adorable and I just want to squeeze him! *hugs Wasco* Also his name makes me think he's a wolf pup or something.

QOTD: What do you think of trains? Love them? Hate them? Unsure?

Anywho, thanks a million for reading! I'll see you again next week! :D