Life had given her every reason to turn bitter but she'd spent forty-nine moons holding her tongue, bending to everybody's biddings but her own. In this dark, dank forest where the stars never shone and the prey never satisfied, the moons passing in an endless blur of half-light, she'd had nobody to remain obedient for and thus her bitterness had blossomed like a lily. Today was different, however; there was a scent on the horizon unlike one she'd smelled in a long while. That granddaughter of hers, Pigeonpaw had been her name; she'd been a welcome respite, but the little tripod had gotten herself stolen away by twolegs before she could do much good with the little seeds Figwind had planted for her to carry back to Shadowclan. It was such a pity. Beyond serving her own ends, Figwind had grown right fond of the tart. She was ambitious and driven, Figwind had even heard that the young kin of hers had been promoted to Dawnstar's new rank, Enforcer, before twolegs did what they did best. But today brought promise of another little bud of opportunity for the bitter deceased Shadowclanner who'd had nothing but time on her paws for so many uncountable moons now.
For moons she'd watched her son climb the ranks of her once home. Seventeen moons she'd been sitting up here in this starless forest. In life she'd watched him arrogantly stride up for his apprentice ceremony, then six moons later and that much more arrogant and stony she'd watched him receive his warrior name. In death, she'd suffered his rise to Dawnstar's attentions, being entrusted to lead the clan in her absence and then his appointment as medicine cat. She scoffed bitterly,
Medicine cat, as though he could care about anybody beyond his own nose. Elmshadow was as blindly loyal and detrimentally devoted to Shadowclan as his father before him, the cold-hearted fool. He'd murder his own kits for
"the good of the clan" she had no doubt. He certainly never cared to thank her for raising them.
No, it was all about Hawkscreech, all of them, idolizing the tom, seeking his
praise. But meanwhile, Hawkscreech couldn't have given a rat for the lot of them. His mind belonged to Shadowclan, a worthless hive-minded rat. Brute strength and kit-incubators. Figwind's mouth was turning in distaste. If she could give this stench of a forest one positive attribute, at least she didn't have to share it with her loathsome mate, oh no, Starclan loved those clan-minded suck-ups. No, he couldn't have spared a second thought for his family while she was stuck raising the thankless brats but he won Starclan's luscious hunting grounds in the divorce-by-death, of course.
She let her green eyes close lightly and took in a deep breath of the rancid air, calming herself. There was no need to work herself up anymore. Hawkscreech was gone, she was secluded in her own little world, and Elmshadow would find what was coming for him, oh she had no doubt about that. Sheepglow and Frostbite had already run off to Starclan knows where. If she were to feel any sort of way about any of them it was Sheepglow she was most saddened by. She wished she had Starclan's sight in order to see how her daughter was faring. Frostbite was simply a failed version of his brother, no better in her eyes except that his revenge came swiftly and, as quickly, he was forgotten by their clan. She didn't expect to have any sort of the same luck with Elmshadow, though she could potentially tarnish his reputation now that all of the clans knew his name.
When she opened her eyes, a new scent reached her nose. It smelled of life...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Figwind rose to her paws, stretched leisurely, then padded forward comfortably. Rounding a blackened tree trunk and mounting a rolling, dirt hill, her son's grey figure came into view. Arrogant and haughty as she'd expect, he was sitting with his chest out and his chin up as though he were waiting for the world to come to him. She paused but sucked in a breath to settle her features. He was unlike other cats who ended up in her forest, he was expecting it, he
knew where he was and there was no mystification in his posture or features. It made her hate him.
"Hello, my son," she drawled with mock affection. And then she was nearly given her payoff. His sickeningly stoic expression faltered, broke, for only a heartbeat but it was there sure enough, and his deep voice responded flatly,
"Mother." He didn't flinch and his expression hardened again, his voice betrayed no emotion whatsoever, negative or otherwise. She sighed inwardly,
He's maddening, so much like his father. But she put on a smile and moved closer to him.
"It's been a long time. Does your own mother not even get a hello?"
His eyebrows switched and Figwind could almost see the disbelief. She and he both knew well enough that they hadn't been particularly close ever but especially in the last moons of her life. So his disbelief was well warranted. Nonetheless, that worked against her end goals so it'd have to change somehow. She shrugged and moved up to sit in front of her son.
"Look, I know I haven't always been the best mother but I've had a lot of time to think," she forced out a near laugh in her last words as she looked around at the dank forest around them.
"You're here now because I want a second chance with my only remaining kit still in my reaches."
Elmshadow looked her over skeptically, she couldn't completely blame him but it did make her hate him all the more.
I'm your mother for Shadow's sake! What does it take to gain a little deserved respect and thanks?! She had to stop the eye roll before it started. Then he spoke,
"It's a pity Sheepglow isn't around, hm?"
"Oh, Elmshadow, stop. You know I loved every one of you as much as the next. It isn't my fault she was the only one to spend any time with her mother, now is it?"
Elmshadow's expression didn't change and he didn't shift, which made Figwind all the more frustrated with her own mild outburst.
"Then it's understandable that you would prefer Sheepglow over your sons, is it not?"
Figwind did roll her eyes this time but let out her breath to release the tension building inside her.
"Oh, Elmshadow, I'm not here to fight with you. I love you and I always have. Now catch me up. I've seen you're Shadowclan's medicine cat now. I've always known you were destined for something great. Your father would be proud."
Though his expression hadn't changed, Elmshadow took a moment to respond. That felt promising to Figwind, even if only slightly.
"Yes. For quite a few moons now."
The curt responses were irksome but she shouldn't have expected any more from a son so like his Star's damned father. She brightened her smile.
"And lots of kits! I'm a grandmother now, hm? Who's the mother again?"
Elmshadow's green eyes narrowed and Figwind was concerned that'd been a misstep. She was disgusted by her son's infidelities but she'd be working against herself to let it show. Had her wording been too revealing? She let her breath out when he responded though she wasn't completely sure whether she'd been let out of the woods yet.
"My mate is Cougarivy. She's Shadowclan's enforcer commander. And you're not just a grandmother but a great grandmother as well, if you'd missed it. My daughter Sunsetthorn has kits of her own. They're strong toms."
Figwind smiled sweetly.
Of course, Sunsetthorn, the kit whose grace Elmshadow had fallen from. "Oh yes, she's a darling young thing, isn't she? Tough as any Shadowclanner ought to be." With better taste than would be expected considering her parentage...Elmshadow as a father and a she-cat who chose him, though she had to grant that meek former mate of her son's, she had wizened up in the end and escaped the fate Figwind had let herself stew in. But all of Figwind's kits had made it to warriorhood so was her judgement any better?
"Anywho, I'm a busy cat, you know. It's been lovely catching up and I do hope we can do this more often. Now that you're a medicine cat your welcome here whenever you choose." She stood, letting her tail trail behind her fluidly as she turned. Stopping, she turned back to Elmshadow, felling her expression seriously,
"There is one more thing though. I felt the need to warn you for the sake of my loyal clan, I've been given a prophecy...Action taken or passively minded, when the frost melts away, so too will the harvested." She lingered a moment, reading Elmshadow's blank expression.
Would he understand? Would he take action? She was counting on everything she knew of her son, he was surely arrogant enough to believe he could defeat fate. Time would tell soon enough, so she gave a small dip of her head before turning and bounding back into the gloomy fog of her Forest.
[P]A Mother's Love
