Two Against the World

[Wind Whisper]

The long stalks of the water reeds shivered as a she-cat wove her way through, her lithe gray body like that of a serpent's. Dark paws sunk deep into the mud with each carefully plotted step. The silvery fur on her underbelly was wet and tipped with a blackish brown. Her ears were swivelled forward to hear the tiny scuttlings and splashings through the dense reeds, and her jaw hung lightly ajar as she drew in slow, shallow breaths. The scent of prey rolled over her tongue and she drew it back over again and again, pinpointing the location with ear and gland. Her teal eyes, like two dark and deep pools of water, were fixed on a tiny gap between the looming stalks.

Ripples ricocheted in a tiny pool of water about two foxlengths in front of her in a cmall clearing outside of the reeds. Two water voles were skittering about in the shallows of the muddy pool, but the she-cat's eyes were set on something else that stared back at her on the opposite side of the clearing. Two dark teal eyes blinked in the shadows.

Wind Whisper drew back her lips and hissed sharply, her muscles tensing as she prepared to leap. She watched and steadied herself as the voles flitted, frightened, toward the other side of the clearing. Her brother leapt from the stalks and came down upon one of the voles. Wind Whisper flashed from the reeds as the other vole changed its course and came sprinting back toward her, snatching it in her jaws and breaking its neck in an instant.

[Passing Storm]

Passing Storm nodded silently to his sister. Wind Whisper was perched patiently in the reeds on the other side of the small clearing like a mirror image. The twins' eyes swivelled in unison to the obliviously quarreling voles beside the shallow pool of water. The two rodents swiped tiny paws at eachother, their bodies twitching and spasming as they bounded lightly in the dark mud. Passing Storm's mouth hung open as he drew in their scent, craving the tepid, lush taste of vole on his tongue.

Suddenly, a sharp hiss split the silence and the two voles instantaneously dashed away into the reeds toward Passing Storm. The muscular gray tom leapt forward, claws unsheathed, and came down upon one of the voles. The other let out a shrill cry and careened back toward the other edge of the clearing, but it was too late; Wind Whisper was already closing her jaws on the tiny creature. Passing Storm swiftly crushed his prey beneath a huge, muddied white paw and looked satisfiedly up at his sister, setting his rump into the mud with a small splash.

[Wind Whisper]

Wind Whisper's teal eyes narrowed more or less as her brother settled in the muck, speculating his indifference toward the wetness; she could barely abide the mud on that collected on her paws, let alone taking a seat in it. The she-cat shook her head and lumbered back toward the reeds where she perched on a clump of withered, defunct stalks and began to devour her meal, closing her eyes when the savory taste flooded her senses.

"How long are we gonna stay here? It's hard to get by... not to mention its absolutely ridiculous that we have to sleep in the mud. Honestly, I don't think I can stand licking all the mud off my paws a day longer. Its nasty." she meowed, tilting her head and examining her soiled paws with candid distaste. She and Passing Storm hadn't really settled down anywhere for very long; they had only recently journeyed south in false hopes of finding a place to stay. Things were pretty much the same wherever they went- The twins were always on the run. From what, Wind Whisper couldn't tell for sure. Shame? Guilt? Cold glares from others? It seemed like Passing Storm always wanted to journey a little further. "We'll find a place to stay, away from everyone else. It'll be nice." he would always say. Always saying that this was the place for sure, they'd found a new home. As much as she loved and wanted to trust her brother's decions, Wind Whisper knew their stay would never last long, and they would be on the move again. Always searching... it seemed like they were always searching for something that was never there.

[Passing Storm]

Passing Storm bit into the vole and glanced at his sister, who had begun to speak.
"How long are we gonna stay here? It's hard to get by... not to mention its absolutely ridiculous that we have to sleep in the mud. Honestly, I don't think I can stand licking all the mud off my paws a day longer. Its nasty." she meowed, and Passing Storm could tell by her impatient tone and they way her dainty ears jutted outward that she was getting restless.

The tom was silent for a moment, savoring the taste of vole in his mouth as he pondered Wind Whisper's words. He agreed with her to the extent that the mud was dreadful, but he considered the marsh to be an overall satisfactory home. There was plenty of prey if you knew the places to look and wasn't a favourite place of wolves or badgers... and definitely was mostly uninhabited as far as other cats were involved. Perhaps by saying it was hard to get by, Wind Whisper implied something else- he knew she often grew lonely but had never given it much thought. As her brother, he thought his company would be enough to shelter her from the cruel world that did not accept them.

"Huh, this is the first time I've heard you say you wanted to leave, not including the time we stayed in that old fox den we thought was abandoned..." Passing Storm chuckled, trying to lighten the mood, but he could see in his sister's stern gaze that she wasn't amused. His heart sunk as she dipped her head and said no more; Passing Storm did his best to make her happy but he knew he couldn't keep her satisfied forever, and it saddened him to think that they were growing further apart each day. He had always been the one to take charge, as he thought it was for the best, but now he wasn't so sure.

[Wind Whisper]

Wind Whisper sighed and lowered her gaze solemnly at her brother's remark. She knew that Passing Storm tried his best to keep the two of them safe and happy, but Wind Whisper was growing discontent with the constant promises of a better life.

"Uh-huh." she mumbled inaudibly.

Through respect and gratitude for all that Passing Storm had sacrificed and worked hard for, she did her best to put the thoughts out of her mind and, instead, focused on picking the invasive muddy grit from between her toes. The dried gray bits had an acrid taste and Wind Whisper spat them out with a contorted expression on her face, her ears now tilted downward in distaste. With a frustrated sigh, she glared at a half-cleaned gray paw and chastized herself, it's just going to get muddy again as soon as I stand up. Why bother?

With an ugh-h-h the she-cat rose to her paws and grimaced as the murky water swelled up around them.
"I just can't stand this anymore!" she burst out suddenly, her teal eyes squeezing shut in frustration. "Passing Storm, I want to go home."

[Passing Storm]

Passing Storm's ears jerked to attention as he heard his sister's grumble and he looked up with attentive interest. Her upset demeanor struck empathy into the tom and he immediately felt guiltier than a fox raiding a mockingbird's nest.
"Passing Storm, I want to go home." Passing Storm could hear the lump in her throat as she spoke, a malignant tumor of distress and frustration. But her words struck him with surprise that sent old memories back into his troubled head;

"Passing Storm, come now! Hurry- its mum. She's-" Wind Whisper's frightened wail cut off into an array of sobbing as she pushed her way into the den, the tendrils of bracken draped over her shaking shoulders as she appeared before him in the den entrance. The black lines that ran from her gleaming, widened eyes were glistening with tears.
"Mum's dead." she whimpered, whirling around again; Passing Storm, eyes widened in disbelief, bounded after her.
"What?! Wind Whisper, wait!" he cried as he raced after his sobbing sister, his paws thudding the tear-dappled trail she left behind like thunder. He followed her, ducking as swiftly as he could through the tangles of branches that seemed to guard the shore of the lake, wincing as they tore at his ears and stung his pelt. Ahead of him, his sister slowed to a stop at the shore, still whimpering.
"Wind Whisper, what are you-" Passing Storm's voice cracked and died in his throat as his eyes fell upon the sodden, slumped shape on the lakeshore.

Passing Storm looked at his sister's stern gaze with a twisted expression on his face, his mouth opening slightly but emitting no sound.
"You want to-" he began, bewildered, clearing his throat. He began again, softer. "You want to go home?" There was a pause before the tom nervously began again.
"Wind Whisper, we talked about this.." he trailed off, his eyes rolling down to his mud-stained paws, lacking better words to say.