Hey, hey, hey! Two more chapters until a Gathering! One more chapter until some fun ;)
I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Peace, homies
It was nearly the full moon, and the whole of WindClan was buzzing about the Gathering. All had been quiet on the border with Fourtrees, and RiverClan had made no move on WindClan either; it seemed that it was out of sight and out of mind, for then.
Dusk had fallen on the moor, and Mintpaw couldn't help but be excited. Only two more nights, and she would attend her first ever Gathering! Despite the tension that was sure to be in place between ThunderClan and WindClan when the day of the Gathering did arrive, the thought did nothing to quell the thrill that Mintpaw was feeling.
"Mintpaw! Come over here, will you?"
Except for maybe that.
"Coming, Feathersong!" Mintpaw called across camp to the rather cross-looking medicine cat. She flashed an apologetic look at an equally cross-looking Sunstorm, who she'd been sharing a scrawny rabbit with, and stood up, scurrying towards the Medicine Den.
"Don't forget: we're on the dawn patrol at Fourtrees tomorrow!" he reminded her grimly as she scurried away. "Don't let her keep you up too late."
Mintpaw knew that Sunstorm was getting fed up with how much Feathersong was taking up his apprentice's time. To be frank, Mintpaw was a little annoyed, too. Really, why was this her problem? That dream, or vision, or whatever didn't even end badly, so why was Feathersong so uppity-uppity about it? Mintpaw already tried getting Dustpaw to take an interest in Thicketpaw, but only succeeded in somehow including herself in the mess. Epic fail.
Come to think of it, that's probably what Feathersong wanted to talk about. Rabbitdung! Mintpaw cursed in her head.
Before Mintpaw could reach Feathersong, though, Ivytail, a pretty, black she-cat, reached her first. Feathersong, looking rather perturbed, beckoned her inside, gesturing for Mintpaw to follow.
Once Mintpaw was inside, she was once again bombarded with the pungent scent of herbs. It seemed that Ivytail was equally offended by the scent, for her nose crinkled.
Feathersong had been saying something when Mintpaw got in: "...a little busy right now, Ivytail, but I will get to you in a moment."
Ivytail shook her head, pale green eyes glittering. "No, I need to speak with you now," she meowed. "I...I think I'm having kits."
Mintpaw immediately 'aww'ed, already picturing tiny little bundles running around camp. Feathersong, however, grunted, and asked, "Who's the father?"
Ivytail glanced appreciatively at Mintpaw when she answered. "Applefoot, but he doesn't know yet."
Feathersong's gaze flickered between Mintpaw and Ivytail before she sighed, instructing Ivytail to lie down so she could double check. "Mintpaw, come here, please."
Mintpaw padded to stand beside her aunt obediently, eyeing Ivytail's exposed belly. It didn't look terribly round.
"Do you know how to check to see if a queen is bearing kits?" asked Feathersong.
Mintpaw blinked, confused. "Uh...I don't think that ever came up in battle training."
Feathersong rolled her eyes, while Ivytail snorted from her place on the ground. "Dustpaw had better watch out," quipped the she-cat. "You've got more wit than she does, anyway."
"Nevermind that," Feathersong dismissed. "You place your paws here and press lightly, like this." She demonstrated, nodding. "Now you try. Remember, press gently."
Mintpaw hesitated, but Ivytail nodded encouragingly. Ever so lightly, she placed one paw on the place Feathersong had pointed out, pressing gently onto the belly. Sure enough, she felt something. "Oh! I think there's something there," she reported. Feathersong nodded approvingly.
"Yes, there is. Congratulations, Ivytail," she meowed, helping the queen to her paws. "You're expecting."
Ivytail's eyes shone brightly with glee. "Oh! Thank you! I can't wait to tell Applefoot! He'll be so surprised." And with that, she ducked back into the camp, leaving Feathersong and Mintpaw alone.
Mintpaw sighed, turning to face Feathersong, who was already looking at her with an unreadable expression. "What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"
But Feathersong shook her head slightly. "You look just like her, you know," she meowed. "You bear much more resemblance to your mother's mother than just her name... It's almost as if she's still here."
Mintpaw was surprised to be having this conversation, but she figured it was better than getting reprimanded from failing at matchmaking. "I've been told that a lot," Mintpaw replied. "Were you close?"
Feathersong shrugged slightly. "She was a great deal older than Willowleap and me, but all of WindClan loved her." She hesitated, eyeing Mintpaw closely. "Her death was a terrible tragedy."
Mintpaw tilted her head, curious as to why Feathersong was being weird about it. "How did she die?"
The silver-and-white medicine cat shook her head again, waving her tail. "None of that tonight. Give me time to think. Besides, it's getting late; you're dismissed."
Mintpaw nodded and scampered off, mystified by the whole thing, but happy to have escaped with the fur still on her neck.
Dustpaw was waiting by their conjoined nests, watching her approach with curious blue eyes. "Why does she always want to talk to you?" asked Dustpaw. "Don't you think she's creepy? Sunstorm looks like he may go mad every time she calls you over to her; I think he's scared she may eat you."
Mintpaw laughed, settling down into her exposed nest, fluffing her fur to keep out the cold. Leafbare was nearly upon them, and it looked like it was shaping up to be a hard one. Soon WindClan cats would sleep under cover, but for now their nests remained open to the sky. "I don't know about that," she meowed, as Dustpaw laid down beside her. "But good news is, Ivytail's expecting kits!"
