"You were right, I am hungry! I feel like I could eat a red deer whole!"

One-eye enjoyed the rabbit he and Silkey were sharing and took another bite.

"This is one of the best bunnies I've ever tasted. It's meat is so...delicious!"

One-eye saw Maud and Diggs staring at them from in front of their den. But he didn't care for once. Looks can't kill. And, besides, with Silkey, I really don't care who or what I come across, I know I'll be strong— His jaw suddenly dropped and a piece of meat fell out.

Silkey pulled herself away from him. "Ew, don't drop your drooly meat on my paw. If it doesn't taste good, just spit it out elsewhere!"

One-eye ignored her. There was one whom he did still fear, even though he thought he'd conquered his fear for her: Arrow. The reddish catamount had been walking across the Base, but now, she just stood frozen in place, staring at them.

One-eye took a deep breath without taking his eyes off of her. She's going for my other eye... "Your Mum...she doesn't know of our friendship...right?" he managed to ask in a hoarse whisper.

Silkey rolled away One-eye's scrap of dropped meat. "Pfft, of course not. And she'll be soooo mad if she ever finds out I befriended one of the Lone One assassins, especially since it's you. Oh, no offense, of course!"

She took another bite from her rabbit, as One-eye muttered, "But she's staring at us..."

Silkey rolled her eyes. "Probably just Keiri again. Mom isn't supposed to be back from the assessments until later."

One-eye kept staring. "That isn't Keiri," he whispered, referring to another red catamount that looked like Arrow from a distance.

One-eye's feline friend was still relaxed. "You really gotta get that remaining eye of yours check—"

She almost choked on her food when she saw her mother approaching them.

Arrow stopped in front of them, and One-eye felt all the fear, all the crippling horror he'd had for Arrow, return in a large wave. He sensed all the other animals in the clearing staring at them, too.

"Why, hello there, Silkey," Arrow said, her voice as cold as ever.

This is going to be my death...our death! One-eye mentally screamed to his body to cooperate and run, but he was frozen in place, trembling.

Silkey quickly sat up. "H...Hi, Mom," she said weakly.

Arrow scraped some of the dirt from under her talon. "I am terribly sorry to interrupt your meal, Silkey," she begun bitterly, "But...WHY ARE YOU SHARING YOUR DINNER WITH THAT?"

Saliva flew from her jaws and fell on One-eye and Silkey in her rage.

One-eye pushed himself into the ground, praying, but Silkey stood in front of him. "Mom! It isn't what you're thinking!"

Silkey, are you crazy?! She'll only get angrier if you defy her!

Arrow started to pace in front of them, to and fro, while speaking loudly and clearly. The rest of the clearing had quieted and stared at them, as well. One-eye had hardly ever felt this terrible.

"After all those lessons I gave you on how to lead, now that I finally thought that you were becoming a stronger, better, and overall smarter catamount, you befriend a Lone One. And not just any Lone One, but the deformed mutt One-eye himself! You're hopeless!"

One-eye felt Silkey flinch beside him. "I...I..." she stuttered.

Arrow then stepped towards One-eye, until her face was only a few centimetres away from his, and her bared teeth were dangerously close to his remaining eye. Don't take it out, please don't take it out, please!

She spat in his face as she spoke. "And you, monster, how dare you to even come this close to my daughter?! Looks like I have to teach you another lesson!"

One-eye squirmed helplessly as Arrow rolled him over to his belly, grabbed hold of his chest firmly with her right front paw, and lifted her left into the air, ready to strike him.

One-eye saw that Silkey tried to grab her mother's leg that was pinning him. "MOM, NO!"

Arrow looked at her daughter, paw still in the air.

"Mom...I befriended him...at first he was reluctant, so it's not his fault! Take out your anger on me, please, not him!"

Arrow lowered her left paw for a moment. "So now you're protecting him.... This is not how I raised you. Not how I raised you at all," she said in a severe tone.

Silkey was crying at this point, causing One-eye's chest to suddenly feel even heavier. Stop, Silkey, you're making it worse!

"I'm not like you!"

"If only you were. Come. Now."

Silkey struggled as her mother nudged her towards their cave. "But, One-eye—"

"NOW!" Arrow roared.

His friend cowered away into the den without looking back. Arrow walked towards the cave, too, giving him one final look. And if looks could kill, this one would have.

***

It's all over now, Silkey. You and your stupid recklessness. Bringing One-eye to the Main Base and sharing food with him there! How stupid could you possibly be? Of course Arrow would've seen us, or else someone else would have and reported it. I ruined it. I ruined our friendship. It's over.

She panted as she entered their den. This cave was much bigger than any of the others, besides the one of Saedin, of course.

It was also much more comfortable. The three nests—Silkey's, Brad's, and Arrow's--were made of various things the Clan had taken from humans. Things like "pillows" and "blankets", as some of the dogs that once had lived with humans had identified them as.

Silkey sighed as she lay down on one of the said pillows that lay on her nest. It felt soft and comfortable, but Silkey didn't enjoy any of her privileges as the daughter of one of the Clan's most important members.

She just wished she was a commoner now--then no one would look at her strangely for associating with One-eye. Of course they would, but not to the point that some power-hungry mother would threaten to blind her friend.

"Silkey, Silkey, Silkey," Arrow muttered condescendingly when she entered the den.

