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Bliss bunched her haunches behind her, and leapt onto the windowsill, paws skittering on the muddy surface. Cautiously, she shifted from side to side until her grip steadied, tail twitching with effort as she evaded knocking the plants that sat beside her to the ground. They were mint and sage, according to Lily. Nose twitching, she bent down to sniff them, nose wreathing with the gentle scent.
The window itself was stained, a musty brown shade that reminded Bliss of dirt, and made it hard to focus through. A sparrow perched on the fence opposite her, and its warbling song barely reached her ears. Her tongue flashed over her lips, and Bliss whimpered.
Suddenly, she heard a soft moan from behind her, and Bliss bounded down from the windowsill, tail flicking into the sage as she landed on a pile of their Housefolk’s junk. Perching, Bliss scanned the room for Lily, spotting her curled up on a Housefolk pelt. Bliss flinched, noticing once again just how her bones jutted out, and peered at her own chest, self-consciously. She couldn’t remember ever not being hungry, but her legs shook beneath her as Bliss finished her jump to the floor, padding carefully over to Lily.
Lily’s eyes blinked open, unfocused, “Bliss?” her mew was barely more than a whisper, cracked with thirst. Bliss laid down next to her, aware of how their bones pushed together, like birds when the trees lost their leaves. Watching her every movement, Bliss traced her tail over Lily’s spine, curling the pair together like kittens in a den.
“Hush,” she mewed, forcing a purr out of her throat, hoping the rumble could comfort her mate. “I’m here.”
Lily just twitched in their nest, paws flickering as if she could run free for eternity. “One day.” Bliss promised her, “One day we will race under the stars together.”
There was no sign that Lily heard her, and Bliss lapped her mate’s forehead, smoothing the once glossy fur, faded and patchy.
Darkness eventually swallowed Bliss, her last waking thought being that of an eternal field, with her and Lily never tiring or hungering.
Birdsong chorused through the den, a strong ring that danced across Bliss’ pelt. She pushed her muzzle to Lily’s, trying to remember her sweet scent, and not the sour one that wreathed around her once more. Cautiously, Bliss slipped out of their nest, blinking slowly at Lily, and steadied her paws to jump, slamming onto the windowsill. She felt her whole body shake with the impact, but she stabilised her paws on the slippery surface, gazing out into the garden.
A trio of blackbirds sat in the bush with its thick, deep green leaves, singing unapologetically. Bliss’ stomach rumbled, and she opened her mouth, desperate to capture even a whiff of the scent of something she could eat. Wings fluttered, and Bliss closed her jaws, slumping down lower, and lapping some of the moisture that collated itself on the window.
“Lily,” She called down, meow swallowed by the junk in the room. Tilting her head to one side, Bliss bunched her legs, ignoring the way they quavered, and jumped to the floor, paws stepping lightly. “Lily?”
Heart in her throat, she pushed her nose into Lily’s pelt, jolting back in fear.
She was cold.
Bliss curled herself around Lily, frantically licking her mate as a mother would their kit.
The blackbirds started to sing once again, and Bliss flattened her ears, desperate for Lily to speak to her once more. “Lily?”
She continued to lick at Lily’s ears, tongue rasping against fur and skin.
Curling around Lily’s form, Bliss settled into sleep once more. Half-whispering to herself, “We can run together when the sun rises again, yeah?”
Lily didn’t stir, remaining as cold as the wall. Bliss whimpered, a miserable sound that sank deep into Lily’s pelt.
A yowl woke Bliss, a sharp sound that cut the air and made the fur on her spine stand on end. Her neck bristled beneath the purple bow wrapped around it, and she pushed herself closer to Lily as the screeches got closer.
She pushed herself closer to her mate’s ice cold form when a blackbird’s caw jolted her once again, accompanied by a hiss of frustration.
Bunching her muscles, Bliss forced herself to the windowsill, desperate to confirm her suspicions.
A cat! Hunting! It was pale grey, with long curled whiskers and a tail that whipped around as it stalked off.
Bliss meowed, a harsh sound that caught the attention of the strange cat, “Please!”
It came over to her window, eyes narrowed, “Kittypet.”
