"If it is not too much trouble, I seek an audience, miss Yarrowshine."
"What would one need to do to avoid angering the spirits when trespassing?"
Evidently the last conversation had spooked Huckleberry in some way. For all his continued drive to enforce unexplained rules among the current residents, he'd begun to shy away from making demands of Yarrowshine. She pondered perhaps she should break up the charade, tell him how much of a farce this whole belief of overprotective territorial spirits was. Especially now that he was asking directly.
The single spirit she'd met insofar was more than friendly. But if Jaguarcrown had convinced the poor fool so, who was she to change his mind? And what difference did it make whether he believed it or not?
"I can tell you know the means of atonement already, no?"
"Ah, I'll explain, my apologies. My family will be passing through soon, I wish to meet with them, but they may step onto the spirits' grounds. Could anything be done to allow them to leave without time spent atoning first?"
Interesting for cats to be travelling still, when Leafbare was gripping the land.
"Mm… Difficult. And Cam cannot tell you?"
"Unfortunately she cannot speak to the spirits as you and Jaguarcrown do. If you need time to speak to them, I could return at a later time." Huckleberry swayed on his paws, weight shifting in preparation to turn tail and leave.
"No need. I will request an exception. They will be able to pass safely."
Is it truly a lie if the end result is the same as promised?
"Thank you. It means a lot." The spark of gratitude in the tom's eyes was worth it enough.
Getting Cody used to outside became tougher when winter began to properly creep in. But the colder weather and shorter days also served to keep the human kits in more, if only slightly.
"You think you'll be okay in here?" Kris asked, trying to keep the tone casual as he rolled over on the floor. He wasn't sure yet how Cody felt about him leaving, even if they'd only known each other a month or so.
A noncomittal hum came from inside the cat tree.
"They aren't as bad if you get used to them… Neither is outside, I think you'd love it if you went beyond the fence."
Even only barely seeing the kit's head, he figured Cody looked to be sulking. The news may have hit a bit harder than expected…
"Like I said, I can't exactly stay. It ain't for me. If you really want out, you can come with us. You won't be alone, and if you prefer to come back here we can go. But we'll be going far away. I'm meeting back up with Mars later. You can come with, get acquainted at least. They're family."
The conversation just about died there, from the looks of it. Nothing more to say, no response to pull. So he let the boy sulk.
It had certainly given Weaver something to think about. Not only had Huckleberry been leaving him alone more and more, pending the end of the guardianship, but now he was very aware of Owlgaze and Slatenose awaiting an answer.
Winter was cruel, any cat could tell you that. It was simple out there. You hunt, and you either succeed or starve. You hide, and you either succeed or die, from predators or weather both.
He remembered his last winter, if a bit faintly by now. How he'd barely escaped death's fangs many times, feeding on crows or carrion when that was all he had.
Yet here, few cats seemed so fussed. Only the newcomers made any sense at all. Both the MoorClan cats, Huckleberry and Fir, even Cam and Storm seemed barely shaken. Like nothing was wrong when the first snow threatened the land. But, then, the newcomers had, so he'd heard, been barred from sharing in the stockpile.
All this living amongst others, as little as he went out of his way to interact, was a truly complicated mess. All cats act different, all cats expect something unlike the cat before. Longing for attention, longing for solitude, longing for respect, for fear… He hadn't lied when he said all this didn't suit him.
Yet whenever he thought of spending another winter all on his own, his paws seemed unsteady under him, and his tail lashed restlessly. Suddenly staying put in the castle seemed far less daunting. For the moment.
"So I… I um. I gave it some thought." He fumbled, sat in front of all three MoorClan cats, eyes downturned to his own fidgeting paws. "I think. I want to join you? Oh-only as long as you want me around, of course, I don't want to be…y'know, a bother."
He felt Owlgaze before he heard her, nearly barreling into him, the motion in the air shifting his whiskers.
"Yes! Absolutely! Right?" She circled around, somehow managing to avoid stepping right on his oscillating tail.
"Nobody is opposed. You're welcome to join us however much you want." Slatenose sounded amused. But Weaver wasn't quite able to bring himself to look up enough to look at Yarrowshine, to figure out what the silence meant.
"Yeah, that. Um. Does that mean I have to sleep here or. Have a name like all of you, how does that work?"
"That would be your own choice. We don't currently have our own leader here to grant you a warrior name, unfortunately, but if you really would like one I'm sure we could grant at least a temporary one?" Slatenose's quiet voice barely cut over the continued sounds of Owlgaze's celebration.
