As far as she could remember, Chestnut’s father, Winter, always indulged her in stories of her mother, who he said had been a grand adventurer. She grew up with tales of mountain climbing, monster-fighting, and chasing down even the most ferocious prey! Chestnut wanted to be just like her mom when she grew up, and as she got older was always trying to be the grand adventurer of her own stories. She would fabricate stories of her housecat life to other loners and wanderers she met, making up tales where Chestnut could be the hero. She said she could fight raccoons, dogs, and even humans! Even though their owners kept them indoors as much as possible, Chestnut grew more and more restless. She escaped whenever she found the opportunity, and when it was harder to keep her inside, her owners caved and let her be an outdoor cat.

Winter had hoped that their owners could keep her inside, but now it was obvious he couldn’t keep her from adventuring. He tried to deter her from going outside by stopping these stories, warning her of dangers beyond their yard. Now he was very worried about his daughter, afraid she would get herself in trouble she couldn’t get out of. But now Chestnut was determined and strayed further and further from the yard with each day. She liked meeting new cats and enjoyed the unstructured nature of her exploring--she didn’t have to obey any rules. Chestnut made friends with the neighboring housecats who were wowed by her cavalier bravery and stories.

Some of these housecats dared her to fight the scariest dog in their neighborhood, and Chestnut agreed. Even though she had minimal fighting knowledge, she resoundly agreed, eager to prove herself a hero. So with the rest of the housecats watching from the safe side of the fence, Chestnut launched herself onto the dog. It went south quickly, since the dog was aggressive and far bigger than she had realized. She was quick and smart, though, and kept on her tiptoes, but she tired quickly and the dog seemed to have boundless energy. It would’ve had a much more brutal ending if one of the housecats hadn’t gone and fetched Winter, who distracted the dog long enough for Chestnut to scramble out of the yard.

Her father was super pissed. Winter berated her, saying that she was far too old now to be acting in such a manner. She was being childish and stupid and reckless, when she was almost full-grown at this point (almost 12 months)! Chestnut admitted that she had been in over her head when attacking the dog, but now she knew not to do that in her next adventures. She stubbornly insisted that wherever she explored next, she needed to be prepared for danger like this. It was in her blood, after all. Her mother had been an adventurer too!

Exasperated, Winter now admitted that Chestnut’s mother, Colette, had not been grand at all. He had loved her dearly, and always would wish the best for her, but the stories he told glorified her dishonestly. He had just wanted his daughter to know the best of her mom--remember her in a heroic light, instead of growing up bitter that Colette had walked out on them with her brother. It wasn’t entirely a lie, as Colette did like the thrill and the journey of new places, but she wasn’t a hero. Winter had just wanted Chestnut to have everything, and never feel picked over or as though she had been a second choice. He loved her, and hadn’t foreseen that these exaggerated stories would cause Chestnut to act like this. Her actions now were one of the only reasons he was telling her now.

Chestnut was...shocked, and hurt. She didn’t know how to respond. She wasn’t mad at him...she supposed it made sense. But to suddenly hear a completely new side of her mom than the one she had grown up on, the mom she admired and had wanted to be just like, felt like whiplash. Parts of her personality were because of those stories. She was able to assure her father that she wasn’t mad at him, but other than that she was just confused. One thing was sure though: no matter who her mom was, Chestnut still loved to explore. She decided to wander and chase her mom, even though realistically her mom could’ve been anywhere in the world at that point. She really just wanted to meet Colette for herself.

adulthood

After parting ways with her dad, she went in the directions that his stories pointed out. She looked for familiar landmarks, asked for cats that had appeared in the tales. All of these stories had just been speculation and word-of-mouth, though. He was guessing on what Colette had vaguely described to him, and exaggerated most of it to make it entertaining. Chestnut was led in circles for a lot of it, but her exuberance and undying positivity served her well here. She never let adversity get her down, and didn’t get in her own head and spin out the moment the journey slumped. She met a lot of disappointment, culture shock, and fights, but she kept her tail high for all of it.

