Smallcats ◭ Living Myth ◭ Book 1

Chapter Eleven. "Information Against Power. Doesn't Sound Unfair or Uneven."

          Mistea sighed and looked up at Astron and Flightew. She could feel Astron's tail start to twine with hers, but she didn't bother to slide it away. Recently, the two of them had become close friends ever since that talk a couple of days ago about her fussing over Dew. Now that I think back of it, I guess it was kind of silly, she thought to herself in amusement.

        Flightew broke all of her thoughts as she meowed, "well. That escalated pretty quickly. Should we follow those two?" Mistea subconsciously noticed Astron shrug and press closer to her, sharing his warmth.

        "Probably not. It's a shame that Stonerye has to miss the Merge Tree Ceremony this year," Astron finally mewed.

      "Well, the closing part isn't as important since we already did the ritual of taking a bite of each piece of prey," Mistea pointed out. Flightew nodded in agreement, flicking her ear.

       "Speaking of taking a bite... I'm a bit hungry myself," Flightew meowed, standing up. Mistea's sister nodded to both of them before padding towards the juniper tree where the rest of the half-eaten prey was.

        "Is she really hungry?" Astron asked, flicking his tail tip.

        "No. Each of us ate quite a bit of prey tonight from the ritual," Mistea replied confidently. "She's probably going somewhere. I don't know where, though."

       "True. Hmm. Why don't we share a bowl of water or unsweetened cranberry juice?" Astron suggested, standing up slightly and untwining his tail with hers.

       "Where do the Naturns get that cranberry?" Mistea asked as they began to pad towards the drinks. "And also the bowls?"

       "Well, they probably steal it. You can practically find almost everything here in Fantalinc," Astron guessed as they neared the drink section.

          Mistea nodded in understanding as they paused beside the unsweetened cranberry juice. She had been to the Merge Tree Ceremony once before with Stonerye, Fenanda, Vorian, Astron and the former admiral, Ithile; who had died in a skirmish. She could still remember the calico tabby's sweet scent and kind words and her anguish at seeing her mother dead. Both of Ithile's daughters shared her white fur and Flightew inherited the green eyes. Their father was a highly respected warrior who had been killed in one of Alcatri's follower attacks, and back then none of the Soarians had believed that the old myth was back.

            Mistea felt a paw nudge her shoulder and looked up, realizing that Astron was looking at her. "Uh, care to have some water?" he meowed, nodding to the bowl of water that was in front of her.

        "Right-- sorry. I was just thinking about my parents and last year's Merge Tree Ceremony or Ritual," Mistea mumbled.

       "Ah, I see. I'm sure Cyilk and Ithile would be proud of you. It's just a bit of a shame that they changed the name to Ceremony instead of Ritual," Astron mewed.

      "Well, next year I'm going to make sure they change it back! The Merge Tree Ritual is sacred!" Mistea snorted.

       "Of course it is. Just be a bit quieter?" Astron hissed softly. Mistea nodded and ducked her head in shame before bending down to lap at the water. Her tongue flicked in and out as it scooped up a bit of water each time. When she had her fill, she looked up again and realized that Astron had made his way towards the juniper tree, or the Merge Tree.

         Standing up quickly from a crouch, Mistea followed him as the brown-furred admiral swiftly climbed up the juniper. She followed, though with more difficulty. Trying not to leave claw marks on the bark, she continued to climb after Astron. When they managed to make it to the tallest branch where the leaves spread apart a bit to leave a space to look up to the Universe Trail.