Open to Join Nostalgic of Nothing

"I quite enjoy how dramatic they are as well. Of course, it also reflects the dangers that can come with it. Like the river rising, or certain places flooding..." Willowspark said, her gaze swiveling from the sky to the curly-furred tom. Tangleloon always seemed like the adventurous type to her, which is why she was only slightly surprised to see him there.

Tapping her tail against the slightly damp grass, Willowspark puffed out her fur, a sudden chill being brought on an unexpected gust of wind. Gray eyes flashing, she snapped her head towards the field stretching out before them, her ears laid flat. It must have been her imagination. If there had been a cat within the fields, she would have seen them running through the grass. A cat couldn't just... disappear. It was probably a shadow cast by something that got caught in a gust of wind.

A faint memory crawling its way to the front of her mind flashed, a day just like this long, long ago. Willowspark had no idea when, but at some point, something similar had happened. She had seen a shadow in the corner of her eye that looked like a cat. Maybe it was her vision? She'd never been good at seeing things that were far away in the corners of her eyes...

Letting her ears perk up once more, she brushed it off as unimportant, calm returning to her as she watched the storm in silence, almost, just almost, forgetting that Tangleloon was there. "How are you and the other elders?" Willowspark asked, excited to hear news of Otterwhisker and Mudstone.

Pleased to see Tangleloon’s enthusiasm at the rogue’s defeat, she continued tapping her tail against the ground, nodding in agreement at the Tom’s last statement.

Stopping for a moment to mull over the unremembered, she looked out across the fields once more, the willow she and Tangleloon sat under creaking and wailing in the wind. “How long has the willow been here? And why does it feel as though, beneath it’s embrace of branches, I have been waiting for the entirety of my life?” Willowspark whispered, barely knowing that she had spoken.

Turning back to the hurriedly flowing river, she dipped her front right paw into the water, waiting for a shiny scaled fish she had spotted not to far from her. As the fish drew closer, she outstretched her claws, swiping at the fish before it could swim away and, hooking it with her claws, Willowspark pulled it to shore with her first fish and dealt the killing bite.

If I feel as though I am waiting, then who am I waiting for? Or am I waiting for something to happen? Will whatever or whomever I am waiting for ever come? Or will my waiting end when the willow’s time comes to an end? She asked herself, turning back to Tangleloon as her thoughts ran faster than the river’s water.

”Perhaps. Although I would like to catch a few more fish before going back. I’ll leave a couple on the prey pile and bring the rest to Otterwhisker and the others. That is, if they haven’t eaten already…” Willowspark said, calmly looking back up at the sky and the branches above her. The storm hadn’t gotten too fierce quite yet. She still had a bit of time.

”Want to split a fish or two when we get back?” She asked the curly-furred Tangleloon, glancing over at him before swiveling her gray eyes back over the river, watching for any sign of movement.

Watching the shadow of a fish a bit farther from her than she would have liked, she slipped carefully into the rushing water, diving to reach the fish that was only an average sized cat deeper than she would’ve liked. Quickly grasping the fish in her jaws, she swam up to the surface, only then realizing that she had been caught in the slightly stronger currents and drifted too much for her to return to the willow by swimming.

Paws knocking against rocks as she swam, fear suddenly hit her. What if she couldn’t get out of the water? The storm wasn’t that bad, but… Swimming back towards the edge, still afraid, she dug her front claws into the mud, her back claws digging just as deep as she scrambled upward, claws constantly slipping. Finally hitting a patch of grass, she made sure her claws were tangled in it before pulling herself halfway onto land.

Resting for a moment before pulling herself fully onto land and walking back towards the willow, she hoped that Tangleloon wasn’t too worried. She had drifted farther than expected, after all. As Willowspark drew closer to the willow, she decided that she should probably go back to camp instead of continuing to hunt. After all, there was probably plenty of fish on the prey pile by now.

Walking back underneath the willow, she dipped her head to Tangleloon, unsure of how he would react, before grabbing her other two fish and pointing towards camp with her tail, tilting her head a bit.

Walking towards the camp, fish in her jaws, she made sure that Tangleloon was following her, her soaked and muddy cinnamon and white fur dripping as she walked. She didn't care much since she could easily groom out her fur when she got back to camp. She didn't have too many things she had to do anyways, since the prey pile wasn't empty and the camp wasn't flooding.

After a while, Willowspark walked into camp, looking behind her to make sure Tangleloon was following one last time before walking over to the relatively full prey pile. Placing the prey that she'd caught on the pile, Willowspark turned to Tangleloon, smiling slightly. 

"I'm sorry if I worried you. I won't do it again, Tangleloon." She said, continuing afterward cheerfully, "What kind of fish do you want to eat? I think there are quite a few salmon..." She continued, naming off the types of fish she could see in the pile. Hopefully the fish could distract Tangleloon from any fear or worry still lingering from the small incident.

While Willowspark waited for Tangleloon's answer, she started licking the mud from her paws, the taste of it bitter and earthy. It probably served her right for not thinking through her decision for a little bit longer. Sighing inwardly, she continued grooming the mud off of her paws, stopping every once and a while to push a couple small clumps of mud of her paws after small sessions of licking.

Taking a salmon for herself as well, Willowspark parted ways with Tangleloon, deciding that they could share prey later. She had a lot of work to do on her fur after all. Saying one last goodbye, Willowspark walked towards a good spot to groom and eat her prey in peace. Reflecting on the day she’d had so far, she smiled, the light of the setting sun shining down on the camp and making everycat’s fur glow slightly.

Those in her direct sight, anyways. Finishing her salmon and her long grooming session, she sprawled out where she lay, slowly closing her eyes as the setting sun’s light lulled her to sleep.

Dreaming peacefully about the Waiting Willow, as she had decided to call it, she wondered if she would one day meet beneath that tree with whomever or whatever she was waiting for. Whether it was an event or a cat, she would feel relief once the end of her waiting came.