Bits of dry beech leaves had mingled with the long fur on Mira's belly while her paws had carefully avoided them. Trees had swayed back and forth to the gentle nudges of the wind, warmth and the scent of fresh water having drifted from parts unknown. It had all pitted her mind deeper into the hunt. Only a single yellow light blinking above the forest canopy behind her had shined through the starless night sky. And the strongest trace of all had been the potentially hapless rabbit they had been stalking.
Farstrider's tail curled in and out three times. Mira went to his side—his fur smelled pleasantly of the beech bark he'd masked himself with. He then waved his paw forward and slightly to the right. Mira nodded, resisting the urge to purr when the tom brushed his tail against her lower back. She moved out to her right, putting some distance between them. She leapt over a large log without so much as a sound, a rustling bush behind her letting her know Farstrider was still watching. She jumped to a low-hanging branch to spot her target: a large, brown rabbit nibbling on something. Over a tree-length away, she knew it'd be tough for Farstrider to spot. At least it hadn't noticed them.
Farstrider's head poked through the bush. Mira bore her fangs once facing him. He nodded and continued with his claws sheathed. Mira let hers out and hopped from the ledge. She stalked as close as she dared, losing sight of the rabbit in a thicket she had to cross. She carefully put her legs through each bramble, thankful they weren't too thick. She locked onto the rabbit when she reached the other side. Its ears shot up. Mira pounced, the rabbit too slow to escape her claws. It kicked her chest while she bit its back. But the heavy creature rolled them both and kicked her hard in the chin. Mira's teeth clapped together with an angry moan. It darted away the second it was free.
"Horse-dirt!" Mira said through a clenched jaw. "Since when could rabbits kick that hard?"
She could hear Farstrider chuckling as he approached. She playfully kicked leaves in his direction. "You have to get on top of them quick, before they stretch their legs."
"It rolled me over. I didn't know they were that strong."
"To be fair, that was the biggest rabbit I've ever seen." He noticed Mira was still nursing her chin. "Let me see it?"
Mira got up and exposed her sore chin. Her irritation melted against the gentle strokes of Farstrider's tongue, so much so she ignored the pain and wrapped her neck around his. She could feel the fur on his back rising and welcomed it. Before he could whisper in his ear, the mood was broken by a dull hum loud enough to disturb the natural peace. It was accompanied by a blue light scanning across the forest floor.
"It's Proxima," Mira sighed, letting the tom go.
"I guess she found what she was looking for," Farstrider said. "Should we just go to her?"
Mira was still exhilarated by the failed hunt. A smile crept across her face. "I want to hunt another rabbit."
He was confused at first, but her playful smirk told him all he needed to know. They walked into a bramblebush together, crouching low and squinting their eyes to avoid being caught by the sweeping blue light.
"Mira?" Proxima's voice was clear through the flat drone's chatter-holes. "I found food. You can stop hunting, now."
It hovered low enough to be pounced from above, its disc-shaped green body easy to spot with the protruding light. The red and blue stripe underneath was reflective enough to scare away anything else. When it passed, Farstrider brushed his tail against her right shoulder. She nodded and pushed her way through the brambles. The drone's light didn't even flinch with the noise she made. Mira kept behind it climbing up tree branches. She smiled when Proxima called her name again.
When it was a good distance from her perch, Mira leapt to another tree and caught up with it. She scoped out her paths while the drone stopped to scan another clearing. There was no branch in front of the drone to leap to. Mira took a deep breath, tightened her legs, and took off. She leapt to a thick branch and ran along it towards the next tree. Without a branch to land on, she leapt towards the trunk, pushed off it, and spun through the air towards her target. The drone slammed into the ground and something on it broke. Sirens from the chatter holes dazed her before snapping off, leaving her to proudly stand over her 'prey.'
"That was amazing!" Farstrider said, shaking bramble bits from his fur. "Where'd you learn something like that?"
"You do a lot of climbing when you move through twolegplaces," Mira said, sitting atop the fallen drone. "To be honest, I didn't think I still had that move in me."
