The Land Between, Chapter Seven

A dark-gray she-cat with long fur and bright green eyes slept soundly on a breezy WindClan hillside.

She was curled on her side, paws together, eyes tightly shut. She was obviously deep in some sort of dream world. In front of her nose several picked flowers and plant shoes were scattered across the grass. The sun was high in the sky, it was late morning, twinkling brightly on the grassy moors of WindClan territory. And in the middle of it, the little she-cat slept snugly.

Her name was Jadepaw. She had a bit of a problem with getting distracted and lying down for inopportune naps.

All of a sudden, her eyes opened and she sat up.

She blinked blearily at the brightness of the world around her. Jeez…dozed off, again? She looked around her paws. What was she doing again? She spied the scattered herbs. Oh right. Yew and borage shoots. Daisyleaf had wanted some…hours ago. And she'd been on her way back when she felt compelled to take a nap instead. Bah! She was always getting distracted and forgetting things.

Jadepaw gathered up the herbs as fast as she could and raced up the slope to the WindClan camp. She was the newly appointed medicine cat apprentice of WindClan. She'd only had her apprentice ceremony a moon ago, but she was already thriving. Being a medicine cat was clearly her true calling.

Or it had been, up until a moon ago, when her dreams started showing her there was something much bigger in store for her.

But being a medicine cat was still a close second!

Jadepaw rounded the crest of the hill that preluded the WindClan camp. Her Clan was in a bit of a disarray lately. The tension with ThunderClan was really mounting. The senior warriors were having a hushed and urgent meeting near the fresh-kill pile, kind of monopolizing it for anyone else who might want to score an early lunch. Last week, there had been a border skirmish over a rabbit a WindClan cat had caught over the ThunderClan border, and both Clans were really upset about it.

Jadepaw secretly thought her Clan was being a little unreasonable. If she was in ThunderClan, she wouldn't have wanted WindClan to catch prey over her border, "WindClan prey" or not. And Heatherstar had been pretty transfixed with all of this stuff, to the point of mild obsession.

It didn't really matter though! And Jadepaw was the only one who knew that. Sometimes it got tough being the only cat who knew what was really in store for everyone, due to powerful and prophesizing dreams, but most of the time Jadepaw couldn't be bothered to think about all that.

She scurried into the medicine cat den, herbs clamped tight in her mouth. It didn't look like Daisyleaf was in. Probably out gathering herbs of her own. Oh well. Jadepaw would surely catch up with her later. She had a lot to do, and couldn't waste time sitting around waiting for her mentor. She dropped off her herbs and left camp as quickly as she arrived.

Outside, Jadepaw went leaping and bounding over the grassy plains of her home territory, streaking by with the breeze in her fur, until she reached a good spot overlooking the lake, where she stopped to admire the view.

Today was a very, very big day.

And it didn't hurt to stop and smell the breeze for a while.

A figure appeared much farther down the hill, slowly weaving its way in her direction. Jadepaw peered carefully in the sun, and realized it was Daisyleaf and her stocky tortoiseshell pelt. Jadepaw immediately went tearing down the slope to reach her. "Hi Daisyleaf!" She called.

"Oh, there you are!" Daisyleaf mewed. "I thought something might have happened to you! Did you find the borage?"

"I did, and the yew, too!" Jadepaw said. "Sorry about that. I fell asleep."

"Duskpaw cut his foot on some Twoleg trash," Daisyleaf said, walking up the hill, forcing Jadepaw to match her slower pace. "Clean through the pad. He needs cobwebs for the bleeding and –"

" – poppy for the pain!" Jadepaw finished. "I can handle it, Daisyleaf."

"Thanks, Jadepaw," Daisyleaf purred. "I've still got my paws full with Wildflower and her whitecough. I don't want it spreading to the kits."

"Hmm." Jadepaw said, thinking. "Yeah." She wondered if it was worth informing Daisyleaf that she was due for a very important nap at a very important place in no less than one hour. Honestly, it got really difficult being a supernaturally-in-tune young she-cat when the rest of the world was trying to ground you in its external responsibilities. Nobody ever understood. She had some credit, due to being a medicine cat apprentice and being known to share mystical tongues with StarClan, but for her it had become way more than that. And there was a limit to what her Clanmates were willing to believe.

At least she was about to make three new very important friends, though. They were far more likely to understand.

Back at camp, Jadepaw made quick work tending to Duskpaw. He was always getting himself into trouble and cutting his paws open and stuff. He was in the medicine cat den like every week.

"Here," Jadepaw said, wrapping cobwebs around and around his paw. "Try to lie more on your side, so you're not crushing your paw and messing up the wrapping and stuff."

"It's just a little cut," Duskpaw boasted. "It already stopped bleeding, even without the cobwebs. I probably didn't even need to come in here."

"Probably not!" Jadepaw agreed. "Maybe you're just wasting all of our precious medicine cat resources. Or maybe you just come in here for the poppy seeds. They're addictive you know." She flattened her ears.

