Shrewpaw stared in amazement when he spotted his small sister jump to her paws in the back of the ground, barely registering what she was saying. All this time she spoke of the need to travel… StarClan was calling her! Excitement flooded through his veins, hearing the other three cats with her call out their agreement.
"Littlepath, what are you talking about?" Bramblestar demanded, standing up on the branch carefully as he stared at her with narrowed eyes.
The dark brown tabby apprentice didn't hear what his sister said in return, instead, he stared out at the four in amazement when the starry forms of the cats that had guided him and the others to Skywatcher appeared beside the four warriors, staring at him and the other medicine cats expectantly. "Do you see them…?" He rasped, legs trembling as his mind spun.
"I do," Mothwing rasped, her eyes wide as she raised her voice amongst the now whispering warriors and the arguing leaders. "StarClan has chosen them!" Silence followed and she got to her paws, standing besides the small ShadowClan tom. "They must get going as soon as possible!"
"Our fallen Clanmates have showed us their words to be true," Kestrelflight added before any cat could protest. "StarClan said one of each blood shall travel to save the forgotten Clan; they are the ones of each blood, they are from each Clan!"
"But can we risk sending them away?" Onestar demanded, his fur bristling with unease as he stared at the four warriors who were now padding toward the front of the crowd.
"The rogues have left," Jayfeather replied, flicking an ear as he rocked back onto his haunches. "And we can't ignore a Clan that's in danger."
"But what other Clan is there?" A voice yowled from the crowd and Shrewpaw flattened his ears.
"We must trust StarClan!" Willowshine cried, leaping to her paws. "These four warriors have been chosen, and if StarClan wants them to travel to the forgotten Clan, then they will get there no matter what."
"But when should they leave?" Mistystar questioned, peering down at the medicine cats with a weary gaze.
"They need to leave at the same time," Shrewpaw murmured, narrowing his eyes in thought.
Cedarpaw cleared her throat and got to her paws, tail twitching nervously. "Tonight, they should go home to their Clans and rest. That means they should be excused of their duties tomorrow. Then, after sunhigh, they can travel back here and sleep, leaving at dawn the next morning. That way they're well rested and already together when they leave."
Littlecloud flashed his apprentice a proud gaze before turning back toward the leaders. "She's right," he called. "They need all the rest they can get."
Silence followed his words and the leaders quickly huddled together, speaking amongst themselves as a tense air flooded around the cats below. Shrewpaw kneaded the ground anxiously, praying that they would agree to Cedarpaw's plan. He didn't want his sister to leave, especially when the objective of the journey was so cloudy, but he knew she needed to do this; StarClan had chosen her and she needed to answer. Please let them return home safely, he thought, turning his amber eyes up toward the sky. No cloud was in sight and the moon shown brightly on the cats below, lighting their fur with a light silver glow. He turned his gaze back toward Littlepath and the other three, staring in amazement as the brief outline of the StarClan cats appeared once more, weaving between the four before fading out.
"It's settled," Rowanstar called, gathering the attention of the cats below. "You four shall go back to your Clans and return here tomorrow after sunhigh like Cedarpaw had suggested. You shall gather your strength for the journey ahead of you. Now, if nothing else is to be said, I believe we should return back to our Clans to tell the others."
Murmurs of agreement followed the ShadowClan leader's words and the four cats leapt down from the branches of the tree, rounding up their Clans as they prepared to leave. Quickly, Shrewpaw raced over to Littlepath, darting through the crowd. "This is it!" He cried and she turned her gaze toward him. "This is why you've been feeling the need to leave all this time!" However, he noticed her blue eyes gleamed in grief and fear, and his heart dropped. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know if I should go!" She blurted and dropped her gaze. "I know I should," she whispered, slowly padding after their Clanmates as they began to leave, and Shrewpaw quickly followed suit. "But I don't even know where we're going and what we need to do. I can't even behave as a warrior!"
"StarClan will be with you," Shrewpaw assured, gently touching his nose to Littlepath's ear in silent encouragement. "Don't worry about it. Maybe after all of this is done, you'll be able to focus on being a warrior again. You need to do this."
The small warrior blinked at her brother in gratitude before bounding away to say her goodbyes to the three other chosen warriors, leaving Shrewpaw staring after her. With a small sigh, he shook his head and padded after his mentor, eager to get back to camp. StarClan, please keep them safe when they leave. I don't want to lose my sister.
Frankly, I think "Dear Fellow Traveler" by Sea Wolf fits the Four pretty well.
Anyway, not much changed in this chapter. Switched around a few parts to different leaders, that way they would all have a turn speaking in this. However, I'm going to be adding three other chapters after this to show how each Clan reacts to one of their warriors leaving. I already have Littlepath's written out, so I may post hers first or last. That way, those chapters will deal more with the reactions rather than this one, because Shrewpaw was in his own little world in this chapter.