"Your chimeric blood aged you far more gracefully than the tomcat," Proxima said, her voice mostly static through the chatter holes. "Why did you attack instead of calling out?"
"I missed the rabbit," Mira growled playfully, "but I was getting something, at least."
"Did he put you up to this?"
"It was all her idea," Farstrider meowed, pointing to Mira.
"Hey! You're supposed to take the fall for things like this."
"How am I supposed to lie when your claws are literally in its back?" Mira looked down. Her claws mangled the top good enough to break its unusually soft shell. Her ear tips warmed as she slinked from the broken drone with a playful smile. "See? It was all her. Take her away!"
"You think this is funny, tomcat?" Proxima said, her accent barely coming through. "This drone has… had a sensor suite clearance high enough to work inside command centers. Are you trying to put Mira in danger?"
"I still have a nose and claws," Mira said, taking to his side and reassuring him Proxima was exaggerating. "I'll manage."
Glowing rods emerged from underground and formed a path through the lightless forest. "Follow these lights. There is shelter and food not far from here."
Farstrider moved before one of the rods hit his belly. "These were underground the whole time? Is anything in this forest natural?"
"Not in this one," Proxima said. "You should leave to do whatever task you have set yourself on. Sooner rather than later."
"You can't stay with me?" Mira was halfway between playful and upset, for she already knew the answer but also knew it was not a permanent goodbye.
Farstrider shook his head. "I wish. But somewhere beyond here might be an unknown group of cats. It'd be a lot easier if Proxima knew how to search for them." He shot a playful glance at the fallen drone, waiting for it to respond. "But I'll see you again. Hopefully not too long from now?"
"A rotation or two apart never worried me," Mira said. "It'll go by before we know it."
Farstrider had wrapped his paw around Mira's neck and had purred loudly. Mira had brushed her cheek all the way down his back and had purred even louder. She had whispered something in his ear that made his fur puff out. After exchanging a few nervous glances, Mira had vanished into the bushes opposite of the lights.
"Mira?" Proxima had said a little louder. "Where are you going now?"
Farstrider had dipped his head to the fallen drone and had taken off giggling after his lover.
"Unbelievable," Proxima had grumbled. The fallen drone had managed to hover a hair off the ground before collapsing again. She had sighed when she realized they were not coming back anytime soon.
O O O
The snake-monster rushed them from the empty steppe to rows and rows of dense twoleg nests, slowing its pace tremendously as it neared the massive spires of Harc's center. They got off where the silverpath was damaged by the previous night and were told by Proxima they wouldn't make it through in one day. Mira had seen many twolegplaces in her travels, whether made up of looming spires or temporary shacks. She assumed Lilii Borea would not be surprised, either, but she was excited to show Faypaw everything he'd never seen before. The two had grown inseparable throughout the day. By evening, Proxima said she found a suitable place to sleep.
No matter how many times Mira had seen them, she was always awed. The night sky the shadow squares brought about vanished amidst towers so high she couldn't see where they ended. Most had tubes connecting them, once allowing twolegs to cross into others without having to return to the ground. Drones floated, rolled, and climbed seemingly without aim, but Mira knew they were repairing the damage from the prior night's gravity lapse. Most of the towers were a warm shade of gray or a dark tan covered in reflective panes. A few floors up, the walls sometimes held glowing lights bent into strange symbols. Most of the first-floor walls were just screens displaying all sorts of things from twolegs dancing to animals speaking their language, at one point presenting a giant cat with an ornate collar around her neck.
"Twolegs were strange." Faypaw said as he watched the kittypet.
"I don't know. It looks kind of nice," said Lilii Borea nervously brushing her ear tips. "I hate the idea of being someone's pet, but the collar looks warm."
Mira had kept her distance as to not disturb the young cats' time together, but caught up when they stopped. The cream-colored molly arced her head up to better show off the collar. The pride she carried would've been lost to the twolegs, but was obvious to her. Her tail wrapped only so far around her legs and her ears didn't shift about while being recorded. She liked the work and the attention.
"Hmm." Dovewhisker's starry pelt glowed even against the neon lights. "Kittypet life was harder during the Great Sky War. Not that I'd ever run off to be one, no matter how fancy they make us look."
