Homecoming?

[♫.Starredmyst]

"We should have gone by the road."

The young tom's voice was uneasy, frustrated, a little angry; angry at himself, not at the she-cat next to him. Ghost had never been in a forest before, and he wasn't certain he liked the experience.

The trees were tall and looming; smaller, certainly, than had been the buildings that lined the streets he once called home, but their widespread branches interlocked over his head, blocking out the sunlight in dappled patterns that made his head hurt to look at. Even if most of the leaves were dead with leafbare's advance and crunching under his paws, the six-moon-old tom couldn't help but send a wary, wide-eyed, flinching glance up at the almost-bare branches from time to time, certain one would come crashing down on his head.

It didn't help that he'd insisted on coming this way in the first place.

Ghost hesitated, then stopped where he stood, slim white-furred figure halting on the edge of movement against the backdrop of a thornbush. "We shouldn't have come here," he said again, awkwardly; his voice was deep, for an adolescent's, with an adult's timbre he hadn't grown into yet. "I don't like it here, Canary; I think we should have followed the road we saw."

A branch blew aside in the wind, and the white tom flinched; for the briefest moment he was cast from shadow into sun, and the momentary light picked out a flash of teal around his neck. Not a collar, but a necklace; a turquoise-and-black shell-shaped locked, tied carefully to keep from dangling around his feet. Automatically Ghost lowered his head to hide the necklace, in a habitual protective gesture, and he glanced nervously up at the branches before speaking again to his sister.

"If we followed the road we'd have found dens, like where we used to live. And, you know...where there's dens, there's --" he faltered a moment, changing his thoughts before they could leave his mouth, "-- other cats. You know. Who might take us in."

[Đarκsong]

Canary was completely lost in her thoughts. She could only half hear what her brother was saying. She merely padded slowly beside him, staring up at the large trees. The she-cat had never seen this many trees before in her life; it seemed as though they went on forever.

Hopyfully our journey doesn't last forever.....

Her brother suddenly halted. Canary bumped into his flank and her eyes grew wide. What was going on? She listened to what he said, and replied, "I don't like it here either...." Canary chewed nervously on the thick silver chain around her neck, it's heart-shaped charm clinking against her small teeth.

"But what if other cats won't take us in?" Canary said, worried, "What will we do then?"

[♫.Starredmyst]

Ghost was half watching his sister out of the corner of one eye; a small part of him, as always, had detached itself from the scene and his general nervousness to watch out for her welfare. He'd been on the verge of saying something worried when he noticed her chewing at the chain she wore, and straightened, hiding the brunt of his own uneasiness as best he could.

"If the other cats don't want us," he heard himself say firmly, "we can watch them. We'll latch on to some Twoleggers for awhile and watch how the other cats hunt and stuff, and we can learn from them how to get on. And," he added, with another wary glance at the branches above them, "we won't come back here again."

The long-legged young tom lifted a paw, meaning to go back the way they'd come, then paused, glancing around. Tree, bush, plant, tree, tree -- which direction had they come from? He couldn't see the sun so clearly, and this was overgrown all around; there were no straight lines he could sight on to tell which way to go. Ghost swallowed, and put the paw back down.

"Do you know which way the road is?"

[xradx]

Longwhisker had been walking through the undergrowth of the forest when she caught the scent of cats she had never smelled before. She normally stayed in camp, but today she had felt the scents of the trees calling to her. She knew she shouldn't be out here alone, but she didn't care. When she heard the strange cats talking to each other she couldn't understand what they where saying, and she wasn't completely sure where they were, but she knew she should probably go get a warrior. But first she would get a look at them, see if they looked threatening, she was old but she was determined notto be totally useless. So she quietly wandered in the direction she thought she had heard them coming from. She crept forward, slowly getting closer. Before she even noticed she had gotten closer, she was almsot directly in front of them, staring them in the face. She silently cursed herself for not fetching a warrior sooner, but she wasn't going to let these cats see that.

"Why are you trespassing on Ivoryclan territory?" she demanded in a hoarse voice, maybe she could intimidate them and it wouldn't come to a fight, she hoped silently, but she stared them directly in the face, not betraying her fraility to these strange new cats.

[Flower]

Silverstripe was looking for Longwhisker, not because he wanted to, but because some of the other elders were frantic. Grumbling under his breath, he limped out of camp, heading for the forest. He raised his nose and sniffed the air. She had come this way. He followed the trail, annoyed but careful. The last thing he wanted was to run into a badger, fox, or even worse, that wolf...

"Why are you trespassing on Ivoryclan territory?"

Silverstripe stopped and hid. He was halfway grateful that she was all right, but he saw that there were two unfamiliar young cats in front of her. He hissed softly under his breath, knowing that if the two decided to attack her chances weren't so good. The pair smelled faintly of Twolegs, but not to the extent that a kittypet would. He decided he might as well help Longwhisker out. Padding softly out, he fixed the two young cats with one of his fiercest stares. "Good question. Two young cats shouldn't be out alone in the forest."

[♫.Starredmyst]

Ghost had taken a deep breath after asking his question, scenting the air worriedly for any hint of Twoleggers and their ilk -- the road, some dens -- anything that would get them back in a safe direction.

Instead, he smelled cats.

The young tom straightened at once in alarm, whipping around toward where the scents were blowing from. Two of them, a tom and a she-cat -- the latter actually in sight, an elderly brown cat with the lean build of a feral, rather than one of the Twolegger pets Ghost knew almost as well.

