An on-time update? What?
I'm super excited to be able to get this chapter to you on time, for once! :D It's fairly long, too, so I hope you enjoy that!
I'm afraid I need to warn you to not get used to it, though. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) I won't be able to work on TF much during the next three weeks due to an intensive writing camp I'm attending. I went to the two-week session last year and didn't have much time to write personal things on top of all the assignments and activities we did. On the upside, though, it means I might be able to improve in my writing quality, and therefore start giving you all much better chapters to read. I'll try to get out a chapter during that time, but no promises, I'm afraid! If you're a guest and don't have automatic chapter update emails, I'd recommend checking in once or twice throughout the next few weeks just in case.
Alright, now on to review replies!
Shadow: Yeah, Ravenpaw's inability to chill has gotten her almost killed... what, three times by now? Though it can be debated whether or not all of those times were due to her needing to chill or not. I'm sorry if I'm not answering all of your review, I think part of it got cut out? ;-;
riskybanana: Muahahaha! xD - [evil-ish grin] It's okay, though, there's an on-time update! You get to find out what happened to her! Oh wow, that's pretty cool! ^^ I didn't steal your name, I promise! Though Orion is a cool name, and if I'd known it was yours I might have taken it anyway... I'm sorry if I'm not answering all of your review, I think part of it got cut out? ;-;
babymario292: First off, thank you so much for reading my story! -hugs- It really means a lot! Second off, for your review: Ravenpaw and Rowanpaw will eventually make it back to the Clans, where they'll receive their warrior names, so you don't need to worry about them remaining apprentices forever. It wouldn't be much of a Warriors Fanfiction if they didn't have any contact with the Clans, now, would it? xD
Eradrin: Ahhh I'm sorry! I hate it when that happens, though usually with me I accidentally close out of my window. ;-; Especially with the Docs. -immediately saves just in case- I'm sorry about your back! I hope it gets better soon! -hugs- The same thing has been happening recently with my older brother. We used to fight nonstop when we were younger, but we're getting much better! (I can't remember if I mentioned that already...) Thank you so much! Here's a (hopefully) wonderful chapter to reflect your wonderful review!
The world was utterly black and consisted only of claws made of wind. They raked through my fur, buffeting my closed eyelids, peeling them open, forcing me to watch as the ground closed in faster than a speeding Monster.
The raven will catch me, the raven will catch me, I thought. The raven will catch me.
But where was the raven? As I instinctively tensed my entire body, twisting in mid-air to extend my paws toward the ground, my gaze flitted from place to place, trying to catch a glimpse of black feathers. I couldn't see anything.
Was it not coming?
I was falling and there wasn't anyone to catch me.
A terrified yowl split my jaws, echoing in the alley below, rebounding into my ears and then past, shooting up into the sky as I plummeted endlessly down…
The ground swallowed my vision whole. It was close—too close. I could almost count the cracks spreading out beneath me like an echo of the collision to come. Scrunching up my face, I extended my legs, spreading my toes as far out as possible, preparing for the impact.
Wham!
I landed in a metal dumpster, sinking tail-lengths into the refuse as pain shot through my body. I let out a hard whuff of air, squeezing a whimper out of what must surely be bruised or broken ribs. It felt like little pieces of glass had embedded themselves between my ribs.
It was too much; it was all too much. Blackness swept up from the depths of my eyelids and I tumbled headlong into the the darkness of an unconscious dream.
I came to after an indeterminable amount of time. As I groggily shook the sleep from my mind, a lightning bolt seemed to shoot through my ribs. Whimpering, I instinctively curled protectively around my midsection, but that only served to trigger a shock of pain in my shoulder. It seemed I couldn't move.
Well, if I couldn't move, I might as well get my bearings. Blinking open my eyes, I gazed fuzzily around, taking in my dumpster nest and the dens rising like blocky dog legs toward the leaden sky.
It was still nighttime and Rowanpaw was nowhere to be seen. I figured I must not have been unconscious long; the first thing my brother would do would be to find me, to make sure I was all right.
Oh sky powers, Rowanpaw! He didn't know whether I was dead or alive. I'd blacked out right after falling, and so had been unable to give him any sort of hope for my survival. He must be frantic; he must think I'd died. We couldn't lose each other, not so soon after Thalia.
I tried yet again to scramble to my paws, pushing out with my hind legs rather than my front. It almost worked, letting my shoulder rest and only forcing a dull pain into my ribcage, but I hadn't noticed my tail crushed underneath my body. As my feet came into contact with it, I had to clench my teeth to keep in a third whimper.
