Burning Justice pt 1

It had been a few weeks from the Gathering and so much had gone on. Sandblaze broke her heart, yet she couldn't even really focus on the grief of the death of her first relationship. Burningsun's head had been muggy with the thoughts of justice, mulling over what to do. She knew she had to do something, but what could she do? If she stood out to TInystar and openly defied him, he very well could murder her too.

The thought of going and retrieving Finchstar crossed her head many, many times. Dreams of the WindClan leader standing over her, staring into her soul. Questioning her. Pressing her. Do something, do something, do something. Jaystar would push him aside. Trial! Trial! Trial! Oakstar, standing on the rock as well, looking sadly across the clan. Not safe, not safe, not safe. The voices would swirl together and she often woke up in a panic next to Lightfang before pressing closer to him.

But this night was different. As soon as she fell asleep, she woke up. At first she was extremely confused. Had she slept walk into the forest? Something felt wrong, but it was too vivid, too real to be a dream. Cautiously, she stepped forward but felt nothing underneath her paws. The fur on her spine rose and the anxiety almost caused her to shake. Was she in StarClan? Sweet moonstone, was she dead? "Hello?" she called out tentatively, her voice shaking with fear. Burningsun took another step forward, peering around a large trunk.

The large ancient trees grew taller than the forest’s own pines. A grove of starlight, that seemed so impossible in life. On one of the lower branches, a starry she-cat watched the young she cat. Her orange tabby pelt stood out so visibly compared to the paler landscape of the dead. Where StarClan cats chose to roam, often to greet the young cats for their moonstones. Bright green eyes blinked above her. Pelt a deep silver marred with black markings that melded together. With white markings that stood out… but her appearance was marred. Deep, well-healed gashes marred her right eye. Like a claw had been raked across it, and her throat held the welts of claws that had torn through it once.

She leapt down from her branch, landing neatly behind Burningsun as she called out. Black ears flicking back in thought as she sighed. StarClan was not blind, or deaf. It had heard the cries in the gathering, the disdain that was wrought upon the young tiny leader that had killed her… both freeing and destroying her.
"It figures Tinystar would hide it.” Her voice wasn’t soft. She didn’t waste time with petite greetings as her green eyes bore into the orange one’s pelt. "Of course, I wasn’t worth telling about I suppose.”

Her greyish blue and black shoulders raised in a brief shrug as she sat down to observe this new cat. Her own body was thin beneath a delicate pelt. Body the way it was when she died, overworked, and looking as exhausted as a cat that had spent every night without sleep.

Burningsun jumped at the sound of a voice behind her. Whipping around, she took in the sight in front of her. The pelt looked extremely familiar. She raked her brain to picture where she had seen it. Ah! Her Moonstone. Carefully, she listened to the she-cat's words. "Starlingpaw? Am I dead?" The orange warrior took a step forward, coming closer to the she-cat. "Wait,you... you mentioned Tinystar and... I. Sparrowpaw?" This whole thing was astonishing to a warrior, one whom never expected to see StarClan outside of their Moonstone and Death.

Burningsun took another step forward towards Sparrowpaw. "Are you alright?" If she was in StarClan, why was this cat so skinny? Weren't the cats of the night sky supposed to be of those in health? Burningsun's multi-colored gaze scanned over the tiny cat again. She was so injured, so tortured. Every instinct in her was screaming to comfort. To save. But fear held her back.

Sparrowpaw snorted as the she-cat suddenly took in her features. She tilted her head so the scars on her eye showed more prominently.
"Sedgestrike gave me these scars.” She explained, her tail twitching in clear discomfort, but she pushed ahead. The reason this cat was here was important, both to SkyClan, and to StarClan as she looked at the rest of her thin body. "’paw’... yeah. I never did get to be a warrior.” Her pale jaw clenched at the reminder. Green eyes looked down at the starry ground. "I was never good enough. I hunted until I was weak. Rarely gave myself a moment to rest. Never ate much myself… I felt bad I suppose. The tom that was supposed to be my father… he hurt the clan. I spent moons trying to claw my way out of his shadow.”

Her gaze darkened, her jaw lifted to better display the wounds at her throat. The clean and clear slashes that had to be done by a cat smaller than herself.
"Look where it got me.” She huffed, then stood, stepping a few paces away from Burningsun. Body full of obvious tension. "Tinystar was scared. I defended the border from an enemy cat, and he decided I was too violent to keep.” Her gaze returned to Burningsun once more.

Now, instead of anger, her body sank into itself. Green gaze wavering as tears threatened to spill on the starlit ground.
"I never had a chance. I don’t know why I didn’t leave SkyClan. What my father did… what Sedgestrike-” she corrected herself with a growl. Cursing the silver tom who was trying to make it up to her in the stars, "it sentenced me to death. Hardly a fair one, after all I did. All leafbare I kept the clan fed… but it hardly matters now, I live here.” She sighed, sitting down, then laying in the starry grass. She always did prefer the ground. It was the farthest from her father she could possibly be.