"Why are you trespassing on Ivoryclan territory?" the old she-cat asked them, and Ghost flinched in spite of himself -- there was something fiery in the way she was looking at him that belied her age, and he didn't dare meet her gaze.

"Good question. Two young cats shouldn't be out alone in the forest." The tom, a dark tabby who was clearly in the prime of his life and much more a threat, appeared a moment later, and Ghost swallowed, clearly almost undone by the forest and its fierce inhabitants.

"We're -- I -- we only -- I mean --"

I sound like a terrified kitten. It was an embarrassing thought, especially with his sister near, and, gulping, Ghost drew himself up.

"I am Ghost, and this is my sister Canary," he said quietly for the both of them, hoping his deep voice would lend him a sense of mystery rather than uncertainty. "We're a bit -- lost. We're searching for a territory of our own, cats to live with perhaps, and we've -- never been in a forest before."

He opened his mouth to say something else, hesitated, realized he had no idea what else to say without sounding rude or pushy, and faltered, looking down.

[Đarκsong]

Canary looked back and forth, sniffing the air. She couldn't figure out where the road was at all. She suddenly scented other cats. She was about to say something to Ghost when two cats appeared before them. At first, she was terrified and stepped behind her brother. She nodded at what he told them, and slowly crept back to his side. Canary thought that she should say something, but no words came to her.

[xradx]

Longwhisker wa grateful to see Silverstripe, but she didn't show it. When the cat spoke she listened curiously, she really did want to know what these cats were doing here. When the tom finished she scoffed "They don't even have proper names!" she exclaimed. Then she noticed the strange turquoise necklace that was tied around his neck, it didn't look like a collar, but it didn't look like anything else she had ever seen either. She then turned to look at his sister, she wore a similar chain around her own neck. "What are those?" she spoke in a disgusted tone as she gestured with her tail toward the chains that hung around their necks.

[Flower]

Silverstripe's expression softened when he saw how afraid the pair were. "They can't do any harm, Longwhisker. We might as well take them back to camp."

[xradx]

Longwhisker's whiskers twitched, but she did not reply immediately. She glared at the new cats at another minute and then began to speak, "You don't know that. They could have a whole mob of cats just waiting for them to lead them to our camp and attack us." She spoke as if the two cats weren't right in front of her, listening to every word she said, and she made no attempt to hide the contempt in her voice.

[Flower]

Silverstripe scowled. "Honestly, are you thinking at all? If there were any cats around other than us and them, we'd smell them. Anyway, compassion is in the warrior code, isn't it? What right have we to turn down two young cats needing help?"

[xradx]

Longwhisker sighed as if that was the most mouse-brained thing she had ever heard. "Well I didn't say there was a mob of cats here right now, they could come later. We have no way of knowing, we don't know these cats. And the warrior also teaches us to protect our clan, and frankly I don't see how bringing two complete strangers that we know nothin about to out camp is protecting our camp." Longwhisker spoke as if it was the mose natural thing she had ever heard. "But you're thw warrior, you should know," she added sarcastically.

[Flower]

"If cats wanted to invade our camp, it's not too hard to find, mouse-brain! They don't need scouts unless their noses are completely useless! Have you never noticed the fact that a whole Clan full of cats makes quite a bit of scent?" Silverstripe gritted his teeth. He was bristling, and he lashed his tail back and forth angrily. "How is bringing strangers into the camp a danger? Tell me that if you can!"

[xradx]

Longqwhisker's fur stood on end and her voice came out in an angry hiss "We don't know anything about them! They could be spies, they could have some other twisted plans that we can't even begin to guess, they could be anyone, and you want to lead them into a camp full of kits and elders? They could be dangerous and you shouldn't need me to tell you that, you mouse-brained fool!" Longwhisker was old, but when she got angry she argued with the same strength of a young warrior, and right now, she was very angry.

[♫.Starredmyst]

"What are those?"

"They can't do any harm, Longwhisker. We might as well take them back to camp."

Ghost's eyes had narrowed at Longwhisker's comment, but he had broken into a hopeful smile at Silverstripe's words. He hesitated a moment, then opened his mouth to say something, but before he could speak the elderly cat had broken in again angrily.

"You don't know that..."

The young tom cowered for a moment, torn between anxiousness, amusement at their feuding, and annoyance that they spoke as if he wasn't there; after a moment he drew himself up and dared an interruption.

"You asked about my necklace...Longwhisker." The name the dark tom had used was a danger on his tongue, but was trying to be bold enough to use it. He looked at the old she-cat steadily, trying to stare her down without blinking. "Where we come from, we are adults now, we have -- " he hesitated a bare second, "we have completed a mission to mark us as such."

The flash of terror when he stepped onto the Twolegger kitten -- her overbearing posture and outstretched hand -- her warm slim hairless fingers carefully tying the shell necklace around his neck and then the cool night air ruffling his fur --

And then, moments later, the horrified yowl of a cat who's lost his soul...

Ghost looked away from Longwhisker, tail lashing at these memories that hadn't had time to fade, and took a deep breath, dragging himself away from the thoughts. "My family -- the, the Spirit Thieves you can call them...they are dead. Dead or mad or long lost to me and my sister. You don't have to believe me, but I swear by whatever you call precious it's true."