He picked himself up for a long stretch when the youngest kits bounced up the small knoll. He was alone under the artificial light of a tall fixture, one among many in a row marking the hill cats' camp borders.
"Farstrider!" the youngest squealed.
"I have never met kits this excited to learn ancient history." The tom's silky voice and fit physique betrayed his graying tan fur and tired-looking scar under his left eye. Even his chuckle was polite enough to hear the kits' murmuring. "But I'm not complaining."
"Is this one also about warriors and clans, too?" One of the kits asked.
Farstrider nodded. "Yes. And it involves StarClan, and isn't too dissimilar to their absence now."
Now Farstrider intrigued everyone else who came after the kits, curious themselves of their guest's stories. The more cats that showed up, the gentler the nighttime breeze became. He took his time finding a spot in the soft grass he was comfortable with. The empty sky was still bright enough to give Farstrider a clear view of most of the hill cats, except for one he hoped was feeling better.
The senior tom sat up straight and cleared his throat. "Last time there was some confusion around what I meant by 'ancient.' It means many different times in the past, but this particular story takes place a thousand years ago." His emphasis on the word roused expected confusion.
"What's a thousand?" one of the kits asked with others nodding. "Or a year?"
"It's a long, long, very long time." Farstrider tried a complementary gesture with his forepaws. "At least, Proxima says. I have been told by Star Covenant elders a year is about four seasons… which I guess doesn't help since there are no seasons on the ringworld. Anyway, these stories take place on the home world of cats and twolegs, Earth."
Even some of the old cats in the back murmured amongst the kits' excited gasps.
"Ah, you remember that name. Credit Proxima for that bit of twoleg knowledge." The older tom cleared his throat. "It was the hot season of greenleaf, named so for the trees in full bloom. But this story takes place in a forest of stone and silver built by twolegs called hambuge, hamburg… hamb? That detail escapes me. Anyway, twolegs were fighting a terrible war amongst themselves from the tiniest islands to their biggest twolegplaces. It was named the Great Sky War after the giant, rigid birds they fought with called sky-monsters."
"Are they like those other monsters you mentioned?" The sarcastic question came from a skeptical elder in the back. "With the long, fire-breathing noses and armored shells?"
"Oh, nothing like those. These monsters spat lightning from spinning noses and rumbled like thunder across the sky." Farstrider's friendly sarcasm was lost to the kits, but the elder grumbled.
"In this twolegplace, two clans were constantly fighting. StoneClan was formed by clever kittypets and strays trying to survive the worsening conditions. LeafClan was the exact opposite, a clan of beastly wildcats and devout followers of StarClan. A third pacifist clan named BreezeClan could barely keep the peace. The wildcats believed a prophecy from StarClan that they must move to the twolegplace and drive off all competitors if they were to survive the Great Sky War. Dwindling prey and poisoned water stores only exacerbated things. The flashpoint was StoneClan's plan to swell its ranks and save the lives of dozens of abandoned kittypets, spearheaded by Littlescent and a wildcat tom she allied with. They thought an act of mercy could both keep the peace and return the voice of StarClan to all. But it all went horribly wrong when countless cats on all sides perished in a vicious fire."
Some of the kits' ears fell when the story took its turn.
"Littlescent's true story begins with its aftermath. The loss of life and safe hunting grounds on both sides escalated to a war for survival. StarClan answered no one and hid their presence throughout the twoleg war, only intensifying LeafClan's hatred for StoneClan. Littlescent became Littlestar and chose to fight for their land. She committed terrible atrocities and, in a tragic reversal of fortunes, destroyed StoneClan and all who allied with it. When the Star Covenant learned of these events and the fate of the twolegplace, they dubbed it the Axin Mess and made a cautionary tale of it. Littlestar is looked down on for spearheading it all, despite her noble intentions."
The darkness did little to hide the mixed reactions of Farstrider's audience. Everything from sadness to confusion rippled through every cat as they whispered amongst themselves. The kits were still all too eager to hear more, however, undeterred.
