Amaranthine

 amaranthine

 a fanfiction by willowlight 

Hey, Wollow speaking. There's nothing much to be said here, but special thanks to Steppy's Never Meant To Be for inspiration. Enjoy the story!

Mini-Dictionary:

Efflorescence - the state/period of flowering

Ephemeral - lasting for a short time

Crepuscular - dim, resembling twilight

Evanescent - fleeting

Amaranthine - undying

 part one - efflorescence 

The wisteria trees that surrounded our camp had been in full bloom for a few sunrises. They draped over the dens in a spectacular explosion of purple flowers. Fallen petals scattered around the camp, creating a soft purple carpet under our feet. The last of the winter snow had melted a moon ago, and the cold temperatures vanished along with it. Now the birds' melodies rang through the air once more, combining with our flowers to beautify the land.

The beautiful spring sights, however, did not excuse us from training.

Cherry nudged me awake before dawn rose. Her sharp yowl jolted me from sleep, and I had to blink a few times before my eyes began functioning properly. Fuzzy sleep was still fading from my head, but her voice rang clear.

"Get up already. Elzora and Nascha are already in the training grove."

Cherry, as talented as she was, refused to be outdone by the leader's kits. That was pretty hard, as they had been training since they were essentially newborns. Not only did they learn hunting and fighting, but they were also taught leadership, confidence, and manners. The latter sounded pretty boring, but they had been living pampered lives since their birth. Every cat was jealous of the leader's kits, and for a good reason.

I groggily shook the sleepiness from my head and stood up shakily. I waited until I was sure my paws could suppocrt me, then padded out of the den after Cherry. Mist hung in the air, not yet burned off from the slowly climbing sun that had just peeked above the horizon. The shadows gave everything a bluish tint, and the bright flowers that surrounded the dens didn't seem so bright in the pre-dawn light. Or lack thereof.

Cherry's reddish tail flowed behind her as she dashed out of camp down the winding trail that led to the training grove. Our domain was covered in every type of flower imaginable, from the white blossoms that covered the side of the path to the nearly-fallen cherry blossoms above us. The shadows the many trees cast were long and dappled Cherry's pelt like the petals dappled the ground.

I slowed as we approached the training ground. As Cherry had said, Elzora and Nascha were already standing under the large tree that we used for training. It was the tallest tree in the forest, and its branches stretched out above most of the nearby woods. Next to the aristocratic she-cats stood Magnolia and Onyx, the Champions tasked with training the Cadets. The Champions were some of the highest-ranking cats in the group. Unlike the Aristocrats, they earned their titles not by birth but by performing brave and heroic tasks. Cherry aspired to be a Champion someday, but I was content with staying an average cat for now. I probably wouldn't have the skill to become a Champion anyway.

"Torrent!" Blizzard called my name from the other side of the training grove. My brother was less serious than Cherry. He was less serious than most of the Cadets, except for maybe Raven. Raven wasn't a slacker (she was actually an excellent fighter), but she was constantly joking and playing pranks on the rest of the cats. Our trainers hated it, calling it 'not acceptable behavior for a young Twilight Hunter'. I considered it hilarious.

I trotted over to my brother, sitting down next to him and gazing at Magnolia and Onyx. They were uninterested in the two of us, turning their attention instead to the absence of Lark and Raven. The siblings weren't quite morning cats, so it was to be expected, but the trainers seemed surprised by it anyway.

We waited a few moments before the two Cadets came. Lark was slightly out of breath due to his lack of stamina (and the fact that it wasn't yet sunrise), but the pair sat down between Cherry and me.

As soon as the siblings were both seated Magnolia began speaking. "Today we will be working on herb identification. Not every one of you will be a medic, but you will be all tested on it in your final assessment to determine your role."

I heard a slight groan from Blizzard, but it was quickly suppressed after a glare from Onyx. Magnolia picked up a few bundles of herbs from beside her and placed them lined up in front of her.

"Each of you will get a bundle and you will sort it into three piles. Herbs for cuts and scrapes, herbs for coughs and fevers, and herbs for other injuries. After this activity, we will go herb hunting together."