"Or maybe I just come in here to get fussed over by you," he purred.

"Shh!" She waved her paw at him. "Ugh, you are so gross!"

"Well, you're pretty. Just saying."

"So gross!"

"Pretty!"
"Groooooss!"

"What's going on in here?" Daisyleaf meowed, sticking her head in.

"Nothing!" Jadepaw assured her. She turned to Duskpaw with a hiss. "See, now you made her stop what she's doing. You're a bad cat."

"Heheheh." Duskpaw chuckled, stretching out on his side. "Poppy seeds, please?"

"Fine. I have somewhere else to be anyway!" Jadepaw lifted the seed pod off its spot in the tall grass. She shook it to release the seeds. "You only get two."

"Two…? Come on."

"Two's all you get!"

"What do I have to do to get three? Or four? Two is totally wimping out."

"It's just a little cut," Jadepaw mocked him serenely. "You probably didn't even need to come in here."

"Oh, whatever," Duskpaw huffed, swiping for the two poppy seeds and lapping them up. "So where are you off to?"

"I have to take a nap!" She purred.

"You and your naps. So weird."

"Yep!"

"Don't you want to stay and keep me company until the seeds kick in?"

"Keep dreaming." Jadepaw meowed flatly. She walked to the entrance of the den, leaving the tom behind. Daisyleaf was bent over a sleepy Wildflower. "Uh, we're almost out of cobwebs," she said to her mentor. "Is it okay if I go sniff around near Twolegplace for some more?"

"Of course, Jadepaw," Daisyleaf said. "Thanks. That helps me a lot, actually."

"Okay," Jadepaw purred. Daisyleaf was such a kind, level cat. She'd never snapped at anyone in her life. Even when cats were being bombarded with greencough, or a battle had resulted in serious injury, Daisyleaf stayed calm and steady as a rock. Jadepaw admired her more than anyone.

Which was why she hated lying to her about the cobwebs. Jadepaw despised liars, and deceitful cats in general, which was why she strived to always tell as much of the truth as she could. But sometimes, other things were more important. In fact, as far as she was aware, lying to Daisyleaf so she could take her nap was important in insuring Daisyleaf's very survival! In a long, roundabout way, but it did.

Jadepaw left camp again and she did head in the direction of Twolegplace, but she stopped instead when she reached a small outcropping of smooth, flat rocks, and she walked to one side, dropped into a crouch, and slithered into an opening beneath one of them, a cool little cave she often used to take her choicest naps.

She curled up into a little ball, tail wrapped around her, bushy tail-tip resting on her nose.

And slept.

And while she slept, she dreamed.

She was curled up under a long, silvery outcropping of rocks covered in a heap of shiny white sand, some of which had fallen onto her fur. Jadepaw stood up and shook out her fur and slipped out of the rocky hollow. Outside, it was very bright.

As far as she could see, great, soft dunes of sand rolled away before her, all the way down to where they hit the water – a shimmy, glistening lake reflecting a million pastel colors: pink and pale blue and yellow, and rippling softly in an invisible breeze. On the other side of the water, the sand dunes picked up again.

Jadepaw turned around. Behind her, the dune sloped up into a mellow cliff wall made of the same silvery stone she'd been sleeping under. On top of it sat the ruins of an old structure – something Twolegs may have constructed, but here, it was clearly designed by and for cats just like her. It was built of solid squares of stone, the same pastel colors as the water.

She began to dart up the hill, following a line of pawsteps she'd made earlier that traveled the other direction, from the temple to the rocks where she'd been sleeping. Jadepaw was quite familiar with this place by now. Her paws scattered the fine white sand after her as she climbed, until she rounded the stone cliff and reached the pastel structure. A small stone arch invited entrance inside. Just before she walked through, Jadepaw stopped and turned to look at the sky.

The sky overhead fluttered a very pale pink and blue, almost undetectable from pure white. There wasn't a cloud in sight. Usually, the sky remained a constant state of pale blue and gold and yellow clouds, plush and curling, scooted across it, but today the sky was completely clear, and it flickered with changing colors.

Just like the runes had told her.

Jadepaw smiled exuberantly and ducked into the temple.

Her paws pattered silently down a stone path lit by overhead gaps in the stone. Stray dustings of sand had made it inside. As she passed, she looked at the walls beside her. They were absolutely coated in drawings and carvings. She'd seen all of these before, but they were still worth another peek.

They started with simple depictions of four cats – a black-and-white tom beside a bolt of lightning, a small silver she-cat and a set of waves carved into the stone, a reddish tom cloaked in clouds of shadow, and a fluffy she-cat surrounded by curls of wind and breeze.

Farther down, the runes showed the black and white tom in a symbolic rendering, digging deep into the earth, at the bottom of which a single star had been drawn. And after that, a similar drawing of the silver she-cat deep underwater, holding between two paws the same star. And then the russet tom twisted in midair, mouth agape in a snarl, a star drawn inside his forehead, paws out, cupping a scribble of darkness.

