Ask to Join Big Bear, Little Tree

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

━✦━✶━✺━☀️━✺━✶━✦━

Sunbear's mornings were hardly spent as nimble as she was, if she had been very nimble at all with her size really. But it wasn't like she didn't appreciate the peace and quiet, that was what being an elder was all about, she had the rest of her life to simply be, but she still never seemed to crack a smile to anyone while there was a crowd around, at least not one that lasted long.

Her smile or lack there of, had been hidden further ever since Emberback's death, while she had never been relatively close to him, he was still a cat, still someone that could think and feel like every other cat, a life lost and a soul that his kits will no longer be able to speak to... StarClan that feels familiar.

However this moderate morning, Sunbear had found her peace within her claimed nest, sleeping quietly with her darkened tail wrapped around her dark pelt. While asleep, she was still acutely aware of the sounds, scents and movements around her, her body prepared to flinch awake if needed, which she assumed was going to be a habit that followed her until she died, whenever that might be.

'Sunbear?' a kit's voice called out her name, she had heard Heatherkit's voice before, it wasn't her. And it was certainly not Oatkit or Berrykit, she had heard all their mewls at this point. Sunbear's hazel eyes squinted open slightly and shifted towards the pointed kit though she didn't really move her body much aside from rasping her tongue over her lip. "Cedarkit" she responded sluggishly, parting her jaws into a yawn, stretching out her jaws for a moment before snapping it shut, glancing at Cedarkit for a few heartbeats "have you come here for something? Because I'm not very good with stories" she stated

"You're a star in my sky!"

⚝──⭒─𖣂.ೃ࿔ ✈︎ *:･𖣂.ೃ࿔ ✈︎ *:･─⭒──⚝

The moment Sunbear squinted her eyes open, Cedarkit's entire body tensed, anxious for a heartbeat that Sunbear in fact would not be happy about having been woken up. However, when she shifted towards the pointed kit, not really moving her body much aside from rasping her tongue over her lip before responding with a sluggish greeting of her name Cedarkit relaxed, slowly sitting down as she watched the elder yawn. "I have come here for something. But nothing specific. I just wanted company besides the cats in the nursery. You don't have to tell me stories." The little kit kinda wanted to ask if she could just sit on Sunbear's back but didn't due to being under the impression that her bones were as fragile as a flower.

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

━✦━✶━✺━☀️━✺━✶━✦━

"Company eh?" Sunbear twitched her torn ear and glanced to the entrance of the elder's den for a moment, wondering if Cedarkit had attempted to chat with any of the other cats in the clan, because 'outside the nursery' was much larger than the kit could comprehend at the moment, but she would learn about that in due time, right now, there was a sense of charm in her innocence, it was something that a lot of cats craved, and Sunbear was no different, so she didn't want to assist in shattering it.

Sunbear's large paws stretched out and she soon adjusted herself with little to no struggle or pain to sit in a 'loaf-like' position. "Your sire's been telling you stories about me haven't they" She stated, twitching the dark tip of her tail in thought then tapped it against the ground beside her. Sunbear knew that Beewhisker, as reckless as they might be, wouldn't just let their kit wonder without a watchful eye. 

"Come on then" The large she-cat spoke, making space for Cedarkit beside her with her tail, her belly surprisingly matt free yet still slightly unkempt, something she inherited from her mother most likely, but she hardly thought about Scarletsight anymore, not now that she was finally at peace in WindClan.

Sunbear thought over the idea of a story, she didn't think stories from her past would be very suitable for kits, perhaps she could make something up? Then again, Sunbear was never too good at their either, as blunt as she was. "So, what has Bayflower told you? That I'm a cranky old elder? A big mean grump?" she said, her voice was as blank as ever, but her hazel eyes held a hint of playfulness and joking as she nudged Cedarkit with her nose.

"You're a star in my sky!"

⚝──⭒─𖣂.ೃ࿔ ✈︎ *:･𖣂.ೃ࿔ ✈︎ *:･─⭒──⚝

"Yeah. Company." Cedarkit had responded the kitten's golden eyes following Sunbear's hazel ones in confusion before looking back up at her. The feline wondered which mean cat created the tear in her ear but decided not to ask. Not today at least.

As the elder adjusted her position, the yellow-eyed kit subconsciously followed suit, also putting themselves in a 'loaf-like' position. Cedarkit nodded when the red molly asked them whether their sire had been telling them stories about her and when dark she-cat made space for them, they were quick to crawl over, settling down beside her happily.

"Bayflower tells me some things sometimes but I can't remember everything he tells me. I can remember that Basilflame is your daughter and..."  Cedarkit trailed of, spending a few heartbeats racking their brain for another thing their sire had told them about Sunbear before continuing. "and how you're like everybody's dam." that statement had obviously been an exaggeration. Sunbear had only ever raised three kits and Bayflower saw them as a maternal figure but that seemed to be enough cats to be considered 'everybody' for Cedarkit.

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

━✦━✶━✺━☀️━✺━✶━✦━

"Company it is then, you don't seem to be here to bother anyone, and Beewhisker obviously let you waddle in here" Sunbear stated, instinctively moving her tail around Cedarkit to keep her short pelt warm, she had once done so with Aspenberry and Swanpaw when they were kits, the both of them were good kits, shame Swanpaw left the world so soon, and Hazelkit... she had been smaller than Cedarkit, much smaller, hardly even a moon old before weakness had taken a hold of her, but Sunbear just accepted that StarClan had their ways of making her suffer for her choice to leave ShadowClan.

