***

Six winters later, Silkey paced around her mother's den uneasily. She was an adult now, a healthy and muscular, but also sleek, catamount. "Are you saving her in there?" she called nervously.

Mother can't die! She can't! I've had her here to guide me on my journey for so long, to getting the greatest job ever!

Silkey had officially been the Clan's deputy for one year now, after her mother had grown blind and weak with age, but everyone knew that Arrow wouldn't officially give up her duties until she literally died. And now seemed to be the time.

She and Silkey woke up together this beautiful morning, but after taking only a few steps, her mother suddenly dropped down, shaking, claws digging into the earth and panting.

Silkey had no idea what was going on, but inside the cave, the Clan's best healers were gathered to save their old deputy.

Saedin, the Clan's mighty and noble old leader, sat beside her, his face grim and worried. "Silkey, it may be hard to accept, but let's face it: Fourteen winters is a lot to live. Arrow lived her life for the Clan, and that's so much more than I could ever ask. If her time has come on this day, then so be it. I know you are a worthy successor, Silkey."

Am I? Silkey didn't think of herself as even a shadow of how great her mother was.

Suddenly it was quiet inside the den. Silkey's fur raised. Is she saved?

One of the Clan healers came out and bowed to her, then bowed even deeper to Saedin. "My great leader, I am sorry to have to bring this dire news to you, but Arrow, our supreme second-in-command, is deceased."

Silkey felt as if the sandy floor was pulled away from under her paws and she fell in a deep hole. Never again would her mother give her tips on how to be better. Never again would they patrol together or train. Never again.

Saedin bowed his head and drooped his ears. "She will be remembered for many generations to come as the finest first deputy we could have wished for. And I'm sure Silkey will follow well in her pawsteps."

***

Hours passed, and Silkey lay alone in her mother's--now her own--den. The body of Arrow had been removed. She sighed as three shapes walked in abruptly.

"Arrow ordered us to come to you straight after your death," said the first of the three cougars.

Silkey looked vaguely at them first--she'd seen these three before, but with all of the emotions and thoughts in her head, she couldn't tell who they were. Then, she knew: These were the suitors Arrow had selected for her so long ago. I have to pick one now, but...

Silkey's gaze hardened as she realized something: She was the second-in-command now. The only ones positioned above her were Saedin and his mate, Angie. No more Arrow to force her to do anything. She was herself now. She could be her own deputy. She could live her own life.

But all Silkey knew for most of her life was living for her job as second-in-command. And that's how I'll live. I'll follow in your footsteps mother, but I won't mate with any of these cougars, or anyone else! I get to decide on that now! Saedin can appoint someone else to be the deputy after me! She felt suddenly the weight lift off her shoulders as she stared at them.

"No," she grumbled sternly, and she walked out of the den to begin her job as the Clan's new second-in-command.