Ignorance Isn't Always Bliss

Breezekit crouched down lower. Above him, his mother stood, as if her body were a shield that could protect him from his clanmates words. He folded his ears back.

Swiftfire swung her head, glaring at the cats crowded around her while Breezekit trembled. “Leave my kit alone!” She hissed.

Kestrelstar ignored her. “Swiftfire, what have you done? Is this what loyalty is? Gallivanting around with toms from other clans and producing monsters?” He jabbed a paw at Breezekit, who closed his eyes wished to be anywhere but here.

Stop! Leave my mother alone, please!

“Don’t say that! Breezekit has done nothing.” He didn’t want this. He didn’t want his mother to have to defend him, to face these angry words.

An elder called above the loud meows in a voice shaky with age, “Look at it! It has a lame paw. StarClan must be punishing it for the mistakes of its parents.”

Breezekit felt his ears go hot. He tried to hide the incriminating paw. The paw itself was numb and crushed looking, while the leg was shorter than his others. He knew he’d never run properly, and that meant he had no place in WindClan.

Kestrelstar gave them a smug look. “StarClan has clearly spoken. Why else would that kit have a crippled paw? It doesn’t belong.”

Breezekit noticed the other cats exchanging glances and few nodding, as if their leader was making sense.

Swiftfire turned pleading eyes towards the medicine cat. He squirmed under her gaze. Breezekit felt a prickle of hope. He, who held the strongest connection to StarClan, would refute the hateful words of the elder. They would stop speaking to Swiftfire like this.

He turned his own bright green eyes to the tom. Kestrelstar was glaring him, and the medicine cat lowered his head. Kestrelstar snarled at Swiftfire, “Leave, and take your monster with you. You are exiled.”

Swiftfire opened her jaws like she was going to argue, but then she glanced at her kit and seemed to think better of it. She nodded, suddenly seeming to lose all the fire that had given her her name. She grabbed Breezekit by the scruff, and he wriggled. Her teeth hurt. A growl rumbled in her throat and he went limp.

She walked towards the entrance with Breezekit dangling from her mouth. The cats of WindClan jeered at them, staring and yowling. Nothing would ever compare to the shame of this, Breezekit decided.

He knew it. He knew it was his fault they had to leave, his fault his mother was being kicked out of the clan she had been born to. If his own pelt hadn’t held the flashy colors and patterns of RiverClan, if he hadn’t been born with such an ugly paw, maybe… maybe….

Swiftfire’s hiss broke his thoughts. “Breezekit, you’re getting heavy. Can you walk?” Her voice was muffled. Without waiting for an answer, she dropped him. He hit the ground hard, and stumbled on his lame paw. Thankfully, it was his back leg that was crippled. He knew he could depend on his stronger forelegs to pull him forward in the absence of one working foot.

He limped after his mother, gritting his teeth. How nice it would be to have limbs as long as hers, muscles as strong as hers, or claws as sharp. He’d hunt for her, make up for getting them getting kicked out. Soon, he knew they were out of WindClan territory. He wasn’t so sure about the other Clans though. Where were they going?

He mewed to Swiftfire, “Where are we going, mother?” She grunted, but didn’t answer. He tried again.

“Mother, are we going to RiverClan?” He paused. “Are we going to my father?”

Suddenly, Swiftfire whipped around, snarling. She lashed out a paw at him, cuffing him hard over the ears. He mewled in pain. “Never! We are never going to your father!” He cocked his head, ignoring the sting where her claws had grazed his ear-tips.

His common sense told him that this was dangerous ground to tread on, but he spoke quickly anyways, “Does he… does he not love us?” Swiftfire turned around and Breezekit couldn’t see her face. “Why would he love use? He has a pretty little mate in his own clan.”

Breezekit bright amber eyes went wide in confusion and shock. “He cheated on you?! He didn’t love you?” Swiftfire began laughing, bitterly almost. “Oh, dear, we were never mates at all. Nor did we love each other. As for you, he doesn’t even know you exist.”

Breezekit narrowed his eyes at his mother. “Then why-“

She shushed him. “No more questions.” Quietly, she flopped down. “We aren’t in the Clans’ territory, and I’m tired. Go to sleep.”

Breezekit settled gratefully next to her, breathing in her scent. He was so grateful she was here with him. “Better feed now, while I still have milk,” She warned. He didn’t understand why she wouldn’t have milk, but he took her advice. After that, he curled up in the soft curve of her belly, her fur tickling his nose, and drifted off to sleep.

He woke up, freezing. “W-wha- “

He and his mother lay curled up in freezing white stuff. Snow. It dusted Swiftfire’s fur and whisker’s and gave her an almost ethereal look. Staring at her, his heart twisted with pity and guilt. It was his fault she out here, freezing in the snow instead of being surrounded by the warmth of her clanmates.

She shivered in her sleep, and Breezekit flinched. He looked away, his mind quickly thinking of a plan. Maybe he could go back to WindClan and beg Kestrelstar to give Swiftfire a place in the clan again. After all, wasn’t it him they hated, him who was considered a monster?

Firmly set in the idea, he started walking. Breezekit didn’t tell his mother; He knew she’d never let him go by himself. The snow came up nearly to his chest. He shivered in the cold. His nose was freezing, but at least he was making progress.

As he struggled on, something soft began to tickle his ears. His pelt twitched in an attempt to shake whatever it was off. He looked up and a snowflake hit his nose. Feathery flakes had begun to fall once more.

He gritted his teeth as the snow he walked in grew thicker, as he sank in deeper. Was he close to WindClan territory yet? Breezekit looked around wildly for something he was familiar with. He didn’t recognize that tree, that bush.

He let out a small mewl of terror. Why did he think he could do this? He was a kit, he couldn’t do anything! And now he was lost, and it was all his fault his fault his fault.

He kept walking, searching for a sign that he was at least near the place he and his mother had slept. His eyes went wide as he was hit with realization that his mother wasn’t searching for him.

Did she not want him? Was she glad he was gone, glad to get rid of the monster?

He plopped down into the snow, his tail practically numb. His legs ached, and he couldn’t feel the crippled one at all. He didn’t dare look at it, afraid of what he would see. He let out a yowl, hoping to StarClan someone would hear him, someone would come searching for him.

In the distance, he thought he heard his name being called, thought his mother was wailing for her lost kit. However, it could have just as easily been the whispering of the snowflakes as they fell.

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