The Ceremonies

Characters

Petalpaw: Pale silver tabby she-cat with white paws

Tabby: Brown tabby she-cat with

Flatepelt: White tom with amber eyes

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Petalpaw's paws were stinging, her eyes filled with grit. She blinked, and saw Tabby sitting, shoulders hunched.

"I never should have left," Tabby whispered, pawing her nose. "We're never going to find your Clan." Petalpaw sighed. She couldn't giev up; if Tabby wanted to leave, so be it. But Petalpaw had to keep going.

"I'm sorry," Petalpaw murmured, trying, unsuccesfully, to lick the dirt from her pads. "You can go home. I won't stop you." Tabby lifted her head, revealing dead, dulll green eyes.

"Petalpaw," Tabby murmured, hoisting herself stiffly to her paws. "I'm not going anywhere. I told you I'd come to your Clan with you, so I will. I won't turn around and go home just because the journey gets a little bumpy."

If this is a little bumpy, Petalpaw thought, flexing her sore shoulders. Then I don't want to know what really bumpy is. She pressed a forepaw gingerly to the hard ground.

"All right, then," Petalpaw meowed, shaking her dirty, grimy pelt out. "I'm glad." She limped over to a bush, and rubbed her neck along the branches until the strap of her collar caught on a limb. She jerked, as sharply as she could, fearing a heartbeat too late that she'd strangle herself. But the worn, torn, and beaten material snapped easily before it could pinch her throat too badly. Tabby tilted her head, a confused expression on her face.

"I needed to get rid of it eventually," Petalpaw murmured, pawing the broken strap. It was the same pale purple as her eyes, but it was covered in a thin layer of dust, muck, and grime. She thought of Josie and Raina, giggling as they brushed Petalpaw's fur, the yummy food they used to feed her. She sighed and picked it up gingerly in her teeth.

More coming soon!