by LunaChi
Hurrying over as quickly as possible, other cats had nonetheless already heard of the travesty, and a sizeable amount was gathering at the abandoned structure again. Missy kept her distance but could not avert her gaze from those soul-less eyes. To steal a sister’s heart was to desecrate her accomplishments before the Great Cats. To steal a sister’s eyesight was to deny her entry into a next life. Why would anybody do so to the Old Crone, who had given her life to the city and the betterment of every cat within it?
“…this is just ghastly,” Missy meowed, loud enough for Cloud-Dreamer to hear.
“Quite so, young one.” The other cat’s eyes narrowed as she walked over. “You are Missy, yes? Coconut would mention you sometimes; she was quite fond of you. Where were you at her vigil?”
Missy’s ears flattened to her head. “In the tree praying to the Night Cat. I didn’t want to interrupt the tales.” Something compelled her to carefully walk over to the Crone’s body, her gaze still boring soullessly into Missy’s own. She sat down carefully in front of the body, paws tucked under her body. “…why would someone do such a thing…?” Missy frowned, catching the scent of carrion from the dead cat.
“This is indeed a tragedy,” a sister’s voice meowed, sounding stricken. “I think- Coconut would have liked to be buried back in the same place, regardless of superstition. Maybe with some lily-flowers around her to calm her damned soul.”
Two days later, Hemp was calling for Missy from outside of her den. Quite loudly, until her Owners shooed Missy out to meet with him. Missy obliged, annoyed, before turning towards her friend. “What’s wrong? You know my people don’t like you screaming at me.”
He frowned, not rising to the insult. His tail was lashing about. “Another dead cat was found,” he told her, voice serious. Missy froze. “With their heart and soul stolen. At the edge of the block; one of our strays found it.” Hemp turned tail and hurried across the garden and over the fence, Missy following him with her heart in her throat.
“…who is it?” She asked. Hemp remained silent while he jumped off the fence before scaling a tree and then another, until they were balancing on the roof of one of the Owner nests. The view was quite breath-taking, but Missy didn’t find it in herself to enjoy it.
“An unknown kit,” Hemp answered finally. “Apparently it took quite some time to notice that it was dead, because its fur is russet-colored. Hurry up, I’ve left my Brother there.” With that, the male cat set off again, Missy hurrying along, a tail’s-lenght behind Hemp, mind racing. Who would dare go against a seer’s proclamation of a truce in the eyes of the Night and Day Cats? The Night Cat had barely had time to start blinking before the Crone had been unearthed, and now a kit had been denied a rebirth as well? Missy sped up.
© LunaChi 2023-08-23