Chapter 2 - Cycle 12, March of the Third Year

"There's a cat out there, Seamus… take a look, she's alone… she's very pregnant."

The tall cream coloured, rust pointed Tom nodded to his companion, who was sorting herbs on the flat wooden floor of the abandoned shelter they had been living in for a large portion of their herbalist's patrol. It was evening, dusk slipping through the cracks in the planked roof leaving long thin strips of light in various places across the floor. Before them were piles of herbs, some in bulk stacks and others laid out after separating their components… stems, flowers, seeds, leaves, all had different uses.

Seamus lifted his large, round head. He was a heavy, long furred, solid brown Tom. He had very round amber eyes that were not so different than those of a horned owl. His silhouette was erected in comical contrast to his traveling partner, who was a very thin, wiry cat with large ears and a triangular head. Seamus was the more experienced Herbalist of the two, though not by much, and he was certainly more focused on his trade. Rowan spent much time staring out the windows, digging around the outpost and messing around with tools and items other animals had left there.

"A cat, eh?" He meowed, a little grumpy. He was hungry, for one, and the shelter was only partially adequate for keeping out the chilling winds of the late winter evening. "Call out to her, would be nice to have a new face around here anyways…"

"Or perhaps five?"

They both laughed quickly, before Rowan returned to the subject at hand.

He flicked his tail, looking in the direction of the queen, trudging through the snow that had fallen in the morning. He narrowed his dark blue eyes, focusing on her form. She was a blue gray she-cat, small and stocky. She was pretty, her eyes glowed a rich amber, almost orange color as they reflected the dusky light. She looked utterly distraught, sniffling in the cold, snow clinging to anywhere her fur was longer… her tail, her paws and toes, and her cheeks. She was shivering. Most concerningly was the wide girth of her belly, hanging so low it seemed to drag through the snow where she walked. Rowan, though he didn't interact much with other cats, aside from other herbalists, the occasional trader, was overcome with protectiveness… a worry he didn't often feel.

"Hey there!" He called. She stopped in her tracks, peering around her, spotting the shelter.

"Hello?" She replied, clearly not knowing exactly where the voice had come from. She crouched lower, lifting her ears straight up.

"Hi… up here, in the window… what are you doing all the way out here?"

"Oh… I see you… please don't hurt me."

"We're not going to hurt you, unless you try to hurt us." Seamus placed his paws on the windowsill, peering out along with Rowan at the outsider.

She crouched even lower at the sight of the second, larger cat.

"Goodness, there's two of you… please, I don't mean harm, I'm just… I'm lost."

The two herbalists looked at one another, then whispered low enough that they were out of her earshot.

"I don't think we have much to worry about." Seamus said. "Truly, she's expecting, she's alone, I'm genuinely just curious about who she is and how she got all the way out here… alone."

"I agree." Rowan nodded. "I want her to come in here, get some of that snow off of her."

They both jumped down out of the window and Seamus pointed her in the direction of the entrance.

"We're staying in this outpost right now. We don't own it, it's used by many different parties, even different species as they pass through. But it's a shelter."

They began to guide her down their trodden path. Rowan looked back at the queen. "We're herbalists, maybe you've heard of us? We're a patrol party for the guide, traveling to collect the first blooms as the snow begins to melt. There are herbs everywhere inside so just be careful not to trample anything."

She was a little quiet, out of breath as she scrambled up the set of steps into the outpost building.

"T-thanks… I won't tromp around on your herbs, I'd really just like to lay down, defrost, groom myself."

They got inside, and she sat in the corner of the room, staring at the two cats she didn't recognize. They watched her carefully, as she licked her paw, swiping it behind her ear, then repeating this action. She was still shivering so much.

"Have you traveled long?" Rowan inquired, cocking his small head, his large ears pointed towards her in curiosity.

"Um, a week or so. I'm headed to the Alliance. But I'm lost, I had a companion with me but he… there were some wild dogs… he,"

"Damn." Seamus muttered. "Merciless canines. They killed him?"

"Yes. He… died." She breathed. "He was one of my pridemates. He knew the way to the caverns, I was commanded to travel there before my kits were born. He was supposed to guide me…"

"I'm sorry." Rowan meowed. "The Alliance, they aren't too much farther. Perhaps a half day on foot, maybe a little slower for…" He nodded at her swollen stomach. "For you." He wondered why on earth a pride cat would be commanded to travel so far, in her state, in this season.

"So I'm still headed in the right direction?" She perked up, almost in disbelief.

Seamus narrowed his eyes. "How should we know, we don't know where you came from?"

Rowan cleared his throat. "My companion is a little moody, it's dinner time, and he's fat as a badger."

The outsider seemed to almost laugh a little at Rowan's teasing. She shrugged.

