Rookpaw watched Icestar lead the patrol out from the entrance of the medicine cat den. She'd been passed off to Longtail to be put to work, while her mentor had something more important to do. Apparently Fernclan scent had been found within their borders two days in a row.
She wondered why he hadn't sent her out with one of the other apprentices, but she wasn't complaining. A break from warrior training really was much appreciated on her part, not that she'd say so to Icestar!
The little black she-cat found it hard to not stare at Longtail as he busied himself around the den, sorting herbs and the like. Now she was certain those particular dreams of her were real events that happened in the past… it made her think about what he'd said to Icestar about the prophecy. In her attentiveness, Rookpaw noticed that the medicine cat was losing hair and was even thinner than his slim form usually was. Stress? He always looked stressed. She had seen him flinch quite visibly when Icestar brought her over to him. She could sympathize.
Longtail paused to mutter something quickly to his apprentice; Venompaw. The young tom then padded over to Rookpaw, as the medicine cat when back about his business. "He wants us to gather herbs." Venompaw told her. He was much older than her; tall and covered in the lithe muscle of a cat grown. If he had been a warrior apprentice, made so at 6 moons, he would be a warrior by now. But Venompaw's circumstances were a bit more unusual. His mother Hare had brought him with her when she joined the clan, and he was already over 6 moons then. He shared his mother's odd stumpy tail, a bit like that of a rabbit. Flowerdust told Rookpaw they were born that way; it always looked like it had been bitten off. One of Hare's new kits had the same tail.
"Okay." Rookpaw replied, a little shyly though trying to sound bright and enthusiastic. Gathering herbs was good! She could do that!
Venompaw spared her little more than a glance as he padded out, expecting her to follow. "We are looking for a couple of things… do you know what catnip and poppy looks like?" He sounded bored, his voice; rich and deep for his age, was flat. But then, on the few occasions Rookpaw saw him, he always seemed so. Bored, and a little frustrated. She wondered if he didn't enjoy being a medicine cat? What she wouldn't give to change places with him. Then she could speak more freely about her dreams, and she wouldn't have to fight.
"Yes." Rookpaw nodded as she followed along behind the tom towards the entrance to camp. She was fairly certain she could pick out both… Near the entrance, a guard was outside the den used to house the Gustclan prisoners. Which meant they were there. Gulp. One in particular always stared at her. It was creepy!
"Good. I'll go get the poppy heads; they're near the Fieldclan border so it's more dangerous." Rookpaw didn't miss the way his ears angled forward as he spoke about that. Was he anticipating and wanting trouble? "You can go get the catnip. It grows near the cliffface not far from camp; just a little bit north from here."
Rookpaw's eyes closed, picturing the location. Yes, there was a huge clump of catnip growing a little away from here… She'd seen it before. "Do you know where that is?" Venompaw's voice held some scepticism.
"I do!" She responded quickly, opening her eyes again and sounding as confident as possible. She didn't want another cat thinking she was useless. She ignored the prisoners' den completely; pretending it wasn't right there. She could already feel eyes on her around Thickstripe's back. The guard grunted at them as they passed by. He must have Silverpaw out hunting today, perhaps?
"Gather as much as you can. Longtail might want you to make multiple trips." He strolled out of the exit, not looking back. "Later."
"Bye!" Rookpaw followed in his shadow, instead turning northward as he headed west.
The scrub forest near camp was peaceful. Fresh newleaf grass growth was bright under the shade of the short trees and thick bushes and soft under paw; the rustling around her spoke of plentiful creatures scurrying around. Maybe she should hunt and bring something back for Longtail? Something to keep in mind, perhaps…
The sunlight coming down was pleasant on her dark fur. Rookpaw took a deep breath, releasing tension she often held in her body throughout the day. Ah, wouldn't it be nice to just curl up in the sun out here? The black she-cat shook the thought from her head. No! She was going to do her job, and she would do it promptly!
The clump of catnip wasn't that hard to find once she got close to the cliffs; all she had to do was follow her nose to the enticing smell. Here, it was shady; larger trees grew in the shelter of the cliffface, even if it was as tall here as it was by the Fernclan border. Her dark pelt blended in well; only her orange eyes gave her presence away easily form a distance.