Resigning myself to my immobile position, I craned my neck around to gaze up at the den. Where had my raven been? Why hadn't it caught me? Had it known this fall wouldn't be fatal or was I too far from its home for it to help? In that case, why had it indicated I should jump onto the train, if it could no longer save me out here? Where had it come from? It couldn't have been a normal bird; that much was obvious.
Sighing, I figured it wouldn't help to obsess over these unanswerable questions. I'd fallen, and that was that. Rowanpaw knew where I was, luckily, so I supposed I'd just have to hunker down here and wait for him to come find me.
As I laid my muzzle back onto my scraped forepaws, the sounds of a pair of voices reached my ears. Swiveling one around, I realized one was male and the other female. Was it Rowanpaw and Moki? It'd make sense for him to run and get the munchkin; after all, he'd gotten Thalia after I fell from the other den. I lifted my head and was about to call out to them when I realized the male's sounded rough, scratchy, like an older cat.
Rowanpaw didn't sound like that.
Heart suddenly beating much faster than usual, I froze, listening hard as the pair moved steadily closer. Though their words remained indecipherable, I grew certain that these cats were not my traveling companions. They must be rogues.
What should I do? I couldn't just lie here waiting for them like a sleeping mouse. They'd probably take their chance and finish me off rather than risk me threatening their territory in the future. I couldn't move, so running was out of the question. The only possible option, it seemed, was to hide and hope they didn't notice me.
Leaning on my good foreleg, I twisted around and grabbed a crunched piece of cardboard, dragging it over my back. Reaching again, I managed to pull a couple flimsy pieces of plastic toward me, plus a strange white half-box to cover my head. Poking my muzzle out to one side for air, I relaxed my body and listened.
"—insolent housecats! Just because they wander around spraying random things from time to time doesn't give them any right to claim territory. They have their nests, what more do they need? We can survive off territories half that size!"
"Aha, perfect," the tom growled, breaking through the she-cat's rant. "The dumpster. I'm hungry."
"But we just ate!"
"No, you just ate. I just had two bites of that rat, then you scarfed down the rest. You're no better than those greedy housecats you claim to hate!"
"Who're you calling—?"
"I'll just grab something quickly and we can move on, okay? We're almost there; a short break won't matter."
The she-cat snorted. "Fine, whatever. Just don't take long. Remember, the picky eater eats not at all."
I heard a slight grunt as the tom leaped, his claws scraping against the metal dumpster as he landed on the side, pulling himself over the edge with practiced ease. The layer of trash dipped down near the center, flattened down by his weight. My chest sounded like a thousand paws pounding against concrete; it surprised me that he couldn't hear it, what with the echoing dumpster walls.
He didn't notice me initially, sending a great gust of relief through my body. Judging from the sounds of crunching trash, he had begun pawing through the dumpster, looking for anything remotely edible. If only I'd considered his motivation, I could've unearthed something for him. Decreasing his time in this dumpster would effectively decrease the chance of him finding me huddled here, injured and alone.
"Come on, you lazy lump of rat tails, hurry up!" the she-cat called. Closing my eyes, I silently thanked the sky powers she was with him.
"I'm going, I'm going!" he shot back. "There's literally nothing up here!"
"Well if there's literally nothing, maybe you could quit wasting your time and we can get going!" she replied.
"You're so annoying," the tom growled under his breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing! What, you hearing things now?"
"It'd better have been nothing!"
The tom padded a little ways closer to me, digging into the rubbish there. His tail, sweeping agitatedly in a wide arc (from the she-cat's words, no doubt), brushed against the plastic concealing my haunches and I immediately tensed, curling into myself despite painful complaints from my injuries. The sudden combination of movements caused it to slip, exposing an entire section of my body.
I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable surprised outcry when the tom realized he wasn't alone. But it didn't come.
"Aha!" he cried (I jumped about high enough to clear the den I'd just fallen from).
"You actually found something?" the she-cat asked sarcastically. "I thought I'd never see the day."
The tom ignored this, remaining silent for a moment as he tugged something out of the pile. He turned to exit the dumpster, then paused.
I suddenly found it difficult to breathe, and not just because of my ribs.
