"I'm not losing to you! You hear me?!" Arrow snarled, fire lighting in his eyes. His tail lashed excitedly like a little kit. In front of him was a simple circle. A few paw steps away was a drawn line in the ground. The spy and Snow sat a few feet away from the mark.

     "Yeah! Too!" Snow agreed, lashing her tail like how Arrow did. The spy and kit already drew attention from the other cats in the camp. Beside them was a pile of rocks. The tiny kit picked up a small pebble in her paw, tossing it in the air.

     Heron stood there as the rock hit the ground beside her three-legged kit. Snow giggled and Arrow took a larger pebble in his paw. The two cats faced each other competitively with the spy seeming not to care about the she-kit's disabilities. 

     "I can't believe this," Blaze chuckled at his younger brother's eagerness. "I knew about Arrow's competitiveness, but has it ever been this high?"

     "Always," Wildflower sighed, laughing as well. "Come to think of it, he once challenged Lark to a weather-predicting contest. Lark managed to guess the weather three days in a row and he had to be better than her."

     "So, having a contest to see who can throw a pebble closest to the circle against a kit like Snow shouldn't be a surprise?" Dandelion asked, watching as the other cats began to cheer. To make things worse, the Alpha had been pulled in by the crowd like a moth to a light. She didn't mind that it was a competition and only seemed eager to watch like any other cat.

     "I think Snow's going to win," Maple mentioned, looking at the kit. "Snow's always been good at aim and throwing small objects. With this distance, it'll be nothing against her. I have no idea if Arrow's any good at throwing objects other than himself."

     "Hey! I heard that!" He hissed and bunched up his shoulders as Snow giggled at her supporter. "Now I can't lose to you!" He growled, advancing on the helpless kit. The kit didn't look intimidated and attempted to match his tight nature in her own eyes, facing the older tom as if he were her brother.

     "Wish luck!" Snow said, flattening her ears and grinning evilly. "Need! You!" Her stubby tail lashed again and she picked up the pebble in her small paw. "Throw circle. Closest win."

     "I'll be winning," Arrow declared fiercely. "You may be a kit but I'm not going easy on you!"

     "Same!" Snow chirped.

     "Yeah, Snow's going to win," Maple said again. "I should be a good sister and support Arrow, but Snow has been doing this longer than Arrow." Arrow picked up another rock and tossed it.

     The rock went flying in the air, snatching up every pair of glowing eyes from his tribemates. It landed with a small thump against the ground and skidded a few paws after it ricocheted on the ground. The rock landed a few paw steps away from the middle of the circle.

     Snow looked at her competition. Wildflower saw gears turn in her little head. Grabbing all of her abstract ideas together and focusing it on tossing a little stone. The little kit showed more bravery than Wildflower thought she had. The kit let out a huff, releasing the breath she held in her lungs.

     "You can do it, Snow!" Bounce cheered, beaming at his little sister. Heron didn't say anything and gave a weak smile towards her kit. The rest of the cats in the camp were cheering the little kit. 

     Arrow smirked at Snow. "You can always give up..."

     "Hiya!" Snow yelled, jumping up and tossing the pebble across the air. Arrow's sharp eyes locked onto the small rock and its journey towards the middle of the circle. Snow stumbled on her uneven landing. On her rear, her eyes remained on her pebble.

     It landed right in the middle, bouncing off of Arrow's rock and finally resting in the center of the circle. The tribe was silent for a few seconds. Snow tried to stand on her toes to see where her rock landed. Everything was quiet as the two cats held their breath.

     Until Origanum opened her jaw. "Snow is the victor!"

     The tribe broke out in laughter and cheers for the little kit. Arrow didn't say anything at all, face a mix of shock, embarrassment, and disappointment. Snow gleefully cheered and danced around the spy. Even with her three legs, she moved with ease and without flaws. Wildflower narrowed her eyes at the little kit, wondering how she could move easily with three legs while she had four legs and couldn't get her steps right.

     "Win!" Snow shouted. "What I want! Now!"

     Arrow still didn't say anything and fell on his knees. Blaze and Maple ran over to tease him or comfort him on his defeat, hiding their laughter. Bounce barged in, knocking Snow to the ground, showering his sister with affectionate care while their mother stayed back with Crow. Wildflower turned her back to leave the group and head towards the scouters' den.

     She settled inside of the darkened den to fall asleep. Nowadays for Wildflower, she tried to get her patrol done and over with without showing her mistakes. Then hide in the den and hope that her skills would improve overnight. As much as she wanted to walk by herself, she risked running into Wasp. He would ruin everything for her and make her feel sick later.

     I guess Imperfection is a disease. Wildflower rested her head on her paws or what she thought was her paws.

     "Hi!" Snow chirped, her amber eyes shining under her paws.

