Lyre didn’t know why he felt scared. There was another thing that grew the sensation of familiarity in his voice. He wanted to speak, but the cat held up his paw and pointed it at him.

  “Hush now…I can only imagine how…depleted you must feel.” He slowly lowered his paw.

  As he did, Lyre felt his fur start to bristle. “But I just slept.”

  Blinking, he quickly rested his paw on the dirt. “It’s that or I ask you 20 questions.”

  He sighed and stretched out his legs, and shut his eyes. I only took a nap, to be fair. But I can’t just wake up from a nap and then sleep not even an hour ter. Has an hour passed? I don’t even know anymore.

  “Hey, you’ve got some dirt on your paws,” the gray and light gray she-cat mewed.

  “I’ll take care of it myself.” Lyre grumbled before she could crouch down to his paws. With a light shudder, he licked away the dirt, wrinkling his muzzle as his disgust slowly covered up with fear. It failed to do it completely, and only mixed with the emotion as he heard pawsteps approach from his left.

  His wound was still covered, but it stung with the curious gaze that seemed to stare right through the leaves that covered the wound.

  “What happened to you?” The she-cat asked with a twitch of her whiskers.

  “I’ll talk about it when I feel like talking about it.” He licked his fur in an attempt to get the dirt from being stuck on his tongue.

  The next speaker came from the one who was staring at the leaves. “Oh really? I’m sure this will get you to talk.” The pawsteps faded away, and Lyre caught a glimpse of a dark amber tail-tip flicking into the shadows after the st of the firelight valiantly reached for it.

  Lyre sat up and fttened his ears, only for them to jump up at the sound of a half-yelp half-whimper. What?! His eyes widened in surprise as the tom reemerged into the light, nudging a slightly-too-rge-to-carry wolf pup. And even though there was something covering its eyes, Lyre could almost smell the fear wafting from it.

  “I wasn't sure what to do with it at first,” the tom stamped his paw on the wolf pup’s rump to force it to sit, then he moved down to its tail and pinned it. “But since it was not an unusual sight, I decided to do some…experimentation, if you will. So far I found out that even as pups, their jaws are quite strong. They also have quite a bit of energy.” His dimly lit tail swished with satisfaction.

  Lyre stared bnkly at the tom. Where the heck did he find it? He shook away the confusion. At st he could truly start what had been deyed for so long. But for now, just for now, there was going to be hopefully one more instance of him having to stay with other cats.

  Congratutions. You found “that stupid wolf pup”.

  The voice was in his dream now.

  Good thing you could tell that The Cats of The Stone Forest were distracting you from the fact that you lost Splinter. And it almost worked, too.

  Lyre was forced to stand in pce. Stone vines had shot out of the ground and were now wrapping around his legs.

  But now that you’ve left them- most of them- I say you take what's yours.

  Lyre just stared intently into the void that surrounded him.

  Give yourself a proper home. I can guarantee that you’ll find one within a day’s walk. If you want to bring Quartz along, don’t. Only Root can join you.

  Why can’t I leave both of them behind? Lyre thought.

  They’ll get worried, and then they’ll bring Soot to try searching for you. It’s going to be a waste of everyone's time.

  So if you don’t want me to bring Quartz, then what do you suggest I do? The moment Root smells that pup, it’s going to start following them around and not listen to me.

  The voice sounded as if whoever was talking to him started smiling. Oh, Lyre, that’s an easy answer.

  Lyre woke up to the sight of the bright light yellow sun crouching on the distant ground. Eyes stinging, he quickly looked away. That’s when he stared in shock at the area around him.

  It was exactly like the grassnd, but there was dirt everywhere. Instead of bushes, there were long, dry, fmmable patches of grass. On his right was a pile of the thick tree branches, the top and surrounding area bck and smelling of burnt wood. His left was the pile of leaves, a couple tail-lengths away, which was id upon by a sleeping gray and light gray she-cat.