"What's this?" His voice was muffled, but whatever he carried didn't seem to be too burdensome, because he didn't have any trouble poking at the base of my spine with a partially unsheathed paw. Despite my situation, a tiny part of me was grateful he could only see my back half; he'd definitely realize I wasn't dead if he saw the slight movements of my chest. Dead cats didn't breathe, after all.
"What's what?" The she-cat's voice sounded frustrated. "Quit stalling and get down here. We need to get moving."
"There's a dead cat up here." The tom bent down to sniff at my fur. It took all my willpower not to twitch as I felt his whiskers brushing against my leg.
"Oh no, what a tragedy. I bet it was just some dumb housecat that tried to mark out a territory of its own and got lost. Come on!"
"Wait a moment; I want to check it out."
Please no, please don't check me out, you'll figure out I'm alive, I thought desperately. Go with the she-cat, please! Leave me alone!
"No, you're not going to check anything out. Get your ratty behind down here."
The tom hesitated. Go with her, I silently urged. Take your food and go.
"Now!"
"Fine!" The tom stumped over to the dumpster's side and leaped to the ground. "I'm here. Happy?"
"Overjoyed," she snapped.
"You certainly sound so," the tom muttered.
"What were you even planning on doing with that idiotic housecat, anyway? Take it with you as a pet?"
The tom's voice, raised in indignation, slowly faded away as he and the she-cat rounded the far corner. I waited a full twenty heartbeats in complete silence before daring to relax.
Inhaling deeply, I shrugged off the remaining bits of camouflage. The movement forced another whimper of pain from my throat; obviously I still couldn't move on my own. I'd have to wait for Rowanpaw to find me. Letting my chin fall back onto my forepaws, I half-closed my eyes and settled in for the (hopefully not too long) wait.
The clouds had begun catching rays of dawn light before his voice finally touched my ears. Blinking away my drowsy stupor, I stretched my neck upward, trying to see over the top of the dumpster.
"Ravenpaw?"
Clever. Even though he must be worried sick, he still kept enough wits about him to know to keep his voice down. He wouldn't want to attract unwanted attention.
"H…" I coughed away the scratchiness and tried again. "Here!"
"Ravenpaw! Where are you?"
"Dumpster."
A loud thump echoed through the alleyway. My brow furrowed—it sounded as though something had hit the metal side, but that couldn't be right. Rowanpaw wouldn't be dumb enough to think he could jump all the way to the top.
Apparently he was. "Rowanpaw, you don't leap up like that. Look, there's a can beside it; you can jump up from there."
A heartbeat later, Rowanpaw's wide, green eyes stared down at me from over the side of the dumpster. For a moment, words seemed to fail him. Then his muzzle split into such a genuine smile it looked almost like a grimace. "R—Ravenpaw! I… I thought you…" He dove into the rubbish, tackling me with a nuzzle that would've toppled a skyscraper. I couldn't help but gasp as he jolted my shoulder, then grunt as the gasp sent a jagged shard of glass through my ribs.
"Hold up, Rowanpaw." Moki was quick to follow my brother onto the can. She considered me for a moment, paws pressed against the dumpster's side, then nodded at Rowanpaw. "She's injured. We need to get her out of this thing so I can look her over."
"Um, sorry…" he muttered, nodding. "I, uh, I forgot you were, you know." He glanced at Moki. "Is it safe to move her? We don't know how hurt she is."
Moki's eyes widened. "Oh! I forgot!" She looked at me hard. "Did you hit your head?"
"Uh, I don't think so?"
"Can you feel your back legs?"
"Yes?"
She nodded to Rowanpaw. "Yeah, she should be fine. It'll hurt but I can't treat her when she's halfway buried like that."
Rowanpaw looked down at me uncertainly. "Are you sure?"
I gritted my teeth, bracing myself for the pain. "Just get it over with," I growled.
After hesitating another couple heartbeats, Rowanpaw finally bent down to grasp my scruff in his jaws. "Sorry," he muttered through my fur. Then he pulled.
Even with my eyes squeezed shut and my jaws locked together, I almost couldn't restrain a yowl of pain. Though I knew he must be trying to be gentle, I felt every bump and jolt as though delivered with fifteen times the force.
Rowanpaw swung me up onto his shoulders, huffing from my weight. I felt him leap once upward, then twice downward, every impact forcing out a strained hiss from between my teeth. Don't think about the pain, I thought forcefully. Don't think about it. You've got to be strong. Be strong, be strong, be strong, be strong.
