Username: Embergleam
Cat Name: Heartsong
Gender: Female
Rank: Mediator
Clan: In The Wake Of GiantsAge: ~220 years
Prompt: A long, long time ago, in the times before metal monsters and trees of glass, a young cat gave a stranger the kindest gift of all.
Heartsong found the creature in the riverbed that marked the border of her clan's territory. It was small, no larger than a sparrow, with gauzy wings that fluttered fitfully against the rounded stones that had dashed them to pieces. The rest of its form was harder to make out, obscured by a gentle glow that flickered from dull blue to green to white and back again. The glow was what had first caught her eye. It was too late in the season for fireflies, and yet, here this strange being was, its inborn light turning the riverbed into a mirror of Silverpelt's countless stars.
It was beautiful, in a strange, ethereal sort of way, and it was dying.
"Have you come to end me?" The creature asked, its voice full of rain and newleaf green. It was not afraid. If anything, it seemed resigned. The realization wrung Heartsong's tender heart.
"Goodness, no!" The words spilled out unbidden, disgust at war with shock. She moved on instinct, gently maneuvering the fallen creature from the pebbly hollow it had fallen in. Red flared through white and blue, pain blotting out all higher reasoning. It ebbed when she set the poor broken thing on a tussock of grass, bruised yellow bubbling up like pus from a wound.
"Then why are you here?" Smoke and rattlesnake's buzzing this time, harsh, grating sensations that made Heartsong's tail fuzz up. Her new acquaintance was angry, defensive, and rightfully so.
"I saw your light." Heartsong sat, whiskers twitching uncertainly. "So I came to investigate. Then I saw you and... I wanted to help."
Soft blue light flickered through the angry yellow, gradually softening it to something less... accusatory.
"You cannot help me, little one." Bluebells, river water, a cool breeze against sun-warmed fur. Acceptance, tinged with something that tasted like regret. Heartsong had a different idea.
"My clan has a medicine cat, one of the best! I can fetch him! Maybe he could-"
"There is no need." The warmth of a nest first thing in the morning, overlaid with the soft rush of wind through tree branches and a flicker of sage-green light. Apparently the dying star-creature found her somehow endearing. "This vessel is beyond repair. I am prepared to end this journey."
A thousand denials tangled up on Heartsong's tongue. Her new friend might have been ready to die, but she was hardly prepared to let them go! But that was hardly her decision, was it? What did she know of strange star-shards fallen from Silverpelt, who 'spoke' with sensations as much as with words? What right did she have to prolong the suffering of another?
"...gotcha." A beat as she swallowed against the lump in her throat, then- "Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable in the meantime?"
Aquamarine bloomed at the heart of the creature's light, bathing the riverbed in an unearthly glow. For the first time since arriving, Heartsong seemed to have caught it off-guard.
"...would you sing for me?"
For the barest instant Heartsong hesitated. In spite of her name, she had never been any great shakes at music. Surely she would embarrass herself. Surely she would annoy the dying creature. Surely... surely she had to try anyway.
And so Heartsong lived up to her name: she sang. Everything from nursery rhymes to traveling songs and bawdy apprentice jingles rang out across the riverbed, each sung with a great deal more enthusiasm than skill. The glowing creature listened, its light flickering in shades of wonder and fascination, even as its light slowly began to fade.
One by one other points of light began to appear in the distance. They were smaller, pale reflection of the star-flier's brilliance, but swarmed the unlikely pair in their hundreds. They settled on every available surface- on the river rocks, on grass stems, on tree branches, even on Heartsong herself- and began to croon a counterpart to her song.
Together they sang a eulogy the likes of which the world had never heard before.
The bright creature's light faded just before dawn, leaving naught but a lingering impression of aqua light and sparkling stars in its wake. Its shards, however, were more reluctant to vanish into the ether. Some dozen of them followed Heartsong when she returned to her clan, a glittering, whispering reminder of her brush with the otherworld. They taught her to sing, to speak for herself, to dream above her assigned station-
And they followed her for moons uncounted as she lived the life their fallen brethren never could.
The fey are dangerous to those who seek to bargain, but they never forget a kindness done without expectation of reward.
