Warriors #6: A Kittypet's Destiny

Chapter 12

Goldenshine's POV

I was currently in a quite entrancing pattern, one that I had been caught up in for several moments now. This consisted of me alternating between looking at Dustystorm and Mousewhisker, who I was currently sharing a rabbit with; the fresh-kill pile, which still had many of my Clanmates huddled around Sol; and the camp entrance, the place I had watched Swiftflight run through, and he hadn't appeared back through since.

I was anxiously waiting for my son to return, because truthfully, I had never wanted to be next to him more. Maybe even more so than when he had completely cut himself off from me.

I had been fuming at every word that Sol said as he claimed that Swiftflight hadn't saved Cherrypaw and Molepaw from the fox, and I had every reason to.

I mean, I had seen it. I knew that that crazy, crowfood-eating birdbrain was lying. I would have bet all the prey I'd eat in my life on it.

And yet, cats believed Sol, to my complete dismay. I felt angry and mortified myself - so I couldn't even begin to imagine how my son currently felt. And as much as I had wanted to follow him out of camp, I knew that he probably needed time alone, at least for the time being.

But at this point, I was practically driving myself crazy by my anticipation of his arrival, so I decided to pull myself back to full reality and focus on the two cats in front of me - Dustystorm, who had barely left my side since the Sol confrontation like the amazing that he is, and was currently pressed up against me as he bent down to take another bite of rabbit; and Mousewhisker, who had also shown great support in this situation.

"I can't even begin to describe how weird that this is," the gray-and-white tom was meowing as he stared off at the fresh-kill pile. "I had just become a warrior when Sol came here for the first time, and I'd had no idea that he was eventually going to cause so much trouble."

I snorted after swallowing a piece of rabbit. "Exactly why we shouldn't trust him now!" I insisted bitterly. As much as I hate to drag down my own Clanmates, I can't even try to understand what kind of logic they're going by right now.

Mousewhisker let out a purr of amusement and shook his head slowly in response to my words. "You had never seen Sol before in your life, but it seemed as if he'd been torturing you your entire life by the way you looked at him."

"Of course! He lied about something that my son did!" I meowed, holding back a hiss. I then blinked a couple of times, cleared my throat, and then gave a nod back to Mousewhisker as I shifted uncomfortably. "Our son." Although my time with Breezepelt is long past, the fact that ThunderClan thinks that Mousewhisker is Swiftflight's father hasn't changed!

I gave Dustystorm a half-apologetic, half-anxious look. But to my relief, my mate simply flashed me a look full of warmth and understanding. I gave him a grateful lick on the cheek and then looked back to Mousewhisker, who winked at me and he slowly nodded. "Right," he replied, his voice clear. "I hated to see our own kit treated like that."

Phew. That was close. It's moments like these that remind me that Mousewhisker is truly a blessing from StarClan! I gave my friend another appreciative look, and then shifted closer to Dustystorm and laid my head on his shoulder. "I watched him save the apprentices from the fox," I murmured before lifting my head and looking back at Poppyfrost at the fresh-kill pile. Unfortunately, right now, just one glance at the she-cat made my fur bristle. "I don't care if I'm Swiftflight's mother. I know what I saw."

I then felt Dustystorm rest his muzzle on my head. "You don't have to convince me of that, Goldenshine. I believe you," my mate meowed comfortingly. I then lifted my head and looked at him as I felt him shrug.