Snippet #2837

Twoflower and Mossclaw arrived at the gathering very near the end of the pack. WoodClan’s medicine cat, also her brother, had slowed his step to keep pace with her and, though she valued the company, she couldn’t help but be a little embarrassed. Even now, kits, queens, and Elders filtered into the pit around them. At the north-east lip of Twoleg’s Wheel, Twoflower stopped and mewed something to her brother.

“You don’t need to wait for me next time Mossclaw. I’ll be just fine by myself, and I’m sure the leaders would’ve liked to talk to you.” In truth, the apprenticehood desire to not be treated like a kit had found its way to the surface. It’s not like she couldn’t run, but it often hurt to put continual stress on her twisted feet.

Still, fourteen toes or otherwise, she was just as much a warrior as anyone else. She would deal with it, and she’d keep quiet about it too. Mossclaw simply blinked at her.

“Yes, well… I thought you might not want to be left alone with the kits and elders this time. As deserving of respect as Beavertail is, his stories do get old…”

At this, Twoflower gave a small mewl of laughter. She wouldn’t have minded being back with the kits, not at all, but Beavertail’s stories… He was right about those.

“Mrrr! Like the one about Longtail and-“They spoke in unison now, “The battle for Kit’s Foot Pond!” Now both siblings, the only survivors of a litter of three, ‘Mr-owed’ at their memories of the old cat’s story.

In reality though, Twoflower admitted, that was quite an important victory. It was the day we won back the eastern shore from ForageClan paws. She looked to her brother. We weren’t even born yet.

Reveling in Mossclaw’s laughter, it was a stiff but pleasant baritone she rarely got to hear, Twoflower looked up into the stars. Brightpaw was up there somewhere, sharing in this moment from his spot in Silverpelt.

Thank you. She thought. Even among the killings and disappearances, horrible occurrences that were at the front of every cat’s mind, she knew she had to be grateful for this moment. It was so uncommon for her and Mossclaw to connect like this, to be almost completely at ease. Most of their conversations were short and detached, and ended in ‘Yes Mossclaw’ or ‘No Twoflower’. She was unsure what had forced this change, even temporarily, to her brother’s normally brooding and moody demeanor. She pondered this for a moment. It couldn’t be the message from StarClan, could it? What message would make him act like this, walking with her, even sticking around long enough to hear a joke?

Had they been warned of more deaths?

As his laughter died, silence fell between the cats. Together, they looked down upon Twoleg’s Wheel. Most of the cats she recognized sat or stood in groups, trying their best to predict what the clan leaders and medicine cats would have to say, but a few shared tongues with cats from WoodClan.

Those bonds must be very strong to whether all our differences, to withstand all the violence. Twoflower noted. I don’t think I could ever befriend a ForageClan cat. They’re too unstable, picking and choosing what codes to uphold… The fifteenth law, “I will reject the soft life of a kittypet”, came to mind.

With a quick shake of her head, Twoflower banished these thoughts from her mind and search the crowds below for her apprentice, Lilypaw. Twoflower hadn’t made the white she-cat walk with her, she knew that a comfortable pace for her would be several steps behind that of a young cat bursting with so much enthusiasm and energy, but she did want to make sure she’d arrived okay. Call it maternal instinct. Catching the eye of the snowy apprentice, she was play-fighting with a WoodClan friend, Twoflower gave her a nod. The site of young cats at play yanked her longing for kits to the surface. It was one she usually kept at the back of her mind, behind her responsibilities as a warrior and loyalty to her clan, and Twoflower tried her best not to indulge it. Returning her attention to Mossclaw, she now spoke to him not as her brother, but as WoodClan’s medicine cat.

“Mossclaw, has StarClan revealed anything truly important? Will it really save us?” Instead of answering, Mossclaw looked into the round pit. His eyes seemed to find rest on another cat, a large tabby from ForageClan. His gaze hovered there, on a cat she was certain he had never met, for several moments. Then the leader’s yowl, a call from Nettlestar and Jaystar to begin the meeting, rang about the Wheel.

“It is. And I think it will.” Then Mossclaw dipped his head, and ran down the slope in leaps and bounds until he reached the base of the Center Stone. As WoodClan’s medicine cat began to climb, Twoflower abandoned her place at the Wheel’s rim and took her spot among the other cats.

Though Greypad greeted her with a welcoming tongue, the disfigured warrior could barely take her eyes off Mossclaw to reply.