Finally, my journey was over. Eyes watering from the pain, I slipped off my brother's back and lay on the ground, panting. The stillness soothed the agony somewhat, and my eyes half closed from the sudden relief. Thank the sky powers that was over.
Moki was on me in an instant, sniffing me quickly over. "Where does it hurt the most?" she asked.
"Ribs," I grunted. "Shoulder. Tail."
A paw pressed into my side and I hissed loudly, swatting her aside. She recoiled, shaking her paw slightly; I realized too late my claws had been unsheathed. "Sorry," I muttered.
"I'm not too experienced with this," Moki confessed. "I'm not sure exactly what to do. I know basic stuff, like splints and keeping off infection and all, but not much else I'm afraid. I can't tell if your ribs are broken or just bruised." She lifted one paw uncertainly into the air.
"Well, Ravenpaw needs medical help," Rowanpaw insisted. "Look at her. She can barely move without causing herself pain."
"The closest treatment I know of is the tribe," Moki said helplessly. "But that's a couple days' journey away and I can't see her walking that far like this."
I took a shallow breath, testing my ribs for pain. There was only a dull ache when I didn't breathe too deeply. Perhaps…
"There's no way she's walking there," Rowanpaw said flatly.
"I know!" Moki growled. "I'm trying to think."
"I think I could get there," I meowed. Both cats ignored me.
"We've got to do something," Rowanpaw insisted. "She can't keep on like this. What if she does have a broken bone and it doesn't heal right? She'll be crippled for life!"
"Yes, yes, I know! I can't see any other way, though. I never stopped in this city for long before; I was always just passing through from the tribe to the train. I don't know a single cat here, much less one gifted in healing."
"Honest, I think I could do it," I repeated a little louder. Again, they ignored me.
"Well, how about I ask around?" Rowanpaw half-growled.
"What, do you expect you'll just wander around until you just happen to find someone good at herbs and things? Yeah right, like that's realistic."
"Well it's an idea! It's much more than you've got!"
"Hey!" I half shouted. Finally, both pairs of eyes turned toward me. "I think I could walk to the tribe. No, wait, listen," I added as Rowanpaw snorted. "Moki, you said you were good at splints, right? What if you splinted my leg and my tail? There's not much you could do for my ribs, but if we travel slow and I take shallow breaths I think I'll be able to deal with that."
"But—" Rowanpaw began in frustration, but I cut him off.
"What else are we supposed to do? There's no other option—Moki said so herself. She's been traveling around a lot longer than we have; I trust her judgement. I could lean on you two if I can't walk entirely on my own."
"Are you sure?" Moki asked seriously. "It'll be hard to keep your balance, what with your tail injury and the loss of one leg."
"Nah, I'll be fine. Rowanpaw and I used to play a game where we'd try to walk with only three paws, remember?" I glanced up at my brother. "I can manage."
He snorted. "You sure you'd let us help you?"
I ignored him, waiting impatiently for Moki's response.
"Fine," she sighed. "I guess it really is our only option." Glancing down the alley, she motioned with her tail. "Rowanpaw, can you find some splint-worthy material in the dumpster?"
With a last, searching look in my direction, he nodded. Turning, he bunched his muscles and leaped onto the can, bounding from there onto the dumpster's edge. It looked so effortless, so easy, part of me longed to follow him up and prove I could do it too. Dumb injuries, I hated them already. Why did I have to prove myself up on the roof?
"They've got to be completely rigid and strong enough to hold weight," Moki called up as Rowanpaw began rooting around. "Also long enough to stretch the entire length of her leg or her tail."
I kneaded my good paw into the ground as muffled sounds filled the air. It was boring waiting here for Rowanpaw. I should be up there helping him, finding the first good splint. Finally, the noises stopped.
"Got one!"
Rowanpaw dropped a brightly colored, beaten up plastic rod over the edge. Moki blinked at its vibrant hue, but shrugged anyway and meowed, "It'll do."
With the help of a tendril Rowanpaw pulled from the mound of rubbish, Moki quickly bound the rod to my leg. As soon as she pronounced herself satisfied, I started pushing myself to my paws.
"Careful!" Moki warned, circling around to my back and pressing against me. "That splint will help, sure, but it won't make your leg completely better all at once."
Nodding, I tried again, lifting my leg as best I could to avoid putting pressure on it. As soon as I stood fully upright, though admittedly leaning heavily on Moki, I tried pressing my paw to the ground.
"Ow! Agh!" I hissed under my breath. "I thought you said it'd help!"
