Scarlet River P165

           There was another lapse of silence. Riverfall could hear the voices of Thunderclan cats outside. The training session was over. Looking at the entrance, she noticed the light had dimmed, gaining an orange glow. For a moment, the she-cat watched dust motes glide through the air, feeling Stonefrost’s warmth through his shoulder.
           Finally, the she-cat spared a glance at the tom. He seemed lost in thought, his expression becoming serious and melancholy, and Riverfall murmured,
           “Do you need some time alone?”
           “No…no I just wish I knew what to do.” The tom chuckled softly, bitterly. “How can I serve my clan well when it hurts to simply walk?”
           “The pain may just be temporary...”
           “Then what about the fact that I can barely hold my own in a fight? The Legion is coming, Riv…I wanted to be there, fighting beside you…”
           Riverfall leaned away from the tom to look him in the eye.
           “What makes you think you can’t? There are plenty of cats who became great warriors despite their injuries. We just…need to come up with some new moves that can compensate.”
           Stonefrost smiled faintly.
           “You and Echolight…I wish I had that optimism.”
           Riverfall smiled. Then it struck her.
           “Is that what was bothering Echolight the other day?”
           “My leg? Yeah…” Stonefrost shrugged. “She has a tendency to blame herself for things that are beyond her control, and even though I’ve talked to her about it…it’ll take a while. She moves on slowly. I think having B…” Stonefrost’s voice trailed away and he glanced at Riverfall. Then shrugged and said, “I think having our support will really help her.”
           Riverfall nodded. Quietly, she mewed,
           “It’s difficult to read Echolight. In the mountains she seemed so happy and…normal-“
           “But she was drowning herself in guilt?” Stonefrost finished, and licked Riverfall’s cheek. “You can’t worry too much since you can’t change how she feels. If she’s going to beat herself up, the best you can do is confront her about it. She needs to know that she can’t suffer in silence like that…we notice, and we’re going to be there. But once you confront her, it’s her own choice if she recovers and moves on or not. If not, then she will eventually. Echolight’s a confusing cat, that’s for sure.” Stonefrost chuckled, but his tone was solemn, “she really is this incredibly confident, happy, optimistic cat…but she’s also so fearful and guilt-ridden…I don’t know how she does it…how she doesn’t explode all the time.”
           “Apparently, she got that from your Dad.”
           Stonefrost glanced at Riverfall in surprise.
           “You know about Lightwing?”
           “Well, no. I talked to Deeplake about Echolight when you two ran out of camp, and she mentioned how alike they are.” Riverfall paused before asking, “What did happen to Lightwing?”
           Stonefrost leaned back, shifting slightly.
           “Honestly we don’t know. When we were young kits, our mother used to tell us he’d come back when we turned four moons old.” Stonefrost smiled slightly. “I used to imagine him walking into camp, and he’d instantly recognize us and run over.”
           Riverfall watched his blue eyes, shifting as memories flew through his mind.
           “Never happened though.” Stonefrost finished, shrugging slightly. “We waited every day of our fourth moon, and he never came. I was disappointed, obviously…and mad. I mean, what kind of father leaves his kits in the first place…? But I got over it. He’s not coming back, and that’s all right. We did fine without him.”
           Riverfall looked at her paws, the brown fur transitioning to white as it neared her toes.
           “Can I ask about your father?”
           The brown she-cat looked at Stonefrost, staring at her softly, and nodded.
           “Yeah, I think…after everything you’ve said, I’m fine sharing.”
           “You told us before that he was, well, a vicious cat…”
           “He…” Riverfall faltered. “A lot happened while you guys were away…and I realized a lot about my father.”
           Stonefrost’s eyes widened slightly.
           “Did Forerunner show you something?”
           “No…I discovered it on my own.” Riverfall shifted her paws. “I was wandering through the Greenleaf Place and…well, basically I found Freeze. At first I attacked him, but then I realized he was different. He wasn’t the cat I remembered, so we started talking and…he told me about a cat named Augury.”
           “Augury?”
           “He’s another spirit like Forerunner who can make promises.” As she spoke, the encounter began to pour into her mind; everything that had happened…and all the questions she had left unanswered and forgotten were rising to the surface again. Suddenly she felt she needed to spill it out, get her mate’s advice so she could start to piece this confusing puzzle together.
           Turning to Stonefrost, she meowed,
           “It’s a lot to tell…are you sure you’re okay?”
The white-marked tom gave her a reassuring grin.
           “I’m all-ears. I’d prefer to focus on another problem.” The tom’s grin faded as he fixed her with a serious look. “Besides, I think this is going to be important, right?”
           Riverfall nodded. Glancing around, she listened for anyone approaching the den. With no sign of intrusion, Riverfall started from the beginning.