Disclaimer: I do not own Cats or any of the characters save the ones I create for the purpose of this story. I gain nothing from the writing of this; it is simply for my own pleasure and the pleasure of those who read it.
Summary: Just when she least expects it Solstice's past comes back to haunt her.
When her daughter goes missing she has to make the ultimate sacrifice to save her and places the fate of her own well-being in her fellow Jellicles.
A/N: While I know that in reality cats are old enough to mate by the time they're a year old, I am extending that time frame to three years. I have a reason for that… it makes the story work the way I want it to.
For those who are not aware, this is a sequel to my story The Summer of Solstice. You don't necessarily NEED to read that one to know what's going on in this one but it will make events in this story make better sense if you do. As I said in my other story, if you are looking for a fanfic with short chapters, you do NOT want to read this as I tend to get long winded. Now, on to the story.
Springtime. It had become her favorite time of the year. She loved the scent of flowers on the air, the thick, pungent odor of fresh cut grass, and the warmth of the sun as the earth began the cycle of renewal. When she looked back at her kittenhood she couldn't recall a specific time that she'd enjoyed, but since coming to the junkyard two and a half years ago that had changed. Sure she'd had some rough spots but she was certain that was all behind her.
It's funny how sometimes just a simple conversation can have a drastic effect on others. After the talk she'd had with Tugger and Munkustrap, both toms made an effort to really get to know their niece. Old Deuteronomy had come to the den Solstice shared with her mate a few days after Pyrros and Seraphim were born and they'd talked at length. He too had realized that he'd not done right by her. The ginger queen had more than proven that she was nothing like the tom who'd fathered her.
For the first four years of her life she'd longed to have a family, a real family, and now she did. Not only did she have a mate and her own kittens, but she had extended family as well. She had uncles who were insanely protective of her and her kits, a grandfather who always had time to listen to her when she needed to talk, and a mother-in-law who spoiled the kits every chance she got.
There had been a few more additions to the tribe since Pyrros and Sera were born and even more on the way. Within six months of the birth of Solstice's twins, Jemima, Electra, and Etcetera had all given birth.
Electra and Admetus had a daughter they'd named Cadence. She looked very much like her mother from the neck down but the markings on her head and face were almost identical to her father's. She also had Admetus' brown eyes. Already she had her mother's curiosity and her father's pride. She was definitely going to be a handful when she was a little older.
Mistoffolees and Etcetera's daughter, Alaira, was a shy, quiet kitten who watched the world through bright blue eyes. Her chest was cream with a smattering of black splotches. Her back was mostly black with a few cream stripes, her face was white, her headfur was black tipped with cream, and she had a cream tip on her black tail. She was more like her father than her mother in temperament, a fact that made everyone breathe a sigh of relief. They'd all had their fill of squealing kittens when Etty was younger.
Jemi and Pounce's son Argyros, or Ros as everyone called him, was almost as mischievous as his father once was. His golden fur was tipped in white and brown that made one think of the sun when they looked at him. Of all the kittens recently born into the tribe he was the only one who didn't resemble his parents. Jemi was expecting again which had Pounce strutting around the junkyard like a proud cock. They both hoped for a daughter this time around.
Victoria had also had a second litter, this time giving birth to two sons; Dimitri and Eramun. Dimitri was solid white just like his mother with dark blue eyes. The very tips of his ears had a dusting of red instead of the black his mother's ears had. Eramun was almost identical to Plato. He was mostly white with red headfur and a red tipped tail.
Rina, too, was expecting again. Since having Remiel and Keegan she'd calmed down considerably. Oddly enough so had Tugger. He still called queens 'babe' or 'doll' but he didn't flirt the way he once did. It was rather surprising to many in the tribe. They'd all expected to see the Maine Coon still flirting when he was ancient.
Solstice was sitting on an old chair watching the kittens play. Jemima was stretched out on her left side enjoying the sun while Etcetera and Electra were both curled up nearby taking a little catnap. "Pyrros, be careful of your sister, she's not as rough as you."
"But mommy that's no fun," he whined.
"Do you need a time-out?" she asked.
The tom-kit swallowed. "No ma'am," he said as he shuffled off to play.
