Golem hadn't dreamt in moons - well, he'd dreamed, of being chased by giant glowing mushrooms, or of swallowing a seed and turning into a plant, or even of having all of his teeth fall out abruptly - all very unsettling dreams, but he didn't dream of who he wanted to. Of Rosewood, the spunky kitten who he'd been training to grow stronger. He'd known her since he himself was a youngster, but she'd always seemed like she was younger than he was - he'd only ever seen her as a kit. That was, of course, because every time he'd seen her, she was a kit. It seemed to be a curse of when you died young, you stayed young forever. If you were an adult cat, maybe that wouldn't be so bad, but to live like a kitten, even if your mind grew... wouldn't that be difficult to live with? Well, not live per say, but... gosh, what would you even say about it then?

At any rate, he hadn't seen her or any ForestClan cat for that matter. Granted, Rosewood was the only one who had ever approached Golem. He learned quite a bit from their experiences together, but he realized that he never had a way of contacting her. He'd this through personal experience, in fact, when no amount of yowling her name as a giant glowing toadstool terrorized him without abandon.

As far as he knew it, he'd messed up the last time he'd encountered Rosewood, when he showed her that despite her progress mentally and how emotionally mature she'd grown, that she was still stuck as a kit and had the stamina and strength of one too. She'd told him that night that their training was over and then she'd run off. He hadn't seen her since and it was beginning to weigh on him, heavier than his fluff did.

As Golem was settling into his nest that night, he did something he never would have done before - he sent a little prayer, if it could even be called that, out into the universe. Rosewood, be okay. He thought. Even if she wasn't with him anymore, he desperately wanted her to be happy wherever she was.
belloblossom — 02/13/2022
Rosewood had begun to do some serious soul searching (no pun intended) after her battle with Golem. The battle where she demanded he fight her like an equal and he utterly pummeled her. He hadn't actually hurt her, but then again, what would be the point? She was already dead, after all.

Still, the realization that she, despite her training, had not seemed to have grown any stronger at all, had shocked and hurt her. She couldn't find it in herself to visit Golem anymore - he'd been lying to her this whole time, she'd thought in the beginning, but now, after such a long time had passed, Rosewood had come to a different answer.

Golem was a mortal and a loner at that. He didn't know much about ForestClan, only what Rosewood had known enough to tell him and admittedly, that wasn't a lot. She thought she would grow stronger, because she'd overheard that a StarClan kit had been able to grow up from a kit to an apprentice, whatever that was, but she'd never been able to confirm that had actually happened. Maybe it was a lie from StarClan to make ForestClan feel inferior. From what Burningnight told her about the Great Battle, StarClan seemed to have a vendetta against ForestClan for some time. She wouldn't put it passed them to come up with some mean-spirited joke like this, just to get her hopes up and them smack them down.

But none of that was Golem's fault. She felt bad for leaving him on his own for so long - because while she knew he was more than capable of looking out for himself, she liked to think that maybe, he missed her company as much as she'd come to miss his. Still, it felt so weird to just show up in one of his dreams out of the blue now. Could she really just walk up to him and pretend that everything was normal? She doubted it.

That was, until one night when she could've sworn she'd heard his voice calling to her, wishing for her to be okay. She perked up her ears and started towards the sound of the voice.

"Golem? Is that you?"

Golem had fallen into an easy sleep tonight, his dreams were full of trees, lots and lots of trees. They made him uneasy, because trees meant that he wasn't underground, where it was safe, but trees also had begun to remind him of Rosewood, for her home always seemed to be in dark forest, whenever he'd seen her. He really did hope she was alright-

"*Golem? Is that you?*" A familiar voice squeaked and Golem turned around quickly, finding himself lean forward as he saw a speck of gold in the distance coming readily closer.

Without waiting to see if his guess was really true, he sprinted towards the gold splotch and sure enough Rosewood was coming through the trees. She froze up when she saw him and he realized that his heft was carrying him too quickly and that he would run straight into the kit. He tried to skid his paws, but ended up stumbling over them instead and while Rosewood ducked, he sailed right over her head and landed on the other side of her with a thud.

Stunned, he lay there, panting heavily for a few moments, before he saw her walk back into his line of view, wearing a smug grin on her face.

"*I guess I'm stronger than I seem, since I've brought a big cat like you down in one move.*" She mewed haughtily and after a moment of staring at her, Golem couldn't help, but laugh heartily. After a moment, Rosewood began to laugh too and the two would continue laughing for several moments after, until they came together in a fluffy embrace and began to catch up on the moons they'd missed between them. (fin)