Counting the Hoofbeats [open]

[Koia]

He jumped, sailing over a miniature river as a sparrow dipped from the tall pines. It darted around his head before flying in a bee line. Thunder sprinted after it. He expected the trees to crowd them, but they seemed to separate as he chased the bird. Soon the prey disappeared over the hill. Thunder felt strange, as if this dream was turning into a nightmare again. He slid to a stop before approaching the familiar gorge. Thunder's broad head peered over the ridge as his claw gripped the rocks. Then the bird that flew in the gorge zoomed up in the sky before the brown frame erupted into stars. Thunder stared at the sky, something he rarely did. As he watched it, the stars seemed to spread and glimmer brighter. Finally, the cat turned away.

When he raised his head, he saw a cat, around the size of him. Alarmed at the size, Thunder took a defensive stance. The cat looked unearthly with a dark fur spread with dusty light like the stars above.

"Good form, Thunder," said the tomcat. Thunder relaxed, recognizing the voice.
"Ridge." The voice of his father rang clear in his head. His eyes stayed fix on the stranger, backing away until his back paw touched the ridge.
"I come from StarClan."
"StarClan?"

[/i] [/color]Thunder spat before his father could finish.
"Impatient as ever. StarClan is your ancestors. The forest's ancestors. We exist as we did in the forest, but with peace. There are no petty battles between us since we hunt and thrive together. We also watch the forest and suffer and we dream of the forest's future."
"Isn't our future enough? What more do we need beside food and room?"
Ridge shook his head. "Like the bird, the forest can gain new heights, but forest cannot move up on its own. Loners and kittypets need to work together. Both of these can form bonds, stronger than family, guided by hiding morals like compassion and loyalty."

Thunder looked at the rocky ground for a few moments. "This must be a dream since the Ridge I knew would never speak about such friendship with kittypets. The father that forbid Rolling and--" [/b]The tomcat stopped as pawsteps distracted him from his firm gazing father. "Rolling?" asked the tom. His tail twitched as he looked at the brown tabby shape of his little brother.
Rolling nodded. "Remember the she-cat at the twolegplace. How she feared the unknown."
How could Thunder forget. The she-cat was the first crush and he never felt the same for a loner since he blocked the feelings because of the harsh law of the forest. "Vaguely."
"Her fear was natural because it was not time for the kittypets to leave. Can you feel the forest? It knows change is coming and it wants to greet new blood." [/b]Rolling said. The brown tabby looked out of breath as he looked at his brother.
Thunder's eyes were fixed to the ground, unable to look at his brother. "StarClan is my ancestors, right?"
Ridge purred a yes.
"Then you are both dead? Even you, Rolling?"
Rolling meowed another yes.

The dreaming tom felt an immense pain of guilt weighing him down as he pressed his body to the ground. Just two moons ago, he hunted voles with Rolling. Now he would never see his brother in his waking life again.

"Who did it?" [/b]Thunder demanded.
"Please," [/b]Rolling begged.
"I want to know."
"Death is natural. Control your anger and focus on the future."
"Don't ask me to do that."

Rolling backed away, fading. "You and the others were right, Ridge. Too soon." And then Thunder's brother disappeared.

"There are many paths to this future, but anger is not the clearest. To carve a path between these two groups, watch yourself." [/color][/b]Ridge's fur began to fade before the father disappeared all together. As soon as the image faded completely, Thunder awoke with a jerk, his heart racing. He glanced at the barn that surrounded him, slowly calming. His father and his brother, both dead. Ridge was no surprise since it had been thirty moons but Rolling...

The weight on his heart drived him to his paws as he paced back and forth, trying to make sense of this StarClan business. It was possible his imagination crafted the words but it was too real for that possibility. Could the forest and StarClan desire such a change?[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Willow]

Carolina was happy. Well, when wasn't she happy? A grin spread on her white, black and tan face as she trotted through the farms and gardens of the twolegs. Her little bobbed tail twitched, wagging as best as it could. The sun was high in the sky and burning hot. Btu Carolina didn't mind. In fact, she loved the heat even though it made her quite sleepy.

