Tangletuft's Mistake; (complete)

Chapter thirty five

Smoketail squeezed her way through the bramble barrier, leaving strangled pieces of her fur behind her.

Whisper followed, edging her way spot in the middle of the entrance. She hadn't lost any fur unlike Smoketail. Whisper must've been used to crawling through the entrance. Would Smoketail get used to it too?

Many cats stared at her with confusion. And by many cats, she meant many many cats. It was like a whole Clan! Smoketail watched in interest as three kits played in the corner watched by two full grown cats who snuggled together, and as slightly smaller than normal cats boasted about what they had done that day and as tiny groups of full grown cats mingled around each other. It was exactly like a Clan.

Maybe Smoketail would like this.

"Ah, hello there Hush," An older tom padded towards her, his scraggly and torn up black pelt glistening in the sun-high light "Whisper has told me so much about you."

"Uhh..." Smoketail trailed off, looking beside her at Whisper who gave a kind stare.

Whisper turned towards the scraggly tom before she spoke "Hush this is Prince. Prince is one of our oldest and most experienced cats here so respect him." She paused, "He's also my father."

"Oh so he's like an elder?" Smoketail asked, surprised by how Prince reacted.

"I'm not an elder," He shot "I still hunt and fight for our group."

"Okay sorry." Smoketail looked at her paws, but Prince let out a muffled laugh. Smoketail shot her head up, confusingly swiping her tail side to side.

"Don't worry champ all the cats here call me old it's alright." Prince laughed as he spoke, slowly turning more serious by the heartbeat "But anyways, I bet you want to know about this place."

When Smoketail eagerly nodded, Prince continued "Let's go into a more comfortable place." He pointed with his half of a tail that was left towards a patch of sun shining through the cluster of leaves and branches.

Smoketail followed, earning more glares from the cats. The kits had stopped playing, all staring at her with their huge eyes and making the former WindClan warrior shrink in her own fur.

"Who's that mommy?" The brown tom asked, staring up at his mother then at Smoketail again.

"It's just Hush." The cat who Smoketail suspected was the mother meowed. And as her kits gave her a curious look, she continued meowing but now in a soft order "Let's go into our shelter and I'll tell you a story."

The mother turned around and began to pad the opposite direction. But soon she noticed her kits weren't following. The mother turned around, rolled her eyes, and called out the names of her kits "Patch, Clear and Forget come over here immediately."

And Smoketail watched as a patchy furred tom-kit -who had also been the one to ask who she was-, a pretty calico she-cat and a silver -almost like ghost colour- tom traveled after the mother, and was gently pushed into their shelter.

Oh how Smoketail hated kits. They were a nuisance for six whole moons before they could fend for themselves. Plus, that would mean she would have to leave warrior cat duties which she definitely didn't want to do.
Breezefoot felt the same way as she did. And she admired him strongly for it.

"Hello?" Smoketail felt a tail wave around her face and she turned to Whisper and Prince, who were sitting in front of her. Whisper sat neatly with both paws tucked under herself while Prince was the exact opposite. His legs were sprawled to the side in an awkward pose.

"Aren't you going to sit down?" Prince asked and Smoketail obediently sat, feeling hot under her fur.

"Okay so about this place hmmm." Prince began to meow, his eyes looking up as if he was trying to look into his brain to recall the memories "Well I was one of the cats who started it." Prince paused as Whisper gave him a glare "Fine. My mother was one of the cats who started it."

"One of the cats? How many were there?" Smoketail asked, leaning in closer and having his words peek her interest.

"Four," Prince rasped, swallowing a gallon of saliva before continuing in a smoother voice "Their names were Brielle, Spots, Jasper and my mother who's name was Oliver. They had always been together since they were little just as loners roaming where they pleased. Until they found this land. As they trekked through it, Jasper had an idea that each cat should have their own little territory. Sure it was small, but they thought they could separate it into four spots, one for each cat. It worked for a while, until Oliver and Jasper fell in love. Brielle just suggested that they started a group with the whole territory. The other three quickly agreed. And they searched for a camp before getting to work, accompanied by passing loners or rogues wanting to join them," Prince paused, taking in a deep breath "And remember how Oliver and Jasper fell in love? Well, they gave birth to me seven moons later. And I guess here we are."

Smoketail slowly nodded, wrapping her head around what she had heard "But what are the dynamics of the group?"

"Well it's simple really," Whisper replied although the question was directed towards Prince "We have positions just like your Clan. But we do things a little different."

"What do you mean?" Smoketail peered around herself, noticing many different types of cats and nine different dens. Oh StarClan that was way more than WindClan.

"I see you've noticed our shelters," Whisper cut Smoketail out of her trance "Well we have kits and their mothers. Fathers are optional if they want to stay in there or if they want to stay in their position.
And then we have trains. Trains are like your apprentices or whatever you call them.
Next, this is where it gets tricky, we have a few different roles for full grown cats. The leader chooses wether the young cat will be a lookout, hunter, fighter or a recruiter. The leaders usually chooses close after their birth by what his or her heart is telling them. Each different task has their own den."

Smoketail nodded and Whisper continued "Then our "deputies" are different than yours. We call them deputy as well but we have four, since there was four who made the group. They have their own den. Just like the leader and the elders have theirs." Whisper paused, her fur suddenly sticking out as if a thought entered her head "And we don't call them elders. We call them duty-finishers. I know it'll take a bit of getting used to but I know you can do it."

Smoketail let out a quiet whimper. How was she supposed to remember all this? She didn't even remember what she had eaten at the start of the day.
It was a mouse that you didn't even like. Smoketail thought. Hare-dung! She actually did remember.

•••

Hey guys!! Sorry this is like a explanation chapter so it isn't that interesting... aha

but I hoped you liked it anyway and I hope it wasn't too confusing haha

but anyways, that's it bye