The Unknowing Family Reunion (Closed)

Shira began a search for her, Ceres and Mirae's parents.  It was exciting, strange, and nerve-racking all at the same time to know that her parents were most likely out there somewhere, maybe waiting for her to come back.  She wondered what they would be like.  Would they be like her or completely different?  A fighter or a peacemaker?  Both?  She hoped that they would end up being like her.  Hopefully they would be someone who actually seemed to understand her.

Spark accompanied her and they both crossed the river which was still cold and hard to cross even though the new-leaf air began warming the water.  She doubted that her family was in Skyclan or they would have recognized her.  Walking into the Riverclan territory, she spotted a cat from the battle at Fourtrees.  The other cat was fluffy with silver fur with green eyes that were sort of like Shira.  She walked up to the other she-cat who looked old enough to remember if there were any cats taken from that clan.  "Hello," She said warmly, warmer than most greetings she made.  She almost felt like she knew the other cat, even though the only time she had ever seen her was at the battle.  It was a strange feeling, but she did not think too much of it.  "Were any cats taken from this clan a while ago?"  She got strait to the point, not being much for small talk nor caring too much about meeting other cats... who she did not think were her parents.

Spark followed Shira to the river, where they were searching for Shira's parents. He had no idea where to look, so he let her lead the way. He didn't know where they were supposed to go, but he did know that Shira was going to ask around to see where there were cats. When he dove into the water, it made him colder than he would have liked. He didn't like the feeling of the water on his pelt, and it even made him want to wear his Asylum pelt again, just for an extra covering to keep his real fur warm and dry.

The tom didn't have that many good memories with Asylum, but they did exist. Really, the only thing that he could think of was the time when he killed a fox with Lyralei and got his fox pelt with her assistance. That memory was actually the reason why Spark chose to fight Rama instead of Lyralei during the final fight against Asylum, though he would never admit it to anyone out loud. Shira hated the Asylum, and so did Thalia, and so did everybody that he cared about and liked. They would probably turn against him if they knew that he wouldn't have fought Lyralei, and he couldn't bear to think about that.

It didn't matter now, though, because a she-cat was here, right where Spark and Shira were looking for someone to talk about her parents. The she-cat radiated authority, just like Eris did when Spark was in Asylum, which caused the ginger tom to be uneasy approaching her. But Shira seemed to be unconcerned with that, getting right into conversation. If you're sure that she's alright, then go for it, but I'm not convinced just yet.

It had been several sunrises now since Asylum's grip on the Clans was finally released, and they were allowed to return to their somewhat normal lives. The way that Ivystar saw it, they'd never truly return to what might be considered normal. How does one recover from their entire lives being snatched away from them in a second, from being torn away from everything that makes them who they are? Simply put, they don't. The silver she-cat stood firm in her belief that neither she nor her Clanmates would actually recover from the events of the past leaf-bare. Their troubles from the trauma they experienced might fade and grow easier to deal with, but they'd never truly go away. From now on that was a fact of life, and she'd deal with it with each passing hour.

It helped to remember Honeytongue's sentiments that pain would pass and that it was important to remember for whom and what you fight on each day. Love was what drove Ivystar to continue each day, and love was the driving factor in her Leadership. It was the only reason she hadn't given up.

It was almost startling how quickly the green-eyed tabby was pulled away from her thoughts by the two cats that now stood in front of her. The resemblance between the she-cat and herself was uncanny, and Ivystar had to force the lump in her throat to stay down as she spoke. She remained calm but she was wary, unwilling to let anything happen to the cats she called family- both blood and Clan. "Yes?" She mewed, fixing her posture so that she sat taller, without her characteristic slouch. "... Many moons ago, yes. Three kits of my own, and another kit belonging to another mother who lives here." She seemed reserved, as if there was something she was leaving out. 'They weren't missing, though. They were stolen.' Emerald eyes narrowed as she stared at the she-cat in front of her, and suddenly, it clicked. Her eyes widened to the size of the moon overhead, her maw parted slightly. "Duskkit...?"

