The Traveler

Here She Comes

"Come on mother! Just look at that beautiful lake," shouted a beautiful white she-cat with tortoiseshell legs, as she bounded ahead. she stood at the top of a grassy hill looking down at the sparkling water far below her. Wind swept through her sparkling white fur and thundered in her ears.

'This is the life,' she thought! 'New places. New sights. New sounds.' She was an adventurer. Sure some of the cats she met on her journeys called her a rogue, but she prefered the term Traveler. She had been to so many different places. She had spent a lot of time in a small twoleg place far, far, away but she had moved on, going on to see farms, larger twoleg places, even the tops of the mountains lining the sky where she had met many strange cats. A shiver ran down her spine at the memory of that twoleg place. The dreadful place where she grew up. The day she left was the best day of her life. Traveling was her new life.

But her mother was getting very old. The mountain cats had let them stay for awhile but the rough terrain was no place for her mother. The old she-cat could find no comfort nor warmth in their cramped caves. Then the one in charge, 'Stoneteller,' she thought, had mentioned something about some helpful cats around this lake, but where would she start to look?

"Slow down Iceshadow. You know my old bones can't keep up with you." Iceshadow flicked her brown tipped ears towards the frail, golden tawny cat limping to her side.

"Oh mother. You know I'll never go too far. Besides, I'm not so young anymore either." Iceshadow meowed playfully. Her green eyes glinted in the sunlight. "You're too hard to get rid of, like a stubborn flee." She reached up and batted her mother's tawny shoulder.

"At least let me rest a while." Her mother purred. She struggled to lay down on the grass. "I haven't had a chance to rest since we left that horse place."

"All right," Iceshadow said, coming to sit next to her. "You can rest here while I go look for those cats, okay?"

Her mother looked at her with a worried glance. "Do be careful. I don't want anything happening to you. We don't know anything about these cats, and I've already lost three kits. I don't want to lose you too." the old cat fretted. Her paws shifting to lift herself up.

"I'll be fine mother," Iceshadow said quickly, laying her tail tip on the old cat to still her. "I know how to take care of myself, and the mountain cats insisted that these cats were fair and kind. Just stay in the open so I can find you when I get back, please," she added.

Her mother sighed contentedly, then closed her eyes and rested her head on her paws. "I know. You're a strong cat. Just don't forget you're old stubborn flea up here."

Iceshadow gave another laugh. "I won't," she promised before turning and bounding down the slope.

'So much open space,' she thought as she ran. Hills were alright and all but it was the forests she wanted to explore first. Something about the trees around her felt more comfortable, more like a home when compared to all the different types of territories she explored.

She stopped at the top of another hill and looked over the lake. 'There. A forest, and a rather large one at that.' At one end ran a river, the other a large patch of pine trees. "What a great place to explore," she breathed. "They must be in there."

Something moved in the corner of her vision. She turned to see a group of cats streaking toward her from a distance. 'Could these be the cats,' she wondered. Their fur was short and windswept, making them seem smaller than they really were. How odd. The mountain cats said they were on the larger side. She had been expecting broad shoulders and bunched muscles more suited to living in undergrowth. Not lithe, lean cats. Nevertheless, they could help her, couldn't they?

"Hey," she shouted, waving her white tail in the air for them to see. They seemed to speed up at her greeting so she took a few steps forward.

"Windclan.... ATTACK" screeched the lead cat.