Warriors || Aspenrose's Goodbye

Chapter Seventeen

An overcast sky loomed over the lake, shadowing the forest and moor. A rise over looked a stream that trickled into the lake. A hard cold wind rustled the heather and the treetops; leafless branches billowing as they dipped and swayed in the air. Leaf-bare had reached the Clans.
A cream-and-white she-cat sat on the rise with her dark-cream tabby tail curled over her paws; her ice-blue gaze flickered over the moor, hiding any feelings behind an unreadable mask. Paw steps crunches the dead leaves nearby.
A group of cats padded up the incline, reaching the cream she-cat. Two of the four cats seemed to have similar features as the cream she-cat; the dark brown tabby tom was lithe as she was, and the other tabby and white tom almost shared the same color eyes as she did, yet his were a deeper darker blue that expressed his emotions.
The large gray tom's amber eyes glittered with hatred, and his white litter-mate trailed closely behind, green eyes cast down, striped tail twitching.
Aspenrose merely glanced up to meet each cat's gaze in turn, before overviewing the stream again. Graypaw's tail twitched impatiently. Junipermoon's blue-green gaze shone with apprehension. Cedarroar rippled his shoulder muscles impatiently. Birchpaw shuffled her paws.
A long silence lasted between the Clan-mates before another hard wind buffeted their fur. Aspenrose met the gaze of Graypaw.
He opened his mouth to speak, but Aspenrose started before he could get any words out. "Am I invisible? Why am I ignored? Why can't any cat see that I'm hurting?"
Graypaw's eyes flickered with what seemed to be guilt, then pity. Aspenrose let her gaze drop. "None of you can answer, can you? You would never understand. So I have to make my own decisions," Aspenrose gave one last sorrowful glance at her brothers and Graypaw.
Aspenrose turned and bounded down the rise toward the stream. Wind whipped her whiskers and made her eyes stream. "Aspenrose?" The wind blew one of the cats's calls down to her, but she pushed on.
Aspenrose leaped the WindClan border, but misjudged the jump, landing in the cold water. She scrambled out to the other side, not taking a second to look back. Her heart ached as she bounded over the moor.
She knew exactly where her paws would take her, and she didn't try to stop them. Aspenrose was not running away from something, but running to something that had made her empty inside for moons. The heather seemed to whisper his name in the wind. Jaggedswirl.
The WindClan camp came into view. Aspenrose's paws barely touched the ground as she ran to her long awaited loss. Her heart fluttered.

Aspenrose panted, gasping for breath. She padded over the crest of the WindClan camp, eyes searching the clearing. A gray tabby and white she-cat was guarding the camp, and trotted over to her.
"Hey what are you doing in — oh you're a medicine cat, aren't you?" The gray tabby halted, dipping her head. "I'm Addertuft. Do you need to see Firepool?"
Aspenrose caught her breath, but nodded. Addertuft waved her tail. "Follow me."
Another cat was approaching, black and white pelt shadowed from the clouds. Aspenrose felt her ears grow hot. Addertuft whispered something to Jaggedswirl. He nodded, and turned toward Aspenrose.
"Greetings. Welcome to WindClan," Jaggedswirl dipped his head, copper eyes sparkling.
Aspenrose only nodded in thanks. He padded away, leaving Addertuft to lead Aspenrose to Firepool's den. Her heart skipped a beat, feelings swirling like a raging storm inside her.