#fence pipitpatch

As she watched the healer slink out of camp one evening, eir ears drooped and tail low, Pipitpatch could tell that e was deeply upset. Not that she blamed em. If she had the life of a young cat in her paws, she'd surely crack too.

It was when the sun was casting its rays upon camp, when everyone had awoken, that questions started to rise about eir whereabouts. As Shadestar tried to settle question after unanswerable question, Pipitpatch had felt dread starting to fill her stomach.

She had barely even noticed that she had left camp herself until she realised that she was following the loose path, nose to the ground.

Longfalcon's scent was fresh still, if slightly faded. Even as it took a sharp turn and veered into the grass leading to ChervilClan, Pipitpatch kept her heart open, her hopes up. E would be okay. She would find em.

The walk was horribly long, but Stars was it worth it when she finally rounded another corner and saw Longfalcon sat in the sprawling meadow by FangClan's border, staring attentively at nothing at all. The gentle breeze swept eir long fur into the air, the barely-rising sun making em glow. How she wanted to sit here, and just admire how beautiful e was. Unfortunately, she wasn't that selfish.

"Hey, mousebrain," Pipitpatch purred, stepping next to the healer. "The others are going to start looking for you, y'know."

Longfalcon hardly stirred as if e knew she was there, murmuring something. "Not yet," e sighed, shuffling ever closer to Pipitpatch.

The molly let em rest against her, even as she tried to ignore how giddy the simple touch made her feel. "Are you alright?" she meowed, noticing how downtrodden e looked.

"Mm. Not really. Just don't wanna let them down is all."

It wasn't a secret what Longfalcon was fearing. "Well, how is she, then?"

"Depends which she you mean." e replied, looking back into the distance. "Massifmallow is doing... better, I guess. Oh, what am I kidding? You know that. You're the one keeping her mind in check. I mean, I convinced Pumpkinwisp to let her supervise him and Wheatpaw. Spikepaw still sleeps half the day, but she's stable enough. It's just..." Longfalcon swallowed, eir ears drooping slightly, "you just dunno if or when either'll turn for the worse."

"Well, you're doing fine as is. Maybe either of them will go downhill. I won't think less of you, none of us will. You're doing your best, and nobody I know would blame you for that."

The pair stayed quiet for a moment, Pipitpatch wondering if Longfalcon was contemplating eir choices. It was nice to just be here, either way; she hoped e agreed.

"You didn't have to look for me, y'know. Haven't you got Mousekit to mind? She's basically your daughter now. Don't deny it." E glanced up sharply, a teasing smirk on eir face.

"Ha! I wish. I already asked the kit. She still views her old mother as her real one," Pipitpatch chuckled, though the thought of the mystery molly who'd abandoned her own daughter made her stomach crawl. "For all I love her, she'd never call me her mother. I don't mind, honest!"

Longfalcon's stifled laugh sounded from beside her. "Sure you don't. For what it's worth, I think you'd be a good parent. You've got the heart for it, you know?"

Pipitpatch felt her body stiffen ever so slightly. Eir tone was soft, as usual, but it made it near impossible to tell what e meant by that. Please be thinking what I'm thinking. Please be thinking what I'm thinking.

"Uh!" E meowed hurriedly, eir eyes wide. "Only if you were wanting to. I'm not asking you to go out and, I dunno, find a tom or molly or whatever and have kits if you don't want to!"

"No, you're... I do want kits. I've always wanted to be a mother. It's just..." Pipitpatch shuffled slightly closer to Longfalcon again, swallowing her worries back down. "I don't want to do it without you, is all."

Stars, the silence after she spoke those dreaded words was haunting. Pipitpatch felt the faintest sense of panic run up her spine as Longfalcon faced her, eir mouth ever so slightly agape.

"You're in love with me?"

"Yeah. I am."

Silence again. Longfalcon looked down at eir paws, shifting.

"I... I dunno what to say." Longfalcon muttered. "I mean, I love you too, but it's just... hard to imagine a cat as brilliant as you falling for some scrap like me, is all-"

"Foxcrap!" Pipitpatch exclaimed, so taken aback by eir statement that she didn't even recognise her fur puffing up. "Longfalcon, you are one of the smartest, bravest cats I know. THE one, actually. Even if you weren't, I'd still love you, for Stars' sake!"

