Thanks to World of Make Believe and Fioralba for being the ONLY ONES TO REVIEW. AGAIN, I may add. Meh. This is fun to write, anyway - it's not going into the Void of Deleted Stuff just 'cause I haven't got a lot of reviews.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Warriors. But how cool would that be?
Three
"Pine!" Unthinking, Chicory dashed off into the crowd in pursuit of her brother, wherever he might have been. "Pine! Pine!"
"Be quiet!" some cat growled, but Chicory ignored them.
"Windflower!" she wailed in despair, skidding on the tufty ground. A flash of brown fur caught her eye. "Windflower...?" she breathed, whipping around and managing to lash her tail in Snapdragon's kit-round face. The ginger kit recoiled as Chicory stared - she hadn't realised that he had followed her.
"Ouch!" he protested. "That hurt."
"What are you doing here?" Chicory demanded, worry for the kit combined with worry for her kin driving her to anger.
Snapdragon shrank under her burning blue gaze. "I thought you were going to find my mother... You said you would." There was nothing accusing in his tone, but something made Chicory feel guilty about her outburst all the same. What was she doing, running off in search of Windflower and Pine? They were probably fine - in the name of stars, they were probably worried about her, not to mention Holly and Lilac.
"Sorry," the pale she-cat murmured, looking at her paws. "I promise we'll look for Marigold now."
Eyes bright, Snapdragon chirped up at once. Chicory felt a surge of affection for the young tom.
And it won't hurt to have a look around for Windflower and Pine while we're at it... Despite her reassurances to herself, unease fluttered like a trapped bird in her belly.
Craning her neck, Chicory glanced around. Different cats - tawny, dark ginger, black - met her vision every way she turned. None of them were paying attention to the two undersized, searching young cats - nor did any of them hold any resemblance to Windflower or Pine.
"What does Marigold look like, Snapdragon?"
"Well..." Snapdragon narrowed his eyes, evidently thinking of how best to describe his mother. "She's a grey tabby with black stripes. And her eyes are yellow. No, amber. Um..." The ginger tom kit looked confused, and slightly apologetic. "Either yellow or amber."
Chicory forced herself not to sigh. Snapdragon was only young - but still, if he couldn't even remember Marigold's eye colour, they were going to have trouble.
Her fur colour is something, though, she told herself firmly. And Snapdragon should be able to recognise her by her scent as well as her pelt.
As she thought upon this, her gaze wandered. A couple of elders looking strangely unbothered, a clearly half-asleep tom about Chicory's own age... Her line of sight drifting, she stiffened. The tip of a dark brown tail disappearing between two anxious-looking she-cats snatched her attention. Her heart leapt into her mouth, chasing away any thoughts of Snapdragon's mother.
Forgetting the kit she had in tow, Chicory darted away into the mish-mash of cats, knocking the she-cats back sideways.
"Look where you're going!" scolded a silvery-brown she-cat. Chicory squeaked a submissive 'sorry' but didn't pause.
"Windflower!" she yowled, ducking past an elderly brown-and-white she-cat and managing to crash straight into the owner of the tail, who had halted without her notice.
She knew at once that it wasn't him. The scent was all wrong, for one thing - although Chicory was sure she knew it from somewhere - and this cat had lighter tabby markings than Chicory's father. Heat flooded her, making her fur prickle with embarrassment.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled, ears flat against her head as Snapdragon came charging through the forest of legs towards her. Peeking up at the brown cat's expression, Chicory was alarmed to discover that far from accepting her apology, he had whipped around to glare at her.
"You're one of their kits," he snarled suddenly, agression and a hint of surprise in his mew. Chicory didn't dare reply, wondering what on earth this cat was meowing about. Snapdragon blinked nervously at her, and she felt a wave of guilt for dashing off on him again.
Caught off guard, Chicory only noticed that the brown cat had bent down when he scruffed her - and none too gently, either. A squeak of fright left her jaws. Too afraid to struggle, she froze as Snapdragon had done when she had picked him up earlier, belly exposed.
