Legacy: Timeless (Book 2)

Chapter 20: No Sunshine

Chapter 20: No Sunshine

Sunstar... The name shivered through her like a stream rounding its way through a forest and flowing through patches of shade and sunlight, cold and warm. The large, dark orange tom sat placidly in front of her, seemingly amused by this rare disruption of usual routine.

"Y-you mentioned the Clans," Scorch stuttered, finding it rare for her to become tongue-tied and was slightly frightened by the new experience. Snap out of it! Get it together! She berated herself mentally and tore herself out of the dark labyrinth of confusion that led to nowhere.

"Yes, I did," Sunstar affirmed with a nod of his head.

" Are you-"

"No, I simply know of them; nothing else. And you? I assume that you have a knowledge of the Clans to ask such a question," Sunstar inquired.

Scorch observed him for a moment, contemplating the best way to ease the story out of him that he was hiding, for his lie showed he was obviously hiding something. "Yes, I have had some contact with them," she mewed slowly, even though the darkness that was growing spurred her with a sense of urgency.

"Hmm, with who?" Sunstar spoke casually, but Scorch immediately spotted the error in his question and the hunger in his eyes.

"Why would that matter if you only know of them?" Scorch attempted but failed, probably miserably, to keep the triumph out of her tone.

Sunstar noticed, for his eyes narrowed and he looked at her more sharply. "I am not sure why that would matter to a non-Clan cat, or why you would seek that knowledge out, but there is another matter I've been pondering. And I wish to ask, if it would be alright," Sunstar mewed, and his politeness confirmed to Scorch his Clan-cat background.

"Fine, but to continue the spirit of fairness, I can then ask my own question about you," Scorch agreed.

Sunstar nodded his agreement, looking slightly less amused then before and not as happy, as if the disruption in life had turned from amusing to tedious. "I would like to ask if you ever met a cat named Rainstone before, your accent and scent reminds me of this particular cat," Sunstar's words froze Scorch and that strange sensation of fear and anger swarmed like cold fire through her veins.

Glaring at Sunstar, she regarded him coldly before answering. "Yes," it was the crisp answer and the message was clear; ask no further.

Sunstar now looked intrigued, and slightly unnerved as if he didn't understand her tone. Which made sense since Scorch didn't understand why she felt like that when some cat asked after her mother. But he now invited her to ask her question without fear.

So she sucked up a breath and asked, "Why did you leave the Clans?"

Sunstar froze, looked at her for a long silent moment, bent down his head to licked his chest fur, got up, and left without another word. Scorch huffed and stamped her front, black paw in frustration. He said he'd answer any question! Liar!

She considered going after him, but the sky was almost completely black now, just the faintest rim still showed a glowing blue sky. So she decided she'd come back at a different time, since it'd been such a long day.

Picking up her moss, she went back the way she'd come, pondering this new cat in her mind, this new face in the gallery of memories. This memory was bright to her, gilded iridescently as if her mind already recognized it as important. The only other cat that had made such an impression on her had been Boulderpaw. So, what do the two share in common?

It didn't seem like there could be much in common; Boulderpaw was young, Sunstar was obviously on the older side of life. Boulderpaw had dramatic mood swings between depressed and jubilant, while Sunstar seemed to command a fairly solid temperament. Boulderpaw was loud and forward in a problem, Sunstar had just displayed that he chose to walk away from a problem.