"Can you tell us about your mother?" Lark asked, trying to crawl up Dandelion's leg. Citrus was on her back staring up at the ceiling with sleepy eyes, her energy had left her after spending all day chasing after cats from the tribe with her siblings. On the other paw, her little sister had the energy of the sun, refusing to rest. "Since you're ours and everyone's got one?"

     "But I'm sleepy..." Cherry murmured quietly, not lifting an ear towards her sisters. "You can, but I wanna sleep..." Again, the cream she-cat fell into a deep slumber by the soft movement of her mother's breathing and warm pelt. Dandelion purred, licking her daughter over the head, keeping her fur clean. 

     Lark tried to jump on her again and crashed onto Citrus. "Hey!" She noted, shoving the kit off. The muddy-brown cat tumbled into Apple, who was now just settling down. He didn't take it well and clashed heads with her.

     "Watch it, Lark! I'm trying to sleep! It's important for us! Not like you'd understand me!" Apple remarked, raising his fur and curling his lips into a ferocious snarl. Citrus was on her paws, shaking her head after meeting mud fur. 

     As usual, any night like this, the three of them would end up fighting as Cherry was the only reasonable one who tried to sleep at this time. Dandelion wrapped her tail around Lark before she could spring at her brother.

     "I know more than you! Put me down Mother!" Lark demanded, trying to break free from her grasp. Dandelion only pulled her into a nuzzle and reached out with her other paw to clamp it down on Apple's fleeing tail. Seeing a possible future, Citrus turned and ran, but her mother managed to lean over, without disturbing the sleeping Cherry and took her last kit in her jaws.

     Apple and Lark sat with their backs turned to each other and Dandelion simply dropped Citrus in the middle of them. The two instantly sprang on their older sister.

     "Citrus, tell Apple he knows nothing and he's just a big know-it-all!" Lark begged, throwing herself around the golden kit.

     "No! She's just trying to play mind games with you! Don't listen to her!" Apple protested, his fur bristling up like anger porcupine.

     "All right, stop squabbling with each other and listen up," Dandelion instructed, catching all of her kits' attention. "Lark, since it's your turn to choose the story, I'll tell you one of my mother."

     "What was her name?" Lark asked before Dandelion could start.

     "You'll see," Dandelion said, shifting into a position that made it possible for them to lean up against her. Lark kicked her brother one more time before darting over to her side. Citrus tried to bite the she-cat's tail as she went by, and Apple's paw smashed into her face. 

     Dandelion sighed at her kits. "Will you ever get along?"

     "No!" Apple growled. "Get back here, Lark!"

     "Catch me if you can, loser!"

     "Lark!" Dandelion snarled, her eyes flashing. Citrus let go of Lark's tail. "Do not call your brother a loser!"

     "Take that, featherbrained!" Apple shot back, sticking his tongue out at her.

     "Do not call your sister that either, Apple!"

     "Ha! I'm being perfectly good, not a stupid Imperfect and making mistakes like you!" Citrus boasted proudly.

     "And Citrus, do not call your siblings Imperfect. Never ever call ANY cat an Imperfect for as long as you live!" Dandelion finished up. "Don't call your siblings mean names."

     "But he IS one!" Lark argued.

     "He's perfect like you and I," Dandelion pointed out. "When I was younger, I didn't get along with my siblings. We would always meet on the battlefield, even on the darkest nights. In the end, we'd never get along. We threatened to kill each other once."

     Citrus sucked in her breath at her Mother's words. Apple tensed up, now suddenly interested in her story. Lark looked at Apple with an unreadable utterance.

     "We never did kill one another, though I did strike my sister once or twice."

     "What was her name?"

     "My sister's name was Falcon. She was strong and beautiful, able to catch the quickest of prey and stalk down the quietest of animals." Dandelion let her eyes fall onto Lark. "She was the top hunter and looks almost like you, my dear."

     Lark's eyes lit up at the sound of that. She puffed her fur out, trying to stand up tall and proud. "I'm gonna be just like her!" She swiped her paw into the air, mimicking like she was catching a bird. 

     Dandelion purred. "Yes, yes, Lark, I'm sure you will. But my happiness had to end one day or another, Falcon was killed during a battle. We had never gotten along that well, but when she was killed, I didn't have my time to make things right with her. Neither were my brothers."

     "You had brothers?" Apple asked, stepping up.

