Cold Heart
It's not easy, speaking for an entire Outerworld society.
Being the only Outerworld representative in a circle of of Innerworld rogues and Clan cats is incredibly intimidating, although you wouldn't know that just by looking at me. You'd see the scars on my shoulders and think, This is a strong, brave warrior.
You'd be wrong.
So. Very. Wrong.
I'm not a hero. I'm not even a warrior. Heck, some Clan cats even consider me a kittypet. I've seen the way they look at me. It's like my very presence is a plague to their perfection.
Oh, and they gave me the scars.
I don't understand the inner workings of the Innerworld. All I know is that the Clans seem to be the heart; then the Openlanders, the rogues and loners, are high up as well, and then Innerworld kittypets are pretty low on the status list. But the Innerworld kittypets are esteemed higher than even Outerworld warriors.
I don't know how it works. But I understand all too well how they feel about me.
See, the only reason they let an Outerworlder into the Inner Circle is because they thought it would make them look fair. The real reason is because the Outerworld warriors were getting mad that they had no representation for the way their lives were run. Besides, if they think they look fair, they should have seen the way the Outerworlders looked at the scars when I came back the first time.
They couldn't believe it. I remember one of my friends' exact words:
Solden, what happened? Are you okay? What did those Innerworlders do to you? I knew we shouldn't have let you go. I knew it....
Those words still hurt. Even the other Outerworlders don't think I'm strong enough to stand up to the Innerworlders.
Well.
That is going to change very, very soon.
Have you ever met a cat who seems cold and hardened to the world?
I think that's me.
I don't care what the Inner Circle thinks, or what the Innerworlders think, or what anyone thinks. It doesn't matter, not in the end. Not if I can help it. If I can just make it to the Spirit Woods...
Oh, that's right. The Spirit Woods are where cats are said to go when they die. It's all a queens' tale, though. The woods are just a normal stretch of forest, if with a bit more fog. But it's not guarded, and so I spend a lot of my time there.