A Fresh Start [Faizah]

It had been a few days since the Asylum had been driven out, and Mistyfalcon found that he did not miss the presence of cats watching him in camp. He'd returned from hunting, dropped a squirrel onto the fresh-kill pile and had offered a mouse to Murkystrike. Her thin, malnourished frame worried him, and Mistyfalcon found that it was hard not to hover. She already looked better than she had in fourtrees, and Rookfire's light admonishments were enough to keep him from overstaying his welcome in the medicine den.

The dark-furred tom now found himself settled near the edge of camp, lost in his own thoughts. Asylum was gone, yet somehow Shadowclan's numbers had grown. Pyrik had found his way back to them, as had Thalia, though he knew she hadn't been a Shadowclanner as a kit. Tavora, or whatever she called herself, had left. One of her kits had decided to stay, but it seemed as though the tension that had hung in the cold air for the past season had dissipated. It was relieving to realize just how much calmer things already seemed. With any luck, it would hold for more than a few moons.

Faizah had found herself entranced by ShadowClan on most days. Sure she had been here before, but Tavora made it clear she did not like these cats, so she kept her awe to herself. And she could not help but wonder why Tavora didn't like it here. Batglow, at the very least, had welcomed Faizah with open paws, and had been nothing but kind to her. And she was sure the other cats were just the same here.

A dark pelt had caught her attention, and she immediately recognized the tom. He was there when she had arrived, and by the way Batglow had acted around him, they were friends. Although she could not recall his name, she decided to go talk to him. It wouldn't hurt to get to know a few cats, after all.

"Um, hi. You're a friend of Batglow's, right? I heard you were a part of the mouse hunt. Was the Asylum really that cruel to all those cats? Why did my mom leave you guys for them? Did she know what they were doing?"And if she did know, if she is just as cruel, what could she be willing to do to my siblings? She did not speak the question out loud, but it burned in the back of her mind. She had seen a glimpse of Tavora's true nature, but her siblings insisted on remaining blind. What if they didn't see the truth until it was too late?

A voice was quick to catch Mistyfalcon's attention, and he looked over to see the calico kit that had chosen to stay with Shadowclan. He hadn't said much, if anything at all, to her before now. Part of it was Tavora's dislike of him (and Batglow, for anyone who disliked his fellow warrior was usually not high on Mistyfalcon's own list of favorite cats) and part of it was simply that she was a kit. Still, she'd chosen Shadowclan over the Asylum, and that had surprised him. Though maybe he shouldn't have been quite so surprised, Ivory had as well, and Ichtaca had left them.

"We're friends, yeah. I'm Mistyfalcon. You're... Faizah, right?" He mewed, hoping he'd at least gotten her name right.

"They were that cruel, some of the captives that had been in fourtrees longer were in worse shape than Murkystrike was. I don't know if your mother knew or not, it seems like quite a few of the Asylum's ranks didn't know or were lied to." They'd lied about the kits that had been stolen from the nurseries, Mistyfalcon didn't think it was that much of a stretch that the Asylum would lie about their treatment of captives or other things.

"I didn't know her well, but she was never really close with most of the clan. I don't know the reasons why, and it wasn't my business to ask, honestly." It hadn't been his place, and Mistyfalcon had much preferred to keep what was left of his battered ears intact. Everything he knew of the she-cat had painted her as brutish and mean, with the temper of a badger. Having Tavora as a mother couldn't have been easy. Mistyfalcon hadn't had the energy to be disgusted as she'd watched her treat her kits like crowfood in front of the clan, but now it bothered him. Still, he wasn't going to be the one to gossip, nor did he feel the need to talk about a cat who was (thankfully) no longer with the clan.

"Um, Tavora said she didn't want my name to be that anymore, so I don't know what my name is. But your name sounds really cool! The second part of your name is supposed to be something about you, right? Why were you named -falcon? You must have done something awesome!"

Mistyfalcon mentioned a cat named Murkystrike, and she figured that was the cat that had comed injured. So then she was a prisoner? And there were cats that worse than that? That truly was awful. "I'm sorry about what they did. Is, er, is Murkystrike going to be okay? She'll get better, right?"

Just to lighten the mood a little, she decided to pull a bit of a bold move. "Are you and Murkystrike good friends? You seem really cute together! Have you told her you liked her yet?" She had no clue if he actually thought of the she-cat in that way, but nobody said she couldn't get a good laugh making toms flustered!