     "Gah!" Wildflower gasped, jumping out her nest and crashing into Shade's nest. She whirled around, seeing the destroyed moss lying around the interior. "Oh, Endless Stars!" Wildflower leaned over, grabbing what moss she could and shoved it back into the nest. Hopefully, the scouter wouldn't notice. She tried to shift the nest over to the side, hoping she could hide the missing piece in the shadows. 

     "Hahaha!" Snow laughed, rolling over Wildflower's nest. The scouter stalked around to glower at the kit. The kit was too busy to notice the death threat towering above her.

     "Do you want me to get kicked out?!" she snarled. The spotted Kit hardly noticed her growl. Snow poked at the moss in her den. Her carelessness seemed to have absorbed her entirely and didn't let any other words flood into her ears. "Snow, look at me!"

     "Loud cat. Loud noise," Snow replied, turning her back and trailing away.

     "Not helping, come here now!" Wildflower snapped, snatching the kit into the air. Snow didn't let out a squeal like any other kit. Whatever was going on in her mind, it kept her ensnared within the walls of uncertainty.

     "Fun times." Snow yawned loudly.

     "What were you doing! I thought you were dealing with Arrow."

     "Left. Dancing." Snow shrugged. "Badger ride soon."

     "So, you just wanted a badger ride?" Wildflower asked. "Did you challenge Arrow first or did he go for you?"

     "Me."

     "Why?"

     "Fun."

     "That's it? What about Bounce or Heron? Crow?"

     "Boring. Quiet. Busy," Snow repeated.

     "Why fight Arrow?"

     "Newest. Bravery test."

     "What?"

     "Bravery," Snow repeated. "Stand high. Act proud. Be self. Fun!"

     Bravery? This little kit has more than me! Wildflower said in her mind. Snow was no longer in her own world and was now curiously looking up at her. Was that what I saw out there?

     A crowd of judging cats all circled around this damaged kit and a new spy. A small kit with three legs against a spy that was much taller in height and leg wise. Cats cheering on Arrow and not backing down from the challenge? A kit challenging a spy to a competition as simple as throwing rocks across the camp. Even her very own mother didn't cheer her daughter on.

     Was it to conceal all the feelings towards her? Would Heron manage to go on, even if it meant killing Snow? Wildflower's gaze softened towards Snow. The kit padded out of the scouters' den and back into the wild crowd outside. She stared after her tiny steps for a long time, trying to think of a possible solution to the kit's fate. If her parents didn't do the deed, then it would be Origanum's job to kill the kit, and she knew that the job would be settled must faster and quicker with the Alpha doing it. 

     "Heh, you seem jealous of a kit."

     Not now.

     "Why not? You envy a tiny kit for her bravery?"

     And how do you expect I get some of that? If a simple kit like Snow can show more bravery, even with the waves crashing down on her, how can someone like me even manage to accomplish a third of that?

"Well, there is one way..."

     Oh really? Got any new ideas?

     "Kill Snow."

     What?! Why would I kill her?

     "You'd be doing Heron a favor by taking the burden of slaying her."

     That's true, but that's still wrong! She should at least enjoy the few moons she has alive!

     "Plus, it's from the old times, but if you kill a cat, there's a rumor that you can gain their skills. So, if the rumors are true, all you have to do is kill Snow and then you get the bravery you seek!"

     It's just a rumor, you never know if those are correct or not. Wildflower frowned and tried to look at her forehead. And where did we ever hear that kind of story?

     "Then what better way it by taking Snow's life?"

     Wildflower grinned, letting her claws slide out of place.

     "That's it... One step...! Two steps...! Kill her!"

     "Wildflower?"

     Wildflower stumbled backward at Mantis's sudden arrival. The ancient stood there with a confused look on his olden face. The structure of him was only a disguise of the cat he once was. His shoulders were no longer strong enough to hold up everything, causing him to limp on the ground, with his tail dragging behind him everywhere he went like a corpse.

     "What's a kit like you doing here? Hiding from the camp and not outside?" he asked, chuckling at his joke. The scouter tried to move around him, but his eyes remained latched onto her. "Something bothering you?"

     You have no idea. "Not really, why do you ask?" Wildflower questioned.

     "So, you don't want the Fallen Tree story?"

     At this, Wildflower froze in place. Mantis chuckled again, seeing that he managed to hit her keys. She remained silent, trying to comprehend the offer. There was nothing that the ancient had that she desired - other than that story and how he learned about her curiosity about it was beyond her understanding. 

     Is he trying to trick me into something? Or make me suffer even more? Either way... That story interests me. Wildflower forced her paws to move around to face the tom. He was sitting down on the stone ground, his legs quivering ever so slightly under his weight. Still in her youth, Wildflower sat down as well, making herself comfortable.

     "Seem just like a kit," Mantis commented. "You remind me of someone."

     "Just get on with it," Wildflower said through gritted teeth.

