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clangenrising · 19 hours

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Month 14 - Newleaf

Lake’s paws ached. Her stomach growled and her head pounded dully behind her eyes. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt full. Still, she walked.

Ever since her mother had disappeared, she’d been wandering. A few cats had shared a bite with her but they didn’t have much to share in the first place. Most of them were too busy training to fight and they didn’t want her around, especially not the special cats - Exalted, she remembered hazily. She’d tried following other kits home but every time she was politely sent away.

Two days ago, she’d seen a couple cats bringing back a pair of juicy looking birds and while they hadn’t shared with her, they had told her that there was plenty of prey over the far road if she could catch it, laughing between themselves. She figured that was as good an idea as any, so she’d headed out for the wild frontier!

It was farther away than she’d thought it would be, or maybe it was just easier to get lost without roads to follow. She walked and walked and then stopped to sleep then walked some more. She was starting to wonder if there even was anything out here at all. Was she just missing it?

The sound of running water grabbed her attention and she licked her chapped lips eagerly at the thought. The kit picked up her heavy paws and bounded towards the noise. Coming out of the grass, she suddenly found herself on the edge of a stream of cool, fresh water - fresher than she’d ever seen before at least.

“Wowzers!” she declared because that seemed fitting. She waded into the stream and crouched down, gulping greedily until her stomach hurt. She thought about falling over and sleeping in the stream but worried she might drown. Instead, she decided to follow the water like it was a road and see where that took her. At the very least it would be fun to splash around.

The sky was getting dark again but Lake didn’t mind. She tromped noisily against the current of the stream, humming a song as each note came to her mind. The chill of the water kept her awake, which was nice. She wondered if she would see a fish. They lived in water, right? She hoped so. She was starving and the water she drank wasn’t helping. It honestly made her feel grosser.

Eventually the stream came upon a small hill but, instead of curving or trickling down the slope, it cut through the earth in a big metal tube. “That’s interesting,” Lake thought out loud. It was like a gutter drain but huge, big enough for a cat to walk through! She bounded up to the edge of it and sucked in a huge breath.

“Hellooooo!” she bellowed, giggling at the way it echoed off the tunnel walls. She splashed her paws in the water and listened to the magnified sound with excitement. “Blaaaaaaah! Bluh, bluh, bluh!” She snorted with laughter. This was the best fun she’d had in weeks!

“Hello?” A voice that wasn’t her own echoed back to her. She gasped. Was that possible?

“Hello?” she called back. It was hard to tell in the dark but at the end of the tunnel, she swore she saw something moving. Then a glint of eyes blinked at her, barely reflecting the moonlight in her direction.

“Wowzers!” she cried, “I didn’t think I’d see anybody! Are you hunting too?”

“Yeah,” the voice said hesitantly. “How old are you?” It sounded like a boy but there were other quieter voices outside the tunnel and they were talking very serious-like.

“I’m three whole months!” Lake said. The eyes pulled away from the tunnel as the cat whispered with his friends. Lake decided she wanted to say hi up close and personal. She started towards the cat, sloshing through the stream up to her belly. Once the tunnel was all around her, the sound of her paw steps started to hurt her ears and she hurried towards the other end to get away from it.

She burst out of the other end and thumped into a pair of bony legs, falling back onto her rump with an “oof!” The cat she had run into reached out a paw to steady her. He smelled like grass and dust and his breath smelled like prey blood. It made Lake’s mouth water.

“Easy, there, kid,” the cat said. It was now that Lake looked up and got her first sight of him.

“You’re funny looking, mister!” she said. He was a skinny white and blue tabby with big ears, like a little dog, and a very pointy face.

“I could say the same about you,” he said.

She laughed. “Am I funny looking?”

“The poor thing looks half starved,” whispered one of the other cats, an equally funny looking girl with brown points on her face and feet.

“Are you out here all alone?” asked the third cat, a fluffy brown tabby boy who was much more normal looking.

“Yessir!” said Lake. “I heard there was food here. Do you guys know where the far road is?” The cats all looked at each other for a beat.

Then the first one spoke up, “Uh, no, but we do know where some food is.”

