A cool, leaf-fall breeze – still carrying warm traces of the fading greenleaf – blew through the isolated dip in the moorland, hidden feline forms sleeping soundly in their dens and in the open. A light mist shrouded most of the distant field from view; mixed with the eerily muted moonlight, the camp was bathed in a crystalline, silver aura which lay heavy in the air.

However, it was not as abandoned as one would have first thought. As a cloud passed from beneath the hazy moon sliver, a slight beam of light was allowed passage through the sky and illuminated a grey pelt, belonging to one of the cats occupying the camp. The true colour of their fur was indistinguishable, the lighting causing it to resemble a fluid river of dewy stone. Their eyes were directed at the sky, flickering back and fourth as if searching for something in it's unchanging pattern.

"My child, whatever is troubling you this fine evening?"

A second cat had emerged from their den, with a soft and melodic tone. She sat beside the first, peering at their face warmly before turning to gaze upon the heavens with them.

"A many things." The first cat, a young tom, replied solemnly.

The she-cat's expression of calm was reduced to one of disgust and distress, turning away from the stars as if they'd greatly offended her in some way, instead facing her companion. "There is such heavy wisdom in your young eyes, Oatie. Yet they carry an ancient burden – one I believe was thrust upon you far too soon." She shook her head mournfully. "It troubles me to watch you sit beneath these wretched stars, gazing upon them as if they hold every possible answer but refuse to grace you with them."

The tom refused to tear his eyes from the star-sprinkled sky. "You know as well as I do, mama, that there was no other choice." He blinked once, slowly. "I am happy as I am."

"Except you are not." She disagreed with a sigh. "This was a path not meant to be walked by you, but by another. It is not fair." Her lip trembled.

The tom, sensing his mother's distress, broke away from the sky to comfort her. "Really, mama, this is quite unlike you. What's bothering you so?"

Her eyes flickered shut. "Oh, such terrible, haunting dreams, my child." She slitted her eyes, as if the moonlight was harming her vision. "I am no prophet to rival yourself, but I fear you've rubbed off on me." Those amber orbs, which held such hatred against the stars, were forced upon them and glazed over. "My dreams, they are always constant, as you well know." The tom nodded. "But now, they've warped and distorted beyond my own recognition. The clan is going to crumble, crumble beneath paws both big and small. We're going to be held accountable for the crimes of others, and the atrocities of old are going to catch up to not the wrongdoers, but those who wronged the wrong." Her pupils dilated further with each sentence, her voice picking up speed. "We must atone for our sins before it's too late, drive out the poison within without worsening the symptoms. We-"

The son dove forward just as his mother collapsed, groaning and muttering while her eyelids flitted open and closed rapidly. Her murmured to her reassuringly, and soon she was brought back to consciousness.

"Mama, mother, you're alright now." He cooed. "Have the visions receded?"

A weak nod was his response, and he aided the elder she-cat to her paws. "I haven't had such powerful visions in a many season cycles, Oatie. This can only mean they are sure to come true."

"Don't be so downcast." He retorted. "Remember, many leafbares ago, that large series of vision fits you succumbed to almost every night? Well, almost none of those came true."

She acknowledged this reluctantly. "I suppose you have a valid point. But never is it all disproven." She turned to glare at the sky above, baring her fangs in revulsion at the picturesque sight. "Those cursed ghosts have plagued me with these fits my entire life, yet condemn me to be unable to help."

"That is why I help." The younger feline urged her to see. "We are linked, not by blood, but by spirit and soul." He used his tail to indicate his head and chest respectively. "You receive the visions, I decode them." A weary smile graced his youthful face. "And I'd not have it any other way, for it brought us together."

Finally soothed, the mother managed to return the smile. "You are right, as always, my darling, darling son. And I would have it no other way either. I just hope we can figure out the meaning behind these most recent visions and troubling sights before they all come true."

The son nodded, his smile fading as he gazed up at the sky once more. The stars twinkled almost mockingly down at the puny mortals, taunting them. Mother and son sat side by side, as the mist thickened around them and soaking into their pelts.

They would need countless, sleepless nights of concentration if they wished to discover the solution to the haunting curses heading their clan's way.