"All clear!" Owlgaze's voice rang out.
That brown tail drifting this way and that like an autumn leaf in the wind as the young molly scouted out the path diligently, reporting back here and there, if only to make sure he and Yarrowshine had not vanished in the interim.
None of them earnestly knew where they were going. But the travel felt like doing something. Felt like there was a destination somewhere. So they went.
Slatenose himself had certainly been stressed. To go from being surrounded by friendly cats all day every day, buzzing like a beehive, to just their little group of 3 stragglers had felt like the end of the world.
But then, he'd grown up largely alone. The old instincts and habits had bubbled to the surface eventually, once the shock wore away. But Owlgaze had spent her whole life in that Clan. Owlgaze had siblings she suddenly didn't know the fate of. Poor kid...
At least Yarrowshine was handling it well! Er. He thought so at least. She was rather difficult to read, but she'd never really complained or seemed frightened so. She was probably fine. At the very least it was probably better now that she didn't have to hear his anxious rambling.
Granted, Owlgaze hadn't exactly vocalised being stressed either. It was just clear to see. The constant need to be doing something, the need to protect and be responsible. He'd tried to remind her several times that all 3 of them were equally capable and nobody needed to take more responsibility than the other. He'd stopped some days ago when Yarrowshine told him to leave it alone.
The days certainly felt a lot slower now. Greenleaf offered plenty of prey and herbs. Much of their time was spent either slowly travelling in whatever direction felt right, or stopping to gather whatever they could and rest. Never taking more prey than strictly necessary. The comforting scent of various herbs filled his mouth and nose. Birds, rodents, insects, filled the world with gentle noise in all direction. Occasionally Yarrowshine's ears would twitch one way or the other.
It was so easy to let his thoughts wander at times like this.
But what would become of them when Leafbare set in?
Okay, so sure, maybe things were going better than initially anticipated. Fir was still completely in tact at least, save for a few tufts of fur lost during overly enthusiastic jackrabbit-esque scraps.
Still, Huckleberry couldn't help but feel like it was only a matter of time. Eventually his cousin would push too far and get kicked out. Or worse, invoke the wrath Huckleberry clearly warned him might be coming over and over again, despite how little Fir wanted to listen.
It was oh so difficult to play damage control for a cat who believed there was no such thing as a social faux pas. Just because Jaguarcrown entertained his antics often enough didn't mean he didn't still expect respect!
And the tomcat was remarkably difficult to get a hold of - asleep, away, busy. Never a good time to poke for answers. Or offer apologies.
It felt like the spirits had finally endulged his pleas when the tom himself suddenly asked if he wanted to come with him on the way out.
Except it got more and more awkward the longer he stuck to Jaguarcrown's side, unsure when or how to start. But, then, usually excursions together meant hunting together and they hadn't separated yet. And he seemed so focused on something else whenever Huckleberry tried to start speaking, so he didn't want to break his concentration either. What if he interrupted something more important by accident!
... Then he kept catching the golden tom staring at him.
"I just wanted to apologise for Fir's behaviour. Truly. Thank you for being so patient with him. He's used to being around family and. Well, you've met him."
"...So I've heard. You two plan on leaving? When?"
The king was clearly...distracted, giving Huckleberry the bare minimum attention. Not like he usually did. Fair enough then.
"When the rest of the family are heading back. They'll come to collect Fir, maybe another 4 or 5 moons from now? Truthfully, if we've not overstayed our welcome by then, I would like to stay, at least over the winter."
"I did already tell you you could stay. So did you see anything yet?"
Huckleberry froze, scanning the nearby grass and the distant treeline for any trace of whatever he was supposed to have been looking out for.
He was rather sure he wasn't told to look for anything at all, actually.
Things went quiet after that.
Then, he spotted white fur through tall grass moments after he was signalled to circle around.
A cat, too distracted with their head in a hole to notice the approach, apparently. Huckleberry managed to get within reach of a shifting brown tail before he got any indication as to what the king's plan was.
"Helllo there!" Jaguarcrown yowled, leaping out in front of the stranger, startling him into recoiling right into Huckleberry, left frozen in the middle of the pair.