Ivystar had known about Asylum being responsible for the disappearance of kits in RiverClan almost from the moment she'd been imprisoned by them, and she was told that they had been raised as Asylum... But she never thought that now, they'd show up in her camp. "You... You came back?" She practically gasped as she stared, unblinking, at her kit. Her entire body was rigid, seemingly frozen. Ivystar could hear the blood rushing in her ears, the roaring storm of questions and worries bubbling within her mind, but she didn't utter another word, simply waiting for Duskkit to respond.

Shira did not care too much about if this cat was a leader or not.   She was still fairly certain that she would have been able to kill Eris if it was not for her having the other Asylum cats around and certainly the clans were smaller than the Asylum.  She waited for the other cat to respond, than smirked a little knowing that she would only have to talk to two cats here.  That did not seem to hard to her.  And even if she did not find her parent this must be one of the other 'missing kits' parent so she could tell them.

The other she-cat looked surprised for a reason she did not know.  Then said the word "Duskkit".  At this point Shira was lost as to what the other cat meant... and why that name sounded so familiar to her.  She knew that clan cats had 'kit' at the end of there name for the kits, so she must have been talking about a kit who Shira was pretty sure she did not know.  Then the cat said something about her coming back.

"I think your confused,"  she said, completely oblivious.  "My name is Shira.  Who's Duskkit?"  The she-cat did not even think about how there appearance was similar or how the cat just got done saying that three of her own kits went missing.  This made her very confused.

She shot Spark a confused look with a slightly irritated expression.  Then, finally, it hit her.  "Ohhhhhh."  She looked back at the other cat... Her mother.  Okay.  What's the right thing to say?  Come on brain, think!  Her eyes widened.  She did not think it would be this easy to find her parents and this hard to find the right thing to say.  "I'm Duskkit."  She was trying to convince herself of that.  "Hello... Mom?"

When Spark heard the cat speak, he began to listen. Her voice didn't seem like one which would hurt him, but then again, so did Eris's way back when. He couldn't use it as a gauge to determine if she was someone that he could trust or not. But of course, if she was radiating authority, she was most likely a high-ranking member of RiverClan, which should have eased his fears. For some reason, though, it didn't.

Then the she-cat mentioned a name. Duskkit. A kit's name, of Clan origin. Since the word "dusk" seemed to be the time right before night, the ginger tom thought that the name was referring to Shira and her black-and-gray pelt. When his mate questioned who Duskkit was, Spark tried to shoot her a look that read You. Duskkit is you. Eventually, she realized, and reacted accordingly. Spark wouldn't know how to react to his parents if he ever met them. However, since this she-cat didn't recognize him as one of the kits missing from RiverClan, he doubted that he would ever meet them, since he was going to stay by Shira's side.

How was he going to tell the RiverClan leader that he was going to stay by his mate's side? Maybe he could speak up about it now... wait, that would be too awkward. Maybe if the RiverClan she-cat led Shira to RiverClan camp, he would follow, and if questioned, then he would speak about it. Now that he thought about it, that wouldn't be good either, because he wouldn't be welcome in that scenario. Maybe when she asks Shira to come with her, then Spark would speak up and say that he wouldn't leave her. Yes... that's the best course of action.+

Ivystar's oddly empty gaze was still trained on Duskkit, her heart pounding as she imagined everything her kit had to go through. She couldn't fathom the pain and hurt that Asylum had put her through, especially given the fact that they lied to her for the entirety of the time she was with them. She also couldn't fathom the confusion that painted Duskkit's face. Ivystar hadn't made an effort to explain her thought process, but it seemed so... obvious to her. Like a fairy tale that was just meant to be. Of course, it wasn't something she could have expected to make sense to anyone other than herself. Before she had time to explain the connection she'd made in her head, she saw the realization dawn on Duskkit's face.

She nodded gently, maw still parted in surprise. "Yes... Stars, it's been so long..." Her voice broke near the end of her statement and tears pricked at her eyes, but she didn't dare let them spill over. Her daughter had been through moons of pain and Ivystar hadn't been able to protect her from it- she'd lost the right to cry many moons ago. "I... Yes. That's me," Her emerald eyes dropped to her paws. She didn't feel much like a mother- at least not a very good one. "You have two littermates, Berrykit and Cloudkit. Were they taken as well?" Ivystar's hopeful gaze lifted back up to the two cats before her. She briefly wondered what the tom was doing, but she truly couldn't be bothered to care much at the moment. He was clearly not one of her kits, and he wasn't Snakekit either. She would figure out why he was there later.

