Wind Chimes

Episode one of Life Concealed.

Wind Chimes
Wind is a beautiful thing. It can bring sultry air to warm a pelt, or chilly breezes to cool down an over-heated cat. Wind can toss up leaves and carry them across the sky. Wind also produces beautiful music.

This is where I come in. My mother was a sweet she-cat with a warm heart. She would never yell, or get violent with my siblings. She was everything you would expect from a real mother. She gave birth to me and two of my siblings. My brothers were Gust and Draft, while I was Chime. I was a black and white cat with light grey eyes. Nothing special.

My mother loved the wind, which is why we were named after things to do with that. You may think, what does Chime have to do with wind? Well, my mother knew of Two-legs. They have been gone for many seasons, but she learned about them from stories passed down. They had these metal cylinders that created lovely sounds when wind passed alongside them. They were known as wind chimes. She took the second half of the name, and titled me with it.

While my mother was fragile and kind, my father was tough and cruel. He was basically a lost cause to me. I didn’t understand why he despised us, but he did. He hated me the most in particular. Why did treat me with such revulsion? I wouldn’t understand why until later on in my life.

My father left us before we were even old enough to catch our own prey. Why did mother even have a hint a love for him? I’d never know.

My true story begins when we were on our first hunt. We lived in a vast meadow with a stream running in the middle of it. It was a peaceful land with a few friendly cats to neighbor us. Mother never let me talk to them much, and now I know why.

I had caught my first mouse. It was small and scrawny, but it was my first catch, and made me the most proud cat in all the meadow. Gust and Draft both took down a rabbit together, but nothing compared to the superiority I felt when I caught the mouse.

My mother thought since we were around five moons old that we were ready. I didn’t understand at first. What were we ready for? Was she going to teach us new battle moves or hunting strategies?

That was when she showed us something that changed our lives forever.

The dainty black she-cat gave a swirl of her tail, causing winds to gush out, pulling at our fur. She could make flowers pull up from their stems, flowing along the breeze. It was a beautiful and graceful power that amazed us.

“What did you do?” I had asked, wonder in my tone.

“I control the wind,” my mother had explained. “I am a Wind Elemental. I was blessed by StarClan with these powers.”

I had heard of StarClan before. Mother would always tell us stories about them, how they were protectors in the sky. She told me that each stunning, twinkling star was a warrior defending us from above. She also told us that she had come from a Clan, one with the name of WindClan. I didn’t know why she left WindClan at the time, but I didn’t think it was important.

After this amazing event, mother told us that we might also have the same power as her. Draft was the first to realize that he had the ability mother had. He found out only days after mother’s little ‘show’. I knew after that that mother had a new favorite in the family. Draft could control the wind just like her, even if he could only cause a small breeze at first.

Gust and I managed to contain our jealousy. We pestered mother, asking her why she didn’t give us these powers. She told us gently that StarClan was in control of whoever became an Elemental, and it was completely random.

I was next to realize my power. However, I was not like mother.

At the stream, I understood I had developed an ability like mother, but it was far different.

I dipped in a paw into the water to cool myself, and the liquid surrounding my paw froze into a patch of ice. I was startled and pulled back, but when I took out my paw, water streamed out with it.

I didn’t know what to do, so I cried out for my mother. She bounded across the meadow, finding me awestruck at the power I just revealed. She gathered me up, taking me back to our nest a little ways away from the stream.

So, Draft and I discovered amazing abilities within ourselves. This should’ve been a time for rejoice, correct? Wrong. This began the worst stage of my life.

We believed our meadow neighbors were trustworthy. Mother thought they would keep our secret away from the ‘Clans’. One night, mother was taken. We were lost without her, we didn’t know what had happened.

One of the meadow neighbors saw us, lost and cold. He took care of us for a few days, telling us that our mother was long gone, never to be seen again. Draft told me that the tom was just trying to spare out feelings. I asked him why, that’s when he told me.

The Clans killed our mother.

It hurt to hear this. I was broken, and I didn’t think I could go on. I was just so young! Who loses their mother before they can even live on their own? It was terrible and heartbreaking.

I didn’t know what it meant to be an Elemental. All I knew is that I could control water, which seemed interesting and fun at first. However, I had to learn to conceal my abilities. Gust told Draft and me that our meadow neighbors despised Elementals. He explained that Elementals were outcasts, feared, and monsters to others.

We didn’t know what to do after that. We had to make sure no other cat learned of our powers, but since we were young and uneducated, Draft and I couldn’t control our powers well. Winds would blow violently whenever Draft got mad, and whenever I tried to drink from the stream, water would rise around me.

Gust was worried. He didn’t want us to get executed like mother. He didn’t want to witness the same pain all over again. That was when we decided to break up. The three of us couldn’t stay in the meadows, or we had a higher risk of being discovered.

