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CCdC: Book 1-- Chapter 1

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Stella swiped her tongue around her muzzle and she stretched before leaping out the window.  It was such a beautiful spring day, how could she resist laying in the cool grass, the warm sun beating down on her black and white fur.
But instead of finding peace she found another cat.
“Hey!” A grey tom called out.
She blinked at him, “Hello?”
He leapt off the wooden fence and into her yard.  He confidently padded up to her.
“You’re already the size of a full grown cat.” He mewed.
“So are you,” she replied.
He twitched his whiskers, “Yes but we aren’t full grown.”
She flicked an ear, “How do you mean?”
He leaned his pale muzzle closer to hers, “You and I have Bobcat in our blood.”
She shook her head, “You’re insane.”
He did the same, “No I’m not!  The cats around the lake, we all have Bobcat blood.  And I can tell that you do too.  You don’t have an odd colored coat but you do have our size and structure.”
She was silent.
“Come join us,” he mewed.
“I don’t even know who you are,” she told him.
He flicked his pale tail tip, “My name is Tornado.  Tornado Splash.”
“Tornado-Splash?”
“No,” he told her, “Splash is my family name.  I haven’t had my ceremony yet.”
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” She replied to him, her green eyes flicking to a nearby tree as she noticed a cardinal land in it.
He turned and leapt back onto the fence, “Follow me an learn about the wonders of the colony.”
“The colony?” she asked, taking a step forward.
He leapt off the fence and disappeared into the bushes.  Intrigued, Stella leapt after him, her legs strong as they carried her across the grass and then the cement.  Her lungs heaved as she chased him all the way down a road and then another until she was weaving through a forest.
A strange smell hit her pallet but she did not stop.  Instead she followed the tom until he veered away from the black path and stood standing on moist rock.
“Where are we?” she asked him.
Tornado told her, “The Little Cliff.”
“What’s that mean?”
He peered over the edge to where water dripped down into a pool, “This is a historic site.  A cat died here for the love of her life.  But that is for the Shade family to tell you, not me.  But I can tell you that this is where the Spirits come to speak with the Spirit Talkers.”
“What’s a Spirit Talker?”
“A tom who is especially close to his ancestors.”
“Why not a she-cat?”
“Silly, they have other duties; they lead their families and do most of the hunting and raise the young.”
She swished her tail, “Well you can’t expect me to know such things.”
“I don’t,” he answered, “that’s why I’m telling you.”
He paused a moment before continuing with something grandiose to his voice, “In the beginning there were six cats.  They all found they had a special ability and wound up coming together.  Once they did they found a group of bobcats who were of unusual colorations.  They came together as one to form the colony.”
“So there’s a group of cats living here?” Stella asked.
He shook his head, “There are four families.  They live separately but we come together on occasion.  There’s the Splash family-descended from Frost Nose, the Gill family-descended from Koi Gill, the Shade family-descended from Timber Shade, and the Whisper family-descended from Cream Swirl.  Lilac Lily’s kittens were taken away from her by her humans and Sun Spots never had kittens.”
“And what am I supposed to make of that?”
“You have the same marking on your back as one of my friends.  I think you belong to his family.”
“And what family is that?”
“His name is Torn Heart.”
“You didn’t mention any Hearts.”
“They’re part of the Shade family, I’ll have him explain it to you once you meet them.”
“And where are they?”
He turned off of the little cliff and climbed down in the brush, Stella followed.  She then was led down a black path along the lake’s beach until they reached a cluster of seven pine trees.
“This is the Seven Pines,” Tornado mewed, “and these are my friends Torn and Sweet Heart.”  He flicked his tail to the white and dark tabby littermates, one a tom and the other a she-cat.  
“Who is this?” Sweet asked, her voice high-pitched for her size.  
“Skunk,” Tornado told her.
Stella’s fur stood on end, “What did you just call me?”
“Your new name,” he said, “Skunk.”
“You do look like a skunk,” Torn giggled.  His voice, unlike his sister’s, was already deep.
“And you have a marking just like Torn’s!” Sweet exclaimed as she walked around Stella.  “You should be Skunk Heart.”
“Skunk Heart?” Stella did like the sound of the name, as if there were something special to being part of the family.