The lesson continued as usual, complete with sarcastic comments from Blizzard and a toad in Cherry's fur from Raven. I wasn't the biggest fan of herbs and healing, mostly because I was terrible at it. I never understood how the medics could stay calm in an emergency and remember all those herbs, even under so much stress. I admired them but definitely wasn't envious of their job, although they were higher-ranking than your average warrior or hunter.

When the sun rose directly above our heads, we headed back to camp for a small meal. Cats clumped together in their small groups, whispering about the day's gossip while gulping down their prey. Cherry followed Elzora and Nascha towards the leader's den, but she was careful not to get too close as not to anger them. I sat with Blizzard, Lark, and Raven, gulping down a plump mouse. Spring not only brought beauty, it also gave us fat prey. I was careful to watch for maggots, eating with Raven, but other than that I could say relaxed (for once).

"Look," Lark whispered to me, flicking his tail towards the two princesses, who were entering the Great Den. "I think the Council is meeting."

This was definitely true, as I spotted Onyx and Magnolia, along with the rest of the Champions and Aristocrats, heading towards the Great Den as well. Council meetings occurred at the beginning of every season, but they also met in times of need or crisis. This did not seem anything like a time of need or crisis, with the trees in efflorescence around us.

 part two - ephemeral 

Cherry woke me up before dawn again. This time, it was also before Elzora and Nashca. She padded briskly out of the flowery camp and toward the training grove, stepping quickly and purposefully. The sky was still a dark purple, but tinges of pink were sneaking into the pre-dawn sky. She had a lot of energy, considering it wasn't even dawn yet. Still groggy with sleep, I followed her to the training grove, where Onyx and Magnolia stood. They seemed even more tense than normal, and every once and a while exchanged whispers with each other. Their tails twitched nervously every one and a while.

Their whispering abruptly stopped when Cherry and I entered the grove. Onyx's gaze never left us as we sat down in front of them, but eventually, it dropped and they continued their whispering. I could only make out a few words, something about "scouts" and "on our borders".

The rest of the cats slowly arrived. Cherry gazed at Elzora with a smirk on her face. Elzora glared back at her. She hated to be outdone, especially by a common-born cat.

Elzora and Nashca definitely knew what was going on, as they had been in the Council meeting. They too exchanged many whispers. Elzora glanced at Cherry once and a while, a haughty expression on her face. Cherry returned the glance, her narrow eyes even more so.

When Wren and Raven arrived in the grove, the whispering stopped for good this time. Onyx stood up and began speaking, his gaze falling upon each of us in turn.

"Today, we will be practicing battle tactics," he meowed, his voice meaningful. "We are at peace right now, but you never know when you might need them in the future."

Cherry glanced at Magnolia, who gave her a sharp nod. Cherry's mouth dropped open for a second, but she quickly closed it and listened to Onyx's orders.

"Divide into groups of four. The first group to reach the end of the other's side wins. No claws, no deaths by blunt force trauma. I hope you are capable of training without injuries."

Even Onyx's tone betrayed the fact that something was wrong. The tom was usually uptight, but his voice was even more choppy than usual.

The training continued on, the air swimming with tension. Even Blizzard could tell something was wrong. Battle training had always been minimal, and always designed for dealing with a fox, badger, or dog. We had never used tactics against cats before.

When we were finished with that training session for the day, we padded back along the flowery trails toward the camp. The sun hung above our heads, casting short shadows beneath us. It followed us to the two lines of dens that made up our camp, with the Great Den and leader's chamber at the end of them. I had always wondered how they got those cherry trees to grow around the Great Den. It gave it an important, regal look.

We continued our daily routine, sitting down and sharing a couple of rabbits between the four of us. Blizzard insisted on being the one to gnaw on the legs, and eventually, the rest of us complied. I glanced up from the juicy rabbit to see the leader, Astor, heading up to the Great Rock that stood in front of the Council meeting chamber, followed by a group of Aristocrats and Champions, as well as his daughters.

Raven nudged me excitedly. "Look!" Her muzzle was tipped toward the Great Rock where Astor stood. "The group is gathering!"