     "Patience can't be given easily, I see," Mantis said, shaking his head in disgust. "Looks like your guardians failed at that."

     "They didn't fail. It's in my blood. I'm not patient." Wildflower spotted Arrow's figure in the camp hauling around a gleeful Snow on his back. "Just look at my brother."

     "Then is perfection in your blood?"

     "Yes..."

     "You hesitate, young kit."

     "And what do you know about perfection!?" Wildflower snapped.

     "More than you, but that's another story," Mantis replied. "Let's see... I'm guessing you know up to the part where a cat tried to escape?"

     Though she didn't like it that the ancient decided to change the topic so quickly, Wildflower forced herself to nod. She did sit with her impatience beginning to grow faster and faster for him to hurry up. 

     Just relax, sooner or later, you'll find the answers. Then, you can leave here.

     "Word got around that a cat went missing. I was sent out on the patrol to get her. We ended up finding her, along with the kits. I was a spy, unable to join in the fight that broke out, as much as I wanted to back then." He let out a laugh, trying to engage the scouter to join in. Wildflower sat with an unamused expression.

     Getting past me is a lot harder than you thought it would be.

     "She fought hard and managed to take down a few, but more cats came. They began to chase her down after they stole one of her kits. The strangest thing happened though. Out of the shadows, it seemed as if foxes came out and attacked our troops."

     "Foxes?" Wildflower asked, leaning closer. It's not very uncommon to see fox around here, but they wouldn't go after a hoard of cats even if they're stronger than us. Plus, we hunt them down and fight them as one of the challenges. It sent shivers down her spine, worrying about some of the Warrior Challenges that there were. "Why foxes?"

     "No cat really knows. They didn't move in sync, so they weren't cats," Mantis replied. "I wasn't given the order to attack, so I had to watch the chaos evolve in the night."

     Foxes now entered the story...

     "With the foxes, they were able to chase us away."

     "Wait, they failed?" Wildflower butted in.

     Mantis didn't reply and looked away as if he were recalling the stormy night. "We killed two, kidnapped one, and lost five cats."

      "Killed two? Kidnapped the other kit? What?" Wildflower asked, trying to connect all of the pieces together. Origanum said that the cat and kits are most likely dead now. They must've died that night. With the foxes... how did a cat fight with them and not get killed? "Who was killed?"

     "I heard the cries of two kits."

     So the kits died... She cleared her throat. "The other cat?"

     "That's when the rest comes in. The foxes fled and then the chase was on. The cat ran for her life, no longer having the strength to continue on. She thought she was safe, but when she turned around to look, the rest of the patrol was right behind her. Lightning struck the sky and the tree fell. I remained safe in another tree but I watched as the life of two warriors was lost from the tree. With the tree in the way, the cat was able to escape into the forest safely."

     So a cat escaped with her four kits. Two were alive and the other was a newborn, I think. If what Origanum said is true, the kidnapped kit is with us right now. The other two were killed that night. Foxes somehow came in and fought the tribe. We must've gotten too close to their territory. The tree fell and killed two warriors. Wildflower connected, the pieces and parts latching together. 

     "And the other stories?" her mind encouraged, getting on the same page as her for once. 

     Origanum claimed that the cat had been crushed on an attempt to rescue her stolen kit. That wasn't for revenge if the tribe sees it that way. It was to get back her kidnapped daughter. Dandelion would do that for any of us. The tree fell on her, killing her.

     While Crow said she climbed up the tree, lightning struck and killed her before it knocked the tree down. Nothing matches up besides they all know a cat tried to escape.

     "Do you know who that kit is?"

     "I'm guessing that Origanum told you?" Mantis questioned, sounding surprised.

     "No, she wouldn't say. I figured since you told me that you kidnapped a kit, you knew who it was. Besides, if you were at the patrol, you know who that kit was," Wildflower pointed out. Maybe then he or she will have an answer for me.

     "And what will you do with it?"

     "Get answers from them. Even if you tell me a lie, I'd make a mistake for asking them."

     Mantis went silent for a long time, staring outside of the den with worried eyes. Wildflower inched closer to the exit to leave. Her paws twitched for her to move. The scouter looked at the ancient, waiting for an answer.

     Who is this kidnapped kit? she thought, eyes blazing.

     He took a long breath, locking his pale, see-through eyes onto her. "The kidnapped kit from all those nights ago grew up with us. She obtained the knowledge of what her mother did but she was one of us now. Now, she's raised kits and they've made the tribe proud. Especially now that one of them joined a few days ago."

     Wildflower's eyes widened in horror, her breath stuck in her throat. Time froze, leaving her in a cage of ice. The words came to a blow to her like a mountain was dropped on her. For once, she didn't know what to do. All she could do was let the words tumble out of Mantis's old mouth and into her dismayed ears.

     "As a kit, Dandelion was kidnapped."