"She looks like she lived the life she wanted," Mira said as the molly faded from the screen.
"Well put, ma'am," Lilii Borea said.
The thunderpath was paved black and bordered by a separated walking path. It was covered in projections of automated neon arrows and lines. Some of the monsters they would've directed were off to the side. Lilii Borea and Faypaw ran ahead to look at a particularly sleek red one with four spheres as paws. The lynx stretched as tall as she could to prop herself on the see-through dome forming its top. While she was staring inside, Faypaw had caught himself staring at her just as she looked back at him. They looked at each other like lost kits for a moment. Faypaw leapt to the monster's hood and looked occupied, Lilii Borea doing the same. Mira could hear Dovewhisker giggling behind her.
The green trail they followed led towards a large intersection. There were more parked monsters, all with boxy corners and trailers. The fronts were as flat as their backs, as were their earthtone paint schemes. But they looked so new, Mira could imagine a twoleg rolling away in one right then and there. She even caught a drone skittering from underneath one with a bent silvertube.
"So many of those little things around," Dovewhisker said as one phased through her legs. "Which reminds me, I thought that Proxima whatever-you-call-her always gives directions and explains stuff. She seems more like the silent type to me."
"I know," Mira whispered, still lagging the younger cats. "Lilii Borea has been making slights at her all day. Something happened between them. But I don't want to pry. She looks so happy."
Turning right at the intersection, the trail ended in a well-lit tower amidst broken walls and dark spires. Like the others, it was so tall she couldn't see where it ended and had tubes connecting it to other spires. The bottom half of it was covered in see-through walls heavily tinted from the outside. The entrance was a gaping hole bordered by ugly silver blocks. Faypaw and Lilii Borea padded inside and were quickly distracted by the shiny, silver mechanisms and tubes stretching beyond the absent ceiling. When Mira entered, lights appeared in the blocks and vibrated her sleeves. Dovewhisker curiously tapped them, but was more interested in the adolescent pair.
"I think they like each other. Isn't that sweet?" Dovewhisker said.
"What?" Mira whispered.
"It reminds me of the apprentices in UnderClan. Even the possible end of our clan couldn't keep them focused when they were like that."
Faypaw's fur seemed to glow against the lobby's golden-hour lighting. He stood just a bit straighter with more focused eyes, just as he did during his lessons or hearing one of Farstrider's stories. Lilii Borea, for all the maturity she showed towards her, reverted to a young kit around him. She was amazed by things she'd seen and places she'd been because Faypaw was with her. She seemed to keep her muscles tighter and her fur groomed. The only thing separating them now was their nerves.
"It's like I'm seeing who my kit is for the first time." Mira couldn't help but smile as her heart sank a little. "I just wish he didn't have to wait so long."
"What do you mean by that?" Dovewhisker asked, spectral blades of grass springing up around her. Mira was too focused on her kit to listen, but the way her ears flattened and her face relaxed into a sorrowful longing made the StarClan medicine cat's do the same. "Sorry. I didn't mean to bring anything up—"
"What?" Mira snapped from her gaze, certain the other two didn't hear her outburst. "Oh, no, no. You're fine."
"I really didn't mean to pry."
A smile crossed Mira's face. "You're asking for permission to pry? Are you sure you're a StarClan cat?"
"I guess not a very good one," Dovewhisker chuckled. "My brother was always better at reading cats than I was."
The spire's lobby held ornate wood boxes and seats, a tall fountain near the middle drowning out dozens of yellow-striped drones, and décor made from animal parts being tended to. Some sections were blocked by security drones while others had lines for twolegs to organize themselves into. Just behind the fountain were a pair of hulking, see-through tubes filled with dozens of elevators. The lobby's ceiling never seemed there, rows and rows of walkways crisscrossing the empty space.
Some of the drones were just floating screens showing what appeared to be warnings for never-would-be visitors. Mira was surprised their holographic projections didn't intrigue the adolescents more. Disc-shaped drones had assembled a silver box nearby, red lights glowing from their tops. They came one by one to drop off twoleg bedding and three silver dishes. Mira had already known the device's heat would be gentle and even, nothing like a fire's. Dovewhisker seemed to feel it, too, and approached without caution. Faypaw and Lilii Borea gave up on riding the elevators and took interest in the box, too.
