let it snow

~~~

LIANAPOND LOVED WHEN it snowed. Those days, she would wake up at a time of her choosing in a warm nest and den, with freshly delivered prey laying beside her. She would stretch, have something to eat and a few sips of water, then prance outside and roll around in the snow or whatever she wanted before returning to her warm den.

This was not at all like those days.

Lianapond was startled awake by frost creeping into her bones, and her head shot up, only to find white glaring all around her. Snow. She jumped to her paws, stumbling a little, so cold she felt numb, her first instinct being to leap into her nest. But she couldn't find it. The area around her was completely unfamiliar.

Where am I?

The silver tabby's head hurt, and woozy, she spun around, trying to figure out where she was in the Glade. But snow was everywhere, a thick layer on the ground and branches, and she only felt completely lost. What happened? How had she gotten here? 

Okay, think. She tried to remember. Her earliest memory was shock and joy, when her father had chosen her as heir instead of Wolfclaw. The gray tom had been furious, growling and demanding why he hadn't been chosen. Rushingstar had made some reply, then he'd collapsed... cats had gasped, Snowberry had screamed, and the medicine cat Wavelily was summoned... Wavelily arrived, diagnosing that Rushingstar must've contracted a disease that was going around in the Clans while on the Moon Sweep... the cure was this herb that grew in the Twolegplaces, but there was report of a snowstorm, and it was too dangerous to go try and find it now...

Ah, here it was. After Rushingstar had been brought to the medicine den, Wolfclaw, who still wasn't over not being chosen as heir, had turned to sneer at Lianapond.

"Just what have you done to deserve being chosen?" he'd hissed. "You've never hunted or taken care of yourself a day in your life. What have you ever done? How do you expect to take care of the entire Empire?" 

Lianapond, who at first had been over the moon about being chosen then worried for her father's health, now felt doubts prickling at her. "Father will teach me."

"Father may be good, but even he can't teach a rat to fly," Wolfclaw scoffed, referring to Lianapond as the rat in this analogy. "Give it up. Let me have the throne. You know I deserve it more than you anyway."

The silver tabby's mouth opened and closed. Everyone had thought her brother was the one more suited for the throne and, until a few moments ago, she did too. Although of course she expected him to be upset, she suddenly felt bitter anger rising within her that if she, after spending her entire life hearing others tell Wolfclaw he was destined for the throne, could put on a good attitude, her brother couldn't. 

Lianapond shook her head. "Guess a 'congratulations' is too much to expect." 

Wolfclaw rolled his eyes. "Be serious, Lianapond. Look." He gestured to the cats standing around them; of those who hadn't rushed off to the medicine den, they were all talking among themselves in low voices, casting side glances at the littermates. "They're all surprised, too. Everyone knows it's supposed to be me. Father's sick, you heard Wavelily. In any right mind he would've picked-"

"You know what, Wolfclaw, it doesn't matter," the silver tabby spat, her anger cresting over. "Father picked me, and not you. Get over it." 

Without another word, she turned and bounded away, out of the clearing they were in and into the trees, breath labored and angry and suddenly very afraid. What if Wolfclaw was right? What if she couldn't do it? 

Her brother's voice rang heavy in her ears: "What have you ever done?" 

Lianapond flicked her tail, not breaking her step as she steered her path sideways. She's never been to a Twolegplace before, but she'd heard their descriptions in stories and was certain she'd be able to recognize one. She would find one, find the herb, and bring it back to cure Rushingstar. 

That'll show Wolfclaw.

It was somewhere along that journey that it started snowing. At first, it was fine and Lianapond kept going, undeterred. But then it started snowing harder and harder, and harder still, until the silver tabby felt herself being pushed around by the wind, blinded by the flurries, yowling for help with no response...

The next thing she knew, she'd woken up here.

She glanced around once more, trying to see if she could recognize something - anything - that could lead her to her warm nest back home, when suddenly she heard a rustle of the undergrowth nearby her. She turned just in time to see a brown tom closing his claws around an unfortunate mouse who'd stumbled out in the snow. Upon making his kill, the tom wasted no time cleaning the mouse's meat off its bones before digging a hole to toss the bones into.

Lianapond frowned. She'd never seen a cat eat with such hasty desperation before. Why was he out hunting in the cold? Surely he could just turn to his food storage?

Nevertheless, she determined that this cat must be a Guard, and she was at the border, an area she'd never dared to venture to before. The Guard could give her some direction. 

"Excuse me," the silver tabby called.

The brown tom's head whipped up at the sound of her face, his eyes flashing with fear before, upon recognition or perhaps lack of, his lips pulled back into an unfriendly snarl. "Who are you? What are you doing on our territory?"

The sight of his claws scared Lianapond, so she tried to laugh and lighten the air (he, unfortunately, remained stone-faced). "Your territory? Technically, the entire Glade Empire belongs to the royal family, does it not? The Guards really don't own anything."

The tom looked confused, but his hostility stayed the same. "Get out of here before I report you to my deputy."

"Now, now, let's drop that tone," sniffed the silver tabby. "I am Lianapond." 

She waited for the brown tom's entire attitude to change, to beg for forgiveness, but if anything only his confusion deepened. This was unexpected. Lianapond understood that perhaps no Guards or Clan cats knew what she looked like, but she'd thought her name at the very least to be respected and well known. 

"I am Lianapond, the daughter of Rushingstar," she tried again.

This, at the very least, got some recognition from the tom. "Russetsky hates trespassers and liars."

"But I'm not a liar! Or a trespasser!" Lianapond's tail stood up in the air as frustration coursed through her veins. "Look, if you could just point the way to the Academy, I can find my way home from there."

She was becoming extremely annoyed at that puzzled face the tom was wearing, which seemed to pull deeper every time she spoke. "The Academy? That's where the royals train, isn't it?" 

"Yes! Very good!" Lianapond meowed, trying to stay positive. "So which way should I go to get there? Left? Right?"

The tom frowned. "Why would I know where it is?" 

Lianapond flicked her tail impatiently. "Don't you live around here?"

"Yes, but... Why would the Academy be in SummerClan's land?" 

~~~

hey guys!! i hope you're liking it so far, i'm definitely having a blast writing! as always, let me know your thoughts!

~ lily