Sweet nodded, “We belong to the Shade family.  We live in the back forest where the people don’t go.  It’s a bit of a walk from here, but nothing that takes much of the sun’s time.”
“Tornado vaguely explained your family to me,” she told them.
He nodded, “I told her you’d explain.”
Sweet flicked an ear, “Very well.  We are descended her of Timber Shade.  He had several mates who lived in the same general area but not together.  One of his mates was so heartbroken he loved others that she jumped off of the little cliff and her kittens took the name Shade.  But the Hearts and the Blossoms are still family as well, even though at times the Shades can be bitter to us.”
“But…why did she do that?” Stella, now Skunk, could barely understand.
Torn blinked solemnly, “Feelings can cause a cat to do many crazy things.  I imagine that was what charged her in such a way.”
“Feelings,” Skunk muttered and shook her head, still disbelieving of the story, but she changed the subject, “So what are you doing here if this isn’t where you live?”
Sweet explained, “We like to meet Tornado here to play.  The seven pines are a safe place for us.  It’s neutral territory.”
“And the rest of the lake isn’t?” Skunk asked.
“Well, it is,” Sweet said, “in that we don’t fight each other or anything, but we all live in different parts of the forest.”
“Speaking of which,” Tornado interrupted, “my grandmother is going to be looking for me, she said she wanted to take me hunting this evening.  I’ll see you guys later!”
“See you!” Torn responded and Sweet added, “Until later.”
Sweet swished her tail and began towards the path, “Follow us to our home.”
Skunk leapt to Sweet’s side and set her pace to match.  Torn was right behind them.  
“What about my humans?” Skunk asked.
“You can still go back to them,” Sweet said, “just be careful that they don’t steal you.”
“Steal me?”
“Recently the humans have been taking cats away.  Our families are unusually small because of it.  We don’t know what happens but we all assume it is not safe to be taken.”
“They’re probably giving them good homes,” Skunk said.
Torn scoffed, “Or they’re murdering them.”
Skunk’s ears laid flat against her head, “The humans aren’t that cruel!”
He responded, “How would you know?”
“I lived with them.”
“Not all of them.  You don’t know how bad some of them are.”
“And you don’t know how good some of them are,” she retorted.  
“Anyway,” Sweet mewed, “we live down this path, past it to where the rocky path leads.  We stay in the woods back that way.”
Skunk watched as the leaves dappled the ground that turned from smooth black stone to rocky gravel beneath her paws.  Thankfully, they leapt into the tall grass at the new path instead of poking their pads on sharp stoney corners.
“The boulders right there,” Sweet mewed, “is where the Gill family lives.”
Skunk looked to the giant boulder on the hill that had several openings around it.  She could smell the scent of milk wafting from one of the entrances.  
No long after Sweet pointed out another landmark, “That is the rock trickle.  You can always find water there even when the rest is all dried up.”
Torn added, “We live farther past it, but not that far.”
And so they continued walking beyond the stone with the extremely small stream until they were deep in the woods.  Skunk could scent something new, something she had never scented before.
“What is that?” she asked.
Sweet tasted the air, “What you’re smelling is deer.”
Torn added, “So long as you leave them alone they’ll leave you alone; they’re gentle giants.”
“Deer?” Skunk asked.
“You’ll learn soon enough,” Sweet said with a flick of her tail.  
Skunk paused, “What do you mean?”
Torn explained, “The deer stay near where we den.”
“And where is that?”
“No too far from here,” he said.
Skunk was stunned when she saw the creature.  Torn had been right when he had called it giant.  They had long, thin legs and huge bodies.  Their necks were long and their heads sat atop them always on guard.
“Where are the other Shades?” Skunk asked tasting the air for cats.
“They live around here,” Sweet said, “just not with us.  You’ll probably see them at some point.”
“Who do you two live with?”
Torn was the one who responded, “No one, we live alone.  Our mother was taken.”
“Oh…” Skunk replied, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, we have you now,” Sweet replied, “not to say you’re our mother but I’m sure you’ll be a great addition to our family!”
The she-cat leapt forward and stood excitedly in front of a bush, “This is it, this is where we nest.”
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