Cougarsoul and Winterfrost examined the old cat for a few seconds, unsure of what to do or say. Who was this crazy old cat? Was she really their mother? Why was she here? What did she say her name was? Isn't that a clan name? It seemed like millions of questions rushed through Winterfrost's head, all at once making her dizzy. She stood her ground though.
"Waitwaitwaitwaitwait... how can you be sure we're your kits? How can we be sure you're our mother?" Cougarsoul eyed the she-cat suspiciously. There was no more anger in Tundraleap's eyes, though. Only joy, excitement, and relief.
"Well, I know the name of your sister. Feather, if I'm exact? I assume you were found by a clan cat since you have clan names... so it's probably something crazy like Featherheart or Featherflight. Never understood those darned names that the leaders come up w-"
"Featherwisp. You mean Featherwisp." Winterfrost corrected, tilting her head.
"Ah. Better than many others I've heard, did you know there's a cat named Jayfeather? What kind of name is that? What does it even mean? He doesn't look like a jay, or a feather! Pah!" Tundraleap shook her head as if shaking off a bad tick.
"Where is she anyways? Is she with you? How is she?" She asked. Winterfrost looked at her feet, remembering the battle.
"She's... uhh..." Winterfrost stammered. Now it was her turn to be confused.
"Featherwisp died in battle... that's one of the reasons why we're out here..." Cougarsoul spoke up for both him and Winterfrost. Tundraleap's eyes grew wide, then she sighed and sat down.
"But she was.. er, happy before, she was a medicine cat of Rainclan! There were some, uh, troubles, but she never gave in even if she was feeling down! You would've been proud." Winterfrost added hopefully in attempt to raise Tundraleap's mood.
"Hey, how come you randomly show up now? Where have you been?" Cougarsoul's tone changed to aggressive. Winterfrost held in a purr of amusement, recalling how he had often used that tone all the time.
"I'm sorry.. I was.. I mean.. I couldn't... there was no way I could take care of you so I left you and your littermates near a clan... I had to lead.." She closed her eyes shut tightly "...them... away from you..."
"Hey, it's okay. I-" Winterfrost started.
"No. You can't just be not part of our lives, then randomly show up and be part of our lives. That's just not right or fair to us." Cougarsoul hissed and started pacing as if thinking really hard about the situation.
"Look, Cougarsoul-" Winterfrost started again, only to be interrupted again.
"No, you look, Winterfrost. She randomly shows up in our lives at the worst possible time! We're supposed to be looking for the clans, not filling in on what happened for the last, ohh, I don't know, thirty moons!" He spat. He was obviously not willing to 'forgive and forget' the situation, and Winterfrost wasn't so sure she was either.
"Pardon me, but did you say, clans? As in, Thunderclan, Shadowclan, Windclan, and Riverclan?" Tundraleap meowed from a few tail-lengths away.
"Yeah.." Winterfrost replied, putting her tail over Cougarsoul's mouth so he wouldn't say something rude and obnoxious. Thankfully, he kept quiet.
"I know where they are.. not far from here, maybe only a trip from moonrise to moonset. But if you want to start traveling tomorrow, you two need to start eating more. You're practically all bones!" Tundraleap exclaimed.
"Since when does she decide when-" Now it was Winterfrost's turn to interrupt Cougarsoul.
"We can leave tomorrow. We'd have probably decided to take the rest of the day preparing us for a journey anyways, so just accept it." Winterfrost pleaded. Cougarsoul grunted, but didn't say anything else.
"Then it's settled. We can all fit in that little hollow dip under the tree, so finding shelter isn't a problem." Tundraleap concluded, leading them towards her 'home'.
"Look at our luck, we've met up with our mother, gotten exact directions to the clans, and might even have a chance of getting back in time now that we know where we're going!" Winterfrost whispered to Cougarsoul, just loud enough for him to hear but not Tundraleap. He gave a sigh and crawled into the hollow. Winterfrost looked around. It seemed safe from most animals, and snow wouldn't be a problem, so she followed after Tundraleap and Cougarsoul. After realizing how tired she really was, it wasn't hard to get to sleep. Especially thinking about how tiring the journey ahead would be.
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So here's another chapter! Not too surprising, since the prologue of the first book gave you a hint that Tundraleap knew where the clans are, since she came from one. XD
Dunno what else to say here....
Hope you liked this chapter, even though it seems fairly short! o3o