𝑺𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑭𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔: 𝑨 𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒕 𝑭𝒂𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒄

Chapter 2

Just because I carry it so well doesn't mean it's not heavy...

━─┉┈┈◈❖◈┈┈┉─━

Tomorrow, she would become an apprentice. Maplekit could only hope that Cinderstar had some pity on her and wouldn't give her a horrible mentor. But knowing her father, Waspsting would deliberately sabotage her plans of becoming a warrior, and give her a horrible mentor. Shadekit, though, would most likely be mentored by either his father or the leader herself.

"How are you Maplekit? I'm scared for tomorrow. What if..." her sister trailed off.

"We'll be fine," she bitterly spat before correcting herself, "You'll be fine. You're not disfigured, you'll get someone decent. And I hope that you don't ever desire happiness in your life...it'll only bring you unhappiness. Nothing else."

Her sister gasped,

"Don't say that, Maplekit! You have to learn to let go. That is the key to happiness. And once you're in the sunshine, you'll never see a shadow. How can you say happiness is bad?"

Maplekit quietly snarled back, tilting her face so that the setting sun could obscure her emotions,

"I'd rather walk alone in the darkness than to walk in anyone else's shadow."

Maplekit hear a sniffle from her sister, a scrabble and then Silentkit was gone. It was something that happened often. She would hurt her sister's feelings and then in less than an hour, Silentkit would be back, forgiving her and bouncing around, looking after Maplekit to make sure that she wouldn't get herself into more scrapes.

Suddenly a white fluffy bundle came barreling into Maplekit and sent her crashing onto the prickly wall of the Nursery.

"I won Sharpkit! I told you I could win-" Blizzardkit rejoiced before his sight landed on Maplekit and curled up his lip in digust,

"Honestly, Maplekit?! Did you have to get in my way? Ugh, I hope you get mentored by Tinycloud!"

A harsh, splintery voice laughed,

"Tinycloud?! She doesn't even deserve to be mentored! Imagine though, she can't even hiss! Find me a cat that can't hiss and I'd be amazed! Oh, wait. We have one right here. How useless can one get?"

"I've told you, she's deformed. Come on now, Shadekit, you need your rest if you are going to be the best you can tomorrow," her father coldly interjected Sharpkit before giving his son a lick on the head and curling around him. She could feel blood roaring through her veins and bunched up her muscles, ready to attack her brother.

"Maplekit?" a voice asked, snapping her out of her fury.

"What?" Maplekit snapped back, irritated that her mother had prevented her from attacking her brother.

"Come here, I'd like to tell you something," Heatherstalk meowed, sweeping her tail around Maplekit and drew her closer. 

"But I'm nearly an apprentice! I know enough to carry me throughout my entire life and StarClan beyond!" Maplekit protested, trying to wriggle away from her foster mother.

"No, if you don't keep on learning, other people will pass you by. Temperament alone won't do it—you'll need curiousity for a long, long time," Heatherstalk lightly reprimanded her, giving Maplekit a slight whack on the head with her paw and held Maplekit in a tighter grip.

"Work for a cause. Not for applause. Live life to express. Not to impress," Heatherstalk meowed, ignorant of Maplekit's complaints.

"Learn from yesterday, live for today and dream for tomorrow. The most important thing is to not stop questioning," her foster mother continued.