A Mysterious Meeting (closed)

"I suppose the other option is to not be subtle at all," Batbite murmured, suddenly lost in thought. "But given what happened last time, we'd need to do it right... Still, if we announced a time and place for anyone interested in going to meet before we leave... Maybe spreading a rumor could work? There's the chance no one would take it seriously, but that's a chance we'd already be taking by doing this at all..."

Minkpaw's tail swept slowly from side to side as he thought over the suggestion, clear green eyes turning inwards for a moment. "It's risky," He mewed at last, turning his gaze back on Batbite. Then a lop-sided smile broke over his maw as he shrugged. "But then, any idea we came up with would have to have some risk. We're not going to get anywhere tiptoeing around this."

"But..." His eyes narrowed slightly as his voice dropped, voicing his thoughts aloud as he continued, "There's still the problem of who to spread the rumour to.... And how to go about it. Maybe... maybe if we gathered a group of apprentices? And then told them some peaceful former Clan-cats are staying out there...?"

As Minkpaw suggested gathering a group of apprentices to tell, Batbite's eyes lit up. "Strom! That's brilliant!" she purred. No, not just the idea, she realized - the cat that had come up with it, too. He deserved recognition and appreciation for what she thought of as a wonderful idea, and since the details that made up this plan would likely never be known outside the two of them... It fell to her to provide it. "You're brilliant!"

Minkpaw blinked at Batbite's exclamation, a slightly bashful grin lighting up his features. "Hey, don't forget you came up with this idea, too." Besides, if she hadn't talked to him at the gathering, this vague idea never would have come anywhere. His whiskers twitched in amusement as he continued, "And if we weren't both curious when we were younger, I don't think I would've thought of it."

"The details, though! That was all you!" Batbite insisted. She wasn't a detail-planner. She worked in the moment and reveled in chaos; it was just what she did. Regardless... "So, we're really doing this... I can't believe it." She'd always dreamed of taking off into the unknown like a bird into the skies, but her idle daydreams were rarely serious or realistic. In those dreams, Lynxtail and Copperheart were at her side, and her friends were never far. This was reality, and reality was - if only slightly - less impressive. Another thought reached the tip of her tongue, and she spoke without thinking. "Thank you. If it wasn't for you... I don't think I'd ever have found the courage to do something like this."

Minkpaw couldn't help but purr at Batbite's enthusiasm. True, he had thought it up, but if not for her.... His thoughts took a different track as she moved on, a look coming into her eyes like that he had felt more than once himself.

He looked at the world below them for a moment as the greenleaf breeze brushed aside patches of grass. Leaves swirled by on its wings, the sound of birds singing in the trees twining their melody with the wind as it brushed past his ears. Like that one time.... As it had then, so now it called to him, a world of wonder, a world where he could leave his pain behind. A place he could meet lost family and hopes, where the golden horizon kissed the sky and dreams broken could live again. "I can hardly believe it either...."

But even as he dared to hope it could come true, something else twinged at the edge of his conscience. Yarrowpaw... Dappleshine... Dacekit.... He did still have links back in his Clans, links to his past. If he went down this path.... Would I be throwing it all away?

He blinked as Batbite spoke again, turning his eyes back to her. A strange feeling rose inside him at her words, a mixture of emotions he couldn't quite identify, and he was silent a moment before replying, a slight, lop-sided smile crossing his muzzle, "You know, before you said anything that night at the gathering, I... pushed the whole idea away." He shook his head slightly. "I would have let it sit there, gathering dust, if you hadn't spoken. But you did."

He met her gaze. "Thank you," He said simply.