I noticed Cherry standing close to the bottom of the rock. Her expression was far from excited. My sister's face was twisted with worry and fear, seeming out of place in the world of petal-coated streams. She paced back and forth, eventually sitting down directly in front of the rock. I saw other cats following, then Elzora sounded a yowl that we all knew meant meeting time.

We abandoned the rabbit and loped across the camp to the Great Rock, sitting beneath it in the ever-growing cloud of cats. Astor sat on its peak, flicking his tail impatiently. As soon as the majority of cats had joined the cluster, he began speaking.

"As you may have noticed, our Council met yesterday." His confident yowl echoed off the beautiful garden we stood in. "We were discussing a rather... troubling matter."

Blizzard's face looked even more excited. Cherry was the opposite. It almost seemed like she might explode with fear at some point. She clearly knew most of what was going on, but that made it worse.

"Another group has moved into the territory near ours. They have not yet crossed the borders, but our scouts report that there are many cats there and their numbers threaten ours."

Blizzard nudged me. "They might accelerate Cadet training!" His mew was quickly punctuated by a glare from Scarlet, a she-cat sitting near us. Raven's expression was neutral, while Lark seemed slightly scared by the news. I still wasn't sure how I felt. They might not pose a threat to us if they're just living on our borders, but if they cross them...

"The Council has voted to take immediate action. We will be scouting out their lands, numbers, and any plans they may have, as well as attempting to send a diplomatic visitor to them. We must also prepare for battle."

Even though we all knew it was coming, Astor's last words sent a ripple of surprise through the crowd. The Twilight Hunters hadn't faced a war in twelve seasons because every nearby group knew of our strength and power. The cherry trees that surrounded the Great Den had been planted forty seasons ago, a sign of our long-lasting power. No cat had the nerve to challenge that. Or so we thought.

Astor dipped his head as a sign the meeting was over, then the Council members padded off the rock. I spotted them returning to the Great Den, likely having another meeting.

It seemed the peace of the spring was ephemeral.

 part three - crepuscular 

Tension hung in the air like fog for the next few days. We practiced our battle moves every day now, and even Blizzard started to take it seriously. The Council met every day, probably discussing the incoming threats. Mealtimes were often silent, the air thick with unspoken words. From what we heard from Elzora and Nascha's conversations, scouts were constantly checking both the other group's territory and the border. There was talk of sending spies or threatening them with an army, though to our knowledge no action had been taken.

Cherry had calmed down and was now constantly rambling about strategies and what she thought the Council should be doing. Her desperation to become a Champion was pretty clear. She would probably make a good one, seeing as most of her strategies had at least some ground. She often instigated debates with Nascha, insisting we should send spies to see how large their armies were and what they were planning.

The most memorable early-morning training session was our probably five hundredth battle lesson in the last few sunrises. Nascha and Cherry were arguing, as always, and Onyx was telling them to shut up and start fighting with claws instead of words (but not with claws, or deaths by blunt force trauma), as always. Cherry's newest point was that we knew next to nothing about them, which was true. Listening to the debate eventually bored me (and Magnolia told me to get off my lazy butt and start training), so I began a practice bout with Lark.

We sparred, getting into a rhythm of swipes and dodges, with the occasional leap or roll thrown in. It was oddly silent, as neither of us really yowled or hissed when fighting. I imagined what it would be like in a real battle, where a misstep wouldn't just cost me a bit of reputation, but my life. Any lack of focus and I would die.

In this bout, lack of focus only caused me to get pinned to the ground easily by Lark. Magnolia gave me a disapproving look, strutting over slowly.

"Concentrate! One wrong move and you will pay with your life on the battlefield."

I started another bout with Lark, managing to win this time. We were both decent fighters, though nothing exceptional. Raven was as nimble as a squirrel and usually planned four moves ahead while still managing to concentrate. How she did it, I don't know.

When the training was over Cherry padded up to Lark, Raven and I. "That stupid royal she-cat won't listen to my common sense."

I rolled my eyes. Cherry got rather involved in many debates, and never was satisfied until she proved her point. It got quite annoying after a while.

