"Sol, I know it's been a long time, but I need to talk to you. It's important." Scarlet's eyes dropped and she stared at a ladybug inching along the ground.
"A long time? I haven't seen you in seasons! The last time we spoke was when we were kits. How do I even know it's you?" Sol burst out, scraping his claws along the ground in anger.
Scarlet's eyes widened and she drew in a breath, stepping back and fixing Sol with an accusatory glare.
"How can you say that? I know it's sudden, but can't you tell it's me?" Scarlet's voice was ridden with frustration and Sol could even catch a hint of fury.
"Prove it." The challenge was simple and Scarlet's shoulders sank a bit as she relaxed.
"Remember the stories Mother used to tell us? About the great, fierce cats as strong as lions, the Clans? Remember Dragonfly, do you remember how Cinder left us each with a different twoleg because she couldn't care for us, or she was too cowardly to try?" Scarlet's voice rose as her words carried more feeling.
Sol's thoughts were suddenly filled with memories of his mother, most filled with contempt and anger at her actions, leaving them alone and confused because she had given up. A wave of sadness crashed over him and he let out a sorrowful sigh. He brought himself back to reality and saw Scarlet staring back at him, waiting for him to say something. He lifted his head and padded closer to her and touched his nose to hers, trying to ignore the flash of wariness her eyes betrayed.
"I'm sorry, I have just spent so many seasons trying to forget the past, it's hard to accept it and welcome a part of it into my life. How have you been? What do you need to speak to me about?" He meowed.
Scarlet's face brightened and she rubbed the side of her face against his, purring.
"It's great to see you, Sol! I need to ask you a favour… a pretty big one, mind you."
"What is it?" Sol's mind spun with ideas of what she could want and he wondered if it would include their mother.
Scarlet's gaze fell and her eyes filled with sadness. She sat on her haunches and absentmindedly pawed at a passing butterfly.
"What is it?" Sol said, his voice softer and kinder this time.
The tortoiseshell cat moved to sit next to her, brushing his pelt against hers and licking her ears lightly in his attempt to comfort his sister.
"Well, my twolegs were great to me for a while, I had a warm bed and they fed me the good, wet food, not those dry, horrible pebbles…" Her voice trailed off and she sighed.
"But?" Sol inquired, trying his hardest not to sound too eager to hear what happened to her.
"When the kind female twoleg left one day, she didn't come back and the other twoleg took me to a strange place one day in my carrier, a place with oddly shaped rocks where a wooden box was lowered into the ground and there were many twolegs dressed in black." Scarlet stood and began to pace.
"After that day, he started drinking from a lot of shiny bottles and he wasn't kind anymore, just cruel. I met a wonderful tom, his name was Rex. We were together a lot, he was my mate. When I bore his kittens, the male twoleg took them from me. He was kind that day, but I don't know what he did to them. The next day, he threw one of the shiny things at Rex. It broke and Rex was hurt…" Her head dropped again and she lay down on the ground, hiding her head under a paw.
"Scarlet, it's alright, you don't have to tell me if it's too hard." Sol mewed, lying beside her and beginning to groom her fur with soft, comforting strokes of his tongue.
"No, I'm fine. Rex's wound never healed and he died. When my twoleg kicked me the day Rex died, I knew I had to leave. I ran away and I found you. I still have one kit, Silver, and if she's going to survive, we have to find the clans." Scarlet told him, her voice pleading.
"I'll help you through anything you need me to. Where is silver?"
"In the forest nearby. I'll take you." Scarlet began to bound away and Sol followed.
When they arrived at the forest, Sol was out of breath but Scarlet didn't seem the least bit bothered by the long distance they'd had to run.
A high pitched mew caught Sol's ears and he turned his head to see the source.
"Mama? Mama, I'm hungry." A tiny, silvery-white kit stumbled over to Scarlet, sitting between her front paws.
Sol stared at them, softly purring without realizing it. The soft-furred kit had his mother's beautiful violet eyes and the same dark brown fleck at the top of her ear.
"Silver, this is Sol. He is my brother, the one we came all this way to see." Scarlet gazed fondly at her daughter.
"It's nice to meet you." Silver said politely, staring up at him with wide eyes.
Sol's head was spinning. This was all happening too fast and it was taking a while for him to process. Why did Scarlet need to find the Clans? He knew it was easy enough for him to leave his home, there wasn't much for him to leave.
"I know this is moving pretty fast, but will you help me?" Scarlet read his mind.
Sol thought for only a few heartbeats before agreeing with only a small hesitation.
"I'll go. Why is it so important that you find the Clans?" He asked her.
"Silver needs a place to go. The twolegs are building dens and other larger places around the places we could live, and since I can't be sure that none of the twolegs will take her away if they see her. That rules out living with new twolegs. I need a place to go, please, Sol. Help me." Scarlet pleaded, desperation showing in her eyes.
"Where do we go first?"