She paused, as still as a statue, for a moment.  This was all very overwhelming, especially to a cat that had tried to swear off emotions long ago.  Clearly, her attempt at no emotions were failing all in this moment.  She had a million questions, but felt like she could not speak.  Her eyes were wide and every muscle in her body felt tense.  She did not understand what in the dark forest was happening and yet it sort of made sense.  She had been wanting, trying to find her parents, but now did not know what to say when she did.  She should have thought more about this.  She should have made a plan.  Who even is this cat? She thought.  My mother and a cat that was fighting on the same side as me.  That's all I know.

Finally, her mind caught up to what her mother said.  "Oh, yes," she started.  "Ceres and Mirae, they were with me at the Asylum.  They are fine though.  We all are free."  Even though she knew that the name she went by now, Ceres and Mirae, were all Asylum given names, she could not imagine calling her sisters anything else.

She again was silent, trying to think of what next to say.  She was still looking at her mother with wide eyes.  Some of her was in disbelief that this was her mother, but it made so much sense and she felt familiar to Shira so it must be true.  She felt one of her kits move in her stomach which gave her an idea.  Maybe if she could switch the focus away from her, it would give her more time to process everything that was happening.

She looked towards Spark.  She cleared her throat.  "Sorry, I forgot to introduce you." She began.  "This is Spark, he's my mate and soon-to-be father of my soon-to-be kits."  She took a step to the side.  A small noise almost like a whimper.  She had no idea why this was so hard for her, it was what she wanted.  Wow, I'm really messing this up, aren't I? She thought.

Spark noticed Shira redirecting the conversation to him. Well, he going to have to talk with the RiverClan leader sooner or later. Giving an accepting nod to Shira, he turned his head to the other she-cat. "Hello," he said to the leader. Now that he was thinking about it more, the she-cat never told them her name. Maybe because she thought that her daughter already knew her name and just ignored him, but that was far from the truth.

"What's your name?" he asked, shaking some of the water off of his pelt. Maybe, just maybe, the nagging feeling of impending doom that he felt could just disappear after the she-cat revealed a little bit more about herself, like the cold season making way for the sprouts of the return to warmth. He wanted to be in RiverClan, with his mate, to live a great life here.

But why did it feel so wrong?

Ivystar nodded with a faint, forced smile, glad to hear that her kits were at least safe.
"Do you know where they are? I... I would like to meet all of you, get to know each of you." When she saw Duskkit getting uncomfortable she realized that perhaps that wasn't the best place to start. She had her here now, and that was all she could ask for at that moment. "Sorry, that... That can wait." She mewed, nodding firmly. Then, when Duskkit brought up her mate, and kits, her maw dropped completely. Ivystar was to be... a grandmother?

For a moment her jaw just hung loose as she glanced between the two of them. She'd been so entirely caught up in meeting the cat her daughter had become that she failed to recognize that she was pregnant. Finally, she realized that she was staring and probably being quite rude. "I... That... That's amazing, I'm so happy for you... I just wish I could've been here for it, for all of it. I'm so sorry, Dus- Shira, right? Is that what you wish to be called?" She nodded lightly to Spark, bowing her head for a moment. "I'm Ivystar... It's... Nice to meet you, Spark." She mewed, still in utter shock and disbelief.

Shira honestly did not know what exactly she wanted to be called.  Shira was the name she had went by her entire life, so she wasn't sure if she wanted to stop being called that now.  But also, maybe she should go by her birth name to show that she was not Asylum anymore.  She was very much overthinking everything that was happening.  "Maybe Shira for now, please."  Her eyes were still wide.  She barely blinked through the entire conversation.  Each thing she said was said faster and slightly more dramatic than normal.

"I... Yes... Thank you."  She said when Ivystar congratulated her for being pregnant.  No matter how much she felt like blaming her mom for not looking harder, she couldn't, at least not at this moment.  "It's not your fault.  How could you have known where we were?  I think they put us all in different clans purposely.  They were trying for us to not know who are parents our so we wouldn't fight back." like I did.  She thought, but didn't say the last part.  The Asylum did not want the kits to know... In case they did exactly what Shira had done.