Hunters - Act One (Read Desc.)

'' Chapter Two ''

Orchid licked her paw, keeping it warm. Winter had swallowed the land, and the grasslands were an endless sea of white. That being the exact reason why they did not leave the forest.
Three new moons earlier, they had found the body. They had not found the murderer however, and the body was too coated in dry blood to detect the identity. The two siblings were just waiting for their mother now.
Pheasant stretched, turning onto her other side in the nest. "When is she coming baaack? I don't wanna sit in this stuffy old den until I grow old and die."
"I'm gonna grow old and die if you keep complaining. I can feel all of my fur turning gray." Orchid stood up and stretched too, padding toward the entrance to the den. She heard Pheasant's annoyed offended huff from behind her as she pushed her face through the dangling vines.
The cold air seemed to freeze her nose immediately and she licked it, trying to keep it from becoming an icicle. The last thing she needed was to be called a narwhal by Pheasant.
She padded lightly across the snow, her large paws spreading her weight more and making it easier for her not to break the frozen surface. Her thick fur protected her from the cold, and she felt like she was still in the den. Just less unbearably hot.
Orchid practiced and practiced for hours, eventually gliding across the snow soundlessly. She snuck up behind a bird picking at some seeds from a bush, swatted at it with her paw, and bit its throat. She buried it under the snow and continued looking around.
Eventually, she had caught two small mice and a skinny bird. At least it was something.
Now, Orchid had been practicing hunting since the third day of their mother's absence. She knew she'd need to feed Pheasant and that Pheasant wasn't built for snow or hunting in enclosed areas.
She carried the prey back to the den, dropping the prey in the middle.
Pheasant blinked a thank you to her and grabbed a mouse in her mouth, dragging it back into the nest and eating it in the warm spot she had created in that corner of moss and bracken.
"Orchid." Pheasant sounded serious, and that's what concerned Orchid. When pheasant said something that wasn't a complaint or a random statement in her sleep.
"Uh. Yeah?"
Pheasant looked her in the eye. "I'm 100% sure mom isn't coming back."
Orchid sniffed. "What makes you think that?"
Pheasant sighed. "Was it really that hard for you to tell that dead body was her?"
Orchid froze.
"Wh... why didn't you tell me if you knew!?"
"I thought you already knew!"
Pheasant stared at her for a moment as Orchid quickly finished her bird.
She watched Orchid pad back out of the den, too.
Orchid felt her eyes burning into her back until she made it a fair distance into the woods.
She then let herself fall forward, stuffed her face in the snow, and screamed.
. . .
Four days passed. Orchid had been acting really weird and getting progressively more tired every day, and Pheasant was getting visibly concerned.
Day seven of Orchid acting weird came along and Pheasant finally pulled her aside.
"Orchid, what's been up with you lately?"
She said nothing.
Pheasant stared her in the eye, giving her a look of such genuine worry that she knew it would make her talk. Of course it worked.
Orchid sighed. "Well... if mom isn't here... that means I need to take her place. I need to catch all the prey, and guard the nest, and... and.. protect you."
Pheasant's eyes widened. "Orchid..."
"I have to. You're my sister, and my best friend. And the only other living being I even know. You're the most important cat in the world to me, you know. If I were to come home to see you got killed by a fox or something, how do you think I would feel?" She lowered her head. "I'm sorry, Pheasant... I should have been paying more attention to you, and not just making sure you aren't hurt..."
Pheasant hugged her. Orchid calmed down a bit, releasing plenty of tension in her muscles. Her shoulders drooped with exhaustion.
"Aand..." Pheasant looked at her face. "When was the last time you slept?"
"Uh... seven days ago...?"
Pheasant gasped. "SEVEN DA- GET IN THE NEST YOU LUMP!" She shoved Orchid into the nest, throwing ferns on top of her and sitting next to the nest.
"I'll guard. You sleep."
Orchid didn't expect sleeping to be that easy, but she went out cold the second her eyelids made contact.