She made her fur lie flat, and opened her eyes widely, “Please, you have to help me get my mate out- she’s-” Bliss couldn’t choke the words out, but the cat's eyes softened, and it nodded, whisking its tail around.
“I’ll try to get the Twoleg out.”
Bliss jumped back to Lily, bones aching with the effort of dragging her mate over the cluttered floor, even as her heart sank at how light she was.
“We’ll be out soon,” She promised, the energy in her mew making it unfamiliar to even her.
The strange cat was yowling something fierce, hissing and snarling, and Bliss pricked her ears, hearing another cat joining in.
Shrinking into her pelt, she hid herself and Lily by the door, ready to run like she dreamed that they would be able to, one day.
She heard her Housefolk come before she saw him, a loud thumping that reminded her of the thunder during a storm, the foul scent that accompanied him as pervasive as the rain could be. The door slammed open, missing Bliss by a whisker, and the Housefolk cried his own response, shaking his fist at the tussling cats.
Breathing in all the courage she could, Bliss grabbed Lily’s scruff once more, and hared out of the doorway, limbs screaming in protest as she ran, full pelt, past the scrap.
The two fighting cats- the one from the window, and another who smelt just like it, turned on her Housefolk, hissing and snarling, until he retreated back into the den, paws flailing wildly.
Exhausted, Bliss panted under the bush a den down from her own, licking Lily’s fur flat once more.
The strange cats padded over, eyes wide with concern. The first, the one she’d seen at her window, was a tom, grey fur flattened after his fight, whereas the other was a dark red she-cat, with bright green eyes that seemed to reach into Bliss’ soul.
“I’m Whisperfur,” the tom mewed, sitting next to Bliss, “and this is Flamecry.”
“Those are strange names,” Bliss responded, voice faint, “I’m Bliss, and my mate is Lily.”
They both dipped their heads, and Flamecry bent down to sniff Lily, before she jumped back in horror.
Whisperfur turned to his friend, concerned.
“She’s dead,” Flamecry announced, mew shaky.
Bliss shook her head, “No. She can’t be. We were going to run together.”
The two cats looked at her sympathetically, and Whisperfur spoke, “She runs with the stars now. May we help you bury her?”
“I need to sit with her. So she isn’t forgotten.”
The others nodded, and Flamecry meowed again, voice more stable, “I’ll hunt,” she cast a look at Bliss, “I think I saw a mouse nest, if we didn’t scare off all the prey.”
Whisperfur settled himself next to Lily, “We spend a night sitting vigil with our warriors, after they die. It helps to guide their spirit to StarClan.”
She acknowledged his words with a vacant twitch of her ears, settling down fully beside Lily. “Can she run freely in StarClan?”
The tom looked startled, “There is good hunting, swift running, and shelter.” He shifted his paws, “Our medicine cats usually perform the ceremony, to wish blessings upon our warriors, but I do not see why we cannot wish the same for Lily. There are more stars than there have ever been warriors, afterall.”
She pushed herself closer to Lily, “Please.”
Bliss followed Whisperfur’s gaze as he raised his head to stare up at the sun as it shone above them, “May StarClan light your path, Lily.” Bliss felt a shiver run through her fur at the reverence imbued in Whisperfur’s mew as he spoke the words. “May you find good hunting, swift running, and shelter when you sleep.”
Flamecry returned shortly after, just as Whisperfur started to dig a grave. Three mice dangled from her jaws, and Bliss felt her stomach yowl in protest.
The cat- the warrior- placed one at each of their feet, and Bliss tore a chunk, purring with delight at the musky flavour, when it bathed her tongue.
She lay a piece beside Lily’s muzzle, prey to accompany her travels, before finishing her own food, and adding her own paws into the digging, along with Flamecry, Whisperfur gulping down his own meal.
A thrush warbled from above them as they lay Lily down to rest, nudging her body and the prey into the hole with her. She looked to be sleeping, the thought struck Bliss like a claw in her heart. She whimpered, as the warriors dropped their own earth into the hole, leaving Lily in an eternal darkness.
Bliss gazed at her mate’s body, as it disappeared from her, “I will join you,” she murmured, “And we will run together. Beneath the stars, the sun, or the moon. In a forest, a field, or through the dens of the Housefolk. I will never let my paws leave your side, and the wind will rustle through our fur as one.”