And beyond that…

A fluffy dark she-cat flew through the air, paws splayed, reaching out to catch the largest of the stars.

Hmm.

It had always perplexed her. Until today. Today, the runes would show her where to go.

Jadepaw walked and walked down the tunnel. At the end, a pale light flickered and fluttered through a rainbow of pale colors. Beside her, the runes had turned more detailed and complicated the farther she went. A planet cracked and shattered. An enormous round dais rose from mysterious sand. Four mysterious symbols. Things coded by color. A timer etched with a countdown seemingly rendered in a language only she could understand. None of this made sense to her.

She'd reached the end of the tunnel, and emerged into an enormously towering room. She looked up as high as she could, to a round, open ceiling from which the pink and blue light fluttered straight through in shafts of colorful light, falling on two spiraling towers, one green and one red. Jadepaw quickly ran to the green one and ran up the winding path on the side until she reached the top.

The usually flat surface on the top had changed. Instead of unmarked stone, it was now carved with one single rune. She stepped back to look at it carefully. The rune depicted the fluffy she-cat she'd come to know as herself, midleap off the tower she stood on right now.

Jadepaw stared at it, perplexed. Really? That was all? She was hoping for some long story made of pictures and symbols that showed her exactly where to go and what to do.

To her right came a sleepy snore. She looked over at the neighboring tower. Oh right…him. Her denmate, as it were. He was sure getting the nap of his life over there. Just like he had been every single moment since she'd first woken up here a moon ago.

The young tom breathed in and out, curled tiredly on top of the red tower, emitting another snore. His black-and-white fur sparkled and trailed with hazy red light and little pricks of light. Just like Jadepaw's fur sparkled with green light!

She'd been warned by the runes not to try and wake him up, but sometimes it was a difficult urge to stifle. As much as Jadepaw loved running around this brilliant land of sand and light, rolling around in the sand and basking in the pastel light and dabbing her paws in the warm, colorful water, it did get a little lonely at times. And she'd have loved to share it with that friendly looking tom over there. They were the only two cats in this whole place, after all.

Oh well. Surely he'd wake up someday. In some form or another. Back to her own personal mission here. Jadepaw gazed at the rune on her own tower bed again.

Was the rune telling her to leap off the tower? She really couldn't interpret it any other way. She peered over the edge. A jump from here would surely result in her death. Although, she wasn't sure if she could actually die in this world. She wasn't really sure what the limits of her existence were here at all! She'd just gone to sleep the first time ever at the Moonpool, next to the other Clan medicine cats, but instead of seeing StarClan, she opened her eyes and here she was, waking up on top of her tower on this beautiful magical world, her fur full of light.

Hmm. Jadepaw wasn't one to doubt the runes, though. If the rune told her to jump, she would jump. She'd been waiting for this day for the entire moon since she'd first woken up here. The day she was supposed to Awaken, and her adventure would begin.

She took a deep breath, and took a long look at the other, slumbering cat, and smiled.

She couldn't wait to finally meet him.

And she leaped bravely off the tower.

She felt herself start to fall, and then the world turned black as she fell asleep.

An instant later, her eyes opened again. WindClan territory flashed wildly in front of her. Behind her, the branches of the tallest pine in WindClan territory whipped past her. She was plummeting through the air, hurtling toward the ground.

Jadepaw gasped out loud and twisted frantically in midair, trying to seize one of the branches, but she was falling too fast. And then she saw it, floating below her in the air, a tiny prick of white light that glowed brilliant bright when she lay her eyes upon it.

She felt herself smile. Of course!

She stretched her paws out to catch it as she fell, and when she reached it, the entire world turned white and she seemed to be paralyzed in it, unable to move, stuck in time and blankness, and then a moment later the world reappeared, the coziness of her nest in the medicine cat den, and instead of slamming into the grassy ground of WindClan territory, she landed gently on her nest.

Jadepaw took a gasp of breath, letting herself relax. She couldn't believe it. She must have sleepwalked to that tree and climbed all the way up it while she was dreaming!

That wasn't uncommon, though. She often found herself replicating the actions she took in her dreams in the land of light in the waking world, too. There were some powerful forces involved in all of this. That was for sure.

She looked down at her paws. It was as if she'd jumped through space back there. Is that what her power was? But how did it work? She turned her paws upside down and stared at her pads, and brought the tree to the forefront of her mind. She closed her eyes and pictured it as clearly as she could.

She opened her eyes. She was lying at the base of the tree.

Jadepaw's mouth opened in a wide smile of wonder. Of course. She could jump.

Aaaand now things are finally moving. Less mopey apprentices, more lore and adventure! I love Jadepaw XD. And her colorful dream world is introduced! (Name to be revealed shortly). There will be more where that came from soon. Reviews are welcome!

~Delaney