On the Side
First Episode, Season 1 of Cold
Hope you enjoy! <3
On the Side[]
My name is Storm. My story is a bit more complicated than you would expect. You would think being a rogue means that I live on the outskirts of the Clans and have no interference with them. I would live a peaceful life, where I just mind my own business. Nobody would ever bother me and I wouldn’t have to deal with danger.
But alas, that’s not my life.
You see, I have a sister who was more involved in the Clan business than I was. Her name is Shade.
Now I know you’re probably a bit impatient to hear my story, so I’ll begin now.
It started when green-leaf became leaf-fall too early and it stayed leaf-fall for a very long time…
~
It has been leaf-fall for an awfully long time. Something strange has been happening, according to Shade. I was eight moons old at that time, and for a majority of my life, it had been leaf-fall.
“Storm, we have to hurry,” Shade urged me as I plodded around the den, “You know how hard it is to find prey early in the morning.”
“I know, I know,” I muttered, pausing to admire my sister in the slight rays of the sun.
She was quite a beauty to me. Long, dark gray streaks of fur lined her pelt and her bushy tail was marked with rings of light gray. Her brilliant blue eyes shone in the sunlight, and the white parts of her muzzle looked endearing.
No wonder toms looked at her.
But she did have another side of her. The side that made me shiver in fear, made me wish that Leaf had never died. Any reminder that our mother, Leaf, was dead would incapacitate her. It would involve her screaming and attacking things around her. Then she would take off and disappear into the woods for a few moons before returning once again to our den.
Despite this, she was the level-headed one out of us and she knew how to observe weather patterns and be a good leader. I’d follow my sister everywhere (when she’s sane that is).
Shade hadn’t really been living in our den anymore, but I still thought of it as our den. I didn’t want to be alone, that’s all.
“It’s nearly cold season,” Shade said, brushing her tail along the broken, died leaves on the ground, “Better stock up before then. We have to fix the den too, it’ll be too cold when the snow starts to fall.”
“It’s been leaf-fall for a long time now,” I mewed, “Right, Shade? Six moons?”
“Yeah,” Shade nodded, “Green-leaf ended earlier this year, and I have a prediction that leaf-bare will start early too and end very late.”
She was right though, it wouldn’t be long before the snow began to fall.
As we hunted along the ShadowClan border, I could hear the crunching of leaves and the muttering of cats inside Clan territories. The birds were chirping, singing sad melodies about leaf-bare's coming. All the small animals were scurrying around, gathering little acorns to stock up for leaf-bare. The trees swayed in the strong wind, and my fur rippled around me. Streams that snaked through the forests were icing up, and all the traces of warm seasons were gone.
I hunted with Shade for the morning, grateful for the opportunity to be with my sister. Usually, she was off negotiating with the leaders on plans to help the Clans thrive in cold season.
I never got the chance to ask Shade if I could help to. I was shyer, and I didn’t like to be the center of attention. I preferred to be the cat that followed another cat’s orders. Shade was more outgoing, and her personality proved to be useful when directing the Clans.
As I focused on the myriad of crows before us, Shade prompted me, “How do you feel about helping me with the Clans?”
I nearly stumbled. “Seriously?” my eyes widened, “You’d let me do that?”
Shade nodded, “Sure, why not? I think you’re capable now, at eight moons.” I beamed at her praise.
“If you think it’s alright…”
“We’ll head out soon,” Shade promised, “Let’s do a bit of hunting and eat up before we go, okay?”
I agreed, and as I ate, I got lost in the midst of my memories.
~
"Shade?" I mewed cautiously, feeling the pain of Leaf's death overwhelming me, "Shade, are you alright?" I asked again, staring at my sister.
Her face was devoid of emotion and she stared ahead. "She's dead, Storm. Leaf's dead and she's never coming back. Like new-leaf and green-leaf."