"It's rude to ignore royalty on their own land, you know." Jaguarcrown pressed on, before the stranger even had time to respond. The white cat looked bashful, clearly caught between them both.
Huckleberry, for his part, stood up straight in his best imitation of a bodyguard.
"Oh, terribly sorry, friend. I didn't know anyone owned here. See, I was just looking for a place to hunt... And the rabbits seem to like here..."
Huckleberry almost missed Jaguarcrown staring at him over the flustered tom, the prompt dropped when it earned no quick response.
"I take that means you don't know each other, then."
"No matter. This isn't the first time I've seen you around here, but we can smooth this out nice and easy, yeah? As penance, lend your claws and teeth in service to the crown until the first snows. And you're free to run along afterwards at your leisure... Of course if you don't agree, I'll have to come up with a different means to settle things, without your input."
For all the harshness if the words themselves, the king's words were smooth and sweet as fresh prey blood. He'd seen how forgiving he often was firstpaw, however, perhaps that alone was also why he could sense no malice.
"Oh, that is... I'm not much of a fighter, but. I mean, I can hunt enough to share, if that's alright?"
"Perfect! Now, if you're not opposed, I can show you around the castle - where you'll be staying at. Your new neighbour Huckleberry here can keep an eye on you, I hope? He doesn't bite, ask him for whatever you need to your heart's content."
"Of course, Jaguarcrown." Huckleberry dipped his head in turn. The weight of responsibility was familiar enough. Couldn't be much harder than keeping kittens (...and sometimes adults) out of trouble like the last however many years.
When Jaguarcrown started herding the muddied stranger away toward home, he followed along a tail's length behind, withholding a smile to maintain the serious appearance. He was actually trusted!
It was usually time to rest when her paws began to ache. Or was that the thorn she'd dug out from between her toes before?
Either way, the sky overhead, where it was even visible, looked to be turning gold. Best to find somewhere safe to den before the coyotes began to roam in search of an easy meal. They didn't have the numbers of a full, well-rested patrol. And a pack of coyotes was something even a whole Clan would sometimes fear.
Part of her ached with the urgency to make sure Slatenose and Yarrowshine were still following behind. She couldn't afford to lose the last scraps of her Clan. But. Slatenose was right. They knew how to take care of themselves.
So she steered herself forward yet, ears swivelling wildly in search of any trace of approaching danger as she honed in on a place to stop and rest. The others would have caught prey for them all by the time she found one, probably. She'd learned already that hunting on the way just created surplus to abandon by morning. Most days.
The trees were still confusing, no matter how many scattered nights spent among them. Forced to wind in zigzags, never a true straight path forward, never able to see far. Maddening beyond belief. How Slatenose and Yarrowshine seemed to take no umbridge to it, she could not possibly understand.
Her eyes caught on a gaping hole below a tree while she grumbled to herself. Immediately, she dropped lower, holding her tail straight out to not stand too far out, and crawled towards it slowly.
There was no trace of predator scent in the tiny clearing around it, though she could see the odd tiny bone from a mouse or bird discarded and forgotten in the grass.
The den was deep. No doubt belonging once to something else. Perhaps a fox? It was hard to tell, the scent of earth mingled only with cat even from up close.
She leapt backwards just as sharply as if it were a fox all the same when something gold appeared from the darkness, wide blue eyes fixed on her.
"Hi!" She chirped automatically, ears pulled back sheepishly as she realised she'd been caught trespassing on someone else's...camp?
"Who... Are you exactly?"
The stranger's voice was measured, though with no aggression behind it. Even as the masked molly drew herself out of the deep - Owlgaze couldn't help noticing how small she was, subconsciously lowering her own head to avoid appearing threatening - there was no raised hackles or bristling white & gold fur in sight.
"Owlgaze. Of MoorClan. Me and my Clanmates are looking for a place to den for the night, if you'd happen to know a place."
Blue eyes narrowed. But she couldn't quite tell if it was suspicion, anger, or confusion. Not all cats knew what a Clan was, or at least Yarrowshine said so.
"How many of you are there?"
"Three! Me, Slatenose, and Yarrowshine."
The smaller molly hummed, scanning the area.
"You can stay here. A friend of mine might be able to offer someplace more comfortable. If not l, the fox den has enough room. For tonight."
