#flightsky

He caught up to Cobrakit. “Tag!” He said, trying to sound happy for her sake. 

“Nooo!” Cobrakit screamed, playfully. “Okay, it’s your turn to hide!”

Flightsky sighed. Greenpaw, who was staring off into space, was sitting near them. Behind her he could see Waterpelt and Strawberrystar talking. He listened in on their conversation. 

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Waterpelt asked. “No clan has ever done it before.” 

“That’s why I want to try it.” Strawberrystar insisted. “If we don’t try we’ll never know if it works.” 

“Got you!” Flightsky turned and Cobrakit leaped on top of him. “Why didn’t you hide?” She asked him. Greenpaw walked over from where she was sitting. 

“How ‘bout you leave Flightsky alone, I’ll play with you instead.” She told Cobrakit. Flightsky got up and smiled at her gratefully. He shook out his pelt and walked over to Waterpelt and Strawberrystar to join their conversation. 

Strawberrystar saw him coming and raised his tail in greeting. “Hey, Flightsky.” He said. 

Flightsky sat down and asked “What are you guys talking about?” 

“My idea about marriage.” Strawberrystar responded. “Waterpelt doesn’t seem to think it’s a good idea.” 

“I’m just saying there are many flaws in it.” Waterpelt growled. “It just complicates things.” 

“What do you find to be flaws?” Flightsky asked in a calm voice. 

“Well, to start.” Waterpelt thought for a minute. “What if the cats break up? What do they do then?” 

“They can get divorced.” Strawberrystar responded. 

“And how would that work?” Waterpelt asks. Strawberrystar thought. “They would tell the leader they want to be divorced and then silently spread the news around the clan. And that’s that.”

“How do they get married?” Waterpelt asked next. This time Strawberrystar was quick to respond. “Well, first, one cat proposes to the other. If the other cat says yes then they tell their leader and the ceremony will be scheduled for sometime the next moon. At the gathering they can invite the other clans to come too. The leader will officiate the wedding and they get married. They can also choose to take one of the others' name.”

“How does changing a name work?” Waterpelt asked, confused. 

“So, say you have two cats named, um,” Strawberrystar thought for a minute. “Frostwhisker and Leafpelt. When they get married they can choose to keep their names the same or change them. When they change their names their prefix stays the same, but Frostwhisker can change to Frostpelt or Leafpelt can change to Leafwhisker. If the two have kits they can also choose to have their kits take the name too.” 

“And how does the kit taking the name work? What if they have five kits? Do all of them take their name?” Waterpelt asked. 

Strawberrystar was ready to respond, expecting that Waterpelt would ask that. “I imagine that before their warrior ceremony the family talks and the kits can decide if they want to take a name. If their parents didn’t take each other's names then nobody would take another name.”

“What if the kits don’t have married parents?” Waterpelt asked next. 

“Then they don’t take a name either.” Strawberrystar answered. 

“What about leaders?” Waterpelt continued. “Their names have to end in 'star, so would their mate take ‘star as a name?”

“That’s the only exception. When the leader gets married both cats keep their name.” 

“What if there’s another cat in the clan with the same suffix, do you just change their name too?” Waterpelt asked with a smug expression on his face, hoping to catch Strawberrystar this time. 

“No, they get to keep their name. It doesn’t really matter if another unrelated cat has the same name. It’s basically just a gesture to show how devoted they are to each other or if they want a legacy name, you know?” Strawberrystar told him. 

There was a pause for a heartbeat until Strawberrystar asked, “Anything else?” 

“What are we doing today?” She asked. 

“Flightsky told me he needs some watermint, so we’re going to search the riverbed for some.” He flicked his tail, signaling for her to follow him and they exit the camp. 

“How are you liking the clan so far?” Strawberrystar asked her, making small talk. He hoped he set a good impression as leader in the first five days of the clan. 

“It’s fun here.” She responded. “Mostly everyone here is nice.” 

Good. “If anyone’s ever bothering you you can always tell me and I’ll deal with them.” He told her. Greenpaw smiled at Strawberrystar. 

“Why did you choose Waterpelt to be your deputy?” She asked Strawberrystar. 

Strawberrystar was taken aback by the question. Why did I choose Waterpelt to be deputy? “I, um.” He started to say. “He seemed like he’d be a strong head for the clan, especially since I’m way too young to be leader. I respect his judgment, you know?” Greenpaw nodded understandingly. 

They walked in silence for a heartbeat. “I bet I can beat you to the river.” Strawberrystar teased Greenpaw. Greenpaw pretended to be offended, over exaggerating. “I bet not!” She exclaimed. Greenpaw bolted away, getting a head start with Strawberrystar quickly running behind her. 