     "Yes, Apple," Dandelion said. "They were just as skilled as you. My older brother was called Otter and he was the best warrior you could ever find..."

~~~oOo~~~

     "Mother, I've got a question," Wildflower said, stepping up behind the hunter. "And if possible, could it be in private?" Her mother curled her lips back not, in a threatening way, yet expressed her concern and suspicions from her daughter. The scouter locked eyes with her, staying adamant.

     Worry began to seep through Dandelion's eyes. "Is something the matter?"

     Oh, you don't even have a clue. "It's just something in private, please." Wildflower pointed her tail outside of the camp. "I'm going to ask Origanum if we could take a walk. Just us."

     "Wildflower," Dandelion stated, a growl starting to rise up in her throat. Unflinching, Wildflower faced her mother. "What's the matter?"

     "It's something I'd wish to speak in private. That is all," she answered shortly. Her mother narrowed her eyes but said nothing else. Wildflower, satisfied that she got her answer, turned her back and approached Origanum, who was resting in the sun. 

     All the other betas were crowded around each other again like it was a secret meeting, refusing to let other cats like her join in their conversation. Blaze was the only one that gave her a friendly look and mouthed a few words to her about heading out tonight for a late-night chat. Wildflower briskly nodded and avoided eye contact with the rest. 

     Eagle's eyes met her moving figure for a fleeting moment before returning to the discussion. Wildflower stood in front of the snoozing Alpha. Origanum hardly noticed her, stuck in her own dream.

     "No... You shouldn't do that..." she sleep talked. "Changing tribe... my way..."

     "Origanum?" Wildflower asked, nudging the Alpha on the shoulder gently.

     She lashed out, cuffing Wildflower in the ear. The scouter staggered back, crashing onto the ground with a yelp. The entire tribe turned their heads towards her mistake. Still on the ground, her heart began to race faster and faster as the realization settled in like an ominous cloud. 

     The scouter stood in the center as several eyes landed on her pelt, causing her panic to strike in. Wildflower secretly dug her claws into her leg, hoping that inflicting pain would be enough to wake her up from this nightmare. Her mind snickered, a purple smoke emitting as it hissed ice.

     "Looks like you made a mistake!"

     No...! A mistake isn't a mistake unless you admit it! I can always hide it! Her world was shattering below her. No cat said anything at first. They could only stand in horror as one of them made a mistake, repeatedly blinking as if it were a hallucination. Wildflower never got up and stayed on the ground, her heart blocking out hushed noises and shadowy scorns.

     Mistakes were poison. 

     "Wildflower...?" Maple broke the silence.

     Wildflower got on her paws, refusing to look at her sister. Arrow and Blaze must've been watching but never said anything. The Alpha was still asleep, her face bundled in pain it seemed. She stared down at her leader's small body in horror as if the golden body was nothing more than a rotten corpse.

     She didn't see it...? But the rest of the tribe did!

     "Go." A voice rang in her ears. Wildflower didn't need to look beside her or look up at the cloudless sky to know the voice - Cinder. "Go out and take a moment. It'll be okay."

     And for once, she listened to the fallen she-cat's words and whirled around, bolting out of camp, leaving cats staring at her exit in confusion. Soon enough, the cloud of doubt began to evolve into a storm, the thunder and lightning pounding on her back, forcing her under the crashing tide. Every cat knew about her mistake. A failure in their very own perfect tribe.

     The Scouter ran forward, stopping by the Fallen Tree, nearly crashing into it. Her paws stopped her just before she collided with the trunk and without waiting, she buried her face into the bark, wishing so desperately that she could sink into the bark. If only this tree could erase that moment from every cat. Her body began to sink to the ground as she dirtied her pelt, wishing that she could open her eyes and reawake in her nest. 

     Or she could wake up from a coma-like state after the battle when she first saw Blizzard and prevent her green eyes from landing on Cinder's unlucky spirit. 

     Wildflower didn't know what was left for her. Get killed or she could run away, but if she ran, she'd be a true Imperfect. A cat already destined to fall into the paws of the Tribe of Never-Ending Shadows. A life where she starved every night as the flora around withered in agony, their painful screeches ringing in the air as the sun turned a blind eye to her helpless figure. Flashes of a field of bones lay before her with one spot that was clear, but on further inspection, there was only a broken body of a golden kit. 

     Even worse, she could already feel the fire around the black forest, licking up the dead and decaying bark for some kind of nutrients. Cold, sharp icicles flew by her pelt as snow piled around her paws, freezing her down to the very core. Lightning striking the open field randomly, mocking and laughing as the electrifying bolts came closer, ready to strike her down. The sound of an incoming wave rising from the ground, collecting the barren scraps of the imperfect territory only to come crashing down, making the struggle twice as worse. Then, in the aftermath, another blazing fire kicked to live, killing any signs of life that might've survived the harsh storms. 

     "Get ahold of yourself!" Her mind snapped at her. "What's the difference between being perfect or imperfect!?"

     Don't even start!

