Spirit's Journey

CHAPTER 59- Hannah: Conflicting Questions

I wasn't counting days but I knew it had been around a week since Fallan had twisted her ankle. She wasn't healing very quickly because she hadn't been given the chance to rest much, to which I was conflicted about.

I knew that we needed to travel as much as we could, but deep down Spirit should've realized what she was putting us all through.

And the thing was, she didn't even know all of it.

In the days since the big argument had erupted about Spirit leading us farther into an ice-storm, poor Diamond had developed a cold. Constantly worrying about the outcome of her sickness and where her next meal was coming from, I'd forced myself to go out hunting on the nights where Blaze did not.

I kept telling myself that he wasn't being lazy; he just wanted to stay close to me and Diamond and keep us safe. Whenever Storm, Spirit, Midnight and Aspen went out to hunt together they no longer asked us if we wanted to come along.

Instead, Spirit would remind us not to go off on our own and to let her know if we'd found something for Diamond among our return.

I never responded or regarded her words. Me and Blaze took turns hunting on the less frigid nights and while Diamond awoke mewling for food my heart twisted in pity for her.

Obeying Spirit's rules were the least of my worries.

Of course, it was scary going off on my own at night but I saw no other option. Fallan couldn't be trusted to watch Diamond after loosing her that day when we'd been led to the pig watering-hole.

"Do you just want me to go?" Blaze would offer at the last second when I was about to head out, causing a small twinge of confusion to prick my paws. What was the point of asking when I'd already gotten my up and about?

"No, it's okay. I won't stay out long because I have to be here before Spirit gets back."

At that Blaze would looked annoyed at the mention of my sister and then swish his tail as if uncertain.

"Be safe, Mommy." Diamond pattered up to me on her slightly too-large-for-her-body paws, still not much bigger than a young squirrel. I'd leaned down to give her a quick nuzzle and turned to step into the fresh snow.

Upon hunting I often never found anything. Maybe I had just lost my natural instinct for tracking or maybe I just had no luck at all. All I knew was that each time I'd returned all frozen paws and whiskers with my jaws almost always empty of prey.

Only once had I gotten lucky enough to find a small squirrel clinging to a dead tree, and then almost lost it.

Spirit and Storm, no doubt, were actually becoming closer. I wondered why they hadn't became friends long ago because after all he always went with her, Midnight and Aspen to hunt.

They'd occasionally begun sitting closer than usual and sharing prey with their human-cat friends together. I'd even seen them share a conversation and walk the same path like they finally weren't afraid of touching each other.

Midnight and Aspen had formally begun sleeping together at night.

My fur tingled when I looked at their proximity- Midnight was simply too young to be sharing a bond like that with another cat.

This was, of course, the least of my worries but still annoyed me.

When I looked at Storm I thought back to the days when we'd started to become friends. If Blaze had never come up to me that day in the forest would we be something more by now?

A rush of regret had hit me and I'd turned my eyes quickly back to my mate. Not long ago had he asked me if I'd like to be his for life, to which I very happily agreed. Seemingly it was a thing that was just bound to happen.