That was one of the worst parts of living together, wasn't it. Decisions decisions. Ones without a simple right or wrong answer and yet so much weight to every option.
"We can leave names for later, I don't mind… I'll tell Huckleberry I'll be moving my nest here… Eventually." He needed a moment after all this. A very long moment.
Sometimes it felt like the world just had it out for him specifically. What was wrong with just living life with his siblings and mother and aunts? Why did the humans decide that just wasn't allowed anymore? Why's everyone always deciding things for him? And yet all he could do about it was curl up in a box and stay there.
It wasn't actually doing him any good, and he knew that. But what was so good about being outside all the time anyway? Mal and Kris kept hyping it up like that best thing ever, but it mostly just seemed cold and wet now that it was all… loud. No more chirping insects or singing birds. Just cars, dogs, crows…
It would come back, apparently. But now he was being told he had to either stay here or leave and hope it's as nice as they say? It felt unfair that Kris couldn't just stay until spring.
And yet, when Kris went scratching at the door that evening, Cody followed along, as much as he still felt annoyed at him for crashing into his life and running away so quickly after. The humans didn't stop him either.
"We'll be back by nightfall." Kris promised, hopping up onto the top of the fence like it was nothing.
Cody…went to find another way around, struggling up a bare hedge instead until the fence top was within reach. Then sank like a stone down onto the hard grassy ground on the other side.
From there, Kris lead him surprisingly far from the houses, out into frost-nipped open fields. The occasional sounds of cars were far away, leaving the world almost eerily quiet. He warmed his paws beneath himself while they waited for… Mars, was it?
Except it was two cats. Cody was left staring down a serious looking black cat while a small golden cat grappled with Kris in what he really really hoped was a greeting rather than an attack.
Kris cackled when they detangled. So…
"This is Cody, by the way! Cody, this is Mars. And I reckon you're the Azazel I've been hearing about!"
The tension in his shoulders let up as soon as the staring contest broke. Around 'family' he'd said. Whatever that means here.
"I heard you're Mal's sister's kit, right?"
"Yep! And you're the new kid's Mal's been taking care of."
It was playful, Mars was just returning what he'd said, and yet for a moment he'd felt deep indignation at being reduced like that.
Not that there was anything wrong with Mal, he liked the older cat and he was always kind of patient. But he wasn't just Mal's kit.
"Ahahah, yeah. Been living with him since summer." The anger never reached his throat, his tone still the same awkward softness.
"He mentioned you were having trouble adjusting to- Az, come on, stop staring there like a weirdo."
Mars broke away mid sentence, opting to instead gradually headbutt the black cat towards the huddle.
"Don't worry, he looks all scary, but he doesn't bite. He's really sweet."
The golden cat continued, rearing up to rub their cheek to Azazel's once satisfied with his new position.
"Nothing wrong with quiet. If everyone was as crazy as you all the time, we'd all drive each other mad. Besides, Cody gets overwhelmed easy anyway."
"You're the travelling one, then? Mars said she was coming with you to be a night?" The black cat's voice was suitably gruff, almost growly in a way that made Cody almost bristle up. Restrained only by the complete lack of reaction to it from anyone else.
"Mhm, so how much do either of you know about kingdoms?"
"Not…anything, really?" Cody answered first, tilting his head Kristopher's way. For all the stories of outside that he'd told, that one hadn't seemed to have quite come up yet.
"Buckle up then, we'll be here a while. Mars, bite my tail if I get off track, please."
The sleek tabby stood, before launching into a tale truly much bigger than Cody had heard from him before.
Though, most of it was about how humans lived, so maybe it made sense that he'd not said anything prior. The awkwardness faded gradually in the middle, and Cody found himself interrupting in fascination more and more often, with Mars occasionally jumping in to add things or answer questions herself. There was so much about how humans lived that he'd never even really thought about!
"Woah, and you do all that out there too?"
"Oh, no, well, not exactly. Smaller scale than that, since there's only a few cats, but. Well, I was thinking to really give it that kingdom feel. Why, you interested?" Kristopher teased him back for his excitement, and he found his ears starting to burn before he choked out a 'maybe', earning an 'aww' from Mars instead. Which didn't help, actually.