Greenpaw skidded to a halt in front of the river. Strawberrystar stopping a heartbeat after her. “Told you.” Greenpaw said, puffing her chest with pride. 

“That wasn’t fair.” Strawberrystar said, panting. “You got a head start.” 

“I still got here first.” Greenpaw turned away. Strawberrystar laughed. He trotted to catch up with her. They walked along the riverbed searching for the green, leafy herb. 

“Hey, isn’t that watermint?” She asked Strawberrystar, pointing to a plant poking out of the mud. Strawberrystar padded over to inspect the plant. “Yeah, I think so.” He said. They worked together to pluck some leaves from the plant. They picked up the leaves and walked back to camp. 

They entered camp and Waterpelt was walking out of camp with his patrol. He raised his tail in greeting when he saw them. Strawberrystar returned the greeting, also raising his tail. They entered camp and saw Cobrakit playing with a leaf. She looked up and her eyes grew big when she saw them. 

They walked over to the medicine den. When they entered the den Strawberrystar dropped the herbs. “Flightsky?” He called. The black and white medicine popped his head out of a crevice in the rock where he had his herbs stored.

“Thank you.” He quickly padded over and picked up the leaves to put in his herb stores. He walked back out and asked them in a hushed whisper, “Did you see anything weird? Perhaps, three lemons across the river?” 

Strawberrystar shook his head. “No, why do you ask?” 

Flightsky shrugged. “No reason.” 

They exited the den. Three lemons across the river, that’s oddly specific. He then remembered Flightsky had mentioned he had a dream earlier that day. I wonder if it has anything to do with the dream he had.  

Cobrakit ran over to Greenpaw and Strawberrystar. “Can Greenpaw play?” She asked hopefully. Greenpaw looked expectantly at Strawberrystar. He chuckled. “Sure thing. We’ll train some more later, okay?” 

“Okay! Thank you!” Greenpaw chased Cobrakit around camp, their laughs filling the air. 

“I had a dream!” He exclaimed, his pelt prickling with excitement. 

“Really?” Flightsky said. I wonder if he had the same dream. “So did I.”

“Okay, I’ll say mine first.” Strawberrystar told him. “I dreamed of the idea of marriage.” His eyes sparkled with excitement. 

“Yeah…?” Flightsky said, trying to sound happy. “And what’s that?” He asked. So it was not the same dream. 

Strawberrystar took a big breath. “So, basically, after two cats have been mates for a while one can propose to the other and they get married. Basically just to show that they’re serious about each other and want to spend the rest of their lives together. A cat could also say no to the proposal if they’re not ready. And if the tragedy of two married cats breaking up happens they can get divorced. A cat could also take the last name of the other, an exception being made for leaders since their names have to end with ‘star.” Strawberrystar looked expectantly at Flightsky. 

“Seems like you put a lot of thought into that.” Flightsky commented. 

“Oh yes!” Strawberrystar bounced. “It’ll be an idea that lasts for centuries!” 

Flightsky nodded his head and there was an awkward silence. “So, what was your dream?” Strawberrystar asked, breaking the silence. 

“Oh, it was nothing important.” Flightsky responded. He’s too young to know what it means. 

“Oh, okay!” Strawberrystar stood up. “See you around!” Strawberrystar turned to the den entrance. 

“Strawberrystar, wait.” Flightsky stood up too. 

“Yes, Flightsky?”

“Can you go get me some watermint?” He asked.

He saw some watermint poking out of the mud and ran over to it. The watermint was growing right next to the Lemonclan border. I hope they don’t mind me being this close. He plucked the leaves from the plant and placed them next to him on the dry land. 

He picked up his haul of herbs and turned to leave. He glanced one more time at the lemons. The yellow fruit was shriveled and rotten. That’s strange. He glanced over at the Lemonclan border. I wonder if it’s an omen about Lemonclan. 

He turned away and kept walking back to camp. As he walked he noticed the sky getting dark. He looked up expecting to see the day turn into night but to his surprise the sky was split half-and-half. The left half of the sky was dark with night and the moon glowing and the right side of the sky was still day with the sun high in the sky. He turned to look back at the lemons. The lemons were slowly becoming fresh again, the rotten and shriveled skin changing back to smooth yellow skin. 

His jaw dropped, the watermint leaves falling out of his mouth. He ran forward and stepped in the water. He tried to swim across to get a closer look at the lemons. He struggled to swim against the current. He turned his head to see a giant wave over him.