Suddenly, the boulder was moved and my mother appeared. She was nursing a cut on her shoulder blade and some minor scratches, but was otherwise unharmed. I was so relieved to see her alive.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Apparently the humans who had sent the soldiers to the garden sent some to the Labyrinth as well. We managed to kill most of them, and the rest we drove out." my mother answered.
"Oh, good." I said. I took a sniff. the stench of humans had nearly disappeared, there was only a little lingering on my mother.
"Oh, yes, Twitchtip, that reminds me. I have a suspicion about your smelling skill, but we must test it first. How is the rat, Blackblood, in the next cave feeling? "my mother asked.
"Who's Blackblood? I've never heard of him, or seen him." I asked.
"Never mind that, just sniff." my mother said.
I took a big whiff. Immediately I smelled the gnawer my mother had been speaking of. I immediately smelled exhaustion on him, and, in some way, I picked up his looks as well.
"He is very tired. I can also tell you that his fur color is a smoky gray-black, but his left front paw is red." I said proudly. My siblings looked at me in amazement, but my mother smiled.
"I knew it! You're a Scent-Seer, Twitchtip, a Scent-Seer!" she said, grabbing my claws in hers and swinging me around.
"Yay! I'm a Scent-Seer, a Scent-Seer, a Scent-Seer!" I said, smiling as well. "What's a Scent-Seer?" I asked, my expression turning to puzzlement. My mother laughed.
"Scent-Seers are extremely rare. They can smell every emotion, quantities of things, and what things are just by sniffing. You can do all of them, and you can detect color as well! You are most definately a Scent-Seer!" she explained.
My sister Swiftstep gave a grunt. "Humphh." she said.
"What is wrong, Swiftstep?" my mother asked her.
"I want to be a Scent-Seer! I want to be special!" she pouted, sticking her nose in the air, whiskers twitching. But my mother never got to respond to that, because my father entered the cave.
His deep gray coat was flecked with blood, but he looked no more than scratched. "I came to see if you were okay, Preenpaw." he said, walking over to my mother.
"We are all fine, love." she said, wrapping her tail around him. "You will never beleive what we have just discovered, though." she said, smiling.
"What?" he asked, puzzled.
"Our Twitchtip is a Scent-Seer!" my mother said, smiling.
My father still looked puzzled. "Twitchtip?" he said.
My mother sighed. "Our pup, Ripper." she said, gesturing her tail in my direction. I sighed. My father was nice and all, but he never really had time for anyone in my family except my mother. It was to be expected that he would momentarily forget my name.
"Oh. yes. Twitchtip. What did you say she was?" he said. Apparently he had become forgetful lately.
"A Scent-Seer." said my mother.
It took a moment for my father to register this fact, but then he looked shocked? "Really?" he asked, staring at me.
"Show him, Twitchtip." said my mother.
"Okay." I held my nose in the air and sniffed. "Flamefur the gnawer is coming down the hall. Her fur is a deep reddish color, and she is carrying three fish." I said. I looked expectantly at my father.
"Well, I guess she is." he said.
"Yes." said my mother.
"Well, I'd better be off. Gorger is in need of patrols in the North Side of the Labyrinth, and I offered. Just stopped in to see that you were okay." my father said, making for the cave entrance.
"Goodbye, then." my mother said.
"Oh, yes, I will be around tomorrow to take the children out for a lesson. It is time they learned to hunt." my father said, and went out.
"We're going to learn to hunt tomorrow?" I asked. I wasn't sure how I felt about hunting, but I knew I had to try it.
"Yes, dear. Now, I think all of you had better go to sleep. According to your father, you have a long day tomorrow. Hunting lessons take time." my mother said. We all settled down beside her to sleep.