Chin up, chest out, stone-faced, just like mum had taught. The decision to follow some weird adults they'd found in the woods had been spontaneous. Maybe a bit dangerous, okay, they knew. But the birds and insects had gone silent save for the crows and it was getting scary.
Besides, these cats didn't particularly seem dangerous. Certainly weird, with all the talk of angry ghosts or whatever - and only some of them. But the most harm they'd done him the whole time had been a bit of bruised pride. Seeing as almost nobody they'd spoken to seemed to think they were capable of taking care of themselves!
"I already told you I know how to defend myself." They grumbled, ears low as the grey tabby kept on asking more and more probing questions. Presumably about fighting methods or whatever, they understood maybe half of the specifics.
"I see. Would you indulge me in a demonstration then? Perhaps we could learn a bit from each other?"
"Sure thing, old man."
They could tell it was just a different means of getting the same information. But it was more fun this way.
Unfortunately, regardless of who attacked first or how, it was always Carnation that ended up stuck on their back, paws at best flailing, at worst effectively pinned. So maybe the old tom had a bit more idea of what he was doing than they did. Even when they tried some of the things he did, it didn't work all that well - so when he corrected them about what they were doing 'incorrectly', their ears just burned.
Both of them flinched, if only a briefly, when a battlecry sounded from a higher pitched voice, followed by an attempt to bite Huckleberry's tail from a, they assumed, kitten - it was a bit hard to tell with how big the other ginger was, but he was pretty sure they were small enough to definitely be a kitten.
"Whatchu doin'?" They peeped, unabashed over having missed the attack entirely. A cat with an odd-patterned face trotted from the same direction the kitten had come from.
"Training." Huckleberry finally stepped off Carnation's chest, letting them roll back to their paws.
Seeing the so-called teacher distracted, they leapt to the opportunity to attack - grappling him around the shoulders with both front paws. From the other side, the kitten pounced too, landing against Huckleberry's side with a dull thump and not much else.
Unfortunately, for all the effort to drag down Huckleberry, Carnation was nonetheless easily shaken off. To add insult to injury, the kitten came flying right at them too.
"Hey! You're supposed to be on my side!" They hissed, kicking the younger ginger off without all so much effort, despite the surprise.
In the meantime, the stranger had also caught up.
"If it's not too much trouble, could Fox join you?" The bald-muzzled one announced, almost apologetically.
"I don't think she's much trouble, I'm sure she can stay." Huckleberry looked to Carnation…
And as much as they almost wanted to say no out of spite, it just felt mean.
"Yeah… You wanna see how real grown-ups fight, kid?"
Fox gasped, bouncing in place.
"I do I do!"
Even as the days passed, Romeo would often see his humans searching for him. Such fervour and commitment was admirable, sure, but the outside world had not yet truly lost its luster either. Most of his fellows had been content to stay inside, he knew that was usually the normal way of things. But was it so wrong for him to not be so?
He knew by now he was not so strange after all - many of the cats roaming during day had humans to care for them, houses to sleep warmly within come the cold night.
If only his own would understand him so. Alas, he knew should they capture him, he may never run and hunt freely in the grass again. It was not their will for him to.
What was he to do then? To flee entirely? As much as he hungered to learn about these lands, to venture forth entirely on his own still rung like certain death. Besides, why else would everyone else who lived here be so eager to stay close rather than wander farther afield themselves?
Nay. Romeo would have to keep evading for as long as he may. …
Whether by pure chance or by the will of some higher being, however, Romeo happened upon that same molly he'd seen on his first day out. Just with company this time, 3 other cats circled around.
He'd tried to be as quiet as possible when approaching closer, ears pricked in hopes of catching some, even tiny, bits of the conversation. His jaw almost dropped when he did finally pick up enough to puzzle together it was a plan to travel somewhere. Somewhere far.
"Now, if you're not planning on introducing yourself or coming along, I'd recommend you be on your way."
Romeo's head popped up, the burn of embarrassment faint on his ears as he realised he'd been seen.
"Of course, of course! You may call me Romeo. I've got quite the plight weighing on me, dear gents. My humans would like to have me back, you see, yet I wish to remain a free spirit. They would see to it I never step with my paws upon grass again. Surely you would help me, dear strangers? I would be forever in your debt if you were to help me find someplace away from here to stay." He pulled out all the stops, swaying and waving, his voice, too, befitting of a sob story of a so-called desperate cat. He'd always had a charm to him, even if this particular performance was not one he'd had much practice in to speak of.
The laughs it garnered, instead of sympathy, were a bad sign.
