Mapleshade's Second Chance

Tiger

"You're joking."

"No, I'm being serious."

"You must be joking."

"Believe it or not, it's true."

Maplelight laughed and shook her head. "You mean to tell me that you've never heard of a parrot before?"

"No–but I'd love to hear what they are," Tigerclaw meowed. In all honesty, however, he wasn't particularly interested in learning what these strange creatures were. He just wanted an excuse to listen to Maplelight ramble on about any random topic.

"Well, they're not really that interesting. Just birds that Twolegs like to keep in their homes," the calico molly confessed. "They're really pretty though–their feathers are a lot brighter than the birds you see here in the forest. I guess that's probably why I've never seen any here; I mean, I imagine having feathers that bright would make hiding from predators a bit difficult."

"Probably," Tigerclaw agreed. "So Twolegs keep other animals as pets too?"

Maplelight nodded. "They keep all sorts of pets. Cats, obviously, and dogs too. There's also the occasional bird and even fish as well. My old housefolk used to have a pet goldfish, as a matter of fact."

"What do you mean 'used to'?" Whitestorm asked. Tigerclaw jumped slightly; he'd been so focused on Maplelight that he'd forgotten the white tom was there as well.

At the question, the calico molly looked a bit sheepish. "Oh, well, I was bored one day and my siblings didn't exactly want me playing with them...so, well, I decided to play with the fish instead. I'm sure you can guess how that turned out."

Tigerclaw tried to picture Maplelight as a tiny kittypet, watching in confusion as her Twolegs' pet goldfish took its last breaths. The mental image was quite amusing, and he snorted with laughter. Maplelight just looked at him, half-amused, half-exasperated.

"I'm glad you find my story so entertaining," she meowed dryly.

"It's only because it's you," Tigerclaw admitted. "You could tell me a story about eating breakfast and I would still listen to every word."

Maplelight didn't seem to know what to say to that. "Er, well, thanks," she replied awkwardly.

Whitestorm glanced between the two of them and meowed, "I'm going to go see if the elders need any fresh bedding." Giving Tigerclaw an almost imperceptible nod of encouragement, he got to his paws and padded off in the direction of the elders' den.

Left alone with Maplelight, Tigerclaw could only watch as she chewed a mouse tail absentmindedly, her green eyes distant as she stared off into space. He was tempted to ask her what she was thinking about, but as usual, his ability to speak was failing him. After a few moments, however, she turned back to him with a questioning expression on her face.

"I almost forgot, there's something I've been meaning to ask you," the calico molly meowed.

"Of course, what is it?" Tigerclaw asked.

She hesitated for a few heartbeats. "Well, I was just wondering if you happen to have any idea why everyone–"

The rest of her question was cut off, however, as Sunstar walked over from his den to speak to them. Tigerclaw looked up at his Clan leader, wondering what he wanted with them. If there was Clan business that needed to be taken care of, shouldn't he speak to Tawnyspots or one of the senior warriors instead?

"I apologize for interrupting you two," Sunstar meowed, his eyes gleaming. "But I wanted to congratulate both of you. You're about to reach yet another milestone in your growth as ThunderClan warriors."