𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗥𝗦ᶠᵃⁿᶠⁱᶜᵗⁱᵒⁿ 一 𝔅𝔩𝔞𝔷𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔱 [𝟑]

❆☾𑁍𓆱ᥴhᥲρtᥱr 𝟸𝟼𓆱𑁍☽❆

The days dragged on, and with them came snowfall. One morning, tiny, fine flakes fell from the sky. It was nowhere near enough to cover the world in a layer of white again. What's more, they melted into miniature puddles as soon as they touched the ground.

Shivering, Larkwing, crouched in a hollow under a dried fern frond, fluffed up her pelt and tucked her paws under her body to keep warm. Lakepelt had settled down beside her as well, providing at least some warmth.

The only one who didn't seem to mind the cold was Crowshadow. No wonder with her thick fur, which protected her perfectly against the snow. While her patrolmates, all with shorter pelts, shivered, she had made herself comfortable between the roots of an oak tree and looked around expectantly.

Today, the cats of the reconnaissance patrol had decided to meet in the forest and discuss what they had been able to find out about the ruin cats so far.

Larkwing was particularly interested in this, especially because as the supposed Guardian of the Ancient Stone she was outside the camp most of the time and therefore hadn't learnt much yet. She hadn't even learnt anything about her task. She barely saw Sunray, and apart from that, the ruin cats always acted terrified when Larkwing approached them. Therefore, she had had nothing better to do in the past few days than stare at the stone and occasionally wander around the forest.

What a great prophecy cat she was.

"They only hunt individually," Splashfur reported confusedly, tilting his head. "I asked them a few times if I could join them, but they just looked at me funny and left."

"They don't patrol borders either. If they have anything that could be called a border," Redleaf added thoughtfully.

In her mind, Larkwing repeated what she had heard so far. The ruin cats don't form hunting patrols. The ruin cats don't care about borders. If they marked their territory like normal cats, the Clan cats certainly wouldn't have run into them just like that.

"I don't know about you, but they don't seem like a real group to me." Cloverdapple looked around with bright green eyes. The medicine cat of LaurelClan made a pitiful impression as he crouched curled up in a half-heartedly dug hole. His short, brown and white spotted tabby fur was already partly wet.

Larkwing felt sorry for him. At least I have thicker fur myself. "They probably all live in one spot to be less vulnerable to enemies," she surmised on a hunch. "It doesn't necessarily mean they're a real group."

That sounded reasonable to her ears. Not reasonable in the sense that she could understand such a way of life, but that she couldn't explain it any other way.

"Good, and why haven't they formed a group long ago if they already share a camp anyway?" Crowshadow retorted.

Larkwing didn't have an answer to that. She hadn't considered that, and now that Crowshadow had said it, her theory seemed a bit pointless.