Blizzard was used to the sideward glances and the snide comments. Used to the cats talking behind his back, used to hearing his clanmates make unpleasant comments about him, used to the jeers and the sneers. He was an outcast in almost every sense. Perhaps if he was better at socialising with others they could learn to accept him for who he was. In his opinion, he was destined to be alone. Set apart by the stars to be one who is tormented by the happiness of those around him when all he feels is desperation. Perhaps that was why this appeared to be the truth.
Blizzard was walking through a large tunnel at the start of the day when he felt a large weight crash into his side. Past experience told him that it was Crimson Sky, a nasty tom who had always sought to isolate him. The morning assault was normal: the feeling of claws sinking into his muzzle was not.
“Get off me!” He cried, struggling to get away from Crimson and his taunting attacks.
“Crimson Sky!” Someone hissed. “Blizzard is exactly the same as you and I, so perhaps you should leave him alone for once.” Blizzard turned to see Hornet, a fierce, rusty orange she-cat, snarling at Crimson. He was surprised that she was sticking up for him- normally she argued with the other apprentices rather than taking on a full-grown warrior.
“Oh, so you’ve got to get someone else to fight your battles for you now?” The large tom growled. He turned away disdainfully and padded away. Hornet barely gave Blizzard a second glance as she walked away, leaving him alone in the dusty tunnel.
The sun had set by the time he made his way back to his den. Once again, the day had been draining and disheartening, though most of it had been spent avoiding his mentor and hiding in places no other cat went. As he padded along he could have sworn someone was following him, their light footsteps slightly set apart from his own. He raised his head warily. “Who’s there?”
“Oh, it’s just me,” they replied.
“Hornet?” He said disbelievingly, glancing back at her. “Why are you here?”
“Well, I wanted to talk to you,” she said firmly. He huffed disbelievingly but nodded for her to continue. “Why are you like this?”
He was rather taken aback. “Like what?”
“Hiding away in strange tunnels and refusing to talk to anyone. It won’t help you to make friends, or help anything for that matter.”
“If I talk to someone they’ll end up teasing me. Everyone in this colony is baying for my blood.”
And it’s all because of my tails, he thought bitterly.
Hornet rolled her eyes. “That’s a slight exaggeration, don’t you think?” She laughed. “Nobody’s
baying for your blood, Blizzard. They’re just nasty cats who want someone to pick on so they feel better about themselves.”
“Then why is it about my tail, every time?” He snarled. “Why not my fur, or my personality, or anything else about me? I hate having two tails! I hate it, I loathe it, I
despise it!”
This seemed to aggravate Hornet. “It’s not always about your tail!” She hissed back. “Almost everyone ignores your tail by now, and if anyone says anything about it, it’s because you make such a big deal out of it. Honestly, you’re not touched by the stars or anything of the sort.”
“Then why was I cursed to be like this?” He growled. “Someone like you would be able to easily pull off having two tails. You’re confident and stick up for yourself. Why couldn’t it have been you rather than me?”
“Oh, grow up!” Hornet snapped. “No, it has to be you. And the reason you’ve got two tails is because you’re special.” She nodded knowingly, relaxing already. “Yes, very special indeed.”
Blizzard’s face remained still. “In what way?” He said doubtfully.
“Well, I’m not sure I can tell you something so important without knowing I can trust you,” Hornet mewed gravely.
“You can’t
not tell me!” He complained.
“Yes I can,” she teased.
“Nope, no way,” he said stubbornly. “You’ve got to tell me now.”
“How are going to make me talk if I don’t want to?”
Blizzard gently tapped her head with a large paw. “I’ll kill you otherwise,” he said seriously, no trace of humour in his eyes. “I kill cats regularly, you know. I can’t count every victim I’ve had in all my eleven moons. Even as a kit I was murdering everyone constantly, that’s why I was abandoned.”
“Oh no!” Hornet cried, rolling over playfully. “How will I ever survive this attack from a vicious killer?”
He smiled for what felt like the first time in moons. “Well, you won’t,” he laughed, batting her again. “There’s no way you‘ll escape unless you tell me your secret.” He growled mockingly and lashed his tails, bushing out his fur to make himself appear bigger.
She sighed dramatically. “Looks like I’ll have to tell you.” She crept closer to him, avoiding his bushy tails. “You’re special because you’re my friend. Those are few and far between, you know.”
Blizzard hardly knew what to say. “Really?”
“Yes, really,” Hornet laughed in response. “And I would have overlooked you just like I do everyone else if you had only one tail. Yours make you unique. See, that’s why it had to be you who has two, so that I can tell you in an overly dramatic way that you’re my friend.”
Blizzard’s smile grew. “Well, as a matter of fact, I’ve taken rather a liking to you too. Mostly over the course of this conversation, but still.” His deep, rumbling purr began to fill the tunnel.
“You can actually experience a positive emotion? Who knew!” She looked at his tails, threading her own between them. “And those two tails are what caused it.”
“Maybe they’re not so bad after all.”