  Beyond her was a long, ft wooden structure with beige, vine-looking objects stretched horizontally along the sides. At the base of the wood structure were two, thin bck sticks on either side. They were sticking out of the ground. The top of them was a bck sphere, and the vine-looking objects were wrapped tightly around the bottom of the sphere. They were pinned against the bck balls and ft disks. The wooden structure itself was as wide as a wolf standing vertically along the side, and was around eight tail-lengths long; the bck pit was eight tail-lengths wide, and stretched for an uncomfortable amount of miles.

  A bck pit of nothingness covered the wide distance between the dirt ground and a significantly smaller dirt area on the other side. The pit was as far down as a paw stepping down from a tree stump, and looked just as dangerous as the stone-lined trees. Even the bristling stone trees looked scarier than this.

  A tree branch was hovering above the dirt hill, and led all the way to an odd-looking tree with curved branches. The only straight branch was the one Lyre had walked along. He couldn't see below the hill, but he knew it was the olive green grass. The leafless trees were scattered across the grassy area, and the wide empty patch showed where the dirt clearing with the ke was.

  The sky was a gradient of darker blue, mixing with the yellow where the sun was. Distant clouds were running away from the bright sky, darkening the bluer parts with a blue-gray color. A few clouds were already highlighted with the yellow rays.

  From where Lyre was ying, there were so few trees in the “forest”that he could see the stone trees. Their branches even spiked upwards, and he could at least see two of them. A thin yer of shadow was cast along the other trees, the light almost making the stone branches sparkle.

  The burnt smell of wood was slowly repced by a wet, salty but sweet smell. It strangely made Lyre’s mouth water. He turned his attention back to the dirt area. In front of him sat a rge hole in the ground that he hadn’t noticed until now.

  Since when was this here? Lyre asked himself as he crept towards the entrance and sniffed it. It smelled freshly of that dark ginger tom and the she-cat. He crawled inside, which wasn't necessary since the hole was rge enough for him to enter if he were to do so while walking on two legs.

  The inside was lined with dead leaves and shriveling ferns. Bits of pinecones lined the edge of the walls on the ground. There were four hanging objects from each corner of the underground cave, each of them containing a small fme that glowed softly.

  Lyre couldn't take another step forwards. He suddenly felt the urge to return to The Stone Forest. But I can’t. I left there for a reason. Taking a deep breath and smelling the salty stench overpower the smell of pinecone, he forced himself deeper until he felt the dead leaves crunch beneath his paws. He then stopped again.

  The dark ginger tom looked over at him. “I can see your hesitation. It’s been so long since we’ve st met…as you may not know, I’m Slip.”

  The she-cat appeared from behind him. She was clearly visible, and Lyre recognised her immediately; the gray coat, swirled silver markings, silver paws, underbelly, and ear tips. She gave him a small smile with those same ugly yellow-orange eyes. A few strands had hints of a stone color.

  “Marble is my name.” Her smile grew. “I already know yours was Lyre.”

  The tom flicked his tail. “Yes…and why are you talking like that?” He remembered good and well how she first reacted when she saw him, and even the short while before she vanished.

  She shrugged and moved her gaze over to a few long, ft wooden structures ying in the center of the cave. It was in the shape of an odd half-square half-circle, and on top of it id the source of the awful smell.

  “That, my non-friend, is a fish.” Slip meowed.

  “Where do you even…?” Lyre wrinkled his muzzle. The fish was quite rge; nearly as rge as their heads.

  “There’s a nice river that’s not too far from here. And by not too far I mean half a day’s walk.” The tom answered simply. “Just follow the bck pit of…whatever that stuff is.”

  Lyre narrowed his eyes at the fish, feeling the urge to gag in disgust. Honestly, I’d rather leave now than stay for any longer. He gnced around and saw two wide holes in the back right and back left corners. And take that pup with me…wherever it is.