"I can't imagine life on the run from humans of all things is any pleasure, no. If you think you can handle walking and hunting your own for a moon, you're welcome to tag along." Still, the molly accepted easily, so. Clearly he'd still succeeded.
"My, how could I ever repay you for this, darling?"
"Well, not calling me that would be a start."
The normally quiet stretch of woods and the grassland it bordered buzzed suddenly with more life than summer itself had. Cats of all stripes and colours and splotches spilled across it, all together on a largely unravelled detour to their long journey.
Huck had met them prim proper and orderly, greeting and speaking to everyone in order. Fir had other plans, dashing directly into the sea, seeking out little cousins that were still toddling last he'd seen them, yet now stood at eye level; bumping foreheads with great auncles who had seen their fourth or fifth 'last' winter by now. The energy was infectious, sending him into a rush so powerful he'd forgotten they would not be staying together for long. Up until now, after all, this had simply been a normal ritual whenever everyone reached their destination.
Of course, he hoped they'd come back by in a few moons' time, but it wasn't quite the same anyway. A few hours did not compare to weeks. He could lament on it later, when Spruce wasn't grappling him into a hug.
"Hey, watch the ears!" Fir laughed, trying to topple his older brother over in return. It was in the midst of roughhousing that he stopped in his tracks, to stare at what in first grance seemed like an oddly shaped rabbit, sat away from the group with one of his many cousins.
"Oi, Maggie, is that your lunch?"
Both the white-marked cats broke out laughing. Even Spruce did, a little bit, even as he'd tried to mask it behind half-hearted scolding.
"Bunny's just a friend. We're not eating it." Magpie chirped inbetween breaths, whilst her, apparently, friend stomped its hind paws not unlike a real rabbit, whiskers betraying the retained amusement.
"How'd you end up on the trail then, rabbit-cat? Your legs seem a little short to travel that far." Fir finally untangled completely from Spruce, half-skipping on his paws to join the pair even for a little while.
"It beats home I'll tell ya that. Had more fun the last few months than I've had in years, rough or not." Bunny answered back resolutely, seeming to almost try to rise to his height, though its ears hardly reached his chin even with strain.
"We got a real nice place here with a bunch of company if you two want to stick around, y'know. Real interesting types staying the winter." He slipped in, leaning a bit more towards Magpie in particular. If everyone else felt eager to chat to their own sorts, well, maybe he could get more of his own sort to stay.
"Oi!" Bunny huffed, propping itself up on its hind legs just enough to bump Fir's chin. "Eyes down here, fuzzy."
"Sorry, sorry. You're invited too." Fir snorted, falling back and bowing ever so slightly.
"Dang right. So what's this thing you're offerin?"
Of course, when Fir eventually found Hickory lounging among a circle of other older mollies, he got the wonderful duty of recounting every detail of the time away. She worried, of course she did, even if he didn't really understand why. She'd never fussed so much over Spruce or Pine or Juniper.
At one point Huckleberry joined them to report about how he'd been 'keeping Fir in check' as well, only to just end up fussed over by Hickory instead, over why he'd gotten so sidetracked in the first place.
"…I've elected to stay and help watch over the land." He'd finished his recap, looking almost sheepish as he finally broke the news.
"Oh, Huckleberry, dear. You should have said so earlier. We'll be sure to remember to stop here to visit."
"No need to worry, auntie. I won't be lonely." His voice turned gruff with restrained emotion. Nobody really needed both of them openly upset.
"Yeah! He'll have me with him! And Maggie said she wanted to stay, and her friend! And there's plenty of other cats already here!"
Fir leapt in, voice raised enough to cut through the cloud of upset between them, tail waving in the air.
Except it didn't seem to help. Hickory offered him the type of polite smile usually reserved for kittens boasting about a botched hunt. He could only imagine his own grin, still frozen in its place, looked rather silly now.
And he wasn't really sure why.
"Are you sure, dear? You won't miss your siblings? And Pine's been talking about another litter come summer."
"Ah- well, of course I'll miss everyone! But I wouldn't want to leave Huck all by himself anyway, and here's been fun. It's not like I'm going anywhere, I'll meet you next time you visit." Fir's smile finally dropped, caught half between his own resolution and the longing to give it up.
"I don't mean to keep you, Fir, I'll be fine alone." Huckleberry added. But then Huckleberry was always like that.
"I want to stay anyway. For myself."
