Soot-Bird was born in a large, sprawling cat kingdom, to Frost-Storm and Owl-Stream. Owl-Stream was a princess, and the heiress to the throne. They had a large litter, with four other kittens, Dove-Flight, Panther-Strike, Twilight-Star and Acorn-Paws. In their kingdom, the Waterfall Kingdom, double names were restricted to royalty, immediately setting those special royal family members apart from the rest of the Kingdom’s citizens. It was seen as disrespectful to call a royal family member by anything less than their full name and title, but of course, those who were close to each other did so anyway.
Hail-Fire, Soot-Bird’s grandmother, was a fair queen while she was alive, and Soot-Bird was very close to her. Most of her starting moral compass, she got from her beloved grandmother when she was just a small kitten.
However, Hail-Fire grew ill and died, leaving Owl-Stream to take up the mantle of queen, and, not long after, they entered war with a neighbouring kingdom, the Mountain Kingdom. This also meant Soot-Bird was now the heiress princess. Cats got sent into battles and resources got tighter and tighter, while Queen Owl-Stream hoarded resources closer and closer to the royal family, leaving regular citizens in a tight spot. Soot-Bird, for the most part, was oblivious to what Owl-Stream was doing. She was then surprised when, when they were young teenagers, Dove-Flight ran away from the royal family. Where had she gone?
Soot-Bird got her answer one day by complete accident. She ran into Dove-Flight while out and about in the kingdom, and was pulled aside, away from her guards. Soot-Bird told them to stand down, that it was alright, that it was just-
Dove-Flight hissed at her warningly not to say anything, and Soot-Bird corrected course to just say that she knew her. After all, Dove-Flight seemed to have gone to great lengths to disguise herself, painting her fur with berry dyes and obscuring her face with a hood fastened from flowers. Surely there was a reason for it.
Once they were alone, Dove-Flight revealed to her that she was no longer going by that name at all. She was calling herself Hope now, and instead of spending her time useless in the royal sector, she had become a medic. She went out onto battlefields to administer first aid to wounded soldiers, and was taking care of ill and injured cats outside of battles as well. Soot-Bird didn’t understand. She begged her sister to just come home, to stop putting herself in danger, but Hope refused. “Maybe you’ll understand someday,” she told Soot-Bird. Soot-Bird didn’t think she would.
Oh, how wrong she was.
Soot-Bird would have kept going on the path she was on, and become the perfect heiress, if she hadn’t met Hyacinth. Soot-Bird had always been a large cat, but Hyacinth was tiny, made even more so by the skinny state she was in. Soot-Bird could have counted the ribs on Hyacinth’s side.
The way they met was admittedly unusual. Hyacinth had been trespassing on royal hunting grounds, and at first, Soot-Bird was going to report this insolent peasant, but something about Hyacinth’s sorry state triggered her empathy. So she stopped, and asked why.
Hyacinth pleaded with Soot-Bird to let her go. She was desperate for food. Her mother was sick, horribly so. Her father had recently died in the war, and her brother had been claimed by the same sickness her mother was now being ravaged by. Hyacinth, as the last family member who wasn’t too ill to hunt, had been trying her best to hunt for all three of them, but it wasn’t enough, and all she had wanted was to try to save her mother.
Soot-Bird couldn’t report this cat, and she couldn’t stand knowing this young cat, so close to her own age, was suffering when Soot-Bird had so much abundance. “Wait here,” She told Hyacinth. “I promise I won’t report you. I’m going to get some food for you and your mother.” She hoped that this small molly would trust her. She didn’t even know her name yet, but she felt so compelled to help her.
By some stroke of luck, Hyacinth had indeed stayed put, and at that point begrudgingly introduced herself to Soot-Bird. Soot-Bird was struck by a wild impulse, and asked Hyacinth to accompany her. She knew someone who might be able to help her mother, on the downlow. Hyacinth looked hesitant, but agreed.
Hyacinth’s mother was a white molly named Swan. Soot-Bird’s heart was painfully constricted, as she looked down at this cat, who reminded her so much of Hail-Fire’s final days. With Soot-Bird’s help, Hyacinth was able to get Swan on her feet, and Soot-Bird took them to the one cat she knew would help her in this wild gambit.
Hope was surprised to see Soot-Bird back, but once she was informed of the situation, she agreed immediately to help Swan.
Hope asked Soot-Bird if she understood now. Soot-Bird wasn’t sure, but… she thought she was starting to get it.
