The Balancer's Eye

1. New Home

The sun began it's quiet ascension across the sky, painting the land with its golden light. A dense fog spread across the dew covered ground like clouds. For some time, the sun's light lay upon a sleeping gray figure. Their pelt tinted lightly golden, and in feeling the warmth on their back, rolled over, their green eyes opening slightly. They shut their eyes again, having not expected the sudden brightness. With a sigh, they groggily propped themselves up. They knew that something important was supposed to happen today, but the gray tom couldn't help but dread it. His eyes cast downward, thoughts swirled around in his head, discombobulated and scarcely related. It was decided the day before, that this tom would embark on a sort of quest, they said that it was written in the stars! It was bound to happen, and that he would be great!

He didn't believe that, but everyone else did. It all started with his birth, being told that his birth was a blessed thing because a prophecy came with it. He could hardly remember the prophecy now, mostly due to his blatant attempts at forgetting its existence. Something along the lines of: "When the Clover sprouts at Night, poisonous vines will be drenched in scarlet, letting the Day break from its torment.". He wasn't sure anymore, it seemed to change each time he tried to recount it. There were many things it could have been, but he didn't want to ask anybody. His upbringing was an interesting one, always treated like some savior and given praise for a lot of things. The tom never quickly took to being the center of attention, but he eventually learned to cope with it.

"Cloverwish!" Came a familiar voice, intruding into his vortex of thoughts. The voice belonged to a silver molly of the name Ripplingpool. She was fairly attractive, with a dainty frame and silver coloring, almost an oddity amongst all of the foliage and dirt. Needless to say, she stuck out to everyone, whether it be her appearance or personality.

"Yeah?" Cloverwish looked up at the silver molly, his voice still coated with sleep. "What is it? Is it time to go? Can I at least say goodbye to everyone first?" One question after the next, he was incredibly worried about this trip and it was obvious. How couldn't he be? If he messed this up what would they think of him? Cloverwish had been brought up to be some great cat but what if it was all for naught? Maybe it would be better that way, maybe easier if he got lucky.

"Hey hey slow down there buddy! It's not time to go, Hemlockstar just wanted me to make sure you were awake." Ripplingpool smiled, some attempt to reassure him perhaps. A small smile found its way upon his maw, having appreciated the molly's company. It faded when he realized that he would be gone for StarClan knows how long. He knew that he would miss his friends, miss them gravely. He began to wonder how he would cope.

"When do I have to leave?" The question dared leave his lips, and Cloverwish almost regretted asking. The gray tabby noticed how she seemed to be made uncomfortable, perhaps even disappointed that he would ask. It made his heart sink, as she meant a lot to him as a friend and someone he could confide in. The awkward silence hung in the air for what felt like many sunrises, but was actually only a few heartbeats. This was far more daunting than he had originally thought.

"Hemlockstar said you had to be gone by Sunhigh." The silence was broken by the delicate, melodious voice of the silver molly. Though her voice was quiet, the words carried far more weight than she had likely intended. Those words felt like drops of ice piercing his heart. His mind picked out the word gone to focus on, gone? Gone like he was nothing more than an object meant to solve a problem then be disposed of? A feeling of worthlessness crept along his chest like thorny vines, it hurt, the word gone.

A crestfallen look crossed Cloverwish's face, "Gotcha. I guess that I'll go eat now." Cloverwish looked up at the sky, the hours would just drone on today, he could feel it.

"That would be best." Ripplingpool smiled, though it seemed less genuine. Not disingenuine as in she didn't care about his wellbeing, it just seemed sad. It made Cloverwish's heart wrench and twist seeing her sad. It made him realize that whether he liked it or not, this affected more than just himself and Hemlockstar. This would be a long day.