"It's not?" Moki's brows creased worriedly. "Hold on, lie back down and I'll check it."
"Incoming!" came a voice from the dumpster. I glanced up as Rowanpaw dropped a second plastic rod to the ground. That was fast, I thought, impressed despite myself. But the notion shattered like the rod as soon as it hit the ground. "Oh. Um…"
"Try to get a sturdier one, okay?" Moki bent over my leg without looking up at Rowanpaw. "Hmm… what part of your leg hurts again?"
"The shoulder." I almost shrugged it to illustrate but stopped myself just in time—that would've probably hurt about as much as trying to walk on it.
"The shoulder?" Moki repeated. "Hmm… okay, let's try this then." Unwrapping the tendril, she repositioned the rod on the inside of my leg, pushed right up against my chest. I silently thanked the sky powers it was my unbruised side. "Try that."
With her help, I again struggled to my feet. This time, though, when I pressed my paw to the ground, most of my body weight fell onto the rod rather than the leg itself. "Better," I nodded.
"It is? Oh thank the Yaksha!" Moki's face broke into a wide grin of relief. "That'll work, then, until we reach the tribe." Still smiling, she glanced up at Rowanpaw. "Where's that second splint?"
"Ah… here it is!" Rowanpaw dropped a silver pipe onto the ground. "It might be a little heavy but I think it'll work. I could lift it fine."
Moki grasped it in her jaws, swinging it slowly from side to side. Finally, she nodded. "It'll work." As Rowanpaw hopped down from his perch on the dumpster wall, she instructed me to again lie down, then tied the pipe firmly to my tail. "Good?"
Fighting my way up again and leaning on my brother for support (this was getting to be a chore), I swung my tail from side to side, testing the weight. Rowanpaw was right; it was a little heavy, but I figured I could probably deal with it. "Yep, good."
"Great. Then follow me." Moki started down the alleyway, back the way she and Rowanpaw had come.
"We're going now?" I asked, surprised.
"Um, yes?" Moki paused, looking over her shoulder. "Why wait? The sooner we get to the tribe, the sooner you can get treated and the less likely infection will set in."
"Oh." It made sense. "Okay then. Lead on." I glanced at Rowanpaw. "You ready?"
He nodded. Then, shooting me a wry smile, he muttered, "It probably would've been easier if I'd been the one to get injured. If I recall properly, I was always better at the three-legged game."
If I hadn't already been struggling to walk, I would've kicked him in the ribs. Snorting, I shot back, "Yeah right. You looked like a two-legged dog, the way you'd stagger around."
"Oh?" He raised his eyebrows. "Well you looked like a no-legged rat."
"How does that even make sense? No-legged rats can't walk!"
"Exactly."
"Hey!"
"Quiet! I'm glad you two are having a good time, but we still have to get out of this city before nightfall, hopefully without attracting the attention of Trainmen or rogues. You can joke around tonight when we're settled far from the city."
Far from the city? "How long do we have to walk?" I asked nervously.
"You were the one who suggested walking to the tribe," she reminded me.
Right. Why had I thought that was a good idea again? Maybe I should think ahead more in the future. Gritting my teeth, I steeled myself for the long walk ahead of me. I only hoped I was right in thinking I'd be up to it.
By the time the sun had almost touched the horizon, my shoulder was sending dog teeth through my body, every breath felt like I was bleeding out through my ribs, and to make the entire situation all the more humiliating, urine had begun trickling through my leg fur. Moki insisted it was normal for a tail injury, that it would heal eventually, but nonetheless it was both awkwardly painful and painfully awkward to pause every seven or so den-lengths to clean my hind legs.
We'd made it out of the city, just as Moki was hoping to do. But if we didn't stop for the night soon I was going to collapse in complaint.
Moki glanced over her shoulder at Rowanpaw and me. Apparently noticing my discomfort, she encouraged, "We're almost there. Just a little longer and we can rest."
"You've said that three times already," I grumbled.
"Ah, but this time I actually mean it. See the river up there?"
I squinted into the gathering darkness, trying to make out the reflections of sun on water. After a moment, I spotted a glimmer in the distance, mostly hidden by a line of thick grasses and bushes. "Yep."
"That's where we're headed."
Two voices clashed inside my head. The first brought a wave of relief I almost rode into the ground at the prospect of lying down. Walking all day was difficult even without possibly severe injuries. On the other side, though, I wanted to snap at Moki for dragging me this far without resting. What was she thinking? Was she trying to make my injuries worse?