"Poor Pyrros, he's having such a hard time with only having a sister to play with. Remiel tends to brag about having a brother to rough house with all the time."
"I'll bet it's hard. I don't know who is the bigger braggart; Remiel, Keegan, or Ramirus," Jemima said. "Deme and Rina are both ready to throttle the toms. They tend to play 'one-up' on each other. Thank Heaviside Ros isn't in that stage yet."
Xanthos, Demeter and Munkustrap's first born kitten, came running up to them out of breath. The little tabby was so excited he was bouncing. "Auntie Solstice, Auntie Jemi, guess what guess what?"
Although Solstice wasn't really his aunt she didn't bother with correcting him. "What in Heaviside has you so excited Xanthos?" she asked with a smile.
"Daddy and Uncle Tugger just brought in an orange tabby queen who was all hurted. Daddy says it looks like she gotted in a fight with pollicles."
"An orange tabby queen? It wasn't Teaser was it?" Even the kittens knew who Mungojerrie and Rumpleteaser were. The duo had really raised a few brows by coming out at the last ball as mates. What shocked everyone even more so was the discovery that they had two kittens; son Shilah and daughter Numees. Both were spitting images of their parents.
"No'm, I never see'd this queen 'afore," he replied.
Solstice tensed. An orange tabby queen, one that wasn't familiar to the junkyard… She told herself not to jump to conclusions or panic. The chances that it was anyone she knew were slim. There were a lot of orange tabby queens in the world. She tried to tell herself it was nothing but it wasn't working. She needed to know. "Jemi, would you mind keeping an eye on Pyrros and Seraphim for me for a few minutes?"
"Sure thing Solstice," the other queen said.
Solstice knew they would have taken the injured queen to the infirmary to have Jenny tend to her injuries and that was where she headed. The entire way there she prayed she was over-reacting.
Munkustrap was prowling the outer edges of the junkyard when he saw the torn and bloody body. At first he thought it was either Mungojerrie, Rumpleteaser, or Skimbleshanks because of the bit of coloring he could see through the blood. When he reached the cat though he realized he didn't know the injured queen. He enlisted Tugger's and Alonzo's help and they carried her to the infirmary. He and Tugger got her settled while Alonzo went to get Jenny and Jelly who'd arrived and taken over the situation. Now the toms were just waiting.
Tugger had managed to get the blood out of his fur and had stepped outside to stay out of the way while the queens worked. He spotted Solstice headed their way and cocked a brow. "Hey babe, what brings you to the infirmary?"
"Xanthos said you and Munkustrap found an injured queen outside the junkyard," she said as calmly as possible.
"Yeah, but it's okay, it's not anyone we know."
She ignored his words and stepped past him to go inside. She got as far as the threshold before her eyes narrowed and she hissed. The hair on the back of her neck stood out and it was obvious she was agitated. She was still hissing as she backed out of the infirmary.
"What in the…? What's wrong with you?" the Maine Coon asked.
"You should have left her where you found her," she growled.
"Whoa babe, what has gotten into you?" he countered.
Munkustrap excused himself to step outside and find out what was going on. "Solstice? What's wrong?"
"That queen in there, you should have left her where you found her," she hissed.
"Why? She's hurt, she needs help."
"Help? If it was up to me I'd order them to let her bleed. She's my mother Munkustrap. That queen in there would have walked right on by if any of us were bleeding to death in the street."
The silver tabby looked at her. "Solstice, I know she didn't do right by you when you were a kitten but she still deserves compassion."
"She won't get an ounce of it from me. You think this is about her keeping the truth from me?" When they both nodded she laughed harshly. "If only that were true." Her voice dropped to a whisper so no kittens could overhear. "When… I was with Macavity, he brought her into the room he had me locked in and tortured her. She told me she should have killed me when I was born. Then, later on he made her an offer. He would forgive her if she… looked the other way while he did whatever he wanted to me. She knew what he planned to do and she didn't care. She cared more about herself than she did about her own daughter. She let him… hurt me…" Her voice broke and she began to sob.