"This next story takes place many seasons later during leafbare, where snow covered the ground and nothing grew. Again, occurring in a massive twolegplace, named berlin, again between two warring clans. The Clan of False Shadows and UnderClan fought for reasons we may never know without StarClan's presence. The daughter of one of Littlestar's littermates, Blackleaf was a young medicine cat of great beauty who vowed to succeed where Littlestar had failed. An Incarnate, dubbed Rye of the Berlin Enclave, was just one of many she entranced. This Rye was still a kit, barely four moons old, but her presence unleashed a deadly plague against the Shadows' great numbers. Blackleaf's preoccupation with StarClan's absence angered her sick clanmates."
"What did she do?" a kit sheepishly asked.
"She lacked the pure hatred towards UnderClan shared by her clanmates. After failing them one too many times, she ran away from her problems and allowed herself to be captured by UnderClan. Rye would pay the ultimate price for attempting to defend her, but not before fulfilling her divine mission. The Clan of False Shadows' numbers were thinned enough to be felled by the combined force of UnderClan, the Star Covenant, and a pack of dogs. Blackleaf was banished and no one knows what became of her. We don't even know if she managed to contact StarClan."
Farstrider heard StarClan's name whispered dozens of times between the kits. He didn't hear anything from the elder cats this time, but the younger cats were hotly debating it. Everyone's voices calmed when their oldest cleared her scratchy throat.
"Farstrider, was it? StarClan is the center of all your stories, and your Star Covenant, but we know nothing about them."
"Oh, let the kits do the wondering," another elder spat.
The kits eagerly awaited the tom's answer.
"There is no need for wondering." Farstrider proudly smiled. "StarClan established the Star Covenant, which precedes all but the oldest twoleg societies. They guide the dead to a either a land of warm nights or cold isolation. They hold authority over life itself and can bestow unnatural powers on the worthy. All Incarnates of Rye are remade from Rye, the odd-eyed molly who received their first blessing. And every star in the night sky represents a deceased cat who has joined…."
The youngest kits barraged him with so many questions he tapered off his explanation.
"Are there any Ryes here?"
"Did Littlestar go to StarClan?"
"How far away is Earth? Can I go there?"
"Where do we go if we die?" The senior tom's ears perked up to an adolescent molly's question. The others quieted down. "There's never been stars in the sky. And we never heard of StarClan until you came a few days ago. What happens to us?"
"Actually, I've wondered that myself." Everyone seemed surprised at his answer. "Cat clans, along with the warrior code and clan culture and all these stories, are literally ancient history, and most cats never believed it, anyway. But this time is different. Proxima says our sun has turned into something called a black hole and eats the light of stars. It caused the twolegs to abandon the ringworld and keeps StarClan away from us. But that's where my wonderful mate comes in—"
The barrage turned into a deluge of random questions and statements.
"How can a cat control the whole ringworld?"
"How did she survive falling off a cliff?"
"Can she even have kits? Farstrider said chimeras can't have kits."
"She's already a queen, egg-brain!"
"She just seems really sad all the time."
"I think her eyes are so pretty."
Farstrider scratched his paws, waiting for the kits' questions to end. Even the adults conversed about their other guest. He stared past the crowd and at a few holes in the ground dug as isolated nests. His ears drooped but he perked up before the others could notice.
"Is it even possible?" The adolescent molly stopped the rest from clamoring on once more. "One cat trying to save the whole ringworld by herself?"
The older tom nodded. "Mira is not alone. She has Proxima, and she's absolutely the smartest, um, smartest creature I have ever met. Proxima hates being called twoleg-thing, but I don't know what she is."
"The world is literally broken. You can see it on the horizon! How can she fix that?"
"StarClan cats are capable of extraordinary things, yes, but they all come from us. Mira is the most determined cat I know, and has already come so far…. I should sleep. Travelling at night is tricky, so I—" The kits collectively groaned while the adults began clearing out. Farstrider tried to ease them with a jagged smirk. "Sorry kits. I need to check if there are cats east of this farm."
"There are no cats east of us. There never has been," one of the kits mewed.
"I'll be back before our kits are born and stay a while, but then I need to go home. I have to formally retire from my duties as a wanderer and announce I'm staying with Mira—"
The kits teased and hollered as Farstrider playfully shook his head and left. He tuned them out and looked to the dark, eastern horizon. The shape of the ringworld was barely visible. It rose beyond his view, beyond the sky, ending at a point where it had shattered into dozens of pieces. Even that, he thought, wouldn't stop Mira.