Don't make eye contact, Silkey told herself. Just let her rage, then it'll be over.

Her mother continued, her voice still eerily calm. "Tell me, Silkey, what did I teach you ever since you were born?"

Don't respond.

"Well?"

Silkey sighed. "To act like a second-in-command is supposed to be."

Arrow nodded firmly. "And how does a proper second-in-command act?"

Silkey knew the words by heart, as Arrow'd made her repeat them over and over in her earliest cubhood.

"A proper deputy is strong, loyal to their leader to no end, and a great understudy for him when he isn't there. They are always focused on their job and that alone. Nothing should distract them from it."

"Nothing, yes. And what does that disgusting monster do?"

Silkey sat up, still not meeting her mother's green eyes. "Distract me," she mumbled, before saying in a louder voice, "But, mother, I—" 

"Don't raise your voice at me ever again, young lady!"

Silkey silenced.

"Good. Now, let me tell you something..."

Arrow paced around again. Silkey scrunched her nose. She opened her eyes wide as Arrow suddenly lunged for her and pinned her to the ground.

"Ahmfwmfp!" Silkey wailed as Arrow put her other paw on her muzzle to silence her.

"Shush! Don't want anyone else here, do we?"

Silkey stared at her mom in utter terror. She'd been aggressive and had screamed at her before, but never to this point.

"Do we?"

"Nwo, whe whouldnfpt," Silkey said, her mouth still held down by the red catamount.

Arrow let her muzzle go, but kept her daughter pinned, claws retracted.

"Good, very good. Now you listen to me. From now on, Silkey, you will change, like it or not. You are going to follow my exact commands, and I'll show you how to be a proper—"

"But I don't even want to be second-in-command! I never wanted to. It's just because of Velfet's death, isn't it?"

Arrow suddenly backed away, staring into the distance, eyes wide.

"You...you were too young...how..." she stammered.

Silkey sat up. "Just because she showed attitude from the moment she was born, you thought she was to be the next deputy! But she died and you were forced to put that task on my shoulders!"

Her mom shook her head and regained her everlasting frown. "How did you know of your sister? You were too young to ever know her! She died at merely a few weeks old!"

Silkey raised her head up high. I have no loyalty to you or your precious Saedin. Only to the ones I love. She refused to speak.

Arrow's eyes regained their usual reddish glow they had when she got angry. "Your...your father did, didn't he?"

Silkey shook her head. "So what if he did? I had the right to know! This is a family matter!"

"Family doesn't matter! Outside of Saedin deciding that the oldest offspring of the previous second-in-command will be the next, none of that matters!"

Silkey looked astonished. Arrow genuinely didn't care about her or her dad at all. She knew that her mother had been overly obsessed with her job, but this?

Arrow approached her daughter. "And now it is indeed your duty to be the next deputy! So if you want to spare your disgusting-looking friend, you'll do exactly as I say, understood?"

Silkey blew her messy hair out of her face. "No!" she growled, disgusted that her own mother could truly be this harsh.

Arrow frowned. "And that's another thing! You keep wearing your hair like that! It looks like a battered bird's nest, not hair! Brush it back, like mine!"

Says the one with the cowlick she can't get rid of. Silkey frowned, too. "I won't. It's my hair and I get to decide how I wear it!"

"The Clan will think of you as ridiculous if you walk around like this!"

"They do anyways, I don't care!"

"Put your hair back!" Arrow snarled.

"No."

"Put it back!"

"No!"

"PUT YOUR HAIR BACK, YOUNG LADY!"

Silkey cowered back as her mother panted after the loud sneer. Her claws were unsheathed, and she looked as if she could be striking her own daughter any second. Her mother panted a few more times, and then got back to business. She stared at her daughter, relentlessly.

Silkey knew what was expected of her, and what that look meant. If she wouldn't obey Arrow, the red catamount would do some serious harm to either her or One-eye.

The cub sighed, and then submissively started to lick her forepaw, after which she gave her hair some rough brushes backwards, making it look flat and decent. She continued without meeting her irate mother's eyes until her hair was fixed.

"Like this?" she then whispered, still eyeing the ground.

Arrow sounded somewhat relieved. "Finally. Yes, that is good."

Silkey saw how her mother's claws retracted.

"Good. Very, very good. See, I knew you could be a proper daughter if I just pushed hard enough."

Am I not good enough a daughter to you just because I'm not obsessed to the point of borderline insanity with a useless job?

Silkey unsheathed and retracted her claws a few times, trying to keep her calm.

Silkey blinked away a tear and looked at her mother. "If...if I promise you that I'll grow up to be the best second-in-command ever, will you leave One-eye alone?"

Arrow sat down. "I... Seems okay to me. But I also require you to never meet with that hunchback pup again. Deal?"

"But, Mom, I—"

"Deal?"

Silkey sighed, knowing that this was a fight she couldn't win. She hunched her shoulders, and put one of her front legs on her back. "Deal," she said, while crossing two claws behind her back.

Suddenly, a wolf and a fox appeared at the entrance of the den, panting, their hackles bristling. Silkey recognized these two as Myac and Petal.

"What is it?" Arrow said sternly.

Petal panted. "We had a pack running away from the Clan!"

Arrow twitched an ear. "What did you say?"