She did not want to be caught on the wrong side.

Sablerose quickly shifted out and away from the Moon Priest's den. Furthermore, she shuffled quickly away from the darker side. She was even quicker to perk her ears, glance around, let her tail drift lightly to the ground. Quicker still to let joy fill her at the sounds that had begun to crowd her senses. 

"...better..."

Better? My Finchnose? Is she getting better? Is it working? Sablerose turned lightly, spotting a couple of cats milling around. They were prancing, actually, lifting their paws high in the air, their tails waving happily. Lynxsnout was one she recognized, with his well-built yet chubbed marbled pelt. His cobalt gaze swept around the clearing before it stuck to the she-cat.

Next to him was Kestrelfern, a short she-cat. Her diluted cream pelt was fluffed with excitement, inferno-colored eyes blazing brightly as she looked over to Sablerose. Her tail waved at a tall gray tom nearby, who padded over with his head tipping. Flintblaze towered over the small and short she-cat, his sleek figure appearing shiny in the late morning light of the sun.

"...better. Tansyseeker called it a miracle," Kestrelfern reported. Despite the anticipation within her features, she didn't seem to be that excited judging by her tone. She bounced momentarily before waving over Sablerose once more. The she-cat's eyes narrowed at the symbol that floated above her head. The one that symbolized what she'd done to save Finchnose.

"Has she?" Flintblaze prompted as Sablerose headed over. He too looked confused at the crescent moon that flitted around her. She decided to pretend as if it didn't exist at all.

"Finchnose is getting better," Lynxsnout rumbled. 

"Am I allowed to see her?" Sablerose let her tone be usual, calm... a few notes of anticipation slipped in, however, but she didn't bother removing them. She didn't want to give anything away, but she allowed her dark-tinted ears to flicker and her tawny eyes to brighten. 

"No."

The tone, like a knife through a soft cloth, did not belong to any of the three cats in front of her. She turned, confused, half-wondering who could possibly know the answer. And there stood Tasnyseeker, her figure sleek and her marigold eyes sharpened. The she-cat's white-and-cream tabby pelt was groomed well against her slim form.

"You may not see her," Tansyseeker repeated, stepping forward. Sablerose was taller than the she-cat, but the Magi still appeared to be intimidating. "You must let her rest, is that understood?"

Sablerose dipped her head deeply to the Magi, who noticed the crescent moon.

"What's that?" Tansyseeker prompted, thrusting a claw in an accusatory way at the symbol. Panic flashed a red alarm within the she-cat but she shoved it down, swallowing as she met the Magi's gaze with her head tipped lightly.

"What's what?" She asked, letting a note of curiosity drift into her tone.

"The... the symbol," Tansyseeker answered dubiously. She unsheathed her claws and poked at the place where it was and Sablerose jerked backward, lifting her paw to her head.

"What symbol?" She questioned innocently.

Tansyseeker pressed a paw to her head as if it was obvious, and then the Magi spun on her paw, stalking off. Flintblaze grimaced and whipped around, heading for the camp's entrance. His tail flicked hurriedly at Lynxsnout and Kestrelfern, who cast glances at each other before dashing out of the camp alongside the dark gray warrior.

I need to find a way to get rid of this.

Sablerose turned and quickly headed for the den. She didn't want to be in the view of another cat for a while. She needed to figure out how to get the symbol off her head. And as she laid down and curled her tail around her dark, smoky-furred figure, she realized the only way to do that was to rid herself of the curse.

But how do I get rid of the curse?

As much as she tried to think, it was as if she was running a well-worn path within her mind. The path had many pawpads pressed into its earthiness yet it held no cats along the path beside her - of course. It was not comforting, but it wasn't really bad either. It seemed to be cradled within the invisible arms of complete neutrality.

When she turned one way, she found that it was simply a loop to the previous track that she'd just traveled. When she turned the other way, it was a dead-end. And if there were to be any crooks or crannies within the path that'd cause her to fall, she'd see them again and again, causing her mind to trip over the same ideas again and again.

It was not helping her but she had no other idea of what to do. I have to try something. The dark-furred she-cat knew that in some world she had to do something in order to lift the curse. And of course, there was the worming worry that once the curse was lifted, Finchnose would plummet back to the sickness once more.

I can't just keep going around and pretending like I don't know what's on my head.

She tugged on a bit of moss from her nest and she stretched it over her head- even better, directly over the symbol. It would work for the time being but she couldn't go around wearing a bit of moss on her head. So she resolved to try something. She had the smallest spark of hope that it would work.

If I starve myself today, it will show that I am closer to death then what was originally assumed, and the curse will be useless... and then the curse should be lifted.

The she-cat rose to her paws, nodding decisively at her own decision. She would starve herself for a day. Her Finchnose wouldn't get to see her in the awful state that she was in, too, for Sablerose knew that if her mate saw her in such agony from hunger she'd be force-fed the nearest piece of prey.

After rising, she settled back down once more, and there, she fell asleep.

*           *         *

It was awful.

Something had ruined her. It was as if a monster had come and snuck into the den overnight as she slept. With claws as sharp as knives, it had clawed out her insides, leaving raw flesh that needed more to be okay and not raw anymore. But there would not be more, for Sablerose was not eating. 

As she woke, she felt something was stabbing her over and over again in her belly. In some strange world, she felt it similar to having kits. She needed food. It wasn't just a want anymore. Her belly screamed and thrashed and cried for the tiniest bit of prey... the edge of a mouse, the corner of a vole, the smallest particle of a rabbit.

She quickly shifted to spot her head and she noticed that the symbol was not gone. It still was there, bright and as visible as ever. Overnight, it seemed to have gotten more prominent. Was that by her own actions? Her actions being the starving, of course. She couldn't seem to push the pain away. It was raking its hooked claws inside of her every single moment.

Pulling herself to her paws, she struggled to get out of the den. Her legs were large rocks and her empty belly was a mountain that seemed to shove her to the ground. But Sablerose pushed forward, ears pinning to her skull. The world seemed to spin around her as she headed out of the den and toward the fresh-kill pile.

There was a small, tiny, bloodied mouse sitting in the otherwise empty pile, and the she-cat was quick to snatch it up within tight-grasping jaws. Before she could move anywhere else though, she practically collapsed right there, opening her jaws as she dug into the mouse. 

Almost immediately, she wanted to vomit. There was blood all over her crisp dark fur. The remaining little bits of the messily caught piece of prey seemed to scatter onto her paws. But she didn't stop digging into it. She ran her tongue close to the bone, snatching up every bit of the meat that she could possibly get.

She heard a soft call break the clearing as she finished up with her mouse.

"Finchnose is awake!"

Sablerose buried the creature swiftly, hiding the bones under a newly dug up bit of earth. Her belly seemed to be growing healthier now that she'd fed it. Quickly she cleaned herself of the blood that clouded her features. She knew that she'd appeared to have given up completely on the quest to rid herself of the curse but she pushed it to the corner of her mind. She could worry about it later.

But for now, her quest was to make her mate happy.

Written by Lamb <3
Edited by Solstice