Life in the Forest

The Gathering-Part One (and learning just how unhelpful cats are)

Goldenstar padded through the crowd of animals, her pelt bristling as she picked her way around the other forest residents, glancing warily at the entire forest's population of predators gathered around her. She walked as quickly as she could to the center of the clearing, to a large rock where the leaders of all the clans were gathering. Her and her cats had just entered the clearing where all of the forest animals had already assembled, and she looked over the crowd of wolves, bears, bigger, scarier cats, and different types of canines sitting uneasily next to each other, waiting for the meeting to start. Goldenstar looked back to her cats, who were bunched together on the edge of the clearing and looking around at all of the larger forest animals, no longer sure about their plan to meet with the wolves. Snowfur nodded at her from the crowd, looking hopefully at all of the animals gathered in one place for nearly the first time ever. His earlier words played back in her mind: "It's about time someone decided to have a meeting like this... It's a step in the right direction." He was probably excited to see so many people agreeing to work together, even under the current circumstances.

Goldenstar looked back to the other leaders waiting on the rock and finished her journey through the crowd, hopping up next to the wolf leader and sitting down.

"Glad to see you could make it today," Willow said, "and you brought your clan. Perfect." She looked over the congregated animals with satisfaction. "I was worried some of us wouldn't come, but it looks like everyone is here."

"It sounded important enough," Goldenstar meowed, "now let's start. The sooner I'm out of here the better."

"Alright." Willow called, raising her voice to address the entire clearing now, "you're probably wondering why we're all here, and why you received urgent messages about dark forces in the forest." Some animals in the crowd murmured in assent. "Well, it's because the other day, I was sitting in the forest before I went hunting, when a weird wind blew through the trees around me. It felt cold and empty, like it was reaching into my soul, and evil too, kind of menacing and just..." she searched for a word, "well, just dark. I felt its hatred of the forest, and I think it's coming for us. I called this meeting to make a plan for what we're going to do about it, and how we're going to defend ourselves."

Silence fell over the clearing as everyone processed this. Animals leaned towards each other, muttering, skeptical looks on their faces. Goldenstar glanced at Willow, disbelief and fear warring in her eyes. Do I believe her? she wondered. She decided to ask her questions now and figure out if she believed it later.

"With all due respect," Goldenstar started, "How do you propose we defend ourselves against something only you can feel and is apparently so hateful of us that it is coming to kill us? And anyways, why should everyone in the forest put time and effort into something just because you 'felt something in the wind' and 'think it's coming for us'? How do we know this isn't a lie or a trap that you've come up with?"

Willow gave her a disappointed look. Goldenstar looked back, her eyes cold and determined. She needed to know what the wolves were really planning, even if Willow wasn't happy about it. "Well," Willow started, "I'll begin with your last question, why you should believe this isn't a trap. What could I possibly get from gathering you all just so we can argue about something that's coming for the forest? How could I get any advantage from a bunch of skeptical, hostile animals all in one place?"

"Clearly, you could have called us here so that you can have all of the Clan leaders in one place, perfect for taking them all out at once. With that, you could take over the whole forest in one day," Goldenstar meowed.

"Actually, I couldn't, because how could my single pack take down all of yours? We're outnumbered nearly twenty to one," Willow said. Goldenstar growled but didn't argue. "It also seems like you've put a suspicious amount of thought into that plan," the wolf said, glancing at Goldenstar with a partial smirk.