If Stars Could Sing

Prologue

With a sniffle, the black she-cat glanced over the hillside. A vast mountain range spread across the landscape, reaching into the air with snow-tipped peaks. A flock of birds flew silently by, and the dawn sky was dyed various shades of orange and pink. The sun peeked over the side of a particularly large mountain. The lone cat squinted when she saw a patch of stone on that mountain that seemed to glow with orange more than the rest…

She rose to her paws, looking over her shoulder one last time. When the she-cat saw no one and scented nothing, she waved her tail and padded down the hill’s most gentle incline. Her black, gray, and white fur stood out against the sparse grasses of the dying field. Flattening her ears, she ran across the moor.

As the mountain range’s first tiny peaks came into clear view, the black cat slowed to a trot. The orange patch on the biggest mountain was still visible, but the she-cat copied the sight to mental memory, just in case it ever disappeared.

Passing through the lowest parts of the mountains, the she-cat began to tire. Her pads were scratched and aching, and breathing became harder as she strained to keep going. At last the black she-cat sat to rest at the foot of the largest mountain. She caught her breath and found the orange stone once again on the side of the mountain.

Closing her dark blue eyes, the she-cat began to climb up the steep slope. Pebbles fell under her paws, making her jump in surprise. Her ear twitched, annoyed. Only a few more leaps up would land her right at the orange patch, which now seemed to be a cave lit up by the sunrise.

By now the sunrise had ended, and the orange patch was no longer orange, but bits of vegetation decorated the mouth of the cave. The black cat crouched and pounced onto another ledge, and another, and another.

Then, her mind began to race with thoughts. What was inside the cave? She hadn’t thought about what could be lurking inside that hole inside the mountain. With the chances she had, her death could be in there.

Closing her eyes, she dismissed the thoughts. At the time, the she-cat had no home, no den, no one to live with. She was a loner, in some way. She lived, moved, hunted, and sometimes even fought alone. There was no reason not to enter the cave and find what was or wasn’t there.

Her white nose twitched, and with a tiny nod, she leaped up to meet whatever was in the cave. What she found was not deadly, not at all. What, or who, she found was indeed another cat. This cat was brown with a white back and black stripes, a tan and black belly, and a torn ear. The stranger also had black and white stripes on their tail, ears, and face, and pale brown paws.

The black she-cat flattened her ears defensively, but the brown cat blinked in confusion at this gesture. “Hello,” meowed the stranger, and the black cat sighed quietly in relief.

“Hello… I saw this cave outlined in the dawn’s orange rays, and I decided to…” The black she-cat trailed off, and the brown cat nodded.

“You’re brave to have done that. For cats who don’t live in the mountains, it’s hard to climb up the Snowy Mountain. And from the way you’re breathing, I assume you don’t live around here, do you?”

The black she-cat’s dark blue eyes widened at the remark, and tried to calm her breathing. “No, no, I don’t… I travel around. I don’t stay in one place for long.”

The strange cat was calm, gray eyes piercing right into her own. “I see. My name is Damien, what about you?”

“Starling…” The black cat meowed. Her white and gray tail wrapped around her cotton-white paws as she sat. The brown cat smiled.

“Come in. It’s warmer in here than it is out there, especially with the height and whatnot,” Damien beckoned with their tail. Starling gladly stood and padded into the warm cave.

From then, Starling knew that this wasn’t a passing friendship or a temporary denmate. No, Starling had a feeling that now, Damien’s life was to be intertwined with her own.