I supposed there was nothing for it but to keep trekking on. Moki wouldn't accept a rest now, not when our destination was so close. So, ducking my head and fixing my gaze firmly on the flickering patch of river, I limped resolutely onward, leaning heavily on Rowanpaw.
For a heartbeat, my thoughts turned onto my brother. He must be worn out too, as he'd been carrying not only his own weight, but also about a third of mine all day. His paws must be aching as much as my ribs! Then the notion passed as I reasoned I must still have it worse off; after all, I had not only my ribs, but also my shoulder and tail to contend with.
Shrugging, I pushed the matter from my mind. If Rowanpaw was sore he could ask Moki to switch with him. They were about the same height, so it wouldn't be much different to me. He hadn't mentioned anything throughout the entire journey; he must be fine.
Focusing back on my injuries and gait, I plodded resignedly onward. If I could just make it to that knoll… that tuft of grass… that stunted bush…
It took much longer than I'd expected to reach the river. Then again, I was used to running around without injuries as a kit, so my usual gut sense of distance and time would be off. Regardless, I was relieved to finally slump to the ground beside the river and rasp my tongue over my tender pads. Rowanpaw collapsed beside me.
I'd expected Moki to join us, but apparently she wasn't ready to settle down just yet. Dropping her nose to the ground and parting her jaws, she inhaled deeply, carefully. She slowly padded forward toward a nondescript bush in the midst of a patch of identical shrubs, shoving her head through the dense lower branches. After a couple heartbeats she pulled free, wearing a broad grin.
"We're here!" she declared triumphantly. Upon seeing Rowanpaw's and my bemused expressions, she quickly explained, "I made this den a long time ago on my first trip through here. I've used it every time I passed through since, changing the bedding every so often of course. Luckily for us, it's still fresh." She nodded at me. "I figured since you're so injured, you'd want a solid den for the night. I'm sorry I pushed you so hard, but I thought it was for the best."
I twitched my ears at the mention of my handicap, but smiled wearily up at her all the same. "It sounds fantastic."
After a pause during which Rowanpaw glanced sideways at me, he added, "Thank you."
Moki dipped her head. "No problem." She turned back toward the river, her gaze following it upstream. "We have a clear path now, too. This leads directly to the tribe."
"Oh, good!" I sighed, relieved. "No more forced marches!"
Moki shot a glance at me but said nothing in her defense. Changing the subject, she glanced around our surroundings. "I'll go hunting, shall I? I'm guessing you're both hungry."
"Starving," I meowed enthusiastically. "We didn't stop to eat all day!"
Moki shrugged. "I thought you'd want a den. If we wanted to make it here before sunset we'd have to give up stopping to hunt, what with your injuries."
There was something in the tone of her voice that put me on edge. I half flattened my ears uncertainly, wondering what could be up. Had I been too demanding? But I was injured, surely that gave me an excuse to freeload? Was it, perhaps, the injuries themselves? It was definitely a possibility, certainly a probability. Moki was probably excited to see her brother, and now I was holding her up with my fall from the den. But that wasn't my fault! I hadn't wanted to get injured!
Moki's voice broke into my thoughts. Figuring I should probably listen, just in case it was important, I angled my ears in her direction. "Rowanpaw, could you get Ravenpaw some water? You can soak some moss and bring it up to her. Just be sure to leave it within reach; I doubt she'll be moving much farther tonight."
There was that tone again! I was almost completely certain by now it was something to do with my injuries. I stared hard at her as Rowanpaw nodded and she turned away, heading downstream to find prey.
Prey! I'd almost forgotten how good it tasted, after spending the last few moons scrounging through dumpsters for every mouthful. Saliva flooded my jaws as I imagined for what must have been the thousandth time that rabbit. Licking my lips, I stared hungrily after her, waiting for her to reemerge with a plump, juicy meal ready for consumption.
By the time Rowanpaw had returned twice from the river with moss, I realized Moki wasn't coming back in a hurry. I narrowed my eyes, wondering what was taking so long. The most likely explanation was, of course, that she was a munchie. Even if she could climb normally, she said she couldn't jump as high as a normal cat. That was probably why she was gone for such a long time. But then again, why would she have assigned herself that job if she knew she was bad at it? Then again, she'd probably guessed Rowanpaw couldn't hunt, and it wasn't like I was about to catch a meal anytime soon.
