Chapter 8

Frostflare's voice was like jagged bits of stone. Each word was sharp and solid and grounding. They fell from her mouth like rocks, simple and unapologetic. It didn't matter who believed her. The story was real as could be in her mind, and nothing else concerned the ragged elder.

"Lifetimes ago, a colony of cats crawled out from the shadows of the wilderness to stake their claim here. They had never seen anything quite like a City before, and at first they felt suffocated by the smog and trash, and the nighttime lights blinded their eyes to the sky they'd named themselves after."

"The City was dangerous back then. This was before the humans got all those leash laws in place. There were almost as many dogs as there were cats. Still, there was plenty of food, water, and places to stay. They didn't want to leave after seeing what life could be. Not after roughing it in the woods for so long just to lose their home anyway."

"Humans had done what humans do: they'd come into the sky cats' forest and started tearing things apart. They hadn't found any other stretch of trees good enough to settle in. The City had everything they needed. They decided to stay and deal with the threat of dogs, figured it was a fair enough trade-off. After all, if human meddling was inevitable, it could pay to learn how to live with them."

"So, that's what they did. The cats carved out a new home for their colony. Raised kits here. Taught them to pray to the stars. Taught them to abide their laws. Taught them about the brave souls who'd lived and died before them. That was the way of things for a while."

"Then, as the leash laws started taking hold and more cats felt safe venturing out, the sky cats and the housepets and the strays crossed paths more and more. They learned about one another, all of them intrigued by the cultures they'd shared a home with for so long."

"The sky cats had long doubted their guiding stars beneath the blinding glow of City lights. When they'd look up, they'd see the moon, or clouds, or heavens like ink. Most of them didn't look up there at all anymore. They stopped looking for messages from above and started paying more attention to the world just beyond their paws."

"The colony intermingled with the street cats and the pets. They broke off from their main group little by little like a crumbling old wall, until finally the cats of feral blood who'd crawled out of the darkness were nothing more than a memory. Spirits walk with their descendants, but they're not angry with us for leaving behind the old ways of life. The change was like the shifting of seasons; it was natural. It was needed."

"In the end, the sky cats had realized something: that the life they'd fought tooth and claw to preserve was better off left behind. They see that now, even the ones who'd defended it with their final breath. They look kindly upon us, whether we hold their blood in our veins or not, and work to protect the cats of this City from anything that should wish us harm."

Vinepaw was quiet as she took in the old cat's story. It was a lot to take in, and her mind reeled from the weight of it. Most of it was surely nonsense, but pieces of that nonsense had lodged in her brain. Feral cats having lost their home, living unified under a single name and way of life, teaching their kits to pray to the stars. There were connections to be made here, but she was too exhausted for the task.

All she knew was that this sounded familiar. This sounded like StarClan. Vinepaw's stomach turned. She trotted away from the chattering crowd of felines. She retched once. Twice. Three times. She sucked air in between her teeth as a feeling of unending cold trickled down her spine.

A horrible shudder rippled through her, but she didn't know why.

"What is it?" She could hear a hint of genuine concern in Tripwire's voice.

"I think-" she gasped for air, hunched over, her senses blinking- "I think that chicken… that chicken leg from earlier's messing up my stomach. I-I'm not… used to eating so much…"

Tripwire made a noise that she knew at once meant the stray didn't believe her. That was the thing about these cats though; they respected when someone wanted a topic left alone. Even when it was someone younger than them. Even when it was a stranger. Even when they could easily overpower them.

Respect. It was a concept the cats of this City understood through and through. So when Tripwire asked if she could carry Vinepaw back, the rogue Clan apprentice felt safe telling her yes.

#

Carmen struck down a strange, mottled bird with an ease she'd not the practice for. She stared down at its warm, lifeless body and fought the fog pooling at the edges of her mind. The sun would be rising soon, so she picked up her catch and started making her way back to their temporary camp.

Her ears rang from the nighttime rhythms still lingering in the air. Her pads navigated the uneven spits of concrete with no issue, having grown accustomed to jagged ground. Her nose and throat were burning, screaming for cleaner air. Her amber eyes gleamed with a sharpness not suited for blinding lights, but for spotting prey beneath a clump of shadows with naught but a sliver of moonlight to illuminate the world.

She ached for something else. Something beyond the suffocating confines of human design. Something she'd never known but remembered all the same. Was this the work of StarClan, too? Or was something deep inside of her clawing its way out of a grave of fluff and colors to rear its feral head? Could she even tell the difference? Would it matter if she could?

Muscle rippled beneath her ruddy pelt as she strode down a darkened alleyway with the bird in her jaws. Her mind wandered through blurry images of a past not too long ago. Of soft furniture and cool air. Of gourmet food and endless pampering. Of a time when Carmen's whole world was a tiny apartment standing high above the streets, the only extensions of reality existing as car rides in carriers for the occasional trip to the vet or a friend's place. Life had been so tiny before but had felt as grand and limitless as could be.

If only their human had made the right choice. But as Carmen reflected on all that she'd been through, she started to wonder if she was cut out for that life after all. There was no doubt in her mind that she would have been, had she been chosen. Now? After plunging into a dark and dirty world where survival was far from a promise and there were conniving minds at every turn? Could she really settle into the life of canned pate and shallow gossip her mother had raised her to envy?

If StarClan had truly been a benevolent force out to help Carmen into the life she'd dreamed of, would it have mattered after all of this? Say she found the perfect human tomorrow, one raring to fix her up and make her Show Cat material again… Would she still want it? Carmen thought back to her life as a pet. She'd been so small and young, with fantasies filling her head that just seemed silly now.

Maybe that's all being a Show Cat ever was: the dreams of a kit. And maybe, just maybe, it was time to wake up.