I didn’t want to lose the rest of my family, but I had no choice.

I escaped from the meadow. I left my beloved Draft and Gust. I left them all behind, and found myself lost in an endless forest. This was my new home, a home of loneliness and solitude. I learned to keep my powers under wraps, so that any cat passing by would never know. I even forgot I was an Elemental sometimes.

I had never seen any of the Clans. I was just a loner who roamed the forest with a broken heart.

That was true until this day.

The day my life changed forever.

~_~_~_~_~_~

The sky was shielded by the arrays of trees. Their branches extended to amazing lengths, covered with thick, bright green leaves. The end of New-leaf was here, and Green-leaf was excitedly taking its place.

Sometimes I yearned to see the sky, to bathe in its beautiful blue depths. But to leave the forest was to leave my dark, shadowed sanctuary. It was here that I wouldn’t lose control of my powers. There were no streams or rivers nearby, just the puddles that ran about the trees. I managed to keep my abilities hidden by small circles of water like puddles.

The smell of prey was fresh in the air. I smacked my jaws with the anticipation of a hunt. I glanced around, wondering where the prey might be. It smelled like squirrel, and with Green-leaf approaching, it’d be a fat, juicy squirrel.

I leaped onto a tree’s thick branch. It took a few tries, for I wasn’t an expert at tree climbing. I was a ground dweller, and enjoyed the touch of the forest floor.

I could see the squirrel amongst the leaves. It was nibbling on an acorn. Squirrels were ignorant little creatures. Couldn’t they see that their family was being feasted on by hungry cats? The creature’s brown-grey pelt was fluffed out, I could tell it was getting flustered. The squirrel couldn’t manage to get its acorn open.

Before it could solve the puzzle on how to open nuts, I lunged out from my post. My claws outstretched from my paws, my ears flattened as I hurled myself towards the tasty morsel. I barely missed the creature, but it seemed as if I miscalculated my jump. I found myself falling from the safety of the branches.

Channeling my instincts, I turned in midair, desperately hoping I would land on all fours. Luckily, I managed to do just that. But the impact was extremely painful, and I managed to stumble along the forest.

“Fox-dung!” I cursed under my breath.

How could I be so stupid? I should’ve known I’m horrible at climbing trees and balancing on branches. Next time, I’ll settle for a mouse or vole.

My paws ached. I knew I sprained two of them. After padding on, I settled myself by a puddle, lapping it up gingerly.

“Quite a fall you took there,” an amused mew startled me.

My claws slipped out of my paws, and I whipped around, wincing. The pain refused to ebb away from my throbbing legs, but I tried to seem strong. My grey eyes inspected the cat that stood in front of me. It was a dark grey tabby tom with questioning navy blue eyes.

“Who are you, and why are you here?” I demanded, but my voice cracked, failing my false sense of superiority.

He narrowed his eyes, claws unsheathing as well. “I was about to ask you the same thing,” his amused voice turned into a dark growl. “You’re on ShadowClan land.”

I was confused. ShadowClan? What type of name was that? Thinking of it briefly reminded me of my mother’s stories of WindClan and StarClan, but the memories were dim and fragmented.

The tom stared at me as my eyes trailed to his claws. They were long and sharp, like the fangs on a snake. I couldn’t hide my fear, but I tried to stand strong. But this wasn’t my land, why wasn’t I just running away?

“Do you want me to shred your pelt? ‘Cause I’m close!” The tom snarled, pelt bristling. He was over-doing it, any cat could tell.

I rolled my eyes, strolling over to him. He lifted his paw in a threatening gesture, but I knew he wouldn’t strike. I peeked his interest by standing up for myself, so he wouldn’t send me running just yet.

“May I repeat my question?” I meowed, clearing my throat. “Who are you?” I lifted my head, eyes locking on the stranger’s.

The tom backed away a few steps, ears flattening with a hiss. “Get off my territory!”

Okay. Now I realized I had really angered him. His patience was running thin with me, and he would soon lash out with those sharp, fang-like claws.

My tail drooped slightly. “How about… An exchange?” My voice softened. I didn’t want him to replace all his curiosity with irritation. “My name… For yours?”

He relaxed a bit, thinking that after this little scene was over, I’d be hightailing myself out of there. “Swiftcloud of ShadowClan.” He replied. “What about you?” The grey tom refused to change his menacing expression.

“I’m Chime.” I meowed.

Swiftcloud gave me a few disapproving glances. “Is Chime even a word?” He snickered. My ears perked, he wasn’t as infuriated now if he was going to crack jokes.

However, this tom making fun of my distinctive name wasn’t exactly funny to me.

“Oh and Swiftcloud is any better?” I lashed my tail. Chime was a beautiful name! Didn’t he know anything about Two-legs and their commodities?