It was as she was pulling out chunks of catnip in her jaws; the sweet scent sending her head a little bit swimming, that Rookpaw got that feeling of being watched again. She lifted her head up, dropping the catnip into a pile by her feet. Looking around, she could see nobody. Scent was useless with how overpowering the catnip was, and she couldn't hear anything…. But still…
A large feather; black, tipped with white on the end, floated down in front of her face. Rookpaw stared at it stupidly for a moment; surprised by its sudden appearance, before bending to sniff at it. Magpie? She looked up, expecting to see one of the large, rowdy birds in the beech tree above.
Instead, a red ticked tabby tom lay in one of the thick, overhanging branches. Green eyes shone with a fond sort of playfulness. "Long time no see." The cat purred.
Rookpaw stared at him, fur a little on end from the shock of an unknown cat sitting right above her like that. He didn't seem unfriendly…
The tom blinked as she pulled himself up into a standing position. "What, don't you remember me?" He sounded disappointed. "I suppose it was a long time ago; you were so little."
He was familiar… a red-pelted tom… She glanced down at the feather, and it clicked. Of course! Rookpaw had been thinking of him so recently too! "…Big brother…?" She asked, hesitantly, taking a step towards the tree as she craned her neck to look up at the cat.
The tom's expression lit up. "Ah, you do remember!" He made his way down from the tree; pouncing to a lower branch and then to the ground in a graceful, fluid motion. He held his thick-furred tail high as he padded over to her. "It's good to see you… ah, I suppose you'd be Rookpaw now!"
"I… Yeah; not that long ago." Rookpaw shyly touched noses in greeting with the cat she'd been desperate to reconnect with; frantically trying to remember his name in the back of her mind, and rather embarrassed that she couldn't, now she was in front of him. What was it? R-something?! "So, it really was you, leaving those black feathers?" She batted gently at the one at her paws.
His tail slowly lowered. "Yeah. I didn't want to stop bringing you something, to show you I was still around; but I guess I had to in the end, huh?" Red- no, not that! Roach? Uh-uh! That was a terrible name!
"Where have you been all this time? Everyone said you were a traitor and were exiled!" She sniffed. Just under all the smell of catnip; she could pick up his scent. It was the smell of Fernclan! She took a step back again, unsure.
"Hey now, I hope you don't believe all that. I'm not a traitor. Or, I wasn't exiled for being one at least. I guess because I'm working with Gorseclan's enemies, I am one now." The red tom let out a bitter sort of chuckle.
"Did- did you join Fernclan?" The Fernclan scent the patrols had found! Was it him?
"Not exactly." He replied dryly, before his mannerisims became more hushed; the tom looking around quickly. "Look, Rookpaw, I don't have a lot of time, and it would take a long time to explain everything to you… I just want to ask you one thing."
She slowly tilted her head, her tail curling as it did when she was nervous. "Sure…?"
"I need you to trust me." His voice was calm, with an air of confidence that held familiarity; like Rookpaw had heard it many times in the past, yet it was almost pleading too. "Can you do that? I promise, I'm not trying to hurt Gorseclan; I want to help."
Every part of Rookpaw's common sense told her to not trust him. He smelt of the enemy. Everyone said he was a traitor. He'd been exiled. And now here he was sneaking around in their territory!
And yet… And yet! This was the cat that was in some of her earliest memories; foggy though they were. It was him with his red pelt and familiar voice. Her big brother who always treated her kindly, who Flowerdust clearly missed dearly.
This was Rowanfall.
"Okay." She said finally, her fur lying flatter again. She was still nervous; all this sneaking around, being here with a cat her clan hated, but she would trust in Rowanfall.
"I'm glad." Rowanfall's eyes shone as he dipped his head to her gratefully before quickly glancing about again. He also seemed a bit nervous, though he was trying not to show it. "I don't need you to do anything big. All I need you to do, is ask the elders something for me, and tell no cat you saw me."
Ask the elders a question? She could do that! She asked the elders stuff all the time! Hopefully Smallstep wasn't annoyed about her prying into how she lost her eye before still. Rookpaw nodded enthusiastically
"Great; all I need you to ask is…"