Cats were beginning to stare. Snapdragon's expression was one of horror.
"Sycamore!"
A feminine mew, shrill with disbelief but yet somehow sharp with command, cracked the air. Chicory glanced downwards at the rough stalks of grass, taking care not to move her head too much for fear of hurting her neck. A tawny-yellow she-cat had emerged from the throng, her eyes flashing amber fire. She was crouched low to the ground, as though to leap up and rescue Chicory herself.
"Let her go!" The mew rang with an order.
A snarl rumbled from Sycamore's throat.
"Now." The tawny cat's lips drew back in the beginnings of a snarl.
Too low for the enraged she-cat to hear, Sycamore growled, "Your parents would know me." Chicory could feel his hot breath on the back of her neck.
With these parting words, he released the grip on Chicory's scruff and stalked away, parting the crowd with a glare. Chicory dropped to the ground with a dull thud, crumpling. She didn't lift her head, too stunned to move.
"Ch-Chicory!" It was only when Snapdragon hurried over to her, genuine fear in his mew, that Chicory summoned the willpower to stand.
"I'm alright," she assured the kit, surprised at how dry her throat was. She glanced towards the tawny she-cat, meaning to mumble a 'thank you', but when their eyes met, Chicory could, for a heartbeat, only gape.
The transformation was quite incredible - from the snarling, furious creature she had been before, the she-cat had reverted into a small, soft-limbed cat, with fur surprisingly downy for her age and eyes like a doe's. When she spoke, even her voice had lost its hard, agressive edge.
"Sorry about that," she meowed apologetically. "My mate can be a mousebrain at times."
This caused another small shock - since when did cats speak to their mates like that? Chicory had certainly never heard Windflower and Holly behaving in that way. "Thanks for saving me." Chicory remembered her manners at the last heartbeat, dropping her eyes. She felt her ears grow hot, as they almost always did around other cats.
The tawny she-cat twitched her whiskers. "You're just a kit," she murmured, by way of an answer. Her mew becoming brisker, she said, "My name's Iris. Oh!" Alarm suddenly marred her features. "Perhaps it would be better not to mention our names to your parents."
With stereotypical kit-like curiousity, Snapdragon asked, "Why not?"
"Just trust me," Iris urged. "It would be better for both of us."
Before Chicory could wonder whether the sudden swiftness to Iris's tone meant that she wanted to make a quick exit, the tawny she-cat had vanished, almost melting into the darkness.
"Chicory?" The grey-striped she-cat turned at Snapdragon's tentative mew. "What now?"
Throwing a look at the swollen loch in the valley beneath them, where Twolegs were working and yowling under the still-bright moon, Chicory sighed. "Um..." was all she could come up with. Truthfully, she was wondering about her family. Iris's comment about not mentioning the meeting to her parents had reminded her of them. Fresh guilt crashed over her as she realised that she had completely abandoned Holly and Lilac, not to mention failed to find Windflower, Pine, and Snapdragon's mother.
Snapdragon's jaws gaped in a huge yawn. Chicory sympathised with him - he must have been awoken by his mother and dragged up here in the middle of the night.
"Rest," she suggested quietly, in reply to the young cat's question. As soon as the words had left Chicory's jaws, Snapdragon obediently curled up and shut his eyes, his kit-fur fluffed up against the cold.
It couldn't be too long until dawn. Chicory shut her eyes briefly.
I wish... she thought. I wish, I wish... But what should she wish? There seemed an awful lot to wish for, all of a sudden. I wish Holly and Lilac were here. I wish I could be sure that Windflower and Pine are alive. I wish that Snapdragon could find his mother. I wish the Twolegs had never flooded the loch... I wish...
Squeezing her eyes shut still tighter, until stars appeared underneath her eyelids, Chicory couldn't quash the feeling that she would need more wishes before long.