Warriors belongs to Erin Hunter
Cats belong to me
I stayed by Firefur's side, along with Rosethorn until his chest no longer rose, by then the rest of the Clan had heard the news. A strong melancholy lay thickly in the air as my mother slowly pulled Firefur's body out of the den, her eyes clouded with grief. Loyally, I stayed by her side while she drug his body to the center of the camp. Gently she lay Firefur down and took a step back, allowing the Clan to gather around and say their farewells.
"He had always been a pawful as an apprentice," Darkstorm, one of the Clan's elders, rasped as he limped up to his last apprentice. His eyes were a blind, hazy green and due to a jagged wound he would always have a limp in his front leg. "Never listening to what I told him, but he learned everything so smoothly, even when he was only half paying attention."
I closed my eyes and for a second, wished this was all a horrible dream. I longed for Dashkit to be back in front of me with father still breathing and mother back to her cheerful self. I let out a soft cough and quickly sat down to cover up my shacking paws, my vision grew hazy and the sounds of my Clan mates grew distant. Coughs continued to rake through my body, even when my vision and hearing returned to normal.
"Juniperkit are you okay?" Rosethorn asked softly, her sorrowful eyes looking at me in concern.
My reply was another bout of coughing which only strengthened mother's concern. I felt her teeth gently grip my scruff before she lifted me up, ignoring my coughing, wheezing and hacking. I wish I could have told her to stop, to not bring me back to the den father had died in but I had no breath between each session.
Rosethorn stopped outside of the medicine cat den and slowly placed me down in front of the vine covered den. "Softheart I'm coming in!" she called.
"Come in, come in," Softheart replied and Rosethorn nudged me through the den entrance, the vine's swishing as we entered. Softheart looked up from the herbs she was looking through, her gaze wondering to me. "Her illness has come back?"
"It's because of the stress," Rosethorn replied, and noticing my reluctance, impatiently shoved me forward almost making me collide with Softheart's paws. She calmly steadied me with one of her soft white paws; they were almost the size of me.
"Sit down Juniperkit, let me examine you," she commanded and I obeyed, the sooner she finished the sooner I could leave. I wriggled impatiently while she looked closely at my eyes, ears and mouth. "It's the same illness as before… no herb I give you will cure you of this."
"What do you mean?" I asked, tilting my head slightly in curiosity.
"Juniperkit… my herbs cannot heal you," Softheart exclaimed after a couple of heartbeats of silence. "They can help but they will never heal you. You will always carry this heavy burden."
"Does that mean… does that mean I can't become a warrior?" I gasped, my eyes widening in horror.
"There is one other path than being a warrior, Juniperkit, if you wish to be useful to your Clan, you will have to become a medicine cat," Softheart meowed.
"But I don't want to be a medicine cat!" I protested. "I want to be like father and mother!"
"Juniperkit you aren't strong enough to be a warrior!" Softheart snapped. "What if your illness strikes in the middle of a battle, what would you do then?"
"I'm going to die anyways, aren't I?" I hissed. "Why can't I be like father and fight for my Clan?"
"I will not let you throw away your life," Softheart growled. "The only path Rosethorn and I see for you is the path of the medicine cat, and whether you like it or not, when you are a made an apprentice you will be my apprentice!"
My ears grew hot with a furious anger while I stormed out, how dare they say I couldn't choose my own path! I can grow up however I like, and they can't do squat about it!
