Legacy: Timeless (Book 2)

Chapter 41: Micawber

Chapter 41: Micawber

"You're back to normal?" Boulderpaw stared at her with wide eyes.

Scorch purred and swatted at his muzzle. "Yes, why do you look so shocked? Did you doubt me?" she teased.

Boulderpaw looked away, his eyes darkening. The gray shadows of dusk swallowed the shore and the overcast sky shed a few fitful flurries over the frozen lakefront as the temperature of the air dropped steadily. "No, but I didn't think it would be so easy," he narrowed his eyes and Scorch laughed at his pessimism.

"Well, I did mention that it's not an immediate fix, but I don't think it will be hard for Scorch to not fully recover," Sonya mewed from her side.

"What do I have to do?" Scorch looked at Sonya's bright green eyes.

The ginger and white she-cat leaned closer to whisper in her ear, "You just need to use your recovered emotions. But I don't think that will be difficult for a cat like you."

Scorch nodded- with her happy optimism returned, plans for the future unrolled before her eyes like golden fields waiting to be tread upon. "Well, what are we sitting around here for? We've got work to do!" Scorch jumped around Boulderpaw.

"Okay, but, Sonya? Are you coming with us?" the gray tom narrowed his eyes at the she-cat.

Scorch paused and glanced back at her friend. She had so much she wanted to ask her, so much she wanted to do with her. She felt that it would have to wait though; Sonya wouldn't come back with them. "I'll see you soon, I hope?" Scorch asked when Sonya didn't answer.

"Of course! I'll be in the area, if you need anything just call!" Sonya purred cheerily. It almost sounded forced.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Scorch looked at her friend closely. All feelings were blocked off from Sonya, but she could read loneliness in a cat's eyes as well as anyone.

"I'm fine," Sonya waved her tail. "I'm not a Clan cat and I like it that way. But whenever you want to chat, I'll be waiting, Scorch." Scorch watched her friend jog down the shoreline, heading for the RiverClan border and disappearing from sight in the blowing snow.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Scorch looked at Boulderpaw in surprise at the concern in his mew.

"She'll be fine," Scorch looked after her, shivering at the sudden gust of snow. "But we should get back to camp before we get lost in this weather!"

They hurried through the pine forest, Scorch keeping pace with Boulderpaw's long strides as she felt energy thrum through her. Her thoughts whirled and her purrs sounded erratically as she made up for more than a moon of lost joy.

"What's been going on in the camp? I don't really remember..." she looked away in embarrassment, despite her efforts, she hadn't been able to rouse any curiosity and now it clawed at her almost painfully.

Boulderpaw glanced at her quickly. "That was definitely a quick fix. It's as if you were never gone," he pulsed with a moment of emotion but then shook himself and carried on. "A lot of things have been happening, but nothing has been done," he mewed, quickening his pace as the snow started invading under the heavy cover of the pine trees.

"What does that mean?" she puffed, entering into a trot to keep up.

"Well, if you want the latest gossip; two she-cats are expecting kits," he glanced at her.

Scorch paused in her thoughts for a moment, "I know who one of those is, and the other?"

"Newtlight is expecting Frogfoot's kits," Boulderpaw mewed. I knew it, Scorch purred to herself. She'd foreseen that happening for quite a while. "Yep, it looks like ShadowClan is doing its best to replace itself," Boulderpaw's tone was troubled.