"If the Council won't do it, I'll do it myself," she continued, pacing back and forth. Her tail lashed rhythmically, as it always did when she was annoyed. She padded off through the clusters of blossoms that had once seemed peaceful, but now just echoed with the promise of the war.

Raven shrugged and headed back towards the camp. Lark and I followed the jet-black she-cat a few paces behind, our steps light and nervous. No matter how much we pretended not to care, all the Cadets were worried about the battle. Lark, Raven, Cherry and I, at least. Blizzard was questionable. A rustle sounded in the bushes behind us and I broke into a run. Raven and Lark had the same reaction, bolting through the flowery woods and back to the camp, gasping for breath.

Cats had already started eating around us. The Council was presumably having another meeting, because Nascha and Elzora were nowhere nearby. Lark picked up a squirrel for us to share and we padded over to the stump by the Cadets' den, where Blizzard was already gulping down a large mouse.

Lark dropped the squirrel on the ground and we all sat down, nipping at its flesh halfheartedly. I glanced around the camp for Cherry, but she was nowhere to be found. Maybe she was just still out there. She surely would return for our second training session, right? Cherry valued her training more than any of us, even Nascha or Elzora. The two daughters of the leader always acted like they already knew everything. Lark and I tried to do well in training, but we just weren't as good or invested in it as the others. Blizzard just plain didn't try, while Raven usually didn't really care. She was probably good enough to pass her final assessment right now.

The sun had crept down in the sky a little bit more when it was time for training again. Lark, Raven, Blizzard and I padded out of camp in a small clump, trotting down the trail created by Twilight Hunters long ago. Thousands of pawprints had walked this path before us, and now the land of our ancestors was being threatened. We think.

I glanced nervously around the training grove. Cherry skipping the meal at sunhigh wasn't unheard of, but Cherry skipping a lesson... It hadn't even started yet, why worry. Even Nascha seemed concerned. I knew the she-cat cared about Cherry at least a little more than her haughty sister, but I doubt either would miss her much.

We continued waiting in the training grove because the trainers wouldn't start the lesson if a cat was missing. Even Magnolia and Onyx started whispering about Cherry's disappearance. Eventually, Onyx held his tail up as a signal for us to stop talking and start listening. "It appears we have a missing Cadet. As you know, skipping training is not tolerated in any way, shape, or form. Cherry will be tracked down and punished. In the meantime, Magnolia will work on ambushes with you."

Magnolia split us into two groups. Nascha, Raven and I were ambushing Blizzard, Lark, and Elzora. The three of them, along with Magnolia, would hide in the woods somewhere and our group would track them down and ambush them. It was a task we'd done many times before, but always with the intention of attacking a fox den or badger sett.

The war was scary.

We had to wait until we heard Magnolia's yowl to start the search. Raven whispered attack strategies to us, suggesting that we split up and search, but Nascha cut her off.

"We are looking for Cherry."

The words took me by surprise, but also seemed oddly expected. We set out, not to track the waiting Cadets, but to bring Cherry out of the crepuscular shadows that seemed to have taken her.

 part four - evanescent 

Raven and Nascha were a few steps ahead of me, trotting quietly along the path that lead to the border. The oaks and maples towered over the sides of the well-trodden path, creating a sense of isolation from the rest of the forest. We padded towards the border quickly but quietly, careful not to attract the attention of our trainers or the other group. When we reached the heavily patrolled line, full of scents from our scouts and guards, Raven hesitated before jumping across after Nascha, who had leaped over it eagerly. I followed close behind us, careful to make my pawsteps even more inconspicuous than before. This group had an odd scent, like rain and fresh leaves. A few more flowery scents stood out, most likely the scents of the scouts that had come before us. This group didn't seem as careful or confident as us. Their scent intertwined with prey's in a way that made me think most of these cats were just hunting, and their border was barely scent-marked.

The scent that stood out most to me, however, was Cherry's. It was well-masked, but I knew her scent by heart. She had clearly crossed the border and headed into the heart of their territory, though she had intentionally made her path winding and difficult to follow. Looking back, we should have done that. The trainers were probably on our trail by now. I knew Onyx had stopped at the border and gone back, most likely to alert Astor, our leader.