"Is that some kind of twoleg fire?" Faypaw said, trying to find the heat source within the unassuming gray mechanism.
"They are called space heaters," Proxima said from the remaining drone. "Central heating is not functional and it may grow cold tonight. All government buildings have shelter-in-place emergency equipment, including these."
"I like them!" Faypaw purred, curling up close. "We sure could use them back home when it rains or something."
Lilii Borea dipped her head to Mira, waiting for her to settle before sitting next to Faypaw. A pair of drones opened underslung hatches and dropped dried chunks of meat and powder into the dishes. The young cats sniffed at it curiously, but Mira curled her nose. Cat food, and the worst kind. Another added hot water and filled the air with the smell of artificial meat. Lilii Borea slid hers away from the drones and started eating. Faypaw excitedly devoured the new taste. Mira reluctantly took a few bites, the unnaturally warm "flesh" sliding down her tongue and sending a shiver up her spine. Dovewhisker chuckled, planting herself next to Mira and swatting at her food.
Each time Mira glanced in her direction, Lilii Borea never noticed. She ate her large portion slow with no concern for her surroundings. She angrily glanced at each passing drone, even if they weren't under Proxima's control. A tap on the shoulder by Faypaw, who had finished eating, perked her ears up.
"Want to see what else is here?" Faypaw asked.
"I would advise against that." Proxima's voice sounded over the chatter holes of a yellow-striped drone hovering over the heater. "District bureaucratic centers are expansive and intentionally mapped poorly. I do not want either of you to get injured."
"We'll be careful," Lilii Borea said, narrowing her eyes at the drone. "Besides, you're not in charge of me anymore."
"I have been leading you through Harc all day—"
"I know this twolegplace like the back of my paws." She stood and growled, threatening to release anger pent up throughout the day. "No thanks to you, twoleg freak."
"Lilii Borea!" Mira hissed. The lynx sat upright, fur still bristling but showing none of her anger to the senior molly. "Proxima hasn't said an unkind word all day. And Proxima, you rarely withhold information. Is there some history I should know between the two of you?"
After getting over the shock of seeing Mira angry, Faypaw looked between the drone and Lilii Borea. He gently set his paw on hers and melted her irritation away. "Maybe we can talk about this another time?"
Lilii Borea shook her head. "I can't stay welcome in your mother's company if I insult her acquaintances like this. And I don't want to hide anything from you, Faypaw…. The oldest memory I have is rising into the air, away from my mother, my siblings, my home. I went to sleep for what felt like forever, and then I was in this twoleg forest. I was six rotations old when that happened."
"You're oldest memory is at six rotations," Mira said, remembering her own upbringing, "but you had a mother and littermates? How is that possible."
"Her." Lilii Borea spat the last of her anger towards the drone. "I can hunt. Understand some barn-speak, wolf-speak. But I can't remember where I learned those things from, or my mother's face, or my siblings. How is that possible? Unless she took those memories from me! How else could I forget so precisely?"
Mira stayed quiet for a while. She knew better than to doubt the seemingly impossible when it came to Proxima. The longer she pondered it, the more of Faypaw's bewilderment came through. Mira looked at the drone, unsure what face to make towards it. "Is this all true?"
"Yes." Proxima said, hovering the drone to Mira's side. "Her mother was a chimera and awoken from cold storage, just like you. She birthed a healthy litter in her senior years and passed on her chimeric trait to one of the kittens, so I took her for my own purposes while you were recovering with the hill cats. I refused to wait because I had already conceived of the plan we are following now.
"I wanted to evacuate everyone who could possibly be in danger if the Shattered District was successfully broken away—I tasked another on the opposite side to do the same. I erased Lilii Borea's memories because her species of lynx requires social dependence from her mother for at least a year. It was all a misguided gesture of mercy with unacceptable consequences."
