Chapter 16: There it is...

We kept on walking, it seemed like it was going to be forever. I wondered for a while if Limp was lying and just trying to find an excuse to leave us, it would make sense. I was tempted to tell Oister to head back to the others for the night.

I could tell that she was a bit worn out, she was sick. Kettle, I am sure he could care less about me pushing my own mate a little bit too far, but, I was not sure if he would be too forgiving if I was pushing Oister a little bit too much.

I stopped myself for a few moments, looking at the direction that Limp had pointed us towards. It was beginning to seem like, at each moment that my theory was correct. Oister looked at me a bit confused as to why I had stopped. I nodded my head for her to get some rest for a few moments.

"Oister... Let's head back, we have been pushing all day. I think Limp might have been lying about this. We should get back to the others." I said to her. She looked at me a bit surprised for a few moments, I normally was not a cat to give up so easily.

But I was starting to think more and more that Limp must have been lying about all of this. I remember in my dream I could smell the water from the lake at least somewhat nearby, but right now as I sniffed the air, I did not smell a single scent anywhere nearby.

"Moon... Lets just keep going a bit longer, if it gets dark we can sleep out here for the night, and then we can head back to the others in the morning." She said to me. I looked at her not too sure about it still. I wanted to get back and make sure that Mint was okay, that was another part about all of this.

I lowered my head to the ground as my thoughts went back to Limp, she could tell that none of us believed her, I did but I could tell that she was more focused on the other 3. She had said that she did not want to be a special cat.

I wondered if Starclan would take that gift away from her if she left us. Maybe then she would be happy, and that was all I could ask out if her in the end. It still hurt me a lot some of the things that she had said to us. A part of me did not want her to come back.

"Alright Oister... We will keep going tonight, but if we don't find it soon, we are going to have to go back and give up. I hate doing that to kits, but by the time that we even get there, they might already be gone." I said to her. She looked at me for a few moments, then she lowered her head a bit sadly.

I wondered what was going on in her head, maybe she was thinking about Limp as well. I could tell that she was getting close to the young cat. Limp would always go to her for her advice. Oister would always listen and speak to her. I missed it, I hoped that it would not be gone forever.

"We just have to keep hope... If you lose it, you will lose them... It would not be the first time for me." She said to me. I looked at her a bit confused, but I could tell that she was in a lot of pain for some reason or another. I felt a bit bad for her, I nudged myself against her to make her feel better.

It did not seem to do much work. She clearly was in a fair amount of pain, I hoped that she was not too badly hurt by the words of what Limp had said to her earlier. But I could also tell, there was something that she needed to get off of her chest.

"What is it? What do you mean? If you don't mind me asking of course." I said to her. She looked at me for a few moments, I could tell there was a bit of blankness in her eyes. Like she was trying to numb some sort of deep pain. I was beginning to think that this had nothing to do with Limp.

"You are our leader Moon... I will tell you what it is, just don't tell Kettle, he does not even know about this, and I am afraid to tell him, I don't want him to be afraid... I don't want him to leave me." She said to me. I looked at her a bit surprised and a bit confused at the same time at what she meant.

I was also a bit happy that she was confessing whatever it was to me, I knew that it was a job of a leader to always listen to a cat, and to not get upset at them when they came to you for help, or admitting that they had done something wrong. It was something that Firestar had told me about.

"What is it Oister, I promise I will not tell Kettle. You have my word on that, if that means anything to you." I said back to her. She still had her head to the ground, I was wondering if she had heard a single word that I had just said to her.

But finally after a few moments, she lifted her head up very slowly. She was looking at me dead in my eyes, I looked back at her to make sure that she knew that I was listening. I could see a lot of pain and sorrow on her face, I felt bad for whatever it was.

"Kettle, he wasn't my first mate, when I was younger... Maybe 15 moons old, I had a mate. I became pregnant with his kids, but one day while I was pregnant he was attacked by a group of rogues, and they killed him and 2 others, eventually we found their base and fought back, many more lives were lost, but that is another story for another time." She said to me. I looked at her a bit sadly, I felt bad for her.