We continued through the other group's territory. Nascha walked confidently ahead of us. As a royal, she often felt entitled to do what she wanted. Her royal status, however, did not entitle her to walk in this group's territory. Raven was more careful, having smothered some of her scent in dried leaves earlier. I spotted the glint of her unsheathed claws, ready to fight any cat who challenged us.

A light drizzle began, making tapping sounds on the leaves above us. It washed away not only our scents, but the scent we were following. I glanced up at Nascha inquisitively, not daring to make a sound in case we were heard. She just continued along in the general direction the now-faint scents led, determined to find Cherry. We followed her, though Raven looked at me skeptically once. It seemed like she wanted to get caught.

The scents began to get thicker and stronger, weaving closer and closer together. The group's scent was fresh and clear, like the forest after rain. One of the scents seemed stronger than the rest...

"It's more of those flower-scented cats," an unfamiliar voice announced. I looked up and saw the speaker, along with four other cats in her patrol, all smelling strongly of the enemy group. Nascha's apparent wish had been fulfilled. We had been caught.

Raven whipped around, immediately leaping at a mottled she-cat. Her silver claws tore a nick in the larger cat's ear as she twisted away from a swipe. Eventually, the older she-cat managed to pin Raven to the ground, leaving the rest of the cats in the patrol glaring at us suspiciously.

"Golden will want to see this," the apparent leader of the group meowed. The tortoiseshell she-cat that held Raven released her, but it was clear we were not free to go. Nascha had been watching the whole thing in shock, but quickly snapped out of it when the patrol began moving. The cats cringed away from us a little, which was surprising. We were just a small group of Cadets who could easily be beaten by five adults. The more I thought about it, however, the more sense it made. We had been sending scouts here for the last few days. Most of them had only short, quarter-sunrise missions, though some lasted a day or more. A few of those scouts hadn't returned yet or came back a day or two later and rather battered. They knew we were here and what we were doing.

The three of us walked alongside the patrol of five, our legs trembling and our fur puffed up. The once-peaceful land of towering trees seemed a lot less calm after what had happened. The raindrops trickled uncomfortably down my face as the rain began to intensify. The drops began to pound on the leaves above us, creating a rather annoying tapping sound that echoed in our ears and through our heads.

Eventually, I spotted a large clearing ahead. A bramble barrier had been woven around it out of the surrounding bushes, less graceful than our wall of rose bushes. It was functional, however, and didn't require constant attention. One of the main chores for kits and Cadets was to tend to the gardens in camp and around the territory. Most of the cats had to help at some point, but it was mainly the Cadets who had to place cherry seeds in small holes around the camp or make sure the roses grew in the right direction.

As we walked through the bramble barrier, I noticed that this group didn't have any of the haughty decorativeness of the Twilight Hunters. Their dens were plain and simple, built into the roots of oak trees and woven off of the bramble walls. They didn't seem concentrated on making their camp intimidating or impressive. It was more practical, seeming unfinished in places. A few dens looked half-built or hastily made, and cats milled around carrying brambles or sticks and leaving them in piles.

Of course, they had just moved here.

We were led into a den that seemed less well-constructed than the rest. It was large, though. The bramble walls stretched nearly as wide as the dens that an Aristocrat or Champion might live in, but the ceiling was probably half as high. Inside lay a few hastily-made nests, some prey bones... and Cherry.

Nascha immediately bounded over, looking delighted. Cherry looked both horrified and happy at the same time, letting Nascha lean her head against her fur.

"Are you okay?" Nascha asked, slightly breathless, her black fur spiked a bit in worry.

"I'm fine. You?" Cherry replied, a smile breaking out across her face.

"Fine as well," Nascha said, regaining some of her confident stance and tone. "We need to get out of here."

Cherry nodded in agreement. Raven stepped up to the two, pricking her ears in interest. "They must be keeping some of our scouts here too. I thought I saw Adder in one of the other dens."

It seemed our moments of peace and preparation were evanescent.