Chapter 11

"What?" Fadingpaw seemed taken aback by what Skypaw had told him. "If you want to know about Lightningfang, we should just go up together and confront him!" He insisted, a little too loudly for Skypaw's tastes.

He didn't say anything about it and replied softly. "Lightningfang doesn't want to talk to us… He's made that pretty clear, and I don't really want to go up to him and be let down like I know we will." He looked away. "I just… I just want to know what kind of cat he is, so maybe I can understand why he did it… This is a safe way to do that." He looked back into his brother's amber eyes.

Fadingpaw grimaced and looked away again. "I just… This seems pretty lame. To Twistpaw, I mean. I don't want to use someone like that if I can help it."

Skypaw sighed. "... I guess you're right." He shook his head gently. "It was dumb, forget it…" He turned away.

Fadingpaw suddenly rested a paw on Skypaw's shoulder. "Hey, bro. You're not dumb. It's just… Kind of a weird idea. How about this. Twistpaw's probably all sorts of suspicious about… Everyone. He seems like the loud and angry type, like a dude version of Salmonpaw. How about, if we become friends with him it happens. Then we can ask him about Lightningfang. If we don't become friends, then we don't go off searching for it. Alright?"

Skypaw sighed and turned to look at his brother and smiled gently. "That sounds like a better idea. Thanks, Fadingpaw for sorting me out."

His brother grinned. "What are brothers for?"

The two brothers brushed against each other's sides, purring for each other. Fadingpaw often acted macho, trying to reject open displays of affection, but he never stopped Skypaw from showing he loved him. The golden apprentice tried hard not to think about the implications of that.

"So, I should probably go…." Skypaw said, as he began to back away.

"Okay. See you later, Skypaw." Fadingpaw chirped.

Skypaw suddenly stopped. "A-Ah… Please don't-"

"Don't tell the others? Don't worry. I won't. Salmonpaw would probably force her friendship onto those two if she knew, I know." The gray tabby interrupted with a smile.

Skypaw let out a sigh of relief, and left after flashing one final gentle smile.

"Do you know why I did what I did?" Minnowheart asked.

Skypaw had come straight back to the medicine cat's den after speaking with Fadingpaw, and was now helping the black and white she-cat to check over the herb stores. Of the few herbs they'd been able to scrounge up, she had already put them away, and Skypaw was only helping make sure all the herbs were still good. It was unfortunately easy for herbs to get damaged or dry up, thus losing their healing properties. He pulled his head out of the herb stores and looked at his mentor with wide eyes.

"I mean… No… But, why does it matter?" He asked.

Minnowheart sighed, sitting down and curling her tail around her paws. "As your mentor… I have many duties to you. I must teach you the ways of the medicine cat. How to heal and care for your clanmates. To prepare you for when the time comes, that you must interpret the signs that Starclan sends and have the entire clan trust your word."

Skypaw gulped. He knew that was to be his duty one day… However, it was still unnerving to think that so much responsibility would be his one day. Sure, he wasn't going to become leader and have to hold together the entire clan, like Fadingpaw wanted to… But being a full medicine cat by himself still sounded pretty intimidating.

"But, there's one more thing I must teach as your mentor. There will be difficult choices for you to make. There always are. In every cat's lifetime, there will be many crossroads where it's tough to make a choice. Sometimes because both choices are terrible, but you still have to pick one. I hope to teach you how to uphold your own morals, and stay true to yourself and pick the choice that you believe in. Hopefully, that's the right one." Minnowheart explained.

Skypaw looked down at his paws, tension in his expression. "Is… Is that why you brought two outsiders into camp with the kits? Because if you turned a blind eye, it would be against your morals…?" He asked quietly.

Minnowheart nodded. "Yes. As a medicine cat, it is my duty to help others. Of course, my priority is to Rainclan, however… Those two… They were young. Barely your age, and apparently only barely competent enough to hunt. They were never a threat to Rainclan, especially not with four kittens unable to fend for themselves weighing them down. So, I could've let them be. They would've likely moved on and died. However, I chose to intervene, to change their fate. Remember Skypaw… Even if you don't believe so, there is always something you can do to change the your fate and the fate of those around you." Then she stood up and leaned forward to stretch out her back.

Skypaw looked at Minnowheart blankly. He… Wasn't sure he understood everything the medicine cat said to him. Surely there'd be some situations where there would be nothing he could do? Besides, shouldn't his duty always be to the clan? He still felt confused, and hoped Minnowheart would elaborate. Sadly, she did not.

"Anyways, tomorrow night we will travel to the Crystal Cave. It'll be your first trip, so you best pay attention. Tomorrow, we won't be doing much aside from prep for the trip. It's a long trip, and it's better to be at peak energy at the start of the trip. No need to collapse on Earthclan's territory." The medicine cat said instead.

Skypaw nodded. He'd heard some stories, specifically from Shadowsnake, Rainclan's only elder at this time. Most of Rainclan's scary kithood stories featured the vicious, bloodthirsty Nightclan warriors and the cold, heartless Earthclan warriors. They were stories, but he couldn't help but think that perhaps they were true. All those moons ago, when he first met Nightclan cats at the border, they'd been kits like he'd been at the time. They were still kits, but they'd still been a bit mean. It wasn't enough to prove that Nightclan wasn't really as cruel as the stories said! Maybe the kits hadn't been taught yet, the terrible ways of a true Nightclan warrior.

The only real way to know, was at the upcoming gathering. Skypaw had no way to know if he'd be able to go… But at least one of the five turned seven apprentices would go, and they'd be able to tell the others. He felt a little more nervous about asking the newly named Cloudypaw or Twistpaw. Maybe he could rope his much more confident brother into asking, if it should come to it.

"I'm kind of nervous…" Skypaw confessed to his mentor.

Minnowheart laughed. "My first trip was riddled with anxiety and excitement. You're a lot quieter than I was. Am. Either or."