I shuddered at her dark words, and I pressed closer. "But she's in the stars, Shade. She's not going to suffer from white cough or green cough again. She'll be safe and warm in the stars, watching over us. We don't have to worry about her anymore."
"And what?" Shade snarled, whirling around. I backed away, scared of the fury and emptiness that echoed in her eyes, "She's gone instead of looking after us. Your eight moons old!" She wailed, "I can't keep us both alive!"
I continued to back away, my eyes tearing up. "Shade, you have to be strong. You'll take care of us, I know you will."
But she shook her head. "I'm not strong, Storm, I'm nothing but a broken and fragile she-cat." She turned and bolted away.
"Shade, Shade!" I wailed, "Come back, Shade!"
~
"Storm, let's go hunting." Shade purred, her tail linked in mine. I stared blankly at her, trying to process that Leaf was dead and that Shade was the only cat I had left. "Come on, Storm, we're going hunting. Unless you would rather stay here instead."
I looked up and she leaned against me, "I'll come."
Shade purred and licked my cheek. "Come on then, sister, we have work to do. After we hunt, I'll show you a great place for herbs and then we can find brambles and ferns to rebuild our home and nests." She guided me towards the door. "It'll be great, and then we can find something to play, remember Mouse? Or we could try swimming again."
Smiling a bit, I let myself be dragged along, "You're the best, Shade."
She laughed gently and nudged me along. "Now you're not usually the one to congratulate one like me." She raised an eyebrow.
Letting a tentative smile really creep onto my face, I knocked her over easily. "Well," I drawled, "Maybe I got better at being a 'nice' she-cat."
"You're never nice." Shade snorted.
"I can be!"
"Do it then."
I grimaced a bit and said carefully. "You're really good at being a sister?"
Shade laughed and pranced forward, "Come on, let's try your 'nice' act on some prey. If you slaughter more than I do, then I win, okay?"
"That's not fair!"
Shade let out a mirthful purr and raced ahead. "Well if you can catch me first, I'll change the bet!" I laughed and dove after her, knowing that I was a lot faster than my sister.
We collapsed in a ball of fur and Shade sighed and stood up, shaking out her fur. "Come on, Storm, we better hunt so we can do everything else."
Wordlessly, I nodded and trudged forward, sniffing the air desperately to prove to my sister that I was better than she thought I was. "Squirrel!" I whispered excitedly, wishing for its soft, warm taste. Shade nodded to me and I began to creep forward, my heart beating in my chest desperately and I could feel the excitement in the air as I bunched my muscles, ready to leap.
Suddenly my attention was redirected to a gray bulk in the bush, staring at me. I flinched slightly, my paw careening and stamping onto a stick. It made a loud, cracking noise, and the squirrel sat up and scurried away.
The gray blob of fur looked up and saw me staring at it, and hurried away. I blinked, and Shade was at my side. "What was that?" She exploded, "You tell me you aren't a blunt badger blundering through the forest and you can't even catch a squirrel?"
I glared at her, tears blurring my vision. "Something distracted me and my paw went flying!"
"Then next time concentrate harder!" She yowled, her eyes narrowed in fury.
Sniffling quietly, I whirled around and went crashing through the trees. Shade let out a yowl of shock and hurtled after me. "Storm, it's dangerous out there! Stop!"
I kept going, stomping down the undergrowth until something slammed into me, and I heard a roar of a monster flash by. I held my breath, and Shade let me up slowly. There was something in her eyes that wasn't there before. "This is all my fault." She whispered, taking a step back from me, "If Leaf was still alive, she would be able to control my temper. I was almost too late to stop you, and you could've died." She turned and this time she was the one to disappear.
But I didn't stop her.
~
“Hey,” Shade nudged me, “Are you alive there?”
I blinked and shook out of my stupor, “Sorry, just thinking…”
Shade nodded, she understood those times where we had to dwell in our memories to keep the pain at bay. Leaf was our mother, and the pain of remembering her usually made me break down and cry.