"Bet you didn't even think about how I'd look to them," Lilii Borea said, sadness replacing her anger. "I've been attacked or insulted or scared away by everyone I approached. The only life I've known, I've been shunned! Even when the Rigel Flock killed them all and your plan failed, you never gave me my memories back. You brought me here for nothing!"
"Your procedure was performed after a brief stay in orbit. Despite Harc's many advanced medical facilities, federal authorization by a high-ranking bureau official is required to reverse the procedure. I am sorry I hid this information."
"I apologize for insulting you because Mira and Faypaw trust you, but I'll never forgive you."
Lilii Borea tried holding back sobs of rage and heartbreak, crumpling over Faypaw's neck and hiding her chimeric eyes. Mira watched the drone up until its red light flicked off and it returned to whatever task it was doing before Proxima had taken it—the act of doing so might have been disturbing if not for their inanimateness.
"What about StarClan?" Faypaw said. Mira raised an eyebrow. "Farstrider says some Ryes are born with memories from a previous life. And they can reincarnate cats they believed died too soon. So they can restore memories, right?"
Dovewhisker appeared in front of Lilii Borea, studied her, and shrugged. "When my brother took his life, I was desperate for every new kit in the clan to be him. I honestly don't know."
"StarClan?" Lilii Borea said, oblivious to the StarClan medicine cat watching her. "Those cats you told me about this morning? That can do all of these fantastical things?"
"When we're done saving the ringworld, we can take you to his branch."
Lilii Borea's eyes widened as she left Faypaw's shoulder. "I can… I can stay with you?"
"I want you to—but, um, it's not my decision…."
Faypaw drew his eyes towards Mira, trying his best to keep a positive expression. Lilii Borea straightened herself again and dipped her head for mercy. After a few moments of silence, Mira wobbled to her paws and wandered off. "Give me a moment. Making dirt."
Mira picked up her pace despite protest from her aching legs, hoping her awkward excuse would prevent Faypaw from eavesdropping. She glanced back at her kit's whispers and the young lynx recovering from her account. She looked for a convincing spot where she wouldn't be overheard and settled on a column behind one of the ornate boxes. A screen with a red dot popped up on it while Dovewhisker settled nearby.
"I gave you the benefit of the doubt by not saying anything in front of them," Mira growled. "But you need to be clear with me on this—"
"I have never touched your memories," Proxima said, her accented voice from the chatter holes quiet. "The government found tampering with memories more trouble than it is worth, and it is a lesson I should have heeded. Especially since I cannot fully reverse the procedure."
"I just wanted that point clarified." Mira sat quiet for a while. "I trust you on that. Now, I want your honest thoughts on having Lilii Borea stay with us."
"I do not believe she should," Proxima said. "Her isolation and premature removal from her mother has left her emotionally vulnerable. That is why she imprinted on you so quickly. She is stronger than you and Faypaw. She could force you to act against your will if she deemed a task too dangerous. I believe the best course of action is for me to guide her to the hill cats. She can bring down large prey and easily defeat a fox. That and Faypaw's blessing will be more than enough to give her a place with them. But this is your decision."
Mira and Dovewhisker poked their heads from behind the pillar. Faypaw was grooming behind Lilii Borea's ears while she giggled, teasingly standing taller and taller to force him to reach further. Once again, they seemed oblivious to everything around them, even to the fact they were being watched. Mira smiled and nodded to the screen. The red dot vanished.
Dovewhisker materialized atop the large bags. "Some kind of sand? I don't know why twolegs would put such a thing in bags. It's everywhere!"
Mira sliced one open. Real, tan sand flowed gently from it. She scooped out enough for a convincing pile and pawed at it. "You think she should come with us?"
"She carries her grief better than most. Better than I ever could. As long as she has someone like Faypaw, she'll be okay."
Dovewhisker faded away to give her privacy, not realizing Mira's earlier remark was just to keep Faypaw from eavesdropping. The senior molly held an ear to the air and heard them giggling. She was unsettled by how seemingly normal one could be after having memories taken away. How precisely something so true and intimate could be lost. But they were happy. She wasn't going to take that from either of them.