history

~~~

IT WASN'T HARD TO FIND Sunbounce's flaming ginger pelt in a world of snow. Indeed, he was sitting below the Sky Oak as Swanfrost had said, staring out at the lake with a blank expression.

Violetpaw approached him cautiously. She was unsure of how he'd react to her. However, as she neared, her paws accidentally shifted on a dry piece of stick, which broke easily below her weight. Sunbounce's ears flew upwards and his head snapped over to look at who was there, but he relaxed at the sight of his apprentice.

"Violetpaw."

"Hi, Sunbounce," the white she-cat mewed a little nervously, hopping over. The closer she grew, though, the more she felt her tail-tip twitch at Sunbounce's appearance. The ginger tom looked dead. "Are, er- are you okay?"

Sunbounce sighed deeply, gazing at the lake again. "Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" When he received silence as an answer, however, he shrugged. "I'm just tired. I don't think I've slept a wink of good sleep since Mom got diagnosed with greencough, and ever since you were taken by SkyClan - well, sleep just wasn't an option."

Violetpaw shifted her weight on her paws. She'd always thought Sunbounce hated her, and in some odd way, it was nice to hear that he cared about her disappearance.

Her mentor turned to her. "Why did you do that, by the way? You risked your life for Blossomsky's. Why?"

Violetpaw didn't think she'd be able to explain it, because she to be truthful, she didn't know. There was just this bond she felt deep in her stomach, something she couldn't shake, paired with the name of Violetdust. 

But she wasn't sure how to put that into words - and for it to not sound like she'd lost her mind - so instead, she just flicked her tail. "I couldn't let Blossomsky die to greencough," she mewed, as though it were really that simple.

Sunbounce shook his head. "Blossomsky's an old cat, Violetpaw. She's about to retire to the elders den. She's lived her life. You haven't, and her life wasn't worth risking yours."

This surprised Violetpaw. Sunbounce had been the one who could barely get out of his nest once hearing about Blossomsky's sickness. This would be the last thing she would've thought the ginger tom would say, so all she could do was stare at the ginger tom in disbelief.

Her mentor didn't seem to notice, however. It looked as though this tender moment was gone, and an overwhelming wave of relief combined with exhaustion had swept over him, for he chuckled, as though he were a bit out of his mind. "It would've been ironic, though."

Violetpaw twitched her ears, and she couldn't help but laugh a little bit - out of confusion - too. "What would?"

"If Blossomsky died from greencough." Sunbounce's peals came to a slow stop. "My sister, Honeykit, died from greencough too. My parents had never gotten over that, and it would've just been... interesting if my mom died the same way as her favorite kit did."

He was clearly lost in his thoughts, and Violetpaw even wondered for a split second if he was talking to himself. There were many things to unpack from those words, but the last bit stood out to her, as if she related to that thought somehow. 

And there was that drum again, chanting the same name: Violetdust.

"Don't say that," Violetpaw mewed, looking down at her paws. "I'm sure Blossomsky loved all of you equally."

Sunbounce scoffed, shaking his head. "Everything Violetdust and I did, it would have to trace back to Honeykit. When we became apprentices and warriors, Mom practically cried her eyes out because Honeykit could never have this opportunity. When I became mates with Whitebird, instead of being happy, Mom and Dad were all upset, because Honeykit would never be able to have that experience."

The white she-cat shifted on her paws, unsure of what to say to that. "Sunbounce..."

"I bet Violetdust had someone she liked. You know, in fact, I bet it was Stormbird." Sunbounce shook his head with a smile, as though the thought was hilarious to him. "I figured it out. That would make sense, wouldn't it? Why she never told anyone. Why they were both out that night."

Violetpaw wasn't sure he wanted her to reply, so she kept quiet, and only nodded, which her mentor took for a response.

"Mom and Dad talk about Honeykit all the time," the ginger tom murmured quietly. "All the time. About how she was taken too young, about how she never deserved this. And about her eyes - she had heterochromia eyes, did you know? The color of her eyes developed while she was quarantined in the medicine den, so nobody else really knows but us."

For some reason, Violetpaw could envision this, like an old memory. One is amber and one is blue.

"One amber, one blue," Sunbounce mewed, confirming Violetpaw's thought. "Oh, Mom and Dad love talking about it. About what a shame it is that nobody ever got to see her beautiful eyes."

He sighed, shifting on his paws. "But they never bring up Violetdust. Never her eyes, her skills, her achievements - absolutely nothing."

Violetpaw thought about this carefully before answering. "Maybe it hurts more to talk about Violetdust, so that's why they never bring her up," she suggested slowly. "They could be trying to avoid the pain."

Sunbounce shrugged, and looked out at the beach again. "Maybe." 

The two fell silent for a brief moment, before the ginger tom spoke again.

"I still remember the night Violetdust died." His voice was shaky, but he didn't stop. "Her, me, Whitebird, and your parents were all sharing prey together. We were making jokes and teasing each other about relationships, and Violetdust all of a sudden decided to talk a walk by herself. I always thought it was because she might've felt left out."

For some reason, Violetpaw felt a spark of curiosity. She'd heard about Violetdust, Ashbird, and the Ghost Assassin for ages now, but the context surrounding their deaths had never been talked about, as though speaking of it were banned. "And then?"

"Well, Whitebird and I got tired after awhile, so we went into our den. We were just talking, and the next thing I knew, Stormbird was yowling that Violetdust had been killed," Sunbounce meowed, his voice cracking. "If I had just stopped her from going on that walk, or maybe suggested that I accompany her-"

"Stop," Violetpaw interrupted quietly. "Don't think like that. Nobody could've guessed that this would happen."

"I guess," Sunbounce muttered. "Though I just don't know why anyone would want to harm Violetdust. And if it was the Ghost Assassin - who I've always believed to be a character in a nursery tale - why would be kill Ashbird, then years later, kill Violetdust?"

"Do they have any sort of connection?" Violetpaw wondered aloud. 

"Not that I know of," the ginger tom replied. "Other than the fact that they're around the same age. I suppose we all might've talked as apprentices at the Gathering, but that was all in a group setting, and Violetdust and Ashbird would've hardly interacted one-on-one, if at all."

Violetpaw shrugged. "Maybe it's just completely separate, then. Maybe they both knew something that the Ghost Assassin didn't want getting out."

"Like what?" Sunbounce scoffed, his words clearly meant to be a joke. "A prophecy?"

However, when Violetpaw spoke, her tone was completely serious. "Yes."

She wasn't quite sure how, but she could see that scene play out clearly in front of her - like an old memory. The connection with StarClan broke the night Violetdust died; StarClan would've been desperate to find someone to pass a prophecy onto. Violetdust, out of camp and on the beach, nearest to the Gathering Island, would've been easiest to reach.

Once the prophecy had been passed on, the Ghost Assassin killed Violetdust. Simple as that. 

But one thing struck her as odd. How did the Ghost Assassin know that Violetdust would be receiving a prophecy that night? Did he have some help? From a spirit?

That thought was unsettling to Violetpaw, so she shivered and fell quiet, staring at the icy lake lapping the shores beside her mentor.