Like the sun, I may burn fiercely, but it's my fire that warms those I hold dear.

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Sunbear watched the ginger tom speak, her posture was focused but not intrusive, even if the two were from a different clan now, he was once her clanmate, and he deserves the respect at least for that. "Progress is good, Fallpaw is doing well, not like I've been paying much attention. I feel I will learn a lot more about Heatherkit's training when it begins, chatters like a starling that one" she stated, though it was in good favor, the interactions she had with kits were always ones she held in good favor, despite feeling like she doesn't really understand them as much as she should.

The news of her name fading near entirely from ShadowClan brought up a nod in the red she-cat, she understood that time will eventually hide what has once been, that has been a truth she learnt quite early on. "Time has its way of keeping what was done in the past, if it is not worth speaking about, the many moons have done their job" she stated, her voice set at its usual flatness, but with an underlying sincerity to it.

Sunbear stretched out her paws, arching her back as she felt the pops of old joints aching from the cold, not enough to really bother her however, she'd experienced worse. "I'd assume WindClan would be starting to notice an elder missing by now, and ShadowClan will need their deputy, I should think" she finally added swivelling her ears for a moment "It's been a pleasure catching up with you however."

"I'll be off if there's nothing else" she echoed, aiming to turn back to WindClan's territory. "Check up on Hawkfeather whenever you can for me would you?"

 

At the subject of her name, Dawnflurry's tail curved a little as he thought on what to say.

 

"I wouldn't say it's vanished," he meowed casually, "but that is a way to put it. You know how focus shifts over time, and I feel that many of them now are too young to remember you with us."

 

For the better, he ultimately thought, then shrugged. "But that's life." They could do little more about that than they could the weather, in his opinion.

 

"Brightmaple's? I see." He was familiar with the name, and like with Sunbear, Dawnflurry couldn't recall the last time he'd seen and spoken with her, but that wasn't a problem.

 

"I suspect the cold will remain as usual," he agreed, "but I'm glad you're all well."

Like the sun, I may burn fiercely, but it's my fire that warms those I hold dear.

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Sunbear's ears have a twitch to keep the fact that she was listening to the ShadowClan tom with all the respect she had for him would remain clear as day. Sunbear gave a few licks to her front paw and glanced back over to Dawnflurry. "New apprentices, I think I've heard things, Clovershine's three?" The large red she-cat asked, letting her tail give a soft, absent flick for a moment to let her question sit, though it wasn't really a question of importance, a question worth speaking aloud was surely a question worth asking.

"As a whole?" Sunbear paused for a moment, she had a sense of instinctual protectiveness flood her senses for a moment but she decided not to dwell to much further into them as they weren't for a casual conversation, at last Sunbear hoped to StarClan that is what this accidental meeting was. "I'm pleased to hear it, suppose my name has vanished from your clanmates' maws now?" she asked, her nose twitching somewhat dismissively, she didn't care much, and would certainly be glad if that attention faded away, and would not be surprised if it had, but the thought still hung in the air.

"WindClan is doing well, we'll be welcoming some new apprentices soon, Brightmaple's little pair" Sunbear replied, twitching her tail lightly as she remembered the two kits, they have grown so quickly overtime, Heatherkit was certainly a sweet little kit, and soon enough she'll pass her sweetness onto whoever her mentor would be, though Sunbear had her guesses. "Nothing of great difference really, the cold hasn't receded quite yet unfortunately" she added then shrugged her still rather muscular, but time-weathered shoulders "But its for all the clans I assume"

 

Was ShadowClan well? Temporary trepidation flickered in his orange eyes and tainted the relaxed look he meant to maintain. He could've stopped it, but the deputy didn't mind showing that sort of honesty to her still.

 

 

Like the sun, I may burn fiercely, but it's my fire that warms those I hold dear.

━✦━✶━✺━☀️━✺━✶━✦━

Sunbear paused as she heard pawsteps crunching on slick, melting snow and her ears perked up, shifting in different directions to track where the sound was coming from. Thunderpath? Sunbear's ears directed her to the space beneath the Thunderpath and her hazel eyes narrowed for a moment, it smelt like ShadowClan, and she had no rivalries with the cats there, but it was always best to be safe, and her fur bristled ever so slightly.

"Oh, Dawnflurry" Sunbear wasn't sure if she had been relieved to hear Dawnflurry's voice or if he would revere her leaving ShadowClan like most cats once have. But Sunbear was somewhat close to Dawnflurry as far as the ShadowClan cats go. "And a while it has been, last I saw you, we were both at a gathering, though I believe that was before I retired to the elders' den" she added, her still fit body rippling under her fur down to a small twitch at the end of her tail.

The red she-cat had never really been much for conversation, but she had not seen the ShadowClan deputy in quite a while and he was in her good graces as most of ShadowClan was, yet she still wondered if she was in his own. "ShadowClan, are they well?" she asked with a twitch in her ears. After all, there was nothing wrong with talking about how another clan's cats were doing

 

As he emerged on the other side of the tunnel, the deputy's focus snapped to a large shadow cast ahead. His fur was already bristled somewhat against the cold, and now his muscles tensed in readiness to respond shadow's source. When he looked closer and scented the air, however, the tom relaxed.

 

"Sunbear," Dawnflurry meowed to his former Clanmate and dipped his head respectfully in greeting. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

 

He'd never held any ill will towards her for leaving ShadowClan. Instead, he'd felt useless for being unable to help her... but that had been moons and moons ago, and he had long since been glad she'd found her home in WindClan.

Like the sun, I may burn fiercely, but it's my fire that warms those I hold dear.

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It had been a couple of moons since Sunbear got a good walk in, it wasn't across the whole territory but it felt like it was pretty close, maybe Sunbear's legs were getting weaker from laying about all day. The ruddy she-cat rolled her eyes and padded forward, her large body casting a shadow in the dawn light, she should really do these walks more often if she wanted to keep herself well enough to live longer than this.

With a sigh, the WindClan elder's legs brought her to the neutral area between the Thunderpath and Fourtrees. Deja vu, would be the word that described what Sunbear felt, she had definitely been here before, Hollyclaw and Heronsong she had met here from what she could recall in her mind, it was no business of hers however, since she wasn't really here to see anyone in particular, just to give her legs a small break.

Sunbear cleaned her ruffled chest fur with several uncalculated rasps of her tongue, she was too old to care about making herself look impressionable, not anymore anyway, she looked fine and healthy, that's all that mattered to her.