Tuesday - Betrayal

Instructions

Peacefighter babysits kits. Again. ~ “Peacefighter, what does /betrayal/ mean?” The question snapped an old elder out of his half hearted watchful gaze, once sharp eyes now focused on the kit who had asked. A small orange tabby tom whose name Peacefighter had come to know was Lionkit, known for asking odd questions, like this one. “Betrayal, in the noun form, means to pursue the action of betraying one’s country, group, or betraying a single person. It also means treachery.” He rattled off about to return to his half nap when Lionkit’s equally infuriating friend, Fernkit, piped up. “Have you ever been betrayed?” “What’s it like?” A molly asked curiously “See! I TOLD YOU it meant that, Flowerkit!” An indistinguishable voice shouted. Peacefighter hesitated, looking at the mass of kits. “W-well, yes, I have been betrayed. It feels- well, it varies from person to person. And it depends on the severity of the situation” He started. “LIKE?” The kits pressed, hanging on to every word. In the space of one day, almost every single kit had grown some sort of odd attachment to the elder, much to his own chagrin. :”Er… okay, I’ll set the scene. The sun is shining, it’s a bit damp from yesterday’s rains, and three newly made warriors are looking at each-other, hyping up their friend in the middle. The she-cat on the left, a pretty [although I might be biased] silver tabby who has recently been made a medicine cat just yesterday, is known by the name of Willowgaze. The handsome tom on the right, with a calico pattern and who was made a warrior alongside m- the cat in the middle, is named Spottedpelt, and the fellow, not particularly handsome or compliment worthy, is named Pineheart, and he has this crush on a cat named Lilyfeather. That’s all you need to know. “Pineheart, for Starclan’s sake, just go up and ask her, would you like to go hunt together!” Willowgaze insisted, bright willow-brown eyes glaring at her friend. “EXACTLY! I’m her brother, and you have my full permission, so just go!!” Spottedpelt agrees, pushing his friend and making him stumble out in front of the two. “Can’t we wait a few days?” Pineheart trembles, not wanting to face the fact- or any fact- that he had a crush on Lilyfeather. “No! Because it’ll be perfect! The sun is almost setting, a few fireflies will be out-” “What are fire flies?” a kit interrupted, confused. “Uh– bugs with fire inside them? I don’t know!” Peacefighter shrugged. “Okay! Back to the story!” A she kit insisted, the rest of the d3ad kit horde agreeing. “Alright then… “Because the fireflies will be out and than you guys can frolic among the trees and have such a good time and moons later you’ll be mates and have a litter of three kits-” Willowgaze was interrupted by Spottedpelt, “And they’ll be one tom, one she-cat, and one genderfae!” Pineheart stared at them. “I-I’m sorry, but are you planning out the genders of non-existent kits?” He stuttered, not in the least surprised by his friends’ antics. “They’ll be non-existent until you go TALK TO HER!” The two shouted, almost at the exact same time, bursting into laughter a few seconds later. Pineheart rolled his eyes, padding up to where Lilyfeather was, on the other side of camp, talking to another one of his friends- well, more really like sibling- [fostered by his mother after Leaflight’s parents d!ed], who was uncomfortably nodding. “Hello Pineheart!” The cat brightened, dashing behind his slightly older foster brother and purring. “Lilyfeather, why don’t you go on a patrol with my brother? He’s a MUCH better hunter than me!” Leaflight said rapidly, as he said most things. Pineheart saw the disappointment in Lilyfeather’s eyes, and his heart sank. Lovely. His crush liked his brother. It was like one of those elder drama tales. Just- just amazing, it was. And so he said that it was totally fine and left his brother and crush [well forced] to go on a patrol. Moons later, they had become mates and three kits, one tom, one she-kit, and one tom who eventually became, genderfae. And that, kits, is betrayal.” Peacefighter finished quietly, eager to stop talking about the event.