Dustpaw purred, and Mintpaw could feel the vibration in her nest. "Oh, awesome! It'll be nice to have some new faces around here."
"Yeah, exactly." Mintpaw nodded, and continued recounting her experience with Feathersong, "She also talked to me about Mintheart."
"Grandma?" Dustpaw queried, pressing her flank against her sisters for warmth.
"Grandma," Mintpaw confirmed. "She wouldn't tell me how she died, though."
Dustpaw snorted, turning her head so she faced Mintpaw more fully. "Wait, you don't know how Mintheart died? I thought everyone did." Mintpaw shook her head. "She fell to her death on a solo hunting patrol; I heard it was super sad. I guess it happened a several seasons before we were born."
"Wait, how did you know?" Mintpaw asked, surprised for the second time that evening.
Dustpaw parted her jaws to reply, when another voice cut her off:
"Badgerfur told Dustpaw and I while we were training together that day Feathersong held you back," Rabbitpaw meowed, settling down in his nest beside Dustpaw. "He'd only been a warrior for a few moons, when he was assigned to lead the patrol that found the body."
Mintpaw shuddered to think about what that must have been like: finding the dead body of your Clanmate, all twisted and bloody on the rocks. A phantom pain ran up her spin, and she shuddered again.
"What? Does that scare you?" Rabbitpaw teased, as a cold wind ruffled the apprentices' fur.
Mintpaw hunkered closer to Dustpaw, and Rabbitpaw did as well. "No, it doesn't scare me," she defended herself.
"Ha! It totally does! Your teeth chattered!"
"Yeah, because it's cold."
Dustpaw rolled her eyes, placing her chin on her paws. "If you're going to bicker, at least do it quietly, so I can sleep. I've got to wake up early tomorrow; Birdleaf got us put on the dawn patrol of the RiverClan border tomorrow, and I don't want to be asleep on my paws."
Rabbitpaw stuck his tongue out at Mintpaw, and while she knew he was only joking, she couldn't help but think of Feathersong's theories and the vision.
"You're right, Dustpaw," Mintpaw meowed, laying her head down too. "I'm on an early patrol, as well."
"Small world," meowed Rabbitpaw. "So am I."
"Me, too!" chirped Swiftpaw, making her way over to Mintpaw's other side, where she'd set up her nest.
"Well, I'm not," Thicketpaw boasted, curling up in his own nest. "I'm going to sleep so much better than you lot!"
Though Dustpaw's eyes were closed, her lip curled up in a mock-grimace. "Not if Swiftpaw keeps up her usual all-night chatter, you won't."
"Hey!"
All the apprentices laughed, and for a moment everything felt warm. One by one, they all drifted off to sleep, Mintpaw being the last to do so.
It was dark and deep; warm and dry. Until she felt a drop of water splash against her nose. Then, another one against her ear, and upon her back.
What?
Mintpaw's eyes shot open, and she was on the moor; it was raining heavily, though no lighting cracked the sky. It was cold, too, and she wondered briefly how she got there. A rustling in the heather caught her attention above the thrumming of the rain, and she instinctively crouched low, shaking the droplets from her eyes. Squinting, she could make out the outline of a rabbit through the sheets of rain.
Gotcha.
Mintpaw bunched her muscles, confusion temporarily forgotten, and she sprung forward, hindlegs momentarily skittering in the mud. The rabbit started and ran, Mintpaw in hot pursuit. Across the moor, they ran, faster and fast, the rain blinding, but her path true.
Faster and faster! Faster and faster! Up! The rabbit made a sharp turn, and Mintpaw moved to follow, but once again her paws slipped from under her.
And suddenly she was falling, the ground rushing up to meet her, a terrified yowl escaping from her open jaw.
Just before she hit the ground, Mintpaw's eyes snapped open once again, this time standing on the precipice of Outlook Rock in the sun. She looked out across the moorland, marveling the view. WindClan truly is beautiful.
"Mintfeather," a deep voice meowed from behind her, startling her from her musings. She spun around to see the older version of Rabbitpaw she'd seen in her dream at the Moonstone. From the direction of camp, Mintpaw could just make out a mostly white streak barreling towards them, and she couldn't be quite sure what it was. Rabbitpaw—or maybe Rabbitstar?—stepped forward, sharp teeth just poking out over his lip. "Just the cat I was looking for..."
She once again opened her eyes, this time to Heatherstem's gentle, but stern, voice overhead.
"...didn't mean to wake you, Thicketpaw, but the rest of you have patrols to be on. Dustpaw do not look at me like that, or I will tell Birdleaf to give you tick-duty with the elders."
Mintpaw was sure now that she was awake in her nest—safe. But her dreams had been anything but. Perhaps Rabbitpaw was right; maybe she had been scared by the story of Mintheart's death...or perhaps she'd ought to talk to Feathersong.
Shaking off the last bit of terror from her nightmare, Mintpaw stood as stretched. That could wait. For now, there were borders to check.
Wow, some actual plot. And was Mintpaw's dream only a dream? Or visions of the past and future? Only one way to find out...stAY TUNED FOR NEXT TIME!