"Alright, alright! No need to get all sappy!" the healer laughed, batting her face with eir soft paws. "You know what? If you're so insistent, I'll challenge you. You're gonna run aaaall the way across the meadow, and I'll chase! If I catch you and I win, we can become mates today. If you win..." e paused for a moment. "We become mates tomorrow!"

Pipitpatch mock-gasped as she raised a paw to her face. "Tomorrow! Oh, how evil!" she cackled. "Fine, then. Catch me if you can!"

At first, Pipitpatch simply strutted off, Longfalcon catching up to her with ease. And then they played again. And again. Each new round lasting longer, the cats' paws carrying them faster and faster. And, even as the young dawn stretched to true sunrise, and as sunrise stretched to a blue-skied morning, the new lovers' joyful laughter still rang out as they ran after one another like new apprentices. It didn't matter how stupid or silly they looked, because they had each other.

The only issue was... it was a bit lonely. A few weeks ago, she'd had her mama, Canopy, Skip and Salt. It was crowded, but Mouse had loved the company. Being alone in the big forest was... weird. Scary, maybe even. Her mama had warned her about "predators that swallow you whole". Clearly, she thought, those predators are stupid! If she could just curl up under a bush and be safe, how were they so scary? Besides, they always left their food.

Mouse winced slightly as she thought of food, sniffing the air for a moment. And then, upon catching a strange scent she hadn't noticed before, sniffed again. Other cats!

Her ears (that she swears that she'd grow into) pricked, trying to pick up where the other cats were. She could hear voices, faint against the wind. What kitten wouldn't follow them?

Mouse kept herself low, her nose practically against the frosted grass. In fact, she had been so busy tracking, that she almost walked into a greyish pile of fur!

The fur-pile twitched slightly, before spinning around wirh a confused trill. She could see the faint brownish stripes running down their sides, the curls in their fluffed up tail, the soft pinkness in their eyes. They weren't just a pile at all, they were a cat!

"Hiya!" Mouse chirped. "Who are you?"

The cat blinked at her, their pale eyes confused. "Uh, I'm Wheatpaw. Are you... supposed to be here?"

Mouse tilted her head. "Dunno. Are you?"

"Yeah, actually. My mentor's taking me on my very first hunting patrol!" Wheatpaw said, the caution on their face fading away as they puffed their chest out in pride. "What Clan are you from then? I won't force you back or anything, I swear..."

Mouse felt her own confusion stir. This forest-cat was weird. "What's a Clan?"

The forest-cat's eyes widened, a brief "Oh!" escaping them. "You're a... loner? Kittypet? Rogue?"

Mouse shrugged, still not understanding a word of what the older cat was saying. "I'm a cat?"

"Ha! Okay, smart-head. Do ya wanna come back with us?"

Mouse's eyes lit up. Whatever a Clan was, it sounded interesting. Besides, this cat was funny, and if she got to talk to them MORE....

"Yes please!" she replied, her tiny body trembling with excitement.

A faint rustling distracted Mouse from her thoughts. Wheatpaw perked up, falling quiet too. "Honestly, Wheatpaw, you can't just run..."

The other cat trailed off, staring at Mouse. They were tall, even taller than Wheatpaw, their height only amplified by the curls on their ears. They were curly all over, actually! Maybe not quite to the same degree as Wheatpaw, but Mouse couldn't help but wonder if they were related. Their pelt was a pale beige, deep red blotches like a squirrel against the grass.

"Wheatpaw, who is this?"

Their voice was sharp, their snowy eyes squinted and boring into Mouse. She couldn't help but back away ever so slightly.

"I'm Mouse!" she chirped, trying to puff her chest out as confidently as the younger forest cat did. "Nice to meet you, maam!"

The beige cat paused, one of their ears twitching. "I'm a tom," they replied curtly, "but thank you anyway. Where's your parents?"

"Not here!" Mouse replied. "And no, I am not a Clan."

"Not from a clan," Wheatpaw chimed in, smirking again as they dodged Mouse's glare. "She's coming with us, if that's alright?"

The older cat sighed, rolling their eyes. "Fine. Next time we are hunting prey, and not random outsider kits. As for you," their gaze flitted over to Mouse again, "Longfalcon'll get you straight to the nursery. We can sort out what to do with you there."

The nursery! "But I'm not that young!" she whined.

"Really? Tell me then what colour leaves are meant to be. And how many of them are on the trees."