Tugger and Munkustrap looked at each other for a moment before both toms wrapped their arms around her and hugged her. They held her while she cried, neither knowing what to say. They couldn't just throw the injured queen out of the junkyard but it was obvious that her being there was detrimental to Solstice's mental well-being.
"Just don't ask me to have compassion for her. I want nothing to do with her. For all we know the attack was staged to get her into the junkyard," she said after several minutes.
"I don't think so. If she'd been left there another half hour at the most she would have died."
Solstice shook her head. "I don't believe in coincidences Munkustrap." With that she left and went back to where her friends were.
When Solstice plopped back down in the chair Jemima knew something was wrong. The fur around her friend's eyes was damp which indicated she'd been crying. Jemi sat up and scooted closer to her. "Solstice, what's wrong?"
The ginger queen shook her head. "I can't…" She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then reopened them. "The queen they brought in, she's my mother. They don't think the attack was staged but I don't believe in coincidences. She's here for a reason."
Jemi hugged her. "Oh Solstice, I'm sorry. What are they going to do?"
She shrugged. "She's here until she's well enough to leave. Bast, what if he sent her here to spy? She'll see Pyrros and Sera, she'll tell him about them."
"Solstice calm down, maybe there's a logical reason for her being here. It doesn't necessarily have to be for nefarious reasons."
"I'm sorry but I just can't believe that," she whispered.
Later that evening, after the kittens had all had their naps, the older kits were sneaking into the infirmary to look at the queen who'd been attacked by pollicles and lived. Solstice was sitting on the chair watching her son and noticed the way he kept looking around. He had his father's mischievous streak and it sometimes got him into trouble.
Tumblebrutus joined her on the chair and nuzzled her. "Hi beautiful, how are you handling it?" he asked softly. She'd told him about Kestra and he was worried about her.
"To be honest I'm scared to death. If Macavity sent her here she'll have something to use against us; Pyrros and Seraphim."
"I know love. Let's try not to jump to conclusions until we know how and why she's here."
She sighed softly and nodded. From the corner of her eye she saw Pyrros sneaking towards the infirmary and tensed. "Pyrros, you stay away from the infirmary," she called out.
"Aw mommy, no fair," the young tom groaned. His friends snickered at him and he gave them dirty looks.
"Life isn't always fair. I don't want you going in there."
He stomped over towards his parents and gave his mother a pleading look. "But mommy, all the other kits have gone to see the queen who gotted attacked by pollicles and lived. I don't want to be the only one who hasn't gotten to."
"All the other kits have?"
"Yeah. Remi, Keegan, Jareth, Xanthos, Ramirus, even Dimitri, Eramun, and Ros have sneaked in… it's not fair."
"I don't care if they have all gone in there, you are not allowed."
He turned a pleading look on his father. "Daddy, you understand don't you?"
"Pyrros, you heard your mother," Tumble said firmly.
"Fine," he grumped and stomped off.
"I'm not sure that was the best thing to do, beautiful. He's only going to try harder to sneak in there. He's curious, he wants to see."
"I don't want him in there. I don't want either of them anywhere near that queen."
"I know you don't but that might not stop him. Kittens tend to do things they're told not to; it's a part of growing up. Maybe you should let him take a peek while she's still unconscious. That way she won't see him."
Solstice closed her eyes. She really didn't want her kittens to have anything to do with Kestra. "You don't understand Tumble. She would toss him to pollicles to save her own skin. The only cat Kestra cares about is herself."
"I know, but how is it going to hurt anything if he just goes in and looks at her? Think about it. They're all told about how dangerous pollicles are and here's a queen who lived through an attack. For a young tom, it's too strong a curiosity to ignore."
"Fine, but I want you to make sure she's still unconscious. That way she won't see him. She'd know he was mine the instant she saw him."
"Of course beautiful." He head-butted her gently and went to check to make sure Kestra was still out before whispering to his son that he could peek in but shouldn't disturb her because she 'needs her rest'.
Solstice saw the grin on her son's face from where she sat and sighed. She wasn't comfortable with the idea but her mate had a point. If she didn't let him go see Kestra while she was still out of it, there was a greater risk of him sneaking in while she was awake. If Solstice had her way, Kestra would never know about Pyrros and Seraphim.