Chapter 2: Rain and Mist

Raindrop stood, shaking and scratched, as her tribemate, Mist on Silver Lake, glared at her, stalking angrily down a nearby branch. The young silver tabby she-cat's blue eyes were flashing, and Raindrop could see that the branch-guard had followed her all the way there: a black downy feather was stuck to her left hind ankle-- a raven's feather.

"What were you thinking, climbing up there?!" snarled the she-cat furiously without any pretense. "The ravens could have caught you, or you could have fallen down to the forest floor-- what kind of mousebrained idea was that?!" The spitting branch-guard glared extra angrily at the to-be, as she was Raindrop's self-appointed trainer. All the cave-guards were supposed to teach all the to-bes, but usually one cat would be the one who spent the most time training each one; Raindrop's 'mentor' was Mist.

Raindrop hung her head, but inside her chest, her heart still pounded with exhilaration. She wasn't going to regret her adventure. The sound of the ravens' and the feeling of dangling thousands of tail-lengths over the forest floor still filled her mind, and her pounding heart was making her senses feel supercharged.

Mist looked expectantly at her to-be. "Raindrop?" she asked blankly. Raindrop lifted her head, and glared at Mist. She wasn't about to regret anything, she knew she had outsmarted the ravens, she knew now that she was strong enough to make it out of the understory alive; she was stronger than any of the branch-guards ever had been; they'd never reached the canopy. Mist stared at her, and her face fell.

"I tried to train you, Raindrop," she sighed, lowering her head and shaking it. "But you wouldn't listen. I guess all I can do is to wish you luck finding another branch-guard that'll put up with you." Raindrop stared, stunned, as her trainer, or rather, simply tribemate, walked off.

Raindrop gaped, dumbstruck, all her proud and superior feelings evaporated. Her trainer was abandoning her! Not—not that Mist was the only cat who trained her; all the branch-guards shared the responsibility of teaching the next generation of cats—but still! Mist was just deserting her!

"No—Mist—wait!" The words got caught in her throat, and Raindrop choked them out, launching herself after the branch-guard with a gasp; Mist ignored her former to-be. "Hang on! Wait up! Please! You're not going to—to—tell Leafteller, are you? No—no, please don't! I'll be—I'll be... better! I already know to—to—" Mist whirled around.

"Alright, fine, I won't tell them—anyone!" spat the branch-guard. "But you had better hope you can come up with a good story to explain your lack of trainer, because there is no way that I'm going to cover for you this time, or even be your trainer anymore! I'm sick and tired of your defiance and ridiculous—mousebrained—" Mist seemed to be too angry to even speak. She whirled around and stalked away, her young pride wounded. She was hardly more than a to-be herself, but she was a spirited young cat, and she had wanted very much to train someone; Raindrop was not what she'd had in mind.

Raindrop felt anger flare inside her—it was just like she was arguing another to-be, and even though she was generally a withdrawn sort, her arguments were fierce, and backed up with tooth and claw, if necessary. Gaping at the figure of her former mentor, Raindrop decided she wasn't going to give up that easily. With a grim expression, she launched herself through the branches after the silver branch-guard. Mist and Raindrop were both exceptionally stubborn, persistent, proud, sometimes arrogant, and both powerful fighters; they could have been sisters. But they also had many heated disagreements, but this was worse than usual, and Raindrop knew it was serious; Mist was seething.

Raindrop darted nimbly through the branches after Mist's silhouette. A cloud drifted over the moon, and she glanced up. A huge raindrop landed on her nose; she blinked and snorted it away. A thin mist was settling on the forest, and now she could hear rain pattering on the canopy above as it protected them from the storm. When she looked back, Mist had disappeared.


A little while later, Raindrop was sitting in camp, chewing on a mouse, and glaring around at every cat; no one asked to Share with her. Rain still pattered on the canopy, high above their twisted hammock of vines and branches, the occasional drop falling through and landing on one of the tribe cats. Raindrop was sitting next to the to-bes' den, and from outside, she could hear two cats Sharing prey, but she was too moody and wet to bother to find out who they were. The shroud of mist had thick become thick and heavy, and Raindrop could just barely make out the figures of her tribemates.

Raindrops of a Summer Storm watched as the cats of the Tribe of Dappled Sunlight moved around her; the kit-mothers watched sleepily as their kits chased each other around the nursery; two branch-guards watched the entrance to camp; by the fresh-kill pile, prey was Shared by a few to-bes; and at the entrance to camp, two prey-hunters, two branch-guards, and two to-bes filed in, carrying a lot of prey: a hunting group.

The to-bes were Pounce and Eddy, cousins, both prey-hunters, and both bursting with pride at their catches; a blue bird, and a raccoon as big as Eddy. Chattering excitedly, Pounce bounced around her rather calmer cousin while he carried his raccoon to the large fresh-kill pile.

Eddy was a quiet, pale auburn tom with red-brown stripes, white paws, and amber eyes, while his energetic cousin and good friend, Pounce, was a brown she-cat with white markings and green eyes. Raindrop felt jealousy stab at her insides; she had no friends, no cousins, nobody to talk to, to turn to... she had had Mist once, maybe, but now that stubborn branch-guard was just leaving her...

"Raindrop?" said a voice above her. "D'you want... did you already eat some... fresh-kill?" she looked up. It was Eddy. He was holding the bird that Pounce had caught, and looking very awkward, while Pounce hovered rather uncomfortably behind him. Raindrop shook her head.

"Told you," muttered Pounce.

"What?" asked Raindrop, sitting up and glaring unpleasantly at the prey-hunter.

"It was his idea," Pounce nudged her cousin. "He said you looked... like..." she trailed off.

"Alright, I was trying to cheer you up," said Eddy, his calm, kind spirit, and nearly nonexistent pride, not letting him get angry. "You looked pretty... down. Is that so horrible?" Pounce peered at Raindrop, nodding in agreement with Eddy now that she could see he wasn't angry.

"Oh yeah?" Raindrop's bad temper after her disagreement with Mist flooded out over the unwary cousins, and she spat angrily. "I don't need any cat's pity, I'm not some kind of kit, I don't want your stupid bird, and I'd bet your mousebrains that you'd much rather be ignoring me than offering me some fresh-kill, you two—you—" but Raindrop was suddenly lost for words; all the anger she had felt flaring inside of her vanished like mist in sunlight. She hung her head. Eddy and Pounce did look as if they wanted to run away, but Raindrop shook her head, suddenly ashamed. "No thanks, I already ate." She mewed hoarsely.

The two prey-hunters exchanged looks, and Eddy nodded to Raindrop, who looked away, thoroughly embarrassed. Where did that outburst come from? Raindrop thought, mortified, burying her face in her paws.

The rain pattered on the leaves above them, the occasional drop reaching their camp, and soon Eddies of Rushing River and Pounce of Stalking Leopard had disappeared from view, walking straight into the swirling mist, and vanishing.