aesop (they/them) | galeclan

Throughout the camp, yet from the nursery in particular, there was a restlessness about the camp. Despite the night cast over the Clans, even a mostly-blind elder could see the light from the full moon. The fidgety energy that had been palpable earlier from cats waiting to leave for the Gathering had passed, and was now replaced with anxieties of when they would return. Apprentices that had been hoping that it would be their turn this moon to go for the first time seemed bitter. Kits were waiting around for perhaps a parent or older sibling to return. Despite the truce that always held, there was often a feeling of unease that something might go wrong. Cats with better eyesight might watch the clouds nervously, making sure they didn't pass over the moon itself.

Aesop had seen their fair number of Gatherings, but had not returned since their becoming an elder. The primary reason they had retired was due to their failing eyesight, and while they were confident about the way to the glade, they didn't feel confident in the idea that they might slow down other cats who wanted to make sure the elder got there safe. Instead, they enjoyed their time peacefully when the camp was quiet in its eerie way.

Though, every generation or so of new cats, they told a particular story. It was a story that just about every living cat in GaleClan had likely heard by this point, one that Aesop first heard from a Japanese bobtail loner who'd once been a kittypet, abandoned by their twolegs when they moved.

The calico elder stood from their nest, stretching out their stiff limbs in the cooling air. Making their way out of the elder's den, they made their way rather nonchalantly towards the nursery. While making their way around the camp at night was something that sometimes brought the elder a bit of worry due to the lack of visibility, it was always a little easier under the light of the full moon. Their eyesight hadn't fully left them yet, and the little bits of light were always helpful. On top of that, the noise of kits who refused to go to sleep certainly made navigating their steps a little easier.

"Any kits interested in a story?" Aesop called in, primarily hoping to give the queens a little bit of rest from kits who simply did not want to lay down. Hopefully with this, the kits might begin to relax and the queens could get a little break themselves.

Without waiting for a reply, Aesop began to make their way over towards their storytelling position on top of the elder's den. They scrambled their way up, still able to get to the top with only a tiny bit of effort. They gave it a little extra time, listening in on the excitement of kits below, as well as waiting for any apprentices who perhaps had not heard this particular story in their own kithood, or any warriors or elders who had not attended the Gathering and were looking for something to take their mind off of their thoughts.

The moon is beautiful, round and bright, casting a soft and gentle light on every living creature below it. But there was once a time when the moon was not as beautiful as he is now. There had been a time when the moon had been so dark and gloomy that no one liked to look at him, and for this reason, he was always sad.

One day he complained to the flowers and to the stars, for they were the only things that would eer look in his face.

He said, "I do not like to be the Moon. I wish I were a star or a flower. If I were a star, even the smallest one, some great warrior would care for me; but alas! I am only the Moon and no one likes me. If I could only be a flower and grow in a garden where the beautiful creatures come, where they would sleep beside me and praise my fragrance and my beauty. Or even if I were to grow in the wilderness where no one could see, the birds would surely come and sing sweet songs for me. But I am only the Moon and no one honors me."

The stars answered and said, "We can not help you. We were born here and we can not leave our places. We never had any one to help us. We do our duty, we work all the day and twinkle in the dark night to make the skies more beautiful, but that is all we can do," they added, as they smiled coldly at the sorrowful Moon.

Then the flowers smiled sweetly and said, "We do not know how we can help you. We live always in one place: in a garden near the most beautiful creature in all the world. As she is kind to every one in trouble we will tell her about you. We love her very much and she loves us. Her name is Ming Yue." Still, the Moon was sad. So one evening he went to see the beautiful Ming Yue, a long-haired white cat with beautiful bright eyes. And when he saw her he loved her at once.

He said, "Your face is very beautiful. I wish that you would come to me, and that my face would be as your face. Your motions are gentle and full of grace. Come with me and we will be as one and perfect. I know that even the worst creatures in all the world would have only to look at you and they would love you. Tell me, how did you come to be so beautiful?"

"I have always lived with those who were gentle and happy, and I believe that is the cause of beauty and goodness," answered Ming Yue.

And so the Moon went every night to see the beautiful cat. He visited her in her garden, and she came. And when he saw how gentle and beautiful she was, his love grew stronger, and he wished more and more to be with her always.

One day Ming Yue said to her mother, "I should like to go to the Moon and live always with him. Will you allow me to go?"

Her mother thought so little of the question that she made no reply, and Ming Yue told her friends that she was going to be with the Moon.

In a few nights she was gone. Her mother and her twolegs searched everywhere but could not find her. And one of Ming Yue's friends said, "She has gone with the Moon, for he asked her many times."

Seasons passed by and Ming Yue, the gentle and beautiful white cat, did not return. Then everyone knew and would say, "She has gone forever. She is with the Moon."

The face of the Moon is very beautiful now. It is happy and bright, casting a soft and gentle light on every living creature below it. And there are those who say that the Moon is now like Ming Yue, who was once the most beautiful and gentle of all the cats.

Aesop found their eyes, clouded as they were, looking up towards the sky, basking in that very same bright, soft light of the moon. They thought about a beautiful cat up there, sharing her light and love to the moon who had asked many times to be with him always. To them, the story's meaning was simple: being kind, gentle, and sharing in love made cats and all other living creatures beautiful. Whether or not there was truly a cat with the moon, Aesop would never truly know, but they loved the story nonetheless for the kindness it often brought about.

They settled carefully on the top of the log and continued to look up, waiting happily for the return of their Clanmates with news of ShoreClan and OrchidClan, who all shared the light of the same beautiful moon.

story from chinese fables and folk stories ● 1365 words