Life Lessons from an Unexpected Source

Life Lessons from an Unexpected Source is an off-camera scene in which Serendipity meets and imparts life lessons to Cloverleaf, who recently fled ThunderClan after they discovered her paranoia of battling.

In Character, it took place on the 3rd of July 2007 (19th day of the Moon of Killingcough (2007)).

Out of Character, it was written by Gorse.

Life Lessons from an Unexpected Source

Cloverleaf's claws dug hard into the fence, which didn't dump her off completely, testament to the many hours she had spent practicing walking on them. Still, for all the progress she had made in matters such as this, the former ThunderClan she-cat didn't believe she would be staying in this Twolegplace - White-something, or whatever that one tom she had met the other day had called it - for much longer. She'd never in her life felt so out of her element.

Well what do you expect? she told herself flatly, You are- were- ThunderClan. You're meant for trees, not these little bits of boxed grass and plants.

But she wasn't ThunderClan anymore. She couldn't stay. Not after they'd found out. She'd seen the contempt on so many faces, finding out that she was terrified of fighting. She knew too that some - maybe even many - would blame her for Slateshadow's death. And in a way, they'd be right too. If she had done something anything besides stand there like a mouse-brain, then maybe the tom wouldn't have been overwhelmed by that one ShadowClan cat. But she couldn't. She'd tried, she'd tried everything. But nothing had worked, and Slateshadow was still dead.

Then there was Nightfall and Shardclaw... but she wouldn't think about that now. It still hurt too much.

"What are you doing?" a voice said to her right, scaring her out of her thoughts. With a yowl of surprise, Cloverleaf jumped, lost her balance, and fell down the other side of the fence, frantically clawing at anything to catch herself.

She landed on her feet, the impact jarring her legs, her ginger-and-black fur standing on end.

"Oh now look what you did. There will be claw marks all over the fence now," the same voice said mildly from above.

Cloverleaf looked up. There, standing on the fence with obvious expertise was a long-haired black-and-white cat. Judging by her well-fed appearance and the ease at which the cat leaped down from the fence, Cloverleaf would have bet anything that this cat was a kittypet.

"Who are you?" the she-cat said brightly, "I don't believe I've ever seen you around here before, and I know almost all the cats who live around here, so that's pretty accurate of me to say so."

"Uh..." Cloverleaf began awkwardly, "I'm Cloverleaf. I-"

"Well goodness, isn't that an odd name," the she-cat interrupted without any indication that she realized that Cloverleaf had intended to go on, "I'm Serendipity, by the way."

"Cloverleaf isn't an odd name for a Clan cat," Cloverleaf retorted with the faintest hint of defensiveness.

Serendipity's eyes widened, "A Clan cat? Like one of those forest cats that Plato said his father met? Well goodness me isn't that interesting! Do you really hunt for your own food?"

"Yes..." Cloverleaf said slowly, a bit unnerved by the cat's enthusiasm, "This Plato's father met a Clan cat?"

"Once," Serendipity replied vaguely, "I don't know much about it really. Plato's only mentioned it once or twice. So what's it like being a Clan cat? What are you doing here? Are you here to hunt for food or to-"

But Cloverleaf wasn't listening. All that registered was the further realization of the fact that she wasn't part of ThunderClan, and that they would never have sent her here. She wouldn't ever hunt for her Clanmates again, or sleep in a den with several other warm bodies, or see her few friends...

"Do all Clan cats stop listening in the middle of a conversation?" Serendipity's voice sounded right in her ear.

"Oh... uh... no, sorry," Cloverleaf stammered, shaking herself out of it, "But I guess you could say I'm not really a good Clan cat to be asking these things anyway, and even less so now that I'm not one anymore."

Serendipity started for a second, then asked, "Now whyever not?"

"It's complicated," Cloverleaf sighed.

"Well, I'm rather bored and have nothing to do at the moment, and I've been trying not to be idle, so you can tell me it and I won't be bored and you can explain why," Serendipity decided.

