Warriors #5: Heart of Fire

Chapter 10

Lilypetal's POV

In the name of all that is holy...

"Lilypetal?" Oreo repeated as I continued to stand speechless. I was barely fazed when he then shook his tail in front of my face. "Earth to Lilypetal!"

"More like Lilypetal's head to earth," I muttered to myself.

"What?"

"Nothing," I meowed more loudly, shaking my head to try and bring myself back into focus.

"What's going on?" Oreo pressed, his eyes round with worry. He then gasped, his stance straightening as if something exciting had crossed his mind. "Do you know who my mother is?"

Unfortunately, I thought as I managed to meet Oreo's hazel gaze, or, my brother's hazel gaze, rather.

As outrageous as it was, I knew that it was true - this Oreo, despite me never having seen him in my entire life, was my kin.

We shared the same mother.

Mistpelt was Oreo's mother as well as mine.

There weren't many cats out there that shared a story like Mistpelt's, and Oreo had described it perfectly - a cat that wasn't originally born in the Clans, but had found their way to ThunderClan, was taken away to become a kittypet, yet wanted to escape to find her way to the Clans again.

That would have said enough right there, I thought bitterly, but the fact that Oreo also described my mother's appearance perfectly definitely adds to it...

Something else that I was also pretty sure of was that Oreo and I did not share the same father - that's something that wouldn't make sense by the timing. By the time Mistpelt was taken by Twolegs and had become a kittypet, Scourge was already long dead, I realized. Oreo came from another mate. But who?

"Gosh, are all wild cats this spacey?" Oreo purred, interrupting my thoughts.

I shook my head again, letting out a huff of exasperation and irritation. "Great StarClan, I'm sorry, Oreo," I breathed, trying to flatten my fur that was beginning to bristle. "Um... well..." I trailed off, realizing that I had no idea how to begin. How do you tell a cat that you've never met that you share the same mother?

I then watched as Oreo's gaze grew overcome with concern. "You do know who my mother is, don't you?" the black and white tom asked more quietly before beginning to shift his paws from side to side nervously. "Who could it be that makes you so uneasy?"

This tom is about to find out that this cat who happened to appear at the top of his fence is related to him. I took a deep breath. Here we go.

"Well... my mother," I meowed, barely just above a whisper. I then sighed, taking another step closer to Oreo. "You and I are kin."

Something that managed to lighten my mood just a bit, over all of the betrayal and anger I was feeling, was the multiple phases of Oreo's reaction to what I had just said. First, there was utter confusion, as if someone had just told him that mice now walk on their hind legs and speak cat. Then, there was disbelief, his gaze darkening as he seemed to strive to process my words.

Then, lastly, there was complete astonishment, his eyes widening and blazing with excitement. "No way!" my brother exclaimed, beginning to knead his paws into the ground. Oreo then seemed to try to compose himself, sitting down again as he met my gaze. "You're my sister? A Clan cat shares blood with me?"

I managed to let out a small purr of amusement at Oreo's enthusiasm. "Affirmative," I breathed, shrugging and shaking my head slowly as I looked back at the kittypet. "Your... our mother is Mistpelt, I'm sure of it."