Lonely Rest

[Drivenwind]

Her body rested on the pebbles, water slowly rushing past her body, trying to pull it along, but only resulting in her wet fur flowing the direction of the water. Dead, a water vole lay at the shore of the stream, beside a small, lifeless swallow bird. Drivenwind had been hunting, but had stopped to take a break. Yes, she would return on her lone hunting trip, but, right now, her watery perch was just too comfortable. Though it was unlikely in the shallow water, maybe she could catch a fish. Tiny one got lost and swam by from time to time.

She swished her wet tail (The fur was all clumped together and sagging.) lightly, and decided that it was time to resume hunting. So she stood up, careful not to loose footing on the pebbles and roll into the water. But her golden eyes had caught something, and she suddenly flailed her front paws up, slamming them hard onto the pebbles, causing a splash. Kit hunting techniques, she laughed at her self, but this one got me by surprise. She twitched her paws; the force onto the pebbles had made them hurt. But crushed between her paws, stayed a little silvery-blue fish. It was too little to feed a full-grown cat; a warrior could easily devour it in one bite. But maybe a fairly full, young apprentice or a sneaky five and a-half moon old kit could choose a bite at it. The deputy snatched it in her jaws, burying it along with the vole and swallow.

[Sunfeather]

The sun was warm on her light ginger coat, as she hopped her way down the last part of the mountain. It was a relief to get away from her rambunctious kits, who were now quite old enough to be away from her at longer intervals. It felt so nice to be out of that stony place, stretching her legs in the beautiful sun.

The queen scrambled down the rocks, and padded along the rounded surface of the pebbly beds below. Sunfeather found a stronger, familiar scent on the refreshing breeze, and noticed the deputy--Drivenwind--covering something in the soil. "Nice catch," she meowed, motioning toward the vole and bird that lay nearby. "Mind if I join you for a bit? It's too good a day to waste in that cave." A friendly purr rose up in her chest.

Cool, lapping waves played at her feet as the she-cat waded to the other side of the stream. Sunfeather lookedoff in the distance at the rolling green valley, and the far away red dots that marked RedClan territory.

[Drivenwind]

The black-and-white she-cat's ears pricked up as she saw the gingery queen. She tried to keep her ears from flattening with embarrassment; had this cat seen her silly catch at the fish? What if Sunfeather--the name of this StormClan queen--had watched her lazily lie in the water? She snatched a quick glance at her soaking flanks, wet black fur hanging down and dripping.

"Hello, Sunfeather," she meowed, sounding rather polite, despite the worries of how long the queen had been here. "Of course, but I was going to leave soon. How are your kits?"

[Sunfeather]

Sunfeather paid no attention, or thought little of why the deputy was dripping. Since she had kitted, and been confined with her kits...the she-cat found that being lazy was growing on her. It was indeed nice to be out and stretching her legs; the sooner she was out of that nursery, the better. Rather, the queen thought the sopping look was a good one for the deputy.

"How far did you plan to go? I...don't know how long I want to stay out. But they're doing fine, thanks for asking." The ginger she-cat smiled, and padded up to sniff Drivenwind's catch out of curiosity. "They're so loud, I don't know how anyone gets on with them running about camp like they do..." A subtle purr escaped, but was short lived.

[Drivenwind]

She smiled, but she couldn't laugh. She had new a tom one, named Lizardblast. She had fallen in love, but that was behind her now.... Kits, how much she wanted them. Couldn't there be a way a deputy could put her duties aside for a moon or so to have kits? After she had kitted, maybe she could lend the kits to another queen and resume her warrior duties. No, she thought, it's not that simple.

"I'm actually heading back now, but I'll catch some fresh-kill on the way." She cocked her head as the queen sniffed her catch. "Are you hungry? Maybe I can catch something for you. That is for the Clan, of course."

[Sunfeather]

"If you're going to start back, I might as well help you carry this. I suppose hunting right now might not be such a good idea; leaving those kits to roam with the warriors may be too much for their ego." A purr resonated through her chest, as she looked the sopping deputy over. The she-cat twitched her whiskers, and lifted her head to lick her chest a few times; something to do to keep her eyes away.

Drivenwind wasn't missing the life of a loving mother--she had her clan to protect--in Sunfeather's opinion. In a way, wasn't the clan like a kit? Four moons had passed since the sandy queen had kitted, and she was already missing the regular hunting patrols, and warrior gossip. She was still a gentle, caring mother, with a heart made of golden sun...but her position as a warrior was what made her seem whole.

