Icewillow's Greed

Chapter 7

Art by Gaillian! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCAyEoO66ywJ4gsmeB12vFw

"And that's when I set it free!" Curlykit finishes his story. "It flied off and I said goodbye!" 

"That's awful sweet of you, Curlykit," Breezenose purrs. "You have a kind heart." 

"Tallkit was gonna kill it if I didn't do something. Even if it was just a butterfly, it deserves to live!" 

"I'm sure that butterfly was very thankful for you." 

Icewillow is looking down, curling a blade of grass around one of her claws out of boredom. After a bit of struggling with it, she loses her patience and slices it. 

"Can I just.. leave him with you?" she asks. 

"Sure! I can bring him back to his mother and siblings once I'm done patching up his wound." Breezenose carefully examines Curlykit's torn pad. "Remind me how you did this, again..?" 

"I freed the butterfly, and when I was going inside I stepped on a rock!" 

"You don't sound like you're in very much pain." 

"It just felt like a poke, really!" 

"You're a brave little tom." 

Icewillow stands up. "Well, I don't think you need me here anymore. I just brought him here." 

"Maybe you could go ask Burrstar if there's any patrols you could go on?" Breezenose suggests. 

"I guess." Icewillow shrugs and leaves. 

I don't like Breezenose very much. Too cheerful. 

She scans camp, looking for Burrstar. She eventually spots him, calmly sitting beside Petaltooth and talking with her. She looks very distressed, and on the verge of tears... 

Welp, definitely not getting involved in that. What time is it? 

She looks up at the sky, seeing that the sun is setting. 

I could go see Buzzardpaw maybe..? We aren't meeting up till tomorrow, but maybe I could surprise him. A-Actually, no. I don't want to seem too desperate. Maybe I could go hunting? Yeah. Hunting. 

She excuses herself out of camp, not bothering to ask Burrstar or Eeljump for permission. 

I don't need anyone to tell me what I can and can't do. I'm a cat, just like them. 

She walks down to the dividing rivers and stares down at her reflection. She squints. 

Black fur, huh? Who cares? Watch me be twice as good as everyone else. 

She unsheathes her claws and slashes at her reflection, splashing water everywhere. Frustrated, she springs up into a tree and starts leaping from branch to branch, from tree to tree, at top speed. 

As she's moving, she perks up with the sensation of wind blowing through her fur. 

She felt free. 

"Do you think they'll like me back?" 

Icewillow slips and quickly scurries to hide herself in the leaves. 

DID I JUST HEAR BUZZARDPAW? 

She slowly starts making her way down the tree, continuing to keep herself as hidden as possible. Her eyes lock on the familiar form of Buzzardpaw, who's sitting with his older brother. He's very tall and fluffy, and his gray fur stands out slightly when surrounded by all the green of newleaf.