There was a reluctance to the invitation, but it was understandable. Even if they weren't planning on kicking her out of her home. It must be awkward to share home with several strangers.
"Thank you, thank you! How could we repay you, kind stranger? Would extra prey for your fresh-kill pile be enough?"
The stranger seemed quite amused when Owlgaze stood up straight, tail raised straight up, bouncing on her paws in preparation to find the others.
"That would be lovely. And you can call me Cam."
By the time the tour finished and the tall cat vanished off to somewhere, Weaver was feeling a little dizzy, his head buzzing with the muddled directions, names, and other chatter from the past several minutes.
He'd already said yes, though. So what else was there left to do than settle in, so to speak. Still his paws brushed idly over and over against each other, brushing drying specks of dirt off rather ineffectively just for something to do.
Huckleberry had seemed satisfied enough to have settled on the... Well, he wasn't really sure what that was? It wasn't made out of stone like most of everything else, he could tell that much. Some of it on the bottom looked like wood. Definitely like wood.
They'd probably tell him when they needed him to do something. Just gotta wait and hopefully he wouldn't have to ask for how to get somewhere alone. If he was gonna be guarded, they'd probably come with anyway...
How many of them was there anyway? It sounded silly to assume it was only uhhh Jaguar? Something? and Huckleberry of course. But then he hadn't seen anyone else.
Eventually he just accepted nothing was going to happen just yet and took to mirroring his warden in grooming himself, washing the taste of grass and soil from white fur.
It gave his mind the room to untangle whatever the heck had just happened, and what he'd potentially agreed to to begin with...
A peace that unfortunately did not last long. It may as well have been thunder with the way the sound made his fur bristle.
"Heeyyy, Huck, are you back yeeet?!"
The shout echoed before a massive tomcat came barreling right in like a boulder tumbling downhill.
"Oh, hey, cousin. You're new!" Weaver's hope of not being noticed was dashed when the tabby's eyes fixed right on his frozen form. And. Cousin? He was quite sure they never met...
"Jaguarcrown found him hunting his rabbits. Remember what I told you about me having to hunt for trespassing?" Huckleberry thankfully provided an answer while Weaver straightened up, untangling his own limbs, pressing one paw on his own twitching tail.
"Ohhhh. How long you in for?"
"Uh.. 5? Moons? Til the first snow..." Weaver finally found his voice. Part of him screamed danger as both tabbies stared at him, even as the rational half reminded itself everyone was being friendly... But being outnumbered just never ended well for a lone cat, not on someone else's territory.
"Hellooo?" His mind focused back on the brown one as the stranger leaned in, half yelling in his face, making him flinch. "Your name?"
"Pleasuure to meet ya, Weaver. Call me Fir!"
His haunches raised as a front paw looped over his shoulders, half-grappling him.
Except he was never toppled over.
Or at least not before Huckleberry stepped in to get Fir off him, giving Weaver the opportunity to retreat while they... Argue? Close enough. So long as they kept each other's attention it didn't matter much.
The aftermath of an afternoon nap left Kristopher feeling divine after the interruption in the morning. He stretched out like a worm, with no joints to hold it back.
When he opened his eyes, there was no trace of the sun to grace the room, the sky outside already dark, dotted only in stars.
Well. Surely Cam wouldn't mind a late visit, right? Nowhere to go this late... And it wasn't like she had other company.
The, admittedly cooled, rabbit he brought hadn't yet attracted unwanted attention in the woods either, not by the time he deposited it by the opening of the old fox den. Only to drum on the earth in an agreed on pattern, where it wasn't quite so thick, repeating until he sensed movement from below.
The light smack to the nose he got once Cam appeared earned a faint huff of laughter, whiskers twitching.
"I know, I know. I'm late."
Kristopher hopped away, giving her ample space to come out into the open, fur shining in the scattered moonlight like a fallen star.
"I've been entertaining some guests waiting to meet you, actually. Almost thought you weren't going to show up."
The statement caught him off guard. So much for a quiet night away. It seemed he had a particular part he still had to play. A little warning would have been nice, but oh well.
"Guests? Well, I've had a few to entertain at home as well. Seems just about everyone is interested in this little chunk of heaven lately."