I sighed, resting my muzzle on my paws and watching Rowanpaw's tail flicking through the grasses. What I wouldn't give to be fully healthy again, to be able to leap on him from behind, maybe push him into the river. I snorted in laughter just imagining it.
"What're you thinking about?" Rowanpaw asked, dropping the third moss scrap in front of me. I immediately pressed my muzzle into it, squeezing out the moisture (not the way I usually drank, but I was too thirsty to be picky). Swiping my tongue around my lips, I swallowed my mouthful and blinked up at him.
"Nothing!"
It was his turn to snort. "Yeah, right. You forget I've grown up with you; I can tell when you're lying."
"Honest!"
"You're about as far from honest as a cat can get."
"What, you don't trust your own sister?"
Rowanpaw raised his eyebrows. "Not when she's lying, I don't."
I rolled my eyes. "I'm not lying!" I insisted, though with less gusto than before.
"Ha! I knew it!" Rowanpaw bent down until he could look me gleefully in the eye. "I knew you were lying!"
I let out an exaggerated sigh. "All right, you got me. I was lying." I nosed the moss lying forgotten between my paws. "You don't think you could get me some more water? I'm still pretty thirsty."
"Oh, sure! No problem!" Snagging the scrap on a tooth, he bounded back to the icy river.
And I never had to tell you what I was snorting about, I thought to myself, snorting.
"What were you snorting about?"
Here it goes again, I inwardly sighed.
At that moment, Moki emerged from around a bush, carrying not one, not two, but three small, brownish creatures. I gazed at them a moment, trying to identify them. Were they rats? No, their tails were too furry. Mice, then? But what was with their tiny ears?
"I got lucky, there were three water voles hanging around down there," Moki grinned, dropping her catches in the center of our little clearing. "One for each of us. No one has to share."
My eyes went wide. "One of those… all for me?"
Moki rolled her eyes. "No. 'No one has to share' means you specifically have to share."
"What?"
"I was joking."
"Oh." Had I misinterpreted her tone earlier? But she'd sounded so irritated. I shook my head, confused. Perhaps I should just eat to clear my head. Reaching out with my good leg, I snagged one with a claw and dragged it toward me, bending to sniff at it eagerly. It smelled like the river (gross) and a freshly killed mouse (delicious!). I might as well try it. Sinking my teeth delicately into one of its hind legs, I let the taste flood my mouth.
The muddy river flavor was overpowered by the mouse-like aftertaste, as it tasted even better than the rabbit. Eyes widening, I started gulping it down.
"Slower, Ravenpaw!" Moki ordered. "You'll make yourself sick!"
"But it's so good!" I choked through my mouthful. "I can't stop!"
"It's because you're hungry." Reaching over, Moki pulled my vole away.
"Hey!"
"I don't want to have to catch you another, so you'll ration this one out. Do you want to throw up on top of all your other injuries?"
There was no way I'd mistaken that. Moki was definitely salty about my injuries. But I wasn't holding her back that much, surely; we'd made good time today! We'd made it to the den before sunset, just as she'd wanted. What was wrong?
Was it the fall itself? Reflecting back on the day, I realized she hadn't yet asked me about it. Had Rowanpaw told her? But then, wouldn't she want to hear my side of the story, too? I would; I'd be dying to know.
Moki stared at me for a moment, then sighed. "Was it that obvious?" she muttered to herself. Shoving both our voles away (I made a note of which one was mine), she stared from me to Rowanpaw and back again. "What in the name of all things reasonable did you do?" she burst out suddenly. "Falling from a roof? A roof? That's not an accident! That's not something that just happens! What were you doing?"
A tense silence followed her words. I glanced at Rowanpaw, wondering how much he told her. Obviously not much. I figured I should probably start telling the story, but then again, I wasn't sure about Moki's tone. She sounded mad, and right now I was too tired to deal with the brunt of her anger.
"We, ah, we…" Both my and Moki's eyes fixed on Rowanpaw. He glanced helplessly at me. "I don't know how it started. I woke up to find Ravenpaw gone."
"I couldn't sleep so I went on a walk," I meowed quickly, my gaze flitting toward the ground. "I saw the stairs up to the roof and thought I'd climb up and explore a bit. That's all. I was going to come straight down once I was ready." I avoided looking at Moki, silently waiting for Rowanpaw to start talking again. After several painfully long moments, he did.
