|  | Rookkit |
Run. We do not look back.The words were some of Rookkit’s earliest memories. Surrounding them was the chaos Fourtrees had turned into: twolegs stumbling and shouting into the hollow, swinging about shiny boxes, the groan and hurl of what Rookkit assumed were monsters in the distance. The soft thunder of heavy paws galloping past and the screeching that erupted in every direction, yowls of terror and pain as cats scrambled over each other to flee or to chase after their Clanmates or fought against their captors. Larkkit and Lakestone and some other warrior who’s name they’d forgotten shepherding them along.
Turtlesnap, trying to protect his family (they liked to think, at least) and being unceremoniously lifted by the scruff. Yowling, writhing, clawing, but taken in spite of his fight.
The rest of their first memories were of how warm it was, curled sleepily between Turtlesnap and Larkkit.
They were confused.
The assurance they’d given themself at Fourtrees played restlessly through their mind, as did their brother’s own stiff words. Their father was gone. Taken by twolegs, many moons ago. It was a known truth: he would not be coming back. Larkkit had been patient too, at some point, agreeing that it was not entirely impossible Father would return. Now though, he was firm in stating he’d been right and Father was simply gone.
Why, then, had so many other Clanmates come home? What made them special enough, lucky enough, to be released? Rookkit did not care for them past the end of his tail. He had not had a bad experience with any of us Clanmates, but he did not know them beyond the surface. With the sole exceptions of Larkkit and Sunkit (both of which had luckily never been taken at all), every other cat in RiverClan could have disappeared and he would not mind. For a moon or so, it seemed like every cat in RiverClan
had disappeared.
So why was it
his father that did not come back?
And what of Sunkit’s parents? Did all of them just choose to stay with the twolegs? Had they maybe escaped on their own and gotten lost in trying to return? Were they still fighting, or had they given up? Were any of them still alive? Could they have made it to StarClan?
Rookkit’s claws flexed, digging into the sand, and sudden nausea pulled them from their thoughts and made them refocus on where they were. It was late and dark, the glowing height of the moon obscured by thick clouds. It had gotten cold, too. While the days were getting warmer, something their short pelt was thankful for, the wind blowing through camp at night still carried the harsh bite of deep leaf-bare. A shudder passed through them, and the tremor only made their stomach tighten further. With a weary look towards camp’s exit and a muffled groan, they forced themself to their paws, padding blearily toward the nursery.
As soon as they were in the den, they sought their nest shared with Larkkit, folding quickly at his side. This was a familiar routine now; they’d been feeling ill more often than not lately, and while they waited for the bouts of fever and nausea to pass, they would stay curled up right in that spot. Larkkit would stay at their side, more often than not, unless something really demanded his attention. While Rookkit was not happy about the minor illness, they were always pleased to spend time with their brother.
Huffing softly, Rookkit inched closer until they were as close to Larkkit as they could possibly get. He was pleasantly warm, and Rookkit felt a little better in moments. Not entirely– their stomach still rolled, and their eyes started to wet after too long, but feeling comfortable at his side was enough to put them at ease. Even the shaking had started to slow a bit, but they were trying to put a concentrated effort into being as still as possible so as not to wake Larkkit.
With a soft sigh, he settled his chin on his brother’s shoulder and held back a sniffle. All would be well again when he woke up. He would… he would stop looking back. Even as Rookkit told himself that, he knew it was a lie. Fighting another sniffle, he forced his eyes to stay closed and prayed silently sleep would come soon. If they focused on it hard enough, tiredness would overcome the illness, and all would be well again in the morning.
