| rdfs:comment | - "Who are you?" the shy she-cat asked me, stammering and I smiled at her gently trying not to let my worry show through my clearly groomed pelt and shining eyes. "I am here," I gently whispered, "To offer you a cure, Moonsky. You have been infested with darkcough, as we all know, and to journey with it will be dangerous. You will have to be kept further away from all of the cats in order not to spread the disease, each step will be a struggle and chances are you will die before you reach the cure." "I..." she paused, "What kind of deal?" She nodded and sucked in a deep breath, "Go ahead." "Yes."
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| abstract | - "Who are you?" the shy she-cat asked me, stammering and I smiled at her gently trying not to let my worry show through my clearly groomed pelt and shining eyes. "I am here," I gently whispered, "To offer you a cure, Moonsky. You have been infested with darkcough, as we all know, and to journey with it will be dangerous. You will have to be kept further away from all of the cats in order not to spread the disease, each step will be a struggle and chances are you will die before you reach the cure." "Are you..." Moonsky stuttered, her eyes wide, before a see them flashing stubborn, "I won't stay behind. I have to go on this quest. My Clan and the whole forest needs me." "That is true," I calmly whispered, "And I would never try to steer you away from the quest. But in order to survive and make this more conivnent I can make a deal with your darkcough." "A deal with my..." she paused, "Darkcough? How is that possible? It's not even a living thing. It will kill me when it chooses to." "Not if I give it a good reason not to," I gently responded, "But I need your permission before I seek your case of darkcough and make an agreement with it." "I..." she paused, "What kind of deal?" "Are you willing to give up anything to save the clans?" I asked her, wanting to evade the answer to the question, and she nodded at me. "Then this won't be a big deal," I responded, "Do I have your permission?" She nodded and sucked in a deep breath, "Go ahead." Smiling, I felt myself gently turning from the spirit of a cat to dust traveling from the dark midnight air into her body. I was immediately greeted by a cloud of darkness. "What do you want?" I could see no face but feel every wretched feeling I had felt in my several lives before finally joining Starclan. I tried to shake away my dark memories. "A deal," I calmly responded. There was silence for a moment, and I wondered if the presence had disappeared, but I could still feel the darkness floating in the open air. "I'm listening." I resisted the urge to shiver at the voice. "The cat you have captured, Moonsky, must be freed from her disease, for a while, until she completes her quests to free the forest from darkcough." "A quest they are all sure to fail." I ignore him, "Could you spare her from the wrath of your disease, at least for now?" "Why is in this offer for me?" he asked. "If," I swallowed gently before continuing, "If she still had darkcough by the time you come back then her sister, Flamebird, will also get darkcough. There is no better way to break their clan than by taking down two littermates in a row." "So it's a gamble..." the voice rolled, "And one that I shall win. If they do find the cure, which they won't, I will not return to either of them, but if they don't I will come back from my hiding and strike both siblings." "Yes." I pray I am not making a rash choice. "Deal." And I'm whisked away from the dark spirit and back to the world of the warrior Clans. Moonsky is standing there, looking at me expectantly. "Is it gone?" she asks. "Yes," I reply, "But if you can't get rid of it by finding the cure, then your sister will also be attacked and killed by the disease." Her eyes widen, "But..." "You said you would do anything," I remind her with a stab of sympathy before disappearing back into thin air and leaving her alone with the stars which she will have to look up and pray to, so that everything will turn out alright.
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