"Survived a dog." He shrugged, "I expect Ebonysong or Flintstar will take care of that when you're made an apprentice." The offer had been made to the former Asylum cats that had joined Shadowclan, so Mistyfalcon figured it was a safe bet that the same would be offered to Faizah.

"She'll recover, given time." Mistyfalcon could be sure of that much, at least. Rookfire was a capable medicine cat. A few days out of Asylum's clutches and back among cats who actually cared for her had seen Murkystrike looking better, though she wasn't close to being completely healthy yet. Mistyfalcon was glad that she was safe, he didn't know if he could--

'Are you and Murkystrike good friends? You seem really cute together! Have you told her you liked her yet?'

"I- we-" Faizah's words made the scarred warrior sputter, choking on air as he stared at her. His face felt hot, warmth blooming beneath his fur in a distinctly uncomfortable fashion. Were his feelings that obvious? Was she doing this just to mess with him? She had to be, she looked entirely too pleased with herself.

"We're... friends. Maybe- That's... complicated." Mistyfalcon had known she'd had a crush on him for some time, since even before Asylum had taken over. But he'd been enamored with Brighteye and she'd been respectful of that. Brighteye was dead, and still Murkystrike had respected his boundaries while he mourned. He wouldn't give her false hope, but Mistyfalcon had, sometime in the past few moons, began to realize he could not live his life chasing a ghost.

One day Mistyfalcon would find out of she still felt that way about him. Not today but... eventually, he hoped. For now she needed to focus on healing, and he wouldn't push the tortoiseshell into anything she wasn't ready for. Murkystrike was someone he considered a friend, and Mistyfalcon was... hesitant... to change things between them.

And how had this kit decided to ask him that, anyways? Stars, but his face felt like it was on fire.

"You did that on purpose, you little..." He mock growled at Faizah, though there was no real anger to his tone.

Watching Mistyfalcon look so flustered was the best thing ever, and she could not help but crack up laughing. "Me? Ha, wh,ha ha, what makes you think I would do such a thing? Bahaha!" She could not stop laughing long enough to form a proper sentence, and she soon found herself struggling to catch her breath. She sat there sputtering for a while before regaining her composure.

"Well at this point they might as well name me Shortpaw, soon to be Shortbreath. Honestly, I can't have any fun without running out of air! I am jealous of you cats with longer muzzles. I'm here with this stupid flat face and it sucks!" She realized very quickly that she had been complaining and putting herself down, both things she could see Tavora reprimanding her for. "Not that it's that big of a deal! I mean, nobody can rock this face like me!"

"Brat." Mistyfalcon's whiskers twitched despite himself, wry amusement sparking in his dark eyes. She was still a kit, and hadn't seemed to mean any harm by it, though the heat in his face seemed to be taking an uncomfortably long time to fade away. He dearly hoped that Rookfire or Batglow hadn't heard, else he might never hear the end of it.

If she was getting some enjoyment out of it, he supposed that was fine. And... it had been quite a while since he'd been teased by anyone. He found he appreciated the sarcasm more than he thought.

"Are you okay?" He asked after a moment when it seemed like she'd finally caught her breath, "Maybe Rookfire could help with that?" It was a shot in the dark, Mistyfalcon would never suffer the way she did with her breathing, but surely there was something the medicine cat could do to help alleviate the issue. He couldn't imagine fighting or chasing down rabbits like that.

"How can he do that? I've had this problem for as long as I can remember. Could he really make it go away?" For a moment, she allowed herself to get hopeful. To be able to run without the fear of suffocating? That would be amazing. She might actually be able to truly live her life!

"Do you think Rookfire will want to help me? And what if whatever this is can't be fixed? He can't make my muzzle grow, and I think that is what is causing it. My face is shaped weird compared to everyone else's."

Well, the hope was good while it lasted. But she just couldn't see how it would work. If there was a way to fix it, wouldn't that have been done already? She was sure it would have been.

"Rookfire's a good cat. He'd try to help if you asked him." Mistyfalcon was fairly confident about that. Faizah had chosen to stay with Shadowclan, and above all else Rookfire was loyal to his clanmates.

"I don't know, I'm no medicine cat, but maybe there's something to help ease your breathing when it gets bad at least?" Mistyfalcon genuinely didn't know. She was probably right that her face shape played a part in it, but he could never remember Tavora having such issues. Of course, he tried not to interact with her in general, so how would he have known?