“Really?!” Lake grinned. “Can I have some?!” Her mouth was starting to fill with saliva. She slurped some of it down to avoid drooling.

“Yeah,” nodded the normal boy. “I’ll even carry you if you want.”

“Nuh, uh,” Lake shook her head. “I’m a big girl now.”

“You sure are,” said the funny looking boy. “Barleypaw, will you go grab one of the mice or something?”

“Yeah,” nodded the funny looking girl. She bounded off into the grass and Lake started after her but the funny looking boy put out a paw to stop her.

“She’s gonna be right back with the food,” he said. “You just sit.”

“Oh, okay,” shrugged Lake. “My name’s Lake. What’s your names?”

“I’m Floodpaw,” said the funny looking boy.

“Sparrowpaw,” said the normal looking boy.

“And our sister is Barleypaw,” said Floodpaw.

“Hey!” Lake gasped. “Did you know all your names rhyme?” Sparrowpaw laughed a little. Floodpaw raised one brow.

“Yeah…” he said. “Where’s your mom, kid?”

Lake frowned. “Oh, um… I don't know.”

“Oh,” said Floodpaw.

“That’s alright,” said Sparrowpaw. “Maybe you can come home with us, then.”

“Yeah?” she brightened. Was she finally gonna be able to find a new place to sleep and a new person to help her get food?

“Yeah,” said Floodpaw. “Once you’ve eaten we can go there.”

“I can’t wait!” cried Lake. “You guys are the best!” The brothers exchanged glances again. Lake wasn’t sure what it meant but she saw the sister coming back over the hill and smelled the delicious smell of meat and all other thoughts fled her brain. She scarfed the whole thing down as quickly as she could. She ate it so fast she forgot to check what kind of animal it was. By the time she finished, she realized she felt very sick to her stomach.

“Oh…” she said. “I think I ate too fast…”

“That’s alright,” said Sparrowpaw, “Are you sure you don’t want me to carry you?”

She nodded, cheeks full of breath as she tried to stifle her nausea.

“Alright, come on then,” Floodpaw said, stretching. “Why don’t we go back to camp? I bet a nice walk will help you feel better.”

“Okay,” mumbled Lake. She didn’t feel like walking. She felt like falling over and never moving again. She didn’t like saying no to people, though, so she forced herself to take a few steps.

Floodpaw tilted his funny looking head and said, “I dunno, maybe we should just sit for a while.” Lake sighed a little in relief. “Yeah, why don’t you guys go gather the prey and tell somebody about Lake and I’ll chill here with the kid until she feels like walking.”

“Are you sure?” asked Barleypaw. “We’re awfully close to the border.”

“It’ll be fine,” he said, flopping down in the grass. “Worst comes to worse, I'll grab the kid and go.”

“Alright…” said Sparrowpaw, looking unconvinced. He and Barleypaw started off into the grass, looking back over their shoulders and whispering to each other. Lake let out a big sigh and eased herself into the grass next to Floodpaw.

“Thanks,” she said, closing her eyes. “I don’t feel very good.” She swallowed, her sides heaving under the distress of her sick tummy.

“No problem,” smiled Floodpaw. “Barleypaw and Sparrowpaw are always like ‘go, go, go, let’s follow the rules’ or whatever but I get just wanting to lie down.”

“Yeah,” Lake smiled wide and wiggled into a more comfortable position. “I like laying down!”

“Me too,” laughed Floodpaw, dropping his head onto the ground too. “So, what are you doing out here, Lake?”

“Looking for food!” Lake purred. Her stomach gurgled loudly and she giggled a bit. “Thanks for sharing it with me.”

“Yeah, no problem,” said Floodpaw, one ear flicking away the gnats buzzing by. “But why are you looking for food all the way out here? You’re from the city aren’t you?”

“Oh, yeah, I am,” Lake nodded, peeking her eyes open at him. “Some cats told me there was food out here. I was really hungry. Plus it sounded fun to try.”

“Don’t other cats bring you food?” he asked, brows furrowed.

“Nah,” she sighed. “Not since Mother went missing.”