     "Think. You were perfectly fine if any other cat was named an Imperfect. As long as it didn't happen to you. When it finally happened, you blame the tribe. The only one to blame is yourself."

     "Wildflower!" Dandelion called, running up towards her daughter. Wildflower inched backward like she was a snake, hiding the fact she was holding back chokes and sobs. "Listen, Origanum didn't see it-"

     "But every cat did!" Wildflower snarled. "Think! If they saw it and they all tell her, I have nothing against them! They're perfect! I hate it! Perfection! Imperfection! I hate it all!"

     "And acting like a spoiled kit isn't the answer!" Dandelion snarled. "Complaining is never going to help anything! This is our world! You grew up in it perfectly fine!"

     "But it's stupid!"

     "You never complained that our world was stupid before! It's only now you complain about our world when you're the one to suffer!"

     "Why is there perfection?!"

     "For everything good that happens to someone, something just as equally bad happens to another!" Dandelion hissed, curling her lips, fighting fire with fire. Wildflower scowled and banged her head against the trunk, trying to hide that her brain spun.

     "Is that supposed to help me!?" Wildflower hissed. "I can't go back!"

     "You can. There is someone you need to get," Dandelion countered. "Heron's noticed you and your actions. Take Snow."

     "What?! Who says I'm going back! I don't want to die!"

     "You need to! Would you rather both die?!"

     Wildflower stayed quiet, flattening her ears. Her rage was a wildfire but it seemed to lower - just the slightest. Her claws sunk into the ground and she banged her head against the tree trunk again. Dandelion rolled her eyes as her brain rattled around her skull. The scouter stumbled backward, trying to focus on the landscape in front of her as the world spun in endless pain.

     "Sure, go hurt yourself over something like that," Dandelion growled. "Go ahead and act like a whining kit, would you?"

     "Well, what can I do?" Wildflower snapped.

     "You can first tell me what is going on. What did you want to talk about?" Dandelion asked.

     "It's not that important now... Now that I'm an Imperfect." The words tasted bitter coming out of her mouth. Wildflower recalled times when she joked about calling herself one, but now the awful word stabbed her pelt and body in so many places, leaving her neck exposed.

     "Stop jumping to conclusions! Nobody has named you that! The only cat that is naming yourself is you!" barked Dandelion.

     "I wanted to know what happened to your mother! The Fallen Tree! You were kidnapped by the Tribe of Shining Suns! How are you not mad at them?!" spat Wildflower, throwing herself together to look at her mother as walls crumbled. Her eyesight blurred and she tried to hide the fact from Dandelion.

     Dandelion remained silent, looking at the ground in shame. Even at this time, winning an argument with her mother would've been enjoyable. Now, Wildflower felt no pride swarm into her like when she was smaller and won an argument with Arrow. The thought of getting kicked out of her only home destroyed her.

     All I ever wanted was to be in the Tribe of Shining Suns. I wanted to be perfect - I wanted to stand in the sun all day long. I yearned for praise and the feeling of belonging to a family. I rarely got to see my mother after I left for the Training Den. Wildflower looked sadly out at the Training Den. It's funny that everything I ever wished for was in that Training Den. When I got what I wanted, all that was left was my own failure.

     She held onto the memories of seeing Lark's muddy-brown fur and sapphire eyes that even the blue moon couldn't beat. Cherry's soft, cream pelt running through the green meadow. Like a dove in the spring, rising higher and higher with her amber pools sparkling. Wildflower closed up the memory in her heart, sealing away any thought of not seeing them again. 

     That's right, if I'm an Imperfect, I'll never see my family again. That last goodbye was my last goodbye.

     But she did want to see her younger sisters one more time and embrace them, one more time. To have the chance to pull them close and never let go, wishing time would stop right then and there. Wildflower felt flames lick up the fantasies.

     "How long have you known?" Dandelion asked her softly, not lifting her gaze from the dirt. Wildflower sighed, trying to let her flames die down. "Is that what was bothering you so badly?"

     "I'm making mistakes, so there's no other choice, right?" Wildflower grinned through her pain. "Might as well tell me the truth before I end up leaving or getting killed."

     "You're just going to die?" Dandelion asked in disgust, holding back her own voice. "That's it? One mistake and it's the to end it all? Very smart."

     "One mistake in this world is equal to an eternity in the Tribe of Never-Ending Shadows!" Wildflower fought. "The world we grew up in, we had to be perfect. The Tribe of Endless Stars would never accept a disgrace like me!"

     "It may be true," Dandelion said. "But that's just a rumor. Who knows if our mistakes are the real reason we go into the Tribe of Endless Stars?"

     "No! For generations, I've heard that you must be perfect. You have to be completely perfect in order to have a better afterlife. This is just one big journey towards real perfection." Wildflower whipped her head and tail at the shining sun that scorched her eyes. 

     "So, that would make me an Imperfect as well," Dandelion stated, breaking her shock. Wildflower looked up at her with round eyes. "Isn't that right, from all of your babbling about being perfect? I killed my brother, blinded my sister, and hated my mother for the longest time. Do you think that's enough to buy me into that tribe?"