Maplepaw's Redemption

CHAPTER 19

"My brother's the strong, silent type," said Mist Shadow with a chuckle.

"Brother?" They looked nothing alike. Mist Shadow was pale and soft, with a lean frame. Waiting Falcon, heavily-muscled with bold black stripes and deep brown fur, dwarfed her.

"Half-brother. My mother had another litter here a few seasons after me. Like I said, good spot for queens."

So you keep saying. Mist Shadow gave her an inscrutable look after the word 'queen.' What, does she think that's why I'm out here all alone? That my mate abandoned me? She stifled a scoff. Wrencatcher and I never used that word. And we're both young... Barely warriors. She tried not to think about queenhood at all. About kits. That's one thing I can't forget about my past life. One thing that always yowled its way to the surface.

She'd had kits, three perfect kits, and she'd lost them.

And a part of it had been her own fault.

"Mapledawn?" Yew was staring at her expectantly.

"Sorry, what?"

"I was asking if you wanted to take a tour of the area tomorrow."

"Already?" Hadn't she just gotten over an insane fever? She didn't even remember it. It was all a haze. There'd been walking. Weird visions. Weird sounds. And a badger, for some reason. And then a long darkness, a blanketing darkness.

"You've been here for four days, Mapledawn. Don't you remember?"

She shook her head blearily. "I remember... I remember meeting you. I remember you treating my wound. I remember it getting infected. And I remember leaving."

"Nothing else? What about... All those things you said?"

"Don't push her," Mist Shadow chided gently. "She's been sick a long time. Might be best to forget what happened. You're here now, and we'll take care of you. That's what matters."

Things I said? She wracked her brain, but she couldn't remember anything. Did I tell him about my past life or something? It didn't matter, she decided. Whatever secrets she'd revealed would have sounded like absolute nonsense.

Waiting Falcon came later and silently dropped a thrush at Mapledawn's paws. Feeling even more awkward now that he was back to saying nothing at all, she gestured with her tail for him to share. Nodding slightly, he sat and ate with slow, careful bites. She tried not to stare at the big tabby with the pretty eyes and the mysterious air.

"So," she said as she finished her last mouthful, "how long have you lived around here?"

"My whole life. Mostly."

"Mostly?"

The tom nodded, and for a while it seemed that was all he was willing to divulge. The he began again:

"I spent some time in the mountains." He took the birds' remains, dug a scoop in the ground a tail length away, and buried them neatly. "Interesting folk up there. Skinny. Don't know how they handle the cold with such little fur."

Mapledawn's ears perked. She knew there were cats living in the far mountains, but no one ever talked about them in FireClan.

"What were they like?" She'd always pictured massive cats with lean muscles and thick manes of fur living up in the cold peaks.

"Quiet. Prickly, sort of. Didn't seem to like strangers. Called themselves the Tribe. Never left the mountains. Strange way to live." He shrugged. "Different prey for different cats, I suppose."

"Is this place like a tribe?" She tilted her head. Tribes, Clans, rouges living in the same spot and taking care of one another. It all seemed like different versions of the same thing. She cast a furtive glance around: could the Ageless Ones touch her here? Can they hear my blasphemy? But for once, the shadows stayed mundane and no voices rose to whisper in her ears.