"Not as fat as me." She managed. There was a low chuckle shared amongst the three of them.

"Anyways." Rowan continued. "Well, we get traveling visitors often here, but they aren't usually solitary pride cats expecting kits. What pride do you come from? And what is your name?"

She dipped her head, the first real greeting she'd given them. "I'm Ridgewhisper, I'm a member of the Copperwood Pride."

Seamus leaned forward and sniffed her. "Copperwood, huh?" He glanced at his companion. "Well I guess technically you still are traveling in the right direction, though you are a little off track… that's sort of understandable seeing your circumstances, losing your guide, the snow squalls and whatnot."

"Our guild has good relations with Copperwood. We do a lot of trading near the foot of the Copperwood Peaks. They are reasonable cats… why on earth were you sent to the alliance? Are you a traitor?" Rowan's mind swam. Perhaps they couldn't kill her because she is pregnant, but they needed to get rid of her. That doesn't explain the guide, though, risking his life to take her here.

"Well, it's sort of complicated. My mate is the Leader, and…"

"Your mate is Wrenstar?" Seamus cut in, surprised at the young cat claiming to be partnered with the well known elder leader of the pride.

She exhaled quickly, shaking her head. "No, no… Tawnystar is my mate. Wrenstar, he passed away about a month ago. Tawnystar is a newly appointed leader; she served as Second Claw for Wrenstar for two years."

"He died, that's so sad. He was a good cat." Seamus managed.

She lowered her head. "Yes, it is very sad. But it was expected and he died peacefully, for what it's worth. Anyways… Before he died he told my mate that when she became leader she needed to send me away to protect me from the sickness that was coming. I'm sure you are familiar with the cycle, well plague is nearly upon us… I guess, well… it's a little more complicated than that but in short, my kits cannot get sick. So they are sort of forcing me to raise them among the alliance."

"So strange." Rowan stared at the small cat before him. "Well, how far along are you?"

"I could have them at any moment, I'm afraid. The dog attack was quite the setback, I was hiding inside an abandoned burrow for days afterwards, in shock."

"Are you in pain?" Rowan continued.

"N-no, not really." She quivered.

Not convincing.

"Are you hungry?"

"Um, maybe a little. I was so sick to my stomach for a few days, I don't have an appetite, but I should eat."

"You should."

Rowan glanced over at his companion.

"I think we should go hunting, come back, get some rest." He flicked his tail at Ridgewhisper. "Are you okay to stay here while we go get some prey, you probably shouldn't leave again right away, if I'm being honest."

She curled her tail over her paws carefully. "Yes, that's okay." She trembled. "I'm sorry I'm here, I'm intruding, I can leave if you need me to."

Seamus rolled his eyes. "Relax, we aren't as communistic as you pride cats, but we can recognize a cat in need." He scoffed. "There are some nests over there, in the back left, and a non frozen water drip just outside the back door, if you are thirsty. We will be back soon, before it's fully dark I reckon."

The pair of toms walked a lightly trodden path, downhill towards the areas they knew to be rich with prey. Fresh snow was almost up to their bellies and it was clear that no life had passed through here on foot since the day before, when they stalked a rabbit down to the frozen marsh.

"It's certainly an unorthodox situation, and I'm suspicious of this story… her being banished to the Alliance, she gave us so little context… but I can't in good faith send a cat so vulnerable to the hills alone." Seamus muttered. "She's going to have those kits soon, and as much as I don't want wailing children around…"

"I get it." Rowan said. "Honestly, I'm glad you feel this way. I was worried you'd be in a foul mood and want her to leave right away."

Seamus nudged Rowan playfully. "You think I'm the worst cat to walk this earth, I swear." He chuckled. "I have a heart."

Rowan flicked a lawful of snow in his companions direction. "Yeah, a cold, hard, blackened heart… but it's there, evidently."

Seamus shrugged, his whiskers twitching.

"You think she killed somebody or something? Maybe the tom who sired those kits?" Seamus said.

"Hmmm. Seems like the perfect plan, You want kittens, you love a she-cat. Just simply make the kittens then kill the father." He laughed. "I seriously doubt it. I'm naive to the family dynamics of pride cats but I'm sure they have their ways of making those sorts of arrangements work without any unsheathed claws needing to be involved."

"I know, I know, I'm just theorizing."

"I want to believe the plague protection scheme she claims but it's so far-fetched… What could make her litter so special? Besides the other parent of those kits being the leader, I don't really understand a motive."

"Maybe this Tawnystar character is just… very overprotective."

"It's possible. But protect your kin by sending them away out of your sight at such a volatile point in the cycle?"

"Yeah. It beats me." Seamus paused in his tracks, unsheathing his claws for the hunt. "Hey, here's the root system where we found those voles. See if we can pick off a couple again, I'm famished."