Heart Of A Fighter (Book 3): Home Is Calling

Chapter 8: The Switching

"Stretch out your wings, let me see," Splash Sprint murmured gently as Goslingpaw stretched her wings out for him to examine.

After getting over the initial shock of losing her feathers, now she was undergoing a check to make sure the lost feathers had grown back in perfect condition.

"Coverts coming in nicely, Goslingpaw. Very nice tip slots developing there between the primaries. Essential for drag control, especially during those turbulent conditions. Your barbs are still quite soft but they'll stiffen up eventually."

Goslingpaw sighed in relief as she folded them back. She watched as the larger blue-grey tom before her sat down and began to preen his own feathers.

Splash Sprint's feathers were beautiful, sleek and glossy and curved at the edges unlike Russet Rush's, which were sharp and barbed.

This observation caused Goslingpaw cocked her head curiously.

She knew every cryptid had different wings, but she had been told by Azurestar, who had been most familiar with the legends, that the primary difference between toms and she-cats with feathered wings were, of course, their feathers.

She-cats tended to have feathers curved at the tips, with a slight bit more fluffy down than toms and small sharp barbs reinforcing the tips of their primaries and secondaries.

Toms on the other claw, had sleeker, sharper tipped feathers and slightly larger wingspans than she-cats did.

They lacked most of the fluffy down to help trap heat to keep warm, however, and in some cases tended to have more feathers than they could manage.

Goslingpaw even remembered that her foster father had once said that cryptids who identified as the.. third option, as he put it, had wings with feather tips diagonally slashed down with longer 'ribbon feathers' at their secondaries.

Splash Sprint interested her. She had studied his wings before when she was trying to recap what Russet Rush had taught her about flying, and she found more differences in both toms' wings in the process.

From mere glances Goslingpaw could clearly see that Splash Sprint lacked the sharp tips on his feathers that slashed through the air, instead having softly rounded tips that were slightly storm-tattered.

And though he was fortunate to have two pairs of wings, Russet Rush's wingspan obviously outranked both pairs of his wings in size, something he was never quiet about.

And although Splash Sprint did not have that much fluffy down, she knew that the reason for that was because he plucked it off at night.

Many times already, she had seen him shred out clawfuls of down to make the nest comfortable enough for Cottonsong and her kits with his own jaws, and she winced every time he did so.

So, she decided to ask.

"Splash Sprint?" "Yes?" He lifted his head up from his feathers and fixed her with his piercing amber-hazel gaze curiously.

"How come your feathers are more like a.. she-cat's than a tom's? Did something happen?" She queried awkwardly, afraid that the Northern warrior would get offended.

He blinked in surprise for a minute, before chuckling awkwardly. "Well, you see, little one, I did formerly identify as a she-cat," he purred with a gentle smile.

Goslingpaw felt her jaw drop open. "You what?" She gasped. "I used to be a she-cat," the beautiful blue-grey tom laughed gently, his voice chiming like a boreal owl's.

"Being a she-cat had never really felt right to me; I always felt... out of place as a she-cat. It didn't help that I was one of the only kits who were female in the nursery at the time, making things very awkward indeed."

The blue-gray tom breathed out deeply. "My mother Cunning Storm and my father Sly Whisker were oblivious to my insecurity. In fact, they were highly against it too."

He wrinkled his nose and added sourly, "They found the idea of cats of the same gender being mates simply repulsive, let alone switching genders."

"My younger twin brother Zephyr Whistle was the only one who really understood. He never felt the same way as I but he saw no wrong in being who you really feel like being unless it's simply too outrageous."

Goslingpaw blinked as Splash Sprint slumped down into a resting position. "Cunning Storm was persistent in getting me to grow up and find a mate to give her grandchildren though I didn't like the idea."

"The main reason for this was because she wanted heirs to continue our family's legacy of being strong, confident Hydros and secure a high-ranking spot in the tribe."

"As we grew older I began to despise being a she-cat even more. Sly Whisker started forcing me to go out on 'dates' with toms, some who I had barely spoken to and most who weren't even my age."

Splash Sprint paused, and gave a visible shudder. "Every single one of those 'dates' ended in me feeling uncomfortable as ever."

"Shortly after we became warriors, Zephyr Whistle got into a fight with our parents. He'd found a mate, a tom named Auburn Thistle who had black marbled tabby fur with orange eyes like the hottest fires."

"Cunning Storm and Sly Whisker were very angered that their son had went against their wishes of providing them with grandkits, and it was there and then they disowned him. Frankly, I think my brother was more glad rather than upset."

Splash Sprint paused before his hazel eyes clouded slightly with misty memories, similar to the stars that strung across the sky at night like glowing stones on black satin.

"With Zephyr Whistle out of the picture they pressured me instead. They kept forcing me to hurry up and mate with some high-ranking tom so they could have grandchildren, and soon I got so stressed to the point I ran away."

"I ended up visiting the Spirit-Seeker Pool that night, where I just prayed to be able to become who I wanted to be. I didn't want to be a she-cat; it didn't feel right to me. I just wanted to feel at ease being.. me."

A soft chuckle escaped his jaws. "The next day I awoke and to my delight, the spirits had granted my desire. I was like a carbon copy of Zephyr Whistle, more masculine than feminine."

His ear twitched gently and his soft gaze drew over to his wings. "The only thing that never changed was my feathers; a reminder that there would always be a piece of my former self I could never get rid of."

"When I went back to camp my parents flew into a rage. They demanded I go back to become a she-cat again, or I mate with a she-cat and end up having kits for them. I refused and that day was the day my parents lost both their children."

Splash Sprint blinked down at Goslingpaw, who was staring up at him in wonder. "Little wren, you must remember to stay true to your heart, and just be who you are."

His tail coiled gently under her chin and lifted it up so those brilliant hazel eyes gazed directly into those clear amber-green ones.

"There will always be cats out there who support you for being yourself."