The crease in his funny, pointy face deepened. “Still, there wasn’t anybody else who helped you out?”

“Um…” Lake frowned too. “No. I’m sorry.” Was she answering wrong? Why was he upset?

“Oh, no, hey,” he said quickly, “It’s okay, I’m not mad, I’m just-” His skinny little tail twitched. “I just think it’s not cool that no one looked out for you.”

“They’re busy I guess,” Lake shrugged. They were learning to fight or taking care of their own kits. She didn’t blame any of them for not having time for her.

“Well, here we take care of kittens,” Floodpaw said firmly, “no matter who they are.” Lake smiled and hid her nose in her paws shyly. Floodpaw laughed and stretched his big, long legs out in opposite directions. “Take a little nap, kid. I’ll keep watch.”

“Okay,” she said and yawned. She hadn’t realized how tired she was until he said something but now, with her belly full, she was eager to get some shut eye. Feeling very round and sluggish, she closed her eyes and quickly drifted off to sleep.

~~~

When Lake woke up it was very, very dark. She yawned and stretched and looked around, realizing that she was in a totally new place. She stiffened in fright. Where was she? The not knowing was scarier than any answer she could come up with.

She was in a large den made of dirt, it seemed, in a nest of soft green moss and feathers. It smelled faintly of other cats, cats she didn’t know.

Carefully, she got to her paws and crept towards the scent of night air, poking her head out to see a small grassy dip with a few other burrows tucked under big, grey stones. Three cats were sitting on top of a big, flat stone and talking softly. They didn’t seem dangerous so Lake ventured a bit further out to look around in wonder.

“Wowzers,” she breathed. Everything here smelled so fresh and green. She’d never experienced anything like it.

One of the cats, a dark blue bengal girl, perked up at the sound and looked her way. “Oh, hey! She’s awake!”

“Shh,” hushed a brown spotted tabby girl nervously.

“Right, sorry,” said the first girl, lowering her volume a bit. “Hey, girlie, how you feelin’?”

Lake realized she was supposed to answer and said, “I’m good. How did I get here?”

“They carried you in while you were sleeping,” said the third cat, a paler spotted tabby boy. Lake frowned. She had wanted to walk.

“I bet you’re pretty confused,” said the first girl. “Why don’t you come up here and sit with us? We can answer any questions you have.”

“Um, I’m okay,” said Lake. “Where’s the guy with the funny ears?”

“Huh?” asked the first girl.

The boy brightened in realization. “Oh, you mean Floodpaw.”

“Yeah!” Lake bounced. That was his name!

“He’s sleeping over there,” he said, pointing to one of the holes in the ground.

“Okay, thanks!” said Lake. She started towards the hole to go see him. The second girl breathed in sharply through her teeth and the first girl laughed.

The boy started to say, “Oh, uh, I don’t know if-” but the first girl interrupted him.

“Shh, let her be. It’ll be funny.”

Lake didn’t know what they were talking about but she didn’t let it bother her. She made her way into the den. Five cats were sleeping in their nests; two smaller ones were curled up together and Floodpaw and the other cats she had met were sleeping near each other but not so close that they were touching. Lake padded right up to Floodpaw and settled down against his side. He opened his eyes and lifted his head groggily, blinking at her a few times before he managed to speak.

“Hey, kid, what are you doing in here?” he mumbled hoarsely.

“Looking for you,” she whispered. “Why did you carry me? I wanted to walk.”

“Oh,” he said with a small groan. He swiped his tongue over his whiskers and rubbed an eye with his paw. “It was getting really late and I didn’t want to wake you. Sorry, kid.”

“Mmm, it’s okay,” she decided, purring. She wiggled down into his nest and closed her eyes again.

“Oh, uh…” he hesitated for a moment before eventually wrapping his tail around her and laying his head back down to sleep. Lake purred even harder. She’d missed sleeping next to somebody like this.

She hoped that wherever her mother was, she had found someone new to sleep beside too.

UPDATES: - While on patrol with Barleypaw and Sparrowpaw, Floodpaw finds an abandoned kit named Lake and takes her back to camp.

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