I waited mostly in silence as he recounted our adventure up on the roof, interjecting from time to time to make sure he didn't include too much bias. After all, it was only fair Moki should see it from both sides. I didn't want to get punished unfairly for 'being too reckless,' as Rowanpaw put it.
"…and then she fell and landed in the dumpster," he finished, glancing at me for confirmation.
"Yeah, and I blacked out right after from shock or something, then woke up and these two rogues almost caught me but I pretended to be dead until you two found me again."
"I thought you were dead, you didn't move or call up or anything!"
"Well that's what happens when you black out; you can't exactly move or call up or anything. I couldn't even move after I woke up, though, as I'm sure you both realize after forcibly dragging me out." I glanced down at my vole again longingly.
Noticing my attention at her paws, Moki's eyes narrowed. "You'd better eat slower this time."
"I will, I promise! Just give me my vole!" I begged.
With a pause for emphasis, Moki shoved it over.
"Not that one; that's yours! That one's mine."
After checking to make sure she'd given me the correct vole, Moki relaxed back into her reclining position with a sigh. "You two argue a lot?" she asked, looking between us.
I couldn't answer, as my mouth was filled with vole again. Realizing Moki had her eyes fixed on my meal, I hastily started chewing slower. As much as the longer wait pained my belly, I didn't want it taken away again.
"Uh, yeah, kinda," Rowanpaw meowed, glancing at me.
Moki nodded, shutting her eyes momentarily (I took the chance to swallow my entire mouthful and rip off another). "It was exactly the same with me and my brother," she said reminiscently.
Rowanpaw and I focused our gazes along the same invisible line, staring into each other's irises. Was she going to tell us a story? I certainly hoped so, and judging from Rowanpaw's wide eyes he felt the same way.
"Orion and I grew up much like normal siblings, I think," Moki smiled. "We had our spats, sure, but for the most part we got along okay. But at the time, I never seemed able to look past our differences. He was always utterly spontaneous; he never had a plan. He was always racing around, coming up with ideas and dropping them faster than I could agree or disagree to them. I, on the other side, loved order. I was fine with racing around as long as we knew what we were doing and where we were going.
"We met up with the Avanti Tribe at an early age, after traveling around a little. They took us in at once and raised us there. Orion quickly gained the respect of the other young cats, but they never seemed to like me as much, probably because of my… my shorter legs. I missed the times when we used to race across fields, through forests, chasing danger in circles, etc. He'd never thought of me as handicapped while out there."
Her eyes grew misty, wistful. I couldn't help but wonder if she saw herself and her brother in Rowanpaw and me; both young, traveling without a real destination, heading for this tribe. Would we join like she and Orion had? Would we grow up there, never returning to the city of our kithood? The idea sounded appealing.
"I asked Orion to leave with me, but he refused. He'd grown to like the tribe, see, and he felt safe with the prospect of a home to return to every night. Finally, after one last argument, we split: him remaining with the Avanti and me heading off alone into the unknown, likely never to return." She shut her eyes, grimacing gently to herself, no doubt recalling that painful moment.
"But despite our differences, I slowly grew to miss him. I realized we had more in common than I'd previously thought. So, after almost exactly a year had passed, I came back to visit. And then again, a year later. And again." She smiled. "And that's what I'm doing now, see. It's been a year and I'm returning to see him again."
I let loose a small yawn. That had been a nice story. Now, tired out from the day's struggle and Moki's soft words, I rested my chin on my paws, not even caring I still lay outside the den. I could sleep on the hard ground for another night.
"You and Rowanpaw could very well be the same," Moki murmured. "Have all the arguments you want; I don't care. Fight, split up, that's fine. Just… just make sure you never do something to split yourselves apart permanently. Ravenpaw, you could've died back there. Don't you dare try to pull a stunt like that again; Rowanpaw needs you and you need him. You're siblings, no matter what. Don't you forget that."
Annnd... that's all for now, I'm afraid! :( Again, I'll do my best to post another chapter soon, but no definites, I'm afraid, until I get back from camp. I'd guess the next set in stone update will be sometime between July 23 and July 30.
QOTD1: I'm tempted to start giving out sneak peeks of the next chapter through PM to reviewers. Thoughts?
QOTD2: I figured fifteen chapters in would be a good time to ask this question. Is there anything about my writing style you'd like to change, you find annoying, etc.? I'm always looking to improve! ^^
No answers from me for today, as these questions are directed mainly at you guys. Until next time, be awesome TY~