His whiskers twitched. “What?” The grey tom frowned with confusion. “It’s a completely normal name. Loners are crazy…” He muttered under his breath, turning on his paws. “Show yourself out, loner. You’re not worth my time.”

A part of me wanted to leave. That part wanted to run back to my cozy hollow amidst the trees where I could hunt and rest. Another part of me wanted more. I had been so socially deprived for moons, why give up this chance so quickly? ShadowClan interested me, there was no denying that. I wanted to know more.

“Wait,” I couldn’t hide the pleading tone in my voice. “What’s ShadowClan…?”

Swiftcloud paused in his steps. He didn’t turn to look at me, but his tail rose slowly. He lifted one of his front paws, giving it a thoughtful lick. “What is ShadowClan? Honestly, I couldn’t tell you if I tried.” His last words lead to the end of that question.

He stood there for a few more moments, as if waiting for me to respond. But how could I respond to that? I had no idea what this Clan business was, and he wasn’t giving me anything. There was no point into continuing this further.

“Chime,” the gray tom meowed, shooting me a glance with his dark blue eyes. He still wasn’t completely comfortable with me yet. “Why are you here anyway?”

I admit that the question caught me off guard. I didn’t fully understand why I wasn’t running away from the threatening tom. Mother always told me to avoid strangers at all costs. Why wasn’t I using her advice at this moment?

I looked to my white paws. There was just something about him. Perhaps it was my hunger for social activity talking, but he was something new. I needed this after moons of solitude, and maybe I could learn a thing or two from him.

“I’ve been alone.” I replied simply. “I’ve been hiding out for so long, and then you come prancing along, what am I left to do?” The words kept spilling out, and I didn’t understand why. I was confessing everything to a tom I didn’t even know!

I heard him suck in a deep breath, his ears flattened once more. I thought I lost him, and that he was going to continue his trek back to ShadowClan, whatever that was.

His head twisted back to face me. He scanned me again, thoroughly checking me with his eyes as if I was a dangerous predator. “Do you want to visit ShadowClan? It isn’t much but it’s enough to feed the curiosity of a loner.”

“W-wha…?” I tripped on my words. The situation seemed so bizarre, why was he doing this? Did he have a hint of sympathy for a lonely, weak cat?

Swiftcloud shrugged, as if the offer wasn’t anything big. “It’s just a group of cats, really. Lead by a leader and a deputy. It was so much more, but you know, times change…” The corners of his mouth twitched, his eyes darkening.

“Is this… Is this just a trap?” The defensive switch in my brain switched on. It’d be stupid of me just to waltz off with a tom that could be planning to kill me!

He didn’t reply, the grey tom just continued to pad on deeper into the forest. I was losing my chance!

Despite my best interests at heart, I bounded after him. I demanded to know where we were going, but he ignored me even with my best efforts. I was growing impatient at a rapid rate, but this stubborn tom didn’t care. Swiftcloud knew that I wouldn’t leave or get bored with him.

The forest was growing darker, the trees getting higher and the ground wetter. My small paws were soggy, and the air smelled of frog. I gagged, but this set off Swiftcloud, and he gave me an angry glare.

As we trailed deeper and deeper, I was getting more dubious of the situation. I was prepared to save me pelt, and race away from this unknown tom. Something held me back. This hunger for adventure was carved permanently inside of me, preventing me from leaving.

Finally, there was an opening in the tall, menacing trees. An opening that lead to a dip in the ground. Swiftcloud slipped down, beckoning me with a flick on his ears. I followed reluctantly, but the moment I saw the clearing, I was amazed.

Cats swarmed around me, pushing past Swiftcloud and running off to perform tasks. There were so many cats, much more than I have seen in my entire life. Their pelts were a blur of ginger, grey, black, and brown.

“Home…” Swiftcloud looked back to me, smiling at the surprise on my face.

I didn’t know this many cats could exist in one place. But what really confused me is that Swiftcloud was the only one outside of this clearing. One cat caught my eye, and the other cat, a dark brown tabby, stared at me for a few moments. I could see the panic in his eyes, and he escaped back into the crowd.

“Sorry, Chime.” Swiftcloud sighed in a mock apology, smirking. “Didn’t think you’d give in so easily…”

I stared back at him. “What are you…?” I stopped my words midsentence.

The commotion in the Clan had stopped instantly. Cats turned to face me with large eyes. Swiftcloud’s eyes narrowed slightly as a dark russet tom pushed his way through the crowd. He stopped in front of me, nodding towards Swiftcloud with approval.

It’s a trap.

I turned to run, I had to get back to the safety of my hollow. I had to make sure I never run into this ‘ShadowClan’ ever again. But cats blocked every angle of my body. Panic glittered in my eyes.

How did they know?

“ShadowClan,” the brown tabby grinned, gazing to the crowd of cats. “Welcome the Elemental!” He cackled.

This is the beginning of my story, starting on the first day of my new life.