It would make sense that she might not want to tell Kettle that she had a mate before him. I had known that he used to live around where I was a while ago, he had not found the mountains up until just a few months ago. I shook my head though, that was not what I was mainly thinking about though.

"You said you were pregnant... Did you leave your kits to follow me on this journey?" I asked her. She looked at me for a few moments, I could tell that she was in a great amount of pain. She shook her head at me though, and then she continued on with her story.

"No... They follow with me to this day in fact." She said to me. I looked at her a bit surprised and a bit confused as to what she was talking about at the same time. Was she saying they were with us this whole time? Had I not noticed? What was going on.

But then it began to make a bit more sense to me now. I began to understand what it was that she had meant. I lowered my head, I remember seeing all of the cats of the dead in the small little room in the cave, there were kits with her, I never really thought about it, I thought maybe they were her brothers and sisters.

But she continued on with what it was that she was talking about, just to clarify what it was that she had meant about her kits.

"No... 2 were born dead, and the 3rd one was too weak and he died not long after them." She said to me. I looked at her for a few moments, I could feel the pain that she was going through. It was weird how I could always scent what it was that the cats around me were feeling.

I moved up to her and nudged her once again to try and make her feel better. This time it seemed to do a little bit more work, she looked at me with a bit of a sad smile on her face. But at least it was still a smile, she began purring and she nudged back against me.

"I don't know what it is like to go through that, but I can feel your pain in a weird sort of way. My mother had to let me go as a kittypet when I was younger because she was sick and my sisters had both died." I said to her, I was beginning to remember what had happened to me when I was younger a bit more clearer and clearer.

She looked at me a bit sadly for a few moments, and then she nodded to me, I was just happy that she could tell that I understood her pain. She looked at the ground for a few moments, for a second I thought that she was done confessing her pain but then she began talking once again.

"The day that my last kit died, that same night we found Kettle on deaths bed. I could tell right away that me and him had a special connection... Please don't tell him about it yet, one of these days I am going to tell him, I am just not ready yet." She said to me.

I looked at her for a few more moments and then I nodded to her. She smiled at me and then she once again lowered her head to the ground. I felt bad for her, but there was not much else that I could really think of to say right now that would make her feel any sort of better.

I just let her wallow in her sorrows for a few more moments, looking around at our surroundings, trying to remember where it was that we were supposed to be going. I then heard movement from not too far away from us, I turned around to see what it was, but Oister was already on it.

She lifted her head up and then she smiled at me, I looked at her and then I nodded, proud of her that she was still strong enough to be catching prey, as she dropped the vole at her feet, she nodded towards me.

"You eat first, I am sick, I don't want any of that to spread over to you." She said to me. I looked at her for a few moments and then nodded, it was a smart call. To be honest I still was a bit hungry from earlier, as I bit in to the vole.

But then I realized I was being a bit greedy after the first couple of bites, I knew that Oister was sick and she needed it a lot more than me. I had already eaten nearly half of it. I would have to get used to my role as a leader, the leader was to always put his clan before himself.

I pushed to rest back over to her, she happily nodded to me gratefully as she then began to take her next couple of bites of the vole. I watched as she finished it off, and then I nodded to her to make sure that she was ready. It was beginning to get dark and we did not have much time until I had no other choice but to give up.

"Lets keep going, we only have a few more moments until it gets too dark." I said to her. She looked at me for a few moments, and then she nodded to me. I then took the first steps towards the direction that Limp had been telling us about earlier.

I still had my doubts about whether or not what Limp had said was true. But it seemed that right as I thought about it Oister stopped me, I looked at her a bit confused. I then realized what she was looking at, to the right of us, I saw a large twoleg place, nearly the size of my old one.

"I think that's it Moon... There it is..."