He sighed threatrically, leaning to one side nigh enough to topple over. It earned him the chuckle he wanted.
"Say, is it always like this? I assume you've made your bed here long 'fore I showed up."
"Oh, definitely. Plenty of cats pass by in the warmer months, it's winter that tends to attract the more frightful sort of beasts here." Cam nodded, before gesturing with her head back down the hole. "But if you're so worried, they sound like they're happy to keep moving anyway."
"Hmm. Nah, plenty of space. It's like a mansion in there, y'know. I could show you sometime."
If his house guests get along, it's even better, really. Better than having to keep every lonely cat company at once.
"No, thank you. I'm quite happy in my own den. You know where to find me."
She waved him off with a flick of her tail, not that he was surprised. The disappointed droop of his head was played up too, continuing the little 'game'. At least she knew he was acting.
"Aye, I can respect that. Where's your little guests then? I take it you haven't tossed them out to the moon's mercy like you would me."
"Of course not. I let them get comfortable in the fox hole. I'll go tell 'em you're here, you dramatic furball."
"Aww, I how come I'm still not allowed down there? You're welcome at my home."
Kristopher leaned in closer as he teased, hovering an outstretched paw as if to step towards the void in the earth.
Just like that she disappeared into the earth again, like a spectre to returning to its grave.
He waited, sat and patient, scratching his ears or drumming his paws against a small stone in a makeshift rhythm.
He scanned each cat that later emerged, evaluating whatever he could find. The first looked open, friendly - tail up and body language lax, even if the odd ears confused him at first. He offered a smile back, now an unwavering part of his face, for the time being.
The second eyed him with some caution, and hovered near the cold-faced last.
"Pleasure to meet you all. Most folks know me as Jaguarcrown, I live in the stone structure in the clear, along with my. Companions, let's say." He started once he was sure no other cat would materialise like a rabbit from a magician's hat. Trippling the roommates that quickly was certainly not what he anticipated.
He couldn't help but notice how the tabby seemed to be bursting at the seams at the mere mention of his name. "I heard you lot were looking for a place to stay on your journey?"
A beat, and the dam broke.
"Oh my stars! I never thought we would find another Clan all the way here! We're from MoorClan, far far away! If it's not too much trouble, could we speak to your medicine cats? We lost our Clanmates, see, and we'd really like to ask StarClan if they're doing okay!"
Kristopher stared, the confusion not showing in his face. Even as he tried to quietly untangle what she was talking about.
It was probably better to just keep his own narrative unchanged.
"I'm sorry, but I've never heard of a medicine cat, or of StarClan. I would love to hear about it, but. Perhaps at a later time. You're still welcome to a stay at the castle all the same."
The excited molly deflated in front of him, despite her brave face, and his attempt at a gentle tone.
"Oh. I'm sorry for assuming. Your name just sounded like a Clan name. Like mine, Owlgaze."
The grey tom nudged her shoulder encouragingly before offering his own name.
"Thank you for having us, I'm Slatenose. If you have any minor ailments you need treated, I'd be happy to help. I don't have many supplies on paw, but I'll do my best."
The last voice was confident and curt.
But those blue eyes boring into him made a wintry chill creep faintly across his pelt despite the warm night air.
He let his own gaze drift away for now.
"We're all quite well, thank you. And we needn't keep Cam up any longer, though, eh? We could continue this at the castle, if you'd just follow me. Planning on staying the season or just a day or two?"
The way Slatenose's eyes flicked quite obviously between both of his companions after Kris' question, presumably in a silent plee for input, was telling of the lack of a clear hierarchy between them. Not like Huckleberry and Fir.
"How long would you be willing to let us rest our paws?"
"Oh, as long as you like, really. Plenty of prey to go around still."
"Then could it be left up for later discussion, please?"
While the trio collected whatever they'd left behind in Cam's den, Kristopher polite friendly mask drooped to the lax half-smile he'd made a habit out of showing around his new friend.
"If I said you owe me the right to visit again tomorrow, would you honour it?"
"Only if you show up on time this time."
"If Fir doesn't interrupt my morning nap again... You really attract the weird ones, eh, Cam?"
"You're still the oddest here, I'd bet."
"Oh, I never said I wasn't!"
