salt in the wound teaser! i'm really, really, really looking forward to this scene, and i really just wanted to write it down somewhere. now, this completely defeats the point of a teaser, but don't read if you don't want a spoiler! i won't use any of the characters' names, but if you're a sitw reader, you might be able to figure it out!

it's not a huge spoiler in terms of overall plot (more of a love interest thing, hehe), but if you'd prefer to go along with the book, this will probably ruin that! but honestly, it's not a super duper big deal, i'm only giving a warning just in case!

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SHE BLINKED AT HIM as he approached, carrying a wren in his jaws. As he neared and crouched next to her, she pushed a smile onto her face, still half lost in her thoughts.

"Hey," he meowed, dropping the bird down at her paws. "You like wren, don't you? I remember you talking a lot about them."

Her tail-tip twitched as her sister's words rang through her head. 'Really, what does he actually know about you?' Yes, she did talk about wrens, but about how the taste of one instantly brought back memories and made her want to throw up. Still, she didn't correct him. "Yeah. Thanks."

A grin split his face at the thought of a job well done, and he leaned forward to take a bite. It was only after he'd taken about five of his own - with about half the bird gone - that he noticed she wasn't eating. Pulling back, he swallowed his mouthful and frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She glanced away and cleared her throat as her littermate's question blazed through her mind once more. "What's my favorite part of the forest?"

He blinked, clearly caught off guard. "What?"

"What's my favorite part of the forest?" she repeated, undeterred. Easy question. She'd told him about this before.

However, his answer was disappointing. "Er, I don't know. Grassy Hallow? It's where we always meet up, isn't it?"

She turned her stare onto her paws now, feeling her ears flicking at his incorrect response. "Okay. What's my favorite prey?"

"What is this?" He laughed nervously. "Why am I being questioned all of a sudden?"

"I'm just trying to make some conversation," she replied, shrugging.

"Well, can our conversation be about something else?" he mewed, twitching his tail-tip with a little air of annoyance - whether he was irritated at the fact that she was quizzing him or that he didn't seem to know any of the answers, she wasn't sure.

"Fine. Just answer me this: What's my favorite season?"

"That one's easy," he meowed, a look of overconfident relief overtaking his expression. "Greenleaf, right? Prey always runs best then, and there's no disease or anything of that sort."

Wrong.

She opened her jaws to respond, but before she could, a new voice cut into the conversation.

"Great StarClan, this is painful to hear."

Both cats glanced to their left; she wasn't aware that they had a listener, but there he was, a tom sitting nearby with a vole, staring lazily at them. Clearly, the cat next to her hadn't been either, for he fixed the tom with a glare.

"Mind your own business."

The tom ignored him, and glanced over at her instead. "Your favorite part of the forest is the beach, because for some odd reason, you like the water and swimming. Your favorite prey is blackbird, and your favorite season is leafbare because it's the only season that snows, and your white fur can blend in." He shrugged, then pushed himself to his paws. "Pretty easy questions."

As he padded away, the tom beside her shot him a glare. "Annoying furball. Can you believe him?"

But she didn't respond. Instead, she was too busy staring after him, a look of newfound wonder on her face.

~~~

obviously i'm going to tweak it when it goes into the actual book (i just kind of dumped this out of my brain), but this is the general idea!! i hope it didn't get too confusing with the lack of names!