It was almost as if Burningsun was feeling her pain. Her throat almost seared with the clawmarks across her throat where they sliced through Sparrowpaw's. Tinystar made those. She knew what she had to do, and had known for a few weeks now, but meeting her, seeing Tinystar's victim... Those wounds were hers to take over now. She didn't even care if Sparrowpaw didn't want her to. Slowly, words started to form as the situation solidied in her head. She was in StarClan. Speaking to a dead cat. "I know it's a lot, Sparrowpaw, but can you tell your story from start to finish?" She paused for a second, before a hard expression crossed her face. "Tinystar refuses to tell us what happened. He said you were a danger to SkyClan and the forest as a whole." The warrior took in the frail, small, weak frame of the apprentice... How could Tinystar see a threat to the forest in this cat. 'Well, maybe, if I was the size of a river rock.' She thought bitterly to herself, waiting to hear Sparrowpaw's tale.

Her head turned to look at Burningsun. Emotions warred on her face, plainly as she turned back towards the distance in thought. The she-cat didn’t need to hear her entire life story… of how everything crumbled into pieces around her.
"It was morning.” She meowed calmly, her thin tail flicked over her body, which she adjusted so she was at least looking in Burningsun’s direction as she spoke. "Tinystar wanted to do my assessment himself… but from the start I made him angry.” Her gaze turned to the thick trunk of a nearby tree.

"I don’t climb, at least not high. My mother and sister died from falling off a branch. Other cats have died similarly, so I grew to hate the idea of climbing. It was for the squirrels to do. A small nap on a branch is the most I will do. But of course, Tinystar didn’t take well to that. He hated that I didn’t want to climb.” She sighed as her gaze went back to Burningsun. "It was supposed to be typical. One hunt out of hundreds I’d done… but there was a ShadowClan cat. He was well across the border into SkyClan’s territory.” Her black ears flattened. Claws digging into the ground.

"He taunted me. I was certain I’d be an apprentice forever, so I engaged before Tinystar got there. The battle was short, and simple. He had a new battle scar, but it was nothing that any cat could have gotten at anytime. A simple cut from chest to belly when my hind claws found good purchase.” She sighed, and shook her head. "Well, wouldn’t you know it?” She asked, tone sardonic as she looked up at Burningsun. "Tinystar didn’t like it. We dropped off the intruder at his camp, and came back to hear the announcement. That I was to be executed.” Her jaws clenched as she sat back up. Her weariness seemed energised by anger as she spat bitterly.

"All I did. For moons. Was hunt for my clan. Then when I fought for it, I got killed. Well, I saw Tinystar for what it was then. A miserable tiny leader, who couldn’t see past his own fear.” She scoffed bitterly as she stood, padding towards the line of star studded trees for a moment, before she stopped, then turned back. Green eyes still angry, but clear.
"I have told you the truth, Burningsun. May you use it to find Justice.” She blinked for a moment, the urge to ask her to pass on a message sudden in her chest, but she held back. Mintwhisker didn’t deserve the apology. Instead, she huffed, and shook her head. "Tinystar is SkyClan’s leader, but he isn’t all knowing, or always correct. StarClan is watching though… be careful Burningsun. Don’t let hatred consume you… ”

Burningsun's full focus was on Sparrowpaw. She was able to picture the story clearly, and put everything into context. Sedgestrike, was her father. Again, her mind wandered to her Moonstone. Echoflame had mentioned her mate, Sedgestrike for murdering Tinystar. That must mean that the mother and sister Sparrowpaw mentioned was Echoflame and Starlingpaw. The despair and sadness Sparrowpaw must have felt as she was left an orphan - like her - but with the name of a murderer as her father instead of one as an honorable one.

She didn't dare to interrupt, to ask any questions. Sparrowpaw would tell her exactly what Burningsun needed to know. And what Burningsun needed to know astonished her. Tinystar murdered an apprentice because they did what any other warrior would do? For defending her clan? The more the younger cat spoke the more the familiar inferno fire of rage rose. Her pelt felt hot and like she could explode.

The living warrior jumped up to chase after Sparrowpaw as she left, but found her paws rooted in the ground, unable to move. "Wait!" she cried as the StarClan cat hit the line of trees she couldn't see past, but was promptly interrupted. Luckily, Sparrowpaw had just a few more words to say and again, she accepted them with the gratefulness of a starving cat after leafbare.

With the last notes of Sparrowpaw's tale on the dreamy air, the landscape around Burningsun began to melt away from her. She tried to scream, to stay awake, to keep talking, but it was useless.

As the sunlight hit her eyes from the real world, the final words of Sparrowpaw echoed in her ears.

"I have told you the truth, Burningsun. May you use it to find Justice..."

"Be careful Burningsun. Don’t let hatred consume you… "

Burningsun stood. She knew what she had to do.