  Slip padded over to the fish, the sound of crunching leaves disturbing the silent air.. He unsheathed his cws and sliced off the fish’s head and tail, before moving the pieces to the side.

  Lyre frowned at the pink-ish red meat. The sight looked thoroughly unappetizing.

  “W-”

  “No thanks.” He quickly interrupted Marble as soon as the words came out of her mouth. “I’ll find something else. Even if it’s just a mouse. I don’t pn to stay long.”

  Slip gazed at him as he thoughtfully chewed on his piece of fish. “Is that so? And where are you pretending to rush to?”

  “I’m not pretending. This si now my second time of minding my own business- peacefully, mind you- and then being forced to stay with a bunch of cats who I don’t even care about.” The dark ginger tom’s look hardened, and he quickly added, “but the second time, it was just the case of stay with cats who I…already know?”

  Slip swallowed. “You already messed up that one. But you know what I think? I think you should start getting used to hanging around ‘a bunch of cats you don’t care about’.” He walked over to him with a little grin. “You know, when I was your age…” he began.

  “Please spare me.” Lyre sighed as he wandered towards the left corner. “Where did you put that wolf pup? At least tell me that.” He sniffed at the hole, only to instantly gag to hard that something rose up his throat. He swallowed it back down with a shudder of disgust.

  A chuckle sounded from beside Lyre as he slowly turned towards the direction of the other hole.

  “As I was saying, I also used to be adventurous and so full of myself. I thought I could do everything on my own. But after a while I found out that everywhere I went, I found find food that ‘already belonged to someone’. So what did I do?”

  He groaned as he speedwalked over to the hole, fttening his hears, but to no avail.

  “I still caught a piece of prey, but I waited until one of them came along. Being as young as I was, and so irresistibly adorable, of course they couldn't have just left me there. So they took me in.” Lyre could hear his smile grow. “Now I’m sure you’d have a different outcome, but if a cat decides to show up in your face as soon as you wake from sleep or a nap, you’d better keep them.” His next chuckle was forced, but soft, and hinted a distant sadness. “That’s…actually how I met Prairie. After I left my family group, I did some mroe exploring. I ended up walking along one of those funny-smelling gray paths, and caught sight of the grassnd. Then I colpsed onto one of the many dirt paths. Next thing you know, the next night, I opened my eyes and saw the most beautiful cat in the world.”

  Despite his best efforts, Lyre couldn't help but feel his gut clench as his slightly unfttened ears forced him to listen.

  “And…you know the rest. But I don’t.” He quickly headed over to the hole and blocked its entrance, sitting in front of it. “Lyre, please tell me why you’re here and not with the others.”

  Lyre was already quiet in an attempt to block him out, but any attempts to speak now immediately left him.

  “Maybe he left to go on an adventure on his own,” Marble reassured him. “After all, no cat can stay with their families forever. You’ve proved that.”

  Slip locked his eyes onto the gray and silver she-cat. “Yes…perhaps you’re right. But he’d be more happy about it, no?”

  Lyre shifted uncomfortably. “I’ll tell you after I know where you put that wolf pup.”

  “Alright. It’s not in here.” Slip looked back at him.

  Lyre’s bronze eyes widened as he heard a high-pitched, loud but muffled sound. Come on, not now!

  Slip’s ears shot upwards. “What was that?” He cocked his head towards a new noise- or rather, noises; panicked talking.

  “You left it outside?!” Lyre gasped.

  “Yeah? So?” Slip didn’t look at him.

  Lyre scrambled towards the exit, but Marble blocked him.

  A sad expression appeared on her face as she spoke slowly. “Where are you going, Lyre?”

  “Yes…clearly you’re more worried about that pup…for whatever reason.”

  Lyre could feel Slip’s curious gaze on his fur. As he went closer, the fear came back. And as the crunching leaves and stirred pnt debris grew louder, he had a feeling his gut knew why; his brain just still couldn't figure it out yet.