Chapter Text
Bluestar's paws took her back to where she'd seen the cats harrasing that kittypet, though she knew they were likely long gone by now. It didn't take her long to find the spot again and she appeared to be right, lashing her tail with irritation before turning and entering a random alleyway. She would just have to search Twolegplace from top to bottom.
She passed more monsters and Twolegs, simply walking through them as if they weren't even there. Stray kittypets gathered together around foul-smelling corners and Bluestar thought they were even eating the food that Twolegs had discarded. She shivered, thinking of a warrior choosing to eat crowfood instead of hunting for a fresh kill.
Birds fluttered about the sky, cawing at each other with shrill cries. An old dark gray cat with matted fur was staring at her.
Wait.
She turned her head with the speed of a striking snake and levelled her gaze at the stranger. Yellow eyes returned her gaze with a strange calmness, as if they weren't turning everything she knew upside down. Spirits could not be seen unless they chose to be, so why did this stranger look right at her?
The cat waved his tail in her direction, beckoning her to come closer, away from the hustle and bustle. Bewildered, her paws took her over to him without waiting for her mind to catch up and before she knew it she was standing right in front of the other cat.
He gave her a small, respectful nod, cleared his throat and spoke: "Good early evening, young one, it is not often that I am graced by the presence of a spirit of the stars but it is one I welcome." His voice was raspy though a soft type of kindness shohe through in his tone and words, one that weirdly reminded her of Moonflower.
Did he just call her 'young one'? And a spirit of the stars? She knew her pelt still glistened with them but they had dulled almost completely, surely he could see that.
"Who are you?" The question felt awkward, not befitting of her usual elegance but this cat had stunned and confused her to the point she really didn't know what else to say.
"Oh, me? When I still drew breath my housefolk would call me Timbertus but I would not mind if you referred to me by the name of 'Tim', no shame in a short name."
"Are you also a spirit?" Bluestar asked, lowering her hindlegs to sit, tail neatly draped around her forepaws.
The tom, Tim or Timbertus, rumbled a purr in his throat. "I have been for many, many long seasons. I have seen the arrival of your ancestors when they first set foot on their new land. I have met many others who passed through, I helped them find what they were looking for and then I sent them onward, no need to stay in a lonely place like this."
"Aren't you staying here? Why don't you go onward?"
The tom's gray whiskers twitched, "I no longer remember. But enough about me, there is something you wish to find and if I do say so myself, lending a guiding paw would be an honour."
At that Bluestar drew herself back up, "I am searching for a group of cats who call themselves 'BloodClan', would you happen to know anything about them?" If he did, it would mean that she did not need to wander through the entire Twolegplace, speeding up her quest greatly.
"Are you sure that is what you seek?"
"What?"
"Oh, nevermind." He dismissed not unkindly, "Follow that alleyway over there and you may stumble upon the cats who speak with their claws and fangs." Bluestar followed the direction of his pointing tail with her eyes, spotting an alleyway that she had not seen earlier.
"Thank..." She started to say, but when she turned back Timbertus was gone, vanished in the wind. "...you." She finished anyway, a soft breeze brushing through her fur. With that, she stepped towards the opening and headed inside.
~~~~~~~~~~Claws and Fangs ~~~~~~~~~~
The sky was starting to darken above her, the sun sinking below the twoleg dens. The night was fast approaching.
Twolegplace looked different at this time of day, ordinary objects warping their shadows on the walls, the lights in the Twoleg dens all turning on before going out one by one until the world was almost completely steeped in darkness.
She knew nothing could hurt her but she still felt on edge, a nervous energy gathering in her gut as her body tensed. She glanced around but nothing caught her eye. Perhaps she was just used to being alert at all times, ready to face the dangers of the woods or an enemy warrior that it felt weird to no longer have need for those reflexes.
As a warrior she had almost always needed to be on guard, a mistake could cost her her life. A mistake did cost her her life, she thought bitterly. Not Tigerclaw, though the tom had been the one to kill her she saw no fault in choosing to trust a cat who had been her Clanmate. It was StarClan, StarClan who supposedly saw and knew everything and yet did nothing as Tigerclaw plotted against her, even granting him nine lives while they knew full well what he had done.
She growled lowly to herself and then stopped dead in her tracks, she could have sworn she just heard something. When she focused, the sound became clearer. She turned her head slowly to face one of the side alleys, approaching it under the dim lighting of the moon, entering the space with a newfound curiousity.
She followed the sound of claws clicking against stone as the alleyway around her began to narrow down until she had to squeeze herself through. Rain began to fall from the dark clouds above, droplets falling through her body and rushing down the cracks within the stones under her paws like the river that separated ThunderClan from RiverClan.
She heaved a heavy sigh of relief as she finally stepped back out of the alleyway and into a more open area, strange object with lights like fireflies lit up the world around her, providing a small speck of warmth in the dreary weather.
She was still surrounded by closely packed Twoleg dens and there seemed to be more branching paths leading away into the darkness of night. Her ears twitched and she stood completely still for a moment to pinpoint which way the clicking claws were going. There! Right across from her - in a thankfully wider alleyway - was where the sounds were coming from.
She continued to follow them until she came upon a broken down den with a large hole in the side, cracks spread out from the hole like a spiderweb and she could almost imagine the glinting eyes of the bug staring her down.
Thunder clapped from behind her with a loud crack.
Bluestar shuffled her way inside, having to wait to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. Once they did and the inky black gave way, her mouth almost fell open in shock. Broken objects littered the large den, stuff she had seen whole through the impenetrable open spaces that all Twoleg dens had. Roaches swarmed the larger objects in droves and even though they would not be able to touch her she avoided them with haste.
As she headed further inside the sound of hushed voices reached her ears and she finally found what she had been looking for. A group of cats, all wearing bone-studded collars, were curled up away from each other, presumably asleep. Their chests rose and fell with a slowness one could only find in sleep.
But if they were all asleep, who's voices had she heard?
The old ThunderClan leader padded past the slumbering BloodClan warriors and headed down towards a lower section of the den, the voices becoming more distinct until she could clearly make out two different cats speaking with each other, both male.
There was even less light here than upstairs, where the moonlight had been able to shine through the cracked see-through part of the wall at certain angles. She could still make out some shapes though, especially those of the two moving cats deep in conversation in the corner of the den.