She continued to meet with Hyacinth after this, bringing food and asking how Swan was, and over time, Swan recovered, but Soot-Bird and Hyacinth never stopped seeing each other. In their time sneaking around the royal family, the two of them had developed a genuine friendship.
As Soot-Bird reached full adulthood in her Kingdom, her responsibilities as Heiress Princess increased. The pressure was suffocating, especially when Soot-Bird no longer knew if she wanted anything to do with royalty. However busy she was, though, she never stopped making time for Hyacinth. Hyacinth was basically the only bright spot in her life. More and more so, Soot-Bird was starting to become known in the worse off parts of the Kingdom, not for being the Princess, but for the things she was accomplishing down there.
Of course, no one down there could know who she was. Her and Hyacinth spent days thinking of the perfect disguise so that Soot-Bird could really be a part of the city. Soot-Bird also spoke to Hope, who had successfully integrated the same way. Soot-Bird favoured using mud to give her coat a dappled look, while sporting much messier, more unruly fur than she usually would while serving as the Princess. It made her just unrecognizable enough that no one thought that she could really be Heiress Princess Soot-Bird. No, down in these parts of the Kingdom, she was someone else. She was Bluebell, named after a flower that represents kindness and compassion.
While Soot-Bird still held to her original name, she understood why Hope had chosen to stick with her new one so wholly. It was impossible to exist as Soot-Bird in the kingdom and be happy, but as Bluebell, she knew so many interesting cats, and they really liked and respected her. Her, not some symbol of the kingdom.
She thought back to when Hope asked her if she understood now. There had been many instances where Soot-Bird thought she got it, but now, now was when she truly understood, when she was hiding her identity and yet was the most authentic version of herself she’d ever been.
She couldn’t run away though, not really, not like Hope had. Hope had gotten away with it because she was the middle child, but Soot-Bird was the Heiress. She wouldn’t be able to just get away with it. She was not disposable to the royal family.
This couldn’t last forever, though. Owl-Stream grew suspicious of where Soot-Bird kept sneaking off to, so she followed her daughter, and she found out about Bluebell. About Hyacinth.
Owl-Stream confronted her daughter, snarling, telling her that she had to give this up. Soot-Bird refused. She would not. She could not. So, Owl-Stream snarled and leapt for Hyacinth. Soot-Bird couldn’t be allowed to keep her little mate.
Soot-Bird reacted instinctively. She tackled her mother away from Hyacinth, claws unsheathed and aiming to kill. She bit into Owl-Stream’s throat. Her and Hyacinth were the only witnesses that day.
Soot-Bird was immediately horrified at her actions. For all they hadn’t gotten along, Owl-Stream was still her mother. And she had killed her in defence of the cat she loved. Soot-Bird was chilled to the bone when she realized in that moment that despite her grief, she would do it ten times over if it meant Hyacinth’s safety.
She knew they had to run. Soot-Bird might be able to get away with it, being the Heiress, but Hyacinth? The people would demand her head. Soot-Bird knew that immediately.
Hyacinth protested at first, saying that she’d go alone, but Soot-Bird refused. Hyacinth was everything to her. Life in the Kingdom without her was not a life worth living. Life as royalty meant nothing to her, it hadn't for a long time.
So, the two of left, running as far and as fast as they could, to put some distance between themselves and the pursuers that were sure to be hot on their tails. They kept turns standing guard every night, just in case, as they ran further and further, only ever stopping to hunt or sleep. They didn’t really talk about what had happened. What Owl-Stream had said. Not yet.
Eventually, though, the two mollies became less and less paranoid. They were far away enough from the Kingdom that they would not be found, and the Kingdoms held no domain here. No, this area was populated by groups named Colonies. Soot-Bird and Hyacinth decided to settle down in the territory adjacent to said colonies for now. They would be safe here.
It was in the safety of wanderer territory that Soot-Bird and Hyacinth finally sat down and processed their feelings for each other. Other wanderers would always ask what they were to each other, and they realized that they couldn't come up with an answer, so they sought to find one. They loved each other, simple as that, and with no caste system separating them... why couldn't they be mates?
They had a quiet ceremony, just the two of them, as it was always meant to be. And every night from then on, Soot-Bird and Hyacinth laid together in their shared nest, with Hyacinth's small body nestled into Soot-Bird's large form.
Soot-Bird and Hyacinth then met a young molly named Hydrangea. Hydrangea was young, still only 9 months and not completely outgrown her kitten fluff, and the couple began helping her out when they could. Soot-Bird enjoyed the sense of purpose that came from helping someone who needed her.
