Prologue of Three

Sheets of stormy rain were thrown around by deafeningly heavy winds as the full moon hung over a lake surrounded by moors and forests. The lake seemed larger than what was possible but all the same looked insignificantly small from where a cat was sitting, sheltering from the rain beneath rocks and ferns by a path with worn paw marks in the rocks of the path itself. They were worn into the rocks by the cat's ancestors, and they would be worn through even more by the cat's descendants.
         Despite the harsh weather, the blue-furred cat seemed irritated as her fur was soaked through and her whiskers froze in the freezing winds that rushed around her. She was used to this weather; she had lived on the moors and within the light forest for her entire life where the rain would tear through the air like an inferno tore through a forest, with no cover to hide behind or crevices to shelter in.
         However she had a duty to fill as she let her fur get soaked through, one which her ancestor's ancestors had done before her and her descendant's descendants would do after her. She was to share tongues with her ancestors by the Moonpool alongside the other Tribe's healers, just as she did every full moon, but this duty never stopped her from being annoyed at how late the other Tribe's Healers were to the Moonpool.
         The blue-furred cat's uneasy gaze flicked through the heavy rainfall as she waited for any sign of the other two Healers, any form of scenting rendered useless by the downpour of rain all around her. She knew the other two Healers had longer journeys, after all her territory of the moors and the light forests were by far the closest to the Moonpool, but she always fell back to the question of why they never set off earlier.
         "Nice hiding spot, Frosted Leaves." Came the calm mew of a smaller Healer, a tan-coloured she-cat, breaking the blue-furred cat out of their thoughts. The other Healer would squeeze herself into what little cover there was from the rain beside Frosted Leaves, before desperately trying to warm herself with her tongue - to little effect.
         "You're not going to warm yourself up in this weather, Oasis Shores. Can't you handle a little rain?" Frosted Leaves purred back as the smaller cat stopped their furious grooming.
         "Not all of us are minnow-brained enough to spend all their time in the open." Oasis Shores immediately shot back, a good-natured but amused gleam to her eyes as Frosted Leaves tilted her head.
         "Doesn't your Tribe love being underwater, well now you can do it without walking anywhere, just step away from the rock." Frosted Leaves would mew back with a small edge of amusement, but before the smaller tan cat could say a retort a third voice would sound beside them.
         "I thought Healers weren't allowed to have mates, especially not outside of their Tribe?" The voice belonged to a much larger brown tabby she-cat, her warm green eyes amused as she looked from one cat to the other.
         Frosted Leaves would stifle a sigh, knowing Sparrow's Flight would never quite stop messing around with the two of them. It was her own way of showing affection, but it still annoyed Frosted Leaves all the same.
         "I thought you were allergic to sunlight and rain?" was the response from the wise tan she-cat as she stepped out and away from the rock they were sheltering under. Frosted Leaves took amusement in the fact that could see that Sparrow's Flight was shaking under her fur, clearly not used to such extreme weathers like the other two cats were, before begrudgingly stepping out into the violent conditions.
         The three stepped out and begin the last part of the journey towards the Moonpool, Frosted Leaves' paws slipping into the soft paw marks in the path as she returned to her thoughts.
         "It feels like my paws fit more and more into the paw marks with every journey here." Came Sparrow Flight's mew from behind them, as Frosted Leaves turned her head to look over her shoulder. Sparrow's Flight was still shaking violently from the torrents of rain and icy wind, but the statement had seemingly put Oasis Shores deep into her thoughts as her deep blue gaze unfocused.
         "They do. Someday, our ancestors will say the exact same thing, and so will their ancestors. These paw prints mark more than just where cats have travelled, they mark our legacy and our successes as Tribes and as cats." Oasis Shore's mew was soft and slow, as if she was talking with absolute certainty, her gaze still unfocused on the paw prints in front of her.
         A brief comfortable silence took hold of the three cats as they padded onwards and towards their destination, Frosted Leaves' thoughts elsewhere as she pondered over what Oasis Shores had just said. She knew it was true, but deep within herself she knew that someday the Tribes would stop walking this path and other cats would walk instead to speak with their own ancestors, hardly connected with the cats of the present.
         Finally, they would begin the ascent, the rain and wind dying down as they reached the sheltered enclave that the Moonpool rested within. She could visibly see Sparrow's Flight's violent shaking begin to ease as she looked over her shoulder, but Oasis Shores was still deep in her thoughts. It was best to leave her to them, Frosted Leaves thought, as both other Healers had found out what a mood she could get into if she was interrupted from her train of thoughts.
         Frosted Leaves would crest the enclave, before looking down at the magnificent sight that was the full moon reflected perfectly on icy still waters, despite the violent storm that threatened to throw her off the ridge of the hill. It was still beautiful, no matter how many times she had seen it before, and she let herself bask in its beauty as she began the silent pad down paw-worn steps towards the water's edge.
         "Now, let us share with our ancestors." Sparrow's Flight mewed softly, but loud enough for the other two Healers to hear, the three of them settling down beside the water and beginning to softly share tongues with the moonlit water. As sleep took hold, Frosted Leaves had never felt more awake.


My first story, a few years old now.