Cloverleaf sighed. This Serendipity was staring at her, waiting so expectantly that she got the impression that the she-cat wouldn't leave her alone until she told anyway.

"When I was about ten moons old, an apprentice," she began, "I went out on a hunting patrol by myself. The Clans were in the middle of a war then, and I ran into an enemy raid. I could have run, but I decided to stay and fight instead..." And so she told Serendipity about everything, about how she'd sworn not to fight, how she'd had to hide her secret from ThunderClan, and later, how the battle at the border had exposed it, and finally how she'd run away.

Seren said nothing while she spoke, but listened with great interest. When Cloverleaf had finished, the kittypet said, "So you left because you thought they'd hate you?"

"I didn't think, I knew," Cloverleaf said flatly, "You can't be a Clan cat and not fight. You have to defend your Clan, and-"

"So you mean it's better you left?" Serendipity asked, "You were being a bad Clan cat?"

Cloverleaf felt miserable. "Yes, but it's not that, it's-"

"Well if you weren't a good Clan cat, then maybe it's better off for you too that you left," Serendipity said reasonably.

Cloverleaf froze. When she found her voice, she mewed, "What do you mean?"

"Well, you obviously weren't suited for it. Maybe you'll find something that's better for you now," Serendipity told her, "And besides, it's got to be a lot better now that you don't have to keep a secret from your Clan."

Cloverleaf supposed that was true... but then she remembered Nightfall, and Shardclaw... "But there's also these two friends of mine... I didn't want to leave them, but..."

"Well, you very well can't stay in somewhere where you're unhappy, can you?" Serendipity pointed out.

"They were part of the reason I left though," Cloverleaf whispered, "I liked them both, but they were brothers, and they hated each other. They kept wanting me to choose, I think, and I couldn't... so I left."

"Hmm..." Serendipity looked down in thought, "So these two were toms? You said they were brothers."

Cloverleaf nodded.

"Well it explains a great deal, but all of it is pointless anyway," Serendipity shrugged, "Their fighting is no concern of you after all and they really shouldn't make it so, but it's a non-issue if you left. They're behind you now, so you should let them go, shouldn't you?"

"But it's not that easy!" Cloverleaf burst out, "I loved them!"

"Then find other things to love," Serendipity told her, "Like how I love the wind, the sky, exploring the neighborhood. You can love the trees, running just because you can, hunting, I suppose..." She trailed off. "But eventually maybe you'll find a new tom, one who doesn't make you choose things you don't like."

Cloverleaf stared, Serendpity's words trickling slowly into her brain. It didn't seem to make sense, and yet somehow... it did.

"Well my goodness, look how much later it is!" Serendipity exclaimed suddenly, "My housefolk will be coming home soon. Do you want to come? I'm sure they'd love you."

Cloverleaf considered for a heartbeat, but no more than that. "No, thank you. I can get my own food."

"Well good luck then," Serendipity meowed cheerily, jumping up onto the fence, "I do hope you find what you're looking for."

"Thank you," Cloverleaf said quietly, watching the black-and-white shape disappear.

She didn't know how, but what this Serendipitiy had said had made more sense than anything, anything she'd ever been told before, by Nightfall, by Shardclaw, by Cottonwhisker when Cloverleaf had asked her for advice... The dead feeling of weight in her chest had lessened.

She would not be returning to ThunderClan, and she would not be so foolish as to return to their territory. She would not ever be part of a Clan again, but maybe, with a bit of luck, she might do exactly what Serendipity had said, and find where she belonged. All she knew for sure was that her future was not going to be lived out in this boxy, pampered place.

There was so much of the world left, so much room to run, if only she looked. Maybe she'd go to the barns on the side of WindClan territory, where there was supposed to be cats living. Maybe she'd go beyond Clan territory, beyond Highstones, to the unknown beyond. And maybe...

She shook her head. She was thinking far too ahead. She had to find a way out of this Twolegplace first.

And turning, the new feral she-cat bounded out to the center of the yard, took a running leap and landed on the fence. Turning awkwardly, she began the long process of retracing her steps back to the trees, back to what she knew.