As night fell over the forest, everything was quiet. Moonlight glistened on the boulders by the river, turning them silver. But small movements in the shadows were still sounding in the reeds. If you could looked closely enough, you would see a pair of shining blue eyes looking acrossed the river. These beautiful eyes belonged to a cat, looking up to her ancestors, seeking guidance. This cat was no ordinary cat, though; she was going to meet with her ancestors tonight. She had special powers, and she could communicate with those no longer on earth. Her name was Moonflower, and she was the medicine cat of her clan. Or was, anyway. She was banished by her clan, and she was all alone. She was accused of a crime she did not commit. A clan mate of hers had just been killed, but nobody knew how or why. But her arch enemy had spotted something; between his claws was some silver fur, like Moonflower's. Another clan mate of hers, Thistleclaw, had always despised her for accidentally bumping into a pile of boulders, which unfortunately fell on top of his brother, killing him. Thistleclaw had always vowed to avenge his brother by getting her out of the clan. Well, after all of these moons, he finally had done it. He blamed it on her that Wetfur was killed, and she was sent into exile. But the worst part of it all was that she did not have an alibi to where she was when Wetfur was killed; she was in love with a cat from a different clan, and she was out to see him at that time. In the forest she lived in, it was forbidden to fall in love with a cat from another clan. In fact, it was forbidden to fall in love at all when you're a medicine cat, especially with a cat from an enemy clan.
She was on her way to the most spiritual and sacred place in the whole forest so she could speak with her ancestors. This special place was called the moonstone, a special stone in the middle of a series of tunnels in the middle of the mountains. Legends say that it was made of a sacred stone, which could absorb the light of the moon and could send cats to Starclan, a clan of cats in which their ancestors reside. They said that when a cat becomes leader of a clan, they would come to the moonstone and receive nine lives from Starclan. Moonflower had received her powers and knowledge of herbs from Starclan as well. The problem is that the moonstone is about a day's journey from the clan's home. But she was determined to get there and find out what to do. And there is also another problem; to get to the moonstone, you must pass through enemy territory. But she went on anyway. She could see the highstones ahead of her now. She just waited until just before moonhigh before she entered the cave. The moonstone was in the middle of a tangle of tunnels inside the highstones, but luckily Moonflower knew the way. She just kept following her paws until she smelt fresh air up ahead, and she knew this was the cavern of the moonstone. She sat by the stone and waited for the moonlight to strike the stone. After a short amount of time, the moonlight hit the stone and filled the cave with light. The light was so blinding, it made Moonflower's pelt shine like a star. After a few seconds of getting used to the light, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and waited for Starclan to send her to sleep.
Visions came to her almost immediately. She opened her eyes to find that she was at fourtrees, the place the clans meet every full moon in peace. She got to her paws, blinked the sleep out of her eyes, and looked across the clearing to see a silver-gray shape coming toward her. In the distance, the cat's pelt was sparkling with starlight, and Moonflower knew this was none other than her best friend, Riverstorm.
"Riverstorm!" she called to her as she strutted acrossed the clearing. Moonflower had always longed to see her again, after she had died from greencough. They had been best friends since kittenhood, and she was distraught when she heard that she passed.
"Hello, Moonflower." said Riverstorm in a clear, almost pure voice.
"Oh, Riverstorm, I don't know what to do! Wetfur is dead, and the clan thinks I did it, but-"
"Hush, Moonflower. I know why you have come." She told her in a quiet voice. Stars sparkled in Riverstorm's fur, and she looked more beautiful than she had ever been when she was alive. She was not the same suffering, sick, and tired cat as Moonflower had last seen her. She seemed as strong and as well and she was before she caught greencough.
"I will help you, dear friend. You are a medicine cat, and Thunderclan is where you belong. You will go back to Thunderclan and take your place as a medicine cat once more. You will not be an exiled cat." She told Moonflower.
"But Sunstar would never accept me back." She said to Riverstorm. She looked at something behind her and asked
"Is this true, Sunstar?" At first Moonflower was a bit confused, but then she whipped around to see the big golden yellow tom behind her, looking bewildered.
"You're dreaming, Sunstar. Moonflower has done nothing wrong, and she will come back to your clan tomorrow." She told Sunstar with stern eyes.
"But…. If Moonflower did not kill Wetfur, than who did?" He asked her.
"Wetfur can tell you himself." She said, looking behind Sunstar.
He turned around to be staring at Wetfur, the warrior who was killed. Wetfur had a very short life, actually. He had only been made a warrior about three moons ago.
"Hello, my friends. It is especially great to see you, Moonflower." He said to me and Sunstar.
"I understand that you need to find out who killed me." He said to all of us.
"Come with me and I will show you the truth of my death." He said, and he ran toward Shadowclan territory. They followed him into the dark forest of the marshes. The place reeked of enemy cats. He led them into the camp of Shadowclan, and they did not know what to think. He headed toward an old, hollowed out oak tree in the middle of the clearing, where he headed into a large crack in the bark. Moonflower looked toward the side of the camp, to the medicines cat's den, and she saw the cat's nose twitching. The medicine cat's head shot up, and she was looking straight at them. Then she relaxed, and put her head down again, muttering
"Its only Starclanners…."
We followed Wetfur into the tree, and he was nudging a silver cat with black and gray stripes.
"This is Lizardstripe, the cat that attacked me and killed me." Said Wetfur solemnly. All of the cats there were astonished. She had the same color fur as Moonflower (except for the stripes).
"Now you know that Moonflower is innocent, and she is still titled the clan's medicine cat." Riverstorm said to Sunstar. Moonflower's heart leaped for joy, and she woke up at the moonstone cavern. She shook of the sleep that still clung to her, and she started back home.
As history went on, Moonflower was accepted back into Thunderclan, but she forfeited her place as medicine cat, and Featherwhisker became the medicine cat. She went on seeing her mate from Riverclan, and she eventually gave birth to his kits, Bluekit and Snowkit, who over time grew into Snowfur and Bluestar. Even today Moonflower's blood still runs in Thunderclan and in Riverclan, although this was so many moons ago.
By Warriorsfan12528