I'm sorry for the long wait, but here it is- the next chappie. Leafpool's POV. Hope you like it!
Leafpool bent over Sunpaw, her eyes narrow as she gripped the thorn with her teeth. The apprentice squeaked. "Don't go ripping my paw off!"
Leafpool grunted, at that moment plucking the thorn neatly from Sunpaw's pad. "Well, don't you go walking in any more thickets," she retorted, spitting it out. While training with Graystripe, the former rogue she-cat had gotten a thorn stuck in her paw pad, and had visited the medicine cat's den to have it pulled out.
Sunpaw leaped up, testing her paw upon the rock-strewn floor of the den. "That's better," she meowed. "Thanks, Leafpool."
"Yes, well done, Leafpool," meowed Cinderpelt, limping up into the den and setting down the tansy leaves she had gathered. She blinked fondly at her former apprentice. "It seems that I've taught you all you can know!"
Sunpaw dipped her head and bounded away as Leafpool shook her head. "There are still things I don't know," she mewed.
"But StarClan will help you discover them." Cinderpelt lifted her head to the sky as she always did when speaking of her warrior anscestors. "Did they share anything with you at the Moonpool?"
Leafpool sank her claws in the turf as she thought of her dream. "A bit," she admitted, feeling a wave of relief that she would finally have the chance to confide in the gray she-cat, who was so much more experianced than her. "What about you?"
Cinderpelt wrapped her tail around her paws. "Enough for me to know that we haven't all settled down yet," she meowed. "There is still danger in the forest."
Leafpool nodded. "They spoke to me about that as well..." she began. Carefully she described the dream she'd had at the last half-moon, and as she had done with Brambleclaw she failed to mention the comments about her and Crowfeather. But as well as she could remember she told about the fight she'd seen in the pool, and what the cats of StarClan had told her about them.
"Far worse things than hunting in the stars..." murmured Cinderpelt, once she'd finished. Her ears quivered. "It sounds to me that there'll be a battle yet. And death."
"Isn't there any way to stop it?" Leafpool asked hopefully.
Cinderpelt looked back at her, and for all the worry in her eyes there was also a twinge of amusement. "Leafpool," she meowed gently. "We are medicine cats, and death hurts us more than any other cat. But it is not our duty to stop battles, to try to defy StarClan when they say that something must come to pass."
"Well, what is our duty?" Leafpool asked her, feeling for all the world like a young apprentice again.
"We can heal injuries after battles have happened," murmured Cinderpelt, and Leafpool saw the bright, wise flash of her warrior anscestors in her blue eyes. "We can stop unnesseccary death. And, more than anything else, we can hold our faith in StarClan. They know what must happen, Leafpool, and we must honor them by believing that."
&&&
Leafpool shared tongues with Squirrelflight at the edge of the stone hollow. For a while Leafpool let herself forget all her troubles in the comfort of her sister's familiar scent, but then Squirrelflight spoke. "So, Leafpool, what is it that's bothering you?"
Leafpool's fur bristled, and she replied instinctively, "Nothing."
"Come on, Leafpool. How come you've been out of camp so much?"
"No reason. You can't expect me to stay in camp all the time, can you? There are herbs to collect." Leafpool blinked in what she hoped looked like innocence at her sister.
Squirrelflight flicked her ears. "Okay." She licked her sister's tabby fur. "You know you can tell me, if there was, right?"
Leafpool looked into her sister's eyes and lied. "Yes."
&&&
Leafpool lay next to Crowfeather inside WindClan territory. She twined her tail with his, taking comfort in his scent. "She knows something's up, Crowfeather," she mewed. "She'll find out."
Crowfeather shook his head. "Squirrelflight thinks she has to have her nose in everything," he snorted. "That doesn't mean she knows."
Leafpool found it harder to dismiss her sister's curiosity. "What if she does find out?" she mewed.
"Would..." Crowfeather broke off, blinking his blue eyes, and started again. "Wouldit be so bad, Leafpool? You and Squirrelflight are so close. She wouldn't tell any cat, would she?"
"I don't know," Leafpool admitted. "But that's not the point. I'm a medicine cat. No one can know about this."
But
how long can it go on, before some cat does find out?
Crowfeather moved away from her and sat up, his shoulders hunched wretchedly. Leafpool padded over to sit beside him, pressing her flank against his. He turned to look at her, and she felt assured by the fierce love in his eyes. "I'll rip apart any cat that gets in our way," he vowed. "But if you don't think we should be together-"
"I don't think that," Leafpool interrupted him, and she knew it was true. She had never been as happy before as she was now with Crowfeather- no matter the rules she was breaking. She thought of the look in Squirrelflight's green eyes and then pushed it away. I'll hide it from her. She doesn't need to know.
Suddenly she heard a twig snap. Crowfeather's ears pricked in alarm and he turned his head towards the gorse. Leafpool scented the air and picked up fresh WindClan scent. Her pelt began to prickle as Crowfeather let out a hiss and leaped in front of her defensively. But there was no shielding either of them from what was coming.
A pair of blue eyes appeared from among the thorns, dark and full of surprise. A tom's yowl rose in the air, disbelief making it high-pitched.
"Crowfeather!"
Reviews are appriciated! And, just so you know, I haven't abandoned my Odd Couples fic yet. I'll do a few more of them- and this fic, which still has a few chappies left- not sure how many, yet.