"Uh..." Mouse pondered, trying to think of her earliest days. "They're brown, right? And there's... I dunno, 5 per tree?"

"Because Shadestar'll just make someone who's never seen a spring or summer become an apprentice. Right." They stepped closer to Mouse, before leaning down and picking her up by the scruff. Mouse huffed in annoyance, but there was no getting out of it now.

-

The walk to Mouse's new friends' camp was long. If Wheatpaw hadn't been gossipping to her all the way, Mouse would surely have starved of boredom or something. Apparently, the cat carrying her was called Pumpkinwisp. Also apparently toms here were "he"'s and not "they"'s. Also also there was one tom who was an "e". Confusing stuff.

By the time they were approaching the entrance, or at least what Mouse presumed it was, she couldn't help but feel a bit tired.

As Pumpkinwisp weaved around the trees blocking their way, Mouse finally caught a view of the camp, and how beautiful it was!

Green bushes lined the edges top-to-tail, only made cooler by the shade cast by the bare trees winding above her. It was large for how few cats were dotted around, but it was still amazing.

Mouse squeaked as Pumpkinwisp dropped her from his grasp, landing with her fur puffed. "Not funny!" She stuck her tongue out at him, or at least as best as she could past her fangs, earning a chuckle from the older cat.

She noticed his ears prick suddenly, and she spun around to see yet another cat. This one was slightly smaller than Pumpkinwisp, seemingly a molly? Her ears, though curled back, were pinned to her side, and her icy eyes shimmered round and wide. "Thank StarClan you're back!" she meowed, tapping her paws nervously against the loose dirt beneath her. "Wheatpaw, Longfalcon wants to see you in eir den. Now. Spikepaw's injured."

Mouse didn't understand most of what the new molly said, but from the way Wheatpaw's face filled with horror, she could guess that it meant something important to him.

"What happened to her?" he asked, his voice scarily low, scarily serious. "Is she okay?"

Wheatpaw's fur had fluffed up again, the fear racing over him impossible to ignore. Mouse knew that company was a good comfort, or whatever her mama had said, but she hadn't noticed herself moving closer to her new friend until she was pelt-to-pelt with him.

"She's.... not the best. A dog shredded her tail, apparently. She's unconscious, but Longfalcon says she's stable."

Mouse could feel Wheatpaw shaking before he nudged her off, scrambling to his paws in a panicked frenzy. "Shit!" he hissed as he bolted across the camp and into one of the larger dens. "I knew I shouldn't have left her!"

"Can I go with him?" Mouse questioned, sticking her paw in the air. The grey molly looked down at her, seemingly just noticing her presence.

"Sorry, darling." she whispered with a gentle smile, leaning down to her. "Wheatpaw needs time to be with his sister right now." Siblings! Mouse couldn't imagine a cat with such a name as 'Spikepaw' being related to the soft cat she knew. Her siblings certainly looked like her!

"Wheatpaw's friend," Pumpkinwisp sighed, causing Mouse to realise that both adults were now looking at each other. "She's a loner kit, 3 or 4 moons old at eldest. Name's Mouse. She would've died out there if Wheatpaw hadn't found her."

"I would NOT have died!" Mouse announced. "And, I found him! Not the other way!"

Pumpkinwisp shot Mouse a glare, but the older molly just laughed. "I like your spunk, kit!"

"Yeah, yeah. Pipitpatch, do you mind taking her to the nursery? At least settle her while Wheatpaw's busy."

"Star's sakes, I was just about to! You go check on Massifmallow. She isn't taking Spikepaw's injury well." The older cat, Pipitpatch presumably, said, rolling her eyes. "Sorry about Pumpkinwisp, darling. He has a right temper on him, doesn't he?"

Pumpkinwisp sighed, muttering something under his breath before sauntering off towards a second, larger den. Good riddance!

"Do I have to be in the nursery, maam?" Mouse chirped, glancing up at Pipitpatch as if she'd never looked away. "I wanna be with Wheatpaw!"

As Pipitpatch smiled gently, Mouse felt a sense of comfort and warmth coming from her. "Don't worry." the grey molly meowed. "Just because you're a kit doesn't mean you won't be able to talk to him. Besides, he just became an apprentice today! When you get that old, you'll be able to train with him and Spikepaw. For now, you're stuck with me. Y'know, I know lots about everyone here. I can teach you about them, if that helps."