It obviously affected Shade more since she was fourteen moons old. She knew a lot more about our mother and was devastated when Leaf died.
We were standing in front of our den again. Shade had decided we needed to fix the den first since it was so old and beat-up. “It’s a trite den,” Shade admitted, “But I still feel guilty for wanting to change it.”
“Yeah…” I agreed, though I knew why she didn’t want to fix the den. Leaf had been the one who helped us build it up when our father had first left us.
“Come on,” she mewed briskly after awhile, “Gather some sticks and leaves and I’ll patch it up.”
When we finally finished covering the holes that would have been nice for hotter days, Shade beckoned for me to follow her towards the Clans. “Are you sure about this?” I asked nervously, “I’m not good at anything.”
“Nonsense,” Shade smiled down at me, “For one, you have an aptitude for speed and intelligence. Plus, you have an excellent nose when it comes to prey.”
“Thanks,” I purred, leaning against my older sister a bit, “You’re always there for me, you know?”
Shade didn’t reply to that one.
We entered ThunderClan territory first and headed for WindClan. “We’ll start with WindClan since the snow will hit them first,” Shade explained, “You always have to think about where is the best place to start.”
It turned out that WindClan was already covered in a fine line of snow. I stepped gingerly onto the white landscape and let out a yelp as I felt cold seep through my fur.
“That’s snow,” Shade purred, “You better get used to it before leaf-bare really starts.”
Sighing, I trotted after Shade as she headed for the WindClan camp. I quickly made a detailed map in my head so I would know how to reach the gorse camp again if I needed to.
“Onestar?” Shade poked her head inside his den, “It’s Shade.”
“Come in,” a deep voice mewed.
Shade beckoned for me to follow her inside and I thrust my way in. “Ah, Shade, are you going to follow through with the plan we had in mind?”
Shade nodded, “I am, but I want Storm, my sister, to be the one leading it,” she swished her tail for me to step forward, “She’s an excellent hunter and can probably find prey faster than I can.”
Onestar eyed me and nodded his approval, “If that’s who you think is best, then by all means, of course.”
It amazed me on how well Shade handled this situation and how the Clan leaders followed whatever she said.
“Shade,” I hissed softly in her ear, “Why am I going to lead this patrol thing?”
“You’re the best choice,” she replied and then she hushed me to listen to Onestar’s next words.
“I have one warrior who is best fit for accompanying young Storm there,” Onestar mewed, glancing at the she-cat behind him, “Snowbreeze will help her.”
“Thank you,” Shade dipped her head and I followed suit.
Shade repeated the process with the other three Clans, and soon, I had my patrol ready. Each cat had a solid build and was at least four moons older than me.
Snowbreeze was a pure white she-cat with brilliant blue eyes. She was lithe, and her slim form made her the fastest among us. She had longer fur and was more accustomed to the cold weather than we were due to her Clan.
Crowheart had a stockier build, and was the opposite of Snowbreeze. He was a jet black tom with glowing yellow eyes. He had shorter for, and he didn’t seem to like the wind, or the cold weather, for the most part.
Reedtail and Minnowfur from RiverClan were the closest, and I could tell they knew each other for a long time already. Reedtail was a big, dark gray tom with light green eyes. He always looked quite serious, and I knew he would be a strong part of the group.
Minnowfur was smaller, and she was a light gray color. She had extremely long fur, and you could see white streaks appear along her flank. She had pale blue eyes that seemed to match Reedtail’s.
Then there was Dawnfur.
Dawnfur was a cream colored she-cat with a hard expression worn on her face. She amber eyes were always narrowed, and she definitely didn’t get alone with me that well. Like Crowheart, she had rather short fur and preferred the trees.
I glanced at all of them and breathed out a sigh.
“Well, um, we’ll get some rest then head out tomorrow.”
This is going to be so much fun.
The End.