Moonlit Eyes

Moonlit Eyes, Chapter 4

Once at the Dusk base, everyone immediately noticed the terrible smell in the main village. “Father!” A female grey cat approached the group. She had a leaf over her nose. “ Ashy, nice to see you! May I ask why you have a leaf?” “Have you not smelt the terrible smell seeping through the walls? This is a leaf mask! It’s called Poison Ivy, it makes your nose itch, but it blocks out the smell! This is just a prototype, of course.” Ashy was from one of Willow’s earlier litters. She was the ‘inventor’,  but totally clueless.  
        “Hm.. ever heard of mint leaves? Those have a more pleasant smell.” Midnight suggested. “Ooo! Good idea there, little kit!” Ashy grinned and ran off into the forest on the other end of the village.  Willow let out a chuckle and took the lead, limping a little. 'Sunray must have broken a bone... He did seem large. But, not that large. Willow is also an older cat...' The closer they got to the end of the town the more terrible the smell was. Every cat had some sort of leaf over their nose, some of them their whole face.
        When they reached the training arena, Gala was nowhere near. Instead, one of the guards was in the entrance. “Gala has instructed me to tell you that she went with some guards to find the source of the smell. She is sorry for the inconvenience.” Willow looked angered. “Then why did she ask for us to come?” “She scheduled this meeting before the stench came around, sir,” Willow growled. “Then I'm going to look for her. Everyone else, stay in the main village. I don't want you running off and getting killed.” Stripenight noodded. Firstmorn huffed. “Then I'm going with you-” “No, Firstmorn! Stay with the kittens. I’m finding my wife.” he stormed off into the forest, gagging at the stench.
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        It was a while until Willow got back, but when he was gone the kittens were being bombarded with questions. “Was it really gonna happen?” “Why is she blind?” “What type of magic do you have?” “Who are the Solar one’s parents?” What was worse was that Sundune kept on holding her head. In pain? It must be, so many cats are in one area and it’s overloading her mind.
        Heatflare and Starcry were gladly answering the questions while Midnight was trying to get Sundune away from the crowd.  They ended up making their way to a cliff that led down to ShiverFlame river. They stayed there for a while, at least until the headache cleared up. It was getting dark and the stars were peeking out from behind some clouds.
        Midnight thought the view from the cave was beautiful, but this was better. There was a purple and blue band of stars that reached out across the night sky. With the sound of the rushing river below and the croaks of newly hatched frogs, it was quite the setting. “Admire it while you can. Soon your father will come looking for you.” Midnight snapped back into reality. “Oh.. alright. Do you know if we’ll go back to the cave tonight?” “More than likely. Why?” Midnight stayed quiet for a bit. How would he say this?
“Just... it’s a beautiful night... I didn’t want to leave it so soon.” “Tell me how it’s beautiful.” “Uh... Well, you can see the Star’s Garden from here.” “What does it look like?” “It’s purple and blue-” “I don't know what those are.” Midnight laughed. “You asked me to tell you what it looked like, so I did! I don't know how else I'm supposed to explain that to you.” Then Midnight got an idea.
“Come with me.” Midnight went down the trail that led to the river. ShiverFlame came right from the Solar tribe’s outskirts, so it was one of the warmer bodies of water in the land. But surely, the water would be cooled enough after a few hours of traveling for Midnight's plan. Once to the water’s edge, Midnight put his paw in it. Perfect. “Sundune! Are you still up there?”  “No, I'm right beside you.” Midnight jumped. For a blind cat with a golden pelt, Sundune was sneaky and fast.
“Ok, ok, stick your paw in the water. Right in front of you.” “Ohh! That’s cold-” “That’s blue.” Sundune licked the water from her paw. “Then that’s purple?”  MIdnight was trying to warm up the water with his fire. “Ok, stick your paw in the water again.” Midnight kept the water warm-ish as Sundune did so. “Huh…” “That’s purple. Warm, but not at the same time.” Sundune smiled. “Wow. Midnight... I.. so that’s color.. Wow"