[Drivenwind]

"Thank you, but it's no problem. I can do," the she-cat purred. "I'd better not hunt on the way back." With that, she started to scrabble on the earth below her, until a dirty blue body of some sort came into view. "Uh..." She pulled it out, using her teeth, revealing a minuscule fish. "This is nothing for a full-grown cat. Maybe you could give this to your kits when they're a little older, as their first piece of fresh-kill." Suddenly, her ears started to quiver: a habit she had developed when she was nervous. Had she, a Clan deputy, just asked a queen to break the rules, to give a kit a piece of fresh-kill? Drivenwind was a newly named deputy, and was currently trying to prove that she was worth deputy. This was definitely not deputy behavior. "But make sure to skin the scales off with your claws, and split it into three (You have three kits, am I correct?), one for each of the little darlings," she added, a slight stammer in her voice.

Like nothing was wrong, she started to lick herself dry.

[Squirreldash]

A tan and brown swirled pelt suddenly flashed into the sun as the lithe she-cat Squirreldash suddenly ran into the open, her paws pulling her closer and closer to the terrified mouse that ran ahead. It tried to dart to the left, but the warrior's claws ensnared it. Squirreldash dispatched the trapped prey with a single bite and she purred.

Scents floated to her, and Squirrel dash turned her body fully to her left side, sighting the queen Sunfeather and the deputy Drivenwind. Her cloudy, shadow-seeing right eye was useless in identifying cats.... But Squirreldash wasn't bitter about that.

"Hello Drivenwind! Sunfeather! Fine day, eh?" Squirreldash called, picking up her fresh-kill and padding over to the stream and nearer to her Clanmates.

[Sunfeather]

Sunfeather shook her head, a soft mrrow of laughter escaping at the deputy's modesty. "It's the least I could do. You wouldn't want to spend your morning making trips back and forth would you?" The ginger she-cat looked at the small fish, amusement gleaming in her eyes. "But that's right, I have three kits. I wouldn't want to surprise them with a fish though," she disregarded any mistake that Drivenwind had made.

It was too good a day, too warm and refreshing. It was a simple mistake.

"It might be too much for their poor little hearts," the queen purred, and turned to see another golden cat approach. She dipped her head in greeting to the warrior, and held her purr a moment longer. "Good morning Squirreldash, it is a good day. I feel a bit lazy, what with the warm sun and all. Nice catch, by the way," she smiled sweetly, and looked over the mouse that hung in the she-cat's jaws.

[Drivenwind]

"Yes," she replied to Sunfeather, choking out a fake laugh. What do you expect? Don't make the queen kill her kits, her head growled. Inside that happy black mask, embarrassment was buzzing around.

"Hi, Squirreldash. Don't mind Sunfeather; she says, 'Nice catch,' to everyone," the black-and-white deputy teased, starting to get up once most of her fur had stopped pouring--though it still stuck in clumps. She bent down to Sunfeather's paws where she had left the fish, then to the dirt near where she had previously been to pick up the water vole, leaving Sunfeather with a dead bird.

[Squirreldash]

The half-blind she-cat grinned stupidly anyway, just feeling giddy with the wonderful weather. Squirreldash nodded to Drivenwind's greeting, "Thats true. Sunfeather, you kiss up," she teased lightly flicking her tail on the queen's shoulder. "But thanks for the compliment anyway."

Curiously she glanced at the small fish Drivenwind had caught and meowed, "So, are you giving this to the older kits, then, Drivenwind?" Squirreldash prodded the mouse she had caught mildly.

"I'm supposed to be hunting for the elders, I think. All because I supposedly 'snuck up on' an apprentice... I forget who..." Her voice trailed off in thought.

[Sunfeather]

"What? You don't expect me to lie to you and tell you what a horrible hunter you are, do you? I mean I can certainly start saying it if you want me to," the light ginger she-cat smiled and flicked the deputy with her tail. The queen was happy to have left the nursery on this fine day; she didn't often didn't get to gossip out in the lazy sun.

Slowly she turned her dark eyes on the younger warrior; wrinkling her nose in amusement. "Oh, really? What did you do? Surely it wasn't that bad." As Drivenwind set the bird at her paws, Sunfeather gently clamped her muzzle around it. Under her mouthful of feathers, the she-cat meowed, "Yo'now, th'fish co'ld be giv'n to a'apprentice. Let'em pick scales out'a their teeth."

With a purr rising in her throat, Sunfeather stood and waited for the deputy's okay to go back to camp; now that none of them would be arriving empty-jawed.