Sunbear gave a small nod to Cedarkit when Basilflame came up in conversation, her living daughter, she had been bigger and healthier than Hazelkit, and she certainly wouldn't have remembered Hazelkit if Sunbear didn't tell her that she had existed. "I am Basilflame's mother that's right" She confirmed, giving her chest fur a few attentive licks. "I've got another litter in ShadowClan as well, they're older than Basilflame though" she stated, glancing at her paws for a moment, they weren't much bigger than Cedarkit when she had left ShadowClan. But she knew that had grown well, well enough anyway.

"Oh I wouldn't say I'm a dame to everyone, I'm Basilflame's dame, but I am a foster mother to Aspenberry. And if Bayflower sees me as close enough to be kin then I don't see much of a problem" Sunbear explained, placing her chin onto her front paws, her eyes set on Cedarkit but weren't tired or drowsy, just relaxed at most. "We all need someone to care about us, kin or not. Do you think so little flower?"

"You're a star in my sky!"

⚝──⭒─𖣂.ೃ࿔ ✈︎ *:･𖣂.ೃ࿔ ✈︎ *:･─⭒──⚝

Cedarkit's first reaction to Sunbear wrapping her tail around them was to snuggle closer, the feline purring. "What was Basilflame like as a kit?" The kitten questioned before her eyes widened with curiosity at the elder's mention of having a family in ShadowClan. Now that was a detail Bayflower had left out. "Mhm. Everybody should be loved and understood. No matter what." The kit replied in response to the elder's very last statement. 

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

━✦━✶━✺━☀️━✺━✶━✦━

Insightful young one, Sunbear thought to herself before turning her hazel eyes back towards the kit, she let out a purr of amusement as she asked her question. "Well I'll have to look back a while" she joked, her nose twitching in mock thought, she knew everything, or at least a lot, about her kits and she certainly remembered everything Basilflame had did as a kit.

"She was a polite kit, she shared her nest with Aspenberry for a while, she was more adaptable to it than I thought, never a bad thing" Sunbear explained honestly, from what she remembered, Basilflame was also rather attentive when she was Basilkit, but she wondered if Cedarkit would be able to grasp the idea of being attentive, she didn't have much need to be when Beewhisker was as overbearing as they were, coddling the two kits like they can hardly walk. Sunbear let out a quiet huff however and her eyes flicked back to Cedarkit the hazel in here eyes a stark contrast to the scars that broke up the orange fur.

"She made sure that all the other kits were well before she focused on herself, that's something she still carried with her, it makes for a fine warrior" she added, she didn't bother to explain what happened within Basilflame's apprenticeship, especially since she didn't want the kit to have an overhanging fear that something may happen to either of her parents if she had, it was never impossible for them to be taken before their time, but Sunbear still held a dull hope within her chest that everything would be fine, at least until Cedarkit and Berrykit have their warrior ceremony... however she didn't even know it she would make it that far.

Sunbear shook her head, shaking away her morbid thoughts as she purred at Cedarkit's answer "Glad I've got a little accomplice, maybe you will find yourself in my situation one day" Sunbear chuckled giving Cedarkit a few short licks of her fur "What was it you said? Dame to everyone?"

"You're a star in my sky!"

⚝──⭒─𖣂.ೃ࿔ ✈︎ *:･𖣂.ೃ࿔ ✈︎ *:･─⭒──⚝

Cedarkit listened to Sunbear's words patiently, taking in every word the elderly molly said to them like a new apprentice would their mentor. "I don't think I'd want to be everybody's dame. That sounds like a lot of work. But I wouldn't mind being everybody's friend." the kitten told the red elder.

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

━✦━✶━✺━☀️━✺━✶━✦━

Sunbear's whiskers twitched in amusement at the kit's statement before she thought it over for a moment, she had very little friends in the past but the once she did have she'd lost one way or another. "Being everyone's friend is hard too, if I had to guess it's a bit harder" Sunbear explained, twitching the tip of her tail absent-mindedly, as if it was out of instinct rather than it being deliberate.

"There are things that separate us, things we can't control, some things we can, but they're barriers, and some of those aren't worth breaking down" Sunbear explained, watching the kit's every movement to make sure she didn't topple over or even take a wrong step and hurt herself. Cedarkit wouldn't even get a thorn in her paw on Sunbear's watch. But no cat could protect everyone, it just wasn't possible, and Sunbear was certainly no stranger to that.

"Sometimes it's a hard notion to come to terms with, but life is hard" Sunbear stated plainly, she didn't want to discourage Cedarkit from making friends or even finding friendship from another clan when she grew, she was once a ShadowClan cat after all, some cat obviously wanted her in WindClan, what StarClan cat allowed her to stay she didn't know, but she owed her thanks to whoever it may be. "But don't take that too harshly" she added.

With a soft breath she recalled something she had said to comfort Basilflame from a bad dream or other when she was a kit, though Cedarkit may not be in any need of comfort, it was still good advice to carry in her opinion "It only affects you as much as you let it. We're all brought he for a reason, StarClan has fates planned for everyone, and while we can't change how cruel things are, what we can control is how we deal with them." she explained, giving the point kit a rare smile "You can either let life make you sour, or take it as a blessing. Whatever way you decide to take it, I'll be here to talk if you need"

"You're a star in my sky!"

⚝──⭒─𖣂.ೃ࿔ ✈︎ *:･𖣂.ೃ࿔ ✈︎ *:･─⭒──⚝

"Well it doesn't sound harder than being everybody's dam. You don't have to feed your friends or entertain your friends all the time like you have to with kittens" Cedarkit countered softly.