Bird twittered in the air and mice and other small animals scurried underpaw. Carolina knew she should be back at her twoleg's house, keeping them company. But they were boring. She really didn't like house life very much. Honestly, she didn't know why she didn't leave. Maybe it was her lack of hunting skill... hmmm. That was possible. Regardless, she enjoyed a nice stroll out in the wild.

What's that? Cat scent hit her nose. Another cat out for a morning stroll, eh? Carolina tilted her head to one side and trotted off in the direction of the smell. A male. One she'd never smelled before. And he smelled wild. He must be one of those wild cats! Intrigued, Cari moved forward with a spring in her step and no concept of danger. She laughed at danger!

Soon, she saw a very stunned looking tom. He was large and ginger. And though strong, he didn't look like much of a threat to her. He looked nice enough and had that funny stunned expression. She wondered if he'd just seen a ghost or something.

"Howdy!" she called as she got close to him. Her greet would probably startle such a stunned looking cat but oh well. How else was she to get him to notice her? "You seen a ghost or somethin'?"

[Koia]

A new scent trailed through his nose, and he ignored it. He was in a new place, surrounded by twolegs. A modified twoleg scent should not alarm the forest cat. Only dangerous forest scents were worth registering. If he cared about the strange twoleg scent, his mind was too busy processing the images he seen in his sleep. He tail started a twitching fit and he head traveled to the outside, morning. His stomach growled and he knew he had to hunt, but the tom was too distracted.

Thunder's ears flicked backward when the stranger's cats footsteps approached him. Before he could swing his head in a dazed alert, the cat greeted him with a foreign cheerfulness. He took a slightly defensive stance by standing on four paws, moving his back away from her. The cat joked and Thunder instantly relaxed.

"How-dy," he answered stiffly. The greeting was foreign, but it feel good to speak the words. "A ghost? I doubt an occupied twoleg horse keep would be haunted." He didn't believe in ghosts because the thought of spirits wandering the earth, haunting the forest. With that happened to him last night, perhaps now was the time to start believing. "Not like anyone really believes in silly things." Thunder thought he should be alarmed at seeing a supposed kittypet for the first time in too many moons.

[Willow]

The other cat was defensive at first, but upon realizing that Carolina was no threat at all, the large tom relaxed. She grinned at him. "Oh, you never know where a ghost could be!" she protested, glancing around said twoleg house. "They like to keep hidden, see." The calico nodded her head sagely as if she were the most knowledgeable cat on earth.

Then she looked quite affronted as Thunder said no one believed in ghosts. "Now look here! Other cats believe in much weirder things like a whole afterlife somewhere. Ghosts are more reasonable than that, eh?"

She sat down and swished her tail back and forth, looking at the tom thoughtfully. "By the way, the name's Carolina," she told him with another jaunty grin. "And no, I don't know why. It's what my twolegs named me," she added, answering the question she always got in relation to her name. How was she supposed to know what it meant?!

[Koia]

The certainity of the stranger astounded him. She seemed positive that ghosts existed. He thought of her quite strange until she compared ghosts and afterlife. The tom flicked his orange tail and dipped his head, thinking. After seeing his family roaming his dream, Thunder could say he believed in a life after death. If this life was StarClan, the large tom could not say. He glanced at Carolina. "You're entitled to your own opinon," he said. "But afterlife seems more plausible than ghosts." He stopped and thought again. "Though disturbed souls could become ghosts," he said, quieter than before, but unless she had a hearing disability.

Realizing his mistake, Thunder changed the subject. "An odd name, but I've heard stranger. Yours makes no sense, but neither does Elizabeth. I guess not choosing your own name is the price of easy food and comfort." He teased with his voice, but there was an outburst of opinions underneath them. "My name is Thunder." He felt pride as he announced his name, knowing it made sense to him and any forest cat. "What bring you here? I doubt you're hunting the mice here."