Water Ripples
Chapter 2: The Grey Fur & the Mountains.
After she ventured several paces out of her area, Filth realised that she really was a pathetic rogue. She couldn't walk all that far due to undeveloped and misused muscles, she was plump and yet- young. Despite her face and the kit fur that still softened her pelt, she had the physical ability of an elder, or perhaps even a Kittypet.
A Kittypet- what she would have been if Moon hadn't found her. In a way, she was so glad that she wasn't a kittypet.
Filth kept on walking, with her head down, but made sure to steer clear of the Thunderpaths.
But, eventually, she recognised the forest that laid in the middle of the Two-legplace. The mountains were even further inland. The Twoleg nests circled the forests and mountains, enclosing it like a trap.
It wasn't until the sun burned a dark, furious red on the horizon that she stopped with a growling belly.
I ate just before, she thought. I don't need to eat now; I need to teach myself to stand hunger. So that when I 'join' Amber, I will be tough.
Filth circled a thick tree. It had long roots than weaved, and there was space under the huge roots. So, that's where she slept.
She groomed her light grey pelt, and with a final lick of her blue-grey chest she sent a glance around the small forest.
Filth curled up in a sharp ball behind the root. When she shut her eyes, the dreams came immediately.
-It was a dark, eerie night-
There were shadows, and the sound of paws.
-And then again: thump, thump, thump.-
A face, with blazing blue eyes tinted with something the colour of leaves. Like the pond belonging to the Twolegs of the nearby lazy kittypet, Cookie.
- A moving skeleton of milky bones- the bones of her dead mother-
The face also had a short, thin grey tail and long, lithe legs between the dark shades of grey and blue. Then, it was gone.
-It vanished from her memory, from the dead figure-
The she-cat was gone- as was the memory, leaving only a pile of snow coloured bones and the smell of sweet scented milk.
She recognised it. It was the smell of kithood.
Filth woke with a start. The sun rose with a surrounding glow. The rest of the sky seemed dark, sullen, like the shadows of the night in her dream.
-it was a dark, eerie night-
That's enough, she thought to herself sternly. But there was something else, wasn't there? Was there another cat?
She couldn't remember, exactly.
A scent, was it that she had smelt?
She closed her eyes and imagined tasting the air- she then she remembered it- warm, like a Greenleaf day. It had the tang of something else that made it smell addictive. Beyond delicious, she thought, and then it dawned on her. It was the smell of milk- of kithood, and possibly the scent of her mother and siblings behind the smell.
She opened her eyes, and sniffed the air. The scent was gone, but a blow of gentle wind brought more scents. She sniffed again, and smelt: moss, a mouse, mouse dung, a shrew, blood, and distantly, the scent of cats.
Wait… blood?
She scented the air again. This time, there was only: mousedung, moss, a dead shrew, more blood, and again; cats.
It smelt like a colony of cats. But surely Amber's crew lived further on, in the other part of the city beyond this forest?
She remembered Ginger's mother telling her something one time: "Amber is young. Four moons old, actually. She is very youthful, but she is wise. Like her father, Atlas the mountain lion. His kits are raised to be the next leaders of the Twolegplace. But they have to live close to him, near the mountains, in case of attack. If they are weakened, they run back to Daddy weakly through a series of secret underground tunnels that can only be accessed by those related- by any connection, mate, distantly, anything- to Atlas. It's a weak act, but Atlas is an immortal creature, captured by what's called the Grand Bosses of this city. That's for another day, hmm? Off you run. Moon will be worried a fox has gotten you."
The mountains must be close to Amber. They should be easy enough to spot. They're very far from the barn, though. Still, more travel will be required.
She stood on a small hill of grass. She saw trees, the first section of the Twolegplace and the other forest.
She swung her head the other way, and was astonished by how close the mountains were. They were just… there. So close, that if she walked half the morning, she would be in the caves.
Maybe I did walk further than I thought I could yesterday, Filth thought grimly.
She thought about how far she must be from Moon, Robin and Ginger. She hoped they were okay, and that no one from Amber's crew had come to the barn. They might find a few more cats living together than those mouse-brains would like to imagine.
Amber and her crew must be close, if the mountains look so close you could touch them.
They were grey, an ugly, dark grey, not like the pelt of the cat in her dreams- which was a sharp grey, like stone, yet tinged with a blue.
Excitement rose in her throat like bile. She reached out further, for more details, more about this cat.
But it was too late- for one fast passing, precious moment, the gate to her dreams had opened. One piece had managed to scramble out, and soon enough her bridge to this cat was snapped.
Well then- blue and grey fur, like Filth's chest and underbelly. Yet the rest of her was a plain, light grey. Could it be? It seemed obvious- this cat was her mother. The milk scent reached her nose once more. She closed her eyes, and smiled with her muzzle raised to the sky.
For once, she had reached her parentage. A sharp grey pelt, coloured like stone, yet tinted with blue. The cat was her mother, and the scent- warm and rich- tasted of her kithood. She thought of her mother, who was torn away by death. But, now, her mother had come back into her memory- leaving the milk scent filling her nose and mouth.
It was bliss.
Not great, but… well, I'll update in a few hours or something from now.
-Weald