Among the cats she met, an older queen named Henna was one of them. Henna was a large chocolate-colored cat as well, and Chestnut was disappointed to find out that despite her age, her current litter was her first. Chestnut only planned to stay with Henna for a short amount of time, but they grew close and she helped the queen raise her kittens. The kittens, Opal, Penny, and Rusty were a lively, talkative bunch who Chestnut took to immediately. Henna was the first real mother figure in her life, and while Chestnut loved bonding with her, she loved bonding with the kittens as well. She could pass down all of the stories that Winter told her, along with her own exaggerated tales. In raising them, she realized that she would love to raise her own litter of kits one day, even if it meant that they couldn’t be related to her. For the next few seasons Chestnut stayed with them, but she started to get the same pull in her gut that ruled her back in her old neighborhood. She knew that she wanted to start to adventure again, and Henna knew it was time for her to move on as well. The mother saw Chestnut looking into the fields longingly, and stayed up at night watching the birds fly into the horizon. Henna and the kittens saw Chestnut off, and said that she would always be welcome back.

She came across a large expansion of land with many different geological features and landscapes, and heard about groups of cats that lived sectioned off there. When wandering along the territory line, she met a young cat named Mocha. Chestnut liked him almost immediately despite his talkative nature. Mocha reminded her of Henna’s litter, especially Penny. He taught her about the Web Colony and as they talked more, she felt very protective over him. Chestnut knew that from being a housecat she couldn’t have kits of her own, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t act like a mother. She cared for Mocha a lot, and he introduced her to many of the other Web cats, including Spider. She lived in the Colony kinda with a paw in, paw out kind of deal. The structure scared her, since she hadn’t had to live with rules for many seasons.

Her decision was made for her when she found out about Mocha’s death. She was absolutely horrified, especially since Mocha was such a loveable cat. Yes, he could be annoying, and some cats found his talkative nature to be a bit much, but not murderable. How could she sit back and do nothing while the others tried to figure out the culprit? In order to help with the investigation and avenge Mocha’s death, Chesnut ended up officially joining the Web Colony as a commoner.

adulthood

During Chestnut's time in Web, she joined a small group of cats that called themselves rebels, devoted to finding out what was going on with Spider, Mocha's death, and the surrounding war. They met every now and then, and although they couldn't figure too much out on their own, Chestnut appreciated the sense of closeness it brought and getting to learn more about the other cats. From simply getting better at reading body language to learning how to suggest ideas more diplomatically, Chestnut’s time as a “rebel” definitely helped her. It made her feel apart of something bigger than herself. Like she was becoming the hero in her dad’s stories.

Then two cats she didn't particularly like nor trust, Red and Bracken, announced the news of their new litter. Chestnut was very skeptical, and ready to judge them, but as Henna would have advised her, Chestnut tried to give them a chance. Maybe they would be better parents than friends. She kept an eye out for the family and realized quickly that this hope had no chance of ever coming to fruition. Even as tiny kits, it was obvious of the pressure put on them. In particular, though, Chestnut noticed the secondborn, Reed. She seemed rather lonely and down even when with others, and her parents weren't giving her the time of day they should've. Chestnut reached out to the kitten and slowly befriended her. Chestnut thought of her like a daughter and was adamant to provide her with any love that had been stolen from her so far.

With Spider's return came Lune's self exile, and the subsequent dismantling of the Colony. With no warning, the group became wanderers. Some, like Jessamine and Tansy, knew where they were headed next. Others, like Amber, seemed at a loss of where to go when they couldn't have imagined leaving Web. Chestnut said goodbye to many of her friends, but couldn't seem to bring herself to leave the territory just yet. Reed's parents went missing, and Bramble broke off from her littermates to join Lake. Chestnut spoke with Reed about where she would want to go now that she didn't have family to weigh her down. The two of them decided on Beach- a newly founded colony far away from there, it was separate from bad memories and expectations. Chestnut said goodbye to Mocha's grave for perhaps the last time, and headed with Reed towards the water.